The interdisciplinary project analyses and compares transformation processes in modern European societies on the example of two non-central regions of the Habsburg Monarchy: Bohemia and Transylvania. It shows how social mobility, education, family and other ties of elite social groups contribute to de/stabilizing of the society as a whole. Research is conducted on two groups of members of the decision-making strata: higher-ranking state officials and deputies of the land diets, the Imperial Council in Vienna and the Hungarian Parliament. In an imaginative way, the project combines methods from both humanities and nature sciences. Its main goal is to investigate factors which had a significant impact on whether an individual would become member of the above mentioned elite groups, to clarify the process of circulation of elites and the transition of imperial experience and structures into the newly created succession states. It shows links between career of an individual and his family ties and sheds light on demographic factors influencing the modern European family.
