ABSTRACT
Hungarian society as a whole has suffered immensely from the transition to a democratic political system and free-market economy. The police and the Gypsy minority were especially affected by what for many were unforeseen changes. The Gypsy minority is arguably the major looser of the transition from state-socialism to a free-market economy. In this chapter the authors presents a study to discuss the social-psychological elements of the relationship between the Hungarian police and the Gypsy minority, in order to design specific educational programmes. Hungarian police officers' image of the Gypsy minority can be characterised as profoundly negative. The authors' then investigates two types of attributions in order to reveal the interpretative structure used by police to categorise a person as Gypsy. The first included mostly external attributions of unemployment, discrimination and poverty. Paradoxically, while most police perceive public opinion as a major source of anti-Gypsy hostility, the media which by definition influences public opinion is perceived as lenient toward Gypsies.
