Decline and transformation of cooperation in two rural communities in Poland in the context of deagrarianisation

The aim of this article is to analyse how members of two rural communities—one with a more, and one with a less agrarian character—experience the decline of cooperation, how they compare it to their memories of the past and how they perceive changes in the character of cooperation in the context of deagrarianisation. The research encompassed interviews with villagers of different ages, but mainly in fifty to seventy years of age. The interviews revealed that in both villages the members of the community report that contacts and cooperation between them are in decline, but the residents of village B more often declared that neighbourly help, also in agriculture, was still alive. Some forms of cooperation prevailed and were transformed according to the present conditions of everyday life and work in the two villages. I conclude that deagrarianisation might be one of the factors influencing the decline and transformation of cooperation, but there are also others, present in both villages: transformation of agriculture (mechanization, rise of entrepreneurial farming), social differentiation and use of electronic media.