The Adaptive Strategies of Young Podlasie Residents in the Face of Secularization: An Analysis of Religiosity and Social Camouflage
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15290/sp.2025.33.02.08Keywords
secularization, religion, camouflage strategy, PodlasieAbstract
The aim of this article is to present an analysis of secularisation processes among young people with higher education living in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. We also present the adaptation strategies used by them during their return to their hometowns. The research on which the analysis is based was carried out by means of individual semi-structured interviews containing retrospective questions with respondents aged 25 to 30, who come from villages and small towns of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. The study revealed two key phenomena: a significant weakening of religiosity in the majority of respondents at a young age and the use of camouflage strategies as a response to social expectations in their hometowns. It reveals the complex dynamics of changes in religious attitudes that begin as early as the middle school period (around age 14) and not, as one might assume, during the university period. The respondents use a camouflage strategy when returning to their home environment in order to avoid conflicts arising from differences in the worldview and from stigmatisation. The study reveals the complexity of adaptation strategies, particularly highlighting the conflict between individual beliefs and social expectations in the hometowns.
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