Marginalizované regióny v Slovenskej republike
Social Marginality of Territories in the Slovak Republic

Summary/Abstract: Problems of marginal territories have not been considered from a sociological point of view in the past. These problems became especially important in Slovak society's period of transition after 1989. In post-Communist society involved in this transition and its transition to a market economy, marginal territories were unexpectedly expanded and their economic and social problems increased. This fact surprised people living in marginal territories, which were created as a consequence of socialist industrialization and urbanization in the second half of the 20th century. People who lived in regions of heavy metallurgy, mining and military industry were even more surprised because the conversion and degression strongly affected them. The same process also hit agrarian areas, where the re-structuring of the agricultural cooperative and state production dropped, making them marginal territories. The resultant results, long-term unemployment, the growth of poverty, crime and other socio-pathological phenomena had not been known for many generations. The process of solving these problems increased the costs of social transformation, and unbearable social costs threatened the course of society's transition. These facts made these problems socially acute and sociologically interesting, opening a new field of sociological research.

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