INTRODUCTION TO POST-COMMUNIST SOCIAL CHANGE SERBIAN (YUGOSLAVIAN) CASE

1. INTRODUCTION TO POST-COMMUNIST SOCIAL CHANGE SERBIAN (YUGOSLAVIAN) CASE Sabina Hadžibulić, Ph. D. student sabinica602@gmail.com

2. First Yugoslavia: • Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1918) • Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1929) • Second Yugoslavia: • Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (1943) • Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia (1945) • Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1963) • Third Yugoslavia: • Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992) • State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (2003) • Republic of Serbia (2006)

3. Serbia/Yugoslavia before the socialist period (under the Ottoman rule, before the First World War, in between the wars) • Reasons for becoming a socialist country • traditional relationship with Russia • process of modernization that was promising a better material position to most of the population • homology between the traditionally-collective value orientation and the communist value orientation

4. SFRY: 7 neighboring states, 6 republics, 5 nationalities, 4 languages, 3 religions, 2 alphabeths,1 party

5. Political system • Federation (6 republics, 2 autonomous provinces) • The Communist Party of Yugoslavia/The League of Communists of Yugoslavia • Federal Assembly (Yugoslavian parlament) – completely composed of communist members • Josip Broz Tito (in 1974 President – for – life) • Collective presidency (1980 – 1991) • Not a member of the Warsaw Pact • Neutral stand in the Cold War • Founding member of Non - Aligned Movement • Non-confrontational policy towards the U. S. A. • First communist country to open its borders to all foreign visitors and abolish visa requirements (1967) • “We are different, both from the East and from the West”

6. Economic system • Command (centrally planned) economy • Market socialism • Private property (agriculture, trades, the service sector) • Socialist self-management • Temporary success of the command economy was based on the overextended exploitation of an easy available resources: work force, raw materials, primary mobilization of the population, fast structural changes (deagrarianization, industrialization, urbanization), foreign loans, etc.

7. Cultural system Cultural models in Yugoslavia (Dragićević-Šešić, 1994) • Dominant cultural models • Enlightenment-dogmatic model • Elite culture • Cultural models of popular culture • Standard cultural models • Populist (newly composed) cultural model • Rock culture as a massive culture of youth • Alternative cultural models • Musical subcultures (hippy, rock, punk, post punk) • Fashionable intellectual cultures • Artistic and creative subcultural or alternative groups • Dissident artistic and intellectual subculture • Traditional cultural models • Agricultural model • Cultural models of particular ethnic groups • Marginal cultural models • Delinquents culture • Junkie culture

8. How do the systems fall apart? (2 possible solutions) • Static society (dominant way of production can be permanently reproduced without the change of the conditions on which the way of production itself is based upon) • The aim of the production in the socialist society • Differences: capitalism/socialism • Crises of the system • Irrational acting of the elite

9. What a thorough change of a social form and a transition to a new one need is the presence of the structural and the acting factors (Lazić, 1994a: 19). • Blocked transformation (1991 – 2000) • The process of blocked transformation represents a delayed, slowed change of the system controlled by the former elite in order to convert its dominant political-economic position into economic-private-capital (Lazić, 2005: 126). • The starting phase of the PST of Serbia is characterized by the absence of the social group that would introduce new system as a creation of their own basic interests.

10. Political system • Multiparty system (y. 1989) • Elections in 1990,1993, 1996, 2000 (end of the old regime) • Kosovo problem • Parties • nondemocratic options (SPS, SRP) • unstable democratic option (DOS, DPS, DP) • fragile political system (the fight between the parties started before the institutional preconditions for the consolidation of the democratic political order were made) • Results: the slowing down of reforms, alienation from the political life of the majority of the population

11. Economic system • The break of the economy (dramatic decrease of national income, extremely high inflation, general impoverishment of the population, increase of grey economy) • Reasons for the slow economical growth: • objective (physical devastation of the production capacities and the infrastructure, obsolete technology, lack of capital, lack of foreign investments, etc.) • irresponsibility and incapability of the political elite (strong conflict between the parties, absence of the basic consensus about the politically-economical transformation of the country) • features of the new formed managerial/economical elite

12. Civil society • NGOs 1990-2000y. (no. 2000) 1997y. (no. 695) 2000y. (no. 900) Regional development of NGOs in Serbia in % *Source: Lazic, 2004

13. Reasons for the slow development of the civil sector: • more attractive field of politics • dramatic economical difficulties • nationalism • cultural features of the Serbian population (low educational level) • financing • The role of NGOs during the transformation (education, mobilization, material existence, influence on the oppositional parties)

14. Social movements - students protests (1992, 1996/1997) - 49% with the University degree + students 23% - citizens of big cities • Peace protests • Syndicates (workers’ unions) in the process of PST: - link between the interests of the employed population and the political elite - to legitimize general reformate orientation of the political and economical elite - to pacify social conflicts - to improve and help the conditions for the general reforms • The League of the Worker’s Unions of Serbia, Independence

15. Revitalization of the religion, de-secularization process • Media's promotion of church and its presenters is much increased. Traditional customs about religious holidays, once almost forgotten, are now broadcastagain and presenters of all confessions take part in many informational and educational radio and television programmes. • Interests in studing religion at the Theological Faculty of the Serbian Ortodox Church is increased in both sexes, male and female. At the beggining of the 90s (1990) the Theological Institute of the Serbian Ortodox Church was founded and its education level can be compared to a college. It gives a complete, but sumerized programme of religious studies. • The renovation and construction of many churches and other religious buildings is increased. • Religious publications and literature are reappearing. • Monasticism (both male and female) is coming to life again, which is influenced by political conditions (...) (Ćiparizović-Radisavljević, 2006: 37-38).

16. Research from 1984 (D. Djordjević) • Indicators of traditional connection to religion and church: • 23,8% declared as a religious population, one fifth as undefined (22,8 %), and unreligiuos and atheistic position took almost 50% of exeminees. • 59,3% of exeminess is practising christening of the child. • 57,9% celebrate religious holidays. • Indicators of current connection to religion and church: • 6,83% visit liturgy. • 25,2% of exemineesvisit church. • 4,4% make confessions. • 0,7% attend lessons of religious teaching. • 24,4% pray on regular basis. • 24,2% fast. • 3,8% of them read religious literature and press.

17. Researches from 1993&1999 (Blagojević, Ćiparizović-Radisavljević) • Indicators of traditional connection to religion and church: • In the mid 90s confessional (self)identification was 71,3 %, which is about 48% more than ten years earlier and 12% more than at the end of decade (59,3%). • Traditional custom – christening – was practiced among 84,4% of exeminess in 1993. and 83,9% of them practiced it at the end of the last decade. • Custom of church funeral was practised among 92,4 % of exeminess in the mid 90s, while at the end of decade only 86,1 % did it. • According to results of 1993investigation 93,3% of exeminees celebrated religious holidays and ''Slava'' celebration. A few years later, number decreased to 86,6%.

18. Indicators of current connection to religion and church: • 26,3% of exeminees attended liturgy in the mid 90s and 48,1% at the end of decade. • One of the most representative indicators of, so called, institutionalized religiosity is visiting church. It shows the most reliable picture of a real, current religiosity. 25,5% of exeminees visited church in the first half of 90s and 74,8% at the end of decade. • ''Acts of faith'' (praying, fasting, reading religious literature and press) are not strictly regulated rules of behaviour among religious people, but it's more a question of confirming one's devotion. At the begining of the decade 77,7% of exeminees practiced praying andonly 69,7% at the end of decade. • Fasting was practiced by 58,4% of exeminees at the begining of decade, while 58,4% did it at the end. • In the 1993 investigation 34,3% of exeminees read religious literature and press, but only 19,7% read it in the 1999investigation.

19. The process of desecularization, which could be recognized in the context of wider social changes, is best represented by the return of religious teaching to the public educational system. • In the 2001/2001 school year the religious teaching was introduced to first grades of Primary and Secondary schools as a facultative subject with a subject called Civil education as its alternative. • In the 2002/2003 school year these subjects became optional, which means that choice between those two is obligatory. • In 2003/2004 subjects had the same status, but choice included third grades of primary and secondary education as well. • Since 2004/2005 religious teaching refers to all grades of primary and secondary education (according to Kuburović, 2006).

20. References: • Dragićević-Šešić, M. (1994).Neofolk kultura: Publika i njene zvezde. Novi Sad. IKZS. • Lazić, M. (2005). Promene i otpori. Beograd. Filip Višnjić. • Lazić, M. (2004). Serbia: A Part of Both the East and the West?. Sociologija, no. 3. • Lazić, M. (1994a). Sistem i slom. Beograd. Filip Višnjić. • Hadžibulić, S. (2009). Process of De-secularization in Serbian Society: Religion in the School Bench. Journal of Social Work (Theory and Practice). Issue 18.