Social status of war veterans in Serbia - case study

Društveni položaj ratnih veterana u Srbiji nije zadovoljavajuć. Najvažniji razlog ovome jeste nedostatak mehanizama za uključivanje veterana u mirnodopsko društvo. S tim u vezi pokrenuto je istraživanje s ciljem da se odgovori na pitanje o tome kakav je odnos društva prema ratnim veteranima u Srbiji. Pored navedenog, rad se bavi procesima pomoću kojih se odvija uključivanje ratnih veterana u mirnodopski život, te mogućnostima za njihov doprinos stabilizaciji i razvoju civilnog društva. Kompleksnost samog predmeta istraživanja, nedostatak uzora u istraživačkoj praksi, kao i nepotpunost teorijskih paradigmi za proučavanje problema ratnih veterana, nametnuli su komplementarnost kao prihvatljiv pristup u ovom istraživanju. Komplementarnost je podrazumevala korišćenje različitih izvora podataka: postojećih, nastalih u redovnoj aktivnosti raznih institucija koje se bave ovom društvenom grupom i novostvorenih za potrebe samog istraživanja. Takođe, korišćeno je više metoda i tehnika za stvaranje iskustvene evidencije koji pripadaju kvalitativnoj i kvantitativnoj istraživačkoj strategiji: posmatranje, analiza sadržaja, ispitivanje (anketa i dubinski intervju) što je ishodovalo jednom obimnom studijom slučaja. Ključni nalazi istraživanja bi se u najkraćem mogli sažeti u sledećem: nepostojanje sistemske socijalne evidencije o ratnim veteranima; dominantno kompenzacijski odnos prema problemima istraživane društvene grupe i nedostatak integracijskih mera od strane strukturnih društvenih činilaca; utvrđen je i nizak stepen podrške od najbližeg okruženja (primarnih društvenih grupa: porodice, prijatelja suseda) u prevladavanju problema sa kojima se suočavaju ratni veterani; kod istraživane grupe ustanovljeno je nezadovoljstvo sistemom socijalne zaštite i neregulisano pravo na zdravstvenu zaštitu, niska politička participacija i javni angažman te usmeravanje socijalnih kontakata prema ljudima istog ratnog iskustva. Pri tom, utvrđeno je i jasno iskazivanje potrebe za društvenom participacijom i otvorenost za uključivanje u programe za izgradnju mira; na najširem društvenom planu i u svakodnevnoj interakciji ustanovljena je stigmatizacija koja doprinosi društvenom isključivanju proučavane grupe. Iz dobijenih rezultata istraživanja nameće se zaključak da ogroman deo ispitivane populacije živi izvan zajednice upravo zbog nedostatka integracijskih mera koje bi za svrhu imale olakšavanje prelaska iz ratnih u mirnodopske uslove života i socijalnu reintegraciju ove populacije.The social position of war veterans in Serbia is not satisfactory. The most important reason for this is a lack of mechanisms for the inclusion of veterans in a society which is in a state of peace. With this in mind, the research has been conducted in order to answer the question: What are the societal attitudes towards war veterans in Serbia? The research also addresses the processes that aid the inclusion of war veterans in war-free life, as well as possibilities for their contribution towards the stabilisation and development of civil society. Complementarity as a research approach was adopted due to the complexity of the research topic, the lack of research models, and shortcomings of the theoretical paradigms for researching this problem of war veterans. Complementarity means using different data sources: the already existing ones that were created as the results of everyday activities of different institutions that deal with war veterans and new ones created for the purpose of this project. In addition, a number of qualitative and quantitative methods and techniques have been used - observation, content analysis, inquiry (questionnaire and in-depth interview) - which resulted in a comprehensive case study. The key findings of the project can be summarised as: a lack of systematic social evidence about war veterans; dominant compensatory attitudes towards the problems of the social group under study and a lack of integration measures by structural social agencies; low support level by the closest surrounding people (primary social groups: family, friends, neighbours) in overcoming problems that veterans face; dissatisfaction with the system of social integration and non-regulated health entitlements, low political and public participation and restriction of social contacts to people with a similar war experience have also been found among the research group. At the same time, the following have been noticed: a clearly expressed need for social participation and openness towards taking part in peace building; stigmatisation both at the widest social aspect and at the everyday level of interaction, which contribute to social exclusion of the group under study. Data analysis imposes the conclusion that a vast majority of the researched population lives outside the community precisely because of the lack of integration measures that would serve the purpose of making the adjustment from war time to peaceful life conditions and social reintegration of this population easier

The war veteran identity

The paper discusses how war veterans perceive themselves and how they answer the question 'Who am I?'. War veterans face many challenges in the process of re-socialization from a state of war and war traumatization to a peacetime society. There are several reasons why their re-socialization is a slow process: the first one is that a war engagement is in itself a highly stressful situation which carries traumas of different degrees, the other reason is the changed system of values in relation to war engagement. Namely, at the time they went to war, they had a strong social support, but at the time of their return and today this support is lost to the point of judgment. And the third reason which limits their re-socialization is the situation of social transition they found on their return from war, which specifically means that a large percentage of the population in general, and thus the war veterans after returning from the war, lost their jobs, creating a large social group of 'transition losers'. Such a condition often generates an identity crisis. This set of socio-cultural circumstances together with the ontological insecurity carried by war trauma generate an identity crisis, which is manifested among the respondents in nihilistic answers when responding to questions about their own personality. Studying the identity of war veterans, it was found that a strong attachment to the veteran identity is dominant. In fact, this paper discusses the different ways in which this attachment is refracted in the personality and identity of subjects, from negative attitudes to the pride in belonging to a group of war veterans and personal fulfillment in the activism in associations of war participants

Working women in the northern Kosovo and Metohija

The life of women in northern Kosovo and Metohija is shaped on one hand by the delicate political and safety conditions, and on the other hand by gender relations with predominantly traditional life­style and patriarchal value systems. The research primarily concerns the public sphere of women from rural areas, while gender relations in everyday life could be judged only through indirect indicators such as: women's participation in the ownership structure, the dominant reason for unemployment among women who have never worked being a sacrifice of such opportunities due to housekeeping and child care, the dominance of traditional skills characteristic of the elderly population of the village. In researching the reasons for the increasing depopulation of villages and low fertility, the categories in the field of private life and gender relations grounded in specific life circumstances can not be neglected. However, in this study we were mainly interested in the public sphere of social life of women from rural areas in northern Kosovo and Metohija, the availability of non- agricultural labor market to these women. A dominant feature of the public sphere of life of the women from rural areas of Kosovo and Metohija is a high level of employment in the non-agricultural sector, which entails a high level of health and pension insurance in the respondents of the study. Non-agricultural employment takes place largely in state/socially-owned companies, while employment in the private sector is extremely low, while private enterprise is almost negligible. The reason for this can be found in the high presence of the state institutions of the Republic of Serbia in this territory, the majority of which being displaced from other parts of the province due to the inability to function. However, such a high dependence on the public sector in the political conditions in which these institutions have a temporary character is also a risk factor for the inhabitants of these territories. In case political and economic conditions in future require reorganization, restructuring, privatization and the reduction of the number of employees, it is necessary to carefully develop and implement prevention measures for working women who are at risk of redundancy, since this situation in women from rural areas may lead to their closure in the sphere of everyday life and their transition to the status of unpaid family members in agricultural households. Population belonging to the category of unpaid family members in agricultural households in Serbia registers very poor social living conditions (Babović, Vuković, 2008). Therefore, it is important that women threatened with redundancy, as a precaution, in a timely manner take the appropriate measures in order to better their situation in the labor market and remain employed. In designing these measures, research findings which point to a mismatch in the respondents' skills and knowledge with the needs of the labor market should be taken into account. Moreover, it is significant to work on increasing the social capital of women from rural areas through nurturing the culture of association and organization. Finally, it is necessary to help maintain the authentic cultural activities that will bring amusement to community members and the pleasure of participating in community life

Entrepreneurial inclinations of women from rural areas

Entrepreneurial inclinations of women from rural areas are shaped by the lack of business ideas and economic capital, which, in addition to financial resources, includes cultural capital in the form of knowledge and skills. The paper presents a part of a broader study on the social position of women from the rural areas of northern Kosovo and Metohija, conducted in 2013. The research was predominantly focused on entrepreneurial inclinations of rural women, and the findings suggest that private enterprise in the studied population is undeveloped as a result of two dominant reasons. The first reason is the situation which is unfavorable in terms of politics and security, and therefore, not conducive to investment security, together with the specificity in the form of complex administrative business conditions requiring compliance to parallel and mutually incompatible standards (of the Republic of Serbia and of the UNMIK administration). The second important reason for the lack of entrepreneurial initiatives is the lack of ownership of property and the means of production, since banks do not give loans without guarantees in the form of ownership of the mortgage, while other forms of financial incentives are unavailable. The respondents attended programs for acquiring new knowledge and skills only in a small number of cases, while showing the greatest susceptibility to education in traditional skills, such as training in agriculture and handicrafts, which are not the skills in line with the needs of the labor market. As the most important reasons that -prevent them from having their own business, the respondents -mentioned: the lack of ideas and the lack of financial resources. In this regard, they would find incentives in the form of grants most helpful to start their own business. The absence of funds and gender inequality form the basis for the lack of ownership of property and means of production. In addition to the shortage of financial resources, knowledge and skills, entrepreneurial inclinations of rural women from northern Kosovo and Metohija are inhibited by: the limited freedom of movement of goods and services, the lack of access to financial institutions aimed at developing small and medium-sized enterprises, and the uncertainty of investing in areas with a high investment risk. The unstable political circumstances create a series of obstacles, -specific and incompatible procedures for the registration and operation of enterprises within the laws of the Republic of Serbia and the UNMIK administration being one of them. In addition to structural changes, it is necessary to work on increasing the social capital of rural women by nurturing the culture of association and organization. In addition to investments in social skills, it is very important to expand education programs for rural population with alternative educational programs related to labor market needs (courses in foreign languages, art, computer science, etc.). Finally, it is necessary to help maintaining authentic cultural activities that would bring entertainment and incite a desire to participate in community life

On social inequalities on the pages of the Sociološki pregled / Sociological Review in the period of self-management socialism

It is quite possible to argue that sociology has acquired a large part of its scientific legitimacy by studying social inequalities, and it can also be said that sociologists' interest in their study was often mediated by the ideological mark of the community they belonged to, as well as other group and personal interests. The interest in acquiring a notion of the extent to which the sociological scientific public of Serbia, according to the articles published in a relevant scientific journal, was sensitive to the study of this problem is not conditioned solely by the awareness of the importance of the study itself. Our point of view is that sociology has often 'sharpened' its critical potential by pointing to different sources and outcomes of social inequalities in various domains of social life, giving unambiguous empirical evidence about them and offering theoretical and methodological frameworks for their explanation and understanding. This has not only made it a relevant social science dealing with this universal phenomenon affecting all societies that is increasingly being studied globally, but it enabled it to put the results of the research into the service of humane objectives of social development. The paper presents the results of an analysis of the contributions published in the Sociološki pregled/ Sociological Review relating to social inequalities, whether they are economic, political or cultural inequalities, as well as their consequences. The results of an elementary analysis of the thematic orientation and methods of processing the mentioned problems are presented with the aim to establish the scope and nature of scientists' interest in this socially extremely important problem. The papers with explicit content belonging to the mentioned topic published in the aforementioned journal were analyzed, representing a relevant periodical in the field of sociology in the Yugoslav area and the journal of the professional association of sociologists in Serbia