Popular science material by V. F. Burlachuk, Doctor of Sociological Sciences: “War and symbolic action”

The website of the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine has published a popular science material by V. F. Burlachuk, Doctor of Sociological Sciences, "War and symbolic action"

Symbolic action has a nature of its own; it cannot be treated as a general characteristic of human activity, since what distinguishes such action from other forms of activity is its interaction with a symbol as with a real social object. It occurs in various spheres of social life, encompassing politics, ideology, religion and even the sphere of everyday life. Some examples: a president, with a hand on the Bible, reads out the text of an oath before parliament; a young man gives a young woman flowers; a revolutionary sailor throws the Romanov coat of arms down from the roof of the Winter Palace; a general decorates a soldier who has distinguished himself in battle, and so on.

For more on the features of symbolic action see the new popular science material.