Dla kogo Polska jest sprawiedliwie urządzonym, a dla kogo najlepszym krajem do życia?
For Whom Is Poland Justly Ordered and the Best Country to Live in?

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of two studies presented in the article is to find psychological predictors of moral legitimization of actual economic and political system in Poland and also some predictors of favoritism of Poland as the country to live in. The studies were conducted within the System Justification Theory (SJT) framework (Jost, Banaji, 1994; Jost, Banaji, Nosek, 2004, Kay, Jost, 2003).According to this theory, people in general are motivated to rationalize the status quo because it helps to maintain and protect a sense of internal control and positive image of oneself and/or one’s group, and is associated with individual life’s satisfaction. The role of conservative economic beliefs (supported economic inequalities and free market economy) and traditional conservative worldview – treated as “ideological legitimization myths” of the real system – was tested in the first study. The role of negative perceptual schemata of the social world – the dangerous and antagonistic social relations – was tested in the second study. Both studies were conducted on random representative samples of adult Polish citizens (n = 1024, study 1, February 2008; n = 853, study 2, March 2011). The data was collected in a face-to-face interview using a computer (Computer Assisted Personal Interview – CAPI), which ensured individual randomization of the item order within multi-item scales. Results support the hypotheses based on SJT: the significant predictors of the system justification level (moral legitimacy) are conservative social beliefs (study 1). Other important negative predictors of the moral legitimacy are schemata of social world: the perception of the social world as dangerous and social relations as antagonistic (study 1 and 2). The level of favoritism of Poland as the best country to live in is predicted by respondent’s age, national identification, group authoritarianism and sense of security (study 2). In conclusion, moral legitimization of the economic and political status quo in Poland is rather weak. Most of Polish citizens do not accept “ideological legitimization myths” and perceive their social environment as full of hostility, aggressive rivalry, but not supportive. People who see Poland as the best country to live in are strongly identified with Polish nation, accept collectivistic group authoritarianism and have sense of security in their social environment.

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