Колективна идентичност в здравните социални движения: пациентската мобилизация около асистираните репродуктивни технологии в Полша
Collective Identity in Health Social Movements. The Case of Mobilization around ARTs in Poland

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the text is to examine social activism concerning infertility and assisted reproductive technologies in contemporary Poland. It focuses mainly on the process of constructing a collective identity and analyses how collective identity based on infertility is being (re)assembled, and contested by people active in the Association for the Medical Treatment of Infertility and in the Support of Adoptions „Our Stork“ and its online community (www.nasz-bocian.pl). The goal is to provide a better understanding of how people engaged in health social movements establish and maintain solidarity and commitment, and to identify not only the benefits of this process but also the potential risks, negotiations, and trade-offs involved. The empirical illustration of this process is derived from a case-study of grassroots mobilization around assisted reproduction in Poland. It builds on a qualitative analysis of texts and posts published on the most popular Polish Internet portal „Our Stork“ („NaszBocian“ www.nasz-bocian.pl) that is exclusively concerned with infertility, as well as documents such as open letters, commentaries, information for the media, and interviews with activists published in print and electronic media between 2007 and 2014.

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