An Analysis of the Political and Economic Elite in Serbia during the Post-Socialist Era
In Serbia (and previously Yugoslavia), empirical research on social stratification has a tradition of over fifty years. The first comprehensive study of the Yugoslav elite was conducted in the 1970s (Barton et al., 1973). Subsequent research took place in the late 1980s (1989) with a large-scale study of the social structure of Yugoslav society titled "Social Structure and Quality of Life in the SFRY." This survey included sub-samples for the political and economic elite. Over the next three decades, research on stratification in Serbia continued almost on the same theoretical and methodological basis, which enables comparative analysis. Research on the economic and political elite was conducted by the Institute for Sociological Research in 1993, 2003, 2012, and 2015. Notably, such research is rare in this part of Europe, which makes the importance of this research even greater.
The paper aims to present research on the political and economic elite in Serbia during the post-socialist period. It analyzes various aspects contributing to the consolidation of this social group as a privileged class that controls political and economic resources. These aspects include intergenerational and intragenerational mobility, economic position, value patterns (such as political and economic liberalism), etc.
By analyzing the systemic transition from socialism to capitalism, and the changes that followed the collapse of socialism, the broader aim is to assess whether the consolidation of political and economic elites has progressed to the point where we can speak of the emergence of a new capitalist class and full establishment of the capitalist social system in Serbia (including other social classes and groups).