The activity of newcomers in the opinion of rural residents - on the example of knowledge and information transfer studies

Abstract

Newcomers from the city, both those who decide to permanently settle in the countryside and those who temporarily visit the countryside as owners of second homes, constitute an important social, cultural and economic potential that has a positive impact on the broadly understood life of the countryside. The condition for using this potential is, above all, intensive contacts between newcomers and village residents („oldtimers”). The aim of the study is to identify the impact of people migrating from cities on the community and rural space, with particular emphasis on the opinions on this subject expressed by permanent village residents. The following parts of the study discuss the characteristics and categories of newcomers, the intensity and place of their relations with village residents, the main topics of conversations and the directions of knowledge and experience transfer. The research was carried out in 18 villages from different regions of the country (9 voivodeships). The first stage consisted in diagnosing the condition of the studied units, which allowed for the separation of groups of residents for planned social research. In the second stage, surveys were conducted aimed at permanent village residents and newcomers (363 surveys), while in the third stage – in-depth interviews were conducted with 30 representatives of the local community and 33 newcomers. The obtained results became the basis for a deeper analysis and discussion referring to the research presented in the European literature.