BELIEF SYSTEMS AND COLLECTIVE ACTION - CHANGES IN POLAND FROM THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

The text ventures into psychological aspects of social change in Polan d during the transformation from ''real socialism''. It proposes that normative beliefs of societal groups are a decisive factor in explaini ng the transformation process. The paper reiterates data from represen tative studies of adult samples conducted during the late 1980s before the turn to liberal democracy. Three types of normative beliefs (an I ndividualist Democratic Orientation, a Collectivist Authoritarian Orie ntation, and a Receptive Orientation) are shown to have had substantia l impact on political attitudes of the time. Based on this finding a m odel is proposed under which circumstances a given constellation of no rmative beliefs and political attitudes can result in collective polit ical action as took place in Poland throughout the 1980s. The existenc e of widespread feelings of dissatisfaction, and a collective concept of change, and a feeling of collective efficacy are emphasised as cent ral to the success of collective political action in Poland.