Criteria of National Membership in the Perception of the Polish Youth of Eastern Origin Studying in Poland

Abstract

The purpose of the empirical research on the Polish youth from abroad studying at the moment in Lublin, its finding and discussion was to attempt at an answer the following questions: 1) what significance do the subjects ascribe to some selected criteria which decide about their national membership? 2) what is their governing principle when they assess the importance of those criteria? 3) what are the psychosocial conditions of that assessment?

The differing traits, making up a group of necessary and sufficient conditions for a man to be a member of a given nation, are the following: genealogical origin, knowledge about the national culture, language, religion (denomination), private choice, place (country) of birth or residence, place of baptism, data about the parents’ nationality as they are contained in the certificate of birth. It has been stated that the group of subjects under study, while defining the significance of the factors deciding about national membership, evaluated them basically along two dimensions. The first one can be interpreted as a dimension of the trait of being a member of a community versus the trait of belonging to a territory. The second dimensions may be defined as genealogical determinism versus freedom of choice of national membership. No relationship has been found between the ranking and such variables as a permanent place of residence (town, village), sex and year of studies at the level of statistic significance.

Greater or lesser differentiation in the ranks of particular criteria depends on the nationality of the mother and father, national self-identification of the person under study, the language of communication in the family, the kind of relationship with the surrounding during their stay in Poland and concomitant frustration on the grounds of national issues or religion.