Social distance of the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia toward Jews

• Main Authors: Antoanela Petkovska, Mihajlo Popovski, Konstantin Minoski
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Philosophy, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje 2014-12-01
• Series: Bezbednosni Dijalozi
• Subjects: : social distance; citizens of the republic of macedonia; jews; christians; muslims
• Online Access: http://periodica.fzf.ukim.edu.mk/sd/SD%2005.2%20(2014)/SD%2005.2.09%20Petkovska,%20A.,%20Popovski,%20M.%20&%20Minoski,%20K.%20-%20Social%20Distance%20of%20the%20Citizens.pdf

Previous sociological research on ethnic, cultural, and religious relations in the Republic of Macedonia has paid very little attention to the relations of the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia with the Jewish community. Therefore, this paper is focused on the social distance of the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia toward Jews. The importance of this issue is even greater given the fact that this year marks the 70th tragic anniversary of the deportation of over 7,200 Macedonian Jews in Treblinka by Fascist Bulgaria (March 1943) during the Second World War. Our paper is based on the analyses of the data obtained from the survey which had been realized in 2008 as a part of the international research project - the European Values Study. The analysis of the social distance is conducted according to the degree of religiosity of people, their religious affiliation, level of education, age, and sex of the participants in the survey. The second major part of the analysis is related to the comparison of the social distance of citizens of the Republic of Macedonia to other social groups, on the one hand, and Jews, on the other. It is of great relevance for the context of the analysis to have in mind the contemporary and traditional socio-cultural conditions that influence the differences in attitudes of Macedonian citizens toward certain social groups, in terms of their number, role, impact, and involvement in the recent and historical processes in Macedonian society, the existence of stereotypes and prejudices and so on. Our research has shown certain differentiated attitudes of the Macedonian citizens (participants in the survey) toward Jews as well as toward other social groups that were analyzed according to their socio-demographic characteristics.