Uvodnik
Technological Changes, Rural Development and the Perspectives of Rural Regions
Milan Župančić
Sažetak
For a long time already a rather
considerable lethargy has been felt
in the field of research into current
social changes in the village and
agriculture. There are many
different reasons for this state,
which affects more or less the
whole of Yugoslavia. There is also
rather poor communication among
rural sociologists, agrarian
economists and experts from
related fields concerned with
problems of rural development.
These are some of the more
important reasons why the Institute
for Social Research, i. e. its work
group for rural sociology, initiated
a meeting of scientists and
researchers to discuss the above
subject. After extensive
preparations and difficulties of
primarily organizational and
financial nature, the meeting was
held in Ilok on 21 and 22 May
1987. The intention had been to
gather a large number of research
workers from the whole of
Yugoslavia who are concerned with
the subject of changes and
perspectives of the modern village.
Thematically this gathering focused
on groups of problems like: the
modern technological revolution
in agriculture and its influence on
rural social development; the
transformation of the basic
categories of village society
(family, household, farm);
positions and pespectives of more
important social groups in the
village; social processes and
demographic development in the
village; and cultural changes in the
village.
Ten papers were presented, most of
which are published in this issue
of Sociologija sela. It was shown
that it is very difficult to cover
such a wide range of subjects at
only one meeting, especially as all the research workers we would have
liked to participate were not present.
Some we could not invite due to
financial limitations, and others
could not come because of prior
engagements.
The first working day passed in
reading papers and supplementary
papers and in discussing important
problems. The discussion was very
lively, sometimes even polemical,
and helped to throw a new light
on many open theoretic questions
about the currents and meaning of
modernization in the Yugoslav
village. There was most debate
about the main trends of change in
Yugoslavia, about rural culture,
disintegration and integration of
the village into global social
change.
On the second day of the
conference discussion from the
previous day was continued, and
the recently-published book by
H. Mendras, Peasant Societies, was
also discussed. As the book presents
some interesting theses on the
origin and end of the peasantry
and on the nature of the peasant
society, the participants had a
very interesting medium for
debating fundamental issues of the
peasant society. The moderator of
the discussion V. Puljiz made some
introductory remarks and
conducted the whole debate very
constructively.
Besides the working part of the
meeting, some agreements were
also made about the further
activities of rural sociologists in the
field of publishing and translating,
concerning the periodical
Sociologija sela and so on. The
unanimous conclusion was that
such consultations should be
continued and turned into regular
biennial meetings with a more
limited thematic conception. This is
one of the ways for bringing more
life into the work of rural
sociologists and experts from
related fields, improving
communication among them and
presenting research results to the
wider public. On the first day of the conference
the President of the Organizational
Committee, Professor Svetozar
Livada, made a very inspired
speech reminding us of our
departed colleagues, especially
emphasizing the important work
of the doyen of rural sociology
Professor Cvetko Kostić, and that
of our colleagues Vojislav Đurić,
Borislav Dimković and Edhem
Dilić.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
121690
URI
Datum izdavanja:
5.1.1987.
Posjeta: 816 *