The UFO community phenomenon-development, beliefs and social implications

Tema ovog diplomskog rada je fenomen NLO zajednica: razvitak, uvjerenja i društvene implikacije. Ideja o postojanju inteligentnog života izvan planeta Zemlje, svjedočenja o neidentificiranim letećim objektima i susretu s bićima s drugih planeta čine dio popularne kulture od kraja 1940-ih godina. Brojni filmovi, serije, emisije, knjige, pjesme obrađuju ovu tematiku te je zamjetan porast organizacija ljudi koji sudjeluju u raspravama i istraživanjima ovog fenomena. Neke od tih organizacija objavljuju časopise te organiziraju velika godišnja okupljanja što predstavlja indikator da se radi o grupama koje su povezane stvarima koje su im zajedničke, koje im daju osjećaj pripadanja te ih na temelju toga možemo nazvati zajednicom. Pripadnici ove zajednice nerijetko ulažu ozbiljan istraživački rad, kritički pristup i detaljnu analizu pri proučavanju NLO pojava. Budući da je pojam zajednice jedan od temeljnih koncepata sociologije, ovaj rad pokušat će obraditi razloge i kontekst nastanka NLO zajednica, prikazati uvjerenja njezinih pripadnika te društvene implikacije, ponajviše jer u Hrvatskoj nedostaje istraživanje nekonvencionalnih tema. U okviru kvalitativne metodologije, polustrukturiranim intervjuima pripadnika zajednice na području Hrvatske nastojat će se dobiti dublji uvid u ovaj fenomen.The topic of this thesis is the phenomenon of UFO communities: development, beliefs and social implications. The idea of the existence of intelligent life outside of planet Earth, testimonies of unidentified flying objects, and encounters with beings from other planets have been part of popular culture since the late 1940s. Numerous films, series, shows, books, songs deal with this topic, and there is a noticeable increase of organizations of people who participate in discussions and research on this phenomenon. Some of these organizations publish magazines and organize large annual gatherings, which is an indicator that these are groups that are connected to things that they have in common, that give them a sense of belonging, and based on that we can call them a community. Members of this community often invest in serious research, critical approach and detailed analysis in the study of UFO phenomena. Given that the community is one of the basic concepts of sociology, this paper will try to address the reasons and context of origin of UFO communities, show the beliefs of its members and social implications, mostly because of insufficient research of unconventional topics in Croatia. Within the qualitative methodology, semi-structured interviews of community members in Croatia will seek to gain a deeper insight into this phenomenon