Successful society and applied sociology

Abstract

Contemporary Serbian society, as well as other post-Yugoslav societies (excluding Slovenia) could not be classified as successful societies. For three decades, incapacity to achieve the level of the GDP per capita comparable to their situation in the 1989. is the persisting feature of these societies. These societies are characterized by a considerable and persisting emigration of their population, especially, of the emigration of their most valuable segments of their labor force. These are societies in which dominate unsuccessful political, economic and cultural elites, incapable of providing appropriate public policies which would lead these societies closer to the modern successful societies. Essential features of successful societies are being discussed. Outstanding identification of the great majority of citizens with the institutionally established society is considered as the essential feature of a successful society. Several other important features of societal successfulness are also considered. There are given some empirical findings supporting the presented assessments of the societal successfulness of the post-Yugoslav societies. Social circumstances contributing to the formation and persistence of successful public policies are being considered, with some reference to the situation in nowadays Serbia. Particular relevance for the societal successfulness is being attributed to the system of ownership relations, and to the system of social promotion. Also, it is claimed that existing problems with the persisting inefficiencies of public policies in the post-Yugoslav societies stem from the formation of these societies as ?ethno-nationalized? societies. Ignorance on the side of creators of policy measures of relevant scientific findings provided by social sciences, and sociology in particular, seem to be one of the contributing factors of the unsuccessful developments of the former Yugoslav, as well as of the existing post-Yugoslav societies. Some cases of the neglect of sociological proposals to the creators of the public policy have been described and assessed. Observations on the trends in applied sociology in the Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav societies have been mentioned. The need for the improved role of the applied sociology is being suggested.