Overview

The social activism that has been so important in the West since the 1960s is also changing the face of Central Europe today. This book examines four major social movements - women's, religious, environmental, and gay/lesbian - that have recently surfaced in the region. The first section focuses on the women's movements in eastern Germany, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, showing that political engagement takes a variety of different, not necessarily integrated forms. Religious movements are then examined in Poland and eastern Germany - major features of which include a massive exodus from Protestantism and religious demobilization. The third part discusses the increasing institutionalization and political clout of environmental movements in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland. An unprecedented final section examines various aspects of the gay/lesbian movements in eastern Germany, Poland, and Hungary, including their struggle to gain public acceptance and make legal and institutional headway.

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9780880334754

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Reviews

Flam offers the most elaborate theoretical framing of the problem of social movements in her introduction and epilogue, raising a number of significant issues related to the fate of social movements in post-socialist societies.... this volume raises some very interesting and important questions about the cultural specificity of social movements and the status of civil society in the post-social world. -- Brian James Baer, Slavic and East European Journal

Flam offers the most elaborate theoretical framing of the problem of social movements in her introduction and epilogue, raising a number of significant issues related to the fate of social movements in post-socialist societies. . . . this volume raises some very interesting and important questions about the cultural specificity of social movements and the status of civil society in the post-social world. Flam offers the most elaborate theoretical framing of the problem of social movements in her introduction and epilogue, raising a number of significant issues related to the fate of social movements in post-socialist societies.... this volume raises some very interesting and important questions about the cultural specificity of social movements and the status of civil society in the post-social world. -- Brian James Baer, Slavic and East European Journal

Author Information

Helena Flam is professor of sociology at the University of Leipzig in Germany.

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