Political attitudes among the urban Polish youth: assessing the role of cities on support for the European Union

ABSTRACT

The future of the European Union (EU) increasingly depends on the attitudes and opinions of its citizens. This article examines constructions of attitudes towards European integration among young residents living in urban centres in Poland. Work conducted in the field of European studies shows that territorial attachment and utilitarian approaches can shape attitudes towards the EU. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study analyses these social and political processes among 324 MA students living in five Polish cities. The results confirm a complex interaction of cost–benefit calculations and attachment-related mechanisms that shape support for EU integration within the sampled group.

KEYWORDS:

• European Union
• public opinion
• urban
• territorial identity
• utilitarianism
• Poland

Acknowledgements

I want to thank the students who gave me their time and filled out the questionnaire, and who allowed me to interview them. I also want to express my gratitude to the academics, working at various universities in Poland, who allowed me to come to their classes to conduct my research. I also wanted to thank all colleagues who supported this research, and specifically Professor Laura Cram, Professor Andrew Thompson and Dr. Thomas Willi.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Visegrád Group is a cultural and political alliance of four CEE states: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

2 See appendix for a full list of colleges and faculties where the survey was conducted and for the locations of the interviewees.

3 The first two capital letters stand for the initials; F = female student, M = male student.

4 Data for Gdańsk also includes the neighbouring cities Sopot and Gdynia, which together form the metropolitan region “Tricity”. Data for GDP per capita are from 2015.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adrian Favero

Adrian Favero is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham. He received his PhD in Politics from the University of Edinburgh. His research explores themes of European integration, party politics, and intra-EU migration.