Gender democracy in Poland : an empty shell?

Democratisation in Central and Eastern Europe has for a long time occupied the attention of scholars in the context of the two most significant political processes in the region: democratic transformation and Europeanisation. The literature focuses on various outcomes of these processes, such as institutional make-up, along with economic, political and social changes. This chapter contributes to this scholarship by offering yet another perspective – assessing the functioning of democracy in Poland through the application of gender-sensitive criteria. The assessment will be done by scrutinising the process of policy-making transposing the Goods and Services Directive into Polish law. The first part of this study provides a short background on the country, with special attention given to the existing institutionalised gender regime and the impact of both transformation and European integration on its evolution. This is followed by an overview of the political and institutional context in which the creation and implementation of the new law aiming to transpose the Directive took place in Poland. The third part of the text discusses the transposition, and is then followed by an analytical discussion, which applies a series of gender democracy indicators to the process under investigation. The final section discusses and interprets the results

Localising secularisation thesis? : the view from Poland

The secularisation paradigm has for a long time been the dominant frame of reference for understanding the place and function of religion in contemporary societies. The first secularisation theories (Berger, Wilson, Martin), even if constructed on the basis of the European experience, served as a universal theoretical framework for interpreting the changes in the position of religion in the global world. Along with growing evidence from outside and within Europe on the vitality of religion, the secularisation paradigm was challenged and its applicability was gradually limited. The aim of this paper is to focus on the adaptation of the model to the Polish context under socialist and post-socialist conditions. Taking into account the cultural embeddedness of the model and its assumed universality, interesting is the question about the extent and the way in which the model has been present and used in Poland

Concepts of religion in debates on secularization

Defining the concept of religion is a recurring theme in the sociology of religion. Yet the constant attempts to determine the subject of the study do not necessarily indicate the immaturity of the discipline. The ongoing discussions are rather part of a broader problem, as the acceptance or rejection of certain understandings of the core concepts determines the scope of the discipline’s field. More importantly, it also permits other concepts to be understood, along with the social reality beyond them. Since the social reality is changing under the influence of various dynamics taking place in the contemporary globalised world, so should the conceptual apparatus aiming at describing those dynamics. This paper aims to grasp this changing nature of the central concept – that of religion. This is done through analysis of the debate on secularisation theories

Adaptation of the "Herbarium" Computer DataBase to Archiving and Analysis of Floristic Data

The aim of the study was to present "Herbarium" computer database. The basic goal of construction of the database was gathering and analysing of archival and contemporary floristic data referring to the area of Central Poland. Registered information considers the stands and characteristic biological and ecological traits of particular taxa. Life forms, indices of ecological requirements, the phytogeographical elements, protection and threat status are among them. The database enables the presentation of geographical distribution of taxa in the area of Central Poland with the cartogram method based on the grid of 2 km2 according to the Distribution Atlas of Vascular Plants in Poland (Atpol)

Transformation of Forest Vegetation After 40 Years of Protection in the Tomczyce Nature Reserve (Central Poland)

The Tomczyce nature reserve is characterized by a degenerated forest vegetation. We assume that the regeneration process was possible to launch after the establishment of the nature reserve in 1968. The vegetation of the Tomczyce forest complex was characterized for the first time by Jakubowska-Gabara (1976) whose studies were taken as a basis of our research. The phytocenoses after 40. years of protection have a greater participation of species with higher trophic and moisture requirements. The regeneration process in communities with pine trees is caused by an expansion of broad-leaved trees and shrubs. Transformation of forest vegetation causes a decrease in cover of thermophilous and heliophilous species. On the other hand, species of oak-hornbeam forests as well as anthropophytes are in expansion. Planning of the protection activities in the nature reserve needs to include these dynamic tendencies of the vegetation

Religion and gender in migration to and from Central and Eastern Europe : introductory reflections

Since the beginning of the 1980s, the previously one-dimensional economic approach that was once dominant in migration studies has been critically reviewed and, as a result, migration has become problematised. The incorporation of other dimensions in the analysis of the processes of migration allowed for more complex diagnoses of global inequalities and related socio-cultural phenomena

Feeding the body, feeding the gender : dietary choices of men and women in Poland

Food and eating serve as an expression of social relations and roles as well as a mechanism sustaining or challenging social structure and roles. This also includes marking and reproducing gender roles and identities. With the profound social, cultural, and political changes that have taken place there recently, Poland offers an interesting case study for grasping the changing meaning of both food and gender and the relationship between them. The aim of this article is therefore twofold - to present available data on food choices among men and women (mostly dietary choices) and to offer a socio-cultural interpretation of the data by discussing it in the context of emerging food regimes and recent gender transformations. In other words, we will be interested in finding out how food is incorporated in doing gender in the Polish context and how it can be interpreted in the light of scholarly work on both gender and food

In search of research inspirations : religion in the public sphere from a discourse theory perspective

Celem artykułu jest pokazanie, w jaki sposób zastosowanie teorii dyskursu do problematyzowania rozumienia religii i sfery publicznej może skierować uwagę na nowe aspekty w badaniu publicznej roli religii. Artykuł składa się z trzech części. W pierwszej, krótko prezentuję dotychczasowe badania na temat publicznej obecności religii, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem koncepcji teorii deprywatyzacji i religii publicznej José Casanovy. W drugiej części pokazuję, jak przyjęte przez Casanovę założenia dotyczące religii oraz sfery publicznej przekładają się na ograniczenia dla rozumienia i badania publicznej obecności religii. W odpowiedzi na te krytyczne głosy, w trzeciej części, wskazuję, w jaki sposób teoria dyskursu może być przydatna w radzeniu sobie z takimi ograniczeniami, a w rezultacie pozwolić na trafniejszą diagnozę oraz interpretację roli religii w sferze publicznej.The article demonstrates how the application of discourse theory in order to problematize the definitions of religion and public sphere may bring novel and promising results in the study of religion’s public presence. The article consists of three parts. In the first part, the existing research on the public presence of religion is briefly reviewed, with a particular focus on José Casanova’s theory of de-privatisation and public forms of religion. In the second part, it is discussed how the assumptions underlying Casanova’s theory limit our understanding of and research on public religion. In the third part, it is demonstrated that discourse theory may help to overcome these limitations and may allow for the more adequate diagnosis and interpretation of the role of religion in the public sphere