Sociology and Space, No. 59-60, 1978.
Original scientific paper
Potential Spatial Mobility of Middle Croatian Population
Ivan Cifrić
Abstract
In Yugoslavia the deagrarianization
process was very intense in the
post-war period. Agriculture was a
factor in accumulation basis and
according to its meaning for the
social standard, it was systematically
directed in accordance with the needs
of the industrial development as a
complementary productional branch.
Therefore, in the last thirty years
the social valuation of the agricultural
profession decreased, while that of
industrial ones increased. That caused
the one-dimensional perspective ot
social existence of farmers. The basic
attractability was symbolized by
employment outside individual
agriculture, which most frequently
meant outside of the village itself.
It is, however, difficult to say,
whether in the migration from the
village into town the negative
motives against agriculture and
village, or the positive ones towards
industry and town have been
prevailing.
According to census data from 1971
the total number of migrants
amounted even to 8,257 thousand
people, out of which 68,6 percent
belonged to rural and 8,4 percent to
rural-urban settlements, or out of the
total number of migrants even 4/5
originated from individual agricultural
farms.
The opening of better perspective for
agricultural population was closely
connected with spatial mobolity. At the
same time it also meant the transfer
of classes — the class of farmers
transferred into the class of workmen,
namely the class of producers with
their own means of production
changed into the class of producers
with socially owned means of
production. In that way a significant
part of Yugoslav working class was formed through spatial moving
caused by industrialization of the
country.
Considering the classical
relationship between town and village,
and presenting elements of the
today’s changed relationship between
town and village, the author takes the
view that under Yugoslav conditions
the village as well as the town still
keep some elements of the
bourgeois society, meaning also its
class contrasts. According to the
author, the solution of the
relationship problem between a big
town and a village, as the relationship
between the developed and the
undeveloped community, between
centre and periphery, between
industry and agriculture, between
social and private, etc. lies in
bridging over the gap between town
and village. The solution cannot
be deduced just to the question of
redistribution of the existing
functions, but it lies in the basical
change of the class position and the
relationship between town and village.
In the sequel a part of results from the
empirical investigation titled »Social
aspects of connections between
Zagreb and its surrounding areas« are
presented and discussed. This
research was carried out in 1972
covering the sample of 2,088 people
from 13 urban, 24 rural-urban and
108 rural settlements in SR Croatia.
For his analysis the author
selected the answers to questions
about migratory aspirations as well
as about motives for spatial moving.
The obtained answers were analyzed
according to structural and contextual
characteristics of households, where
the interviewed persons lived.
The data analysis showed that
potential migrants originated from
workers employees’ and part-time
(i.e. workers and employees)
households. The desire for migration
from the present domicile was least
present in farmers, then in farmers-
-workmen and in farmers-craftsmen. The farmers, however, used to be
bound to a particular place and social
surrounding by their land, but today
the bound is more often presented in
the newly built house. The question
is, though, whether in the long-term
respect the policy of individual
house-construction stimulation in
village will keep the population in
rural communities. Speaking in
the first place in favour of regionally
concepted social policy, within the
scope of which it is possible to
successfully take care of the
necessities and possibilities of each
area, the author has in the conclusion
pointed out, that independently from
concrete measures, the spatial
mobility will further on take place,
as it means one form of limited
professional as well as social
mobility.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
119089
URI
Publication date:
7.6.1978.
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