Recognition of Culture, History, Self-Identification and Territory Versus Race, Blood, Religion and Submission to State As Criteria of Nationality – Their Determinants and Effects in Poland

The paper will present results of representative survey conducted in Poland in 2014. Statistical analysis have distinguished two separate, composite syndromes of criteria of nationality recognized by the Poles. The first, consistent with liberal philosophical and political tradition, stresses importance of common culture, history, self-identification and territory. The second, consistent with rightist tradition, stresses importance of race, religion, blood (family) and submission to the state. The liberal criteria are more widely accepted in Poland than conservative ones, but both have substantial public support. The relations between acceptancy of one or the other approach to nationality and the strength of self-identification with (a) local community, (b) nation and (c) supra-national communities (like Europe, world, human kind) will be analyzed. The adherence to liberal criteria of nationality enhances general (global) self-identifications, while the adherence to conservative tradition enhances national and local self-identification. The latter is also positively correlated with support for various forms of state interventionism and is more apparent among less educated and less affluent part of population. The relations of these two tendencies to perceptions of social relations will be also analyzed. The results will be discussed in the context of rising populism in Europe.