The issue of Central Europe in major Czech and Slovak sociology journals Sociologický časopis/Czech Sociological Review and Sociológia/Slovak Sociological Review between 1990 and 2000

Abstract

The article deals with the issue of Central Europe in the two main Czech and Slovak Sociology journals, Sociologický časopis/Czech Sociological Review and Sociológia/Slovak Sociological Review, in the first decade after the political change in 1989 (specifically from 1990 to 2000). By using the method of content analysis, and comparing Czech and Slovak Sociology journals in their discursive contexts, we try to answer the following questions. What was the position of the issue of Central Europe in the context of other research problems that were discussed in the journals? Who dealt with the issue, and how? Which Central European sociologists from abroad were published in the journals and what did they focus on? Did Czech and Slovak journals share some common features in the questions mentioned above (topics, authors from abroad, etc.), or rather, did divergences prevail? The issue of Central Europe occupied a relatively prominent place in both journals, but the approach was somewhat different. While the Slovak journal was dominated by the issue of nation and ethnicity, the main topics of the Czech journal were transformation and the sociology of politics. Also, the composition of authors of both journals as a whole and within the topic of Central Europe was different. A significantly higher proportion of foreign authors can be found within the pages of Sociologický časopis. Sociológia, on the other hand, features more domestic authors, and the foreign ones are clearly dominated by Czechs. Key words Czech and Slovak sociology, content analysis, sociological journals, Central Europe