The Network of Settlements in Networked Society

Autor istražuje pretpostavke izgradnje suvremene mreže naselja u Hrvatskoj. Te pretpostavke nalazi, s jedne strane, u učincima socijalističke modernizacije kojom je izvedena preobrazba pretežno seljačkog društva u relativno razvijeno industrijsko društvo, te, s druge strane, u globalizacijskim procesima kojima je zahvaćeno suvremeno hrvatsko društvo. Proces transformacije postsocijalističkog društva tretira se kao proces koji po svojoj obuhvatnosti i intezitetu radikalizira i univerzalizira dosadašnjim razvojem postignutu modernost. Strategije transformacije, s kojima se kroz način uporabe valoriziraju socijalističkom modernizacijom stvoreni resursi, restrukturiraju zatečenu mrežu naselja, a koju karakterizira polarizacija: proces kojim se povećava broj kako manjih (seoskih) tako i većih (gradskih) naselja. Znatno veće smanjenje poljoprivrednog od seoskog stanovništva ukazuje, pak, na međuzavisnost naselja, te ih, s obzirom na to, valja promatrati ne kao zasebne teritorijalne jedinice nego kao mrežu naselja koja prekriva čitav nacionalni prostor i integrira se u globalizacijskim procesima proizvedeno umreženo društvo. Ovaj je rad teorijski pristup istraživanju restrukturiranja mreže naselja, transformacije društvene strukture i pokretljivosti u uvjetima tranzicije, te leksibilizacije radnih mjesta, odnosno okvir raščlambe obiteljske, obrazovne i novouspostavljene klasne strukture, te fleksibilizacije radnih mjesta i pokretljivosti temeljem rezultata istraživanja na reprezentativnom stratificiranom uzorku punoljetnog stanovništva Hrvatske (2.220 ispitanika) provedenog 2004. godine, objavljene u iduća dva autorova rada u ovom broju časopisa Sociologija sela. Budući da se suvremeno društvo konstituira oko tokova kapitala, informacija, tehnologije, organizacijske interakcije i dr. autor se poglavito bavi novim prostornim oblikom umreženog društva i pokazuje kako su organizacija prostora, njegova naseljenost, oblici te naseljenosti u uvjetima modernosti izloženi stalnim mijenama, dinamizmu ukupnog društvenog restrukturiranja.The author examines presumptions for the construction of a contemporary network of settlements in Croatia. He founds these presumptions in the effects of socialist modernization through which a predominantly rural society was transformed into a relatively developed industrial society on one hand, and in processes of globalization that the contemporary Croatian society has been involved in, on the other. The process of transformation of the post-socialist society is being treated as the process which, by its scope and intensity, radicalizes and universalizes the modernity that has been achieved by the up-till-now development. The strategies of transformation, which the resources created through socialist modernization are being evaluated through the way they are used, are re-structuring the existing network of settlements which is characterized by polarization: the process through which not only the number of smaller (rural) settlements is growing but also the number of bigger (urban) ones. Yet, the significantly greater decrease in number of agricultural than of rural population points at interdependence among the settlements, and in this respect they should not be observed as individual territorial units but as the network of settlements covering the entire national space and being integrated in the networked society produced by the processes of globalization. This paper represents a theoretical approach towards the research of the re-structuring of the network of settlements, transformation of social structure and mobility in conditions of transition, as well as of the jobs flexibilization, i.e. it is the framework for the analysis of the family, educational and newly established class structure as well of the jobs flexibilization and mobility made upon the results of a research carried out in 2004 on the representative stratified sample of adult population of Croatia (2.220 respondents), and the results of which are published in other two articles by the same author in this issue of the Rural Sociology quarterly. Given that contemporary society is being constituted around the flows of capital, information, technology, organizational interaction etc., the author is particularly dealing with the new spatial form of networked society showing that spatial organization, inhabitation, forms of inhabitation in the conditions of modernity have been subject to constant changes, to dynamism of the entire social re-structuring