Contents Number 5, Issue 1, January 2013 Nives Ličen, Jolana Gubalová, Senka Hočevar Ciuha Characteristics of Intergenerational Education findings from eight case studies ..........................................................................................................................................6 Tadej Praprotnik Being On-Line; Identity and Subjectivity in New Media ………………………….40 Yuriy Savelyev Modernization and Pseudomorphosis:The Case of the Forced Gender Transformation in the Context of the Communist Project of Modernization and its Collapse…………………………………………………………………………………….65 RSC, Number 5, Issue 1, January 2013, pp. 5-39. Characteristics of Intergenerational Education Findings from eight case studies Nives Ličen, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana Jolana Gubalová, Faculty of Economics, Matej Bel, University, Banská Bystrica Senka Hočevar Ciuha, Slovenian Third Age University E-mail for correspondence: maltajunij2009@gmail.com Abstract : Intergenerational education has developed as a social practice enabling the education and formation of social networks among individuals, associations and institutions as manifested by the results of international action research on intergenerational education in duration of two years. Intergenerational education was introduced in various environments in eight countries, which present eight parallel case studies. Empirical data was collected through qualitative methods. The programmes were analysed with an emphasis on links between educational institutions and their local environment. Conclusions of the research: The study establishes efficiency of intergenerational education as a strategy of education and forging links between the younger and older generation and as a method of developing both pedagogy of dialogue and pedagogy of care. Keywords: intergenerational education, community, case study, school, elderly INTRODUCTION Intergenerational activities and solidarity are discussed in various documents, adopted by the United Nations Organization (United Nations, 2007, 2002), while 2012 has been proclaimed the European year of intergenerational cooperation. The subjects of our research, intergenerational learning and education, also form part of this paradigm. Over the past fifty years, social changes have reduced the potential for spontaneous intergenerational communication. The reasons for this are varied. When adapting to ever-changing life conditions, the family changes and thus loses its basic role of facilitator of intergenerational transfer. Old age is no longer inseparable with the authority of knowledge. People interact predominantly in the same age groups and education is carried out in homogenous age groups. However, living in a fluid world, without solid structures of meanings and relations, increases the importance of joint knowledge creation. Intergenerational education is interpreted through varied theoretic concepts and principles, for example through the principle of society for all ages and by including the elderly in society (Sanches, 2007; Kobylarek, 2010), through the principles of a just society and the concept of relational goods (cf. Nussbaum, 2010, Gecchele, 2010), and finally through community education (Jelenc Krašovec, Kump, 2009, Bressler et al., 2005). Development of intergenerational programmes also supports the “theoretical trend” in the philosophy of education, which is evident in the shift from pedagogy of behaviour to pedagogy of relation, to stressing ethics of care and the concept of communicative pedagogy. RESEARCH PROBLEM In the context of this study, intergenerational programmes are defined as planned activities connecting different generations with the purpose of exchanging information, knowledge, experience, feelings and stories – namely, developing a common practice in a way that both generations benefit and that enhances mutual understanding. Reciprocal influences, mutual awareness and respect together with empowerment in the social environment are important. Modern programmes of intergenerational education began to emerge in the USA in the 1970s. First they pursued goals of connecting the elderly and the young, while in the 1990s other goals developed as well, predominantly building communities through intergenerational education and not only connecting the two outermost population groups. Yet even today, the aim of most programmes is to connect the elderly with the young; most often they are prepared by organizations in the area of elderly education or social work with the elderly. There is less development in the field of primary schools and youth associations, although the research results show positive effects for both groups included in intergenerational programmes. It is exactly for this reason that our research initially turned to observing connections between an educational institution (school) and groups of the elderly. In the action research, both were included in non-formal education. Intergenerational programmes are often perceived as projects in which the young help the elderly and in this way build their responsibility towards the community. Modern authors disagree with such a view (cf. Loewen, 1996; Sanches, 2009), as intergenerational education is a model that increases the learning potentials of both target generations. Our research tackled the question of whether this mutual benefit can be confirmed. Our concept of the research derived from findings of MacCallum et al. (2006) who analysed intergenerational programmes in Australia, Cumming-Potvin (2010) and the conclusions presented by Newman and Hatton-Yeo (2008), Boström (2003). Research of intergenerational learning and creation of intergenerational education models has increased due to several factors, including those referring to the economy, social policy, knowledge management and cooperation in the educational system. Research of intergenerational learning in companies shows that in intergenerational groups, either more conflicts occur, since generations use different languages (Convertino, Farook, Rosson, Carroll & Meyer, 2007), or there is intensive adaptation of one group to the other, which consequently diminishes the potential for intergenerational learning. Expert knowledge is needed to prepare an environment where in situ intergenerational communication and learning can flourish. This challenges not only the economy but also social policy. An ageing population demands different approaches if an inclusive society is to be established. Since groups of people who are no longer part of the active working population are more at risk of social marginalization, various activities to connect generations into a community have to be developed. Namely, the actual and potential abilities of the elderly population tend to be underestimated. Moreover, the elderly themselves most often nurture wrong beliefs about old age. A great majority of the elderly (above 65 years) acquire new knowledge as successfully as the younger generation provided they have enough opportunities, time and motivation. Contrary to this fact, a study in the Slovene environment showed that 45.7% of adults think that the majority of those above 65 years cannon adapt to changes (Zupančič, Colnerič & Horvat, 2010), which shows a lack of awareness of the elderly's learning potentials. Intergenerational groups are an environment where, due to various ages and experiences of their members, different symbolic networks appear, promoting cognitive conflict and reflexion on everyday practice. Hanks and Icenogle (2001) suggest that intergenerational dialogue is linked to variety, meaning that conflicts – but also cooperation – may develop between generations. As a result, children should meet with intergenerational experiences early in primary school. In view of all the above, it would be wise to promote systematically intergenerational connections already in the current educational system, which is precisely what we attempted to introduce in our action research. DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION RESEARCH Various models of intergenerational learning have been studied with the action research method. In recent years, there have been many incentives for intergenerational learning in very advanced age groups, and the positive effects of programmes have become evident, for example in homes for the elderly (Krout et al., 2010; Hegeman et al., 2010) and in intergenerational networks in the local environment (Kladnik et al., 1998; Ramovš, 2009). More and more programmes have emerged in the working environment, as described in the Cross-Ages project. Initial research question We were interested in how intergenerational learning works in the local environment with regards to the young included in an educational institution, and the elderly included in the local environment. More detailed research questions referred primarily to the functioning of groups in educational programmes. Due to limitations of the participating groups, our questions were also restricted. We were interested in the following: (a) agents and relations; (b) motivation for inclusion; (c) methods and efficiency of education; (d) goals; (e) contents; (f) planning and organization. The conceptual framework for the research was prepared by the researchers who were part of the action group (Ličen, Gubalová, 2010). Our methodological apparatus was based on the action research strategy, use of ethnographic approaches and taking into account characteristics of the case study as the research type. When preparing and carrying out the research we considered findings of andragogic studies on field observations of learning (Merriam, 2002), on qualitative research (Flick, 2009) and on action research (Norton, 2009). The epistemologic principle in qualitative research is to understand a phenomenon from the participants' perspective, so we focused on participation during all phases of our research. More detailed articulation of the research question was based on social theories of learning and in situ learning as well as narrative learning. We were interested in intergenerational learning that takes place in local communities and is linked to local culture. Together with e-literacy, which was the goal of pair work, we aimed to evaluate and consider the importance of local knowledge, which tends to disappear with global trends. Stories of the elderly were thus the object of collection in intergenerational groups. Research units and time limits of the study Our study was idiographic. Individual cases in eight countries, namely Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, France, Greece, Portugal, Malta, and Turkey were considered research cases. During the 2008 -2010 period, groups introduced various forms of intergenerational education in their environments. All shared the same method (the young and the elderly learning in pairs) and goal (the elderly should start using the computer for various purposes: e-mail, blogs, Internet surfing, entertainment and exchange of stories). Research strategy The main methodological strategy of our project was action research that included eight parallel case studies. The methodological apparatus was formed using qualitative approaches mainly for the following reasons: -The participating groups were relatively small (from 6 to 12 pairs). -During the process of collecting empirical data (which continued for two years) groups changed (some joined, some left, some programmes were repeated). -Participants of different ages were included in the young (from primary school children, aged 10-12 years, to students) and in the elderly groups (from just retired sixty-year-olds to those reaching the age of 95 in homes for the elderly). Where the participants were children (under 16), we took special care to ensure ethical conduct of the research. All participant data was protected, parents were informed of all procedures and they confirmed activities at meetings with teachers. Some parents were included in the project as mentors for the children. The study was set up as a process of systematic observation and reflection on the practice that was introduced. To achieve the highest validity of scientifically substantiated research, we followed the principle of triangulation when collecting and interpreting data. Data was collected in various manners and interpreted through cooperation of experts from different fields of expertise. Each individual study in a particular country was treated as an independent case study. Each case study was understood as research of a limited system and positioned in the context of a particular country. The whole context of the project, which was the same for all involved, is presented by the ageing of population, the need for intergenerational cooperation and the need of e-literacy of the elderly brought about by development of e-technology. Various educational and other organizations participated in the research. In various countries, agents from diverse organizations were included: 3 primary schools, 2 secondary schools, 2 universities, 1 home for the elderly, 1 institute for adult education, 1 society, 2 universities for the elderly in establishment, and 1 university for the elderly working within a university. Since we considered each group of a particular country as a unit, we first analysed each individual case and then compared them among themselves at four meetings of expert teams using the focus group method. After the first and the second year we prepared records on observations of practices which we supplemented in discussion with colleagues at work meetings. Methods of data collection The following data collecting methods were used: Short interview, observing and recording events, surveys, and focus groups (including coordinators of expert groups and representatives of individual units). Data was collected extensively and recorded in various forms (anecdotic records/diary of special events, interview protocols, questionnaires, minutes of focus group meetings). Interviews were carried out with adult participants (students, the elderly, mentors). Interviews were performed by individual mentors after the end of the first year and after the end of the second year. When education was carried out only in one study year, the interview was carried out at the end of the programme. Conversational research interviews, i.e. short interviews with open-ended questions, were used. The interviews lasted from 20 to 30 minutes and answers were promptly recorded. Another method used by teachers was the method of anecdotic records (diary of special events). The methods of teacher's observation and records were used to monitor pupils or students. All records are anonymous and comply with research ethics where children were involved. Focused discussion (focus groups) was used with colleagues from other countries, taking place at four expert meetings. During these visits we participated in educational meetings of intergenerational groups in the relevant country and thus we could observe work in groups. Two principles, namely participatory attitude and reflective approach, were applied in our research. Data processing All records were first arranged in groups including case studies from participating countries. After that, data was collected and processed according to common research questions. In this process, joint meetings and analyses in the focus group were important, as they contributed considerably to understanding and interpreting the recorded data. When arranging data, we separately monitored the information that observers found about the achievements of children and the young and about the achievements of the elderly. Children’s achievements have been summarized according to mentors' observations (notes) and interviews with teachers. Achievements of the elderly have been summarized according to interviews with the elderly and according to mentors' observations (notes). Characteristics of planning and pursuing our goals were summarized according to discussions with mentors. INTRODUCTION OF CHANGE After analysing examples of good practice in other environments (the following projects were studied for the purpose of the research: Ianus, Seniors in Action, Intergenerational Country, EAGLE, Tacitus, Age Management), some more important factors were revealed and consequently included in the programmes when they were introduced. The following factors were established as significant: Environment where the programme takes place, which influences the frequency of individuals meeting each other (i.e. in a working environment employees are in mutual contacts on daily basis, while people in local environments are not). Different cultural environments cultivate different stereotypes on the elderly, which the elderly adopt and thus conditions for “a self-fulfilling prophecy” exist. In all environments we thus planned animation of participants, since we more or less expected stereotypes to be present. The role of the educational organization is particularly important in the initial phases of projects as well as in maintaining their operation. Institutions both introduced the projects and coordinated voluntary work. Mentors who cooperated with volunteers were in charge of this aspect of work in all institutions participating in the project. Dialogic learning and efficiency of the intergenerational approach Emphasis was on cooperation as a two way exchange instead of one way training and the benefits for all involved. This is not only a matter of solidarity of one group towards the other, but a matter of knowledge transfer. According to social theory, learning takes place in relations and is defined through relations, it is realized in communication and happens with social participation. Therefore attention was paid to facilitating reciprocal relations. Personal relationships Intergenerational programmes provide face-to-face relations between the young and the elderly. Such occasions are relatively rare in modern society, therefore we also planned encouragement for mutual communication. Joint activities Positive effects cannot develop if the young and the elderly only socialize (in such case even a dislike and negative results may develop). In all groups, we therefore set action goals, i.e. these groups would prepare or make, for example a blog, a collection of stories, a manual for stories, a public presentation of products/an exhibition, a public computer game tournament. To pursue educational needs Programmes need to fulfil the needs of target groups and the environment; it was necessary to carry out an analysis of the people who were included in the group, so in the beginning, through non-formal discussions, they were asked about their wishes. Support of the local community Since the support of the local community is important, we obtained the support of local societies (pensioners' societies, societies of rural women, local authorities/mayors, the local media). On the basis of the above elements, we designed a model to absorb recommendations from other projects and take experiences from various areas into account. We analytically followed activities, taking into account research questions, through the following constituent parts: -Agents (those active in the model), -Educational programme (multidimensional goals, contents related to local knowledge, methods of ensuring reciprocity), -Circumstances in which they operate. The test programmes started at various periods, some as early as in autumn 2008, some in spring 2009. The strategy applied was similar, i.e. intergenerational learning in pairs. Each couple worked with one computer, and a teacher (mentor) was present at workshops. FINDINGS The results confirm the findings of other studies (Sanches, 2007; MacCallum et al., 2006; Boström, 2003; Osborne and Bullock, 2000). To sum up, we can report that the elderly enjoy activities and social contacts. It also seems that the young learned a lot about others and about themselves. They reported benefits of the intergenerational programmes. The vast majority of both groups expressed willingness to continue such programmes. The findings are presented in view of research questions on agents and relations, motivation, methods and efficiency, goals and contents, planning and organization. Agents and relations between agents in a group Various groups of differing age structures were included in the programme. The youngest pupils were 10 while the oldest students were 21. Pupils and secondary school students received no monetary rewards, while university students received minimal compensation for coming to meetings. In view of gender, women prevailed on the younger as well as on the older side. We were interested in whether the educational programme influences intergenerational connections and whether closer connections would appear. Judging from what was told, potential friendships developed. These findings confirm the findings of other studies, for example MacCallum et al. (2006). We were further interested in whether their contacts would continue after the programme was over, namely whether they expressed any intention to stay in touch. A survey was applied to the Slovak group during their education about their intentions to stay in touch after the end of the programme. Their answers were affirmative. 93% of women participants wrote of their intention to stay in touch even after concluding their education. 90% of respondents answered that they would continue such education. Such data already shows that during the education course, almost all participants had a clear intention to keep in contact and continue the programme. In other groups, mentors asked about participants' intentions to stay in touch. These surveys were applied after the end of education. Affirmative answers, i.e. that they intend to keep in contact also after the education finishes, were less frequent. Approximately one half (48%) of the young (attendants of primary and secondary schools) gave affirmative answers, and 60% of the elderly. It can be concluded that enthusiasm and feelings of connectedness are greater during the programme than at its end. There was also a difference in the groups, since the Slovak group consisted of female students and elderly ladies who attended the programme at the university for the elderly. In Slovakia, such universities are considered part of the regular university system. Completed secondary school is a condition for enrolment and the same applies to regular, younger students. Participants of this group had more similarities in the conditions of their study than the other groups. In their interviews, the elderly testified that their opinion of the young had changed (approximately one half of respondents, 49%) and similar results were also found among the young. 40% of young respondents admitted that their views of the elderly had changed. This confirms similar findings of other projects, for example CrossAges. Joint education changes the views each group has of the other and opens potential opportunities for cooperation. Motivation We asked ourselves whether introductory animation was necessary and whether participants showed willingness to be included in similar programmes. The young: At the beginning of the project, the young expressed many doubts. Individual animation for participation had to be carried out among school pupils. At programme conclusion, they expressed satisfaction with their work, and the majority expressed their enthusiasm about working in a group with elderly members. After the first year of the programme, all participants expressed a willingness to continue and did indeed continue to be involved in the project. After the second year they said they would continue to participate in similar projects. The elderly: Initial animation of individuals was necessary. Animation was individual, sometimes through a telephone conversation, sometimes with personal contact in the local environment or in programmes for the elderly at universities for the elderly. The elderly doubted in their capabilities. They were embarrassed, expressed many reservations about their participation, but at the same time showed a thirst for knowledge. Dominant beliefs still confirm stereotypes that the elderly are less successful in learning. This was particularly pointed out by mentors from Turkey, where women had many reservations. The elderly showed increased interest at the end of programmes, as they were curious about information-communication technology (they asked more questions) and also stated that they would like to continue with similar education (all members of groups from Slovenia, Poland, and Malta). All the elderly confirmed that they would continue to use the computer, they described how pleasant and useful this knowledge is, and most participants said they would continue being involved in similar projects. In their interviews they expressed a high level of satisfaction and high motivation for further work. Methods and efficiency of education The results of our work confirm suitability of the method. At the beginning of programmes we doubted, at least in some cases, whether such education would be fruitful or whether it would not go beyond socializing, without the elderly learning how to use the computer. The results were satisfactory as the elderly learnt how to use the Internet, e-mail, they started to participate in blogs and even made their own (Portugal and Poland). They all learnt to use e-mail. Greater self-confidence was evident in both children and in the elderly, as was observed in their expressions and in their statements for the media (local television, local newspapers), in their communication with visitors in the group and in communication with teachers (summarized from teachers' observations). They expressed satisfaction with the method, as it enabled reversibility of roles, which further influenced learning, relations and mutual support, since both sides contributed and gained from the experience. Achievements/knowledge of the elderly (summarized from their interview statements), according to which the efficiency of the method can be judged. Moreover, various environments show different points of emphasis. In final interviews, they most often mentioned: -New knowledge, skill development (they learnt to use the computer) and satisfaction with new knowledge and enthusiasm over the Internet. -Meeting the young (changing views of the young). -Meeting variety and novelty (new vocabulary, relation to an authority/teacher, relation to information and communication technology). -They expressed increased motivation for learning. -They expressed a wish for faster progress in learning. The efficiency of the work method can also be judged from the achievements of children (summarized from teachers' observations, interviews with mentors). They developed initiative (manifested for example in cases when a meeting was to be cancelled because the mentor was absent, but pupils themselves took care of a replacement and organized the intergenerational meeting). They developed tolerance, a better attitude to school work, their behaviour at school changed (in pupils included in the project, teachers noticed their improved communication with teachers, they were more disciplined in writing their homework, they were more tolerant in conflicts). They showed pro-social behaviour towards the elderly (this was especially evident in homes for the elderly). Increased responsibility and dedication became evident (this was particularly pronounced in groups that included secondary school students). All the young demonstrated dedication to work, but since male and female undergraduate students in the French and Slovak group received minimal compensation, their dedication cannot be completely equated with that of pupils and secondary school students who received no reward. The strategy of intergenerational education seems to be effective also through perception of time spent at school. Pupils did not experience the additional time spent at school (when they were in the intergenerational group) as something obligatory, but as something worth striving for. Such findings were reported by groups from Slovenia, Turkey and Malta (where pupils from primary school were included). Major goals of educational programmes Goals were the same in each country, namely to offer the elderly opportunities to use new technologies and to enhance their social networks. According to reports of the groups, the goals were achieved. Most of them acquired computer skills and formed opportunities to build new social networks. Conclusions about the achievement of goals can also be deducted from statements summarized from interviews with the elderly on how they experienced education. The elderly reported on the development of a more active role. This was particularly pronounced in groups working with elderly members included in universities for the elderly (Portugal, Poland) and was not evident in the narratives of the Slovene group. The reasons for this may be varied: the elderly either pay no attention to their activities in society or they think that it goes without saying. In order to obtain such data we would have to observe more in detail and in depth their everyday life or prepare more specific questionnaires. Together with the wellbeing and satisfaction they refer to as a consequence of being included in educational programmes, they also mention an escape from loneliness. When children come to a home for the elderly, the elderly feel as they are being more included in life (Malta). They also mentioned re­evaluation of their experiences as they were telling their stories. This was specifically pointed out by members of the Polish group who collected stories of their own experiences during the Second World War. They developed a process of narrative learning. They also emphasized increased self-respect and feelings of being accepted in the community (particularly when presenting their works at an exhibition in school). The goals achieved can also be judged through statements of the young (female undergraduate and secondary school students) and teachers' observations (for groups of children). The young feel that it was an important life experience for them and they gradually realized that the elderly are a part of the community. According to teachers' statements, intergenerational learning can be a form of free time activity or optional school activity for children and the young and also for groups with special needs. Intergenerational learning promotes development of beliefs that they are capable of acting in the community. Contents Contents are closely connected with education goals and what is mentioned above on experiencing education applies also to the contents of the programmes. In all programmes, education included getting to know e-mail, Internet search, narrating and recording stories (oral history). The contents differed according to action goals. Where focus was on collecting stories on experiences during the Second World War (Poland), the contents were connected to history topics as well. The Slovene group was in a similar situation, as they collected stories about migrations, and thus conversations about migrations made part of the contents. When planning and selecting the contents it is necessary to ensure that they are linked as closely as possible to the needs of participants, while contents that strengthen stereotypes and erroneous beliefs about the elderly should be avoided. Planning and organization When creating programmes of intergenerational education, we followed models of non-formal education. Participants were included in planning according to principles of interactive planning. They also took into account experiences and the need for extended repetition and consolidation. In research projects, needs of the elderly had priority. Teachers, sociologists, economists and engineers were among organizers of the education. In all groups they followed the needs of participants and encouraged those working in pairs to come to an agreement about the content and phases of learning. In this way, attention shifted from “using” the received programmes to creativity in learning. In groups, participative learning could be noticed. However, this does not mean no planning was necessary. On the contrary -programmes need an adequate level of quality planning if they are to be flexible and adaptable. In achieving action goals and in encouraging active ageing it is beneficial if several organizations (school, society, company) are included. Networking among them should be encouraged, as this facilitates implementation of the programme and ensures its stronger placement in relation to the environment. It also became evident that cooperation with local authorities (the mayor's office, municipality administration) is important. Achievements important for the institution and affecting the organization of intergenerational programmes The parents of children included in the project were satisfied to see their children work in the community (according to reports of teachers and some parents working as mentors). Intergenerational programmes are a good way of including children in the community. After this programme, the elderly began to participate in other programmes for the elderly. All these interweaving events connect different groups and institutions (for example a school and a pensioner's society, a school and a society of rural women, a school and an institute for adult education). Projects were covered in the local media (television and newspaper), which contributed to the school's good reputation. Financing is also part of organization. Although the project was mostly carried out as voluntary work, it was necessary to provide financial means for the voluntary work to function (premises had to be provided, etc.) Despite the fact that all participants in the eight countries wanted to continue with similar projects, work grounded to a halt wherever there was insufficient effort invested in the management of voluntary work and the provision of finances. Work continued wherever universities for the elderly were established or where such universities had already been operative and prepared new programmes. However, intergenerational programmes in schools were discontinued, despite the fact that we found many positive effects for the young. This demonstrates that intergenerational educational programmes were more adapted to the elderly participants and less to the young, and that other forms of intergenerational education that will attract greater interest of schools will have to be found. CONCLUSIONS First we should mention the findings referring to the methodology and present limitations of the study. The latter refers mainly to the manner of collecting data, most of which was narrative, which report participants' experiences. Relatively small groups were included and they changed during the programme, therefore the use of mentors' qualitative narratives, students' narratives and observation techniques (anecdotal records, field records) was justified. As a consequence we can only judge the cases included and our findings cannot be generalized. The next limitation lies in the fact that we did not know the older participants before they were included in the educational programmes. We presuppose that they were people who were ready to get involved in new experiences. Therefore our findings cannot be generalized to all groups of the elderly. In our observations, we focused on the process. We followed (monitored) the practice, the way the process progressed. For further evaluation, special instruments to monitor and evaluate learning at personal and organizational levels would have to be prepared. Evaluation remains at the descriptive level. Results of the action research and its connection with findings of other studies Summarizing the findings from all participating groups, we noticed that different cultural environments had a different impact on the initial animation necessary for inclusion into intergenerational groups and to begin learning how to use information communicational technology, as well as on the choice of contents, while the dynamics of the learning process were similar. We can confirm findings of some studies (Covertino et al., 2007; Boström, 2003) that show that the elderly and the young get closer to each other and that joint learning represents a positive interaction for them. Also in our research, joint intergenerational learning revealed itself as the type of intergenerational contact that positively influenced the groups of both the young and the elderly. It also had positive influence on the inclusion of an institution (school) in the environment. Positive influence is felt in social connections and in promotion of social cohesion. Participants stated that they were satisfied with joint activities and they would continue to cooperate. Emotional ties, especially affinity and friendship, are extremely important. Although this was evident in all groups, it was most explicitly described in the Maltese group, where pupils visited a home for the elderly and in pairs with the elderly looked for topics on the Internet of interest to the elderly. The young who experience “care for the other” also feel joy and satisfaction. The concepts of “culture of care” and “pedagogy of care” refer to children and young who not only receive care from adults, but also take care of somebody else themselves. Our research confirms findings of other studies (for example Loewen, 1996; Sanches, 2009) that both groups benefit from intergenerational programme and that intergenerational programmes are microstructures, through which realizations about the lives of others and of “the others” are formed, which is important for maintaining social cohesion. As confirmed by our cases, connections between generations can be a part of school activities (of institutional education) either in primary school, in secondary school or at university. Realizing that intergenerational programmes present efficient strategies for generations to approach each other (not only to create knowledge and skills), new methods need to be developed to suit the needs of various groups. Successful intergenerational learning and cooperation requires connections between institutions and local environment and connections between various local institutions. Connections between different sectors, such as health care, culture, schools, social work, economy are also necessary. We can confirm the findings of Granville (2002) and Sanches (2009) that efficient intergenerational programmes need to be harmonized with the needs of a community and that partner cooperation of all participants is essential. The traditional education model is represented by linear progress in time (children, the young, adults, the elderly), comparable to linearity and succession of life phases, as well as by segmentation of parts, each of which functions independently. Intergenerational education may connect different segments of the educational system and contribute to the holistic nature of education. It seems that schools and other educational institutions have a marked role as mediators in connecting generations. Particularly universities and other higher education institutions have an important role in connecting younger and older experts in their professional fields, connecting education and working in various age groups. Primary schools, which are present in local environments, have a visible role in connecting the local community, the young and the elderly. Suggestions for further development and research Our study opened many theoretic and methodological questions, namely how to study intergenerational education in different environments and how to study intergenerational learning in everyday life. The latter pertains more to anthropological studies and is not included in studies in the field of educational sciences. Well organized intergenerational programmes give very good results, as shown by studies in the USA, Europe, Australia, so it would be wise to consider institutionalizing intergenerational programmes. This implies encouraging intergenerational connecting in various ways: from financial to staff-and space-related incentives. This type of education is to be stimulated through grants, education of teachers, introduction and maintenance of volunteers' networks. All projects we observed established possibilities for development of intergenerational learning, which was carried on for two years. After two years they were discontinued where they lacked administrative and financial support, which is a condition also for voluntary work. The following recommendation refers to professionalization of intergenerational education. We require study programmes to train educators at the level of specialist expertise. Universities which develop studies of educational sciences should also organize modular programmes to train experts who would lead intergenerational education. As opportunities themselves do not ensure that various groups of population will get involved in education, we also need competent animators to inform and motivate, and provide initial training for various groups of people, especially those with many obstacles to education. Considering the host of stereotypes, many obstacles can be expected with the elderly. Through connections among educational institutions, animation in the local environment, non-formal education and new educational methods, innovative learning practices are encouraged in all generations. In the long term, we should connect the educational system with the system of voluntary organizations for the purpose of intergenerational education and in this way also encourage the ethos of cooperation. REFERENCES Boström, A. K. (2003). 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Il segreto della vecchiaia. Una stagione da scoprire. Milano: FrancoAngeli. Granville, G. (2002). A Review of Intergenerational Practice in the UK. Stoke-on-Trent: Beth Johnson Fooundation. Hanks, R.S. & M. Icenogle. (2001). Preparing for an age-diverse workforce: intergenerational service – learning in social gerontology and business curricula. Educational Gerontology, 27(2), 49-70. Hegeman, C. R., Roodin, P., Gilliland, K.A. & K. B. O'Flathabhain. (2010). Intergenerational Service Learning: Linking Three Generations – Concept, History, and Outcome Assesment. Gerontology & Geriatric Education, 31(1), 37-54. Jelenc Krašovec, S., & S. Kump. (2009). Adult learning activities, social networks and different neighbourhoods. European societis, 11 (2), 257-282. Kladnik, T., Knific, B., Rihter, D., Jakič, A., Primc, M. & J. Ramovš. (1998). Po desetih letih medgeneracijskega dela za kakovostno starost. Kakovostna starost, 1(1), 17-26. Kobylarek, A. (2010). Integration of Elderly Citizens through Learning. The New Educational Review, 22, (3-4), 309-314. Krout, J. A., Bergman, E., Bianconi, P., Caldwell, K., Dorsey, J., Durnford, S., Erikson, M A., Lapp, J., Monroe, J.E., Pogorzala, C. & J. Taves. (2010). Intergenerational Service Learning with Elders: Multidisciplinary Activities and Outcomes. Gerontology & Geriatric Education, 31(1), 55-74. Ličen, N. & J. Gubalová. (Eds.). (2010). Intergeneratonal Learning and Education in Later Life. Ljubljana: Faculty of Arts. Loewen, J. (1996). Intergenerational learning: What if Schools Were Places Where Adults and Children Learned Together? http://eric.ed.gov/EricWebPortal (27.7.2010) Merriam, S. (2002). Qualitative research in practice. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. MacCallum, J., Palmer, D., Wright, P., Cumming-Potrin, W., Northcote, J., Brooker, M. & C. Tero. (2006). Community Building through Intergenerational Exchange Programmes. Melbourne, Australian Goverment Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs on Behalf of NYARS. http://www.murdoch.academia.edu/JudyMacCallum/papers (21.6.2011). Newman, S. & A. Hatton-Yeo. (2008). Intergenerational Learning and the Contribution of Older people. Ageing Horizons, 8(1), 31-39. Norton, L. (2009). Action Research in Teaching and Learning. London: Routledge. Nussbaum, M. (2010). Not for profit: why democracy needs humanities. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Osborne, S. S., & J. R.Bullock. (2000). Intergenerational programming in action: Befriendes. Educational Gerontology, 26 (3), 169-182. Ramovš, J. (2009). Za kakovostno staranje in lepše sožitje med generacijami. Ljubljana: Inštitut A. Trstenjaka za gerontologijo in medgeneracijsko sožitje. Sanches, M. (Ed.). (2007). Intergenerational Programmes: Towards a Society for All Ages. Barcelona: Foundation »la Caixa«. http://www.laCaixa.es/ObraSocial (15.5.2011). Sanches, M. (Ed.). (2009). Intergenerational Programmes Evaluation. Madrid: Spanish National Institute for Older Persons and Social Services. United Nations (2002). Report of the Second Worlds Assembly on Ageing. Madrid, New York: United nations Publications. United Nations (2007). Intergenerational Solidarity: Strengthening Economic and Social Ties. New York: United Nations Social Policy and Social Development Division. Zupančič, M., Colnerič, B. & M. Horvat. (2010). Poznavanje dejstev in zmotna prepričanja o starejših: implikacije za izobraževanje in delo s starejšimi. Andragoška spoznanja, 16(2), 37-51. RSC, Number 5, Issue 1, January 2013, pp. 40-64. Being On-Line; Identity and Subjectivity in New Media TADEJ PRAPROTNIK, ISH – Ljubljana Graduate School of the Humanities pratadej@gmail.com Abstract: An article discusses several problems concerning the question of identity in anonymous computer-mediated communication. It is intended to illustrate and shed light on certain basic dilemmas with regard to the internet as a potential medium of »virtual liberation«. In the field of new media (specially in anonymous chat-rooms and on-line forums) individuals are faced with a rather different conception of communication which, according to its specific nature, also bears impact on the sole approach or attitude towards individual’s identity and community in which this individual exists. Within a virtual community the individual is »liberated« of his body and space and therefore disposes only with words. This is what enables their imagination to develop within an »empty« discursive space. Internet should enable the individual to discover new viewpoints of his/her own personality. The potential of virtual reality lies actually in the very process of redefinition of identity itself, which is very typical for this reality. The first problem concerns the fact that virtual persons are still “the same” persons. As far as identity construction is concerned, meta-message “this is only a game” can have productively a very successful function. This meta­message – especially if we take into account the inherent anonymity of the user – enables the individual to articulate various hidden truths about himself, because he/she is aware that he/she “is only playing” a game on the screen. We must point out that inherent playfulness can enable and project very real feelings because individuals also show themselves without the “mask”. An article is focused precisely to the very subjective status of “mask”. Keywords: identity, computer-mediated communication, anonymity, virtual reality, Internet Relay Chat, on-line forums 1. Introduction; The notion of Identity as a notion of Identification The notion of identity and »crisis of identity« is already for a quite of a time in the centre of sociological, anthropological and ethnological researches. This interest is mainly stimulated through a development of new communication and information technologies. New technologies (new media) trigger new possibilities of identity construction due to a new and relatively unlimited possibilities of user interaction. The level of understanding and perception of own individual identity as well as alternative language practices, developed by the users of certain communicational space, are far reaching processes, which have to be taken into account. Of special importance are modificated attitudes concerning identity and subjectivity. Namely, we are faced with the transformed »intimacy« of new media cultures, which presents further evidence of new and unstable, to a some respect a blurring divisions between public and private sphere of communication. Multimedia production of web pages and other media products are additional channels for the democratization of cultural production and a place for expression of individuals in a public sphere. We are not any more passively users absorbing media images and texts; instead we are becoming so-called prosumers (Marshall, 2004). The latter gives additional socio-cultural context for redefinition of status of our own identity. Let us briefly sketch some current insights concerning identity and identification. The process of identification through which we project ourselves to the field of certain identities has become more open and more changeable and with it more problematic. This led to the formation of the so-called postmodern subject who is conceptualized as a subject without fixed, essential or permanent identity. The subject possesses different identities through time and there are different identities in disagreement inside of it, pulling each to different side so that the identification of the individual is constantly changing. If the individual feels that he possesses the same identity from birth until death this means that he constructed a large “supply” of narration about himself, because perfect and coherent identity is a fantasy (Hall, 1992: 277). Free planning and the very act of choosing identities on the other hand also looks very “consumer” orientated, which is perhaps “in the spirit of the time”. Society nowadays can be characterized as consumer, media, informational, electronic, high-tech society. Postmodernism predicts the end of different dilemmas, the end of stability and with it connected uniqueness, the end of distinctness. This does not only mean the liberation of such dilemmas and “vulnerability” in connection with it, but it also means the liberation of any other feelings. As Frederic Jameson continues, this does not mean that cultural products of postmodern era are simply without feeling, but it means that these feelings are now simply free-floating, with a tendency that certain euphoria will dominate over them (Jameson, 1991: 15-16). 2. Too much identity ? The consumer society is based on idea that constant transformation of identities (through consuming) brings pleasure and is meaningful. In contrast with previous production orientated capitalism, which emphasized given, and for that reason limited needs and demands, the main point of consumer capitalism is that it enables and emphasizes the produced and for that reason in principle unlimited needs and demands. Experiences show that such constellation causes double uneasiness. On one hand there is “too much freedom”. Too many things depend on me. We are forced to make decisions. The basis of this frustration is the need for the Master that can be formulated this way: I want somebody to determine the rules in the story and to take responsibility for the development of events. Exaggerated freedom can be very frustrating (Žižek 1996, 126-127). We have learnt from experience that too much freedom can cause certain uneasy feelings in the individual, because he is no longer at the “cross-roads” but at the “dead-end”. If we use common sense or intuition we could suppose that when we have complete freedom (the question is what “complete freedom” is), we have “just the right” amount of freedom, but real, everyday life still shows an interesting paradox; too much freedom can be very tiring. The individuals do not experience this extra freedom as freedom any more. The situation here is similar to the situation as far as discursive construction of identity in virtual environment is concerned. There we are the masters of our own identity and this role is hard to cope with. The fall of the already mentioned role of the Master in modern western societies exposes, according to Žižek, the subject to radical ambiguousness as far as his desire is concerned. This happens because media is constantly bombarding him with demands to choose, when they address him as a subject who is supposed to know what he really wants. We could read television commercial for advertising itself with this on our minds as well. It says: “Advertising – the right to choose.” But on a more basic level the media robs the subject of a notion about what he wants and accordingly addresses to a completely adaptable subject that needs to be told what he wants (Žižek, 1996: 130-131) The arousal of a desire as such, which is not given and fixed any more (this is very obvious in advertising and marketing), stimulated uncontrolled production of identities. When a desire was “let out of a bottle” the appearance of completely unpredictable needs and demands, or to say meanings and identities, increased. This of course does not mean that resistance against social representation and a priori determined individual has increased. It means that growth of different identities and meanings has to a certain degree also caused the insecurity of the individual (Ang, 1996: 177-180). Because of this newly created insecurity he searches for the solution in new positions and interpretations, in new fictional identities. We are faced with a vicious circle and if not that then at least with a sort of “emotional inflation” (Jones, 1997: 12). 3. Identity in computer-mediated communication The possibilities for the production of “new“ desires undoubtedly lie hidden in the communicative characteristics and contexts of new media. Such quite a persuasive context is the anonymity itself, often found in new media forms, for example in a context of synchronous chat-rooms and asynchronous on-line forums. Facebook profiles and weblogs are not the case, and we are going to put these newly new media formats aside. Anonymity found in above mentioned contexts has at least double effect; it potentially reduces the level of social pressure on the individual. At the same time the level of aggressive or at least unpleasant communication is sometimes increasing with the “liberation” of the individual (Boudourides, 1995: 3-4). But the very lack of social and visual connections is on the other hand the condition for the growth of user’s own “imagination”. The anonymity is supposed to be a part of the magic attraction in computer communication. As one of the participants said, she does not hide her identity because she would be afraid of contacts with other people, but because anonymity is part of the magic itself (Baym, 1998: 55). Some other people claim that a huge turn has been made in the field of internet because the possibility of a satisfaction itself (sexual games are an example) functions as a real satisfaction. Some active participants in sexual games have stated that the essence and fascination of the game is not in meeting someone and actually doing something with him/her. A great fascination for them is the disclosure of their own fantasies with typing alone.1 In this sense the potential possibility itself already fulfills a satisfaction. The very idea, that you are able to do something but you do not do it gives you more satisfaction than the act itself. You never go “all the way”, you just repeat a certain type of the game. You announce all the time but you never go through with it (Poster, 1998: 191-192). Our next case is quite typical. A woman was exchanging a lot of intimate and sexually coloured e-mails with a colleague from a next-door department of a large corporation. Their dialogue was getting more and more explicit every day. Each time she saw an e-mail address of her partner on the screen, announcing a new message, she nearly had an orgasm. But in the everyday contacts in the corridors of the corporation everything remained the same. She said that she got really excited when she saw him, but he remained completely “normal”. One day, when she had enough of this bizarre game, she pulled him to her office and asked him whether they are going to start dating in reality as well. She was surprised by his answer. He said: “I do not know what to say. Maybe yes, maybe not. Can’t we just continue our e-mail romance?”(Chenault, 1997: 4). Was this man afraid of something? Was he perhaps afraid that real dates would spoil the image he created for himself? Maybe the point here is that he did not want to go “all the way”. So he constantly produced lack of final realization. Namely, the lack itself, i.e. the lack of total realization was the main element of making him happy and fulfilling his desires. To bear in mind the claim that says that possibility to fulfill our needs plays the role of satisfaction, we could claim that the individual does not care so much for “true” love which he awaits. Uncomfortable feelings do not appear because the object, the reason of our desire, is always missing. Bigger problem arises when we are in danger to loose the lack itself or to say “a desire of a desire”. At that moment we would hit the “real” from which we escape into ”reality”-with a help of indefinitely waiting for the right person, who we are constantly keeping “alive”. Construction of an ideal love or love couple is possible when the whole image of a partner is missing. This way we can imagine the communities more idealistically, because the absence of elements of reality makes possible for the individual to imagine his own picture. This is where virtual communities become similar to nations and their process of imagining, where in the thoughts of each subject lives a portrait or an image of their community. The individuals can therefore imagine an ideal community right because of the lack of information. All of them can imagine a certain romantic community and by the content of it (all of them imagine a similar community) they can recognize themselves as belonging to the same imagined community. All communities that are bigger than original villages, where everybody knows everybody, are imagined (Anderson, 1998: 15). In anonymous computer-mediated communication – for example on the Internet Relay Chat or in on-line forums -it is easier to picture a friend or a lover and they are also easily constructed until when we meet them in “real life”. Our ideal friend or lover who is “just” as we desire him can only be anonymous. This is the condition for his existence as an ideal partner. Only by being anonymous is he suitable for the purpose of wrapping some fantasy around his virtual, physical, and mental picture. In classical modernistic play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett we are faced with a similar structure of a story. All the action in the story is based on the fact that nothing happens and is structured around the anticipation of Godot’s arrival when something is finally going to happen. We know already in advance that Godot is only a metaphor of Nothing, he can never come. The modernistic procedure – even if it allows us to see how Godot is only an effect of a structure, -with not showing him to us still leaves a certain possibility open for interpreting the matter from a perspective of an “absent Godot”. This is from perspective that Godot is simply missing (Riha; Žižek, 1985: 131-132). Similar to the absence of Godot is also the relationship between internet friends and lovers. Sometimes people wish more to keep an ideal partnership alive than to confront the “hard” reality again. That’s why sometimes – as one of the examples says – they do not tend to meet their internet partner “live”, that means “face-to-face”. In this case the whole projection of fantasy, which exists in the heads of individuals, would fall apart. The individuals thus maybe do not wish to meet their internet lover in real life because they want the chosen person to retain a certain precise part determined at the moment when he or she took the part of a “lost partner”. The individuals should never meet their own “Godot” because this would lead to the disappearance of Godot. If they do meet Godot then some other person would certainly take his place. 4. Communication with others: meta-message “this is just a game” Internet is offering itself as a counter-balance to the a priori determinations of an individual. Mark Poster (1998) says that virtual reality makes the types of subjective experiences possible and that those experiences could “interrupt” or stop modern types of domination. The potential of virtual reality lies in the process itself, which is typical for virtual reality and through which the individuals could learn that they themselves are also constructed and that they can, in a certain computer-mediated environment, reconstruct themselves and the world. So virtual reality can work towards denaturalization of assumptions about “natural” given identities (Cooper, 1997: 103-104). As far as individuals freely change their identities when they play different discursive identity games, they can soon find out that identity is a construction that was framed to them by others in the “real” world. In the world of virtual reality they can construct it by themselves, contrary to what happens in the “real” world. Self-creation and self-presentation are supposed to be the new forms of constitution of identity. In everyday world we are namely used to search for identity within the limits of our own environment. We believe that a really harmonic relationship is possible when the individual constructs its identity from it’s “foundation”. Anonymous CMC launched new thinking because here the individuals started to search for their identity in a different way. They tend to lean more and more towards manipulating with the internet environment itself, which they use as a tool to create their own identity. Internet is really that sort of a tool, because it does not involve the pre-existence of natural environment. The individuals themselves make the environment possible and that is by inventing it (Jones, 1997: 32). In communities like this identity, of course, plays an important role. In communication which is the primary activity the knowledge of identity of the co-speakers is essential for understanding and “evaluation” of the interaction (Donath, 1999:1). But it is true that evaluation especially is risky or to say questionable, because the identity itself is questionable and especially “non-controlled”, thus user’s optional creation. If in real world a certain assumption involving equation: one body = one identity exists, we come across a certain problem in the internet space that could, accordingly to communicational theory terminology and especially from the point of view of radical semiotic perspective be named no necessary correspondence. And because communication is written, the very perception of ourselves in the “eyes” of our co-speakers changes as well. In chat-rooms the conditions for identity determining of the co-speakers are changing because the type of communication has also changed. According to the fact that we deal with written text the list of possible points of view or identity “markers” is actually quite limited. We must, of course, at this point undoubtedly stress that we can not “pull the legs” of our co-speakers. Even the text itself that the users send to their co-speakers, expresses certain clear indicators that call user’s attention to some external textual characteristics of the sender. The text that the user transmits to others contains certain information about the sender’s identity. Among this “auxiliary detectors” we can enumerate the level of literacy, lexical choice or vocabulary, syntax and stylistics. The receiver can certainly create an additional information about somebody who uses expressions known mainly in academic community. The sender can even mislead the receiver with deliberate word choice because the receiver could this way imagine radically different picture only on the basis of some words that the sender “accidentally” used. Construction of on-line identity is quite a free choice. The participants of computer-mediated communication can take part in the interaction with other participants whenever they want. Nobody is going to ask them whether they are competent co-speakers, because nobody can check this at “first sight”. Nobody can check whether certain suitable and urgent “adequate circumstances” for the conversation exist. When the user joins a certain chat-room he must “take into account” that all persons are equally competent and that he must believe their “conversation” without doubt, because there are no other identity indicators. Because more precise indicators, on the basis of which we would determine identities of the co-speakers, do not exist this means also that as John L. Austin (1990, 15-17) would say, utterance circumstances are actually always adequate. Now we can ask ourselves how “risky” is such “talk” in computer-mediated communication. According to the very charachter of technology which we use to communicate and to present ourselves, it seems that the circumstances are always adequate. The participants in anonymous CMC hardly doubt the co-speaker’s words because they are in no situation to discuss whether somebody is competent enough to write something or whether he fulfilled all the conditions to utter a certain statement. The user of internet chat-rooms is thus “always already” competent and always already are the circumstances, in which he types, adequate. But we are actually not interested in this classical ”law's” point of view. We are interested in the consequences of the absence of different classical identity determiners. One of the basic postulates in the internet world is “axiom” all they see are your words. This means that any typing of the text on the internet is always successful or we could say that for virtual identity construction we can write an equation: to write something about yourself = to present your identity. Once we construct our identity (we type it) the co­speakers can not explain it in many ways. It means that due to the absence of other contextual parameters the co-speakers can not establish different interpretations but they can measure the identity only on a scale of bigger or smaller degree of trust. They have to believe, more or less, to the written words. But this does not anyhow diminishes the success of construction of individual’s identity. Even though every constitution of identity in virtual space is successfully performed this does not assure that receivers will take it seriously. Because identity is often not formed convincingly enough on the basis of text this could mean a drastic reduction of communication efficiency. In this case virtual community and communication would become a sort of hide-room for fruitless games. But we think that users of this anonymous on-line communities build certain strategies to avoid this “anarchic” situation. Users to a certain extent believe to their co-speakers but at the same time they keep the attitude of outer distance because they are aware of the meta-message “this is just a game”. This situation is somehow similar to the situation of disclosure of libidinous and other secret desires. When the individuals pretend that they are “macho” they keep the attitude of outer distance exactly on the basis of meta-message “it is just a game”. They use similar strategy when they meet other participants. They believe each other's words because exactly this belief in the co-speaker keeps the “seriousness” of the situation and enables the communication itself. But at the same time they keep “to themselves” the attitude of outer distance with the mentioned meta-message. This meta-message is a sort of a “safety valve” that has two functions. On one hand it enables people to believe to each other and this makes the communication possible (this is the essence of virtual communities), but on the other hand it gives them “emotional credit” or some sort of safety that defends them from disappointment. Anonymous computer-mediated communication consequently contains inherent playfulness. 5. On-line identity as a “true” identity: more real than reality? Some people say that there is always “night” in virtual world. Because the communication based on text is predominating the individuals can not see each other. Basic characteristics such as age and sex are also invisible. Anonymity and the very character of a media as a “playground” have strong behaviour influence. This enables the individual to behave in a way very different than their image presentation in everyday world, so they can express beforehand covered aspects of their personality in a similar way as in a masquerade. In virtual chat-rooms people can become exactly “what they want to be” or exactly “how they want other people to see them”. What makes communicating with new technologies different from face-to-face communication is not only the despatialization of communication and to some extent loss of contextualization cues, but also the different sets of mutual monitoring possibilities which these technologies make available, the different ways in which they allow us to be present to one another and to be aware of other peoples' presence (Jones, 2002: 8). Rodney H. Jones has problem of context in computer­mediatted communication put in the following way: »If I am having a face to face conversation with you about your uncle's cancer, for instance, although I may be able to think about a lot of other things and even engage in a number of side involvements like smoking or eating, I would not be able to listen to music on my walkman, read a magazine, write a letter or engage in a totally unrelated conversation with someone unknown to you and at the same time sustain the appropriate display of involvement warranted by the situation. New communication technologies, on the other hand, allow users to display »primary involvement« along a number of attentional tracks at once and not risk offending anybody« (Jones, 2002: 15-16). One of the main ways new communication technologies alter context is by creating a new kind of interactional accessibility involving new ways of being present and monitoring others' presence (Jones, 2002: 17). In anonymous CMC “we are and we are not” at the same time and this ambiguousness is one of the attractions of this environment. That is why this ambiguousness determines our attitude towards our screen images. On one hand we keep the attitude of outer distance, so to say a game with false images in the sense “I know I am not like this (brave, seductive,…) but it is nice to forget our real image every now and then and to put on a more satisfying mask. This way you can get relaxed better and get rid of the burden to be the way that you are and to have to live with this and to be responsible for it”. On the other hand we also “are” in anonymous CMC what we are not or we not dare to be in real life. On-line person that people create can be “more me” than my “real life” person (my “official” image) as far as it makes those aspects of myself visible that I would never have dared admitting in real life. The fact itself that we perceive our virtual image purely as a game enables us to get rid of the usual obstacles that prevent us from realizing our “dark part” in “real” world and to freely show all our libidinous potentials. The charm of anonymity is also and above all in the following: We can carry out the “masquerade” in virtual world without actually doing it and this way we avoid the feeling of anxiety connected with the action in the real world. We can do it because we know that we are actually not doing it for real. Obstacles and shame are this way pushed aside. We can articulate hidden truth about our drives at the exact time when we realize that we are “only playing a game” on the screen. In this situation we are encountered with the logic of acceptance through concealment because we accept our fantasies as far as we “know that they are only a game in virtual reality” (Žižek, 1996: 115-116). We could introduce the distinction between imaginary and symbolic deceit more conceptually as well: At imaginary deceit I simply present the wrong image of myself while at symbolic deceit I present a real image of myself and expect that they are going to take it as a lie. The on-line person that we construct can offer an example of imaginary deceit as far as he shows his wrong image (e.g. a coward who plays a hero) and symbolic deceit as far as he shows the truth about himself under cover of the game (with playfully accepting the role of an aggressive person we disclose our real aggression) (Žižek, 1996: 117). Accordingly, it would be too easy if we would say that a coward seeks refuge escaping into a dream world of cybernetic space only to escape the dull and helpless real life. On the basis of actual virtual games and especially according to the way games unwind and the content of it we could ask ourselves whether the games we play in virtual space are more serious than we think? We can, in this particular games, articulate aggressive and perverse gist of our personality that we can not express, because of social and ethic restriction, in real relationships with other people (Žižek, 2000: 7). The question is of course, whether in that case, what we perform in cyberspace dreaming is in a way “more real than reality”, i.e. closer to the gist of our own personality than the role we play in relationships with real partners (Žižek, 2000: 7). We can be more “genuine” and “authentic” on the Internet Relay Chat contacting with a co-player than in real life. Because we know that virtual reality is “only a game” we can dare to play whatever we do not dare admit in “real” mutual contacts. 6. Conclusion As far as meta-message “this is only a game” is concerned, we must point out that this “safety valve” can actually be quite a productive or “therapeutically” successful function which is specific for this environment. This meta-message – especially if we take into account the inherent anonymity of the user – enables the individual to articulate various hidden truths about himself, because he is aware that he “is only playing” a game on the screen. We must point out that inherent playfulness can enable and project very real feelings because individuals also show themselves without the “mask”. The logic of acceptance through concealment makes this possible because they accept their real fantasies as far as they know they are “just a game”, this means for the price of fetish “I know, but still”. Anonymity should then be one of the advantages. It enables “virtual liberation”, but not in all respects. Mutual relationship should be more democratic or less discriminatory, as far as users physical image is concerned. And that is based on the fact that individuals are anonymous. But this very users admit that they themselves constantly imagine and picture each other, so they are trying to “fix” their co-speaker in their mental map. There is nothing wrong with this but it obviously proves the individual’s need for establishing of certain relationships. Physical appearance that forces us to somehow imagine our co-speaker, obviously belongs among this mental relationships. Equality of computer-mediated communication should be – as some enthusiastic internet users claim – right in this equal “absence” of physical image, but this at the same time proves that the “basis” for this equality is exactly the physical image. Arguments of this sort prove that people’s everyday real problems are just concealed. But they are still reproduced and preserved. And at the same time they confirm the conclusion that internet culture is just an extension of real culture and everyday relationships. The fluidity of computer-mediated communication is supposed to force the individuals to a more liberal self-understanding. It supposedly enables them to think again and express the unknown aspects of their own individuality due to a relative absence of socially mediated representations. As certain researches prove we can refuse this idea of a virtual liberation to a certain level because virtual space has its limits and has been defined with values, prejudices, and other socio-psychological connotations and meanings that are taken from everyday life. The individuals are projecting their always-already constructed meanings and socially-mediated interpretations when trying to construct their virtual identities into virtual space. This space does not therefore stimulate people to a deeper understanding of themselves, i.e. that they themselves are the creators of their personality. Internet as a medium enables active creativity and presentation (construction) of virtual identity but these constructed identities are in several cases only simple extensions or “derivations“ of ideologically mediated pre-virtual environment. 7. Implications for context dependant research on on-line identity However, it would also be productive to develop critical tools for distinguishing several modes of computer-mediated communication in order to better understand motivations as well as communication practices of the participants. Distinction between off-line and on-line communication are far more complex since the very context of each CMC environment (and obviously each off-line environment) are distinctive. And so different types of problems we are facing in the field of computer-mediated communication are distinctive. Let us consider just one problem. Among the many on-line communication phenomena currently attracting attention, of particular interest to scholars is »flaming«-hostile and aggressive interactions via text-based computer-mediated communication. There are several theories trying to explain possible causes for such behaviour. Current definitions of »flaming« use imprecise terms that fail to recognize multiple possible perspectives in this situated and context dependant nature of message interpretations. O'Sullivan and Flanagin (2001) propose a framework which takes into consideration a multiple perspective: the perspective of a sender, receiver and a third party in order to explain better possible aspects which cause problematic interaction. The multiple perspective is intended as a tool for approaching an array of problematic interaction, which include »flaming« as well as interaction imprecisely labelled as »flaming«. Such context dependant interpretations of several particularities existing on-line would be a must for further investigations in the field of CMC. Although the distinction between off-line and on-line is tempting and often misleads to the simplistic interpretations, focusing on predominant influence of technological characteristics of CMC on individual behaviour and patterns of communication, it is important to distinguish between different contexts of on-line communication. Marshall McLuhan is perhaps best known for his phrase: The Medium is the Message. For the sake of on­line investigations and further implications for research on online identity we would add: “The context is (also) a message (identity).” Endnotes 1. The disclosure is typical for Facebook profiles too. For a long times classical written diaries serve for writing down various »hidden« thoughts about ourselves. Nowadays our thoughts are widespread circulated through the Facebook profiles. 2. Cf. Žižek 1996, 117. Žižek also has a good example from everyday life when we use both kinds of deceits with the purpose of achieving the same effect. »Because I am slightly too fat I have two strategies available of how to hide this fact. I can put on a shirt with vertical stripes which will make me look slimmer or I can, on contrary, put on a shirt with horizontal stripes and count on this that people that I will meet will (wrongly) comprehend my fatness as an illusion created by an inadequate suit: 'Look, this stupid shirt makes him fat although he is really not so fat.'« References Anderson, Benedict (1998). Zamišljene skupnosti; O izvoru in širjenju nacionalizma. Ljubljana: Studia humanitatis. Ang, Ien (1996). Living Room Wars; Rethinking media audiences for a postmodern world. London and New York: Routledge. Austin, John L. (1990). Kako napravimo kaj z besedami. Ljubljana: Studia humanitatis. Baym, Nancy K. (1998). The Emergence of On-Line Community, in Steven G. Jones (ed.) Cybersociety 2.0.; Revisiting Computer-Mediated Communication and Community. Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi: SAGE Publications. Boudourides, Moses A. (1995). Social and Psychological Effects in Computer-Mediated Communication. Contributed paper at the 2nd Workshop/Conference "Neties'95", Greece, October 12­13,1995. (URL: http://www.duth.gr/~mboudour/mab/csi.html) Chenault, Brittney G. (1997). Computer-Mediated Communication and Emotion: Developing Personal Relationships Via CMC. (URL: http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~haythorn/cmc_bgc.htm) Cooper, Simon (1997). Plenitude and Alienation; The Subject of Virtual Reality, In David Holmes (ed.) Virtual Politics; Identity and Community in Cyberspace. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: SAGE Publications. Donath, Judith S. (1999). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community, in P. Kollock, and M. Smith (eds.) Communities in Cyberspace. London: Routledge. (URL: http://judith.www.media.mit.edu/Judith/Identity/IdentityDecepti on.htm) Hall, Stuart (1992). Cultural identity in question, in S. Hall, D. Held, T. McGrew (eds.) Modernity and its Futures. Cambridge: Polity Press. Jameson, Fredric (1991). Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham: Duke University Press. Jones, Rodney H. (2002). The Problem of Context in Computer-Mediated Communication. A paper presented at the Georgetown Roundtable on Language and Linguistics, March 7-9 2002. (URL: http://personal.cityu.edu.hk/~enrodney/Research/ContextCMC.do c) Jones, Steven G. (1997). The Internet and its Social Landscape, in Steven G. Jones (ed.) Virtual Culture; Identity & Communication in Cybersociety. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: SAGE Publications. Marshall, David, P. (2004). New Media Cultures. London: Arnold, Hodder Headline Group. O'Sullivan, Patrick B., Flanagin Andrew J. (2001) An Interactional Reconceptualization of »Flaming« and Other Problematic Messages. (URL:http://www.ilstu.edu/~posull/flaming.htm) Poster, Mark (1998). Virtual Ethnicity: Tribal Identity in an Age of Global Communications, in Steven G. Jones (ed.) Cybersociety 2.0; Revisiting Computer- Mediated Communication and Community. Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi: SAGE Publications. Riha, Rado, Žižek, Slavoj (1985). Problemi teorije fetišizma. Ljubljana: Analecta. Žižek, Slavoj (1996) Kiberprostor ali neznosna zaprtost bivanja. Problemi, No. 7-8, Vol. XXXIV. Ljubljana: Društvo za teoretsko psihoanalizo. Žižek, Slavoj (2000) Resničnost je za tiste, ki ne vzdržijo sanj; Končna lekcija freudove razlage sanj. Delo, January 3, page 7, Ljubljana. RSC, Number 5, Issue 1, January 2013, pp. 65-93. Modernization and Pseudomorphosis:The Case of the Forced Gender Transformation in the Context of the Communist Project of Modernization and its Collapse Yuriy Savelyev National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv yursave@yahoo.com Abstract: An impact of the global process of modernization on gender relations in post-communist countries is analyzed in the paper. It is argued that a unique gender order of the 1990s in several post-communist countries was a result of an artificial and perverted form of gender transformation which was implemented within the communist project of modernization. While a profound change of gender order was accelerated by means of implementation of collective rights, gender transformation and institutional emancipation as its attractor could be true, profound and irreversible only if they were a legitimate result of societal and cultural evolution. Otherwise, they are a sociocultural pseudomorphosis which completely depends on an implemented project of modernization. If this project is over, as in the case of post-soviet countries, probable demodernization inevitably leads to masculine backlash in culture and social institutions and subsequent decrease of social inclusion of women. Therefore, the critical question in the global process of gender transformation in non-western cultures is whether the project of modernization which is implemented in a given society is viable. Keywords: modernization, gender order, social transformation, post-communism, globalization, social inclusion, Eastern Europe Introduction Having become a global process, gender transformation as a crucial feature of modernity has been confronting a multicultural challenge. Globalization (in Roland Robertson’s words) “both promotes and is conditioned by cultural homogeneity and cultural heterogeneity” (Robertson 1992, 173). If innovative gender transformation has been inspired by Western (Northern-Atlantic) civilization and is spontaneous in terms of its culture and societal evolution, for societies with “catching-up development” it is conflated with a certain project of sometimes forced modernization. Modernization is a continuing and global process (Bauman: 2000; Martinelli: 2005). Although modernization of “catching-up” societies is not possible without changes in gender relationships, emancipation of women and their inclusion in various social activities can irritate traditional patriarchic society. It may happen even if alterations in gender roles and especially in women’s behavior are not connected with true emancipation and equality. It is well-known that globalization can provoke a negative strong reaction by local communities and actually is a conflicting two-edged process of “glocalization” (Robertson 1992; Bauman 1998). Therefore, issues of gender transformation in the context of globalization, institutional and cultural diversity should not be ignored. Among social theorists there has been extensive discussion on universality of modernization and validity of multiple modernities (Eisenstadt 2000; Wittrock 2000; Chirot 2001; Therborn 2003; Martinelli 2005; Schmidt 2006; 2010; Wagner 2011). Based on ample empirical evidences from longitudinal cross-cultural study of values R.Inglehart and C.Welzel (2009; 2010) argue that modernization has proved to be universal. According to them economic development leads to a shift in values that in turn determines rise of democratic institutions. Consequently, a rise of secular and emancipative or self-expression values should lead to acceptance and acceleration of gender transformation and greater social inclusion of women. On the contrary, “multiple modernities” theorists contend that there are different cultural interpretations or trajectories of modernity (Eisenstadt 2010; Wagner 2010). For instance, research on Russia demonstrates a number of peculiarities in values and attitudes towards state, private businesses, individual autonomy, freedom, etc. that had not changed along with economic development and growing prosperity or created unique combinations which are far from western patterns (Tikhonova 2011). This allows V.Yadov to assume an existence of “national peculiarities of modernization of Russian society” and the reality of “a special development track of Russia” (Yadov 2010: 52). However, such an approach also implies that gender transformation may follow various ways and may not enhance social inclusion of women. Reflecting these issues, multicultural and global feminisms have become significant frameworks of feminist theory (Shohat 2001; Ferree & Tripp 2006; Pearson 2007). Although multicultural feminism criticizes “female essentialism” according to which “the idea of “woman” exists as some sort of Platonic form each and every flesh-and-blood woman somehow fits” notwithstanding her race, culture and class (Tong 1998: 212), it focuses on differences only between women but not cultures. Multicultural feminism is aware of problems and interests of women who belong to various race, ethnic and social groups, studies cultural peculiarities and devices of oppression and males dominance over women but mostly, as well as global feminism, is concerned with women’s communication, mutual understanding and creation of “multicultural-and­global-feminist sisterhood” (Tong 1998; Ferree & Tripp 2006; Pearson 2007). Both frameworks are not able to explain contradictions of the global process of gender transformation, and, in particular, indicate societal and cultural patterns that have caused recent and unique gender order in post-communist countries which combines communist heritage, contemporary social problems of society in transition, and revitalization of tradition with pre-modern elements. A detailed study of the post-communist gender order allows grasping unknown before social and cultural phenomena such as “masculine democracy” (Watson 1997; Wejnert et al. 1996), which contradicts the logic of global gender transformation and liberal values of modern society. In the context of societal transition from totalitarian regimes to political democracy and market economy in Eastern Europe during 1990’s processes of deepened economic inequality between men and women, women’s political marginalization, reconstruction of traditional gendered consciousness and reinvention of gendered mythologies were not at all expected. Therefore, it is important to reveal surprising backlash forces that induced deviation from the global pattern of gender transformation. Based on experience of the Communist Project of modernization and its consequences for post-soviet countries I argue that gender transformation cannot be imposed. Successful at the first glance worldwide activity of United Nations and different international women organization especially after United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing 1995, which accelerates gender transformation of non-western cultures through legal and political means including Affirmative Action, creates illusion of such possibility. United Nations Millennium Development Goal to promote gender equality and empower women is rested on the assumption about universality of gender transformation and its institutional means (UN 2000). The ultimate result of such efforts is supposed to be a boost in social inclusion of women within more inclusive societies with wider opportunities (Dani & de Haan 2008; Atkinson & Marlier 2010). The same policy is officially supported and implemented by the European Union including countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Ballington & Binda 2005; Marlier et al. 2007). However, if gender transformation is an artificial borrowing since external influence, social institutions and culture of patriarchic society are capable to generate sociocultural forms of protection which eliminate apparent gains of women emancipation. Moreover, self-protection can be preventive with the purpose to preclude changes which associated with Western civilization. Islamic fundamentalism (as well as any other form of religious or ethnic fundamentalism) definitely plays the role of such a kind of protection and its consequences can be very dangerous. *** Admittedly, gender relations are not located in isolated specifically “gendered” social institutions, but constitute “the state of play” or “gender regimes” in all types of institutions (Connell 1987: 120). The aggregation of institutionalized gender micro-and meso-practices corresponds to current macro-politics of a particular gender order, which, following J. Matthews and R.W. Connell, is “a historically constructed pattern of power relations between men and women and definitions of femininity and masculinity” and essentially indicates “the structural inventory of an entire society” (Connell 1987: 98-99). Social development consequently induces structural transformations. In this paper sociocultural gender transformation is understood to be a crucial shift of the complex of gender relations in a given society. This concept ought not to be confused with the term which is used to indicate transformation surgery for transsexuals. The latter semantically is not perfect, for it deals with transformation surgery of biological sex but not gender. The concept “gender transformation” with sociocultural meaning as a change of “system of gender relations” (Walby 1997: 1) is mainly used in the countries of “new democracy” – South Africa, Eastern-European and post-soviet states, where gender transformation is considered to be an integral part of democratic transformation and primarily identified with political system changes and women access to power (Wejnert et al. 1996: 3-17). However, gender transformation embraces a wide circle of social and cultural phenomena on different levels. First, cultural level, gender transformation is a critical change of roles, significances and semiotics of femininity and masculinity in the sociocultural system. Second, institutional level, gender transformation refers to the loss or gain of feminine or masculine features of social institutions, which may be inclusive or exclusive, and ensuing institutionalized practices. Third, personal and interpersonal level, gender transformation leads to alteration of females’ and males’ achieved social statuses, level of social inclusion, gender roles, frames, competences and patterns of behavior and interaction. Overall, gender transformation means a substitution of a particular gender order. Gender transformation has a great impact on everyday life of modern society and will have even more in the future. Its significance can be explained by lasting consistency of gender relationships in human culture through thousands of years. A certain social gender order emerged in Neolithic epoch, and whereby civilizations grew up and crashed down, new classes and strata appeared and disappeared again, cultures mixed up gender order persisted. Only Western civilization was capable to produce sociocultural mutation which in its importance was similar to emergence of capitalism and industrial revolution and broke gendered status quo. Furthermore, this innovative process has been embracing many other cultures and has become global. The change of women’s position in society with subsequent transformations of family, labor market, education etc. were important signs of modernization. Gender transformation is inevitable attribute of modernity and an integral part of globalization. Consequently, it is also conflated with westernization and alien influence on local cultures (Walby 1997: 195); although gender transformation is an internal necessity, prerequisite and outcome for those societies which are on the way of modernization. A pivotal gender transformation of the last century has been accelerated by the process of emancipation and the feminist movement. The purpose of true emancipation is not a simple change of women’s position in society and achievement of social equality between men and women, but a profound and irreversible shift of significance of femininity in comparison with masculinity in the sociocultural system. Therefore, the purpose and outcome of emancipation is gender transformation, which includes changes of masculinity as well as femininity and induce greater social inclusion of women with a subsequent rise of opportunities. These changes have been accomplishing gradually. The history of emancipation in the Northern-Atlantic civilization during the last 150 years in terms of gender transformation may be divided into five stages: first, legal and political emancipation, second, educational, third, economic, fourth, physiological, and fifth, institutional emancipation. The first stage gave women legal rights and allowed them to participate in social life. The second one destroyed gender barriers on the way of intellectual and cultural human development. Women are even more educated now than men in many developed western countries (Basu 1995). Economic emancipation became possible in developed western countries due to huge economic growth and increasing level of quality of life during second half of the twentieth century. In spite of the wage gap between men and women in these countries and especially in the USA, the main outcome of the economic stage of emancipation is financial independence of the vast majority of women who can live and raise children regardless men’s support. Women have also gained independence in the crucial point whether to have or not children. This is the result of physiological emancipation which has been based on medical science inventions but has been inspired by social, legal, economical and cultural accomplishments of the previous stages of emancipation without which these inventions would have never been used. It has been giving women an opportunity to focus on professional carrier and master new scopes of activity. Besides the birth control now medicine provides artificial insemination that may create possibility of excluding of men from family life and raising children in the future. However, women couldn’t use all of these advantages because of the dominance of subculture of masculinity in sociocultural system. This dominance was institutionalized, and women were helpless compared to societal institutions which were formed in patriarchic society, consolidated strategy of male behavior and masculine semiotic. The early stages of emancipation and the feminist movement were devoted to a struggle for masculinity which was considered to be a general base and a scale of equality of men and women. Masculinity used to be and in majority societies still is a universal and supreme value of culture since it was dominant in patriarchic society. It is necessary to emphasize that it has never been a domination of a biological sex. According to Sandra Bem (Bem 2003: 149-153) it is important to distinguish biological male and female and real male and female. The latter are the result of cultural transformation of the former into masculine and feminine. She points out that a definition of real men is thoroughly intertwined with being powerful and privileged. David Gilmore’s research (Gilmore 2001: 882-901) shows that masculine identity and status always have been desirable and achieved in contrast to feminine identity and status, which always have been considered to be natural and ascribed. In contrast to Bem, who claims that in androcentric culture definition of a real woman is not easy to attain, Gilmore argues that femininity is given by nature and can be only culturally refined or promoted. At the same time masculinity is a desirable cultural value to gain and is an object of social competition. Therefore, an explanation of the consistent dominance of masculinity in society is that masculinity was and still is more culturally and socially significant than femininity. In its turn, this dominance leads to preserving of higher significance of masculinity. Masculinity was institutionalized as a monopoly of social and cultural activity which has been allowing its bearers to attain decisive positions in society and prestigious statuses. Consequently, femininity was not socially significant since it could not provide access to cultural values and high social statuses. Women as the bearers of femininity couldn’t be social actors. It created a myth about natural feminine passivity. On the contrary, “naturally” many women were very active. But they were doomed to be passive in terms of their feminine culture which had been formed historically. That is why women always have joined in the implicit fight for masculinity, and they started to aspire to masculine roles openly since emancipation had begun. They adopted men’s hairstyles, elements of menswear, patterns of behavior, did men’s job etc. However, the struggle for masculinity didn’t change women’s position in society principally because sociocultural significance of femininity didn’t increase. Now “catching-up with men” strategy and “a policy of equalization” are criticized in feminist thought (Mies & Shiva 1993: 8, 64-68). All previous stages of emancipation only prepared the ground for the true emancipation which is capable to give femininity an opportunity to compete successfully with masculine subculture. This is institutional emancipation whose primarily goal is to gain a control under still essentially patriarchic social institutions which grant inclusion into important realms of social life. The consequence of such control will be an increasing value of femininity in society. It means profound gender transformation since femininity won’t be primarily identified with biological hallmarks such as fertility and physical attractiveness. Women will receive opportunity for personal fulfillment not only in family and motherhood but in all shears of social activity without accepting masculine roles and being condemned to be masculine. If femininity can provide the same social success as masculinity, femininity will attain the same sociocultural significance and masculinity will lose monopoly for social activity. It wouldn’t mean equality as it used to be considered. The subsistence of femininity and masculinity will be still different. And eventually it will transform dichotomy of hierarchical structures which has been criticized by feminist thinkers (Mies & Shiva 1993: 5). The main obstacle on this way is social institutions. Even if women have equal rights, they can’t gain essential representation in male controlled institutions because of “glass ceiling”, “old boy system”, “old gentlemen club” etc. The only effective device of demasculinization of social institutions is implementation of collective (or group) rights. If initially feminist movement fought for equal rights, then now priority has been given to collective rights. It is important to point out that the latter don’t break the principle of justice since, as it is well known in the contemporary Philosophy of Law, collective rights help race and ethnic minority groups protect their interests and compensate historic unfairness toward them (Kymlicka 1995; 1998). This approach can be also applied to women majority because women as well as ethnic and race minorities were unfairly and groundlessly deprived of opportunities which were allotted for men. The simplest and most efficient way of the accomplishment of collective rights is Affirmative Action (Sowell 2004; Affirmative Action 2009). Admittedly, implementation of required quota of women’s representation in political and governmental structures was launched in Scandinavian countries during 70’s. The law of gender equality was adopted in Island in 1976, in Denmark in 1978, in Norway in 1979, in Sweden in 1980, in Finland in 1987. Informal quotas adopted by political parties became even more important. They have ensured 40-50% representation in parliaments of Scandinavian countries. Labor party in Great Britain tried this approach during elections in 1997. France adopted the legislation which guarantees parity (50/50) representation in 2000. Furthermore, this process of institutional emancipation has become global. The quota method was approved by Organization of United Nations in 1979 and 2000 and at the United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. A system of quotas is implemented now in many countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa as well as in Central and Eastern Europe (Andersen and Siim 2004; Dani & de Haan 2008; Ballington & Binda 2005). At the same time we can observe specific cultural features and unevenness of this process in different countries. Taking into consideration experience of the Soviet Union and post-soviet states, it is necessary to emphasize that, first, successful institutional emancipation is not possible without completion of all previous stages; second, economic crisis and demodernization are a threat to institutional gains of women and to their social inclusion. In contrast to western countries, in the post-soviet states and in Ukraine in particular, the economic stage of emancipation hasn’t finished, and there are no signs of institutional emancipation can be detected. Conversely, quotas of women’s representation in legislatures, which were informally adopted in the Soviet Union, don’t exist anymore. It has led to a catastrophic decline of women’s representation in political life. After the Bolshevik revolution women in Russia and Ukraine received the most progressive in that time in the world law about equality between men and women. That also meant women involvement in political life, wage labor, increasing level of education etc. Women in the Soviet Union had the same stages of emancipation as in Western Europe and Northern America with only but sufficient difference: if in the West it was a result of spontaneous process of social and cultural development of Western society and achievements of the women’s movement, then in the Soviet Union emancipation was implemented by the ruling Communist Party and the government for ideological, economic and political reasons. This policy was called “state feminism” (Ajvazova 1998). One of the parts and result of this policy was implementation of informal quotas of women representation in governmental and public institutions. Thus, institutional emancipation due to the Communist Project of modernization began in the USSR 50-60 years earlier than in the fore of gender transformation of western society – in Scandinavian countries! Certainly, it was not real and all-compassing institutional emancipation. Crucial societal institutions in the Soviet Union remained masculine. In terms of Oswald Spengler’s theory of culture it can be defined as pseudomorphosis which means sociocultural development of a given society through borrowed and hence artificial and perverted cultural forms (Spengler 1991 [1923]: 26). Modernization always has a threat of pseudomorphosis. However, the uniqueness of this situation is that pseudomorphosis as a policy of “state feminism” preceded the authentic sociocultural pattern – true institutional emancipation in Western countries. Although gender transformation as a policy of “state feminism” was forced outcome caused by necessities of modernization, overall it was positive for women and gave them principally new opportunities of personal fulfillment. First, they became a significant and then a critical part of Labor Force. If in 1926 women were 23% of total workforce, then in 1940 – 39%, in 1960 – 47% and since 1970 through 1990 – 51% (Ajvazova 1998: 136). Only during World War II the percentage of women in Labor Force was higher – 56% due to a dearth of labourers. Thus, women in the Soviet Union were the capital part of workforce and 51% was even higher than it is in western countries in 90’s: 39% in Germany, 40% in France, 45% in Sweden, 41% in the USA (Basu 1995: 406-409, 436). The vast majority of women in the Soviet Union were involved in professional development: 92% of women, which were capable of working, were full or part time workers or studied (Ajvazova 1998: 136). As a result, Soviet women became more educated than men in 1970-80’s: they were 59% of people who had tertiary education; 66% physicians, 74% teachers, 60% engineers and 87% economists (Ajvazova 1998: 137). These figures are higher in comparison with Western countries at that time and even now. Women were incorporated in the Soviet legislatures and had consistently increasing quotas of representation. They were 33.1% of members of local legislatures in 1939, 45.8% in 1971 and 50% in 1987 as well as 26% of members of the Supreme Council – the Soviet Union Parliament in 1952, 31% in 1970 and 33% in 1984 (Ajvazova 1998:145). After the Soviet Union collapsed, the situation changed dramatically. In spite of activity of feminist organizations, women don’t have significant political influence. There were only 13.5% women members of the State Duma and 5% of the Council of Federation elected in 1993 and 10.5% and 0.5% of the same chambers elected in 1995 in Russia (Kochkina 1999: 117). Women also are only 9% of members of local legislations. Overall representation of women in governmental institution and legislations of different levels in the Russian Federation was 5.6% in 2001. There is the same trend in Ukraine (Vlasenko 2001: 3-5) where indexes of representation were even worse in the middle of 90’s. There were only 19 women (4.2%) members of Verhovna Rada (the parliament of Ukraine) elected in 1994. The situation improved slightly in 1998 when 37 women were elected to the Ukrainian parliament. But it was still only 8.2% that was less than in the Russian Lower Chamber. Moreover, a number of women in the Ukrainian parliament declined again to 5.1% after election in 2002 (UNDP 2003b: 32). Economic reforms in 1990’s and new market economy definitely were not favourable for women. Russian and Ukrainian women are not a big and important part of workforce any more. If they were 51% of workforce in 1990, then there were 47% women in Russian economy in 1997, and during 7 years a number of women in workforce decreased for 7.4 million (Ajvazova 1998). The level of women’s employment in Ukraine decreased only in 4 years for 9.3% (60% in 1995 and 50.7% in 1999) and is 8.9% lower than men’s level of employment (Vlasenko 2001:15). Women are 48.7% of workforce in Ukraine in 2000’s (Alekseev 2003: 31). Although it doesn’t seem as a significant difference in comparison with 51% of Soviet times, the change is indicative. Moreover, there are definite new qualitative differences in the structure of labor force whish is a decisive factor for women’s economic opportunities. Women have been pushed from spheres of professional activity which are more dynamic and better paid. The vast majority of women work in spheres of education, culture, health and social care in which 72-83% of employees are women and the salary rate is the lowest in wage labor; at the same time 65-73% of workforce in spheres with the highest wage comprised of men (Vlasenko 2001: 25; Alekseev 2003: 31). Gender differences within industries are even more demonstrative. Working in spheres with the highest wage does not guarantee that women can approach men’s income – Ukrainian women earned 57.2% of men’s wage within the same industry in 1999 and 53.4% in 2002 (Vlasenko 2001: 25; Makara 2003:19). In the industry with the lowest wage, in which 81.2% employees are comprised of women, they earned 64.8% of men’s wage in 1999 (Vlasenko 2001: 25). Consequently, the wage gape has been growing: women earned 80.1% in 1995, 72.4% in 1999 and 69.3% in 2002 of men’s income (Vlasenko 2001: 25; UNDP 2003a: 28). Thus, women in Russia and Ukraine have been losing the gains of the policy of state feminism implemented in the Soviet Union. They only kept the higher level of education which, however, could be explained by rather low level of prestige of education which did not influence much on income and social status. Overall, since the Soviet Union collapsed, the level of masculinity of society, ethnic cultures and especially economic institutions of the former Soviet Republics dramatically increased during 1990’s. Level of social inclusion of women dropped. Public opinion became more conservative and patriarchic stereotypes reappeared. Women were accounted socially inactive and focused on family life. Ancient sacral functions were ascribed to a Women who bears an important mission which is given to Her by Nature. Women were expected to personify beauty, femininity and tenderness and bring peace and pleasure into wicked men’s world. A glaring example of post-communist masculine backlash is reinvention of mythological matriarchal image of Berehynia in contemporary Ukrainian society (.is 2003). On the other hand, women’s position in post-communist economy made living and raising children independently extremely difficult. Consequently, women were compelled to trade womanhood for men’s social and financial support. Resultant post-communist gender order demanded from women to be dependent and seek for men’s protection. This mode of behavior was acknowledged as normative. The fundamental cause of the post-communist gender order and economic ground behind it was demodernization of many post-soviet countries. Gender transformation was an integral part of the Communist Project of modernization of the Soviet Union, and then when that project was over one could see, according to Stephen Cohen, “the unprecedented demodernization of a twentieth-century country” (Cohen 2001: 45). In my previous research I showed sharp distinctions in development tracks of different clusters of post-communist countries in Eastern Europe some of which were associated with demodernization (Savelyev 2011). Measuring development via HDI (UNDP Human Development Index) one can see what a huge fall experienced by post-soviet countries in 1990’s after the Communist Project of modernization collapsed. While Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia quickly recovered after 1995, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus and Russian Federation had large slump and did not surpass by 2000 their level of development before start of transition period in 1990. Bulgaria and Romania had moderate decrease from 1990 till 1995 and their HDI trends were very similar to the HDI trends of Russian Federation and Belarus from 1995 till 2000 (see Table 1). In the situation of social and economic disintegration when society has been going “backward to a premodern era” (Cohen 2001:169), patriarchic features which were typical for premodern or “low-modern” sociocultural system emerged inevitably. That was the price for gender pseudomorphosis of the Communist Project of modernization which Russian, Ukrainian and some other societies should pay, and women of these societies had and still have to confront inexorable gender backlash. Thus, institutional emancipation is a logical completion of the feminist movement of the last century and a pivotal phase of gender transformation. This stage of emancipation has resulted in a rise of significance and a new important role of femininity in contemporary western culture, and will be able to determine gender relationships in the future. However, institutional emancipation as a global process is equivocal. Although it has been embracing more and more countries, peculiarities of its implementation, results and complications are determined by different cultures that makes gender transformation inevitably multicultural. As an example, the post-soviet countries, which used to follow the western way of gender transformation and even had started institutional emancipation through the policy of state feminism earlier than it happened in the West, now have reinforced masculine features of social institutions and demonstrate reversibility of gender transformation which was not a natural outcome of preceding sociocultural development. Demodernization of some of these countries has led to unprecedented masculine backlash. The critical question in the global process of gender transformation of non-western cultures is whether a project of modernization, which is implemented in a given society, is viable. 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