In this article, manifestations of social disadvantage in peripheral rural settings in the Czech Republic are investigated. Based on the theory of local opportunity structures, the authors identify various aspects of the spatial context that intersect with individual handicaps of people and their households and contribute to poverty and social exclusion. Moreover, coping strategies of vulnerable rural inhabitants are investigated. The empirical analysis is based on qualitative interviews with people affected by various forms of disadvantage, living in three economically weak rural regions. Multiple intersections between individual and contextual factors of disadvantage were uncovered. Limited job opportunities and precarious labour conditions within the local labour market, and the absence and difficult accessibility of services, represent the most important restrictions. Households living in poverty, the unemployed, people with care duties and persons with disabilities have very limited possibilities of overcoming the restrictions of a meager local opportunity structure. Their main problem is their low spatial mobility and temporal flexibility. The result is multiplication of individual vulnerabilities in rural localities. Two types of coping strategies, locality-based and mobility-based, have been identified as partial compensation of the existing deficits.

Abstract:The article examines the integration process of Ukrainians and Vietnamese in the Czech Republic. The authors focus on socio-cultural integration, the pre-and post-migration factors integration depends on, and the differences in the integration process of the two communities. Using survey data they show that the integration process of each group follows a different trajectory and depends on different factors. Ukrainians tend to be more integrated than Vietnamese. The primary factor infl uencing the level of integration of Ukrainian migrants is the length of residence in the Czech Republic. Household composition and the residential preferences of Ukrainians play a secondary role. On average Vietnamese immigrants have resided longer in the Czech Republic, but the increasing length of residence has a much weaker effect on the level of socio-cultural integration of members of this community. The residential preferences of Vietnamese immigrants and especially the age at which they arrived in the Czech Republic are important factors in their integration. Those Vietnamese immigrants who arrived as children are signifi cantly more integrated than those who arrived as adults. These results suggest that the socio-cultural integration of Vietnamese immigrants depends primarily on socialisation in the Czech Republic.

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Abstract:The spatial concentration of social disadvantage in rural areas not only poses a risk to social cohesion but also represents a challenge for public policy. This article draws on a multidimensional concept of disadvantage to study spatial aspects of disadvantage in Czech rural areas. Current studies aimed at identifying 'inner peripheries' as areas with an increased risk of social exclusion fail to distinguish between different forms of disadvantage. Their methodological approach blends regions struggling with various problems into one category. Contesting the one-dimensionality of peripheries, this article presents an alternative approach that allows the delimitation of multiple types of peripheral areas based on four separate dimensions of disadvantage. It is possible then to distinguish: peripheries characterised by low qualifi cations, lower living standards, and the absence of a middle class; peripheries with an increased risk of social exclusion; peripheries with poor accessibility; and peripheries facing demographic challenges. Differences in the spatial patterns of the four types of peripheries indicate that different sociospatial processes contribute to the emergence of different types of peripheries and this calls for varied public policy tools and measures.