Postsocijalistička Srbija između retradicionalizacije i refleksivne modernizacije
Post-socialist Serbia between Retraditionalisation and Reflexive Modernization

Author(s): Suzana Ignjatović
Subject(s): National Economy, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Post-Communist Transformation
Published by: Институт друштвених наука
Keywords: retraditionalisation; detraditionalisation; reflexive modernization; post-socialist transition; Serbia
Summary/Abstract: The retraditionalisation thesis has been used to explain the transformation of post-socialist societies, notably in family life and gender relations. Retraditionalisation is understood as a return of the pre-modern, traditional norms and values. It has been widely claimed that retraditionalisation had a negative impact on the legacy of the socialist modernisation in Serbia. The paper proposes an approach that rejects the monolithic concepts of modernisation and retraditionalisation, analysing changes in family life and gender norms. First, the thesis on re-traditionalisation in the relevant domains was re-examined, indicating that the traditional patterns have rather survived through socialism, than their revival in post-socialism. There are socialist traditions that have persisted as the legacy of the socialist modernisation and shaped the dominant cultural patterns in post-socialism. Second, retraditionalisation was refined by distinguishing regulative and meaningful traditions to indicate different types of retraditionalisation in the identified cases. Finally, we identified reflexive modernisation in the society of Serbia, even though it has undergone a negative transformational path and falls short of the criteria to be considered a society of “second modernity”.

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