engleski

Erosion of Civility in Croatia

The structure and hierarchy of highly valued social norms and the level of social and political institutions' trustworthiness are crucial not only for shaping relations among members of society but also for democratic political culture in general. Therefore this paper analyses the level, dynamics and structure of both social norms and institutional trust of youth in Croatia during a ten year period (2004-2013). Specifically, the focus is on dynamics of perceived importance of meritocratic principles, opportunism and conformism in achieving social success. The data reveal the negative trend of social civility which can be defined as the abstinence from pursuing one’s self-interest at the expense of other members of society (e.g. clientelism and corruption). At the same time, institutional trust (political, social and media trust) significantly decreased as well. Using the institutional perspective of social capital theory, it can be argued that fair and trustworthy institutions highly contribute to the construction of civility and suppression of culture of opportunism. Therefore, the link between these trends has been examined using regression analysis – namely, the main hypothesis is that factors of institutional trust, while controlling socio-demographic variables, have a significant influence on the evaluation of the importance of social norms. The analysis is based on empirical research conducted in 2004 and 2013 in Croatia on representative samples of youth aged 15-29 (N1=2000 ; N2=2000).

civility; youth; Croatia; institutional trust; political trust; media trust

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