National diversity versus citizenship as social capital exemplified by Polish families living in the Vilnius Region

Abstract

National diversity within one statehood generates number of problems that determine not only the quality of social relations but also the cultural self-identification of the members of culturally diverse communities, affecting the sense and range of their civic commitments. As a consequence, it concerns social capital of a multinational state. Therefore, exploring the quality of social relations of national provenance, specificity of the national dualism along with their cultural and socialisational consequences shall all be recognized necessary for conceptualisation of social capital in a multinational society. The presented research results allowed to outline the specificity of the cultural diversification in Lithuania, distance and recognition of national provenance, significant for the researched areas of their everyday functioning accompanied by cultural interspersion and family socialisation. The proposed conclusions provide foundation for description of the specificity of social capital of nationally diverse local communities.