RosBusinessConsulting November 8, 2007 Russians prefer market economy, poll shows
[WS:] This comes as no surprise. People tend to "prefer" currently existing social-political institutions to ones that exist only in memory or imagination.
A materialist explanation of that phenomenon is that being determines consciousness, not the other way around. People "prefer" what they materially experience, as opposed to experiencing things that they "prefer" (contrary to neo-classical economic fantasies.)
A cognitive-institutional explanation is that existing institutions define the cognitive frame of reference for most people and in that frame of reference they score favorably over alternative institutions . In other words, social-political institutions define their own standards against which they are evaluated, which gives them a preferential treatment in people's judgments over alternatives.
A corollary to the above is that asking for people's "preferences" to define a course of political action (e.g. opinion polls, etc.) is like counting clouds in the sky to predict weather. It is a wild goose chase, and exercise in futility. If changing social-political institutions becomes a fait accompli, changes in people's preferences and opinions will follow.
Wojtek