Vliv sociálního postavení otce a tchána na kariéru okresních hejtmanů v Čechách v letech 1861–1926
Family Background, Social Capital, and Career Mobility of District Captains in Bohemia, 1861–1926

Summary/Abstract: This article examines career mobility within the administrative elite of Bohemia between 1861 and 1926, focusing on district captains (Bezirkshauptmänner) as representatives of senior civil servants. Drawing on sociological theories of social stratification, elite reproduction, and social closure, the study explores whether the gradual professionalization and formal meritocratization of the Habsburg state administration reduced the influence of ascriptive factors on career advancement. Using a unique longitudinal dataset covering 917 officials, the analysis applies survival methods (Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox proportional hazards models) to examine the timing of first appointment to the position of district captain. Particular attention is paid to the social status of officials’ fathers and fathers-in-law as indicators of inherited and acquired social capital. The HISCLASS scheme is implemented in order to classify the professions. The results show that throughout the nineteenth century it became increasingly difficult for men from a lower social background to attain the position of a district captain. As the number of university educated persons grew, but the number of district captains remained stable, the officials had to wait longer to reach this post. Furthermore, the analyses also proved that the occupation of father and father-in-law had an impact on the career of civil servants – the higher the status, the quicker the professional growth. Despite the formal expansion of meritocratic rules and educational requirements, access to top administrative positions retained features of social closure. The findings demonstrate that the modernization of bureaucracy in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Bohemia did not eliminate elite reproduction but rather reshaped its mechanisms.

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