This book discusses the viability of «importing» the middle class to Poland. The 1990s were a step forward in the formation of the Polish middle class and, systematically yet barely discernible in daily life, the process was triggered by an increase in consumption and affluence. However, the changes of attitudes, life goals and value systems distinct for the Western middle class are ambiguous and rather slow in Poland. They ensue mainly from the changes in new social structures and the behavioral rationality of consumers. It appears that the middle class in Poland will not emerge as an exact copy of the original middle class – rather, it will be its contextually modified variant, affected by Polish cultural traditions.

Henryk Doma?ski is Professor of Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Head of the Department of Social Structure and Head of the Department of Studies on Methods and Techniques of Sociological Research. His main interests are social stratification and mobility, labour market segmentation, inequality of sex and methodology of social research.