Market Regulations in Social Relationships and Attitudes Towards Disabled People

Abstract

The article presents an empirical study on some predictors of attitudes to disabled people. The assumption was that in market-oriented societies attitudes to the needy and underprivileged are connected with the calculation of the costs and benefits of their inclusion in society. Psychological mercantilism is an individual characteristic which makes people especially keen on conducting such calculations. The relation between mercantilism and attitudes to the disabled with the perception of costs and benefits as mediators was examined in the group of 126 university students. The results showed a negative correlation between the main variables as well as the assumed mediation effect.