Abstract
The paper is a contribution to the study of the issue that is undoubtedly highly interesting and crucial from the methodological and social viewpoints. In a selective manner, it highlights some questions relating to the application of the category of identity within the system of social and humanitarian disciplines examining the shaping of the consciousness of an individual, ethnic groups and nations.
By revealing the mechanism influencing the behavior and conduct of bearers of identity it will be possible to understand the activities of members of various cultural communities in the past and present and – in a more general approach – to think of their development in the future. From the formal viewpoint, the study consists of chapter and subchapters according to individual issues (Group identity: ethnic character, auto-stereotypes versus group identities; social change versus concept of group identity).