Kontinuitet siromaštva i siromašnih u srpskom društvu - od "ranjivih grupa" do "gubitnika tranzicije"

Abstract

In this paper about poverty, the author presents his analysis on two levels. The first explains the cognitive interest of sociology to study of poverty as a social phenomenon that follows the uneven and contradictory social development, underscoring the possibility of sociological understanding of poverty (and poor) in Serbian society as a continual social process. In this way, the author tries to systematize some key indicators of poverty in Serbian society in the broader context of cognitive understanding of social inequalities, relying primarily on secondary sources of some Serbian sociologist, and partialy on official statistics. In doing so, the author concludes that continuity of poverty in Serbian society in transition lies in the fact that the traditional "vulnerable groups" (which belong to individuals with insufficient skills to provide for their own existence) recently joined more diverse group of "transition losers". Given that long-term "habitation" in poverty (as a characteristic of Serbian society in the post-socialist transition) affects the formation and shaping of specific value orientations, the author asks the question: is impoverished majority of the the society members threatened by "culture of poverty"?