LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF BUSINESSPEOPLE IN SERBIA: RELATIONAL, POLITICAL AND INCONSISTENT?
LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF BUSINESSPEOPLE IN SERBIA: RELATIONAL, POLITICAL AND INCONSISTENT?

Summary/Abstract: This exploratory study examines the legal consciousness of small business owners in Serbia during intense political crisis and institutional instability. We analyze perceptions of the law and how they are shaped, and the findings show that respondents view the law primarily as an instrument of the political elite rather than a safeguard of individual rights and freedoms, with selective enforcement and the elite’s legal impunity being the most notable features of the Serbian legal system. We thus conclude that legal consciousness is (1) macro-relational and closely intertwined with perceptions of governance and the political elite, and (2) micro-relational and grounded in direct personal experience with legal institutions. In the Serbian context, featuring political ruptures and legal abuses, legal consciousness is less about the shared creation of legal meaning and more about perceptions of the political elite’s behavior. The study proposes distinguishing between macro and micro relational levels of legal consciousness.

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