After All. Different Two Civil Cultures of Members of Upper Silesia Associations

Abstract

The research of the community of people belonging to the Upper Silesian associations reveals the internal division into local and cosmopolitan citizens. These terms are borrowed from Robert K. Merton and adapted to the needs of describing two different civil cultures: locally-oriented – with characteristic stronger bonds with local community, larger interest in local problems and more frequent involvement in solving whose problems, and cosmopolitan-oriented – characterized by weaker attachment to local community, relatively more frequent interest in supra-local problems and activities connected with them.

The local citizens, when compared with cosmopolitan ones, present relatively lower level of education and lower position in social-professional structure, they more often come from the Upper Silesia than cosmopolitan citizens. The native inhabitants of the region, when compared with non-natives, are distinctly more civilly involved in the life of a community of which they are members, more often take actions for the community, and more frequently participate in the local government elections.