Abstract
The book represents the first part of the upcoming trilogy, which will be dedicated to the Enlightenment in the Czech lands. This first part focuses on the reforms of Enlightenment absolutism, i.e. on the process of "building a (modern) state" through a series of targeted changes directed "from above", which more or less radically interfered with the existing structure of historical countries.
How did these reforms change the position of the Czech lands themselves, how did they affect their internal structure, how did the relations between the Czechs, Moravia and Silesia change? What kind of relationship was formed between the Viennese center and the Czech/Moravian/Silesian "periphery"? When and why did this center interfere in their internal affairs? How has the position of the privileged classes changed and, conversely, the position of the most numerous class of the population - the common subjects? How did this modernizing state react to the developing publishing market and the regulation of the growing amount of information - that is, to censorship? What sense did he see in education? And last but not least: To what extent does Enlightenment absolutism have to do with "Enlightenment", and to what extent simply with "state building"? And what legacy did such an "enlightenment state" leave to the emerging "modern society"?
The thematic outline of the book, inspired by the concept of Pierre Bourdieu, is represented by the formation of a state monopoly based on the concentration of three basic forms of "capital" - economic capital, power capital (army, police, criminal repression) and informational or cultural capital (issues of censorship, education, the publishing market and language policies). The second key line is the struggle of the state with the two main power rivals - the estates and the Catholic Church.