Newsletter - Social Science in Eastern Europe 2000-1

Organiser: Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Forschungen HUMANIORA, Österreichische Gesellschaft für Mitteleuropäische Studies

Contact: Österreichische Gesellschaft für Mitteleuropäische Studien

Hohenstaufengasse 9/7
A-1010 Vienna

Tel.: +43 1 4277 383 01
Fax: +43 1 4277 9383
E-mail: glalothmagnet.at

Announcement

Social Policy and Intervention - in a Gender Perspective: Theoretical and Practical Problems for Research in a Comparative Perspective. A postgraduate Nordic- NW Russian Research Course

Date: 01. - 05.06. 2000

Conference site: Arkhangelsk, Russia

Organiser: NorFa BodAE Regional University and Pomor State University

Contact: Marina Kalinina

Norwegian Pomor University Centre

Uritskogo 56
163060 Arkhangelsk
Russia

Tel.: +7 8182 23 62 95
Fax: +7 5129 51 61 33
E-mail: marina@pomorsu.ru

Bodø Regional University, Prof. Siv. Oltedal

Tel.: +755 17 337
Fax: +755 17 378
E-mail: siv.oltedal@hibo.no

Announcement

Continuing Vocational Training - a Step to the 21^st century: from Demand up to Recognition. International Conference

Date: 07. -08.06. 2000

Conference site: Moscow region, Russia

Organiser: Interstate Association of Postgraduate Education; The Committee of the Council Federation on Science, Culture, Health and Ecology; Ministry of Education, RF; Ministry of Labour and Social Development, RF; International Association for Continuing Engineering Education; Moscow Region Government; All-Russian Society for Radio Engineering, Electronics and Communication

More detailed information can be obtained directly from the organiser:

Interstate Association of Postgraduate Education

PO Box 20
117571 Moscow
Russia

Tel.:/Fax: (095) 434-24-38
E-mail: demiapge@cityline.ru
Internet: http://www.user.cityline.ru/~demiapge/

Announcement

Law, Knowledge and Power in Post-socialist Anthropology

Date: 17. - 20. 06.2000

Conference site: Moscow, Russia

Organiser: Moscow Institute of Ethnology, Max-Planck-Institute for Social Anthropology Halle/Saale

Contact: Sergiej Abashin

Moscow Institute of Ethnology

Leninskij Prospekt 32 A
117334 Moscow

Fax: 7 095 938 0600

Nikolai Ssorin-Chakov

Max-Planck-Institute for Social Anthropology

PO Box 110351
D-06017 Halle/Saale

Fax: +49 345 29 27 102

Announcement

International Experience: Developing the Civil Society in Russia. International Conference

Date: 23. -24.06. 2000

Conference site: Omsk

Organiser: Omsk State Pedagogical University in cooperation with the Russian American Academic Exchanges Alumni Association.

Topics:

* Protecting human rights: role of the society and the state

* Economic factor in developing civil society.

* Interaction of mass media and the authorities

* Internationalisation of universities and improvement of the educational process

* Development of international cooperation under the conditions of civil society

* Training professionals for foreign countries

* Civic education programs. Teaching civic education

More detailed information can be obtained directly from the organiser

Professor Konstantin A. Churkin - Rector

Omsk State Pedagogical University, Russia
International Education/Relations Office:

Tel./Fax: +73812243795
E-mail: common@omsk.edu

Announcement

Enlarging the EU: How well are we prepared for a new Europe?

Date: 03. -07.07.2000

Conference site: Warsaw, Poland

Organiser: Wilton Park Conferences

Wilton Park Conferences, Adm. Frances Martin

Winston House, Steyning

West Sussex BN44 3DZ
United Kingdom

Tel.: +44(0) 1903 81 77 77
E-mail: frances.martin@
Internet: http://www.wiltonpark.org.uk/conferen-ces/
programmes/wp605.htm

Announcement

Libraries in Open Society. International Slavic Librarians' Conference

Date: 26. -29.07.2000

Conference site: Tallinn, Estonia

Organiser: Otto-Brenner-Foundation, National Library of Estonia

Contact: Anneli Virtanen

Finnish Institute for Russian and East European Studies Annankatu44 Fin-00 100 Helsinki

Tel.: +358 9 2285 4443
Fax: +358 9 2285 4431
E-mail: anneli.virtanen@rusin.fi

Announcement

Society and Sociology: New Relations and New Ideas - Russian Sociological Congress

Date: 27. - 30.09. 2000

Conference site: St. Petersburg

Organiser: Ministry of General and Professional Education of Russian Federation/Head Council for Sociology, St. Petersburg State University/ Department of Sociology, Russian Society of Sociologists, M. Kovalevski Sociological Society, Institute of Sociology RAS, Institute of Social and Political Researches RAS, Academy of Humanities, Moscow State University/ Department of Sociology, St. Petersburg Association of Sociologists

Topics:

1. Changing Society: Problems of Theory

* Contemporary Society: Stability and Mutability

* Localization and Globalisation of Social Processes

* Social Stratification: Problems of Inequality.Age Passing Over and Age Coming Up: Appraisals and Forecasts

2. Russian Society: Present, Tendencies, Pros-pects

* Russian Society - New Institutionalisation.Social Structure of Russian Society: Tendencies and New Approaches

* Dimensions of Russian Social Space: Territorial, Ethnic, Religious

* Social Norm and Deviation

* Economic Consciousness and Economic Behaviour

* Political Power: institutions, structures, values

* Social and Political Technologies

* Cultures and Subcultures. Searches for New Identity

3. Contemporary Sociological Thought

* Classics of Sociology and the Present. New Trends in Sociology

* Methods and Procedures of Social Cognition

* Russian Sociology: Main Tendencies

* Fields of Sociology: Schools and Concepts Sociological Education and Teaching Sociology: Experience, Problems and Prospects

Conference fee: US $15

Contact:

Mikhail Sinioutine

Organizing Committee of Russian Sociological Congress
Department of Sociology
St. Petersburg State University

ul. Smolnogo, 1/3, Entr.
9193060 St. Petersburg
Russia

Tel.: (+7-812) 1100077; 2719223
Fax: (+7 812) 1100077
E-mail: sin@soc.pu.ru

Retrospective

Interim Conference "Economic Sociology on the Edge of the 3rd Millennium"

Date: 14-15.01. 2000

Conference site: Moscow

Organiser: International Sociological Association, RC02 "Economy and Society", European Sociological Association, Economic Sociology Research Network, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (Russian-British University) and Interdisciplinary Academic Centre for Social Sciences (Intercentre)

More detailed information can be obtained directly via the Internet:
http://www.msses.co.ru/win/interc/rnet/

Retrospective

Where is Russia going? Power, Society, Personality

Date: 17. -18.01. 2000

Conference site: Moscow

Organiser: Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (Russian-British University)

More detailed information can be obtained directly via the Internet:
http://www.msses.co.ru/win/interc/rnet/

Conference report

Demographic Transitions in Eastern and South Eastern Europe. Internationall Workshop

Issues of population developments in the countries of Eastern and South Eastern Europe after the end of communism were in the focus of the International Workshop at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany, held on November 5-7, 1999. It was the third of its kind, preceded by two gatherings in Tübingen, Germany, in 1997 and at the Zahradky Castle in northern Bohemia, Czech Republic, in 1998, which resulted in the establishment of an international network of statistics and demography experts from Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the Ukraine. This network, organized and coordinated by the Prague demographer Toma[sinvcircumflex] Kucera and the Tübingen statistician Eberhard Schaich, deals with the demographic developments since 1989 in the participating countries and, in addition, discusses things they have in common as well as differences which emerge from the comparative analysis of selected countries in Eastern and South Eastern Europe, and of these countries and some Western European ones.

The network's workshop in Rostock raised the question whether the demographic transition in the countries of Eastern and South Eastern Europe since the beginning of the 1990s, after certain setbacks, is simply a continuation of the second demographic transition that has greatly determined the demographic development in some Western European countries for a while now, or whether the political and social transitions in these countries have triggered off specific developments that differ from the developments in Western Europe also in the long run. To enlighten the question such criteria are used like the constitution of new patterns of behaviour regarding marriage and birth, the pluralization of family forms, the delay of marriage and thus related the birth of children and the decline in the average number of children per woman.

In the face of the thesis of a mere catching-up development in the countries of Eastern and South Eastern Europe and the beginning adaptation to Western European structures and modes of behaviour, some of the experts, who attended the Rostock workshop, attempted to prove that the demographic transition in Eastern and South Eastern Europe is rather an original process that is basically different from the second demographic transition regarding its extent and intensity. The deliberations and the presented country reports[8] brought about the conviction that the demographic changes in the countries of Eastern and South Eastern Europe really show signs of the second demographic transition, on the one hand. On the other hand, a more detailed analysis of the demographic transition in some of the countries, especially in the successor states of the former Soviet Union, revealed that phenomena of the socio-economic crisis influence the demographic development in a specific way. An example of this is the mortality rate, particularly that of the male population. At the beginning of the nineties the mortality rate among 40-year-old men in Russia quadrupled that of their Western counterparts.[9] Obviously, the situation at the labour market, i.e., the increase in unemployment and underemployment, and the deficits in the medical service and provision and the health care system in general contributed to the male excess mortality in this age group. As against that the trends in birth and marriage rates are much less affected by the socio-economic crisis. The observed increase in the average marriage age and in the average age of primiparae, on the one hand, and the decline in the total birth rate, on the other hand, rather point to a long-term demographic transition that had already begun in the 1960s. That is why the observed changes in the marriage and birth behaviour fit into the pattern of the second demographic transition and have only been brought to light in the course of the socio-economic transformation processes since the beginning of the 1990s.

In view of the complex demographic transition in some countries of Eastern and South Eastern Europe it was suggested and discussed to analyse further and compare with each other the demographic transitions in these countries on the basis of their regional structure. Thus, the participants in the workshop presented an outline of the regional structure in their countries and discussed models that could form the basis for such a comparative analysis of the population's structure and dynamic at regional level. During the deliberations it was suggested to study and compare the demographic development on the basis of regional units of more than 100,000 people.

To what extent this approach is suitable for the comparative analyses is to be shown by the researches envisaged for this year. Further publications of the network about the analyses and cartographic illustrations of demographic transitions of the recent years as well as of expected future demographic trends are planned.

Dr. Jochen Fleischhacker

Max-Planck-Institut für demografische Forschung

Doberanerstr. 114 D-18057 Rostock
Tel.: 0381/2081114
Fax: 0381/2081414
E-mail: Fleischhacker@demogr.mpg.de

Conference report

Gender in Transition

Meeting on the Tenth Anniversary of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Women's Research

Almost ten years after its foundation on December 8, 1989, the Centre for Inter-disciplinary Women's Research (Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Frauenforschung/ZiF) celebra-ted its anniversary with a meeting on "Gender in Transition in Eastern and Central Europe." The ZiF originated from a semi-official working group existing since 1980 where scientists interested in women's research gathered. Long before 1989 they introduced to their researches and teachings the women respectively the gender perspective.

In the ten years of its existence the Centre can look back on a considerable success story: The ZiF as the only women's research institution in the New Lands studied the consequences for women of the transformation process and decisively ensured that women became visible as actors of the change. Moreover, for the ZiF it was a matter of course to establish the inter-disciplinarity in research and teaching and to support individual female scientists. Its study course on "Gender Studies shows that they succeeded. However, without the "change," without the beginning of the social transformation in the GDR and in the former socialist countries the foundation of the ZiF had hardly been possible, and it was more than appropriate to celebrate the anniversary with a meeting dealing with these transformations. The aim of the meeting on "Gender in Transition in Eastern and Central Europe" was to show what effects the transformations in the Eastern, Central Eastern and South Eastern European countries have on the organization of gender relations, particularly on the situation of women. It ought to discuss how gender inequalities change, continue or dissolve at certain places or levels. Another aim of the meeting closely linked with the ZiF's self-understanding was to bring forth a "bridge discourse," building international relations and co-operations and thus advancing the institutionalisation of women and gender research at the universities in Eastern, Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe.

Invited were experts who are leading in the field of transformation research in their countries. The approximately 160 participants came from Poland, Latvia, Russia, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Yugoslavia, Belarus, the Ukraine, the U.K., Canada, and the USA.

After the opening speech by the present scientific director, Prof. Dr. Hildegard-Maria Nickel, Vice-President Prof. Dr. Richard Schröder took the floor to welcome the participants. He specifically underlined the inter-disciplinary orientation of the ZiF. The Federal Secretary for Women, Pensioners, Family and Youth, Dr. Christine Bergmann, who has a close relationship with the ZiF due to her former post as Senator for Women Affairs in Berlin, emphasized ZiF's importance as a scientifically based support for her own political activity.

The workshops concentrated on five major topics. Topic 1 on "The Changing Labour Market: Structures and Prospects" analysed the hierarchy and segregation processes on the labour market and their impact on women: To what extent do "modernization processes" in the post-socialist countries alter gainful employment of women, what chances and risks have these processes for women, and which developments offer opportunities for reshaping gainful employment for women?

Topic 2 on "Feminist Theory and the Public-Private-Debate" focused on women's possibilities for political participation in democratic processes. After the democratic elections in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe women were almost excluded from political power; their interests, demands and specific problems were ignored due to their marginalization in political institutions.

A third topic served the exchange of experiences and strategies in institutionalising women and gender research in science. Many centres have in common that they were set up with the financial support of foreign sponsors (Soros, Ford Foundation, Frauen-Anstiftung/Böll-Stiftung). This, contrary to Western Europe, results in the specific situation in some countries that Gender Studies become scientifically and politically interesting as an internationally renowned field and source of projects financed by third sides. This partly facilitates the establishment of gender-specific studies, also as study courses, though this is not related to a financial backing on the part of the universities.

Topic 4 on "Construction of Identities, Images of Women" focused on the analysis of discourses on images and identities of femininity. A result of the transformation process is that the struggle for limited resources like gainful employment leads to a revitalization of traditional roles between men and women.

Topic 5 on "Feminist Perspectives and National Identities" analysed the transformations of gender arrangements between globalisation and the reconstitution of national identities. While nationalist policy is directly attached to men, thus constructing an aggressive, violent-bound manliness, women are mostly relegated to their specific responsibility for reproduction, which means a "re-feminisation" of women.

The results of the empirical studies presented at the meeting were extraordinarily multifarious and revealed that the consequences of social transformation for gender relations and the situation of women in the individual countries of Eastern, Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe against the background of different national circumstances and economic and political developments considerably differ from one another in some cases and make a generalization of country-specific studies impossible. However, at the same time, they have a number of things in common.

One aim of the meeting, namely to bring forth a "bridge discourse," was reached and was a real success. To advance the scientific network could not have been better achieved than at this place, the intersection between East and West.

(A conference book will be published.)

Daphne Hahn

[8] These country reports entitled: "The New Demographic Face of Europe" will be published by the Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg and New York in the spring of 2000.

[9] Cf. Vishnevskii, A. (1999): "The Demographic Potential of Russia." Russian Social Science Review, vol. 40, no.4, July-August, p. 11.

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Issue
2000-1

Content

Editorial
HUNGARY
POLAND
ROMANIA
RUSSIA
SLOVAKIA
SLOVENIA
SERBIA
UKRAINE
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CONFERENCES
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