Attitudes About Success: Is It Rational To Be Dishonest During Economic Transition?

Success or becoming successful is quite often identified as a goal by many cultures in the world.  As former Soviet states gained their independence and opened to the rest of the world the notion of success, especially economic success, became very popular even for children.  It is important to note that as economic achievement becomes imperative it is unclear whether the transitional economies are able to provide their citizens with the legitimate means of achieving this coveted success.  

Here we propose to compare attitudes of Ukrainian students to success and the means of its achievement to those of American students by conducting a pilot survey in American colleges and Ukrainian schools.  The survey questions include the definitions of one’s success, necessary elements of success and the possibility of breaking the law, being dishonest and corrupt to achieve the success.  One can hypothesize that the established economy with well-developed democratic institutions (like those of the US) will produce citizens who are less inclined to choose the illegal or dishonest path to achievement.  Ukraine, on the other hand, with its relatively high level of corruption (according to TI index) and unstable economy might be more likely to influence the population to acquire quite different values and attitudes, more suitable to ‘cut-throat’ conditions of the market.  Is the Ukrainian population’s willingness to ignore the law and basic notions of honesty an indicator of a rational adaptation?