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.
Próby zmiany prawa regulującego dostęp do aborcji w Polsce, podjęte przez polski Sejm w 2016 i 2018, zainicjowały intensywną społeczną mobilizację i szerokie protesty społeczne, określane wspólną nazwą „Czarnych Protestów”. Tę mobilizację traktujemy jako próbę (prze)definiowania obowiązujących pojęć obywatelstwa, a w szczególności jako wyraz poszukiwania nowego modelu obywatelstwa intymnego, czyli publicznego przedefiniowania praw dotyczących prywatnej, intymnej sfery. Celem autorek artykułu jest analiza wspomnianych (re)artykulacji intymnego obywatelstwa. W pierwszej części tekstu autorki opisują, czym były Czarne Protesty oraz Ogólnopolski Strajk Kobiet, a także przybliżają kontekst ich powstania oraz postulaty. W drugiej części zdefiniowana zostaje kategoria obywatelstwa, a w szczególności obywatelstwa intymnego. Następnie przedstawiona zostaje metodologia badań. W ostatniej, analitycznej części artykułu autorki rekonstruują wizje obywatelstwa intymnego wyłaniające się z analizowanego materiału empirycznego.
Poland has one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe, and antiabortion discourse shapes the debate and social attitudes towards the issue. The paper aims to reconstruct the way in which this discourse, as exemplified in the Polish right-wing press, constructs negative views about abortion and to identify the legitimation mechanisms it employs to sustain its interpretations. Based on our findings, resulting from a content analysis of articles from two right-wing weekly magazines, we distinguish three interrelated frames organising Polish anti-abortion discourse, centred on 'defending the unborn', 'protecting women', and 'preserving culture and nation'. While the first two have occurred in the liberal contexts of Anglophone countries, with one replacing the other, in Polish anti-abortion discourse they co-exist. The construction of abortion as a threat to culture and nation is specific to Poland. We argue that by blending together community-related and individualistic arguments, Polish antiabortion discourse adapts to wider societal changes observable in the country, thereby sustaining its power to define debate.
The enlargement of 2004 and 2007 significantly transformed the European Union in political, economic, and social terms. It also challenged the collective identities of Western Europeans as well as each of the newcomers. However, for new members, the prospect of joining a supranational political entity posed a threat to their newly established or regained sovereignty and nationhood. The integration triggered a process of redefinition of both their self-perception and the perception of Europe as a common project. The article offers a case study of how the Polish Members of the European Parliament discursively (re)construct national and European identities and how these constructions relate to each other. The analysis reveals three main visions of the European identity that are voiced by the Polish representation and corresponding visions of national identity. By focusing on the supranational level of the European Parliament and contextualising the analysed constructions with references to national debates, the study is able to nuance the existing theoretical accounts of European and national identities.
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