ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 considers in some detail crucial aspects of religious identity in traditional Polish communities and, in this way, analyzes reflexivity in relation to the transcendental order in pre-modern Polish society. It answers the question: to what extent was traditional religiosity reflexive? Some critical descriptions of theoretical concepts concerning the relationship between religion, culture and identity are presented, and classical conceptions of Polish ‘folk’ and ‘popular’ religiosity are examined. Traditional religiosity has often been understood as unreflexive and habitual or even akin to magic. A critical realist focus facilitates a review of the prevailing understanding of traditional Polish Catholicism. The chapter demonstrates that rereading the literature on traditional religiosity from a realist perspective reveals the reflexive dimension of folk religiosity. My discussion here shows that traditional religiosity was both reflexive and deliberative, despite the fact that it was strongly influenced by social structures. Some crucial aspects of Polish Catholicism are described which show the degree to which Polish religious faith mobilized social change in Poland and shaped human agency. I also discuss how religion played an important role when members of traditional society migrated in the past.
