Public opinion research in Serbia in the Non-pluralist period

Abstract

From the mid 1950s until the end of the twentieth century, public opinion surveys enabled the collection of a vast amount of empirical data. One part of the findings was published in the form of reports or monographs immediately after the surveys had been conducted, available to all interested readers. In keeping with their personal and professional interests, CPSPOR researchers published both theoretical and review papers in monographs, journals, and proceedings dealing with the problem areas of the four basic programs. Many of these papers were widely acclaimed in the scientific and professional public, some even winning prizes. They cover various research topics: theoretical papers on the election system and political parties (Goati 2000; 2001; Goati et al. 1995; Pribicevic 2010; Lutovac 2005; 2006; Vukomanovic 1997), the nature of interests (Pantic 1980), information systems and mass communication (Dzinic 1978; Bacevic 2004; Matic 2007), the Biblical concept of propaganda and ancient propaganda (Slavujevic 1993; 1997), political culture (Vasovic 1998; Pantic/Pavlovic 2009; Pavlovic 2009; 2010; 2012; 2013; 2014), values (Kuzmanovic 1995; Pantic 1981; 1990; 1994; Pavlovic 2009), world public opinion (Pavlovic 2007), public opinion (Bacevic 1994; Pantic 2009; Pantic/Pavlovic 2007), ideology (Goati 1997; Boskovic 2006), expressing interests (Bolcic 1998), the ethnology of everyday life (Boskovic 2005), political marketing (Slavujevic 1999), political socialization (Vasovic, 1986a), secular religiosity (Pantic 1988), political legitimacy (Mihailovic 1997; Slavujevic/Mihailovic 1999), parliamentarianism (Goati 1995), youth as a social group (Mihailovic 1985; Mihailovic et al. 1990; Milic/Cickaric 1998), social capital (Ignjatovic 2011), gender equality (Boskovic et al. 2011), religiosity (Flere 1985), and public opinion formation (Lukic 1969). The references published in the period from the 1960s to the end of the 1980s are invaluable since they are the 14 only preserved evidence regarding the topics analyzed, the employed methods, and the main findings (for more detailed information regarding the ISS publications see Albahari/Jovanovic 2007). On the other hand, almost all public opinion surveys conducted from the early 1990s until the present are archived in two quite unique research databases: the CPSPOR Research Data (CPSPOR internal archive) and the National Social Science Empirical Data Archive—NEDA (constructed for the consortium of social science institutes in Serbia) (Fajgelj/Ignjatovic 2009).3 The construction of NEDA was coordinated by CPSPOR and funded by UNESCO. Both databases enable searching through all research studies and offer various options of new or additional data processing. The NEDA database contains over one hundred surveys and all relevant pieces of information—raw data, variables, categories etc. Once the NEDA database becomes fully operational (currently it is in the final testing phase), it will create an excellent opportunity for performing longitudinal and trend analyses, repeated, extended, or in-depth analyses, meta-analytic and psychometric analyses. Both earlier publications and archived data provide the possibility to obtain new or critical insights into the factors, processes, or consequences of some of the key events in the modern political history of Serbia, and thus serve as the best evidence of the turbulent times Serbian society has faced in the past decades. Hence, returning to them again and again will most certainly provide new perspectives and insights on these difficult experiences.