The Dominance of the Group Position and Anti-Bosniak Prejudice in the Ideology of Serbian Nationalism

Abstract

Ethnic cleansing often takes the form of social revolutions involving large numbers of ordinary people. Such participation of the broad masses would be impossible without the presence of a strong ethnic prejudice that motivates a common man to contribute to this collectivist crime. Blumer's theory of group position suggests that ethnic/racial prejudice occurs as a reaction to the perception of the threat posed by the other group and assumes that prejudice must be formed of four constitutive elements: feelings of superiority, feelings of inherent distinction, feelings of special rights and privileges, and finally feelings of threat to the group's dominant position. All these feelings, according to Herbert Blumer, are in fact representations of another group that are being created in the long historical processes of positioning ethnic groups in society. The representation of the other group is not necessarily rooted in direct experience, it is rooted, above all, in the ideological image of the other. The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze historical data and statements of influential political, religious, and intellectual figures, four dimensions of the representation of the Bosniak ethnonational group in the ideology of Serbian nationalism.