U svijetu, a i kod nas, uobičajeno je izdavanje zbornika u čast eminentnim znanstvenicima. Ti su zbornici, koliko nam je poznato, koncipirani na dva načina: 1) značajni autori govore o određenim ...aspektima djela još značajnijeg autora (npr. zbornik iz 1977. u čast Talcottu Parsonsu, ur. Jan J. Loubser) ili 2) zbornici u kojima se razrađuje neka teorijska koncepcija autora u čiju je čast zbornik priređen (npr. zbornik iz 1975. u čast Robertu K. Mertonu The Idea of Social Structure, ur. Lewis A. Coser). To je tako na Zapadu, gdje relativno stabilni društveni uvjeti stvaraju preduvjete za predvidljive putanje karijera znanstvenika. Eric Hobsbawm primjerice prekida svoju sjajnu autobiografiju Zanimljiva vremena u šezdesetim godinama dvadesetog stoljeća, konstatirajući da se nakon što je postao redoviti profesor (zbog marksističkog opredjeljenja njegova je karijera na liberalnom Zapadu bila usporena) u njegovu osobnom životu nije događalo ništa zanimljivo ni neuobičajeno. Predavanja, knjige, skupovi, nastupi na televiziji, predavanja i opet knjige. Ništa važno da bi ušlo u autobiografiju.
Polazeći od Luhmannove naturalizirane konstruktivističke epistemologije i interakcionističkih teorija situacije, razvija se pojam etničke situacije. Autor pokazuje kako operacije društvenih i ...psihičkih sistema proizvode, održavaju i transformiraju etničke situacije, kako definiranje situacije motivira ponašanje njezinih sudionika i kako dijalektika promatrača (nekog stupnja promatranja) i situacije generira opise, diskurse i poglede na svijet. Na temelju sistemsko-teorijskih pretpostavki razvija se teorija promatranja etničke situacije kao pojma konstruiranog promatračevim teorijskim aparatom.
The fundamental problem of a systematic sociological approach to the issue of “ethnic situations” and of this research may be summarised as the following question: how do the operations of social and ...psychological systems generate, maintain, and transform ethnic situations? In this paper, the problem is divided into several issues, all belonging to the domain of social epistemology: first, what is an observation point and in what way do ethnic groups transform into national minorities?; second, the sociological concept of a situation; third, observation and ethnic situation; fourth, mutual observation and identity construction; fifth, an external observer – the state; sixth, the EU as an external observer of the national state in an ethnic situation. Starting from Luhmann’s principle according to which a system is constructed and maintained through observation, using the processes of differentiation and signification, the paper pays special attention to the descriptions and self-descriptions of the observer (both within the situation and beyond), and their logical grouping in the systems of classification of human collectivities, discourses, world views and constructions of different identities. Such an approach is the source of the basic research programme (method) of a systematic approach, in which the mentioned transformations of ethnic groups are not a consequence of cultural differences between them, but arise from a cognitive process in which the observers produce differences by means of differentiation. The concepts in social sciences are first and foremost observational devices determining what we observe and how we do it. This research focusses on the mutual relationship between observers, observation and observation subjects (ethnic groups) within an ethnic situation. It is within the limits of epistemology of social sciences. The persuasiveness of a positivist vision of sociology, according to which the application of clearly defined methodological postulates ensures true understanding of the social world, has generally retreated in the face of a reasonable principle stating that every branch of sociology must consider the dialectics of internal and external observation. That is, the relationship between the meanings immanent in an observed community and the sociological insight, and the researcher’s (observer’s) prior knowledge that emerges from their life situation and their theory. Related to this issue is the obsolescence of the theory of knowledge that starts from differentiation between the concepts of opinion/being, knowledge/object, subject/object. Its place is partly occupied by the “constructivist naturalised epistemology” – a detranscendentalised epistemology that primarily deals with physical, biological, psychological and social conditions of knowledge. All subjects of observation are constructions. However, they are not mere fantasies, but have a foothold in the reality of the social situation in which science as a system of society is found together with the individual scientist/observer as a member of the “republic of scholars” (Berger and Kellner, 1991: 62). The concepts of ethnicity, ethnic group and national minorities discussed in the paper show the constructed nature of the so called sociological objects and their foundation in the situation. All of these concepts refer to the same object of observation – groups of people in a particular situation being observed.Consideration of the history of the social situation concept allows us to develop a reference framework for the ethnic situation. Concreteness, location, timing and the number of participants are the key elements of the reference framework serving as the starting point for the construction of a theoretical concept of ethnic situation. Due to required concreteness, the categories of space and time are essential: how the actors perceive them, how they share and organise them, what they do with them, how they use them to overlap, converge and coordinate their individual actions. A systematic sociological theory as an observer distinguishes between a social system (interactive and communicative) and its environment, i.e. the situation. Social system actors may be seen as individuals or collectivities. Aspects of a personality system also include ethnicity, so individuals may be seen as elements of (ethnic) social groups. During the process of mutual observation, individuals (ethnic groups) generate descriptions of other groups (labelling, typing, stereotyping) and self-descriptions. Due to different angles of observation, collective subuniverses of meaning are formed – mostly conflicting ones. The situation also includes second-level observers, the social systems which Luhmann refers to as organisations (e.g. the state, the European Union) or differentiated functional systems (science, school system, market, family). In a way, collective and individual actors possess awareness of the complexity of their ethnic situation and direct their actions accordingly. From their perspective, the situation can also be a resource for achieving the actor’s goals. Sociology can and should analyse the observers of ethnic situations – organisations and functional systems, by analysing the differentiation codes that second-level observes use in their observation. Looking from a third-level perspective, second-level observers are also part of the ethnic situation. By generating its sociological descriptions, sociology itself becomes part of the situation both for participants and for other observers. The notion that there is no dominant point of observation is essential to Luhmann’s observation paradigm. The functional differentiation of society causes the emergence of special observation devices: science, the state, mass media, art. Descriptions, discourses and world views arising from different observation points are organised and selected into topics. Anything can become a topic of communication in a situation. Descriptions and situations make up a structural union of the social system and environment. According to the double hermeneutic model, they operate as circular self-referential and hetero-referential structures – observation constructs the situation, while the situation constructs the observer. Objects of observation can only be understood as components of differentiation, not as something that is meaningful for itself. All distinctions lose their unquestionable self-evidentness and must be understood as contingent conditions of observation and signification. That means that society’s self-description can be redirected from the question of what to the question of how. In that case, the problem is not what society is, but how it is described, who describes it and by which distinctions. From the viewpoint of Luhmann’s definition of observation, it is evident that the ethnic situation results from the interplay between internal and external observations and definitions. The distinction between the internal and external definition enables the observation of an ethnic situation from several different points of view or levels of analysis. From the perspective of a second-level observer, science can construct and observe ethnic situations at the level of mutual presence in everyday life, at state level, at the level of state relations or globally at the level of supranational entities such as the European Union. The aim of such an approach is to show how micro-situations are transformed into macro ones and vice versa. Another research programme includes the observation of observers and their differentiation codes, descriptions, categorisation and classification systems. They allow for the understanding of mechanisms used by the observational devices wielding power to define the ethnic situations and processes through which the “micro-physics of power” is manifested in ethnic situations. From this follows Luhmann’s methodological instruction – observe the observers and their descriptions of a situation. The orientation and motivation of individuals within an “ethnic situation” is regulated by cognitive, affective and moral programmes of ethnic institutions. These programmes cause and deepen the divides separating them from other ethnic groups, thus consolidating their ethnic identity. Cognition programmes provide individuals with knowledge of themselves, knowledge of their own group, group heritage and history (which sometimes comes down to certain selected “aspects of the past”) as well as knowledge of the values of the individual’s group. The moral programme implies the existence of group commitments, for example the importance of learning the ethnic language, of passing on moral values to the descendants, endogamy and solidarity with members of one’s own ethnic group. The affective program of ethnic identity “covers” the feelings of attachment to a group. Therefore, it can be argued that institutions, especially ethnic ones, are the creators and guardians of knowledge needed by their members to survive as a group. Existing institutionalized internal definitions can provide defence against the imposition of external ones. The experience of categorisation and classification can strengthen the existing group identity by providing resistance, reactions and deepening the divides.The modern state is another external observer that influences the constitution of an ethnic situation. The state is an organisation holding legitimate power to observe, oversee, count, categorise and classify the population, and thus influence the formation of ethnic identities and the transformation of the ethnic situation. The modern ethnic situation, a complex configuration of ethnic group’s positions and relationships, is a result of operation of various state and ideological devices, wars and ethnic conflicts. However, today it differs in terms of qualitative features from the ethnic situations that had preceded it, and for two reasons. First, the ethnic situati
U ovom članku na temelju primarnih kvantitativnih i kvalitativnih podataka dobivenih
anketnim istraživanjem i strukturiranim dubinskim intervjuima u fokus-grupama te sekundarnih
statističkih podataka ...istražujemo namjere i motive mladih da migriraju iz Republike
Hrvatske. Teorijski pristup oslanja se na Parsonsov i Mertonov funkcionalizam, fenomenologijsku
sociologiju Shutza, Bergera i Luckmanna te Braudelovu koncepciju prostora u globalnom
kapitalističkom sistemu. Metodologija tumačenja podataka temelji se na Luhmannovoj
konstruktivističkoj epistemologiji kojoj je središnji postulat promatranje promatrača.
Rezultati pokazuju da ispitanici posjeduju snažno izraženo znanje o prostornim značajkama
svoje životne situacije. Odluka o migriranju je rezultat svjesne i racionalne odluke koja proistječe
iz dobre informiranosti o stanju u Hrvatskoj i zemljama u koje se želi migrirati. Na temelju
rezultata istraživanja može se zaključiti da:
1) Mladi mogućnost migriranja u neku od zemalja EU-a promatraju kao oblik unutarnje migracije.
2) Migriranju su skloniji mladi čiji su roditelji ili djedovi radili u inozemstvu.
3) Većina ispitanika nije sklona napuštanju Hrvatske.
4) Većina ispitanika nema namjeru trajnog ostanka u inozemstvu.
This paper presents research results concerning the (re)-construction of the ethnic / national identities of particular minority communities in the Republic of Croatia, as shaped by fluctuations in ...the social and historical context (over the period when Croatia was part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, thereafter in the periods of democratic transformation, the Homeland War, and the independent Republic of Croatia). We take a multi-method approach, on the one hand exploring the official categorization and classification of national minorities within the Constitution of the FRY and the Constitution of the RC, whilst also examining theoretical and conceptual explanations and their implementation in defining identity. The empirical part includes in-depth interviews with members of different ethnic minority communities living across the territory of present-day Croatia. The paper emphasizes how certain institutional classificatory schemes or historical moments may be imposed or lead to volatility as concerns the strategies, positions and roles of certain minority communities. In addition to the official definition and institutionalized classificatory schemes that are directly attributed to the specific identity characteristics of each group, social identities can be the result of free choice, coercion, strategy games played by individuals / members of certain groups themselves or resources mobilized in order to achieve political or economic goals. Through considering these two approaches to the analysis of national minority identities in present-day Croatia, we elaborate not only the procedural and dynamic character of identity but also its variable and situational nature.
ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: The paper discusses the influence of ideological and scholarly-ethnographic classification schemes, as well as those pertaining to population censuses, on the formation of ethnic ...identities and ethnic structure in Civil Croatia and Slavonia from 1785 to 1860. Proceeding from the theory of social systems and institutions, the author examines the power of classification schemes and their influence on the construction of ethnic identities. It has been shown that changes in social orders also lead to changes in the principles of constructing classification schemes. Thus, in the modern social order, the combination of commonsensical, ideological, scholarly and official statistic classification schemes led to the creation of a specific ethno-nationalist discourse, which strongly influenced the formation of ethnic identities, overcoming traditional ethnic particularities and formation of modern ethnic communities on the territories of Civil Croatia and Slavonia in the early modern period. // ABSTRACT IN FRENCH: Ce travail considère l'influence des schémas de classification idéologiques, scientifico-ethnographiques, ainsi que de ceux utilisés dans les recensements sur la formation des identités ethniques et la structure ethnique de la Croatie et la Slavonie civile de 1785 à 1860. En partant de la théorie des systèmes sociaux et des institutions, on examine la puissance des schémas de classification et leur influence sur la construction des identités ethniques. Il s'avère que les changements des ordres sociaux provoquent à leur tour des changements dans les principes de la construction des schémas de classification. Ainsi le faisceau de schémas de classification de sens commun, idéologiques, scientifiques ainsi que de schémas de classification de statistiques officiels a-t-il produit dans l'ordre social moderne un discours ethnonationaliste spécifique qui a fortement influencé la formation des identités ethniques des Temps modernes, le dépassement des particularismes ethniques traditionnels et la construction des communautés ethniques modernes sur le territoire de la Croatie et de la Slavonie civile. Reprinted by permission of the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb
The paper discusses the influence of ideological and scholarly-ethnographic classification schemes, as well as those pertaining to population censuses, on the formation of ethnic identities and ...ethnic structure in Civil Croatia and Slavonia from 1785 to 1860. Proceeding from the theory of social systems and institutions, the author examines the power of classification schemes and their influence on the construction of ethnic identities. It has been shown that changes in social orders also lead to changes in the principles of constructing classification schemes. Thus, in the modern social order, the combination of commonsensical, ideological, scholarly and official statistic classification schemes led to the creation of a specific ethno-nationalist discourse, which strongly influenced the formation of ethnic identities, overcoming traditional ethnic particularities and formation of modern ethnic communities on the territories of Civil Croatia and Slavonia in the early modern period.
U radu se izlažu rezultati istraživanja (re)konstrukcije etničkih/nacionalnih identiteta pojedinih manjinskih zajednica u Republici Hrvatskoj uvjetovanih promjenama društveno-povijesnog konteksta (u ...razdoblju kad se Hrvatska nalazila u sastavu SFRJ, potom u razdoblju demokratskih promjena, Domovinskog rata, i samostalne RH). Koristi se kvalitativni pristup koji s jedne strane uključuje propitivanje službenog kategoriziranja i klasificiranja nacionalnih manjinskih zajednica unutar Ustava SFRJ i Ustava RH, teorijsko-pojmovnih objašnjenja i njihovoj implementaciji u definiranju identiteta, te empirijski dio koji obuhvaća dubinske intervjue maksimalne varijacije s pripadnicima različitih nacionalnih manjinskih zajednica koji žive na širem području RH. Naglašava se kako određene institucionalizirane klasifikacijske sheme ili povijesni trenutak mogu nametnuti ili dovesti do promjenjivosti strategija, položaja i uloge određenih manjinskih zajednica. Osim službenih definicija i institucionaliziranih klasifikacijskih shema kojima se neposredno pripisuju određena identitetska svojstva pojedinoj grupi, društveni identiteti mogu biti i rezultat slobodnog izbora, prinude, strategijske igre samih pojedinaca/članova određene grupe ili resurs podložan mobilizaciji u ostvarivanju političkih ili ekonomskih ciljeva. Kroz ova dva pristupa analizi identiteta nacionalnih manjinskih zajednica u RH pojašnjavamo ne samo procesualni i dinamični karakter identiteta nego i njegovu promjenjivu i situacijsku prirodu.
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