ABSTRACT
Privatization provides a glimpse of how economic strategies and public opinion affect each other. Public attitudes have driven economic change in Poland since the prerevolution days of the mid-1980s, and remain an important factor in the country's current choice of economic strategies. In reality, attitudes shift among various social groups according to whether group interests are affected by proposed changes, and among individuals according to whether the effects of change will be felt directly or indirectly. Eventually it proved difficult for state leaders to praise market mechanisms while suppressing the private sector. Present attitudes toward the transformation are the result of previous opinions and expectations as well as recent experiences. One might imagine that, after a history of having their nation partitioned among the three neighboring countries, poles would be inclined to reject foreign investment.
