THE ATTITUDES OF THE POLES TOWARDS FOREIGNERS

The article presents the outcome of the research of Polish Measurement of Attitudes and Values (PPPiW) on the attitudes of the Poles towards foreigners carried out in 2009 and 2010. The Bogardus Social Distance Scale was used in the analyses in order to describe the social distance between the Poles and the foreigners. The outcome facilitates the comparison at the local (Warsaw) and the national level together with the description of different perspectives towards strangers. According to respondents, immigrants should integrate themselves into the society by learning Polish and by accepting local axiomatic and normative rules. Although the Poles are likely to accept foreigners as their neighbours or work colleagues, they are less keen on them as potential partners of their children. According to the acquired data, Polish citizens express positive feelings towards „different” cultural groups but think in stereotypes