Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.5673/sip.60.1.2
Class in Contemporary Croatian Society: A Post-Bourdieusian Analysis
Mirko Petrić
orcid.org/0000-0002-0604-5352
; Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar – Centre Split / University of Zadar, Department of Sociology, Croatia
Inga Tomić-Koludrović
orcid.org/0000-0003-1465-0365
; Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar – Centre Split, Croatia
Željka Zdravković
; University of Zadar, Department of Sociology / Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar – Centre Split, Croatia
Predrag Cvetičanin
; University of Niš, Faculty of Arts, Serbia
Adrian Leguina
orcid.org/0000-0002-9229-2033
; Loughborough University, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, United Kingdom
Supplements: DODATAK Klasa HR.pdf APPENDIX Class Croatia.pdf
Abstract
In this article, based on primary quantitative and qualitative data, we analyze the multiple mechanisms
generating inequalities in contemporary Croatian society and the multidimensional class structure resulting
from them. Our approach has been inspired by Pierre Bourdieu’s conception, which we significantly
revised and adapted for studying post-socialist societies in South-East Europe. We present four analytical
steps that have led us to the conception of general social inequality as inequality in social powers. These
steps include: (1) construction of social space in Croatia; (2) identification of key generators of social
inequality (exploitation market mechanisms and mechanisms of social closure); (3) analysis of lifestyles
and the drawing of social boundaries; and (4) analysis of differential association and establishment of
social boundaries.
The results indicate that by taking general social inequality into account, one can distinguish between
four classes and seven class fractions in contemporary Croatian society: (1) Capital rich class, with two
fractions: economic and political; (2) Class with average capitals, with a cultural and social fraction; (3)
Intermediary class, which shares some objective characteristics with the Class with average capitals as well
as the Capital poor class, but has a distinctive lifestyle and patterns of differential association; and (4)
Capital poor class, in which three fractions can be distinguished: agrarian, rurban, and manual-service. In
the concluding section, we present a synthetic depiction of class structure in contemporary Croatian society,
discuss the new notion of existential class (a conceptualization based on our empirical and theoretical
analyses), and explain the most important characteristics of our post-Bourdieusian approach.
Keywords
class; general social inequality; multidimensional model of class analysis; post-Bourdieusian approach; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
278621
URI
Publication date:
2.6.2022.
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