IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i20p13512-d947174.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Types of Rural Residents in Central Poland in Terms of Their Local Participation: The Perspectives of the Local Authorities and the Inhabitants

Author

Listed:
  • Małgorzata Marks-Krzyszkowska

    (Department of Rural and Urban Sociology, University of Lodz, 90-214 Lodz, Poland)

  • Krystyna Dzwonkowska-Godula

    (Department of Sociology of Social Structure and Social Change, University of Lodz, 90-214 Lodz, Poland)

  • Anna Miklaszewska

    (Department of Investment and Real Estate, University of Lodz, 90-255 Lodz, Poland)

Abstract

This article analyzes the public participation of rural inhabitants in Poland. It aims to identify the types of rural residents in terms of their local participation. In our research, we adopted the triangulation approach involving using two types of data, qualitative and quantitative, from the research including two types of respondents: mayors of rural communes and inhabitants. On this basis, two typologies of rural inhabitants were created, which were then confronted. First, the local authorities’ views on residents’ engagement in public affairs are presented. Free-form interviews with six mayors of selected rural municipalities of the Łódzkie Region in central Poland were conducted. Based on their observations, the typology of rural inhabitants includes two variables, namely, engagement (activity versus passivity) and motivations for an activity, or a lack of it. Second, we analyzed data from a survey conducted among inhabitants of the same rural municipalities concerning their forms of local participation, their interest in public affairs, their satisfaction with different dimensions of local life and local policy, as well as their trust in the local authorities and sense of impact on local policies and management. The distinguished types of rural inhabitants based on these data differ in their levels of public engagement (very active vs. totally inactive) and preferred forms of activity (individual vs. collective and public vs. social). In the comparison of the results of both studies, we confirmed some of the mayors’ observations concerning the most common type of resident, which is alienated people who are not interested in any public activity. The group of fully active residents, who could be partners in local governance for the local authorities, is very small. On the basis of the interviews with mayors, one can suppose that the situation can be used by local authorities as a justification for not involving residents in local public management.

Suggested Citation

  • Małgorzata Marks-Krzyszkowska & Krystyna Dzwonkowska-Godula & Anna Miklaszewska, 2022. "Types of Rural Residents in Central Poland in Terms of Their Local Participation: The Perspectives of the Local Authorities and the Inhabitants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-25, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:20:p:13512-:d:947174
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/20/13512/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/20/13512/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sidney Verba, 1967. "Democratic Participation," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 373(1), pages 53-78, September.
    2. Charles Pattie & Patrick Seyd & Paul Whiteley, 2003. "Citizenship and Civic Engagement: Attitudes and Behaviour in Britain," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 51, pages 443-468, October.
    3. Charles Pattie & Patrick Seyd & Paul Whiteley, 2003. "Citizenship and Civic Engagement: Attitudes and Behaviour in Britain," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 51(3), pages 443-468, October.
    4. Sarah C White, 1996. "Depoliticising development: The uses and abuses of participation," Development in Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 6-15.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hilde Coffe & Catherine Bolzendahl, 2011. "Gender Gaps in Political Participation Across Sub-Saharan African Nations," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 245-264, June.
    2. Bennett, Kyle M. & Campbell, Jeanna M. & Hays, Scott P., 2022. "Engaging youth for positive change: A mixed methods evaluation of site level program implementation & outcomes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    3. Elizaveta Kopacheva, 2021. "Predicting online participation through Bayesian network analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-22, December.
    4. Christopher Carman, 2010. "The Process is the Reality: Perceptions of Procedural Fairness and Participatory Democracy," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58(4), pages 731-751, October.
    5. Anna Liddo & Grazia Concilio, 2017. "Making Decision in Open Communities: Collective Actions in the Public Realm," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 847-856, September.
    6. Huang, Jian & Maassen van den Brink, Henriëtte & Groot, Wim, 2009. "A meta-analysis of the effect of education on social capital," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 454-464, August.
    7. Andreea Ligia DRUGAU-CONSTANTIN & Andra Karla ANGHEL-SIENERTH, 2022. "Challenges Of Civic Participation At Eu Level During Covid-19 Pandemic: European Citizens' Initiative," APPLIED RESEARCH IN ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 3(1), pages 4-10, April.
    8. Anders Lidström, 2010. "Citizens’ Intermunicipal Political Orientations: Evidence from Swedish City-regions," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(10), pages 2093-2109, September.
    9. Matt Henn & Mark Weinstein & Sarah Forrest, 2005. "Uninterested Youth? Young People's Attitudes towards Party Politics in Britain," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 53(3), pages 556-578, October.
    10. Anders Lidström, 2006. "Commuting and Citizen Participation in Swedish City‐Regions," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 54(4), pages 865-888, December.
    11. Thapa, Manish, 2022. "Civic Engagement Practice at Planning and Monitoring System by Local Government (s) of Nepal," MPRA Paper 111667, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Le Tang & Fengqin Zhou & Xueliang Feng & Yali Luo, 2018. "Collective Civic Petitions in Urban Neighborhoods: A Comparative Study between Two Different-Tier Chinese Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, December.
    13. Stolle, Dietlind & Hooghe, Marc, 2009. "Shifting inequalities? Patterns of exclusion and inclusion in emerging forms of political participation," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Inequality and Social Integration SP I 2009-204, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    14. Jung In Jo, 2016. "Weapons of the dissatisfied? Perceptions of socioeconomic inequality, redistributive preference, and political protest: Evidence from South Korea," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 19(4), pages 285-300, December.
    15. Aichholzer, Georg & Allhutter, Doris, 2011. "Online forms of political participation and their impact on democracy," ITA manu:scripts 11_02, Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA).
    16. Nick Clarke & Clive Barnett & Paul Cloke & Alice Malpass, 2007. "The Political Rationalities of Fair-Trade Consumption in the United Kingdom," Politics & Society, , vol. 35(4), pages 583-607, December.
    17. Plamen Mirazchiyski & Daniel Caro & Andrés Sandoval-Hernández, 2014. "Youth Future Civic Participation in Europe: Differences Between the East and the Rest," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 1031-1055, February.
    18. Oleksandr Reznik, 2016. "Determinants of Involvement in Work for Voluntary or Charitable Organizations in European Countries," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(1), pages 21582440156, January.
    19. Rhys Andrews, 2007. "Civic Culture and Public Service Failure: An Empirical Exploration," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(4), pages 845-863, April.
    20. Sala-Torrent, Mireia & Planas-Lladó, Anna, 2024. "Enhancing youth Voices: Exploring community participation through youth workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:20:p:13512-:d:947174. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.