The European Social Survey (ESS) is methodologically and theoretically the most comprehensive international comparative survey, implemented in most European countries, in two-year rounds, under the auspices of the European Infrastructural Consortium. This is the first time Serbia has been included, and the Institute for Sociological Research has been the main carrier of the project. In the current round, the Institute has coordinated a national research consortium of several research institutions (Institute of Social Sciences, Belgrade; Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade; Faculty of Political Science, Belgrade; Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad; Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš). The coordinator of the ESS Serbia national team is Dr Dragan Stanojević, and the survey has been accomplished with the financial support provided by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia. Fieldwork was completed in the fall of 2018. Being part of this project has brought significant benefits to the Serbian research community, enabling a transfer of up to date international theoretical and methodological expertise and practices in the organization of large-scale surveys, training researchers for conducting long-term, comparative international studies, and increasing the visibility of the Serbian academic community internationally.
Challenges of New Social Integration in Serbia: Concepts and Actors
2011–
The project Challenges of New Social Integration in Serbia: Concepts and Actors, funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia(reg. No. 179035), led by Prof. Mladen Lazić, involves a total of 40 researchers. It consists of 3 subprojects: 1) Changes of the Basic Structures of Serbian Society (focusing on macro-structural aspect); 2) Territorial Capital in Serbia – Structural and Action Potential of Local Development (meso-structural aspect); and 3) Changing Structure and Action Potential at Family and Individual Levels– generational and gender perspectives (micro-structural aspect), with two thematic foci: The Young as Actors of Social Integration and Politics of Parenthood. All three subprojects are strongly grounded in theory and empirical evidence and have continuously been promoting their findings, thus contributing to reform policies, and developing and improving the Institute’s human resources. This project provides new insights into the distinctive features of the emergent capitalist order in Serbia, insights that are bound to have also practical implications for planning socio-economic development and consolidating democracy.
Social Actors and Social Change in Serbia 1990-2010
2005–2010
This project, funded by the republic Ministry of Science and the Environment (No. 149005B), ended in 2010. It was headed by Prof. Sreten Vujović (Prof. Silvano Bolčić until 2007), and gathered 24 researchers. Social actors were the main subject of the overall project and the main focus of individual contributions by team members. The analysis was aimed at actors of social change at the societal level, the level of institutions and socio-spatial units, and the level of families and individual actions, as well as in shaping social consciousness and in socio-pathological processes.
Projects within the Regional Research Promotion Programme (RRPP Western Balkans) run by the University of Fribourg
Citizen Participation in Making Decisions on Environmental Protection: Case Studies of Pančevo and Bor
2010
Since the project’s objective was to explain the reasons for low citizen participation, it focused on understanding the complex micro-dynamics taking place between the structural characteristics and the perspectives of various actors. The study involved two local communities considered to be Serbia’s “environmental hot spots” – Pančevo and Bor. The level of environmental activism, degree of economic development and distance from Belgrade (in both spatial and political terms, that is, as social visibility) were identified as conceptually important variables for comparison. Attitudes of citizens were explored via survey, and attitudes of representatives of key institutional actors (local politicians, the business community, media, NGOs and experts in various municipal institutions) via interviews. Such an approach was based on the assumption that environmental topics become relevant for citizen activism only after gaining legitimacy in various social arenas.
The Young as Actors of Social Change
2010
The project aimed at analyzing action potential of the young as individual actors acting in the structural and socio-cultural context of postsocialist transformation of the Serbian society. The emphasis was placed on the potential and obstacles of the social setting, as well as on the capacity of young people to act as strategic actors in the social transformation.
Transformation Strategies of Social Groups in Serbia
2000–2005
Apart from global structural and contextual features of the Serbian society, the project’s focus was on different social groups understood as “strategic actors”, with an action potential and strategies of their own for coping with with transformation processes in the society. The survey was implemented on a representative sample. Sophisticated measuring instruments were deployed with a view to obtaining as precise as possible a description of the class/stratification position of households, material status index, typology of value orientations, housing properties of households, typology of households’ strategies, typology of partner relations, etc. The final results indicated the factors emerging as threats to the successful unfolding of modernization processes which are reflected in the sphere of work, family, housing policy etc. Prof. Anđelka Milić was the project leader.
Serbia in a Comparative Sociological Perspective
1995–2000
The project included three subprojects: Development of Sociological Theory and Methodology (led by Prof. Marija Bogdanović), Global Changes of Serbian Society (led by Prof. Silvano Bolčić), and Quality of Life and Families in Society in Transition (led by Prof. Anđelka Milić). In terms of subjects taken up, the project was a continuation of two former research projects of the Institute: Serbia at the End of the 1980s (1991) and Studying Sociologically the New Features of Serbian Society in the 1990s (1995), and thus partly longitudinal in character. Although implemented in extremely unfavorable socio-economic and institutional circumstances, the project attained a good factual insight into the complex social developments in Serbia during the 1990s, as reflected in the rich database that was generated. The findings were partly published in the book Serbia at the End of the Millennium (ISI FF, 2002), consisting of 18 chapters shedding light on the global changes of Serbian society.
Sociological Dictionary
1998
The Institute coordinated the project of compiling this Sociological Dictionary, with more than one thousand entries, and funded by the Federal Secretary for Development and Research. A large number of authors were involved in writing the entries, and the editors were Professors Marija Bogdanović and Aljoša Mimica.
Parenthood, Institutional Setting and Conflict of Roles: The Life Course and the Family Cycle
1995
This project was part of the Research Program on the Conditions, Policies and Instruments for Implementation of the Population Development Policy in Serbia. The Program was launched by the Government of the Republic of Serbia’s Council for the population, family and children. Studies carried out within the Program had a task to help determine the appropriate population policy in Serbia. Prof. Marija Bogdanović was the project leader.
Developing Sociological Theory and Methodology
1991–1995
Theoretical in character, this project was designed with the aim of illuminating some fundamental problems necessary for the development of sociological scholarship, but also to advance the teaching of sociology in institutions of higher education. Eight team members were involved. In addition to numerous articles in national and international journals, and papers at scientific conferences, eight books resulted from the project. Prof. Marija Bogdanović was the project leader.
Studying Sociologically the New Features of Serbian Society in the 1990s
1991–1995
The Institute was the coordinator of this project realized in cooperation with the Institute of Social Policy, Institute for Sociological and Criminological Research, and Institute of Sociological Research, Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad. The project examined the characteristics of Serbian society in transition. Eight fieldwork studies were completed, creating a valuable evidence database for studying the transformation of Serbia’s society. Thirty-three researchers took part in the project. In terms of the results, and taking into account only the output by Institute members, the project produced as many as nine books, numerous articles in domestic and international journals, and presentations at conferences. Prof. Silvano Bolčić was the project leader.
Between 1972 and 1990 twelve macroprojects (with 11 subprojects and a large number of individual topics) were completed at the Institute.
Spacial Mobility of Young People in Serbia
2012
The research aimed at mapping all forms of internal and external migration (i.e. spatial mobility) of young people aged 15–30 in Serbia. The results showed which young people (in terms of the relevant socio-demographic properties) and to what purpose (business, education, marriage) changed their place of residence on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis. The study was commissioned by the Ministry of Youth and Sport of the Republic of Serbia, in accordance with the recommendations in the National Strategy for the Young.
Attitudes of Citizens, Local Administration and Civil Society Organizations in the Areas of Environmental Protection, Gender Equality, and European Integration
2010
This complex policy project was implemented in cooperation with the Permanent Conference of Cities and Municipalities, and commissioned by UNDP and SIDA. In substantive terms, the topics chosen for scrutiny, though highly urgent and socially relevant, are generally marginalized in public debate. In methodological terms, the need to examine the attitudes and practices of three different kinds of major social actors for each topic mandated that the survey be applied to representative and convenience samples simultaneously. This unique project design enabled an insight into the mutual perception of actors whose interconnection and cooperation are necessary if the problems in each of the studied areas are to be solved in the best possible way. Thus the questionnaire items referred to the amount of information and knowledge, as well as willingness of each actor to get (more) involved regarding specific issues, and then actors were asked to assess each other on these dimensions. This operationalization of concepts sought to grasp the reality in such a way as to ensure the applicability of the findings, down to the level of specific recommendations.
Attitudes to Higher Education Reform in Serbia
2009
This survey was implemented in cooperation with the Student Union of Serbia. The goal was to examine the attitudes of students and managements of all public faculties on the higher education reform. The Institute’s research team constructed the instrument and the sample, and coordinated the survey. The findings were analyzed so as to help improve the reform and reduce the negative effects of the new measures. The end users (various ministries, university managements, student organizations) were supplied with concrete recommendations based on the results.
Local Agenda 21 for the municipality of Pančevo
2008
The Institute’s researchers reviewed the local situation in the following two areas: 1) the development of health care, welfare and protection of vulnerable social groups; and 2) social and communal infrastructure. Fieldwork consisted of interviews with representatives of civil society groups, as well as workshops and focus groups devoted to area-related topics which brought together representatives of civil society and the local administration. Our experts developed the questionnaires, moderated the workshops and focus groups, and completed the analysis of results that served as the basis for drawing up recommendations in the final policy paper.
CIIT – Action Program for the CENTRE of Trans-Adriatic Institutional Interconnection, carried out in cooperation with the University of Lecce
2007
The program was focused on the local socio-economic development of the municipality of Pančevo and its distinctive features as compared with its Italian counterpart. The project was implemented in cooperation with representatives of the local government since their perspective made up an important aspect of the study. The project results were presented at the conference Risorse e politiche per lo sviluppo locale: un confronto fra Italia e Serbia, at University Salento in Lecce, in October 2007. Previously, in June 2007, a couple of our researchers paid a visit to the University of Lecce and lectured in the Master Program Cooperazione internazionale, diritti umani e peace keeping nell’area mediterranea – Insegnamento di Sociologia del mutamento sociale nei Balkani. The Institute represented the University of Belgrade.
Spaces for Young People: Action!
2005
This action research project of a number of neighborhoods in Belgrade aimed at stimulating the participation of children in local community activities. A survey preceded focus group interviews with children and representatives of schools and local communities. The final report listed recommendations on how to harmonize the interests and needs of different stakeholders in the use of public space in the given communities.
