Suchergebnisse

Exploring potentials and pitfalls of differentiation in Europe

The nature of labor movements and their political involvement and impact has recently been a matter of academic as well as political concern, at global level. In this respect, post-communist transformation in Eastern Europe offers an interesting case study. In the second half of 2007, the journal East Central Europe organized a debate on political scientist David Ost's pioneering book The Defeat of Solidarity: Anger and Politics in Postcommunist Europe. A study on socialist and postsocialist political culture, the book focuses on the evolution of Solidarność (Solidarity) in Poland over two decades, 1980–2000. While accounting for the Polish postsocialist path to what might be called "popular illiberalism," Ost also tackles wider issues concerning processes of democratization in times of crisis. This debate includes five short polemical essays written by three graduate students (Kacper Pobłocki, Tibor T. Meszmann, and Gábor Halmai), one junior scholar (Eszter Bartha) and one senior scholar (Don Kalb). The authors are trained in different disciplines (anthropology, political science, and history) and are specializing in the history of different countries (Poland, Hungary, Serbia, and Slovenia), thus adding to the debate a variety of disciplinary and national perspectives. The reviewers acknowledge the paramount importance of Ost's book, calling it "a mustread" for all scholars interested in East European politics and labor movements. They commend the author for bringing the concept of class back to postsocialist analyses, and for addressing a set of important interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological questions. At the same time, the reviewers question Ost's eclectic methodology on various grounds, criticizing it mainly for a lack of "temporal tracking," for placing too much "causal weight" on "elite discourses" in producing the turn to illiberalism at the expense of anthropological research at grass-roots level, and for assigning too little agency to non-elites and the "worker-citizens." In his response, David Ost clarifies the theoretical framework and main arguments of his book and further elaborates on his position, both conceptually and empirically. He advances a normative argument for consolidating democracy in Eastern Europe, arguing that "political entrepreneurs must rethink, reimagine, recontextualize the concept of class, and must try to make conflicts over interests more appealing to the populace than conflicts over identities."

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed the need for internet connection and technological devices across the population, but especially among school-aged children. For a large proportion of pupils, access to a connected computer nowadays makes the difference between being able to keep up with their educational development and falling badly behind. This paper provides a detailed account of the digitally deprived children in Europe, according to the latest available wave of the European Union - Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). We find that 5.3% of school-aged children in Europe are digitally deprived and that differences are large across countries. Children that cohabit with low-educated parents, in poverty or in severe material deprivation are those most affected. We argue that digital deprivation should be considered part of the definition of material deprivation used by the European Commission to monitor the progress of European societies.

The current globalization context brings new questions to class analysis. After a brief review of the theoretical stance and the operationalization possibilities offered by today's sociology of social classes and stratification, this article presents a comparative analysis in which
a selected set of social recomposition indicators is applied to the European Union as a whole and to each one of its countries. One of the main themes discussed throughout the article is the relative importance of national and global parameters in the structuration of class relations.

International audience ; The unit of time used in demography is thirty years, the period of one generation. Demographic phenomena unfold slowly over time and therefore there is a time lag for public opinion to perceive and understand them. The expression "demographic implosion" must therefore be handled with care because, while it is true that in Europe there is a decrease in the proportion of youth, this decline will produce its effects very slowly: Population ageing and a decrease in natural growth. The analysis of the implosion allows one to dis- tinguish between two phenomena that often mistaken for each other. On the one side, the proportion of elderly persons grows because life expectancy at birth has increased and mortality has declined. This growth of the elderly is therefore the result of better living conditions, particularly medical advances. On the other side, the fall of fertility implies ageing from the base which reflects the lack of population replacement. One must therefore be careful to distinguish between two kinds of ageing: From the top, which reflects the many benefits of progress for men and women, and ageing from the base, which reflects estrangement regarding life. ; [L'unité de temps utilisée en démographie est de trente ans, la durée entre deux générations. Les phénomènes démographiques se déroulent lentement avec le temps et, donc, il y a un décalage dans la possibilité de l'opinion publique de percevoir et de comprendre. L'expression «implosion démographique» doit donc être manipulé avec soin, car, s'il est vrai qu'en Europe, il y a une diminution de la proportion de jeunes, cette baisse va produire ses effets lentement : vieillissement de la population et diminution de la croissance naturelle. L'analyse de l'implosion permet de distinguer deux phénomènes souvent confondus. D'un côté, la proportion de personnes âgées augmente parce que l'espérance de vie à la naissance a augmenté et la mortalité a diminué. Cette croissance des personnes âgées est donc le résultat de meilleures conditions de vie, en particulier les progrès de la médecine. De l'autre côté, la chute de la fécondité implique le vieillissement de la base de la pyramide des âges qui reflète le manque de remplacement de la population. Il faut donc prendre soin de distinguer entre deux types de vieillissement: « par le haut », qui reflète les nombreux avantages du progrès pour les hommes et les femmes, et le vieillissement « par le bas », qui reflète la fécondité abaissée.] ; L'unità di tempo utilizzata in demografia è di trent'anni, la durata tra due generazioni. I fenomeni demografici si dispiegano lentamente nel tempo e, pertanto, vi è un ritardo nella capacità dell'opinione pubblica di percepire e comprendere. L'espressione "implosione demografica" deve quindi essere maneggiato con cura, perché se è vero che in Europa v'è una diminuzione della proporzione di giovani, questa diminuzione avrà effetto invecchiamento della popolazione e lentamente una diminuzione della crescita naturale. L'analisi dell'implosione consente di distinguere due fenomeni spesso confusi. Da un lato, la percentuale di anziani aumenta perché l'aspettativa di vita alla nascita è aumentata e la mortalità è diminuita. Questa crescita degli anziani è quindi il risultato di migliori condizioni di vita, in particolare del progresso della medicina. D'altra parte, il calo della fertilità implica l'invecchiamento della base della piramide delle età, che riflette la mancanza di sostituzione della popolazione. Dobbiamo fare attenzione a distinguere tra due tipi di invecchiamento: "dall'alto", che riflette i molti benefici del progresso per uomini e donne, e l'invecchiamento "dal basso", che riflette la fertilità abbassata.

viii, 96 p. ; The World Health Organization's Evidence-informed Policy Network (EVIPNet) has supported Member States in designing, implementing and institutionalizing efforts to support evidence-informed policy-making (EIP). This experience has shown the importance of systematically and comprehensively identifying important contextual factors that can either support or hinder countries in identifying the organizational and operational niche of the future EVIPNet knowledge translation platform (KTP) at the country level. The Situation Analysis Manual guides the analysis of such contextual factors. The purpose of this Manual is twofold: 1) to assist WHO Member States in planning and conducting a situation analysis (SA) to understand the local context with regard to EIP/KTP. An SA aims to gather background information that supports a systematic and comprehensive reflection on the most important local factors that will either support or act as barriers to the establishment and operationalization of future KTPs. KTPs are the fundamental units of EVIPNet at the country level; 2) to provide general principles, approaches and tools that can be applied to conduct and present the findings from an SA. While several tools and approaches are meant to assist users in tackling the SA, the Manual is not a rigid protocol. The data collection methods should be, as required, adapted to the local context. For instance, questions can be amended to ensure that these are culturally and/or politically sensitive.

Cover -- Contents -- Preface -- Notes on the Contributors -- Introduction -- PART I: CULTURE AND HISTORY -- Introduction to Part I -- 1 Culture -- 2 History -- 3 Ideology -- 4 Philosophy -- 5 Literature -- 6 Political Culture -- PART II: SOCIETY -- Introduction to Part II -- 7 Society -- 8 Religion -- 9 Gender -- 10 Race and Ethnicity -- 11 Language -- 12 Law and Human Rights -- PART III: POLITICS AND POLICY -- Introduction to Part III -- 13 Governance -- 14 Nation and State -- 15 Region -- 16 Conflict -- 17 Migration -- 18 Social Policy -- References -- Index.