The Politics of Morality: The Church, the State, and Reproductive Rights in Postsocialist Poland (Polish and Polish American Studies)

Mishtal, Joanna

ISBN 10: 0821421409 / ISBN 13: 9780821421406

Published by Ohio University Press, 2015

About this Item

In English.

Seller Inventory # ria9780821421406_new

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Politics of Morality: The Church, the State, and Reproductive Rights in Postsocialist Poland (Polish and Polish American Studies)
• Publisher: Ohio University Press
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0821421409
• ISBN 13: 9780821421406
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

After the fall of the state socialist regime and the end of martial law in 1989, Polish society experienced both a sense of relief from the tyranny of Soviet control and an expectation that democracy would bring freedom. After this initial wave of enthusiasm, however, political forces that had lain concealed during the state socialist era began to emerge and establish a new religious-nationalist orthodoxy. While Solidarity garnered most of the credit for democratization in Poland, it had worked quietly with the Catholic Church, to which a large majority of Poles at least nominally adhered. As the church emerged as a political force in the Polish Sejm and Senate, it precipitated a rapid erosion of women’s reproductive rights, especially the right to abortion, which had been relatively well established under the former regime.

The Politics of Morality is an anthropological study of this expansion of power by the religious right and its effects on individual rights and social mores. It explores the contradictions of postsocialist democratization in Poland: an emerging democracy on one hand, and a declining tolerance for reproductive rights, women’s rights, and political and religious pluralism on the other. Yet, as this thoroughly researched study shows, women resist these strictures by pursuing abortion illegally, defying religious prohibitions on contraception, and organizing into advocacy groups. As struggles around reproductive rights continue in Poland, these resistances and unofficial practices reveal the sharp limits of religious form of governance.

About the Author

Joanna Mishtal is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Central Florida. Her research examines the politics of gender, focusing on reproductive rights, health, and social policies in Poland, her native country.