REGIONAL IDENTITY IN THE DISCOURSE OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT SOCIOLOGY

The concept of regional identity underlies the new emerging field of science - sociology of regional development. The well-developed regional (local) identity is associated with the specific perception of territory (location area) of the community members which requires their everyday support. The peculiarity of the author's theoretical model manifests itself in the interpretation of regional identity and the associated concepts of rationality, action, values (culture), institutions and social norms identified at the level of the acting subjects and localizable in the definite regional space (regional context). The author's theoretical model is verified by the actual empirical study. The main result of the survey conducted by the author is the verification of the regional identity concept which provides an opportunity to reveal social effects attributed to power holders' identification with value preferences of regional communities and the individuals involved.