Upper Silesia as the intergal part of Poland? Cover Image

Górny Śląsk integralną częścią Polski?
Upper Silesia as the intergal part of Poland?

Author(s): Magdalena Faracik-Nowak
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: Social integration and disintegration; autosomy; dependency; local identity; regional identity; social identity; community; society; ethnocentrism; ethnic minority

Summary/Abstract: Upper Silesia is the area covering the region of Katowice and Opole. The region has undergone many political changes over the last century that had shaped some behaviors and attitudes among residents. The so-called Silesian nationality is a rapidly burgeoning social group, which gathered the constituent elements of an ethnic minority. The article discusses both the internal and external integrity of Upper Silesia and Poland. It indicates the existence of local patriotism and great importance of localism in terms of both sociological and psychological. A series of successive political and social changes led to the formation of the regional identity. Despite its heterogeneity and multiculturalism, contemporary identity of Upper Silesia refers to the historical, cultural and economic tradition of the region. Most Poles cannot imagine a country without Silesia, which within a several dozen of years of strong industrialized region has become a basin of technological innovation and has been playing an important role in shaping the national economy.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 193-208
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish