Positive Deviance in 1980s Czechoslovakia: The Case of the Bratislava Environmental Movement
Positive Deviance in 1980s Czechoslovakia: The Case of the Bratislava Environmental Movement

Summary/Abstract: Czechoslovakia provides the backdrop for an emergence of an approach to social change conceptualized within sociology as positive deviance. The term is used to describe individuals and communities which defy negative behaviour patterns in society. The Normalization period in Czechoslovakia was generally characterized by passivity and reluctance to engage in public matters. It was within this atmosphere that the so-called “islands of positive deviance” became antidotes to general resignation and proved to be hotbeds of citizen activism, later paving the way for the emergence of civil society. One such example of activism within the setting of devastated nature in Slovakia was the Slovak environmental movement formally constituted under the Slovak Union of Nature and Landscape Protectors (SZOPK). The aim of this paper is to analyse the factors leading up to the transformation of an official, state-controlled organization into a well-respected social movement. Due to the broad scope of their pursuits, the paper mainly focuses on activities which raised their public profile and contributed to the spread of positive behaviour patterns in society.

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