Announcement of issue No. 4 of the journal “Sociology: Theory, Methods, Marketing” (2025)

The following articles and materials will be published in issue No. 4 of the journal:

Philipp Casula

Old or New? Russia's War against Ukraine and Post-Soviet identity politics (the article is submitted in English)

The “new wars” paradigm has become an important heuristic instrument for understanding the organised violence that took place across much of Eastern Europe after the collapse of communism in 1989. This approach was especially useful for shedding light on the main aims of wars, on the new combatants taking part in them, and on how conflicts are financed in a globalised world. Although the violence used to annex Crimea and to seize Luhansk and Donetsk in 2014 and afterwards seemed to correspond in large measure to the principles of the “new wars” paradigm, Russia's attack on Ukraine in February 2022 appears to refer us back to the methods of “old wars”. This article aims not to explain the causes of the war but to analyse the mechanics of the present conflict from the standpoint of the “new wars” paradigm. The article thus contains both an analysis of the war Russia unleashed against Ukraine and reflections on the relevance of the “new wars” concept. It consists of two parts. The first section examines the key elements of the “new wars” paradigm, offering a critical perspective from the standpoints of biopolitics and postcolonialism. The second section applies the conclusions of the first to a theoretical discussion of the war in Ukraine.

Olha Kutsenko

Breaking boundaries: how the war is redefining sociologists and sociology

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 became a radical existential challenge not only for Ukrainian society but also for Ukrainian sociology as an academic discipline. The article analyses how the war is breaking down the traditional boundaries between the academy and society, researcher and participant, neutrality and engagement, theory and action. The focus is on the triple crisis of sociology: institutional, epistemological and ethical. Drawing on the approaches of Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault and postcolonial studies, the author proposes a conception of “hybrid knowledge” — a balance between scholarly rigour, civic responsibility and ethical engagement. The article analyses the adaptation of academic institutions to war conditions, changes in the research agenda, methodological compromises, and the strengthening of the sociologist's public and social role. It shows that the war accelerated the decolonial turn, brought the transnational dimension of research to the fore and opened space for a new language for describing Ukrainian reality. Ukrainian sociology emerges as a sociology of action — knowledge that resists, documents tragedy and sustains collective agency in a time of catastrophe.

Olha Bezrukova, Oleksandr Zubchenko

The nature and dimensions of contemporary collaborationism in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine: an attempt at sociological interpretation

The article attempts a comprehensive sociological interpretation of the phenomenon of collaborationism in the context of the current Russian-Ukrainian war. Collaborationism is treated as a form of deviant social behaviour that arises under conditions of external political domination and occupation and manifests itself in the conscious cooperation of particular individuals or social groups with a hostile regime. The authors stress the need to widen the legal interpretation of the notion of collaborationism in sociological categories, which helps to take account of a broad range of motivations, contexts and forms of such behaviour. Through the prism of sociological approaches, collaborationism is considered by type: military, political, economic, administrative, cultural-ideological, educational and social-domestic. Particular attention is given to analysing the factors that fostered the spread of collaborationist practices in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, among them humanitarian vulnerability, the destruction of infrastructure, political disorientation, post-Soviet cultural inertia, religious influence and others. Using the example of the temporarily occupied territories of southern Ukraine, the article analyses the social, cultural and political forms in which collaborationist practices spread in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. In order to draw attention to this subject the authors use qualitative and quantitative methods to support their theoretical conclusions. The article argues for the importance of shaping a state policy based on a differentiated approach to defining the forms and motives of collaborationism, so as to secure social cohesion in the conditions of post-war reintegration.

Maksym Parashchevin

The potential of the main Ukrainian Orthodox Churches in sustaining national resilience: the social and psychological component

The article analyses the possible influence of the main Ukrainian Orthodox denominations (the OCU and the UOC) on the social and psychological resources of national resilience. The formation and maintenance of national resilience is determined by the availability of material, organisational and social-psychological resources. One possible factor affecting the mobilisation of social and psychological resources is religion (religious belief and the activity of religious organisations). Of late a great deal of attention has been paid to this question not only at the level of scholarly analysis but also at the level of state policy. In particular, a conviction has taken shape that the activity of the UOC in Ukraine constitutes a threat to national security and national resilience. An active state policy of countering that threat is being pursued accordingly. The OCU, by contrast, is expected to contribute to national resilience. Influence of this kind is exercised by these Churches through various strands of their activity, in particular through influence on the consciousness (values, conceptions, orientations) of their believers. The available data from representative surveys do not confirm such assumptions. No clear advantage of OCU adherents in terms of social and psychological national resilience is recorded, nor any clear lag on these characteristics among the bulk of UOC adherents. Moreover, the orientations of adherents of both Churches are often similar to those of non-religious people and of “non-denominational” Orthodox believers, which gives grounds to suppose that their positions are determined not so much by denominational influence as by some other secular factors. There are, accordingly, well-founded grounds for considering that the notion of a negative influence of the UOC on the national consciousness of its adherents, like the notion of a positive influence on the part of the OCU, is greatly exaggerated.

Olha Burova

Material well-being as a factor of subjective well-being: international comparisons and the Ukrainian context

The article analyses material well-being as a key factor of subjective well-being under conditions of profound social transformation. On the basis of a review of leading international surveys (ESS, Gallup World Poll, EQLS, EVS/WVS) and of current national studies in Ukraine, it sets out the methodological and conceptual features of measuring well-being. It establishes that, although material income is a stable predictor of life satisfaction, its influence changes under the effect of crisis contexts, in particular war. The Ukrainian case displays the phenomenon of “optimistic compensation through the future” — a paradoxical combination of low satisfaction with the present and high positive expectations. The article analyses the data of the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine (2021–2024), which revealed a decline in material expectations and an adaptation of consumer standards. The study highlights the need for multidimensional approaches to assessing well-being that take account not only of income levels but also of psychological, sociocultural and contextual factors. The article offers a framework for the further development of integrated models for assessing well-being under conditions of instability, relevant both to the Ukrainian and to the wider global context.

Yaroslav Reznik

The phenomenon of sociocultural dissensus: theoretical interpretations and empirical research in world sociology

The article reviews the theoretical interpretations and empirical studies of sociocultural dissensus in world sociology. It analyses the treatment of the phenomenon of dissensus in the works of R. Dahrendorf, E. Shils, V. Aubert, W. Wallace and others. In these works the sociological notion of dissensus is presented as the theoretical antipode and complement of the notion of consensus. Empirical indicators of sociocultural consensus / dissensus in various sociological studies are examined on the basis of the works of M. Mann, N. Stehr, P. M. Baker, J. Markoff, Z. Sawiński and H. Domański, R. Rose and T. Mackie, C. Grafton and A. Permaloff, I. Down and C. J. Wilson, T. González-Arteaga, J. C. R. Alcantud and R. de Andrés Calle, and A. Roberts. This methodological experience testifies to a thorough elaboration of the methodological problems of empirical sociological research in world sociology and can be used in studying the various sociocultural divisions in Ukraine.

Oksana Prokhvatilova

Commemorative practices in the focus of sociological theories: a century from Halbwachs to digital memory studies

The article analyses theoretical approaches to conceptualising social memory and the possibilities of applying them in studies of commemorative practices. On the basis of Barbara Misztal's typology (Misztal, 2003) it examines four key strands: the conception of the social frameworks of remembering (M. Halbwachs), theories of the invention of tradition (E. Hobsbawm), approaches to popular memory, and contemporary theories of dynamic memory.

The most promising are found to be the theories of dynamic memory, which take account of the multi-level interaction of various actors. In this context social solidarity emerges not as the result of unified traditions or of the opposition between memory and counter-memory, but as the consequence of continuous dialogue and consensus about the past. The article identifies the role of the state, of institutions, of social groups and of individuals as bearers of agency, and emphasises the influence of digital technologies, which are forming new modes of memory. Particular attention is given to the “connective turn” (A. Hoskins) and to the spread of artificial intelligence technologies as factors of hybrid agency.

Ukrainian studies of recent years are analysed, in which historiographical interpretations of memory predominate, although ever more attention is being paid to sociological approaches. The conclusion is drawn that sociology is capable of overcoming the limitations of both state-centred and individualist models, offering instruments for analysing the interaction of actors at different levels. Such an approach lays the groundwork for the development in Ukraine of contemporary memory studies capable of integrating Ukrainian scholarship into the global context and of offering appropriate theoretical frameworks and methodology for analysing a broad range of commemorative practices.

Yevhen Siryi

Latent markers of sociological synthesis in the representation of the epistemological construct of “entrepreneurship” as a factor of class and stratification development

Drawing on theories of social differentiation as a representation of the construct of “entrepreneurship”, the article sets out the theoretical coordinates of this concept in sociology with a view to identifying new markers of its epistemological potential in interpreting and explaining social phenomena and processes in their development, in resolving questions of the structuring of society and of social reproduction (class and stratification development), and in overcoming certain dilemmas in sociological theory.

In a descriptive and analytical format the article presents a wide variety of examples showing that in most theories of social differentiation entrepreneurship is presented, if not directly, as one of the factors and mechanisms securing the possibility of social advancement. A systematisation of the markers of the entrepreneurial factor in the relevant theories reveals the scholarly legitimation of the epistemological potential of the notion of “entrepreneurship” in sociological theorising.

In the section “An invitation to discussion”:

Mykola Bondarenko

A “helicopter view” of strategy: why it is sometimes worth taking a step back in order to move forward, and what sociology has to do with it

The article argues for the value of a “helicopter view” when developing strategies. Its main focus is S. Wardley's mapping methodology. It analyses the approach that understands strategy as a cycle and sets out its key elements, describing five strategic factors (purpose, landscape, climate, doctrine and leadership), the decision-making “loop” (from observation to action) and two types of “why” question useful for grasping the components of the cycle. Particular attention is given to the factors of “landscape” and “climate” — that is, to the analysis of the “playing field” that sets the context needed for a full understanding of the situation. Continuing the theme, the article confirms that a situation is captured well and visibly through map-based visualisation. It sets out the main characteristics of creating strategic maps and demonstrates ways of using them. It explains what it means to place the components of a map on its axes (visibility of value and evolution). On the basis of combining strategic and sociological approaches it shows how the use of the cycle can assist analysis and research. It demonstrates the particular importance of sociology for describing and measuring the strategic “landscape” and “climate” that determine the positioning of forces in business or politics. Conversely, it shows how a sociological study can be built on the principles of the strategic cycle, with an emphasis on the theoretical and empirical aspects of that process. It demonstrates clearly how research can be “broken down” into elements through the use of mapping. It establishes the analytical and predictive potential of strategic maps for making more effective research or project decisions.

In the section “Sociological commentary”:

Oleksii Haran

The Bekeshkina phenomenon: “honest sociology” — journalism — public advocacy

Serhii Taradaiko

Paranoia and politics

The article continues a long line of enquiry in which particular mental disorders are considered in a broad social and personal context. This view, applied as early as Freud and reinforced by Deleuze and Guattari, can be extended to paranoia as well. Moreover, its symptoms are highly visible today above all in what might be called high politics, and particular signs of it are easily recognisable.