In this paper we use the case of Croatia to discover the determinants and patterns of support for the previous (communist) and the present political system, as well as expectations about the future. The conceptual and theoretical framework takes into account five dimensions: class, nationality, religiosity, economic well-being and heterogeneity of the region. There is a general pattern of support in Croatia which roughly corresponds to the findings in other post-communist countries. We find a negative evaluation of the previous system, more positive evaluation of the present political system (in the case of Croatia, more neutral) and optimism about the future.
Although this pattern holds across all groups, there are many significant differences. The previous regime is judged less harsh among females, professionals, less skilled manual workers, Serbs and less religious people. Satisfaction with the present political systems is mostly expressed among the less educated, farmers, people with lower income, the more religious, groups who identify themselves as “lower class” and those who created some savings in the last year. The more intensive support for the current political system is located on the lower end of the social hierarchy and on the top, managers-owners. We conclude that a new alliances forming between the top and the bottom of social hierarchy, as it was in the previous system (Županov, 19X3.) but this new alliance contains different social groups and it is based on different interests than before.U ovom radu na slučaju Hrvatske pokušali smo otkriti determinante i obrasce podrške prijašnjem (komunističkom) i sadašnjem političkom sustavu
kao i očekivanjima za budućnost. Konceptualni i teorijski okvir polazi od pet dimenzija: klase, nacije, religioznosti, ekonomskog blagostanja i heterogenosti regija. Postoji opći obrazac ocjenjivanja sustavu u Hrvatskoj koji uglavnom korespondira s nalazima u ostalim post-komunističkim zemljama. Našli smo negativno vrednovanje prošlog sustava, više pozitivno se ocjenjuje sadašnji politički sustav (u slučaju Hrvatske više neutralno) i optimizam u pogledu budućnosti.
Premda se ovaj obrazac očituje kod svih grupa ipak ima mnogo značajnih razlika. Prošli režim se ocjenjuje manje oštro kod žena, profesionalaca, manje kvalificiranih radnika, Srba i manje religioznih ljudi. Zadovoljstvo sa sadašnjim političkim sustavom izražavaju manje obrazovani, seljaci, ljudi s manjim primanjima, više religiozni, grupe koje su sebe identificirale kao “niža klasa” te među onima koji su ostvarili neku uštedu u prošloj godini. Dakle, više intenzivna podrška sadašnjem režimu locirana je medu nižim slojevima hijerarhijske društvene ljestvice i na samom vrhu kod menagera-vlasnika. Zaključili smo da se formirala nova alianca između vrha i nižih slojeva socijalne hijerarhije kao što je postojala i u prijašnjem sustavu (Županov, 19X3), ali nova alianca sadrži druge društvene grupe i bazirana je na različitim interesima nego prije
