The Many Faces of Tolerance Attitudes toward Diversity in Poland [Paperback]

This book presents a systematic account on Poles attitudes toward ethnic, religious, political, and sexual minorities. It investigates Polands reputation as an intolerant, anti-Semitic, and homophobic country. Counter to a simplistic image of Poland as a hotbed of intolerance, the book shows that Polish intolerance has many faces. For one thing, Poles attitudes toward diversity vary from one group to another. For another, the extent to which Poles attitudes are more or less negative depends on the right or activity they are asked to support and who the respondents happen to be.  The book is the most comprehensive and empirically sophisticated synthesis of Poles attitudes toward diversity to date. Previous research tends to describe Poles attitudes toward a single minority at a time and only examines subgroup differences in their thinking about diversity.

The Many Faces of Tolerance is a multi-faceted analysis of Poles sentiments toward historically and currently discriminated against groups that assesses Poles acceptance of different minorities and authoritatively analyzes its sources. As part of this endeavor, the book develops a ranking of influences on Poles tolerance, undertakes a forecasting of future changes in tolerance in Poland, and proposes practical strategies to ameliorate existing intolerance.

1. Introduction 2. Theoretical Framework 3. Ethnic and Religious Tolerance 4: Attitudes toward Women in Public Life and Politics 5. Tolerance of Political Dissenters 6: Attitudes toward Gay and Lesbian Rights 7. Summary and Conclusions

In her excellent book, Ewa Golebiowska presents the pervasiveness of prejudice in a country where the Holocaust took place. This superbly written and thorough survey of religious, ethnic and sexual hatred paradoxically conveys a positive message: the younger and more educated cohorts bring hope for the more tolerant Poland of toml/