The paper analyses social causes of loneliness in Europe using cross-national data from the 2017 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) module “Social Networks and Social Resources” from 13 ...countries categorised as Northern Europe, Continental Europe, and Central and Eastern Europe. The paper aims to examine loneliness with regard to three specific groups of predictors, related to network, sociocultural and sociostructural aspects. The results suggest that sociability patterns and personal networks are the most important predictors of loneliness. While the frequency of contacts with family members and close friends and the overall number of contacts showed significance, loneliness was primarily related to the quality of personal relationships. Considering sociocultural factors, the obtained findings showed that social trust is consistently associated with lower levels of loneliness. Furthermore, people from Continental Europe were, in general, less lonely than North and East Europeans. Age was an important factor here as respondents from younger age groups were lonelier in Nordic countries than in the other two blocs of countries, while older respondents were lonelier in Central and East European countries. Finally, sociostructural indicators in general showed less predictive value compared to sociability patterns and sociocultural variables. However, when it came to socioeconomic exclusion, this aspect showed a stronger connection with loneliness for the individuals from the Nordic group of countries. The findings of this paper contribute to the vibrant field of contemporary scholarship on loneliness with a fresh perspective based on comparing three large blocs of European countries and an integrated approach to various predictors of loneliness.
This article focuses on young people in family farms (Croatian OPGs) in Vidovec, more specifically on young people’s actions (using Bourdieu’s habitus), young people’s roles and on family and work ...relations, all of which have an impact on young people. The aim of this qualitative research is to identify the different processes that young people go through in the OPGs, which is motivated by the lack of research on this topic in Croatia. The data was collected through six semi-structured interviews. The habitus of young people in OPGs is formed in childhood and is represented by the interaction of family, social and agricultural situations. Family, work and gender roles in the OPG are recognized, especially the role of successor and helper. Young people are mainly driven by the obligation to help their parents in the OPG, for family and economic reasons. Life choices in the OPG are rarely binary and dichotomous, which is reflected in the activities of the young people and in the relations between the young people and their parents. Life in the OPG entails an intertwining of family and work relations, based on which hierarchies and different power relations can be recognized. The current conditions set by local self-government, the circumstances of Croatian agriculture and agricultural incentives lead young people to consider leaving agriculture in the future, although these reasons are not decisive. This decision is primarily influenced by family and work relations in the OPG and is linked to the problems of leaving the farmer’s habitus.
This article presents the results of a large scale online survey of the video gaming population in Croatia (N=3251) conducted in 2014. The theoretical part discusses approaches to mapping of ...videogaming profiles, as well as problems in defining and conceptualizing the video gamer and video gaming as a culture, relying first and foremost on compatible sociological perspectives (Crawford, 2011). The emphasis is laid on the importance of expanding the standard socio- demographic elements of profiling in order to establish a more concise typology of video gamers. The methodological part describes the instruments used, the main characteristics of the sample, as well as the cluster analysis method that was used in creating the video gamers typology. The results of the cluster analysis point to the existence of six different gaming types, grouped mainly around genre preferences but also pointing to differences considering the level of self-identification with gaming culture, intensity of playing, participatory practices and selected dimensions of value orientations. The additional analysis of the clusters shows differences among gamers in terms of technological, content-based and interaction-based characteristics of genres, concluding that specific genres are more compatible with those players that are more tolerant, whilst others are linked more to the insular and particular socio-cultural frameworks.
In the broadest sense, cosmopolitanism can be described as a belief and action in accordance with the view that all human beings belong to a unique world political community. However, such a ...simplified definition overlooks the multidimensionality of the concept. The term cosmopolitanism has been present in public discourse since ancient times and has carried different connotations throughout history, which contributes to its ambiguity. The preconditions for the development of cosmopolitanism in its present sense arose in the mid-20th century, after the world wars and the onset of new globalisation processes. Within the social sciences, a significant interest in a more specific definition and conceptualisation of cosmopolitanism emerged in the second half of the 20th century. However, numerous theoretical discussions since then have not yet offered such a definition of the concept. An additional problem lies in the fact that those theoretical discussions, which defined multiple aspects and types of cosmopolitanism, are not accompanied by a corresponding number of empirical research. By considering previous theoretical and empirical research on the topic, this paper aims to offer a clearer conceptualisation and operationalisation of cosmopolitanism, with the focus on constructing a valid instrument for its measurement.While it is difficult to offer a clear and unambiguous theoretical definition of cosmopolitanism, most researchers have moved in the direction of a clearer definition of certain aspects of the concept. There were a few attempts of such conceptualisation that have been met with wider acclamation, some of which were more complex and some simpler. Vertovec and Cohen (2002) established the most sophisticated conceptualisation by defining cosmopolitanism as a sociocultural condition, a philosophy or worldview, a political project, an attitude or disposition, and a practice or competence. With the aim of capturing multiple aspects of the concept, Boucher, Aubert and de Latour (2019) defined four types of cosmopolitanism: moral, institutional, civil and cultural. Furthermore, Delanty (2009) offered a different approach by distinguishing moral, political and cultural cosmopolitanism. The various definitions agree, however, on including the political and the cultural aspects of cosmopolitanism. Therefore, this paper is based on the robust typology offered by Hannerz (2006), which distinguishes between the cultural and political faces of cosmopolitanism. The author sees the political face of the concept as the one that tries to solve macro problems of human, economic, legal, environmental and other processes that transcend nation-state borders. Hannerz (2006) defines the cultural face as an identity characteristic of individuals who enjoy new cultures, people, tastes, sounds and the like. The cultural dimension of cosmopolitanism, which arises from the awareness and practices of individuals, is the focus of this research. It is important to mention that numerous researchers define certain types (banal, patriotic, thin, ordinary) of cosmopolitanism. However, it is questionable to what extent the determination of such types contributes to a clearer understanding of the concept, especially when they are defined solely on the basis of theoretical considerations.Before establishing the framework for the empirical research, it was important to clarify the source of contemporary cosmopolitanism. Most researchers link cosmopolitanism to globalisation processes. Beck and Sznaider (2010) explain globalisation as processes that take place “out there” in the world and define cosmopolitanism as “globalization from within”, a process that is closely related to globalisation but takes place within society. Such a connection becomes questionable when the terms glocalisation, which includes micro as well as macro processes, and segmented globalisation, which refers to the different dynamics by which globalisation occurs in places around the world, are introduced into the discourse. These concepts also suggest that all individuals involved in globalisation trends will express cosmopolitan views, which is not the case. On the other hand, Roudometof (2005) emphasises the link between cosmopolitanism and transnationalism, a view that is elaborated in this paper. The author defines the concept of transnationalism as a social condition that arises in the stage of internal globalisation and is not influenced by the emotions and attitudes of individuals but its most important feature is that it can stimulate individuals to develop an open attitude, that is, cosmopolitanism, or a defensive attitude towards differences.The lack of a clear theoretical definition of cosmopolitanism has influenced the disproportion between the theoretical considerations and empirical research of the concept. One part of the researchers used secondary data to examine attitudes about cosmopolitanism in a certain population. These studies have led to important insights, but they have not contributed to the creation of a valid and reliable instrument for measuring cosmopolitanism. Another problem with such research is that it is conducted using data that are focused on examining other concepts. One such example is the study by Olofsson and Öhman (2007), where the authors interpreted views contrary to nationalism as cosmopolitan views. The other part of empirical research on the subject of cosmopolitanism is focused on constructing an instrument for its measurement. While most such studies were conducted to explore a particular aspect of the concept, Saran and Kalliny (2012) offered an instrument to measure general cosmopolitan attitudes, values, and practices within a particular population. The authors first conducted interviews, the results of which were used to construct questions for the survey. After collecting survey data, the authors defined a valid and reliable, one-dimensional 14-item scale of cosmopolitanism by conducting exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The findings of other authors pointed to the connection between cosmopolitanism and other concepts like transnational experiences, political orientation, and sociodemographic characteristics.The empirical part of this research aimed to define a valid and reliable instrument for measuring the presence of cosmopolitanism in a given population. For this purpose, the scale offered by Saran and Kalliny (2012) was used in a slightly modified form to further test its construct validity, reliability and applicability. The instrument was tested on the student population of the University of Zadar via an online survey in October 2020. In addition to the cosmopolitanism scale, the questionnaire contained questions about the number of countries the respondents had visited, the number of foreign languages they spoke, their political orientation, their support for general human rights and certain sociodemographic characteristics, with the purpose of testing the convergent validity of the instrument. In order to determine the metrics of the cosmopolitanism scale, bivariate (correlation analysis) and multivariate statistical procedures (exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis) were conducted in the statistical programming language R.First, exploratory factor analysis was performed on the cosmopolitanism scale with parallel analysis as a factor retention method, which extracted one 13-item factor with a high level of reliability (α=0.93). To examine the construct validity of the scale, confirmatory factor analysis was further performed, resulting in an acceptable goodness-of-fit. In order to define a scale that shows even better psychometric properties, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on a reduced 6-item scale that Saran and Kalliny (2012) found to show stronger construct validity. Following their results, the 6-item scale showed even better goodness-of-fit (χ²=25, df=9, SRMR=0.05, RMSEA=0.09, CFI=0.95, TLI=0.91), and its factor scores were used in further analyses. Correlation analysis was used to measure the relationship between the cosmopolitanism scale and transnational experiences and political views. It was found that respondents who express stronger cosmopolitan views speak more foreign languages, have visited a greater number of foreign countries, express stronger support for leftwing political options, and a stronger need to protect universal human rights, of which the latter correlation proved to be the highest. Lastly, multiple regression was conducted, where the cosmopolitanism scale factor scores served as the dependent variable and sociodemographic variables as predictors. The regression model confirmed the previous finding that women express stronger cosmopolitan attitudes than men.The results of the statistical analysis indicate a high level of reliability and validity of the reduced 6-item cosmopolitanism scale. On that basis, it can be stated that the scale serves as a valid instrument for measuring cosmopolitan attitudes within a population. The scope of the study is limited because it was conducted on a relatively homogeneous sample of the University of Zadar student population. In future research, the 6-item scale should be tested on a more heterogeneous sample which could indicate the applicability of the instrument to a wider population. Besides, in future research, it would be advisable to pay more attention to examining indicators and constructs related to cosmopolitanism, based on which clearer types of cosmopolitan could potentially be defined.
Od druge polovine 20. stoljeća, uslijed iskustava svjetskih ratova i ubrzanih globalizacijskih procesa, u društvenim znanostima počeo se javljati značajniji interes za pojam kozmopolitizma. Velik ...broj teorijskih razmatranja koncepta upozorio je na njegovu ambivalentnost, što se odrazilo na manjak empirijskih istraživanja na tu temu i nedostatak instrumenta za pouzdano mjerenje kozmopolitizma. Uzimajući u obzir multidimenzionalnost koncepta, cilj ovog istraživanja bio je jasnije teorijsko i empirijsko tumačenje određenog aspekta kozmopolitizma. U konceptualnom dijelu rada iznesene su glavne podjele i tipologije kozmopolitizma, razmotren je odnos koncepta s procesima globalizacije i transnacionalizma te su istaknuti glavni problemi koji se javljaju prilikom pokušaja jasnoga teorijskog definiranja koncepta. Pregledom teorijskih razmatranja fokus ovog istraživanja usmjeren je na kulturnu dimenziju kozmopolitizma koja se očituje u svijesti i praksama pojedinaca. Na osnovi prethodnih empirijskih istraživanja određen je potencijalni instrument za njegovo mjerenje te su testirane konstruktna i konvergentna valjanost ponuđene skale. Istraživanje je provedeno online anketom na prigodnom uzorku studenata Sveučilišta u Zadru (N = 202). Nakon provedene konfirmatorne faktorske analize na inicijalnom instrumentu, definirana je pouzdana skala kozmopolitizma koja se sastoji od šest čestica koje ispituju stavove i prakse otvorenosti prema drugim kulturama i ljudima iz drugih kultura. Testiranjem skale s drugim pokazateljima, za koje se u prijašnjim istraživanjima utvrdila povezanost s kozmopolitizmom, utvrđena je konvergentna valjanost instrumenta. Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su kako je primijenjena skala kozmopolitizma pouzdan i valjan instrument za mjerenje dimenzije kulturnoga kozmopolitizma, što otvara nove mogućnosti za njegovo razumijevanje i povezivanje s drugim konceptima.
Following the demise of socialism in 1989, religious identification substantially increased in most countries of Central, East, and Southeast Europe. Considering that there is evidence that ...religiosity is associated with reduced sexual risk taking among young people, this study explored associations between religiosity—assessed at three different levels (religious upbringing, personal religiosity, and social network religiosity)—and sexual risks among young Croatian adults. In addition, we examined whether religiosity predicted chlamydial infection among women and men aged 18–25. The data were collected in a national probability survey carried out in 2010 (
n
= 1,005). Overall, the effects of religiosity were sporadic, present primarily among women, and of small size. This lack of a sizeable impact of religiosity on young adults’ sexuality was likely related to a particular type of religiosity, characterized by individualized morality, found among young people in the country. Although Croatia seems to be one of the most religious countries in Europe, our findings suggest that promoting religious morality—as recently attempted by an abstinence-based educational program—may not be an efficient tool in reducing sexual risks.
The main goal of this article is to analyze the association between the usage of internet social networks (in the example of Facebook) and the participatory dimensions of social capital of youth in ...Croatia. The research used Robert D. Putnam's operationalized participatory dimensions of social capital as well as theories of internet social networks as potential agents of social capital. The research was conducted via online survey in 2012 on a convenience sample of Croatian youth (N = 577). The results indicate there is a consistent link between the usage of internet social networks and the number of memberships in non-governmental organizations and civil activism. A positive correlation with activism remains significant even after including standard correlates such as memberships in organizations or generalized trust. Religiosity is positively associated with membership in non-governmental organizations, but negatively with social engagement and activism. It is concluded that internet social networks, due to their technological and communication characteristics, serve as a relevant agent for participatory practices of youth with the necessity to expand research with a probabilistic sample.
The main goal of this article is to analyze the association between the usage of internet social networks (in the example of Facebook) and the participatory dimensions of social capital of youth in ...Croatia. The research used Robert D. Putnam's operationalized participatory dimensions of social capital as well as theories of internet social networks as potential agents of social capital. The research was conducted via online survey in 2012 on a convenience sample of Croatian youth (N = 577). The results indicate there is a consistent link between the usage of internet social networks and the number of memberships in non-governmental organizations and civil activism. A positive correlation with activism remains significant even after including standard correlates such as memberships in organizations or generalized trust. Religiosity is positively associated with membership in non-governmental organizations, but negatively with social engagement and activism. It is concluded that internet social networks, due to their technological and communication characteristics, serve as a relevant agent for participatory practices of youth with the necessity to expand research with a probabilistic sample. Reprinted by permission of Drustvena Istrazivanja
The paper considers the values and value orientations in four ex-Yugoslav republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia). The starting point of the analysis are cross-national ...analyses of data from the World values survey (Inglehart et al.2014) and data presented by Shalom Schwartz (2013). Both approaches paint a similar picture of Slovenia being by far the closest to values typical for Western liberal democracies, while Bosnia and Herzegovina, and partially Serbia, are found on the opposite extreme. The longitudinal analyses suggest that in all the countries the studied values shifted in the direction of more traditional and survival values. More specifically, all four countries have witnessed an erosion of generalised social trust, a decline in public morality, and retraditionalization of gender roles. It is argued that these shifts should mainly be understood as a consequence of the enduring economic insecurities of the citizens, enhanced by the effects of the global economic crisis.
This article presents the results of a large scale online survey of the video gaming population in Croatia (N=3251) conducted in 2014. The theoretical part discusses approaches to mapping of ...videogaming profiles, as well as problems in defining and conceptualizing the video gamer and video gaming as a culture, relying first and foremost on compatible sociological perspectives (Crawford, 2011). The emphasis is laid on the importance of expanding the standard socio-demographic elements of profiling in order to establish a more concise typology of video gamers. The methodological part describes the instruments used, the main characteristics of the sample, as well as the cluster analysis method that was used in creating the video gamers typology. The results of the cluster analysis point to the existence of six different gaming types, grouped mainly around genre preferences but also pointing to differences considering the level of self-identification with gaming culture, intensity of playing, participatory practices and selected dimensions of value orientations. The additional analysis of the clusters shows differences among gamers in terms of technological, content-based and interaction-based characteristics of genres, concluding that specific genres are more compatible with those players that are more tolerant, whilst others are linked more to the insular and particular socio-cultural frameworks.
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