Original scientific paper
Sociology of Transition: Structural, Sociocultural and Neomodernisational Approach
Krešimir PERAČKOVIĆ
Abstract
Issues that are dealt with in this work are: 1) is transition only
one form of social change and which dimensions does it
include; 2) which are the theoretical approaches present in
literature and 3) is there room for the sociology of transition
as a separate sociological discipline and what would be its
specific qualities. These questions are posed through a
critical review of reducing transition to the economic and
political dimensions with the attempt of establishing the
thesis of sociocultural transformation as a more
comprehensive theoretical framework which apart from
changes in the social structure observes changes in social
values as well. A third possible approach to transition
through the application of the theory of modernisation is
also presented, which perceives transition and transformation
as a (dis)continued socio-historical process. In the results of
empirical research on the psychosocial consequences of
privatisation in Croatia, this limitation of reducing the
transitional process to purely economic transition becomes
obvious as well as measuring its efficiency with solely
economic indicators. The transformation model, as a
possible sociological approach to transition, encompasses
apart from the structural also the sociocultural (evaluative)
dimension of transition and suggests a different approach in
conceptualisation. With such unification of the structural and
sociocultural approach of the process of transition viewed
through the socio-historical modernisational dimension,
sociology of transition certainly gains its theoretical
stronghold as a separate sociological sub-discipline.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
16171
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2004.
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