Sociocultural aspects of political activism: A new model proposal

This paper analyses the correlation between political activism, political participation, and certain value orientations, as crucial parts of modern governance in society today. A sample of the survey were members of the ruling and opposition parties, who were structured by age, place of residence, political affiliation, and role in local parliaments in six cities in Serbia. Results show a mixture of pre-modern (traditional), modern, and postmodern values, with traditional values still being viable, which could be one of the factors that significantly reduces the process of social transition. Socio-demographic variables and value orientations (autocratic-democratic, traditional-modern), along with the aspects of political culture, determine political behaviour to a large extent. The model of political activism, on which the study is based, is the model of socio-economic status. The results of the research suggest that a new, enhanced model should be proposed, entitled socio-cultural model of political activism

Genealogie des Anderen und Spatialisierungspraktiken

U radu polazimo od pretpostavke implicitne prisutnosti statičnog i nedijalektičkog prostora fizičke geografije u antropologiji i sociologiji devetnaestog stoljeća. Za razliku od antropologije koja je otkrila egzotičnog i udaljenog Drugog kao dramaturgiju u prostoru s nedostatkom povijesti, sociologija Drugog njegovu društvenu značajnost otkriva na razini svakodnevno prisutne bliskosti doma. U radu tvrdimo da su otkriveni Drugi isprva bili spacijalizirani na nepovijestan i nedijalektičan način – kao i sam prostor – a da je naknadna teorijska i epistemološka prostorna regionalnost dovela do regionalizacije Drugosti. U radu zaključujemo da su se diskursi mnoštva regionalno konstruiranih Drugosti pojavili u antropologiji i društvenim znanostima tek nakon prostornog zaokreta i razumijevanja procesa spacijalizacije kao društvene tehnologije moći, odnosno proizvodnje prostora.This paper is founded on the initial presupposition of the implicit presence of the static and non-dialectic space of physical geography in anthropology and sociology in the 19th century. Unlike anthropology which discovered the exotic Others as a dramaturgy in space lacking history the sociology of the Other and its social significance are revealed on the basis of a daily present closeness, ‘at home’. We claim that the discovered Others were first spatialized in an unhistorical and non-dialectical manner, like space itself. Тhe subsequent theoretical and epistemological spatial regionality led to the regionalization of Otherness. We conclude that discourses of many regionally constructed Othernesses appeared in anthropology, sociology and social sciences only after the spatial turn and the understanding of the process of spatialization as social technology of power, i.e. production of space.Le point de départ de ce travail consiste en la supposition implicite que l’existence d’un espace statique et non dialectique relevant de la géographie physique est présent dans l’anthropologie et dans la sociologie du XXème siècle. Contrairement à l’anthropologie, qui a découvert un Autre exotique et éloigné et qui, à défaut d’histoire en a fait un récit dans l’espace, la sociologie de l’Autre découvre quotidiennement son importance sociale au niveau d’une présence proche du foyer familiale. Dans ce travail nous affirmons que les Autres, découverts en premier, ont été spatialisés de manière non historique et non dialectique – comme l’espace lui-même – et que la régionalité spatiale, théorique et épistémologique, qui lui a suppléé, a conduit à une régionalisation de l’Autre. Ce travail nous mène à la conclusion selon laquelle les discours de la multitude sur les Altérités construites sur le plan régional sont apparus en anthropologie et en sciences sociales en tant que technologies sociales du pouvoir, à savoir en tant que productions de l’espace, et cela suite au tournant spatial et à la compréhension du processus de spatialisation.In der Arbeit gehen wir von der Annahme einer impliziten Präsenz des statischen und nichtdialektischen Raums der physischen Geografie in der Anthropologie und Soziologie des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts aus. Anders als die Anthropologie, die den exotischen und fernen Anderen als Dramaturgie in einem Raum mit Mangel an Geschichte entdeckte, bringt die Soziologie des Anderen dessen gesellschaftliche Bedeutsamkeit auf der Ebene der alltäglich präsenten Heimnähe ans Licht. In der Arbeit argumentieren wir, dass die entdeckten Anderen zunächst auf eine nichtgeschichtliche und nichtdialektische Art spatialisiert wurden – wie der Raum selbst – und dass die nachfolgende theoretische und epistemologische räumliche Regionalität zur Regionalisierung der Anderheit führte. In der Arbeit kommen wir zu dem Schluss, dass die Diskurse einer Vielzahl regional konstruierter Anderheiten in der Anthropologie sowie den Sozialwissenschaften in Erscheinung traten, jedoch erst nach einer räumlichen Wende und nach dem Verständnis der Spatialisierungsprozesse als gesellschaftliche Technologie der Macht bzw. Der Raumproduktion

Essay on Durkheim's understanding of magic

The subject of this essay is the understanding of magic developed by French sociologist É. Durkheim in his well-known study of the elementary forms of religious life. Starting with refutation of critics bring out by Mary Douglas in Purity and Danger, the author argues that Durkheim and W. Robertson Smith used magic predominantly for analytical purposes, to separate the particular kind of manipulation with supernatural forces from other religious practices. In continuation, Durkheim's standpoint is discussed on the problem of totemism, difference between social and public and A. van Gennep's conception of the individual magical power as a socially recognized form of the "pivoting of the sacred". The essay concludes with argumentation that Durkheim developed his conception of most elementary form of religion by additionally generalization of the main propositions on which H. Hubert and M. Mauss already founded their theory of magic

How much citizens of Serbia are informed about invalids

This paper is based on the research which aim was to establish how much are citizens of Serbia informed about invalids. According to the opinion of the questioned, their knowledge about life and problems of invalids is insufficient. This statement is going to be confirmed by the results: the degree of accordance between the subjective estimate of questioned citizens and their answers shows that they are, on the average, just partly informed about life and problems of invalids. Beside that, the citizens of Serbia are better informed about general socio-economic situation and the state of health of invalids, then about their specific needs. In spite of that, the questioned citizens demonstrated high degree of trust toward invalids, as well as the readiness to helping them (especially certain categories - workers, unemployed and pensioners)

Serbian Orthodoxy between traditional and universal values: Discourse analysis of the Journal Orthodoxy

The authors analyzed a discursive production of the Serbian Christian Orthodox community as it appeared in the Orthodoxy journal, published by the Serbian Orthodox Church. The aim was to identify the discourse producers, i.e. the contributors / article writers and to investigate the nature of discursive strategies used for the preservation of traditional values. The methodological approach of journal analysis is based on the grounded theory and was supported by Castoriadis' conception of social imaginary. After data processing three main matrix codes appears: the codes that refers to the discourse regarding traditional values defended by the discourse producers through the imaginary of 'US' - the narratives on Serbian nation, national culture and national identity; the codes that refers to the discourse regarding the imaginary of 'THEM' - the West, Europe, Western civilization and culture; the codes that refers to the universal values as something disputable through the imaginary of 'US versus THEM' - democracy, tolerance, and human rights. The discourse that creates the imaginary of 'US' is based mainly on the sacralisation of Serbian nation, which leads to the national religionism; the imaginary of 'THEM' is achived through the essentialization of Western world; the third discourse which confrontes 'US vs. THEM' reflects a struggle between traditional and universal values. By questioning the basic principles of Western societies the article writers and contributors in the Orthodoxy journal intended to make difference between 'Us' and 'Them' in order to stay competitive and continue to influence the Serbian society

The significance of national councils and the activism of national minorities in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina

The empirical research on nine national minorities at the territory of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina was carried out in May 2010, just before the elections for the national minority's councils in the Republic of Serbia. According to findings, the majority of respondents were familiar with the possibility of establishing the national councils (over 60%), although there are notable differences depending on national affiliation. The expectations from the councils are most frequently the keeping of tradition and customs (28%) and the group identity (25%), as well as the care for economic status of the members of national and ethnical communities (22%). Among the respondents there is about 35% active in various organizations and associations, mostly in civil associations (12.4%), political parties (12.2%) and sport societies (11.3%), but less in NGOs (5.8%). At the same time it is appointed that there is more significant readiness for engagement on behalf of their own national community, especially by means of volunteer work activities. There were also inquired the normative regulation of national council's jurisdiction and functions, as well the problems of appropriate designation of ethnical minority groups. The conclusion is that respondents mostly recognize the national councils as the means of keeping their collective identities, but do not consider them as an additional institutional mechanism of protection and improvement of their minority rights in Serbia

Ethnical distance in Vojvodina: Research results

This article presents the results of the ethnical distance measuring in Vojvodina, the north Province of the Republic of Serbia. The measuring was carried out on autumn 2002, during realization of the wider project of multiculturalism research in the mentioned region. According to the results the ethnical distances in Vojvodina are quite equalized and they are grouped around the attitude "all the same". Vojvodinian Serbs are more favorable partners for the majority of social contacts, and the relatively largest distance is shown toward Roma. The ethnical distance results also discovers two very important factors for understanding the interethnic relations in Vojvodina: first, the "rational" kind of social contacts with the members of the other ethnical groups are more preferable for the majority of respondents, and second, they have very equal distances toward their own ethnical groups

Social transition and changes in the value system: Example of Vojvodina

Starting from the importance that values has have for any organized society the authors tries to determine general directions of changes in the value system of the inhabitants of Vojvodina, the northern province of the Republic of Serbia. For that purpose the dates gathered during the empirical research in 2002 are used, when more than 1200 polled choused among universal and collective values, and individual character features. Among them, the most frequents are health, family and honesty. The authors argues that these values belongs to the domain of self-preservation and that they emerged as a result of permanent crisis of the Serbian state and society in the last decade of the twentieth century. In the wider cultural context, the results of the research supported the already noticed trends of retraditionalisation of the Serbian/Vojvodinian society

Rationalized decentralization and its influence to the position of citizens and national minorities in the Republic of Serbia

The rational decentralization represents a group of legal, political and sociological elements that usually appear in constitutional praxis and political theory, but are not classified in a special category. Having in mind the historical and constitutional experience of the Republic of Serbia, the intention of the authors is to determine the possible elements that would bring the decentralization to the rational and functional level of action. One of the goals of the paper is to show the faults of the incomplete decentralization and to discuss the certain solutions that have been creating deficit in the state structure, dysfunctional disorders in competency and political consequences in the Republic of Serbia, all because of the unequalized and unfinished vertical organization. In the introductory part of the paper the short review of the problem is given. The part is dedicated to the various theoretical views on decentralization, as well as to the chosen examples of decentralization in some European states that has as their goal the protection of national minorities and ethnic communities. After that, some theoretical indecision about decentralization is analyzed, as well as the classifications of regions that could be found in theory. At the end of the paper there is a discussion about an attempt to define as many elements that a constitution (above all the constitution of the Republic of Serbia) should contain in order to establish the rationalized decentralization in its vertical organization of governance

Factors of cherishing of national and cultural identity in Vojvodina

This article considers the most important factors of national affiliation and cultural identity cherishing among the largest nations and national minorities in Vojvodina, the north Province of the Republic of Serbia. The consideration is based on the empirical data's collected thru wider research of multiculturalism in the mentioned region. According to the polling, the most frequent factors of the national affiliation sense cherishing are "to observe tradition and custom" and "education of children in the spirit of national culture", while in the case of cultural identity preserving they are "formal education" and "family education of the children". Explaining the characteristic attitudes of the questioned citizens, the authors are of the opinion that the collected data's are strongly pointing on the rise of traditionalism in Vojvodinian/Serbian society, which needs further studies and new theoretical explanations