Pub Date : 2022-10-01DOI: 10.1177/08883254221116800
M. Lubina, M. Kozłowska
This article explores Gustaw Herling-Grudziński’s largely forgotten travel diary “A Journey to Burma.” It argues that the strategy Herling-Grudziński employed to describe the postcolonial world was a unique one. It did not belong to the “socialist postcolonialism” narrative, nor was it a part of Western orientalist discourse. Herling-Grudziński’s Eastern European past and identity deeply influenced his account. Despite some simplification, he was able to summarize Burmese reality surprisingly accurately. The article claims that Herling-Grudziński’s travelogue represents a new angle to the narrative of the relations between Eastern European people of letters and inhabitants of colonized countries.
{"title":"Unwillingly Orientalist: Gustaw Herling-Grudziński’s Travel Diary to Burma as an Example of an Unusual Postcolonial Eastern European Account","authors":"M. Lubina, M. Kozłowska","doi":"10.1177/08883254221116800","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08883254221116800","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores Gustaw Herling-Grudziński’s largely forgotten travel diary “A Journey to Burma.” It argues that the strategy Herling-Grudziński employed to describe the postcolonial world was a unique one. It did not belong to the “socialist postcolonialism” narrative, nor was it a part of Western orientalist discourse. Herling-Grudziński’s Eastern European past and identity deeply influenced his account. Despite some simplification, he was able to summarize Burmese reality surprisingly accurately. The article claims that Herling-Grudziński’s travelogue represents a new angle to the narrative of the relations between Eastern European people of letters and inhabitants of colonized countries.","PeriodicalId":47086,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics and Societies","volume":"37 1","pages":"789 - 812"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48440584","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-06DOI: 10.1177/08883254221115303
Larysa Tamilina
While social trust is seen as an essential factor in political, economic, and social progress in the world, its country-specific mode of formation remains underresearched. Considering Ukraine as a primary subject of analysis, this study attempts to define significant predictors that contribute to or undermine trust levels in the country. Special attention is paid to the impact of Ukraine’s conflict with Russia on the patterns of building social trust among Ukrainians. The analysis applies a multilevel model to World Values Survey (WVS) data from the pre-war and in-war periods (2011 and 2020). The findings of the study argue that the emergence of social trust is primarily influenced by political conditions in Ukraine and closely linked by Ukrainians to the issue of liberal democracy.
{"title":"Key Features and Factors behind Social Trust Formation in Ukraine","authors":"Larysa Tamilina","doi":"10.1177/08883254221115303","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08883254221115303","url":null,"abstract":"While social trust is seen as an essential factor in political, economic, and social progress in the world, its country-specific mode of formation remains underresearched. Considering Ukraine as a primary subject of analysis, this study attempts to define significant predictors that contribute to or undermine trust levels in the country. Special attention is paid to the impact of Ukraine’s conflict with Russia on the patterns of building social trust among Ukrainians. The analysis applies a multilevel model to World Values Survey (WVS) data from the pre-war and in-war periods (2011 and 2020). The findings of the study argue that the emergence of social trust is primarily influenced by political conditions in Ukraine and closely linked by Ukrainians to the issue of liberal democracy.","PeriodicalId":47086,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics and Societies","volume":"37 1","pages":"857 - 879"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43410971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1177/08883254221116817
C. Parvulescu, Emanuel Copilaș
Our article focuses on an instance of cross-media content convergence in state-socialist cultural economies. We deliver a cultural studies intervention addressing the hybrid nature of the cultural economies of the former Soviet Bloc. We show that this instance of convergence was not the effect of a top-down imposition of a policy of state-socialist power, but rather a bottom-up phenomenon, triggered by artistic and economic interests and more specific to capitalism. These interests respond to consumer demand, competition, and box-office success. We borrow the concept of convergence from the writings of Henry Jenkins. Our case study explores a synergy of content between cinema and rock music in 1970s Romania, generating evidence by means of close readings and exploration of reception and production information. Under scrutiny are the adventure film The Immortals (Sergiu Nicolaescu, Romania, 1975) and the music and public presentation of the Romanian band Phoenix. We argue that the inclusion of Phoenix’s music in the soundtrack of the film is a key testimony to bottom-up convergence, marking a synergy of discourses that independently developed the same story universe. We show that this synergy took place because the two discourses had the potential to boost each other’s artistic and economic performance.
{"title":"Bottom-up Content Convergence Phenomena in Socialist Cultural Economies: The Case of Premodern Story Universes of Romanian Film and Music","authors":"C. Parvulescu, Emanuel Copilaș","doi":"10.1177/08883254221116817","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08883254221116817","url":null,"abstract":"Our article focuses on an instance of cross-media content convergence in state-socialist cultural economies. We deliver a cultural studies intervention addressing the hybrid nature of the cultural economies of the former Soviet Bloc. We show that this instance of convergence was not the effect of a top-down imposition of a policy of state-socialist power, but rather a bottom-up phenomenon, triggered by artistic and economic interests and more specific to capitalism. These interests respond to consumer demand, competition, and box-office success. We borrow the concept of convergence from the writings of Henry Jenkins. Our case study explores a synergy of content between cinema and rock music in 1970s Romania, generating evidence by means of close readings and exploration of reception and production information. Under scrutiny are the adventure film The Immortals (Sergiu Nicolaescu, Romania, 1975) and the music and public presentation of the Romanian band Phoenix. We argue that the inclusion of Phoenix’s music in the soundtrack of the film is a key testimony to bottom-up convergence, marking a synergy of discourses that independently developed the same story universe. We show that this synergy took place because the two discourses had the potential to boost each other’s artistic and economic performance.","PeriodicalId":47086,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics and Societies","volume":"37 1","pages":"771 - 788"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42028931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-29DOI: 10.1177/08883254221110571
Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias
Symbols of the past influence the present, very often dependent on the will of those who currently “weave the story,” to use the expression coined by Olga Tokarczuk.1 This applies in particular to national symbols, burdened by historical trauma, whose rank and protection may become handy tools for controlling social and public narratives. In this context, it is the law itself, with its special category of memory laws, that very often turns out to be instrumentally used by the state apparatus to strengthen such narratives. In times of social peace, this kind of state-governed manner of how we remember and perceive symbols remains imperceptible. However, in times of turmoil, symbols can serve as legal weapons against rights and freedoms. Then, the protection of the national anthem or emblem, monuments or graphics may be turned into the de facto protection of the state against its critics. Labelling themselves as the guardians of “historical truth,” the authorities tend to secure the orthodox vision of the past. Importantly, this vision very often remains distant from the official findings of historians. It was exactly in such an ideologically and nationalistically burdened social atmosphere in Poland when Jaś Kapela, Polish poet and activist, decided to perform publicly his protest song. He did so by changing the official wording of the Polish national anthem into a pro-refugee appeal and broadcast it on YouTube, which eventually brought him before Polish courts, including the Supreme Court.
{"title":"Intersection of Conflicting Values: Symbols of Memory and Acts of Artistic Expression","authors":"Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias","doi":"10.1177/08883254221110571","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08883254221110571","url":null,"abstract":"Symbols of the past influence the present, very often dependent on the will of those who currently “weave the story,” to use the expression coined by Olga Tokarczuk.1 This applies in particular to national symbols, burdened by historical trauma, whose rank and protection may become handy tools for controlling social and public narratives. In this context, it is the law itself, with its special category of memory laws, that very often turns out to be instrumentally used by the state apparatus to strengthen such narratives. In times of social peace, this kind of state-governed manner of how we remember and perceive symbols remains imperceptible. However, in times of turmoil, symbols can serve as legal weapons against rights and freedoms. Then, the protection of the national anthem or emblem, monuments or graphics may be turned into the de facto protection of the state against its critics. Labelling themselves as the guardians of “historical truth,” the authorities tend to secure the orthodox vision of the past. Importantly, this vision very often remains distant from the official findings of historians. It was exactly in such an ideologically and nationalistically burdened social atmosphere in Poland when Jaś Kapela, Polish poet and activist, decided to perform publicly his protest song. He did so by changing the official wording of the Polish national anthem into a pro-refugee appeal and broadcast it on YouTube, which eventually brought him before Polish courts, including the Supreme Court.","PeriodicalId":47086,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics and Societies","volume":"37 1","pages":"395 - 412"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42778124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-25DOI: 10.1177/08883254221101907
Elżbieta Olzacka
Since the Euromaidan revolution, Ukrainian cinema has been experiencing a renaissance, associated with both the wave of civic and creative activity and the policy of the post-Maidan authorities supporting the film industry. The article analyzes the development of Ukrainian cinema from 2014 to 2019, focusing not only on organizational, institutional, and legal changes but also on the accompanying controversies. It addresses the main socio-political, economic, and cultural factors influencing progress in the number of films produced in Ukraine and their popularization on the domestic and foreign market. The article particularly emphasizes the context of Russian aggression toward Ukraine and the ongoing war in Donbas, as it influences not only the topics taken up by filmmakers but also the priorities of authorities in the field of cultural policy. Cinema has become one of the fronts of the conflict. Thus, the post-Maidan authorities’ concern was both to block Russian content deemed dangerous from the point of view of national security and to produce and promote “Ukrainian-centric” narratives. The last part of the article will discuss the new Ukrainian “patriotic cinema,” supported and subsidized by the state, with a focus on the role it plays in a society experiencing conflict.
{"title":"The Development of National Cinema in Post-Maidan Ukraine","authors":"Elżbieta Olzacka","doi":"10.1177/08883254221101907","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08883254221101907","url":null,"abstract":"Since the Euromaidan revolution, Ukrainian cinema has been experiencing a renaissance, associated with both the wave of civic and creative activity and the policy of the post-Maidan authorities supporting the film industry. The article analyzes the development of Ukrainian cinema from 2014 to 2019, focusing not only on organizational, institutional, and legal changes but also on the accompanying controversies. It addresses the main socio-political, economic, and cultural factors influencing progress in the number of films produced in Ukraine and their popularization on the domestic and foreign market. The article particularly emphasizes the context of Russian aggression toward Ukraine and the ongoing war in Donbas, as it influences not only the topics taken up by filmmakers but also the priorities of authorities in the field of cultural policy. Cinema has become one of the fronts of the conflict. Thus, the post-Maidan authorities’ concern was both to block Russian content deemed dangerous from the point of view of national security and to produce and promote “Ukrainian-centric” narratives. The last part of the article will discuss the new Ukrainian “patriotic cinema,” supported and subsidized by the state, with a focus on the role it plays in a society experiencing conflict.","PeriodicalId":47086,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics and Societies","volume":"37 1","pages":"435 - 454"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42872266","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-11DOI: 10.1177/08883254221096169
S. Burdziej
Based on a systematic analysis of three databases of court decisions and a comprehensive overview of out-of-court use of cultural expertise in dispute resolution across various institutional contexts, this article investigates how Polish authorities tackle emerging issues of cultural diversity. Although Poland remains one of the European Union’s (EU) most ethnically and culturally homogeneous countries, increased immigration and internal pluralism bring new challenges for the courts and other public institutions involved in dispute resolution. Increasingly, generic references and commonsense understandings are replaced by more precise indications of sources, uses of academic sources or reports by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and appointment of relevant experts. On the other hand, judges still tend to attempt their own interpretations and usually reject motions to instruct social scientists as expert witnesses, choosing the approach once aptly described as “strategic ignorance.”2 Thus, in this article, I look at how Polish courts justify instruction (or rejection of motions to instruct) social scientists as expert witnesses and where they draw the line between common sense and expert interpretations of culture. I also survey the rising demand for cultural expertise in dispute settlement in immigration services, detention centers, the military, and education.
{"title":"Cultural Expertise versus Strategic Ignorance: Confronting Cultural Diversity In and Out of Court in Poland","authors":"S. Burdziej","doi":"10.1177/08883254221096169","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08883254221096169","url":null,"abstract":"Based on a systematic analysis of three databases of court decisions and a comprehensive overview of out-of-court use of cultural expertise in dispute resolution across various institutional contexts, this article investigates how Polish authorities tackle emerging issues of cultural diversity. Although Poland remains one of the European Union’s (EU) most ethnically and culturally homogeneous countries, increased immigration and internal pluralism bring new challenges for the courts and other public institutions involved in dispute resolution. Increasingly, generic references and commonsense understandings are replaced by more precise indications of sources, uses of academic sources or reports by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and appointment of relevant experts. On the other hand, judges still tend to attempt their own interpretations and usually reject motions to instruct social scientists as expert witnesses, choosing the approach once aptly described as “strategic ignorance.”2 Thus, in this article, I look at how Polish courts justify instruction (or rejection of motions to instruct) social scientists as expert witnesses and where they draw the line between common sense and expert interpretations of culture. I also survey the rising demand for cultural expertise in dispute settlement in immigration services, detention centers, the military, and education.","PeriodicalId":47086,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics and Societies","volume":"37 1","pages":"413 - 434"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44764065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-30DOI: 10.1177/08883254221101465
Kamil Ławniczak
Most issues that come before the Council of the European Union are decided without any recorded opposition. Constructivist literature explains that informal norms encourage state officials to conduct negotiations according to the standards of compromise and restraint. I argue that another mechanism may help explain consensus: state representatives must convince their ministerial superiors to support the agreements they reach. Effectively, rather than just representing their capitals in one of the Council’s bodies, they speak to their political principals on behalf of their colleagues. This article presents the results of theory-oriented process-tracing research. It describes how the causal mechanisms leading to consensus can be conceptualized and operationalized. It shows the results of testing the existence of their observable implications in a material gathered through in-depth interviews with Council officials from Poland, who can be seen as a “least likely” case of informal norms socialization but who, at the same time, are rarely the focus of analysis in the existing literature.
{"title":"Consensus-Seeking and Reversed Representation among Polish Officials in the Council of the European Union","authors":"Kamil Ławniczak","doi":"10.1177/08883254221101465","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08883254221101465","url":null,"abstract":"Most issues that come before the Council of the European Union are decided without any recorded opposition. Constructivist literature explains that informal norms encourage state officials to conduct negotiations according to the standards of compromise and restraint. I argue that another mechanism may help explain consensus: state representatives must convince their ministerial superiors to support the agreements they reach. Effectively, rather than just representing their capitals in one of the Council’s bodies, they speak to their political principals on behalf of their colleagues. This article presents the results of theory-oriented process-tracing research. It describes how the causal mechanisms leading to consensus can be conceptualized and operationalized. It shows the results of testing the existence of their observable implications in a material gathered through in-depth interviews with Council officials from Poland, who can be seen as a “least likely” case of informal norms socialization but who, at the same time, are rarely the focus of analysis in the existing literature.","PeriodicalId":47086,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics and Societies","volume":"37 1","pages":"678 - 697"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47172971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-30DOI: 10.1177/08883254221101905
D. Bechev
The Prespa Agreement concluded between (North) Macedonia and Greece in June 2018 is hailed as a major success for the European Union’s (EU) policy of promoting conflict resolution through in the Balkans and beyond. At the same time, in the case of the so-called Macedonian name dispute, the EU hindered compromise as membership in the bloc provided Athens with asymmetric leverage over Skopje. The article argues that the European institutions made a positive contribution by empowering opposition to state capture in Macedonia, helping resolve a domestic political crisis between 2015 and 2017, and facilitating the transfer of power to a government willing to compromise with Greece. Even if the Prespa Agreement resulted from a bargain between Athens and Skopje, intervention in Macedonian politics by the EU, the United States, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) played a critical role in passing the constitutional changes agreed in the deal. The article examines the name dispute from the perspective of the literature on the EU as an agent of conflict transformation, arguing that European integration’s “enabling impact” is key to understanding and explaining the genesis of the Prespa Agreement. It also contends that the EU faced a dilemma between the pursuit of stability and the promotion of the rule of law and accountability, often prioritising the former over the latter.
{"title":"The EU and Dispute Settlement: The Case of the Macedonian Name Issue","authors":"D. Bechev","doi":"10.1177/08883254221101905","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08883254221101905","url":null,"abstract":"The Prespa Agreement concluded between (North) Macedonia and Greece in June 2018 is hailed as a major success for the European Union’s (EU) policy of promoting conflict resolution through in the Balkans and beyond. At the same time, in the case of the so-called Macedonian name dispute, the EU hindered compromise as membership in the bloc provided Athens with asymmetric leverage over Skopje. The article argues that the European institutions made a positive contribution by empowering opposition to state capture in Macedonia, helping resolve a domestic political crisis between 2015 and 2017, and facilitating the transfer of power to a government willing to compromise with Greece. Even if the Prespa Agreement resulted from a bargain between Athens and Skopje, intervention in Macedonian politics by the EU, the United States, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) played a critical role in passing the constitutional changes agreed in the deal. The article examines the name dispute from the perspective of the literature on the EU as an agent of conflict transformation, arguing that European integration’s “enabling impact” is key to understanding and explaining the genesis of the Prespa Agreement. It also contends that the EU faced a dilemma between the pursuit of stability and the promotion of the rule of law and accountability, often prioritising the former over the latter.","PeriodicalId":47086,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics and Societies","volume":"37 1","pages":"698 - 717"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45772478","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-03DOI: 10.1177/08883254221093642
Łukasz Adamski, G. Motyka
The USSR placed great emphasis on fighting national resistance movements, due both to the Soviet leadership’s intention to ensure security to the rear of the invading Red Army and to the threat these movements posed to the prospect of Sovietization of the seized areas. Documents revealed in recent years in Russia indicate that in summer 1945, despite the end of World War II in Europe, Poland and Lithuania saw a series of dragnet operations targeting guerrilla fighters. According to the authors, these operations were connected with the fact that the Soviet leadership had seriously considered the hypothetical failure of the Potsdam Conference and the outbreak of World War III. The roundup carried out by the Soviet 50th Army in the Augustów Forest was the bloodiest of these dragnet operations. During the roundup, more than seven thousand individuals were detained, including at least around six hundred who were subsequently shot dead by SMERSH, which viewed them as hostile elements. Death sentences were pronounced without trial, on the basis of an administrative decision issued by Soviet bodies. In the authors’ view, this was the last mass execution of World War II. Despite censorship having been imposed, the memory of this crime remained vivid among the residents of this region throughout the entire period of the communist rule in Poland.
{"title":"The Last Mass Execution of World War II: The Roundup Carried Out by Soviet Troops in the Augustów Forest in July 1945","authors":"Łukasz Adamski, G. Motyka","doi":"10.1177/08883254221093642","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08883254221093642","url":null,"abstract":"The USSR placed great emphasis on fighting national resistance movements, due both to the Soviet leadership’s intention to ensure security to the rear of the invading Red Army and to the threat these movements posed to the prospect of Sovietization of the seized areas. Documents revealed in recent years in Russia indicate that in summer 1945, despite the end of World War II in Europe, Poland and Lithuania saw a series of dragnet operations targeting guerrilla fighters. According to the authors, these operations were connected with the fact that the Soviet leadership had seriously considered the hypothetical failure of the Potsdam Conference and the outbreak of World War III. The roundup carried out by the Soviet 50th Army in the Augustów Forest was the bloodiest of these dragnet operations. During the roundup, more than seven thousand individuals were detained, including at least around six hundred who were subsequently shot dead by SMERSH, which viewed them as hostile elements. Death sentences were pronounced without trial, on the basis of an administrative decision issued by Soviet bodies. In the authors’ view, this was the last mass execution of World War II. Despite censorship having been imposed, the memory of this crime remained vivid among the residents of this region throughout the entire period of the communist rule in Poland.","PeriodicalId":47086,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics and Societies","volume":"37 1","pages":"455 - 472"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42433024","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-07DOI: 10.1177/08883254221093644
Natalia Jarska, Agata Ignaciuk
In this article, we examine personal narratives on premarital sex by two generations of Polish men and women—one born in the 1950s and 1960s, and their parents’ generation, born in the 1920s and 1930s and coming of age during or after World War II—and place these in dialogue with discourses surrounding young sexuality in state-socialist Poland. Using sociological surveys, popular sexological literature, and Catholic marriage preparation material, we contextualize accounts of premarital heterosexual experiences, provided through oral history interviews and contest memoirs—ego documents submitted for autobiographic writing competitions in the 1960s and 1970s. We show there was no clear division between public secular and Catholic approaches to premarital (hetero)sexuality, with both opposing sexual experimentation before and beyond marriage throughout the state-socialist period (1945–1989). However, across the same period, young people’s acceptance of premarital sexual experimentation increased and the importance of a woman remaining a virgin until marriage declined. Our analysis of discourses and experiences reveals the connections and intersections of secular and Catholic realms. While secular experts did not conceptualize premarital sex as a sin, they often mirrored Catholic views by framing their discourse in terms of love, sex, responsibility, and potential risk. Young people negotiated various elements of these teachings in their premarital sexual practices, which, during the final decades of state socialism, were largely normalized, especially when couples were planning to marry.
{"title":"Premarital Sex in State-Socialist Poland: A Generational Perspective","authors":"Natalia Jarska, Agata Ignaciuk","doi":"10.1177/08883254221093644","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08883254221093644","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we examine personal narratives on premarital sex by two generations of Polish men and women—one born in the 1950s and 1960s, and their parents’ generation, born in the 1920s and 1930s and coming of age during or after World War II—and place these in dialogue with discourses surrounding young sexuality in state-socialist Poland. Using sociological surveys, popular sexological literature, and Catholic marriage preparation material, we contextualize accounts of premarital heterosexual experiences, provided through oral history interviews and contest memoirs—ego documents submitted for autobiographic writing competitions in the 1960s and 1970s. We show there was no clear division between public secular and Catholic approaches to premarital (hetero)sexuality, with both opposing sexual experimentation before and beyond marriage throughout the state-socialist period (1945–1989). However, across the same period, young people’s acceptance of premarital sexual experimentation increased and the importance of a woman remaining a virgin until marriage declined. Our analysis of discourses and experiences reveals the connections and intersections of secular and Catholic realms. While secular experts did not conceptualize premarital sex as a sin, they often mirrored Catholic views by framing their discourse in terms of love, sex, responsibility, and potential risk. Young people negotiated various elements of these teachings in their premarital sexual practices, which, during the final decades of state socialism, were largely normalized, especially when couples were planning to marry.","PeriodicalId":47086,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics and Societies","volume":"37 1","pages":"656 - 677"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41991194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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