Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this convenient resource provides systematic information on how Poland deals with the role religion plays or can play in society, the legal status of religious communities and institutions, and the legal interaction among religion, culture, education, and media. After a general introduction describing the social and historical background, the book goes on to explain the legal framework in which religion is approached. Coverage proceeds from the principle of religious freedom through the rights and contractual obligations of religious communities; international, transnational, and regional law effects; and the legal parameters affecting the influence of religion in politics and public life. Also covered are legal positions on religion in such specific fields as church financing, labour and employment, and matrimonial and family law. A clear and comprehensive overview of relevant legislation and legal doctrine make the book an invaluable reference source and very useful guide. Succinct and practical, this book will prove to be of great value to practitioners in the myriad instances where a law-related religious interest arises in Poland. Academics and researchers will appreciate its value as a thorough but concise treatment of the legal aspects of diversity and multiculturalism in which religion plays such an important part.

The growing indebtedness of households reported over the last 30 years and in most developed countries has serious economic and social implications. This book provides insight into the concepts, measures, and determinants of household indebtedness, over-indebtedness, and well-being by integrating theoretical perspectives, adopting recent analytical methods, and using a sample of Polish households. The authors identified the socio-demographic and economic characteristics of indebted and over-indebted households, as well as the basic characteristics of indebtedness and the differences in its subjective perception among over-indebted households and those that are not over-indebted. They determined the spatial differentiation of over-indebtedness, examining the relationship between economic, social and behavioural factors and over-indebtedness and the role of over-indebtedness in shaping the economic well-being of households. The results of a questionnaire conducted on a sample of Polish households and econometric modelling served as the basis for assessing the economic well-being of indebted households. This assessment was conducted with the use of a composite well-being indicator developed by the authors. Given the multidimensional nature of the issues being analysed, the authors offer an approach that accounts for two separate but overlapping dimensions of economic well-being, namely material and financial, and two ways of assessing each of them: objective and subjective. The book holds appeal for researchers, scholars, and students of economics, finance, consumer economics, and economic psychology and offers practical guidance for policymakers and advisors who deal with consumer affairs.

This book discusses national school policy reforms in a number of key European countries and shows how these are framed in transnational collaborations that meet with national particularities and contestations. It gives an overview of school policy developments that represents the diversity of Europe within a comparative framework. It takes point of departure in the fact that European countries in their school and education policies have been increasingly aligning with each other, mostly via transnational collaborations, the OECD, EU, and the Bologna Process. Even the IEA has been instrumental to motivate alignments by means of influential surveys, knowledge production and methodological development. This alignment in terms of common standards, social technologies, qualification frameworks and so forth have aimed at facilitating mobility of students, workers, business and so forth as well as fostering a European identity among citizens from Europe’s patchwork of small and medium-size countries, representing a patchwork of different languages, cultures and societal contexts. In national recontextualizations, however, alignments have been continuously contested according to the particularities of what has been possible educationally and politically in the different national contexts. Furthermore, the return of national(isms) as well as the rise of edubusiness and digitalization have been increasingly influential. This book thus concludes that increasing transnational alignments have to be observed with meticulous attention to different national contexts that matter greatly.

This landmark collection of primary sources provides unique first-hand insights into the persecution and murder of the Jews of Europe under Nazi rule. The documents, all translated from the language of the original source, range from the police orders and administrative decrees issued by the Nazi apparatus across Germany and occupied Europe to the diaries and letters of Jewish men, women, and children facing discrimination, impoverishment, violent assaults, incarceration, deportation, and death. The observations and reactions of bystanders not directly involved in the crimes – some shocked, some indifferent, some approving - also come across vividly. Substantial introductions, scholarly footnotes, and an extensive thematic index help guide the reader through the rich documentary material and add to the value of the series as a resource for teaching and learning about the Second World War and the Holocaust. Series edited on behalf of the German Federal Archives, the Institute for Contemporary History Munich-Berlin, and the Chair for Modern History at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg. In cooperation with Yad Vashem. Explore the documents! Search in categories like "Nuremberg Laws 1938", "Eviction and Disposession" or "November Pogroms 1938" to read and download documents from the published PMJ volumes for free. See also the corresponding German series Die Verfolgung und Ermordung der europäischen Juden durch das nationalsozialistische Deutschland 1933–1945. For more information on the edition, please visit the project website. Follow us on Twitter @PMJ_documents.

The Routledge Handbook of European Sociology explores the main aspects of the work and scholarship of European sociologists during the last sixty years (1950-2010), a period that has shaped the methods and identity of the sociological craft. European social theory has produced a vast constellation of theoretical landscapes with a far reaching impact. At the same time there has been diversity and fragmentation, the influence of American sociology, and the effect of social practice and transformations. The guiding question is: does European Sociology really exist today, and if the answer is positive, what does this really mean? Divided into four parts, the Handbook investigates: intellectual and institutional settings regional variations thematic variations European concerns. The Handbook will provides a set of state-of-the-art accounts that break new ground, each contribution teasing out the distinctively European features of the sociological theme it explores. It will be of interest to students and scholars across the social sciences and humanities.