Popular science material by Viktor Stepanenko, Doctor of Sociological Sciences: “Ukrainian social self-organisation as a wartime resource”

The website of the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine has published a popular science material by Viktor Stepanenko, Doctor of Sociological Sciences, "Ukrainian social self-organisation as a wartime resource".

Any war, and the present Russian-Ukrainian one is no exception, is not only a military and technical clash of states and armies but a confrontation of societies, of their social-psychological and organisational capacities, their resilience, endurance and resources of internal solidary interaction. The basis of such social interaction in wartime is the meanings behind fighting and the motivation to fight. In Ukraine's case these meanings are true and just — the defence of the country against external aggression amid a real threat to the existence of the nation and the country. And these are not invented motives or informational fakes along the lines of Russian propaganda scare stories about “NATO laboratories” or “infected mosquitoes”, but the harsh reality of the occupied Ukrainian territories and the tragic experience of millions of fellow citizens whose lives and fates have already been maimed by the war. At the same time, besides motivation, solidary social interaction requires a society's practical capacity and skills for consolidation and self-organisation. And it is precisely this that is an important resource and at the same time a valuable advantage of Ukrainian society over Russian society in this war.

The full material is here