Opinie o Niemcach. Postawy mieszkańców Gubina
Opinions about Germans. The Attitudes of the Inhabitants of Gubin

Summary/Abstract: The borderland regions as well as towns in the immediate neighbourhood of the German border such as Słubice, Zgorzelec, Kostrzyn or Gubin are frequently the objects of study of sociologists from various scientific centres in Poland. Their aim is to describe processes that accompany the opening of the border and contacts of the Polish and German population, as well as to register the changes that are taking place in the awareness of the inhabitants of the borderland, especially their attitude towards their western neighbours. The article presents the results of a study conducted in Gubin in January 2004 on one hundred randomly chosen inhabitants of the town. The target of the study was to determine the attitudes of the inhabitants of Gubin towards Germans, and the major conditioning factors. The following were taken as attitude indicators: the image of a typical German, degree of friendliness and discernible social distance. After appropriate categorization of the responses three types of attitudes have been distinguished: positive, indifferent and negative. Among elements conditioning the occurrence of particular attitudes the following four groups have been distinguished: 1) socio-demographic features (e.g. age, education), 2) self-assessment of the inhabitants (e.g. satisfaction with life, perception of ones future), 3) contacts with Germans, 4) perception of Poland and Polish-German relations.

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