Etniczność jako forma więzi społecznej
Ethnicity as a form of social ties

Summary/Abstract: The article discuses issues related to ethnic ties. On the basis of theoretical assumptions connected with ethnicity, such problems as the shaping of ethnic ties and core ethnic values, as well as the importance of mythical consciousness and myths in these processes, are taken into consideration. In this approach ethnicity is founded on the feeling that a number of shared core values unites members of the group. The values in question, involving language, territory, imagined blood unity, history of the group, customs, religion, and the ethos of the group, are objectified and become symbolic attributes of the ethnic group. The above enumerated values form the basis on which the group is designated a community by its members. Members of the group recognize these values as objective data which simultaneously define the group as a single entity. The ethnic group, thus, can be termed a specific “imagined community of values.” The existence of ethnic core values is facilitated through the process of mythologization, i.e. conscious imposition of a sacral category, extraempirical, on particular qualities of ethnic groups. Mythical consciousness gives ethnic qualities an axiological dimension, thus being an important, though indirect, factor of the formation of ties.

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