The social reception of economic development processes has been underrated in studies conducted so far. The scarcity of such analyses may be perceived as a problem especially in the case of CEE states, in which economic growth has often been accompanied by a deepening of the socio-economic inequalities in the recent years. This article aims to identify the preferences of Poles concerning the goals of regional policy and the assignment of the European funds. Special attention was given to the differences among various categories of residents, examined in terms of their places of residence, occupational status, education, and age. The research has shown a highly positive attitude of Poles concerning the European funds, and statistically signifi cant relations between selected socio-demographic characteristics of Poles and their preferences concerning the places and fi elds of activity to which the funds should go.

This article seeks to assess how the absorption of European the Union funds by the Polish voivodeships refl ects two basic types of strategy in their allocation, i.e. the polarising and the equalising model. The analysis embraced 16 regional operational programmes (ROPs) between 2007-2013. The frame of reference adopted in the research was the centre-periphery model. Classes of peripherality were distinguished for each voivodeship, and absorption profi les of EU funds were determined for areas differing in their levels of peripherality. The goal of the article was achieved in a multistage research procedure ending in the construction of a synthetic index of the spatial orientation of support within the ROPs. The analysis demonstrated that the features of the polarising model tended to predominate in intra-regional policy. In most cases, however, the distribution of EU support represented a mixed model, with a shift towards the polarising one.