Pogranicze a tożsamość. Ile zmienności, ile stabilności?

Abstract

In the paper, the relation between a borderland region and the social identity of borderland inhabitants is considered. A question is posed whether the borderland has a stronger impact on the social identity of its inhabitants or the direction of the impact is opposite. The answer to this question is sought in the studies of borderland theoreticians and researchers, and in a reconstruction of how this relation is contemplated by them. The analyses lead to the conclusion that the borderland, its characteristics and properties undoubtedly have a stronger impact on the identity of its inhabitants than their identity and its specificity affect the borderland. In the conclusions, a thesis is formulated about the borderland effect, which is a sociological unobservable variable, whose impact, among others, is manifested in specific social identity profiling of its inhabitants.