CHANGES IN SEXIST DISCOURSE IN CROATIA? A COMPARISON BETWEEN 2004 AND 2010 RESEARCH RESULTS

Abstract

Gender identity research conducted in 2004, as part of the scientific project “Modernization and identity of Croatian society”, has shown that sexism, in its traditional and modern variants, persists in Croatian society, especially among older, male and lower educated segments of Croatian population. This paper re-conceptualizes sexist discourse and presents a comparison between 2004 and 2010 main research results on neo-sexism and modernization of Croatian society. Research from 2010 was conducted on a representative sample of respondents (N=1008) with regards to main gender groups in addition to other socio-demographic variables. A comparison between 2004 and 2010 research results shows certain changes in opinions and attitudes within sexist discourse, however, factor analysis and independent-samples tests reveal that the main structure of neo-sexist concepts remains unchanged. Certain gender egalitarian attitudes are detected again among young people. Nevertheless, Croatia is still fundamentally marked by patriarchal neo-sexist models of thought and prejudice toward gender identity and gender groups, which can be clearly identified in our population’s consciousness.