THE CZECH-REPUBLIC SINCE 1989 - STRUCTURES AND ACTORS

The main aim of this article is to communicate the recent results of certain studies - or of analysis arising therefrom - which have been carried out on the structure of Czech society. In this way, the authors hope to give an exact outline of the new structure which is gradually taking shape during this first phase of post-communist transformation. For this purpose, they first of all go back to the end of the 1980's, recalling what type of social structure it was that the Czech Republic began to break away from and what were the underlying causes of this about-turn. And again, who are the prime movers in this change, who cleared the way for society's current transformation? A description of the characteristics of their group may serve as a succint summary of the social context within which political development has taken place over the last five years. It may also serve to highlight the social environment of new political elites. Finally, this article seeks to answer the following questions : are we seeing the emergence of a new social differentiation within the Czech Republic? What are the factors having the most marked bearing on this? Which social groups are ''winners'' and ''losers'' during the process of differentiation? Is it already possible to identify the lineaments of these new social structures in more concrete terms? What possible, and what probable, direction are society's efforts at restructuring likely to follow in the near future?