Place Identity in the Strategies of Polish Regional Organizations

Abstract

The author's main area of reflection is location (place) identity. The processes of constructing and subsequent cultivating of one’s loyalty to the place and one’s identification with it rely on two psychological mechanisms: the need for belonging and social identity. Regional identity, which marks the foundation of the activity of regional organizations, is a special kind of social identity. The article focuses on how the relationship between regional and national identity is built in the communications and activity of regional organizations. The author suggests her own unique classification of strategies: regional autonomy, national and regional dichotomy and the national dominant.