Overview
- Provides the first comprehensive historical and critical overview of Serbian Sociology
- Examines the question of sociology's autonomy from politics
- Provides a lens to examine sociology in a (post)conflict society
Part of the book series: Sociology Transformed (SOTR)
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About this book
This book represents the first comprehensive century-long history of the disciplinary development of sociology in Serbia in English. It provides an overview of the constitution of sociology as an academic discipline during the interwar period, its reinstitutionalization after World War II in entirely new social circumstances marked by establishment of self-management socialism in Yugoslavia, and finally its development during the turbulent postsocialist period. Divided into five chapters, the focus of the book is on the challenges that sociology has faced in order to maintain its institutional position, gain adequate social recognition, and preserve its professional autonomy. Relying on Bourdieu's concept of the academic field and Burawoy's typology of Professional, Critical, Public and Policy sociology, the book seeks to answer the question of how the sociological academic field in Serbia has been constituted, structured and restructured, and in which of these roles sociology hasdominantly appeared in different phases of its evolution.
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Keywords
Table of contents (5 chapters)
Reviews
“With extraordinary clarity, the authors present one century of sociology in Serbia. Pioneers and mediators, institutions and reviews, currents and debates, relations with the state and the civil society – nothing escapes their attention. But they accomplish much more than that. The book is also a fascinating journey through Serbian society from 19th to 21th centuries, and an original reflection on the social sciences and the ways social scientists use them, beyond geographic and disciplinary boundaries.” (Xavier Bougarel, National Center for Scientific Research, Paris)
“Sociology came late to the region, and was always the object of political hostility or efforts at political control. Some sociologists resisted, some used the tension to their advantage, but most tried to maintain the autonomy of the field. This book shows how sociologists’ successes and failures at keeping the project alive fed new ideas, new research, and new divisions.” (Eric Gordy, School of Slavonic andEast European Studies, University College London)
"Tracing a national sociological tradition is never easy. It becomes maddeningly hard when the tradition in question seems to migrate across times and places following the ups and downs of meandering history of the Balkans, where state boundaries, national identities and biographies of sociologists seldom met. What is Serbian sociology, then? Ivana Spasić, Jelena Pešić and Marija Babović succeeded in producing a compelling narrative of discontinuity: “false starts, attempts cut short, legacies petering out, memories obliterated, and beginnings from scratch”. The story culminates in an account of the devastating effects of the “destruction of society” in the Yugoslav wars and the challenge of starting anew once again in the 21st century, facing the overwhelming sense of permanent social crisis. It is a story unlike any I know; it is deeply relatable for anyone who cares about the autonomy of social science under political pressures, whether in the center or in the peripheries of our conflict-stricken world." (Marta Bucholc, Faculty of Sociology, University of Warsaw/Centre de recherche en science politique, Université Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Dr Ivana Spasić is full Professor at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade. Her areas of interest are social theory, cultural sociology, postsocialism, and discourse in society.
Dr Jelena Pešić is Assistant Professor at the Department for Sociology of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade. She has authored and co-authored two monographs and a number of papers in journals and edited volumes.
Dr Marija Babović is full Professor at the Department for Sociology of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade. She has been lecturing Economic Sociology, Sociology of Work, Contemporary Economic Migration and Sustainable Development. Her main area of research is socio-economic development with particular focus on gender equality, employment, and social inclusion.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Sociology in Serbia
Book Subtitle: A Fragile Discipline
Authors: Ivana Spasić, Jelena Pešić, Marija Babović
Series Title: Sociology Transformed
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12485-3
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-12484-6Published: 21 September 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-12485-3Published: 20 September 2022
Series ISSN: 2947-5023
Series E-ISSN: 2947-5031
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 110
Topics: Sociological Theory, Sociology, general, Cultural History, Social Theory