Place inherited or place discovered? Agency and communion in people-place bonding

Agency and communion are two modalities of human existence, corresponding to focus on individuality and achievements versus cooperation and sense of togetherness. In this paper I demonstrate that agency and communion, along with other areas of life, permeate people's relationships with places; agency-related variables are associated with different forms of place attachment than communion-related variables. In two country-wide surveys, Polish and Ukrainian, measures were collected of place attachment, identity, social and cultural capital, values, and sense of continuity. A hierarchical cluster analysis carried out on all measures revealed two clusters corresponding to agency and communion modalities. The traditional form of place attachment (place inherited), place attachment understood as emotional bonds with the residence place (neighbourhood and city) and local identity were parts of the communion cluster, whereas active place attachment (place discovered) was a part of the agency cluster. The findings extend our knowledge about different forms of place attachment.