The attitude of academic sociology in Serbia towards civil society: Analysis of the use of the concept of civil society in the three sociological journals in Serbia

Abstract

This paper discusses the different use and understanding of the concept of civil society in Serbian sociology. We analyzed The articles published in the three representative sociological journals - Sociology, Themes and Sociological Review - published in the period after 2000. The transition between the two millennia is considered to be important in this area, since the regime change led to the more straightforward direction towards European integration of Serbia, and to the adoption of the Western values and standards. In this context, civil society as a political project and the scientific concept became especially socially relevant. However, despite the expectation that scientific papers and studies dealing with the concept of civil society will be relatively numerous, analysis has shown that the concept mostly remained outside the main currents of sociological thought. The authors suggest that the omission of the concept of civil society from the mainstream sociological analysis and discussion, is primarily a result of criticism that sociologists generally present towards the concept of civil society.

Keywords

• civil society
• Serbia
• sociology