Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21861/HGG.2012.74.01.06
Spatial Aspects of Social Distance Towards the Roma
Šlezak Hrvoje
orcid.org/0000-0002-2412-4476
; Primary School Kuršanec, Kuršanec
Laura Šakaja
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science, Department of Geography, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The aim of this study is to relate social and physical distance and to attempt to answer the question of whether the degree of (non) acceptance of Romani people by the majority population depends on their spatial distance / proximity. The study was conducted in Medjimurje, the region where the Roma are the most highly represented minority group. Research showed that in the areas where the physical distance between the Roma and the majority population is small and inter-ethnic contacts are frequent, proximity to the Roma reduces the level of acceptance of social contacts with them. The study also dealt with the Bayash Roma group’s degree of social distance toward certain ethnic groups. The results showed a high level of acceptance of social contacts with the Croats but, at the same time, extremely high social distance was expressed toward all other ethnic groups, including the Lacatare – members of the other Roma groups. As the study shows, both the majority group respondents and the Roma are more inclined to accept mutual relations of friendship rather than neighbourly relations. This inversion on the Bogardus social distance scale, when spatial public relation (to be a neighbour) is less acceptable than a more intimate and personal relation (to be a friend), certainly strengthens the prospect of the Romas’spatial segregation maintaining its high level.
Keywords
the Roma; social distance; segregation; prejudices; Međimurje
Hrčak ID:
86473
URI
Publication date:
1.9.2012.
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