Delimitation of public opinion disfunctionality: the case of Russian-polish ethnic relationships

The author attempts to examine the specific features of the dysfunctional impact of public opinion by a case study of Russian-Polish ethnic relations. To that end, public opinion was institutionally interpreted, which allowed one to apply the statements of R. Merton’s functional analysis. To address the research objective, a series of age-homogeneous focus group interviews were conducted: three groups included university students aged 18 to 25 years and three groups involved elderly people aged 60 years and older. As a result, it became possible to emphasize the fragmentation, the multi-influence of Polish public opinion about the Russian government on Russian-Polish ethnic relations and determine the limits of its impact.