The article first summarizes projects of quantitative sociological research into Czech religiousness, which were carried out from 1946 to 1989 (when, with the exception of 1950, religious affiliation was not a question on the census), and it subjects this research to a methodical critique. The author then discusses the institutional background of these research projects. Research into religious attitudes was carried out in 1946 by the recently established Institute of Public Opinion Research. After the Communist takeover, however, sociology was no longer an acceptable discipline, and State organs that were also working against religion took over this research task. Their research into “objective religious factors,” conducted from the 1950s to the 1980s, considered only the decline in church-based religious feeling. More profound sociological research was made possible with the establishment of the Institute of Sociology at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in the 1960s. Though this research was in the sway of the models of the period, that is to say, the “sociology of the parish,” it was relatively successful, methodologically suitable research (for instance into religiousness in North Moravia, 1963, with an attempt to expand it to the whole country), and met with a positive international response. It was doomed, however, by the policy of “Normalization,” when the Institute of Sociology was merged with the Institute of Philosophy. Sociological research into religion was then entrusted to the Institute of Scientific Atheism, which was established in Brno. (The most important research that it conducted was into the religiousness of pupils and students of elementary and secondary schools in South Moravia, 1979.) Similar research was also carried out by the reorganized Public Opinion Research Institute in 1979, 1983, 1985, 1986, and 1989. Not one of these projects, however, can be considered rigorous, because the methods used were ideologically in the sway of the regime, it was not of suffi ciently professional quality, and was palpably behind modern Western developments in the sociology of religion. More credible research, though limited for practical reasons, was provided by samizdat and émigré sociology, which cast doubt on the idea of the automatic secularization of Czech society in connection with modernization and the dominance of Marxist thought. The development of truly unbiased research could take place only after the changes that began in late 1989. When interpreting earlier research and comparing results with contemporary findings on and religiousness one must therefore bear in mind that it cannot be done without taking into account the conditions of the society and of the discipline in which the research was originally conducted, as well as the aims it was intended for.
The almanacs represented an important source and constituent part of the popular culture in the „long“ nineteenth century. The text focuses on the by now slightly studied almanacs of Czech Protestants and, as a supplement, also contains its register. First Protestant calendars were published after the authorization of Protestant denominations at the end of the eighteenth century, but due to the economic weakness of these minorities soon ceased to exist. The next wave of their publishing was connected with liberalism of the middle of the nineteenth century and the social emancipation of Protestants. But the defeat of the revolution of 1848 again caused their demise. Systematic publishing of Protestant almanacs took place only in the last third of the nineteenth century, when their principal role was the gradual deepening of the confessional consciousness. From the beginning of the twentieth century these almanacs were used in the efforts for uniting of Czech Lutheran and Reformed Churches. This union was realized after the constitution of Czechoslovakia in the year 1918. Later Protestant almanacs were mostly regular ecclesiastical yearbooks without broader implications.
Ve studii navazující na článek „České migrace 19. a 20. století a jejich dosavadní studium“ (Soudobé dějiny, roč. 12, č. 2, 2005) se autor soustředil na podněty západních migračních studií pro vývoj českého akademického diskurzu. Informuje přitom o teoretických a metodických východiscích starších výzkumů, vycházejících z neoklasické ekonomie či z teorie světových systémů, a o jejich kritice z pozic nové ekonomie migrací a teorie migračních systémů. Teoretická východiska uvedených perspektiv přitom byla přijímána, i když často implicitně, také dalšími humanitními a společenskými vědami, jako je historie nebo etnografie a folkloristika, zatímco demografie (mylně) předpokládala nezaujatost svých analýz. V rámci přehledu vývoje západních migračních studií jsou dále zmíněny současné antropologické teorie transnacionálních sociálních prostorů, diskuse o multikulturalismu a jiné novější pokusy o komplexní přístup k migrační problematice. Autor přitom zdůrazňuje význam konceptu ekonomické sociologie jako důležitého paradigmatu moderních migračních studií, upozorňuje však, že náhrada neoklasické perspektivy socioekonomií není samospasitelná. V závěru práce doporučuje českým kolegům některé konkrétní teoretické a metodické změny, spojené s diskutovanými perspektivami zahraničních výzkumů, vedle nichž zdůrazňuje aplikovaný charakter migračních studií a jejich stoupající význam v současném světě i v České republice.
The Czech spiritual market is today as developed as that of western European countries. De-traditionalised and individualised holistic milieu has created a demand for spiritual literature and magazines as well as other marketable goods (“magic” stones, amulets, horoscopes, natural drugs etc.). This paper attempts to analyse the character and sources of contemporary best selling spiritual literature and its readership in the Czech Republic. It also provides a case study of a Prague spiritual bookshop and its comparison with five other Czech spiritual outlets (including an Internet outlet). The results clearly show that marketing spirituality has become a mainstream phenomenon with regard to all gender, age and class categories, although there was found to be an over presence of older middle-aged women among the buyers. There is emphasized “churchless” and “nonreligious” character of the buyers and the best selling books, that include predominantly those referring to “modem” and “esoteric” western or “ethnic” spiritualities. The supply side comprises both special and general publishers, the former having been more successful in specialised bookshops and spirituál outlets and the latter in addressing the wider population (including via the Internet).