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Seven - Religion, welfare and gender: the post-communist experience
- Edited by Lina Molokotos-Liederman, Uppsala universitet, Sweden
- With Anders Bäckström, Grace Davie
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- Book:
- Religion and Welfare in Europe
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 05 April 2022
- Print publication:
- 13 September 2017, pp 135-160
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Summary
Introduction
This chapter is about religion, welfare and gender in post-communism, or more precisely about the role of religious organisations in welfare provision and the social position of women in post-communist countries. In order to understand the role of religion, welfare and gender, it is necessary to outline the interplay between a distinctive legacy and a complex, contradictory and markedly uneven social development. In addition, the common features of post-communist countries are identified, alongside the important differences between them, with regard to both past and present social development, and the role of religion in each country.
The discussion is based mainly on theoretical work with regard to social policy changes and socio-religious dynamics in post-communist Europe. In particular, it is inspired by the concept of variegated welfare capitalism, which perceives the modernisation and Europeanisation process as uneven, relational and multi-scalar. Furthermore, it is inspired by the concept of collectivistic religions that are not reducible to their identity-oriented expressions, but are in reality combined with individually shaped religiosity and criticism regarding the social role of a particular religion.
The theories presented frame the reflection on the empirical data gathered as part of the Welfare and Values in Europe: Transitions Related to Religion, Minorities and Gender (WaVE) project in four post-communist countries: Croatia, Poland, Latvia and Romania. Four common factors are of interest, although in slightly different ways: a weak tradition of religious involvement in welfare; controversies about the public position of churches; the dominance of a public welfare system that cannot meet the promises made to citizens; and the ways different stakeholders cooperate in each society. The position of women is taken into account in terms of tensions between traditional gender patterns, ‘communist’ and ‘post-communist’, ‘Europeanised’ gender equality ideals, and the social reality, particularly with regard to the enormous social consequences of post-communist transition.
Four - Social cohesion: from research to practice
- Edited by Lina Molokotos-Liederman, Uppsala universitet, Sweden
- With Anders Bäckström, Grace Davie
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- Book:
- Religion and Welfare in Europe
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 05 April 2022
- Print publication:
- 13 September 2017, pp 53-74
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Summary
Introduction
In this chapter, we explore the theory and practice of social cohesion in relation to the policy recommendations that were drawn from the findings of the Welfare and Values in Europe: Transitions Related to Religion, Minorities and Gender (WaVE) project. We also discuss how the concept of social cohesion is used in politics and social science more generally, noting the discursive contexts in which it appears. Finally, we use this concept as an analytical tool in our discussion of the policy recommendations that came out of WaVE. We develop our analysis in the context of the circle of cohesion in European localities.
The WaVE project was developed in response to a European Commission call for research to explore how religion is at one and the same time a bearer of solidarity, cohesion and tolerance on the one hand, and of tension, discrimination and xenophobia on the other. It also aimed to gain insight into how societies can ensure the peaceful coexistence of different value systems. How in other words do different European countries address these issues through policies and practices and what is their relative success in so doing?
It is important to note that the concept of social cohesion was not explicitly defined in the WaVE project, thus enabling researchers and participants to approach the values of solidarity, tolerance and cohesion implicitly and in a non-specific, or intuitive way. The outcome was a wide variety of interpretations of the relationships in question. In this chapter, we take a step forward, getting to grips with the meaning or rather meanings of social cohesion, especially its uses in politics and social science. We also reflect on the ways in which the concept so defined can be used to illuminate the findings from the WaVE project.
The concept of social cohesion
Social cohesion in social science and political discourse
The term ‘social cohesion’ has become widely used over the past decade or so, referring to various types of phenomena, both economic and social. It is associated with different forms of capital, values and ethics. Nevertheless, in many cases its meaning appears rather vague, even in social science publications.
Chapter 7 - Church, State and Society in Post-communist Europe
- from Part I - From Deprivitization to Securitization
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- By Siniša Zrinščak, University of Zagreb
- Edited by Jack Barbalet, Adam Possamai, Bryan Turner
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- Book:
- Religion and the State
- Published by:
- Anthem Press
- Published online:
- 05 May 2012
- Print publication:
- 15 December 2011, pp 157-182
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Summary
Introduction
The collapse of communism is most usually symbolically equated with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 (about twenty years ago), although in some countries it is reckoned a bit later. But the term “post-communist Europe” is not an adequate one for variety of reasons. Two of these reasons are worth mentioning in connection with the content of this chapter. First, the term simply acknowledges that some countries have a communist past, but does not say anything about the main features their new social orders have developed during years of post-communist transformation. Second, there are numerous post-communist countries, countries which range from the center of the continent through the southeast to Eastern Europe, or from the Czech Republic and Slovenia through Macedonia and Albania to Ukraine and Moldova. These are countries with different histories, social and cultural specificities and social development possibilities with, in a word, profound social differences despite 45 (or, in the case of the majority of ex-Soviet Union states, 70) years of common past. Therefore, the term “post-communist Europe” used in this chapter is simply a technical one. In addition, the chapter covers only part of post-communist Europe: countries that joined the European Union in 2004 (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) or in 2007 (Bulgaria and Romania) and one country which is set to become the twenty eight member state of the European Union in July 2013 (Croatia).
eleven - Local immigrant communities, welfare and culture: an integration/segregation dilemma
- Edited by Emma Carmel, University of Bath, Alfio Cerami, Theodoros Papadopoulos, University of Bath
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- Book:
- Migration and Welfare in the New Europe
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 07 September 2022
- Print publication:
- 28 January 2011, pp 197-212
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Introduction
The role of social networks in the life of immigrants has been a highly debated topic highlighting the importance of cultural and social capital, both for migration as well as for the social orientation and integration of immigrants in the countries of destination (Castles and Miller, 2009, pp 27-30). More recently, the concept of transnationalism has come to the attention of the international academic community, highlighting the global character of migration movements and of their social networks. In this context, transnationalism requires the development of new ways of studying the integration of immigrants (Faist, 2000; Kivisto, 2003; Castles and Miller, 2009). Not denying the important role of global migrant networks for the integration of immigrants, this chapter concentrates only on local immigrant communities and their role in the life of immigrants. Furthermore, its aim is not simply to emphasise the importance as well as the ambiguities of the role played by local immigrant communities, but also to build a bridge between the study of welfare rights of immigrants and a broader investigation of the impact of rising ethnic (and religious) diversity in contemporary welfare state development. Generally speaking, there are two ways of studying the social position of immigrants. The first is based on an approach that looks at differences of social or welfare status of immigrants in comparison to non-migrants, such as in the fields of unemployment, poverty or different benefit recipients (Hatton and Williamson, 2005; OECD, 2007; Castles and Miller, 2009; Koopmans, 2010). An extension of this approach concerns the question of the general social features that influence differences, and more specifically the impact of welfare state models. The most interesting point to note in this respect is the existence of intra-regime variations (see Morissens and Sainsbury, 2005; Banting and Kymlicka, 2006). The second approach is more focused on the issue of increasing diversity, multiculturalism and the welfare state. The crucial question here concerns the possible trade-off between diversity and solidarity (see, for example, Taylor-Gooby, 2005; Banting and Kymlicka, 2006). This is part of a more general discussion of how to deal with ethnic, religious and cultural differences in contemporary European societies, and the ways in which immigration and integration policies are formulated.
thirteen - Rescaling emergent social policies in South East Europe
- Edited by Kirstein Rummery, University of Stirling, Ian Greener, Chris Holden
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- Book:
- Social Policy Review 21
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 05 July 2022
- Print publication:
- 17 June 2009, pp 283-306
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Summary
Introduction: situating South East Europe
It is far from clear where South East Europe begins and ends. It is as much, if not more, a geopolitical construct as it is an identifiable geographical space. It may best be conceived as an emergent subregional space, more ascribed by outside forces rather than celebrated as a region from within. These ascriptions are, themselves, contradictory and somewhat Janus-faced, with a rather pejorative construction of the Balkans, only slightly amended in the European Union's (EU) notion of the Western Balkans (former Yugoslavia minus EU member state Slovenia and plus Albania), standing in some tension with an idea that the countries of the region are next in line for EU membership. These tensions relate to real political processes, which tend to fuse and confuse the border between truly ‘domestic’ and truly ‘international’ policy processes, between a status of ‘rejoining Europe’ or remaining as one of ‘Europe's others’. At times, nation-state building processes have led to a scramble for positioning regarding what has been termed ‘Euro-Atlantic integration’ in which countries and territories seek to out-do their neighbours in meeting broad conditionalities for EU and NATO membership. At other times, quite specific political choices have led to rather idiosyncratic developmental paths being pursued, producing new hybrid political economies merging a rather clientelistic ‘crony capitalism’ (Bičanić and Franičević, 2003) with the existence of authoritarian nationalisms and parallel power networks (Solioz, 2007). Sometimes, both tendencies appear to co-exist in a rather uneasy relationship not easily challenged by a rather crude ‘stick-and-carrot’ approach from the EU and other regional players (Bechev, 2006).
The wars and conflicts since 1991, and the reconstitution of various states, mini-states and territories with a rather complex relationship to each other, indicate how political, social, cultural, economic and institutional arrangements have been profoundly destabilised, and subnational, national and regional scales and their interrelationships are still heavily contested (Deacon and Stubbs, 2007; Clarke, 2008). The complexities of governance arrangements in the region certainly stretch the logics of a ‘multilevel governance’ approach popular within Western European political science, although whether or not this stretching reaches ‘breaking point’ is contested (see Stubbs, 2005; Bache et al, 2007). The complexities of state fragmentation and state-building consequent upon the wars of the Yugoslav succession remain unfinished.