U radu se ispituje društvena teorija Lestera Franka Warda, jednoga od najznačajnijih predstavnika rane američke društvene teorije, s posebnim naglaskom na njegovu koncepciju države, koja se može smatrati hegelijanskom. U prvom dijelu rada dan je kraći osvrt na ranu američku društvenu teoriju: njezine osnovne karakteristike; pitanja koja su bila glavni predmet promatranja u tom razdoblju razvoja sociologije u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama i njezine najznačajnije predstavnike. U daljnjem tekstu, analiziraju se osnovne karakteristike Wardove društvene teorije. Tako se ističe da je ona: pojmovno naslonjena na prirodne znanosti, utemeljena na razlikovanju čiste i primijenjene sociologije, sistematska, progresivna i naklonjena društvenim reformama. Ona je bila suprotstavljena individualističkoj tradiciji i predstavljala je svojevrsni zaokret prema kolektivizmu. Njegova teorija počivala je na vjerovanju da ljudski um može upravljati društvenim napretkom i da poredak koji se temeljio na socijalnim nejednakostima te bio produkt doktrine laissez-faire ne može osigurati slobodu i blagostanje. Osnovna institucija koja je to u stanju učiniti jest država, tako da je središnji dio rada posvećen upravo shvaćanju države Lestera F. Warda, koje je okarakterizirano kao hegelijansko. U tom dijelu iznose se ključna obilježja Wardove koncepcije države i vrši usporedba s teorijom etičke države, koja je dana u okviru Hegelove filozofije objektivnoga duha – filozofije prava i filozofije povijesti. Na kraju, ističe se da je Wardova teorija, iako je po nekim svojim karakteristikama bila atipična za američku društvenu teoriju, ukazala na opći pravac daljnjega razvoja društvenih prilika prema eri kolektivizma.

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The process of converting individuals to a particular religious community is one of the issues addressed by the Sociology of Religion. In the post-socialist Montenegrin society, there have been research works related to dominant religious communities, the Orthodox, the Roman Catholic, and the Islamic, while science has shown no interest in small religious groups. The Adventist movement in Montenegro, although present for a long period of time, has failed to mobilise individuals for conversion to a greater extent. Therefore, this research aims to find out when, under what conditions and in what way the individuals in Montenegro, as a post-socialist state, chose Adventism as religious affiliation, what affected this process the most, and were there any specificities in that regard. This paper is a result of a survey conducted via an in-depth interview with 17 believers of the Adventist Church. The obtained results indicate several valuable data: most respondents accepted the Adventist movement in Montenegro in the early 1990s; they got first-hand knowledge of this religion from their friends or wider family members and relatives, a consistent interpretation of the Holy Bible is the main reason for conversion. A significant factor in the process of conversion to Adventism is early religious socialisation within a family.

This paper aims to analyse the possible influence of politics on the ethnic, linguistic, and religious distinctiveness of Montenegrins in relation to Serbs. The influence of politics on the ethnic distinctiveness of Montenegrins has especially been active since the beginning of the 21 st century; hence this period represents the main time frame of the analysis. Since the difference between Montenegrins and Serbs is very blurred in terms of ethnic, linguistic, and religious distinctiveness, one of the hypotheses we argue in this paper is about politics, which appears as the main factor that dictates the differences between these two peoples in Montenegro. Consequently, the next hypothesis we argue about is the increased political differences between Serbia and Montenegro, the widened gap between ethnic Montenegrins and Serbs, the increased number of Serbs, and the reduced number of Montenegrins. On the other hand, while harmonious relations between Serbia and Montenegro prevailed and the difference between ethnic Serbs and Montenegrins was not politically encouraged, the number of Montenegrins increased, and the number of Serbs in Montenegro decreased.

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