АУТОР / AUTHOR(S): Anita Bušljeta Tonković 
DOI: 10.46793/CSGE5.47ABT
САЖЕТАК / ABSTRACT:
In the European Union (EU), the current processes of globalization in rural areas have followed a model for highly developed societies that sociologists call “liquid modernity” (Bauman, 2000) with all its consequences. One of these processes is certainly the demographic exodus from these rural areas, especially from the areas in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. With the accession of the individual countries to the EU, the population of these areas has migrated mainly for economic reasons.
These (late) modernization processes have also taken place in Croatia, even if they have arrived in rural areas with some delay, which has led to changes in lifestyle and, at the same time, to mass emigration. The characteristics of demographic collapse that have been confirmed for Croatia (Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2021) can be observed primarily in most rural areas of Croatia, especially in some traditional, sparsely populated and mountainous regions such as the Lika region.
According to sociologist Ivan Rogić (2000), Bauman’s theory of fluid modernization can be described as creeping modernization in Croatia. This social phenomenon took place in Croatia in several phases: 1) the first wave of emigration after the First World War; 2) the second wave, characterized by agricultural overpopulation, after the Second World War; 3) the third wave of emigration during the socialist period; and 4) the fourth wave of emigration in connection with the economic (and political) crises of the (post-)transition period. The general (creeping) modernization processes have shaped three types of Croatian peasants throughout history: 1) peasant-soldier/warrior, 2) peasant-worker, and 3) peasant-manager, each on their own, without the previously acquired knowledge and skills of their urban contemporaries.
A peripheral, wild capitalism, a slow transitional bureaucracy and additional bureaucratization are the general results of the modernization processes in the Croatian (rural) areas, which are additionally characterized by shell institutions (Giddens, 2002) and the complete closure of the planned, socialist industry, for which there is no alternative (apart from overtourism). It follows that the unfavorable state of human and social capital in rural Croatia is the result of the historical course associated with pre-industrial traditionalism, socialist egalitarianism and the tendency towards state paternalism.
КЉУЧНЕ РЕЧИ / KEYWORDS:
creeping modernization theory; liquid modernity; (post-)transition; rural areas;
rural exodus
ЛИТЕРАТУРА / REFERENCES:
- Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Polity Press.
- Giddens, A. (2002). Runaway World: How Globalization Is Reshaping Our Lives. Profile Books.
- Croatian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Popis stanovništva, kućanstava i stanova 2021. Stanovništvo. [Data set].
https://dzs.gov.hr/u-fokusu/popis-2021/88 - Rogić, I. (2000). Tehnika i samostalnost: okvir za sliku treće hrvatske modernizacije. Hrvatska sveučilišna naklada.