The Czech Context
POLIS: Podpora sociálně - integračních politik a služeb
The Czech Context
Social Exclusion of the Roma
At least 250,000 Roma live in the Czech Republic according to demographic estimates. The vast majority are descendants of people who moved to the Czech Republic from Slovakia after World War II either voluntarily or pressured. They settled mainly in regions which were vacated after the resettlement of German population, who were natives of the North Bohemian and North Moravian borderlands. Approximately 600 people out of the whole Czech Roma population survived the Nazi genocide.
Slovak Roma in the Czech Republic mostly performed manual labour which did not require higher qualifications. This trend, with few exceptions, lasted until the late 1980s when the political and social situation in the Czech Republic changed. Non-qualified Roma workers were among the first employees to be dismissed from bankrupt state production factories. At the beginning of the 1990s, a widespread phenomenon was born: a substantial part of the Roma subpopulation became dependent upon state welfare benefits from their long-term unemployment. The older generation of Roma was used to working to make their living. Some Roma who reached working age after 1989 have never been able to find work due to a number of factors: insufficient education and qualification as a relict of the previous trend, parents automatically encouraging their children to train for manual, unqualified occupations leading to an unprecedented fierce competition in the labour market and discrimination against the Roma. Roma do not have ‘proper’ work habits, and have therefore adapted themselves to permanent dependence upon the social welfare system and life in social isolation. Under such conditions, some people turn to crime, others are at risk of various socio-pathological phenomena such as usury, prostitution or drug addiction.
The second factor, which significantly contributed to the increased social exclusion of Roma is Roma families running into debts and loss of housing due to privatisation of the municipal housing fund that took place mainly in 1990s. In some areas Roma subpopulations were moved together into large housing schemes in the 1960s. These blocks were privatised by municipalities in the 1990s, but mostly only after some tenants ceased to pay the rent, electricity, drinking water, etc. Due to the downfall of the Roma population, leading to social exclusion, the housing schemes turned into new social ghettos. Municipalities were unsure as of what to do with the damaged housing schemes and they resolved the dilemma by selling them (along with their tenants) to not necessarily serious buyers. This got rid of ‘troublesome’ tenants (sometimes legally, however, sometimes illegally using little legal awareness of tenants) and evicted them to substitute housing, often to semi-derelict so-called social flats in suburbs or out of town where they are out of sight. The worst social ghettos emerged there. The findings of a survey of socially excluded Romani ghettos which was conducted for the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs by Gabal Analysis & Consulting, there are 330 hundred ghettos in the Czech Republic. Tens of thousands of people live there, who are predominantly, but not exclusively, Roma.
Factors that indicate the Roma model of the fall to social exclusion are losing employment, quality housing and social status. There are also many people in the Czech Republic who do not live in social flats or social ghettos, and have been long-term unemployed, undereducated, handicapped in some way or discriminated against (in case of the Roma or foreigners). This situation is linked to social transformation and an increasing competition in society and in the labour market. Workforce demand is shifting from primary and secondary sphere to a tertiary sphere of services which requires higher education and qualification of employees. The vast majority of the long-term unemployed are people without education or with basic education or vocational qualification. The social poor emerged. They are the lowest social strata of Czech society; they are unpopular and dependent on welfare system. There is an insufficient capacity of social services in the Czech Republic that would work towards eliminating the of number of people living in poverty.
A considerable part of the Roma population lives in social exclusion. Moreover, they are unambiguously identifiable and labeled as 'inadaptable dodgers'. They also suffer from their lack of social contacts and are limited to people with similar social status - their family members and a broader network of members of community. When the majority describes their situation, social and cultural categories are often mixed up, and life in social exclusion is perceived as a specific 'ethnic' feature, or even as something 'natural' for the Roma. Even the Roma who are not affected by social exclusion are repeatedly confronted with this myth, which aggravates their social status and chance to succeed.
Roma subpopulations are heavily stratified. Individual Roma and Roma families separate themselves more or less from Czech society depending on their personal success and life strategies; they accent their Roma origin to a different extent. In some social ghettos, more successful Roma (employed, without debts, with solid background, etc.) turn away from less successful ones. However, elsewhere strong family ties and significant solidarity among Roma prevail as people form a true community.
Slovak Roma in the Czech Republic mostly performed manual labour which did not require higher qualifications. This trend, with few exceptions, lasted until the late 1980s when the political and social situation in the Czech Republic changed. Non-qualified Roma workers were among the first employees to be dismissed from bankrupt state production factories. At the beginning of the 1990s, a widespread phenomenon was born: a substantial part of the Roma subpopulation became dependent upon state welfare benefits from their long-term unemployment. The older generation of Roma was used to working to make their living. Some Roma who reached working age after 1989 have never been able to find work due to a number of factors: insufficient education and qualification as a relict of the previous trend, parents automatically encouraging their children to train for manual, unqualified occupations leading to an unprecedented fierce competition in the labour market and discrimination against the Roma. Roma do not have ‘proper’ work habits, and have therefore adapted themselves to permanent dependence upon the social welfare system and life in social isolation. Under such conditions, some people turn to crime, others are at risk of various socio-pathological phenomena such as usury, prostitution or drug addiction.
The second factor, which significantly contributed to the increased social exclusion of Roma is Roma families running into debts and loss of housing due to privatisation of the municipal housing fund that took place mainly in 1990s. In some areas Roma subpopulations were moved together into large housing schemes in the 1960s. These blocks were privatised by municipalities in the 1990s, but mostly only after some tenants ceased to pay the rent, electricity, drinking water, etc. Due to the downfall of the Roma population, leading to social exclusion, the housing schemes turned into new social ghettos. Municipalities were unsure as of what to do with the damaged housing schemes and they resolved the dilemma by selling them (along with their tenants) to not necessarily serious buyers. This got rid of ‘troublesome’ tenants (sometimes legally, however, sometimes illegally using little legal awareness of tenants) and evicted them to substitute housing, often to semi-derelict so-called social flats in suburbs or out of town where they are out of sight. The worst social ghettos emerged there. The findings of a survey of socially excluded Romani ghettos which was conducted for the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs by Gabal Analysis & Consulting, there are 330 hundred ghettos in the Czech Republic. Tens of thousands of people live there, who are predominantly, but not exclusively, Roma.
Factors that indicate the Roma model of the fall to social exclusion are losing employment, quality housing and social status. There are also many people in the Czech Republic who do not live in social flats or social ghettos, and have been long-term unemployed, undereducated, handicapped in some way or discriminated against (in case of the Roma or foreigners). This situation is linked to social transformation and an increasing competition in society and in the labour market. Workforce demand is shifting from primary and secondary sphere to a tertiary sphere of services which requires higher education and qualification of employees. The vast majority of the long-term unemployed are people without education or with basic education or vocational qualification. The social poor emerged. They are the lowest social strata of Czech society; they are unpopular and dependent on welfare system. There is an insufficient capacity of social services in the Czech Republic that would work towards eliminating the of number of people living in poverty.
A considerable part of the Roma population lives in social exclusion. Moreover, they are unambiguously identifiable and labeled as 'inadaptable dodgers'. They also suffer from their lack of social contacts and are limited to people with similar social status - their family members and a broader network of members of community. When the majority describes their situation, social and cultural categories are often mixed up, and life in social exclusion is perceived as a specific 'ethnic' feature, or even as something 'natural' for the Roma. Even the Roma who are not affected by social exclusion are repeatedly confronted with this myth, which aggravates their social status and chance to succeed.
Roma subpopulations are heavily stratified. Individual Roma and Roma families separate themselves more or less from Czech society depending on their personal success and life strategies; they accent their Roma origin to a different extent. In some social ghettos, more successful Roma (employed, without debts, with solid background, etc.) turn away from less successful ones. However, elsewhere strong family ties and significant solidarity among Roma prevail as people form a true community.
