Streszczenie
A tentative of (re)construction of model character state of contemporary Polish rural societies is attempted on the basis of a large empirical material, especially the “Social Diagnosis 2009”. These characters are compared with those given in a characteristics of rural societies given by Paweł Rybicki in his 1972 book “Społeczeństwo miejskie” [Urban society]. The present state of characters like territorialism, openness / isolation, homogeneity / heterogeneity, and so on, is analysed. It is reflected in the nature of the present rural economy, differentiated social structure, and decomposed system of values. The conclusion is that extreme differentiation of rural societies makes describing them as a single ideal type very difficult
and perhaps even impossible. This should be kept in mind when conducting research.