Abstract
As a contemporary dominant approach to the study of national identity can be considered a critical discourse analysis (CDA), which presupposes that nation is imagined community which is produced and reproduced discursively. Moreover, CDA denies a traditional dichotomy between political and cultural nations, which is viewed just as a purpose-built consequence of power.
With regard to the fact that most researchers who use CDA limit their approaches to the modern context of the 20th century, it is desirable to ask to what extent one can apply methods of CDA to premodern national identities. The clarification of this issue should be deemed as the main aim of this study which holds that the Polish aristocratic nation is a convenient case for this kind of research, because its elites had to reflect not only the loss of statehood and thus the programme of future desired development, but also causes of previous failure.
Analysis of conflicts between conservative national attitudes during the 19th century should therefore define who was considered as a Pole and to what extent was national identity based on ideological and discursive assumptions.