Ethnic enclaves and intolerance: The case of Yugoslavia

Author(s): Hodson, R., Sekulic, D.

Journal/Book: Soc Forces. 1999; 78: Box 2288, Journals Dept, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-2288, USA. Univ North Carolina Press. 669-693.

Abstract: Differences in ethnic tolerance among majority and minority ethnic groups can be understood in part as the result of structural factors involving population arrangements and the distribution of power, especially as these are manifest in ethnic enclaves. The current article builds on Allport's contact hypothesis in combination with propositions found in Blalock's theory of minority-group relations and Blau's structural theory of heterogeneity and inequality to show why spatial arrangements and their corresponding power relations influence intergroup feelings of tolerance. A model of tolerance within and outside enclaves is proposed and tested using survey data (N = 13,442) from the former Yugoslavia collected in 1989-90, just before the country's dissolution. Intolerance is greatest in ethnic enclaves for both minority and majority group members. Majority group members living in enclaves dominated by a minority group are, through a combination of resentment and restraint on their power, more intolerant than in any other situation. Minority group members living in enclaves and experiencing both nascent power and anxiety in their minority status are more intolerant than when living dispersed among majority populations. Greater attention to the role of enclaves is important for advancing social science understandings of ethnic and racial separatism and integration in multiethnic societies. In the case of the former Yugoslavia, policies that seek harmony by accepting ethnic separation may be sowing future conflict.

Note: Article Massey G, Univ Wyoming, Dept Sociol, Laramie,WY 82071 USA

Keyword(s): FORMER YUGOSLAVIA; SOLIDARITY; ATTITUDES

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