Human Resources in the Rural Area of Slavonia and Baranja - the New Rural Image

The rural area is most often defined by the type of settlements (village), the dominating profession (agriculture) and by the prevailing social interactions (typical for the community). The “vicinity” of nature is also a significant determination of a rural area. Industrialization and the modernization stimulated by it in the second half of the twentieth century have changed the village image, from the dominating profession and professional structure of its inhabitants to the new qualities of social interaction. Slavonia and Baranja, as the traditionally most rural regions in the Republic of Croatia, are experiencing changes not just through the marginalization of the meaning of agriculture for the social development altogether, but also through the changes in the rural areas. This can be monitored through changes of the educational and professional structure of village inhabitants, through their comprehension of the quality of life in the village and in the city, as well as through their perception of facilities characteristic for villages and facilities characteristic for cities. The conducted research in twenty villages in Slavonia and Baranja and in the city of Osijek partly confirm these changes, but also deny the hypothesis that the future of this region is without agriculture, at least in the opinion of the examinees. A part of the results from the research conducted within the project “The post-transitional identity of the rural areas of Slavonia and Baranja” will be shown in this paper.