Islam ante portas: Application of Bauman’s theory of a foreigner to the analysis of social distance towards Muslim migrants in Serbia

Abstract

Bauman?s theory of the attitude of the Western population towards migrants is based on the analysis of several aspects: ontological, ethical, economic, social, political and security. It is a complex theory which is build on his earlier research on fluid life, globalization, and the (post)modernity. In this paper, I will first present Bauman?s basic hypotheses about the attitude towards foreigners who are comming ?to our door?, and then I will apply these hypotheses to the analysis of the situation with the migrant crisis in Serbia. Although Bauman bases his theory on the experiences of Western European countries, I will try to show why his conclusions can be extended to countries on the periphery of world capitalism, such as Serbia. To test some of Bauman?s hypotheses, I will analyse public opinion polls in Serbia. Although I did not conduct the research by operationalizing Bauman?s theory and therefore I cannot speak of confirming or refuting his assumptions, the analysis of secondary empirical data will serve as our initial orientation and heuristic reconnaissance for some future research in that direction.