Migrujące pokolenie – oceny życia społecznego kraju własnego i kraju migracji

The article presents the results of the research in which the image of social life in Poland and Western European countries in the eyes of young Polish migrants was reconstructed with the application of psychometrics (N=203). This approach assumes that the way people view social reality, in particular phenomena important from the standpoint of personality development (the quality of social bonds, a sense of perspective, opportunity to influence the course of events and shaping their own biographies, choice range of personal patterns), defines the way they function in social space, the life strategies they use, involvement spheres, etc. Applying the same - psychometric - method in relation to a native and migration country facilitated the elimination of many factors distorting the comparison. The comparison is not advantageous for Poland. The image of Polish social life is significantly worse assessed than the one in the countries of Western Europe. As indicated, it has important developmental implications, however, the article focuses on more sociological questions concerning social factors differentiating the evaluation of reality and the relationship between the evaluation and return and life strategies of young migrants.