Hrvatsko društvo – prije i tijekom tranzicije
Croatian Society –Before and During Transition

Summary/Abstract: The text indicates changes that occurred in the socio-cultural context of Croatian society during the period of post-socialist transition, with regard to the following topics: (1) economic state of society; (2) labour and work ethics; (3) employment or unemployment issues; (4) individualist as opposed to collectivist orientations; (5) changes in the culture; and (6) religious orientations and the influence of the church on the work of social institutions. Its aim is to create a basis for further study of the development of Croatian society and specific qualities of Croatian transition. Based on changes in the topics discussed in the text, one can conclude generally that in the period of transition both continuity and discontinuity with the former socialist period are demonstrated. The greatest changes are structural in character (ownership, organisation of labour, organisation of official social and cultural activities). Continuity with the socialist period, as well as with the cultural matrices preceding it, is evident in the cultural aspects of social life (contradictory set of individualist and collectivist values, the importance of the ritual element of political legitimacy). One of the specifics of Croatian transition is in the fact that it mostly developed in wartime circumstances, resulting in certain specific phenomena also observed in other transitional countries (e.g. unemployment). Although Croatia did not enter the phase of “mature transition”, measured by means of the criterion of political accession to the EU, until it had become a candidate country in 2005, it can be argued that in the social sense transition in Croatia has mostly been completed.

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