Morality in Serbian people: Stereotype or scientific truth?

Abstract

The author considers certain theoretical-methodological issues in sociological research of morality of one nation: is it justified, from the point of view of sociological research, to attribute certain moral characteristics to the whole ethnic group (in this case: Serbian people)? Is it justified to differentiate one nation's morality from nations that are closely connected to it by region, temper and inheritance of culture? Does that kind of act represent a non-critical accepting of stereotypes? A retrospective view to the existing studies of ethnography, anthropology and ethno-psychology, as well as consideration of connection of morality, character and culture, refer to the answer that there is a scientific basis for describing an ethnic dimension of the whole nation, which a sociologist has a view in primarily by applying qualitative methods. Nevertheless, the conclusion is that distinction in regional and social stratification in moral usage and normative structure (as well as differentiating between those two) can be methodologically more useful for sociology, than making generalizations on a national level.

Keywords

• Morality
• Character
• Nations
• Serbian people
• Stereotype