Social Stratification in Contemporary Czechoslovakia

This article presents some results of an extensive sociological-statistical survey of social stratification in Czechoslovakia in 1967. The operationalization of major variables is described. The problem of the dominant stratification is solved in favor of the following group of cultural variables: complexity of work, education, style of life. The taxonomic analysis reveals four major strata and three large inconsistent groups. An unexpectedly high "subjective" manifestation of objective stratification is another finding of the research. A preliminary interpretation in terms of relation to types of social stratification leads to the conclusion that relations of the socialist, egalitarian, bureaucratic, and technocratic types played the most significant role at the time when data were collected.