Zmiana postaw młodzieży wobec ustroju ekonomicznego i kwestii socjalnych
Changes in young people’s attitudes toward the economic system and the social issues

Summary/Abstract: The present publication deals with the description of attitudes towards the economic system and social issues (attitudes were diagnosed on a set of views reflecting a liberal or a neoliberal notion). The research was conducted twice: in 2003 (325 respondents), and in 2008 (379 respondents) and it embraced students of the Białystok universities. An attempt was made to establish whether in the period of the five years between the two surveys, and thus with the advancement of the transformational processes in Poland, one could observe changes in the attitudes in the desired direction – from the point of view of political transformations to “individualism”. The obtained results lead to a conclusion that young people’s experiences, connected with their existence in the new economic reality, resulted in their high support for only a few free market principles. The students strongly opted only for the economic freedom of enterprises, the investment of foreign capital (but only in the latter survey) and meritocratic differentiation of payments. The approval of other principles was low, or at least moderate. Nevertheless, these views showed differences in both surveys: most attitudes appeared to be more and more liberal. The students questioned in 2008 presented relatively higher regard for the economic independence of enterprises, the investment of foreign capital and free market in the sphere of employment. They were less critical of the problem of unemployment and of the limitation of social security benefits from the state (free education and medical care). It indicates the fall of support for etatist-egalitarian views, and slightly weakening approval of the idea of a welfare state.

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