ABSTRACT
The paper considers a problem at the intersection of sociology, anthropology, law and multidisciplinary public health research - health care accessibility during a sudden social crisis. The authors test the theoretical assumptions on the example of the covid-19 pandemic in Serbia, trying to understand the specific position of non-covid patients suffering from chronic non-communicable diseases and their perceptions regarding health care accessibility during the period of the pandemic. The empirical data on which the analysis was performed was collected with the help of focus group interviews. The sample consisted of interviewees - representatives of the association of patients suffering from chronic non-communicable diseases that burden the population of Serbia the most, who live on the territory of the Republic of Serbia without Kosovo and Metohija. The analysis shows that access to health care during the pandemic was limited and that the protocols that the state and the health care system were setting up in the process did not take into account the specific needs of this socially vulnerable group of patients. This, due to the impossibility for them to go through certain diagnostic procedures in time, receive adequate therapy and/or rehabilitation, in a large number of cases resulted in the deterioration of the clinical picture of the chronic disease from which they suffer. The paper presents theoretical and practical conclusions, which aim to show how important it is to incorporate theoretical and empirical insights from the social sciences and humanities in the conceptualization and future implementation of public health protocols for future social crises in order to reduce their potential syndemic effect.
ABSTRACT
The research presented in this paper seeks to explore, identify and map, within the respondents' narratives, the hidden strategies used by the members of Roma ethnic community for overcoming the frustrating social setting of (forced and/or voluntary) social distancing. These strategies are, antiintuitively, understood in our research as hidden potential/specific forms of socio-cultural capital, induced by the socio-historical subcultural experience of this ethnic community, with significant transformative potential. Adequate political articulation and proper social support could contribute to the transformation of this potential into tools for empowering Roma ethnic community and to its structural repositioning within the existing societal context of Serbian society. Empirical material was collected through 60 semi-structured in-depth interviews with Roma citizens, conducted in all four geographical-administrative areas of Serbia: (a) Vojvodina, (b) Belgrade region, (c) Sumadija and western Serbia, and (d) southern and eastern Serbia. The research sample was stratified according to: the geographical area in which the respondents live, the type of settlement (urban or rural), gender and age of the respondents. One third of the interviews from the sample were conducted with Roma respondents that were recognized by the members of Roma community as outstanding and/or successful individuals who overcame structural challenges in their personal lives. With reference to the narrative structure of respondents, the analysis identified five most frequent positive identity markers (nonviolence, non-vengefulness, solidarity, family cohesion, openness to other cultures), and the three most frequent negative identity markers (emphasized patriarchy, experience of social isolation and shame on the basis of ethnic origin). These specified identity markers could be interpreted as possible hidden potentials which if relocated to other fields of society, would enable members of the Roma ethnic community to improve their personal and collective structural position within the wider social system, but also as frustrating mechanisms that emphasize the element of isolation and prevent members of Roma ethnic community from integrating into the wider social system. Paradoxically, respondents perceive both identity markers as important elements of their own ethnic identity.