Social Structure

After over 100 years as part of Europe, much of the social structure of Bosnia reflects European custom, with some Mediterranean cultural aspects. Emphasis nowadays is on the nuclear family, although there is sometimes a harkening back to a Slavic, co-dwelling extended family social pattern (called zadruga) as a model of cooperation. The recency of urbanization of Bosnia means that many families still have relatives in both the city and country. These contacts allow each to draw on the other's specialized access to resources. Bosnian Muslims may have fewer city/country connections since, from Turkish times on, they have tended to be an urban people. Under Tito's version of socialism and to this day, veze—political connections or influence, especially through one's family—became an important avenue for accessing benefits from the system.

Although women were guaranteed full equality and entry into the work force, this came to mean that they held down two jobs, one at the office or factory and one at home. It is the rare male who ever washes a dish.

Polygamy as a Muslim custom was seen only in one isolated region of the country. Most marriages follow the modern custom of love matches, the arranged marriage between families having largely disappeared. Family size has been decreasing as education and prosperity have increased.

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