Individual and Country Level Determinants of (Post)Materialist Values in Eastern Europe

This paper is aimed at analysing the level of postmaterialist values in Eastern European countries as well as the main individual and country level predictors of the postmaterialist value preference. The data from the World Values Survey (WVS) and the European Values Survey (EVS), conducted on the nationally representative samples in the period from 1990 to 2008, were used. The main analysis was performed on the data from the fourth wave of EVS (2008/2010), on the total of twenty countries and 30,393 respondents. A number of individual (age, education, income level, size of town, economic hardship in formative years) as well as country level variables (inflation and unemployment rate, Human Development Index and GINI index values) were used. The results have shown that the level of postmaterialist values in Eastern Europe, measured by the standard four-item index, is relatively low and relatively stable in the period 1990–2008. Younger, urban and more educated respondents as well as the citizens from more developed and economically stable Eastern European nations are more inclined towards postmaterialism. The significance of the current socio-economic conditions for the variation in postmaterialism as well as the insignificance of economic security during the formative period of political maturation calls into question the assumptions of Inglehart’s original model. The possible alternative mechanisms of value change as well as of the (post)materialist conception are discussed

Intrinsic or Instrumental Support for Democracy in a Post-Communist Society. The Case of Serbia

According to the cultural model of political culture and political change, citizens accept only those political and economic structures compatible with their relatively stable cultural orientations and political values, which are product of a common early socialization. An important implication of this view is that, after several decades of authoritarian rule and a lack of democratic political culture, the support for democracy in ex-communist societies is rather instrumental than intrinsic, based not on values, but perceived system performances in political and economic terms. The rational choice (or institutional) model, on the other hand, posits that these evaluations of system performances are far more than just lip service to democracy; they shape the political attitudes and behaviours and contribute to the (lack of) allegiance to democratic institutions and norms. This paper aims at clarifying the importance of certain “institutional” and “cultural” variables for the general support to democracy in Serbia and their dynamic interplay. The data used in the paper were collected in the post-election survey, conducted after the May 2012 parliamentary and presidential elections on a representative sample of Serbian citizens (N=1,568). The relative importance of several predictors was analyzed: the socio-demographic variables (respondent’s age, educational level, monthly household income), the personality/dispositional variables (authoritarianism), the institutional variables (satisfaction with Serbian democracy and economy, evaluation of government performance before the election, the perceived level of respect for individual freedom and the quality of voters’ view representation in elections) and the cultural variables (political tolerance, nationalism, liberalism, socialist egalitarianism). The most important predictors of support for democracy were satisfaction with Serbian democracy (β=.21, p lt 001) and evaluation of government performance (β=.21, p lt 001); the citizens who were more satisfied with democracy and more inclined to positively evaluate the government performance were more supportive of democracy. The less authoritarian citizens (β=-.11, p lt .01) and those who described their political views as liberal (β=.11, p lt .01) were also more positively oriented towards democracy, proving the relevance of the more general and relatively stable political orientations. The quality of support for democracy in Serbia in intrinsic/instrumental terms was discussed in the concluding part

Magnesite-bearing fracture zones of the Zlatibor ultrabasic massif (Serbia) as a discrete structural-morphological type of magnesite deposits in ultrabasites

In this paper, a discrete structural-morphological type of magnesite deposits in ultrabasites, i.e., in magnesite-bearing fracture zones, is presented. The most prominent occurrences of such zones in Serbia are in the Zlatibor ultrabasic massif and they are economically very significant because they contain large reserves of high-quality magnesite, as well as of the accompanying sepiolite

Partisan heart and/or rational mind?: Party identification, political knowledge and electoral turnout

Cilj ovog rada je analiza odnosa između pozitivne i negativne identifikacije sa strankom i političkog znanja, kao i njihovih međuodnosa u pogledu izborne izlaznosti. Korišćeni su podaci iz ispitivanja javnog mnjenja u Srbiji posle izbora 2012. na nacionalno reprezentativnom probabilističkom uzorku građana (N=1568). Podaci su pokazali da je političko znanje značajno i pozitivno povezano i sa pozitivnom i sa negativnom identifikacijom sa strankom. Veću verovatnoću da će glasati imaju građani koji imaju više političkog znanja i koji imaju pozitivnu identifikaciju sa strankom. Međutim, pokazalo se da uticaj političkog znanja na izbornu izlaznost moderira samo pozitivna identifikacija sa strankom. Političko znanje značajno predviđa izlaznost samo u grupi građana bez pozitivne identifikacije sa strankom. Negativna identifikacija sa strankom ne menja odnos političkog znanja i izlaznosti. Rezultati su razmatrani u terminima Mičigen modela identifikacije sa strankom i teze kognitivne mobilizacije. Uloge afektivne i kognitivne motivacije u izbornom učešću su dodatno naglašene i razmatrane.This paper aims at analysing the relationship between positive and negative party identification and political knowledge, as well as their interplay in regard to electoral turnout. The data from the Serbian 2012 post-election public opinion survey on the nationally representative probability-based sample of voting age citizens were used (N = 1568). The data show that political knowledge is significantly and positively correlated both with positive and negative party identification. Citizens who are more knowledgeable and positively identified are also more likely to vote. However, it is shown that the influence of political knowledge on electoral turnout is moderated only by positive party identification. Political knowledge significantly predicts turnout only in the group of citizens without positive party identification. Being negatively identified with a political party does not modify the relationship between political knowledge and turnout. The results are discussed in terms of the Michigan model of party identification and cognitive mobilisation thesis. The roles of affective and cognitive motivation in electoral participation are additionally stressed and debated

Efekti nekih obrazovanih promena u kontekstu ciljeva reforme obrazovanja

The present study deals with the changes brought about by the educational reform since the 2001, which refer to the accomplishment of educational goals in the courses of Serbian language, religious and civic education. The study also included the analysis of the conditions in which the educational changes took place, the resources needed and prevailing social values. The results of the previous relevant studies indicate that the defined goals related to the instruction of Serbian, religious and civic education have not been accomplished in targeted level. The analysis also shows that adequate material and human resources for the reform implementation have not been provided, as well as that the prevailing values do not support the planned development of the education. It is concluded that these difficulties pose the challenges on whose overcoming the future of educational changes depends.Predmet proučavanja su promene koje se odnose na ostvarivanje ciljeva obrazovanja i vaspitanja u učenju srpskog jezika, veronauke i građanskog vaspitanja, koje je donela reforma obrazovanja od 2001. godine. U ispitivanje su uključeni i uslovi u kojima su promene sprovedene, potrebni resursi i aktuelne društvene vrednosti. Rezultati analize relevantnih istraživanja ukazuju da nije došlo do ostvarivanja definisanih ciljeva nastave Srpskog jezika, Veronauke i Građanskog vaspitanja u željenoj meri. Analiza ukazuje i na neobezbeđenost adekvatnih materijalnih i ljudskih resursa za realizaciju reformi, kao i na nedovoljnu podršku vrednosnog konteksta za planirani razvoj obrazovanja. Zaključeno je da navedene teškoće predstavljaju izazove od čijeg rešavanja zavisi dalja sudbina promena u obrazovanju

Srpsko javno mnjenje o dečijoj maštovitosti i njegovi korelati

Child imagination is considered in developmental theories as a desirable precondition for later creative production, though in everyday use, imagination is viewed as fantasy, unreal, not practical and not important. The topic of interest in this paper is public opinion of imagination as the quality that can be encouraged to learn at home and the factors which influence this opinion. The data for the analysis were collected from the Third and Fourth Wave of World Values Survey. The findings suggest that imagination has a very low status among other child qualities which have to be supported. The increase in interest for imagination in the world and in Europe between the Third and Fourth Wave of the survey can indicate larger compliance with the actual demands of educational reform for democratization of education and encouragement of creativity of the young. Stagnation of child imagination status in the opinion of Serbian respondents is understandable in the framework of social crisis which happened at the time when the survey was conducted. The preference of imagination is positively correlated with respondents' postmaterialist orientation and educational level, but negatively with their age. The implications of findings for nurturing creativity in formative period are discussed. It is concluded that the school is invited to offer special programs to compensate for public opinion effects.Dok se u razvojnim teorijama dečija mašta tretira kao poželjan preduslov za kasniju kreativnu produkciju, u svakodnevnoj upotrebi ovaj termin se odnosi na fantaziju, nešto nerealno, nepraktično i neznačajno. Predmet interesovanja u ovom radu su stavovi javnog mnjenja o tome u kojoj meri maštovitost deteta može da se podstiče u kući i faktori koji utiču na te stavove. Analizirani su podaci koji su prikupljeni u Trećem i Četvrtom talasu Svetske studije vrednosti. Nalazi ukazuju da maštovitost ima vrlo nizak status među osobinama dece koje treba da budu podržane. Porast vrednovanja maštovitosti na nivou svetskog i evropskog uzorka između Trećeg i Četvrtog talasa može se pripisati većem uvažavanju zahteva za demokratizacijom obrazovanja i podsticanjem kreativnosti mladih koji su sadržani u obrazovnim reformama. Zadržavanje niskog statusa maštovitosti na uzorku Srbije razumljivo je u okviru društvene krize koja se dešavala u vreme izvođenja ispitivanja. Preferiranje maštovitosti je pozitivno povezano sa postmaterijalističkom orijentacijom ispitanika i nivoom njihovog obrazovanja, a negativno sa njihovim uzrastom. Diskutovane su implikacije nalaza za podsticanje kreativnosti u formativnom periodu. Zaključeno je da je škola pozvana da ponudi posebne programe za prevazilaženje efekata iskazanih stavova

On improbable carrots: Serbian citizens between Kosovo and the elusive EU membership

Membership in the EU is sometimes presented as a reward for Serbia’s eventual acknowledgement of Kosovo’s independence. Although membership in the EU has been a strategic goal of Serbian foreign policy, the EU is often perceived as working against Serbian national interests regarding Kosovo’s status. Relying on the cognitive dissonance theory, we hypothesize that in addition to a direct negative association between the support for Serbia’s territorial integrity and the EU membership, there is also an interactive effect: the association should be moderated by one’s opinion on when and whether Serbia will become a member of the EU. These hypotheses are examined using public opinion data based on a large national sample of adult Serbian citizens. The results support the interaction hypothesis: the attitude that Kosovo should remain part of Serbia is a stronger predictor of the (negative) evaluation of the EU among those respondents who do not believe that Serbia will become an EU member in the future

Automatska mikrostrukturna analiza sinterovanih materijala

In this article the new approach to automatic microstructure analysis of the sintered materials has been presented. The method is based on contour recognition and decomposition of digital image, according to their gray scale intensity and the use of log-hyperbolic grain size distribution and it has been successfully applied on microstructure analysis of BaTiO3 sintered under non isothermal conditions.U ovom radu je prezentovana nova metoda za automatsku mikrostrukturnu analizu materijala. Metoda je bazirana na prepoznavanju kontura i dekompoziciji digitalne slike na osnovu fotometrijskih zakona, kao i na primeni log hiperbolične distribucije. Ova metoda je uspešno primenjena za mikrostrukturnu analizu neizotermski sinterovanog barijum-titanata

„Драга патолошка лажовчино ...” – представа о политичком „другом” у Србији током пандемија Ковида 19

Предмет рада је представа о другом у политичком дискурсу врхова политичких странака Србије на друштвеним мрежама. Све објаве на друштвеној мрежи Твитер на званичним профилима две водеће политичке странке, Српске напредне странке и Странке слободе и правде, у периоду јун 2021 – април 2022, њих укупно 4,731, анализиране су методом анализе садржаја. Анализа је показала да се о оном другом у објавама релативно често говори; када се говори, то је готово искључиво у негативном контексту, док се у већини негативних објава могу идентификовати морализаторске евалуације. У завршном делу дискутован је значај добијених налаза из угла теоретисања о афективној и моралној поларизацији.The phenomenon of political polarization has been increasingly studied recently. Two types of polarization are typically distinguished in the pertinent literature – the issue (or ideological) and affective polarization. Affective polarization, the relationship towards the political out-group in emotional terms, has attracted much attention in recent years and scholars argue that animus towards the out-group has become a more important determinant of political life than attachment to one’s own political in-group. Political hatred of the political ‘other’ is usually accompanied by negative moral characterization of political opponents, often described as moral polarization. Negative moral judgments of political opponents are not only very corrosive for any democratic society, but make the political life more the matter of the victory over the morally corrupted ‘others’ than a struggle over competing ideas and principles. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and unprecedented ease of communication via social networking sites further fuelled these polarization processes. The aim of this paper is to analyze the image of the ‘other’ in the political discourse of the main political parties in Serbia on social networking sites. All posts on Twitter, one of the most popular social networking sites, from the official accounts of the two leading political parties, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and the Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP), in the time period from June 2021 to April 2022 were collected. A total of 4,731 Twitter posts were analyzed using the combination of quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The posts were coded according to three criteria: (1) whether the political ‘other’ has been referenced in the post; (2) if so, whether it has been mentioned in a negative, neutral or positive context; (3) and, if mentioned negatively, how often the moral evaluation of the ‘other’ has been present. The analysis has shown that the ‘other’ is relatively often mentioned in the selected posts; when mentioned, it is almost exclusively in a negative context, while moralizing evaluations can be identified in the majority of negative posts. Moral polarization seems to be widespread, at least in the discourse on social networking sites of SNS and SSP. In the concluding part, the relevance of the obtained findings is discussed from the point of view of theorizing about affective and moral polarization and the prospects of democratization of the Serbian societ