Islam ante portas: Application of Bauman’s theory of a foreigner to the analysis of social distance towards Muslim migrants in Serbia

• Main Author: Jovanović-Ajzenhamer Nataša
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Ethnography, SASA, Belgrade 2020-01-01
• Series: Glasnik Etnografskog Instituta SANU
• Subjects: zygmunt bauman; islam; migrations from middle east; sociological theory; social distance
• Online Access: http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-0861/2020/0350-08612003749J.pdf

Bauman’s theory of the attitude of the Western population towards migrants is based on the analysis of several aspects: ontological, ethical, economic, social, political and security. It is a complex theory which is build on his earlier research on fluid life, globalization, and the (post)modernity. In this paper, I will first present Bauman’s basic hypotheses about the attitude towards foreigners who are comming „to our door“, and then I will apply these hypotheses to the analysis of the situation with the migrant crisis in Serbia. Although Bauman bases his theory on the experiences of Western European countries, I will try to show why his conclusions can be extended to countries on the periphery of world capitalism, such as Serbia. To test some of Bauman’s hypotheses, I will analyse public opinion polls in Serbia. Although I did not conduct the research by operationalizing Bauman’s theory and therefore I cannot speak of confirming or refuting his assumptions, the analysis of secondary empirical data will serve as our initial orientation and heuristic reconnaissance for some future research in that direction.