An expanded edition of a successful sociological probe into Czech society. A basic toolkit for understanding Czech society, the crisis of democracy, and the functioning of contemporary politics. Debates about politics in the Czech Republic often reduce to the actions of a few politicians and their statements, value introspection, and the cultural wars between liberals and conservatives. However, the topics that affect the quality of life in the Czech Republic, and thus trust in democracy, seem to remain in our blind spots. Especially at a time when political campaigns are based more on emotions than on facts, misinformation spreads through the media, and society focuses on tabloid scandals of its representatives instead of issues like the future of work or the shape of education. Sociologist Daniel Prokop, in his book Blind Spots, examines the problems and challenges of contemporary Czechia and the world. Unresolved poverty and executions, unequal education and limited life chances, the rise of populism and the inability to respond to it, myths about public opinion overshadowing reality — all of this is related to the declining trust of Czechs in democracy and its viability in an increasingly complex reality.
