The developments of Czech and Slovak societies obviously have, or at least they had in the first half of 1993 according to the data we have analyzed, a lot in common. In both republics, the processes of wage differentiation in relation to educational and qualification requirements for occupations have started. The data about a relation between one's education and one's work income may, at certain point, inform about wide area of economic ''importance'' of education. In global analyses, that is a meritocratization of society problem or, rather a level of its stratification in the sense of status consistency of profession, education, income and life standard. When compared the income differentiations in 1984 and 1992 (see Table la, b) it is very obvious that the importance of education for getting a good salary in the Czech as well in Slovak Republic has changed. The data in the Table document the difference among educational groups as well as the difference between men and women (in the groups). The increase of the difference is the most marked in the index changes (third column of the Table) which informs about the quotient between an average educational group income and average whole population income. The found objective trend of performance differentiation is markedly reflected in the attitudes of Czech as well as Slovak population. The self-placing on the social scale as well as profession prestige scale is very differentiated (Table 2a, b, c). The self-placing on the scale of income differentiation besides of this effect also reflects a global economic situation of each of the republics. In other words, the found changes of educational groups positions in the income sphere (subjective evaluation) inform us not only about reflecting of denivelisation process but also about reflecting changes in the real income level. Uniting of these two influences is markedly obvious in the data from Slovak Republic when all the groups of population note decrease. Comparing the Czech Republic and the Netherlands (Table 3a), and the post-communist countries and the Western industrial countries (Tab. 3b) proves that the role of education in the income differentiation is in this time much lower in the post-communist countries than in the Western countries. It is obviously a system difference. All post-communist countries put big stress on the fact that the salary should depend on the worker's education. On the other hand, when evaluating the real state the respondents in all these countries agree that education does not influence much the salary. This absence of ''meritocracy'' obviously causes stressing the ''ideal'' state. Reflecting and evaluating the social changes cause important changes in the thinking of strategies leading to success (Tab 4a). The new society has new rules and the people are aware of them. While the strategies leading to success in 1988 were the same in both republics and also not really obvious (logically consistent), today's strategies are lot more obvious and they reflect different specifics of both states. The fact that in 1992 there are different strategies leading to success than in 1988 is more obvious from the results of factor analyses (Table 4b). The matrix of factor loadings after rotation informs that before November 1989 the in-structuration of success causes was different. A special attention should be paid to the fact that in both republics there is a common reflection of strategies leading to life success. In the first common factor in evaluating of 1988, the elements of work performance as well as qualification are combined, in the second factor, there are political-relation elements, in the third, characteristics of primary family. The present structure of potential success comes in the first factor with the individual disposition along with ''knowing right people'' (enterpriser phenomenon), in Slovakia, the stress is also on family wealth. In the second factor, there are the elements that can be called ''cultural capital''. The third factor unites ''politics'' and wealth of primary family in the Czech Republic. It is possible that for some part of population it means the image of the ''wealth of nomenclature'', for the other part it is a raise of the ''new nomenclature''. In Slovakia, this factor is not that marked. There is the ''political capital'' obviously in the sense of current political connections and connections with some part of the ''cultural capital'' along with negative connection to ''hard work'' as the most important factor elements in Slovakia. If we concentrate on the role of education it is obvious that is loses its earlier instrumental character. Education in 1993 becomes the lead element for one of the strategies leading to life success.
