Culture and stereotypes: attitudes of students of faculties of social sciences at the University of Zagreb towards cultural differences

Ovaj rad ispitivao je stavove studenata Fakulteta političkih znanosti, Filozofskog fakulteta i Ekonomskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu prema kulturnim različitostima i prema specifičnim grupama useljenika. U istraživanju je korištena metoda intervjua. Istraživanje se može podijeliti u dva dijela. U prvom dijelu cilj je bio istražiti stavove studenata prema kulturnim različitostima, dok je u drugom dijelu istraživanja cilj bio istražiti specifične stavove prema četiri skupinama useljenika: iz Bosne i Hercegovine, Srbije, Bliskog istoka i afričkih zemalja. Pritom, prve dvije skupine dolaze iz bližeg susjedstva, kulturološki i jezično su bliske domicilnom stanovništvu, dok druge dvije skupine dolaze iz udaljenijih zemalja, te su drugačijih su kultura i jezika. Studija je pokazala da ispitanici dominantno pozitivno vrednuju društvene raznolikosti i heterogeno društvo, odnosno dominantno zagovaraju politike uvažavanja različitosti. Ipak, dok su društvene različitosti generalno pozitivno vrednovane na normativnoj razini, na razini specifičnih stavova prema pojedinim skupinama, pozitivni stavovi rezervirani su za one useljenike koji se percipiraju kulturološki bliskije. Stoga, useljenici za koje se vjeruje da su kulturološki (vrlo) različiti, predmet su snažnih stereotipija i nerijetko negativnih stavova (muslimani s Bliskog istoka). Useljenici iz afričkih zemalja, usprkos činjenici da je riječ o kulturološkoj različitoj skupini, najčešće nisu poimani kao suviše različiti.This study researched attitudes of students of the Faculty of Political Science, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Faculty of Economics of the University of Zagreb towards cultural differences and towards specific groups of immigrants. The research used interview method. The research can be divided into two parts. In the first part, the aim was to investigate students' attitudes towards cultural differences, while in the second part the aim was to investigate specific attitudes towards four groups of immigrants: from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, the Middle East and African countries. At the same time, the first two groups come from the immediate neighborhood, are culturally and linguistically close to the domicile population, while the other two groups come from more distant countries, and have different cultures and languages. The study showed that respondents predominantly positively value social and cultural diversity and a heterogeneous society, that is, they predominantly advocate policies respecting diversity. Nevertheless, while cultural and social differences are generally positively valued at the normative level, at the level of specific attitudes towards certain groups, positive attitudes are reserved for those immigrants who are perceived as culturally closer. Therefore, immigrants who are believed to be culturally (very) different, are the subject of strong stereotypes and often negative attitudes (Muslims from the Middle East). Immigrants from African countries, despite the fact that they are a culturally diverse group, are usually not perceived as too different