Ewa Golebiowska publishes new book on diversity and tolerance
Associate Professor, Ewa Golebiowska, has amassed a superlative publication record since her arrival at Wayne State from Tufts University. In addition to a new book, she has published twelve refereed journal articles, and six chapters in edited collections. Dr. Golebiowska has received over $65,000 in grants in support of her research.
Professor Golebiowska's book, The Many Faces of Tolerance: Attitudes toward Diversity in Poland (Routledge) appeared in print in the summer of 2014. The work presents a systematic account on Poles' attitudes toward ethnic, religious, political, and sexual minorities and investigates Poland's reputation as an intolerant, anti-Semitic, and homophobic country. Counter to a simplistic image of Poland as a hotbed of intolerance, the study shows that Polish intolerance has many faces: Polish attitudes toward diversity vary across groups and issues.
The findings indicate that the extent to which Polish attitudes are more or less negative depends on the individual rights or activities they are asked to support and who the respondents happen to be. In contrast, previous research describes Polish attitudes toward a single minority at a time and only examines subgroup differences in their thinking about diversity.
As a path-breaking study, Professor Golebiowska's book is a multivariate analysis of Polish sentiments toward groups against which there have been historical and/or current discrimination. The work assesses Poles' acceptance of different minorities and identifies its sources. As part of the study's achievements, the book develops a ranking of influences on Polish attitudes toward diversity, forecasts future changes in tolerance in Poland, and proposes practical strategies to ameliorate existing discrimination. In short, the book is the most comprehensive and empirically sophisticated analysis of Polish attitudes toward diversity to date.
Dr. Golebiowska's work continues to bring a high level of visibility to the cutting-edge research conducted by the Department of Political Science at Wayne State University.