Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-05T02:26:35.470Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Changing Values and Political Dissatisfaction in Poland and the West: A Comparative Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Ronald Inglehart  and
Renata Siemienska
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

THE POLITICAL CRISIS WHICH ERUPTED IN POLAND IN 1980 WAS widely attributed to the economic problems which beset the country then and subsequently. Economic conditions undoubtedly contributed to the crisis — but survey evidence suggests that gradual cultural changes were a less obvious but at least equally important factor. Historically, the Polish people have characteristically placed relatively great emphasis on self-determination and political freedoms. This traditional heritage has not grown weaker in recent years. Quite the contrary, it seems to have been reinforced by a gradual shift toward postmaterialist values among the Polish public.

An intergenerational shift from materialist toward postmaterialist priorities, already shown to be taking place in more than a score of Western countries, also seems to be occurring in Poland.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , 01 October 1988 , pp. 440 - 457
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Inglehart, R, The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Political Styles among Western Publics, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1977 Google Scholar; Inglehart, R, ‘Aggregate Stability and Individual-level Flux in Mass Belief Systems: the Level of Analysis Paradox, American Political Science Revieiv, 79, 1985, pp. 97–116Google Scholar; Inglehart, R, Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society, Princeton, Princeton University Press,Google Scholar forthcoming; S. H. Barnes, M. Kaase et al., Political Action: Mass Participation in Five Western Democracies, Beverly Hills, Sage, 1979; R. Dalton, S. Flanagan and P. Beck (eds), Electoral Change: Realignment and Dealignment in Advanced Industrial Society, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1984.

2 R. Siemienska, Mass-Authority Relations in the Polish Crisis: Anatomy of Social Consciousness, 1980—82, paper presented at the meetings of the American Political Science Association, Denver, September 1982.

3 Barnes, Kaase et al., op. cit.

4 Inglehart, R, The Silent Revolution, op. cit.; Inglehart, R,‘Postmaterialism in an Environment of Insecurity’, American Political Science Reveiw, 75, 1981, pp. 880–900.Google Scholar

5 Barnes, Kaase et al., op. cit.

6 R. Inglehart, 'Aggregate Stability and Individual-Level Flux in Mass Belief Systems', op. cit.

7 Report о reformie gospodarczej: Ocena i wnioski kierunkowe' (Report on Economic Reform: Evaluations and Conclusions), Rzeczpospolitsa, Warsaw, August 1984.

8 See survey in Euro-Barometer, No. 10, Autumn 1978.

9 R. Inglehart, The Silent Revolution, op. cit.

10 Abramson, P. R. and Inglehart, R., ‘Generational Replacement and Value Change in Six West European Societies‘, American Journal of Political Science, 30, 1, February 1986, pp. 1–25.Google Scholar

11 Muller-Rommel, F, ‘Ecology Parties in Western Europe’, West European Politics, Volume 5, No. 2, 1982, pp. 68–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

12 Polacy '80: Wyniki Badan Ankietowych, Warsaw, Polska Akademia Nauk, 1981; David Mason, 'Solidarity and Socialism', in Jack Bielasiak and Maurice Simon (eds), Polish Politics: Edge of the Abyss, New York, Praeger, 1984.

13 R. Siemienska, ‘Values, Aspirations and Expectations in Polish Society and Perspectives on Need Fulfilment’. Paper presented to conference on Political, Economic and Social Mechanisms for Fulfilment of Needs in Polish Society, held at Grzegorzewice, Poland, 20–23 June 1985.

14 Inglehart, R and Rabier, J.-R, ‘Du bonheur … sentiment personnel et norme culturelle’, Futuribles, 10 1984, pp. 3–28.Google Scholar

15 R. Siemienska, 'Values, Aspirations and Expectations in Polish Society…', op. cit.

16 Gorecki, B, Topinska, J and Wisniewski, M, Podsunowanie raportu Konsultacyjnej Rady Gospodarczej spozycie w Polsce-stan: obecny i perspektywy (Conclusions of the Report of the Consultative Economie Council. Consumption in Poland: Present Situation and Perspectives), Zycie Gospodarcze, 12 1984.Google Scholar