Success Perception Embedded in the Experience of Adverse Social Selection of a Post-Communist Transition Society

Abstract

Based on the four different types of success ethics described by De Vitis – Rich (1996), a questionnaire was created and used in a representative sample (N = 1007) of the contemporary Hungarian society to gain understanding of the dominant social representation of success achievement two decades after the fall of the iron curtain. Results showed that none of the four distinct types of historical American ethics could gain sole dominance, but a specific blend of success ethics characterizes the national public thinking, with the vast majority of respondents belonging to a cluster best described by strong belief in immoral success achievement and low confidence in hard work-based goal attainment. At the same time, a relatively slow movement towards a more proactive approach to success perception was detected by comparing the results of two earlier researches in Hungary, but having powerful social capital and well-functioning connections still holds the first place on the list of success factors.

Keywords

• success
• success perception
• success ethics
• post-communist transition
• adverse selec - tion
• social representation
• adverse selection
• social representation