Wybrane koncepcje regionu w socjologii polskiej
Selected concepts of the region in Polish sociology

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to present the most important concepts of region in Polish sociology. It is also description of inspirations derived from XIX centuries ethnography and as well as sociology which focused its attention on regions before World War II. Early concepts developed by historiography and ethnology, that underlined such differentiators of region as social awareness and distinct folk culture, were used in sociology which developed in the interwar period in Poland. After World War II the most of sociological studies of regions based on definitions of a phenomenon which described it as a private homeland of regional community that is integrated by regional identity. Such community lives at a territory which is a type of physical container for identity and culture. A region is physical space in which a regional community meets its needs, it is a concept of region used by an inclusive and Marxist version of modernization theory. The first concepts mentioned above emphasized regional awareness superstructured on regional patterns of satisfying needs, while the latter objectively existing structure of a regional economy and society. Recently an institutional perspective has been developed. Such theoretical perspective makes us see a region in terms of relational qualities of regional space, institutions, society and created in public discourse symbols and myths.

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