Deindustrialization and the Working Class in Serbia Cover Image

Деиндустријализација и радничка класа Србије
Deindustrialization and the Working Class in Serbia

Author(s): Nada Novaković
Subject(s): Labor relations, Social differentiation, Economic development
Published by: Матица српска
Keywords: modernization; deindustrialization; public property; privatization; working class

Summary/Abstract: In this paper the author analyzed and described the most important systemic causes of the process of deindustrialization and the disappearance of the working class in Serbia. The initial hypothesis was: a process of deindustrialization was determined by systemic factors, i.e. the character of the new ruling class, the range of models of transition and privatization, and the place of the country in the world capitalist system. It was also influenced by the character of trade union organizations, and both old and new forms of workers’ resistance to the loss of economic and social rights. In the first part of the paper were studied the characteristics of industrialization and the working class before the transition, specific features of capitalist and socialist modernization, industrialization and urbanization in socialist Yugoslavia and Serbia. A special attention was paid to the financial status, characteristics and structure of the working class before the transition. The second part is devoted to the problems of transition, privatization and deindustrialization in Serbia over the last quarter of a century. The author pointed to the most important subjects of social transition, their social power and influence over the selection and implementation of a specific model of privatization. They have a decisive role in the destruction of the old and the emergence of the new social structure of society in the periphery of the capitalist system. It is particularly emphasized that privatization led to deindustrialization of Serbia and deterioration of the working class. Finally, the author concluded that during the transition public property was destroyed as well as the most important economic and industrial activities, and the working class was systematically marginalized. An agrarian society was created, without material and other assets to continue modernization and democratic processes.

  • Issue Year: 2016
  • Issue No: 159-160
  • Page Range: 735-753
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: Serbian