Women and political change : perspectives from East-Central Europe : selected papers from the Fifth World Congress of Central and East European Studies, Warsaw, 1995

This collection of essays looks at the impact on women of the political changes which have taken place in East-Central Europe since the 1930s. It is unusual in combining a strong contemporary focus with re-evaluations of what the socialist experience has meant for women. It brings together specialists from both East and the West to offer insights into women's lives and responses to change in countries which have a shared legacy of state socialism yet are as culturally diverse as Russia and Germany, Poland and Estonia. Understandably it is the social, political and cconomic upheavals in the former USSR and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe that have attracted the lion's share of attention from the academic community and the general public alike during the last decade. It is, however, also necessary to take note of the important linguistic changes that have accompanied these upheavals. Most of the papers in this volume deal with Russian which, as one of the languages exposed longest to 'Sovietization', has undergone a particularly complex process of readjustment. If it is still carly to draw definitive conclusions, each contribution from its own individual standpoint helps to provide a preliminary understanding of the new language situation of post-Soviet Russia. The remaining papers examine the Russian and Ukrainian languages, the position of Komi-Permiak, and ask fundamental questions about language and society. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction....Pages 1-6 Gender and Heroes....Pages 7-26 1945: Change or Continuity in European Gender Relations?....Pages 27-42 How Long Did ‘Women’s Finest Hour’ Last?....Pages 43-59 Were These the Same Women?....Pages 60-74 Enterprise and Survival....Pages 75-90 The Effects of the Economic and Political Transition on Women and Families in Poland....Pages 91-109 Structural Changes and the Position of Women in St. Petersburg....Pages 110-134 Neo-Conservatism in Family Ideology in Lithuania....Pages 135-150 From Faction Not to Party....Pages 151-167 Emancipation Without Feminism....Pages 168-187 Back Matter....Pages 189-194 "This collection of essays looks at the impact on women of the political changes which have taken place in East-Central Europe since the 1930s. It is unusual in combining a strong contemporary focus with re-evaluations of what the socialist experience has meant for women. It brings together specialists from both East and West to offer insights into women's lives and responses to change in countries which have a shared legacy of state socialism yet are as culturally diverse as Russia and Germany, Poland and Estonia."--Jacket This collection of essays looks at the impact on women of the political changes which have taken place in East-Central Europe since the 1930s. It is unusual in combining a strong contemporary focus with re-evaluations of what the socialist experience has meant for women. It brings together specialists from both East and West to offer insights into women's lives and responses to change in countries which have a shared legacy of state socialism yet are as culturally diverse as Russia and Germany, Poland and Estonia.
"Post-communist developments in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union do not follow any predetermined pattern. The authors, all of whom are leading experts in their respective fields, analyse the diversity of the experience of democratisation in a number of different settings and contexts."--Jacket The dramatic political change of recent years which redrew the map of Europe simultaneously set in motion a process of profound economic and social transformation in the former socialist states. Edited By Sue Bridger. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.