FROM UNJUST EQUALITY TO JUST INEQUALITY

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the perception of changes in inequality in Czechoslovakia since 1989, when the post-communist transformation began. In the first part, we focus on two questions: first, how people perceive the development of inequality (is there much more, about the same, or less inequality than before 1989); secondly, do people believe that the post-communist transformation brings more justice or less justice into the inequality . We follow by identifying groups with different or opposite views on these issues, and try to demonstrate that the post-communist transformation has typical ''winners'' and ''losers'' according to changing position in the distribution and stratification processes. In the second and third parts of the paper we analyze the perception of the principal factors of life success, poverty and wealth. This analysis aims to answer the question of whether there is a visible shift towards more universalism and meritocracy in post-communist Czechoslovakia, and to what extent there is a consensus in this respect among different socioeconomic groups and supporters of different political orientations. The principal result is that, in general, the Czechoslovak population tends to believe there is a shift to a bit more meritocracy during the transformation, but consensus between different socioeconomic groups and between supporters of different political orientations is rather weak. The data from several recent surveys carried out in Czechoslovakia are used for the analysis, including ''Transformation of Social Structure'' (October 1991) and ''Social Justice'' (June-July 1991).