Sozial Benachteiligte in ländlichen Peripherien in Ostdeutschland und Tschechien: doppelt erschwerte Bedingungen für die Alltagsbewältigung? .

The question, whether and how spatial and social disadvantages overlap and what this means in terms of individual achievements is of crucial importance to rural sociology. Empirically, however, only few studies on this topical issue are available so far. The paper presents the conceptual and methodological approach as well as selected findings of a recently completed cross-national, German-Czech research project. Our research focusses on three socially disadvantaged groups: persons experiencing difficulties in the labour market, single parents and elderly persons living alone. They are living in four rural peripheries in Eastern Germany and Czechia, regions which are similar in their distance to metropolitan areas, low population density, weak economic structure and poor accessibility of public and private services. Our main interest is on the question whether social and spatial disadvantages accumulate and lead to a double disadvantage. We conducted 113 qualitative interviews in both countries. Overall, most respondents rate their lives in the four regions positively. Often, they describe a rural idyll, naming for example direct access to nature as important source of their well-being. However, they also point to a variety of everyday challenges due to a lack of services and infrastructures and the need to have access to a car and to travel long distances. They highlight the important role played by rural and small towns (and their supply services) in rural peripheries. Social relationships are also important for well-being. The respondents’ everyday narratives attest to the fact that they have found multiple ways of dealing with spatial constraints. Thus, our results paint a nuanced picture of rural peripheries where social and spatial disadvantages do not necessarily accumulate and people do not inevitably see themselves as disadvantaged – either socially or spatially. Central to this is a high degree of agency, manifesting in a variety of coping strategies. The respondents apply these to meet daily challenges and to live more self-determined lives than the spatial structures of a rural periphery and the conditions of various forms of social disadvantage would initially suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]