The chapter deals with the main approaches to border research. First, a brief description of the Czech border, affected by the expulsion of the Germans after 1945, is given. An overview of the main findings of sociological surveys conducted after the political changes and border opening after 1989. Life in the border regions along the "Iron Curtain" changed fundamentally after the border opened. People's contacts across borders began to develop dynamically. As in the whole of the then Czechoslovakia, private business is booming, property restitution and privatization are taking place. Various civic organizations of interest are emerging, often following cross-border contacts, and social life is changing with varying intensity throughout the Czech border. An overview of some sociological researches examining these changes is given in order to gain a deeper understanding of their impact on local communities in the Czech borderland and their connection with the processes of European integration.