CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2008
| Author | Cepic, Drazen |
|---|---|
| Title | "People of my system": Creating Inter-Class symbolic Boundaries in the Postsocialist Context-The Case of Croatian Upper-Middle Class |
| Summary | This research examines the Croatian upper-middle class, with a focus on comparison between two of its segments: cultural and social specialists from the cultural sector with self-employed professionals from the profit-related private sector. The goal of this study is to explore symbolic boundaries which Croatian upper-middle class draws toward the classes above and beneath it, and to comparatively grasp the differences between members of the two class segments. In doing this, I am relying on the model developed by Michele Lamont which consists of the three main foundations for creating inter-class symbolic boundaries: cultural, moral and socioeconomic aspect. The goal of my research was to test Lamont’s model, and to compare the Croatian case with the cases of France and the USA, in order to see how closely stratification models made in countries with a long capitalist history correspond to the situation in the postsocialist context. I conclude that Croatian upper-middle class is not clearly divided between different sectors, as different criteria intertwine, although some differences do exist. Furthermore, I conclude that, possibly as the consequence of socialist past, cultural and moral criteria are on the level of symbolic boundaries more important than the socioeconomic one. It remains unclear though whether moral criterion really can be regarded as the basis for creation of symbolic boundaries toward other classes, since morals seem to be mechanism which is socially much more inclusive than exclusive. This implies that morality leads to egalitarian principles, whose symbolic boundaries transcend class boundaries rather than perpetuating them. In the end, however, I conclude that some of my findings question the reliability of the symbolic boundaries approach, and that therefore the further examinations are needed to prove its plausibility. |
| Supervisor | Vedres,Balazs; Zentai, Violetta |
| Department | Sociology MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2008/cepic_drazen.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University