Izvorni znanstveni članak
Traditionalism, Modernism, Utopianism: A Review of Recent Works on Transition in Croatia
Vjeran Katunarić
; Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Sažetak
This paper provides a survey of recent works of social scientists
and economists in Croatia, focusing on the authors’ way of interpreting
normatively the model of social changes or transition in Croatia,
i.e. on their reply to the question where that model resides or should
reside: in the Croatian past, in EU countries or western countries in
general, or in a different and better, but imaginary, future of Croatian
and other economies and societies. Accordingly, the said works are
divided into three different categories: traditionalism, modernism and
utopianism.
Many theoretical (and ethical) differences notwithstanding, the
authors in all three categories seem to incline towards a certain neostatism,
that is, they expect of the (Croatian) state to initiate the
solving of problems in various areas, from the knowledge society to
health care and retirement policies. This stance is in part conditioned
by the fact that most of the presented works appeared within the
framework of research projects financed by the government, i.e. by
the Ministry of Science.
The second characteristic of the presented works is the exuberance
of modernism – whose model of change exists in Western European
societies, with concepts ranging from the knowledge society to
the European social model – in relation to the thinness of traditionalism
and utopianism.
Finally, the third characteristic of the presented works, closely
connected with the previous, is the growing confidence in the European
Union, followed by a more reasonable outlook upon European
reality. In contrast to the 1990s, when a good part of Croatian literature
painted the image of Europe in historical colours, mostly romantic
and Christian in content – in accordance with what Europe was
once like, and what Croatia was like as a part of it (i.e. a part of its
empires) – Europe is now, even more so in domestic social sciences,
presented in figures and other analytical categories. The European
world currently resembles a huge space for the integration of markets,
parliaments, and other arenas in which Croatia has to learn to buy or
sell, to use politically correct language, or to do a culturally interesting
performance, in order to survive in it.
Ključne riječi
Croatia; social sciences; transition; modernism; traditionalism; utopianism; Europe
Hrčak ID:
26397
URI
Datum izdavanja:
3.6.2008.
Posjeta: 1.913 *