engleski

Accepted or Not? Social Integration of Immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina in Croatia

More than two thirds of people born abroad who live in Croatia (2011 census) were born in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The significantly high number of immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina is the result of intensive labour migration during socialist period and the migration caused by the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even though the immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina pose a significant proportion of overall Croatian immigrant population, they have rarely been the subject of scientific research in Croatia. In this paper the special accent is attached to their experiences within the dimension of social integration and considering the perceived sense of belonging to Croatian society. This paper is based on the results of empirical research which aimed to examine selected quality of life dimensions of adult Croatian citizens, born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who immigrated to Croatia. The survey was conducted in the City of Zagreb in 2014 on a convenience sample (N = 301). In the first part of the presentation some general characteristics of the researched population have been analysed within the specific context of Croatian society. Further on the results related to the immigrants’ sense of belonging to a social environment and perceptions of social status are presented in regard to selected characteristic of respondents (age, gender, education, socio- economic status). The obtained results showed that, on average, the immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina feel very accepted in the local community, and their origin has not been perceived as an obstacle to acceptance and adaptation to the social environment. In their judgement they respect family and traditional values more than the local population, and they appreciate Croatia more than its “indigenous” people. Furthermore, they show a higher level of sense of belonging to the city and the country in which they live as opposed to the country of origin. The differences based on the socio-demographic characteristics revealed that female respondents feel more offended by the negative stereotypes about people from Bosnia and Herzegovina than do the male respondents ; the youngest respondents feel the most able to adapt to social environment in Croatia and the most educated respondents disagree to the most that they were not accepted because of their origin. The results of the study lead to conclusion that immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who are by their ethnic affiliation mostly Croats (93%), are the “untypical” immigrants in Croatia – they feel accepted and have strong sense of belonging possibly due to better symbolic fit in the Croatian society and due to long tradition of labour migration and migration aimed at better education opportunities.

immigrants from Bosnia and Hercegovina ; Croatia ; social integration

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