Regional diversification of socio-economic development perception: A case study of Georgian Adjara and Guria

Abstract

This article aims to demonstrate similarities and differences in social perception of the direction and pace of development processes in two selected Georgian regions: Adjara and Guria. Using the interview technique, the study was conducted in rural units representing highly different development trajectories, i.e. groups of the richest and fastest developing units and depressed regions in need of general reconstruction, both in economic and social terms. A total of 60 respondents took part in the study.

The results showed that Adjara and Guria, despite substantial differences in the level and dynamics of development, do not differ significantly in terms of social perception of the changes taking place. Respondents from both units gave similar, primarily critical, assessments of the direction and pace of transformations in the mkhareebi they inhabit. The resulting research shed new light on previously published results of quantitative analyses (cf Kaczmarek-Khubnaia 2023), illustrating that despite the different levels and dynamics of development of Adjaria and Guria (leader unit vs. depressed region), their inhabitants perceive the above process in very similar terms.

However, the scale of the similarity of many of the responses given in the two survey units suggests that rural life in the region at the forefront of Georgian development is slightly different from life in the rural areas of the poorest region. This means that the scale of the measurable inequalities identified by the quantitative analysis may be markedly different from the subjective inequalities experienced by the residents, the areas of ‘insignificance’

In addition, the conclusions present further directions for research on the development of Georgian regions. In the next stage of the study, it is recommended that further in-depth analyses be carried out on the geography of discontent, with a particular focus on rural areas. It is also important to investigate perceptions of the development of Georgian urbanised areas, which would allow a comparison of the fundamental differences and similarities between urban and rural areas.