The Silesian Voivodship is a typical area of cultural borderland where different patterns of ethnic and industrial culture blend into a specific new quality. The economic transformations of the early nineties (20th century) undermined the foundations on which the traditional regional symbolic order was laid. The pauperization of mining settlements is a particularly important factor affecting the process of the contemporary regional identity. Our paper is based on partial research outcomes from the project “Space, Place and the Historical and contemporary articulations of regional, national and European identities through work and community in areas undergoing economic REstructuring and regeneration” (SPHERE). Briefly, the project seeks to examine the role of different discursive narratives in shaping ideas and experiences of identity, region and place. Discursive and material ‘effects’ of re‑shaping communities through an economic change seek to examine how the past and present hold possibilities for the future. In the text we also intend to introduce into epistemological perspective received in SPHERE.

This text is a result of workpackage no. 5 “Old and New Formations of Gender and Class” and “State of the Art” of European research SPHERE: “Space, Place and the Historical and contemporary articulations of regional, national and European identities through work and community in areas undergoing economic REstructuring and regeneration”. It takes up issues connected with the area of economic restructurisation and its influence on labour market, class identity and most of all gender habitus. Therefore, the paper concentrates on rebuilding femininity/masculinity and the division of labour in the family by gender.

The paper is based on the fragment of outcomes of workpackage 5 realizing the SPHERE project. It is devoted to popular common‑sense ways of experiencing divisions and social hierarchy which seem to be more or less related to the economic conditions of living in a settlement located close to an industrial plant. The social categories being developed in the process of interaction may be treated as prototypes or equivalents of thinking in terms of class, although they do not usually meet the requirements imposed by essentialistic ways of formulating this idea. Analyzing some popular categorizations functioning in the biographical narrations of the residents of housing estates for workers, one can notice a wide range of specific articulations of different social identities which come as a reflection of the coexistence of selected social and economic factors making up the context of living in a settlement located close to an industrial plant.

The present article describes memories and stories recalled by the residents of postindustrial estates of Będzin and Ruda Śląska. The told stories are about spaces, landscapes and places that have changed during the inhabitants lives. Analysis of interviews is focused particularly on residental areas and workplaces, but also includes some other places which came up during research and are significant for the interviewees. It is of interest how the interrelations between personal lives and estates transformations reported in interviews can be described using the perspective of emotional geography.

The article, based on biographic interviews conducted in 2009 and 2010, discusses the matter of social integration and disintegration of local community in Ksawera — a postindustrial suburb of Będzin town in Zagłębie region. The main object of analysis is the change of social bonds after transformation and closing of coal mine, which was main employer for inhabitants during real socialism.

Assumption of this article is to present perception of the changes taking place in cultural, ethnic, and local identity, in relation to the restructuring process in Silesia and Zagłębie presented by the inhabitants of these regions. Opinions presented below are also relevant to the perception of changes in social relations and changes in the neighbours bonds caused by changes in socio‑economic status, the diversification opportunities and deepening of the economic stratification of these communities.

This article is based on research made in the framework of the Seventh European Framework Programme SPHERE funded by the European Union. Polish group of researches is headed by prof. dr hab. Kazimiera Wódz. This work refers to a number of assumptions important for the part of the project devoted mainly to cultural identity expressed and experienced using narrative strategies. Cultural consequences of these transformation processes are also interesting for the artists. There are the plenty of artistic and cultural achievements and works, in which artists express their close relationship with the region. That’s because we decided to focus on just one segment of artistic activity in the present paper: on the way the artists create and reflect the pictures and imagines of the region. Individuality and cultural uniqueness of the region is perceived and promoted by movie directors despite (or perhaps because of) a dynamic change. The political and economic restructuring had an impact on the landscape of Silesian agglomeration and also on the minds of its inhabitants. However, always when the artists want to catch the cultural specificity in their films, they stress the values, habits, principles and beliefs which are used to show the region’s individuality. Here we have films began with the poetic of realism, and even socialist‑realism. The most industrial developed region of the People’s Poland time, which was Upper Silesia, was the best to be shown as the arena of the conflict between the “new” and the “old”. Then the effects of the gradual deindustrialization and slow decay of the socialistic system, led to the evolutionary transition to poetic of so‑called “magic realism”; from the Silesian series films by Kazimierz Kutz, through comedies (often talking about the past times) until contemporary films. What we can see here is a kind of symbolic escape from the dying word of ironfoudries and mines, to not really recognized yet the world of late modernity.

The main purpose of this article is to show how did the people interviewed during the SPHERE project describe their experience of social change. The author tried to comment on the key elements that appear in their narratives. He focused mainly on human reflection on working career, regional identity and social change, which are the results of the transformation that started in 1989 by the collapse of the former political system. But the overall policy and social processes taking place in Poland since then, are here only the background for individual stories. These stories reveal the attitudes towards things of a great importance to the interviewees.

The article first of all describes types and purposes of photographic content collected and applied in Polish part of SPHERE project. The author focuses on photographic documentation dedicated to the project and created during its realization (content that existed before was rejected). The subjects are described in macro scale (space of Upper Silesia) with photographs of researched places and communities (Kaufhaus, Ksawera‑Koszelew) as well as in micro scale, presenting inhabitants in their flats.

Once the restructuring of the Upper Silesia started several specific public policies on the regional and local level were launched. The aim of the paper is to analyze the impact of these specific policies on social capital building and civil society mobilization. Usually, the creation of this type of public policies influence the growth of new local and regional elites. It was not the case of Upper Silesia region because these policies were created in great majority “over the heads” of population by the teams of specialists of territorial planning and the professional managers.

The article discusses how the restructuring of the employment in coal mines influences the way the coal communities function. The problem of social exclusion of former miners and their families became a challenge for the social policy in many of those communities. On the one hand the author tries to present the scale of danger connected with this phenomenon. On the other hand, she analyses how and to what degree the local social policy reacts to this problem.

Restructurisation of traditional industrial areas which took place during the last 20 years is an effect of systemic transformation that resulted mainly from pressures exerted by Solidarity trade union. Thus trade union movement can be treated as a significant factor influencing the character of rules governing the labour market as well as an essential form of social capital activation being the basis for full development of human potential. However, trade union activity is varied due to the gender issue so the women’s presence in unions is limited. Thus in this sense, only one woman participated in the round table talks, despite the fact that the talks concerned the ways transformation in the society consisting of two sexes. Similarly, all the management boards of trade unions founded after 1989 were dominated by men although problems related to work and labour market concern both sexes. The reason for this and identifying barriers encountered by women in trade union activity as well as the problems faced by them on the labour market in mining are main issues analysed in this paper based on quality empirical research. The research is a case study of trade unions in hard coal mining and brown coal mining. It is also an attempt to compare experience and perception typical of representatives of Silesian and Łódź voivodeships respectively. The paper is also a partial report on research conducted as a part of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education grant devoted to the issues of sex equality. Also, it analyses varied experiences of males and females related to their participation in trade union movement.

In the paper there are diagnosed cultural and demographic factors shaping the dwelling conditions of senior citizens, as well as their adjustment to the new needs of the community housing construction’s inhabitants. The statistical data concerning features of elderly persons’ dwelling conditions, are comparatively analyzed within the scope of all-Poland project PolSenior (http://polsenior.iimcb.gov.pl/). On the basis of the sample, the author juxtaposes senior citizens dwelling conditions with those of senior citizens from other regions of Poland. The data show the smaller apartments’ sizes and slower dynamics of housing resources in the Upper Silesia, but also, better maintenance and fittings of the apartments in the region. Among important research findings are: ascertaining that apartments’ sizes in multi-family housing are well-fitted to the modest needs of contemporary senior citizens’ population; and that young people compete with senior citizens for small apartments, which stems from the fact that the former, having low income, prefer to choose the apartments of such for the initial years of their self-reliant professional and family lives. The data indicate the very low technical adjustment level in housing of this type to the needs of the physically disabled and senior citizens who, hence the increasing age, become less and less physically and socially independent. Notwithstanding, they rarely plan the adjusting of their apartments to the deteriorating health, and they rather adapt to the encountered difficulties than overcome them.

The article shows the problem of relations between city centre and malls in the context of sociological theory of public space. The notion of public space is rich in meaning and is used in wide range of contexts. This text shows only some of these: connections between public space and public sphere, criteria of access to it, physical security, diffusion between public and private space and the differences between public space and public realm. Such understanding of public space allows to compare the social meanings and functions between the traditional public space - city centre and malls - private space from the legal point of view but public realm in the social context. Empirical references based on sociological researches conducted in some Silesian cities: Katowice, Gliwice, Rybnik in 2009-2010. The researches showed that malls are the real competition for city centre, especially when city centre is unattractive and sociofugal. Nevertheless city’s streets and squares still offer more possibilities to realize various needs concerning public space.

The multiculturalism of Upper Silesia has been influenced by the combination of three cultures: Polish, German, and Czech. It is also important to note the influence of the Jews and the Roma people which enriched the region’s culture. Contemporary multiculturalism of Silesia stems from the times of the Piast Silesians, when colonization lead to the increase of the German settlers in urban and rural Silesia. The multiculturalism of this region gradually changed from the times of socialism to become what today is known as contemporary multiculturalism. Today multiculturalism continues to flourish through the institutionalized organizations of ethnic minorities that uphold their cultural traditions. The multiculturalism of Silesia has always remained an integral part of this region and the cultural identity of its inhabitants.

Economic, political and social transformation caused many socio-economic problems, such as unemployment, poverty and deterioration of living conditions. Analysis of socio‑economic differentiation and other social problems, with regard to spatial dimension, are needed. Regional studies seem to be required, especially in the process of collecting statistical data and elaborating economic indicators. Regional studies facilitate comparisons and analyses of regional diversity of phenomena. The article focuses on socio-economic situation of Łódzkie Voivodship (according to NTS’s nomenclature) during restructuring, in relation to national data. This region is well known for its industrial monoculture. Łódź’s economy used to focus on the light industry and textile industry. Consequences of economic transition were more severe in Łódź Voivodship than any other region in Poland. Analyses of socio-economic situation (particularly data on population, labor market and unemployment, poverty) were conducted according to region concept and regional statistical data (including Regions of Poland, Statistical Yearbook of the Regions — Poland, Live Conditions of the population in the Łódzkie Voivodship and Regional Data Bank, all collected by Central Statistical Office in Poland).