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Basic Sociological Insights in Youth Characteristics and Problems in Croatia

Integral review of the youth centred researches conducted in Croatia from 1999-2008 show that youth individualisation is present at all levels – from life strategies and orientations to interpersonal relations. In accomplishment of life goals youth at the first place believe in their own strengths, especially in family resources, i.e. in realisation of educational, professional, housing, family and similar needs and ambitions they expect to receive more help from their parents than from social community. Thus, process of youth passivisation from socio-political field extends to almost all aspects of their everyday life. Youth political culture in many aspects reveals more close position to the desirable democratic standards – especially when it comes to accepting basic liberal-democratic values and principal readiness to social engagement. But, their social power and social capital remain at the lower levels. Youth are aware of their social and political marginalisation and they recognize the whole range of measures that could contribute to their power gaining and becoming active citizens, like it is desirable in democratic society, but youth still modestly use channels of social and political promotion on disposal. Still, in comparison to the elderly, youth in Croatia proves to be more liberal, more tolerant and more flexible. They also to a higher extent believe in potentials of their own generation, and they consistently show more pro-European orientation. Along this, youth perceive their generation like one of the winners in the process of Croatian integration in the united Europe. Contemporary Croatian youth show lower level of social sensibility, and they seem not to be aware that unequal access of the youth to the social resources will generate their unequal status in their mature age. Thus we can expect expanding and deepening of the process of social stratification, which could be corrected by mechanisms of equal access to social resources (at the first place, to the education). By this, we would like to say that social capital in Croatia, small and underdeveloped country, shall be a subject of very cautious operating. Previous research insights in Croatia show that youth transition to the mature world gets more complicated and long-lasting. Institutionalised educational lasts longer, modern technological changes demand more qualified and flexible work force, and economic developments cyclically result in increasing of the unemployment which is most evident at youth population. Mentioned processes also result by slower entering into the working world, in other words, by slower socio-economic independence, which forces youth to remain in dependent position. Difficult inclusion into professional work (youth unemployment rate persists at 30%) contributes to prolonged conceiving of their own family. Thus, youth in Croatia, like in the most European countries, enter into first marriage at later ages, and get their children later and later. Later undertaking of the permanent social roles and exclusion or inadequate inclusion of the youth into economic, political and social processes result in insufficient social integration of youth. This means that potential of the youth like the most vital, most flexible and potentially most innovative segment of contemporary society remains unused. Such lost is especially harmful to the countries undertaking significant social, political and economic transformations, like Croatia. Here we should keep in mind that in previous half of the century, marked by modernisation, share of youth (age 15-30) in Croatia dropped from 27, 7% (1953) to 20, 6% (2001). Similar demographic changes occurred in the most European countries, and trend of ageing population makes youth even more precious social resource. At the end, all research point out that youth generation in Croatia is not a homogenised group. Youth are segmented in line with segmentation of Croatian society, with differences according to the level of maturity, social originating, education, socio-professional status, value orientations and life styles. This reasons make an issue, how to enable to all youth subgroups access to required social resources that could increase their chances for adequate integration into contemporary society and accomplishment of quality life today and in their later ages, even more important.

croatian youth; values; behavior; activity

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