ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with three other agencies of socialization: the mass media, the educational system, and the Catholic Church. The Austrian media system changed fundamentally in the early 1990s, Technological innovation, complicated financial intertwining and the onset of massive foreign involvement changed the conditions for competition. The Austrian educational system used to be a strict "two-track system," as in other German speaking countries like Switzerland and Germany. The Catholic Church itself controls a sizeable press system and has a wide network of high school and university student associations under its control which enable it to exert a considerable amount of influence. In 1995, liberal catholics staged a petition campaign for renewal and democratization within the Catholic Church. Among the main demands were the access of women to the priesthood; the abolition of the celibacy requirement for priests; non-discrimination for those who remarry after divorce; a more positive view of sexuality and liberalization of birth control.
