The Polish Parliament and the making of politics through abortion : nation, gender and democracy in the 1996 Liberalization Amendment Debate

The collapse of communism across East Central Europe was marked by a renewal of debates around reproduction, with abortion debates surfacing in Romania, Germany and Poland. Reproductive politics and more specifically abortion debates typically come to the forefront in times of crisis or societal transformation. Struggles over women's reproductive rights in Poland, as evidenced by continuing debate around the legal status of abortion, are in this postcommunist context intimately related to and bound up with ongoing symbolic and concrete re-definitions of Polish nationhood, identity and citizenship. Focusing on the connections between discourses of Polish nationhood, gender and democracy, this article offers a detailed and critical engagement with debate in the Sejm (the lower chamber of the Polish parliament) during the second reading of the 1996 liberalization of abortion amendment. Using a discourse analysis methodology, the article argues that abortion is a symbolic issue through which anxieties about postcommunist reform are raised, nationalist pasts and futures are imagined and through which political projects are articulated

Defending biomedical authority and regulating the womb as social space. Prenatal testing in the Polish press

The issue of abortion has been the topic of heated and frequent debate in post-Communist Poland. Parliamentary debate in 1998—9 centred around a legislative attempt to restrict prenatal testing, specifically amniocentesis, in order to further reduce the numbers of abortions carried out, as it was argued to inevitably result in the termination of pregnancy. Medical professionals are rarely visible as subjects of and authorities on the abortion debate in the Polish context. However, in this debate around prenatal testing, the medical community appear as key commentators and meaning-makers. This article asks the following questions: What role do the medical profession and biomedical knowledge play in the debate around prenatal testing, when abortion is highly politicized? Second, what social meanings and consequences are attributed to prenatal testing? How do these construct the relationship between foetus, pregnant woman and doctor, and what agency and 'rights' are attributed to women in the process of prenatal testing

Examining the ‘Cosmetics Placebo Effect’

Previous studies have found a positive effect of cosmetics on certain behavioral measures, such as the tip given to waitresses by male patrons. These studies have employed confederates who usually wear cosmetics. We therefore sought to examine whether the positive effect found in these studies could, in part, be explained by a change in behavior. In order to test the possibility of a ‘cosmetics placebo effect’, we employed a confederate to solicit donations from passersby. On some days our confederate would not have any cosmetics applied to her face (i.e., no cosmetics condition), on some days cosmetics were pretended to be applied to her face (i.e., placebo cosmetics condition), and on other days cosmetics were actually applied to her face (i.e., cosmetics condition). In line with previous research, we found that across conditions men donated significantly more than women to our female solicitor, providing support for the ‘showoff hypothesis’, in which male generosity serves as a mating tactic. When investigating men’s donations in more detail, we found that the highest percentage of donations came in the cosmetics condition, followed by the placebo cosmetics condition, and then by no cosmetics condition. The effect of condition on donation rates, however, was not statistically significant. Our study was limited to one solicitor and one dependent variable (i.e., percentage of people approached who donated) and therefore future research would benefit from using more confederates as well as examining other behavioral measures. Given the influence of cosmetics use on so many real-world outcomes, we believe that further exploration into a possible ‘cosmetics placebo effect’ would be valuable

Reproduction and the making of politics in the 'New Poland': gender, nation and democracy in the Polish abortion debate

Across East Central Europe, postcommunist transformation is being effected through the discourses of gender. It is in this context that debate around abortion has surfaced repeatedly in Poland. This is an empirical case study of Polish postcommunist transformation centred on gender and in particular, on abortion debate. It focuses on the connection between discourses of Polish nationhood, democracy and gender, contributing to the fields of gender and postcommunism, gender and nation, and comparative reproductive politics. Using a discourse analysis methodology, this thesis analyses Polish abortion debate centred around the 1996 liberalisation of abortion amendment, a ‘moment’ previously neglected in scholarly research. It considers three sites at which abortion debate surfaces, Parliament, press reportage and opinion polls, and analyses how each constructs its role as mechanism and instrument of democracy through its participation in abortion debate. Abortion is a symbolic issue used to create, sustain and contest political identities, a site through which nationalist pasts and futures are imagined, and through which democratic political projects are articulated. Thus abortion is a key symbolic stand-in issue that represents competing democratic and nation-building projects, a site where politics is ‘made’: abortion thus comes to emblematise psotcommunist Polish transformation. Through their participation in Polish abortion debate, Sejm, media and opinion polls legitimate their claims to be primary definers of the ‘new’ Poland, claiming key rolls as mediators between ‘politics’ and the ‘people’. Gender is crucial to the nation-building projects constructed through abortion at all three sites, however this dimension is often suppressed. The thesis further argues that there are grounds for a limited and partial feminist recuperation of the liberalisation ‘moment’. However, it concludes, whilst abortion is fundamentally about women’s equal citizenship rights, having very real and material consequences for Polish women, debate around the liberalisation amendment does not principally revolve around gender

Standort, Wettbewerb oder Persönlichkeit: Wer oder was entscheidet über die Adoption des Onlinehandels als Vertriebskanal?

Der Onlinehandel ist ein mittlerweile fest etablierter Vertriebsweg, der insbesondere den inhabergeführten stationären Einzelhandel (ISEH) – und mit ihm die Innenstädte und andere Einkaufsstandorte – vor großeHerausforderungen stellt. Gleichzeitig kann der Multi- bzw. Cross-Channel-Vertrieb auch eine Chance für den ISEH darstellen, was allerdings voraussetzt, dass diese (Prozess-)Innovation im Vertrieb überhauptgenutzt wird. Anhand von drei Angebotsstandorten in Karlsruhe (Innenstadt, Stadtteilzentren Mühlburg und Durlach) behandelt der vorliegende Beitrag zwei Kernfragen: 1) Welche Relevanz hat der Online-Vertriebsweg bei den stationären (inhabergeführten sowie filialisierten) Einzelhandelsbetrieben an den drei Standorten? 2) Welche Einflussfaktoren bedingen die Adoptionsentscheidung von Geschäftsinhaber/-innen,zusätzlich in den digitalen Vertrieb einzusteigen? Hierzu wurde in den Untersuchungsgebieten eine standardisierte, mündliche Anbieterbefragung durchgeführt und ausgewertet. Mit einem multivariaten Entscheidungsmodell wurde der Einfluss einzelner Faktoren (subjektive Einschätzung der Standortqualität und des Wettbewerbsdrucks, Unternehmer/-innenpersönlichkeit im Sinne der Marktphasentheorie) auf die Nutzung des Onlinevertriebs geprüft. Erwartungsgemäß zeigt sich, dass die Digitalisierung bei filialisierten Unternehmen wesentlich weiter fortgeschritten ist als im ISEH. Überraschenderweise stellen aber weder die subjektive Standortbewertung noch der empfundene Konkurrenzdruck durch den lokalen Handel Einflüsse im Hinblick auf die Adoption des Onlinehandels dar. Die Adoptionsentscheidung hängt aber in hohem Maßevon der individuellen Persönlichkeit der Geschäftsinhaber/-innen sowie von deren subjektiver Einschätzung des Wettbewerbsdrucks durch den Onlinehandel ab. Diese Ergebnisse implizieren, dass Strategien zur Förderung der Online-Kompetenz von mittelständischen Einzelhändlern eine höhere Relevanz beigemessen werden sollte und hierdurch andere Komponenten der Standortförderung sinnvoll ergänzt werden können

Studierende im städtischen Quartier - zeit-räumliche Wirkungen von temporären Bewohnern und Bewohnerinnen

Studierende stellen in vielen Städten in Deutschland eine wichtige Bevölkerungsgruppe dar, auch wenn die einzelnen Personen oft nur wenige Jahre an ihrem jeweiligen Hochschulstandort leben. In Großbritannien wird seit einigen Jahren der Einfluss, den die temporär und oft auch nur saisonal anwesenden Studierenden auf ihr Wohnquartier ausüben, unter dem Begriff "Studentification" diskutiert. In diesem Beitrag wird anhand des Karlsruher Quartiers Oststadt empirisch überprüft, inwieweit an diesem Hochschulstandort baulich-räumliche, ökonomische oder soziale Indikatoren einer voranschreitenden Studentification zu erkennen sind. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass man zwar eine zunehmende Konkurrenz zwischen studentischen Wohngemeinschaften und Familien auf dem innenstadtnahen Wohnungsmarkt wahrnehmen kann, aber die Studierenden weder in ihrer Zahl noch in ihrem Auftreten und ihrem Lebensstil das Quartier beherrschen. Ganz im Gegenteil werden sie von ihren Nachbarn meist als belebendes Element der innenstadtnahen Wohnquartiere wahrgenommen.In many cities students represent an important and ever growing group of population, even though many individuals often only remain in their place of study for a few years. This group can also be termed a "standing wave" that is always present in one location although the individual actors making up the wave are only temporarily resident. In Great Britain the term "studentification" has been used for a rather critical discussion of the way in which neighbourhoods are affected by students, who are often only seasonally resident in their place of education. Drawing on the term gentrification, the focus here is on temporal-spatial conflicts of use that develop due to differences between the everyday spheres of action and activity times of students and other urban residents such as the working population or retired people. Furthermore, students compete with other groups, e.g. young families or the older population, for cheap inner-urban housing. Considering spatial-temporal justice raises questions about what resources and opportunities are important for the temporarily resident students, whether these requirements correspond with or differ from those of other residents, and whether there are differences in perceptions of the neighbourhood and everyday life in the neighbourhood

Zeit-Raum-Strukturen als Rahmen für Multilokalität ´

Das Leben der Multilokalen bewegt sich zwischen Mobilität und mehrfacher Sesshaftigkeit, wobei Zeit-Raum-Strukturen und deren Ausgestaltung von großer Bedeutung für den multilokalen Alltag sind. Zeit-Raum-Strukturen stellen ein konstitutives Element multilokaler Lebensführung dar. Zum einen ist Zeit notwendig, um Distanzen zwischen Orten zu überwinden. Zum anderen ist das multilokale Leben von Rhythmen sowie von An- und Abwesenheiten von Personen geprägt. Auf kollektiver Ebene rahmen Institutionen und Organisationen z. B. mit Arbeitszeiten oder Öffnungszeiten die Raum-Zeit-Strukturen eines jeden Einzelnen, aus denen sich Möglichkeiten und Hindernisse ergeben. Die "Time Geography" unterstützt sowohl konzeptionell als auch methodisch die Darstellung, Typisierung und Analyse zeit-räumlicher Aktivität. Erweiterungen der Time Geographie um Aspekte der Kommunikation erlauben es, die zunehmend bedeutsamer werdenden Varianten von körperlicher und mentaler Präsenz oder Absenz zu untersuchen.Multilocals' lives oscillate between mobility and multisedentism and their daily routines are shaped by their time-space structures. Time-space structures are a constituting element of a multilocal lifestyle. Time is of importance as it takes time to cover the distances between places; space is of importance as multilocals' life rhythms are characterised by being present or absent. On a collective level, institutions and organisations frame the time-space structures of individuals, e. g. working or opening hours, which in turn generate opportunities and obstacles. Time geography supports the visualisation, typification and analysis of time-space activities both conceptually and methodologically. Including communication aspects in time geography allows consideration of the increasingly important variations of bodily and mental presence and absence in time-space structures

Jugendliche ohne allgemeinbildenden Schulabschluß in Europa: regionale Disparitäten eines tabuisierten Problems

The consequences of dropping out of school without leaving qualifications for young peoples' career perspectives are severe. Wherever a meritocratic system and professionalisation of typical jobs mean that formal qualifications are decisive for an individual's career, the lack of a minimum school leaving qualification has extremely negative effects on further career possibilities. In order to examine this question on an European level, various countries with differing political structures and geographic locations, welfare state traditions and centralist-federalist organisation were selected: France as a centralist, western European country, Hungary as a formerly communist country, which started its process of transformation relatively early on, Sweden as the prototype of the Scandinavian welfare state and Germany as a federalist, western European country after reunification. There are large regional differences in the examined countries with regard to the "failure rate" in compulsory school education. In a national comparison, there are repeated patterns of regional inequality and comparable influential factors on regional inequality. These influential factors range from "individual" factors, such as sex, social origins and national/ethnic minorities, through to "structural" factors, such as the school system itself or the economic situation within the country. In addition to this, there may be synergy/ accumulative effects through a combination of individual and structural influential factors. Regional inequality with regard to the school success still exist in the examined countries. The influential factors are also subject to change. It remains true, however, that these problem groups -which have grown in Germany in the past few years- deserve more attention than they have received. The approaches to explaining regional inequality in the school system must also be reconsidered, as the regional di stributions of "winners" and "losers" is not complementary