Znaczenie historii w studiach regionalnych: rola przeszłości w polskiej socjologii regionu po roku 1989
The importance of history in regional studies: The role of the past in Polish regional sociology after 1989

Summary/Abstract: Historical explanations play an important and growing role in regional studies conducted within the framework of Polish sociology. The aim of the article is to assess the scope of the uses of history and to analyse the ways of using it. I attempt to answer the following questions: what is the purpose of using the past in regional studies? What events and phenomena from the past are present in regional analyses? Is there critical reflection on how to use the past? Two areas of regional studies have been distinguished. The first is determined by analyses related to the economic dimension of regional development. The most important issues concern historical backwardness and the problem of the peripheral condition of Polish regions. The second is the study of local identities and local traditions. The past is an important component of local policies and regional discourses. There is growing critical reflection on the use of the past in managing the image of the region and creating new regional identities. References to the past serve various purposes: they justify deterministic visions and describe the durability of regional differences. They are important resources in symbolic games and the foundations of local identities. Recently, there have been new analyses in which the regional past is the subject of sociological and historical research. They search for mechanisms that connect historical institutions and practices with contemporary attitudes and actions.

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