Beyond borders and difference: highly skilled Slovak migration to Czechia

Lucie Macková; Luděk Jirka; Ondřej Filipec; Nikola Medová; Nela Przetaková

doi:10.34135/sjps.250201

Authors

Lucie Macková Palacky University Olomouc, Faculty of Science
Luděk Jirka Palacky University Olomouc, Faculty of Science
Ondřej Filipec Palacky University Olomouc, Faculty of Science
Nikola Medová Palacky University Olomouc, Faculty of Science
Nela Przetaková Palacky University Olomouc, Faculty of Science

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34135/sjps.250201

Keywords:

Czechia, Slovak migration, intra-regional mobility, identity, belonging, symbolic boundaries

Abstract

This paper investigates the migration of highly skilled slovak professionals to czechia, an understudied form of intra-regional mobility within central europe. In contrast to migration research that prioritises long-distance or global movements, this study examines mobility between two culturally, linguistically, and historically proximate societies. Situating slovak mobility within a post-czechoslovak and central european context, the analysis draws on demographic and educational data as well as semi-structured interviews with highly skilled slovaks living and working in czechia. The findings demonstrate that this migration flow is shaped by both proximity and persistent boundaries. Shared language and cultural familiarity significantly ease mobility, integration, and labour market entry. Yet slovak identity continues to function as a marker of symbolic difference, producing moments of perceived foreignness in professional and social interactions. While many slovaks do not self-identify as migrants, subtle forms of czech centrism and hierarchical representations contribute to differentiated experiences of belonging. By foregrounding an intra-regional mobility often presumed to be socially and politically neutral, the paper challenges dominant assumptions in migration studies and political science. It shows how processes of migratisation operate even within highly similar societies and argues that identity, symbolic hierarchies, and centre–periphery dynamics remain salient in shaping mobility and belonging in the czech–slovak context.

References

Allport, F. H. (1954). The structuring of events: outline of a general theory with applications to psychology. Psychological Review, 61(5), 281.

Bahna, M. (2011). Migrácia zo Slovenska po vstupe do Európskej únie. Veda.

Bahna, M. (2013). Intra-EU migration from Slovakia: an evaluation of new economics of labour migration and migrant networks theories. European Societies, 15(3), 388-407.

Bailey, A., & Mulder, C. H. (2017). Highly skilled migration between the Global North and South: gender, life courses and institutions. Journal of ethnic and migration studies, 43(16), 2689-2703.

Balogun, B. (2020). Race and racism in Poland: Theorising and contextualising ‘Polish-centrism’. The Sociological Review, 68(6), 1196-1211.

Bannerji, H. (2000). The dark side of the nation: Essays on multiculturalism, nationalism and gender. Canadian Scholars’ Press.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2021). Thematic analysis: A practical guide. Sage Publications.

Carling, J., Erdal, M. B., & Ezzati, R. (2014). Beyond the insider–outsider divide in migration research. Migration Studies, 2(1), 36-54.

ČSÚ. (2020). Cizinci v ČR v letech 2004-2020. https://www.czso.cz/csu/cizinci/4-ciz_pocet_cizincu

ČSÚ. (2021a). Sčítání 2021. https://www.czso.cz/csu/scitani2021/statni-obcanstvI

ČSÚ. (2021b). Cizinci v České republice. Český statistický úřad. https://csu.gov.cz/produkty/cizinci-v-cr-2020-5u6c6k4pxo

ČSÚ (2025a). Počet cizinců, demografické události. Czech Statistical Office. https://csu.gov.cz/pocet-cizincu-demograficke-udalosti?pocet=10&start=0&podskupiny=291&razeni=-datumVydani#regionalni-data

ČSÚ (2025b). Studenti a absolventi vysokých škol v České Republice. Analytická část. Czech Statistical Office. https://csu.gov.cz/produkty/studenti-a-absolventi-vysokych-skol-v-ceske-republice-78mlzzdn03

CVVM (2025). Tolerance k vybraným skupinám obyvatel – květen 2025. https://cvvm.soc.cas.cz/cz/tiskove-zpravy/ostatni/vztahy-a-zivotni-postoje/6160-tolerance-k-vybranym-skupinam-obyvatel-kveten-2025

Czaika, M. (Ed.). (2018). High-skilled migration: Drivers and policies. Oxford University Press.

Docquier, F., & Rapoport, H. (2012). Globalization, brain drain, and development. Journal of Economic Literature, 50(3), 681–730.

Drbohlav, D. (1994). International Migration in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and the Outlook for East Central Europe. International Migration Review 28(4): 1104–1127.

Drbohlav, D., & Janurová, K. (2019). Migration and integration in Czechia: Policy advances and the hand brake of populism. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/migration-and-integration-czechia-policy-advances-and-hand-brake-populism

Dumetz, J., & Gáboríková, E. (2017). The Czech and Slovak republics: a cross-cultural comparison. Marketing science and inspirations, v11, (4).

Ezzedine, P. & Pažejová, L. (2006). Slovenská menšina a migranti v ČR. In Leontiyeva, Yana (ed.) Menšinová problematika v ČR: komunitní život a reprezentace kolektivních zájmů (Slováci, Ukrajinci, Vietnamci a Romové), pp. 14-31. Sociologický ústav AV ČR.

Faist, T. (2013). The mobility turn: a new paradigm for the social sciences?. Ethnic and racial studies, 36(11), 1637-1646.

Fischer, J., & Lipovská, H. (2015). Brain drain–brain gain: Slovak students at Czech universities. Journal on Efficiency and Responsibility in Education and Science, 8(3), 54-59.

Frič, P., Bútorová Z. & Rosová T. (1992). Česko-slovenské vzťahy v zrkadle empirického výskumu (Czecho-slovak Relations Reflected in Empirical Research). Sociológia 24(1-2): 43-74.

Glick Schiller, N., Basch, L., & Blanc‐Szanton, C. (1992). Towards a definition of transnationalism. Annals of the New York academy of sciences, 645(1), ix-xiv.

Graf, S., Hřebíčková, M., Petrjánošová, M., & Leix, A. (2015). Češi a jejich sousedé: meziskupinové postoje a kontakt ve střední Evropě. Academia.

Jaworsky, B. N., Klvanová, R., Rétiová, A. S., Božic, I. R., & Krotký, J. K. (2023). A critical cultural sociological exploration of attitudes toward migration in Czechia: What lies beneath the fear of the thirteenth migrant. Rowman & Littlefield.

Kalmar, I. (2022). White but not Quite. Central Europe's Illiberal Revolt. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

Koser, K., & Salt, J. (1997). The geography of highly skilled international migration. International Journal of Population Geography, 3(4), 285-303.

Halás, M. (2014). The Development of Selected Mutual Relations between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. European Review 22(3): 414–431. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1062798714000258

Harris, J. R., & Todaro, M. P. (1970). Migration, unemployment and development: A two-sector analysis. American Economic Review, 60(1), 126–142.

Holý, L. (2010). Malý český člověk a skvělý český národ. Národní identita a postkomunistická transformace společnosti. Praha: SLON, 2 vydání.

Henderson, K. (2002). Slovakia. The Escape from Invisibility. London and New York: Routledge.

Kenworthy, J. B., Turner, R. N., Hewstone, M., & Voci, A. (2005). Intergroup contact: When does it work, and why. On the nature of prejudice: Fifty years after Allport, 278-292.

Minca, C. (2003). Critical peripheries. Environment & Planning D: Society & Space, 21(2), 160-168.

MŠMT (2025) Data o studentech, poprvé zapsaných a absolventech škol. Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. https://msmt.gov.cz/vzdelavani/skolstvi-v-cr/statistika-skolstvi/data-o-studentech-poprve-zapsanych-a-absolventech-vysokych?lang=1

Pickles, J. (2005). ‘New cartographies’ and the decolonization of European geographies. Area, 37(4), 355-364.

Pettigrew, T. F., & Tropp, L. R. (2006). A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of personality and social psychology, 90(5), 751.

Pettigrew, T. F., & Tropp, L. R. (2013a). Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Recent meta-analytic findings. In Reducing prejudice and discrimination (pp. 93-114). Psychology Press.

Pettigrew, T. F., & Tropp, L. R. (2013b). When groups meet: The dynamics of intergroup contact. psychology press.

Pospěch, P. (2021). Neznámá společnost: pohledy na současné Česko. Host.

Šrajerová, O. (1999). Utváranie slovenskej národnostnej menšiny. In Vranovský, Pavel (ed.). Quo vadis, slovenská menšina?, pp 6-13. Obec Slovákov v Českej republike.

Šrajerová, O. (2001). K národnej identite Slovákov v ČR. In Vranovský, Pavel (ed.). Slovenskosť v multikultúrnom svete, pp. 57-68. Obec Slovákov v Českej republike.

Šrajerová, O. (2012). Etnická identita Slovákov v Českej republike. In Slušný, J. & Lipták,

P. Slováci v ČR - cesta emancipácie a integrácie: 20. rokov Obce Slovákov v ČR. Zborník materiálov z medzinárodnej konferencie konanej v Prahe 30 .11.- 1. 12. 2012. Pp. 24-29. Obec Slovákov v Českej republike.

Sue, D. W., Spanierman, L. B. (2020). Microaggressions in everyday life. Hoboken, Wiley.

Sullivan, A. (2008). Cultural capital, cultural knowledge and ability. Sociological Research Online, 12(6), 91-104.

Tajfel, H. (1970). Experiments in intergroup discrimination. Scientific American, 223(5), 96-103.

Tajfel, H. (Ed.). (2010). Social identity and intergroup relations (Vol. 7). Cambridge University Press.

Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1978). Intergroup behavior. Introducing social psychology, 401(466), 149-178.

Tudor, A. (2023). Ascriptions of migration: Racism, migratism and Brexit. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 26(2), 230-248.

Rapoš Božič, I., Synek Rétiová, A., & Klvaňová, R. (2023). ‘We Have Always Been like This’: The Local Embeddedness of Migration Attitudes. Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 59(3), 339-365. 10.13060/csr.2023.030

Rychlík, J. (2015). Češi a Slováci ve 20. století: spolupráce a konflikty 1914-1992. Vyšehrad.

Uherek, Z. (2010). Antropologické pohledy na problematiku Slováků v České republice a Čechů a Moravanů na Slovensku. Česko-slovenské vztahy a krajané. Etnologický ústav AV ČR.

Varkočková, M. (2025). Decolonizing Central Asia and Central Europe: Centrality as In-Betweenness. In Sameer Kumar (Ed.), Bridging Asia-Europe Relations: Shared Challenges and Opportunities (pp. 117-132). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.

Vranovský, P. (1999). Špecifiky slovenskej menšiny v ČR. In Vranovský, Pavel (ed.). Quo vadis, slovenská menšina?, pp. 29-39. Obec Slovákov v Českej republike.