Religious Distance of the Students of the University of Split towards Islam/Muslims

Abstract

Predmet ovog istraživanja bio je fenomen socijalne (religijske) distance prema islamu odnosno muslimanima. Kroz rad su prikazane osnovne značajke religije, religioznosti i socijalne distance. Također, prikazan je razvoj sociologije religije i pojedinih teorijskih pristupa unutar iste te je analiziran sociokulturni i politički kontekst istraživanja. Anketnim upitnikom ispitivane su tri skupine varijabli: (1) sociostrukturna obilježja ispitanika (sociodemografska i socioekonomska obilježja, konfesionalna i religijska identifikacija), (2) politička i vrijednosna orijentacija ispitanika i (3) socijalna distanca prema muslimanima i islamu. Cilj istraživanja bio je dobiti uvid u religijsku distancu studenata Sveučilišta u Splitu prema muslimanima/islamu te, statistčkom obradom podataka i korištenjem testova (hi-kvadrat), ispitati utjecaj prve dvije skupine varijabli na treću.The subject of this study was the phenomenon of social (religious) distance towards Islam and Muslims. Through the work, I tried to present the basic features of religion, religiosity and social distance as well as superficial overview of the development of sociology of religion and certain theoretical approaches within the same. Likewise, work analyzes the socio-cultural and political context of research. The questionnaire examined three groups of variables: (1) socio-structural characteristics of the respondents (socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics, confessional and religious identification), (2) political and value orientation of respondents, and (3) social distance towards Muslims and Islam. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the religious distance of students at the University of Split against Muslims/Islam and to examine the impact of the first two groups of variables to third one