Rurální sociologie v období totality. Příspěvek do diskuse
Rural Sociology in the Totalitarian Period

Summary/Abstract: After the communist coup in 1948 rural sociology in Czechoslovakia was regarded by the new totalitarian regime as an element of bourgeois ideology which had to be destroyed. Empirical research in agriculture and the countryside was deemed unnecessary and incapable of providing any new and useful knowledge. But despite being rejected by party ideologists, the Czech rural sociology survived and in 1960s partook of the general revival of Czech sociology and other social sciences. The most important contributions to its new development came, respectively, from the activities of leading Czech rural sociologist Jan Tauber, from the Institute of social and political sciences directed by Pavel Machonin, and from a group of teachers from agricultural universities in Prague and Brno. In August 1968 the progress of rural sociology was interrupted by the invasion of Warsaw Pact Troops, and a considerable number of sociologists were thereafter prevented from working in their field. Although even during this period some limited activities in the domain of rural sociology continued, they were distorted by dogmatism and interference from the state and Communist Party leaders. Despite this a new generation of rural sociologists nonetheless managed to emerge. The democratic revolution in November 1989 established new conditions that enabled the resumption of activities in the field of rural sociology, allowing them to evolve freely.

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