Socio-economic backwardness in the rural areas of the North-Eastern Borderlands of the Second Republic of Poland

Abstract

The North-Eastern Borderlands of the Republic of Poland in the interwar period were the most economically and socially backward area, often called ‘Poland B’. It was primarily a rural region that significantly shaped the social and economic landscape of the area. The purpose of the article was to define and evaluate individual elements of the socio-economic backwardness of the rural areas in the North-Eastern Borderlands of the Second Republic of Poland. With the exception that the concept of socio-economic backwardness will be considered as an antonym of the concept of socio-economic development. Unlike the latter, which has a positive dimension and is included in the context of progress, the concept of backwardness is a determinant of reference to the category of backwardness, outdatedness, non-modernity and anachronism. In the case of the concept of backwardness, by analogy with the concept of development, the social aspect is a complementary feature of the economic approach, and vice versa, economic backwardness does not occur in isolation from the backwardness of the social structure. These two groups of factors will be the main sources of the research analysis, where the social approach will be analyzed in the group of specific terrain properties that significantly affected the image of the civilization backwardness in this area, while the conditions and economic processes will be covered separately. Such a presentation of the topic will give the opportunity for a broader perspective and a more in-depth analysis.