Social structure and personality under conditions of radical social change : A comparative analysis of Poland and Ukraine

Does the relationship between social structure and personality during times of apparent social stability obtain as well under conditions of radical social change ? There are good reasons to think that it might not. To find out, the authors conducted surveys in Poland and Ukraine during 1992-1993, with dramatic results. In those respects in which the socialist Poland of 1978 had shown a pattern of relationships similar to that of the capitalist United States and Japan (notably, the relationship of social structure to self-directedness of orientation), the pattern remains the same; but where socialist Poland in 1978 had differed from the United States and Japan (notably, in the relationship of social structure to a sense of distress), Poland now fully exemplifies the capitalist pattern. Ukraine seems to be following a similar trajectory, albeit at a slower pace