Project EXPRO 2020

Abstract

The interdisciplinary project analyses and compares transformation processes in modern
European societies on the example of two non-central regions of the Habsburg Monarchy:
Bohemia and Transylvania. It shows how social mobility, education, family and other ties of elite
social groups contribute to de/stabilizing of the society as a whole. Research is conducted on
two groups of members of the decision-making strata: higher-ranking state officials and
deputies of the land diets, the Imperial Council in Vienna and the Hungarian Parliament. In an
imaginative way, the project combines methods from both humanities and nature sciences. Its
main goal is to investigate factors which had a significant impact on whether an individual would
become member of the above mentioned elite groups, to clarify the process of circulation of
elites and the transition of imperial experience and structures into the newly created succession
states. It shows links between career of an individual and his family ties and sheds light on
demographic factors influencing the modern European family.

Project Aims

The aim of project is to analyse factors which influenced social mobility and determined
membership of decision-making strata in 1861–1926 and discuss whether there is transition of
imperial experience and structures to the newly created nation states.

Project Websites: https://elitesresearch.com/en

Research Team (Czech part of the team)

• doc. PhDr. Alice Velková, Ph.D.

• RNDr. Klára Hulíková Tesárková, Ph.D.
• Mgr. Věra Slováková, Ph.D.
• Mgr. Hana Sedláčková, Ph.D.
• RNDr. Olga Kurtinová, Ph.D.
• Mgr. et Mgr. Barbora Janáková Kuprová
• Diana-Georgiana Lutz M.Sc.

The whole research team (Czech & Romanian parts of the team) in Vienna, June 2021