Research projects
The topics the institute's units are working on, and the projects completed since 1991.
Data Archive: data sets of national and international projects
Current projects
Sociological indicators of individual well-being: reflections and the state of society
Unit — Sociological Monitoring Sector
Principal investigator — Dembitskyi Serhii Serhiyovych
The national resilience of Ukraine during the Russian-Ukrainian war: social configurations
Unit — Sociological Monitoring Sector
Principal investigator — Dembitskyi Serhii Serhiyovych
Stability and change in the reproduction of social structure and inequalities under extraordinary conditions
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Simonchuk Olena Volodymyrivna
Digitalisation of the economic life of Ukrainian society: state, social consequences and prospects
Unit — Department of Economic Sociology
Principal investigator — Smakota Viktoria Vitaliivna
Methodology and instruments for measuring sociological indicators of social change under conditions of transit
Unit — Department of Methodology and Methods of Sociology
Principal investigator — Golovakha Ievgenii Ivanovich
Ukrainian Society: monitoring of social change
Unit — Sociological Monitoring Sector
Principal investigator — Dembitskyi Serhii Serhiyovych
The longest-running nationwide sociological survey in Ukraine. The tradition of monitoring the democratic and market transformations of Ukrainian society was established by Valerii Vorona, Nataliia Panina and Yevhen Holovakha.
International projects
Access to information and media literacy on politics and elections: a collaborative study of Ukraine
Unit — Department of Social Psychology
Principal investigator — Boiko Nataliya Leonidivna, Dembitskyi Serhii Serhiyovych, William H. Dutton (Portulans Institute)
Tracking public opinion in Ukraine before and after Russia's full-scale invasion
Unit — Sociological Monitoring Sector
Principal investigator — Dembitskyi Serhii Serhiyovych, Mikhail Alexseev (SDSU, principal investigator)
International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Ukraine took part in the International Social Survey Programme with two modules: 'Religion' (2008) and 'Social Inequality' (2009, 2019). The national coordinators in different years were Serhii Makeiev, Olga Ivashchenko, Svitlana Oksamytna and Olena Simonchuk.
In 2025 the Department of Social Structures, in partnership with the Rating Group, secured Ukraine's full membership of the ISSP. The national coordinators on behalf of the Institute are Olena Simonchuk and Svitlana Oksamytna; in that year a survey was carried out with the 'Digital Society' module.
European Social Survey (ESS)
Unit — Department of Social Structures
In every wave of the project the Department's researchers code the occupational and industry variables, using the ISCO and NACE classifications respectively.
Attitudes to Change Project
Unit — Department of Social Structures
The project was carried out in partnership with Nuffield College, Oxford. The national coordinator for Ukraine was Serhii Makeiev.
Completed projects
Stress states of Ukraine's population in the context of the war: prevalence, risk groups and ways of compensation
Unit — Department of Methodology and Methods of Sociology
Principal investigator — Dembitskyi Serhii Serhiyovych
Social structures of non-standard employment in modern Ukrainian society
Unit — Department of Economic Sociology
Principal investigator — Smakota Viktoria Vitaliivna, T. O. Petrushyna
Findings
The analysis of the modern labour market showed that non-standard work in its various types and forms is taking a dominant place in the structure of world and Ukrainian employment; at the same time traditional, standard forms are being destroyed and transformed into non-standard varieties and forms of labour activity. The main catalyst of these processes has been the rapid development of information and communication technologies and of digital platforms.
Non-standard employment opens up new opportunities for participation in economic, labour and social life. The level of education of the Ukrainian population makes it possible for Ukrainian IT specialists to develop employment on digital platforms and compete internationally. Digital technologies expand opportunities for employment, education and self-development, which allowed a significant part of the Ukrainian population to keep or change their work during the COVID-19 pandemic and the large-scale war. Workers in this field are mostly satisfied with their work, since it allows them to have employment and a livelihood in extreme conditions.
However, non-standard employment acquires features of vulnerability because of the reduced social protection of employees: it is often marked by a high degree of uncertainty due to short-term contracts and the absence of social guarantees. The risks of job loss, forced unemployment, retraining and the defence of one's rights at the workplace fall directly on the employees themselves.
Behavioural strategies of the population amid the spread of socially dangerous diseases
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
Principal investigator — Chepurko Gulbarshyn Iskakivna
The reliability of sociological knowledge: theoretical-methodological, empirical and discursive aspects
Unit — Department of Methodology and Methods of Sociology
Principal investigator — Golovakha Ievgenii Ivanovich
Factors, direction and intensity of change in the social structure of generations
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Makeiev Serhii Oleksijovych
A systemic approach to the sociological study of individual values: empirical implications
Unit — Department of Methodology and Methods of Sociology
Principal investigator — Dembitskyi Serhii Serhiyovych
Indicators of national resilience in the measurement of public opinion
Unit — Department of Methodology and Methods of Sociology
Principal investigator — Dembitskyi Serhii Serhiyovych
Social change in Ukrainian society in the context of economic globalisation
Unit — Department of Economic Sociology
Principal investigator — T. O. Petrushyna
Findings
The economic development of recent years makes it obvious that Ukraine has not been able to integrate into the international production system. Its lag behind most developed countries in labour productivity is due to a focus on a raw-material model of economic development, which causes a fall in GDP and large-scale deindustrialisation. On the whole this state of affairs excludes economic development and, with it, human development.
The adverse effects of globalisation have exceeded positive expectations, affecting both the economic and the social spheres of society: the significant spread of the 'working poor' phenomenon, the cumulative deterioration of job security and the intensification of labour migration have directly affected the qualification potential of the population. One respondent in two finds it difficult to obtain work matching their qualifications, and difficulties prevail even when looking for any job at all. Among those in work, one in five has a job in another locality of Ukraine.
A growing number of migrant workers reduces tension in the domestic labour market to some extent and improves the financial position of households receiving transfers from abroad. Yet the domestic economy is short of highly qualified workers and specialists in a number of fields; the quality of available labour resources is declining, the social potential for economic development is weakening, and growing migration sentiment, especially among young people, poses a serious threat to the viability of the country.
More… (77) Collapse
The modernisation of contemporary Ukrainian society
Development and testing of sociological instruments for studying adaptation, inclusion and changing identities under conditions of mass migration
Unit — Department of Methodology and Methods of Sociology
Principal investigator — Golovakha Ievgenii Ivanovich
Social preconditions and the image of Ukraine's civilisational subjectivity in mass consciousness
Unit — Department of Methodology and Methods of Sociology
Principal investigator — Dembitskyi Serhii Serhiyovych
Global trends and local features in the reproduction of social inequality
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Makeiev Serhii Oleksijovych
The current state and prospects of metatheorising in sociology
Unit — Department of History and Theory of Sociology
Principal investigator — Reznik Volodymyr Stanislavovich
The study responds to the fact that Ukrainian sociologists' familiarity with the current course and problems of sociological metatheorising does not match the needs and possibilities of scholarly reflection in a transitional Ukrainian society integrating into the European and global social space. Its aim is to examine the current state and prospects of metatheorising in sociology through a comparative analysis of the relevant theoretical constructions — a historical reconstruction of contemporary versions of sociological metatheory, comparing their underlying assumptions about the nature of social reality, the ways of knowing it and the models of explanation, their analytical strategies and their priority problems. The object of study is the theoretical work of leading world sociologists of recent decades; its subject field is the major achievements in building the foundations of sociological metatheory since 2000.
Social tension in a society in crisis: factors, dynamics and ways of minimisation
Unit — Department of Social Psychology
Principal investigator — Zlobina Olena Genadiivna
The state, problems and prospects of the working class in the system of socio-economic relations of Ukrainian society
Unit — Department of Economic Sociology
Principal investigator — Arseienko Anatoliy Grigorovich
Findings
The influence of neoliberal globalisation on the evolution of labour relations in the modern world, including Ukraine, was established. The propagandistic character of modern myths about the 'disappearance' of the working class was demonstrated, as was the worsening of its position following capitalism's social revanche after the collapse of the world socialist system. The destructive nature of the 'economic reforms' in Ukraine was established: they led to the plundering of public property, the deindustrialisation and primitivisation of the economy, the deprivation of working people and growing inequality. World experience of collective bargaining was summarised and recommendations for Ukrainian trade unions developed. The state of class consciousness and the prospects of the Ukrainian working class were analysed.
Social problems of the civilisational choice of contemporary Ukrainian society
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
Development and adaptation of measurement instruments for mass sociological surveys in a transforming society
Unit — Department of Methodology and Methods of Sociology
Principal investigator — Golovakha Ievgenii Ivanovich
The innovative and adaptive potential of the everyday-life structures of different population categories in a society in crisis
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Makeiev Serhii Oleksijovych
The role of science in the modernisation of Ukrainian society
Unit — Department of Economic Sociology
Principal investigator — T. O. Petrushyna
Findings
Monitoring of public opinion revealed that, against a background of actual disinterest in science on the part of the Ukrainian state and business, there is public demand for the development of domestic science. Ukrainian citizens' trust in domestic scientists remains the highest among the main social institutions. A survey of experts produced competent assessments of the general state of science in modern Ukraine and substantial proposals on the essence, principles, directions and conditions of effective reform of the scientific sphere. The vast majority of experts predict further deterioration and stress that science can fulfil its key role in the modernisation of society only given normal funding and a radical change of attitude on the part of the authorities.
Social order in contemporary Ukrainian society: modernisation, self-organisation and legitimation
Unit — Department of History and Theory of Sociology
Principal investigator — Reznik Volodymyr Stanislavovich
The aim of the study is to conceptualise social order as a societal phenomenon and, on that conceptual basis, to obtain knowledge about the state of social orderliness in contemporary Ukrainian society and the likely possibilities and directions of such ordering. The study responds to the mismatch between the existing social order of public life and the expectations of the great majority of Ukrainian citizens. Existing explanations of social order in stable developed societies reveal their limits and highlight the shortage of knowledge about social orderliness in transitional societies.
Socio-psychological factors of the integration of contemporary Ukrainian society: solidarity, responsibility, tolerance, trust
Unit — Department of Social Psychology
Principal investigator — Zlobina Olena Genadiivna
Published from this project
The social potential of innovative development of Ukraine's economy
Unit — Department of Economic Sociology
Principal investigator — T. O. Petrushyna
Findings
The structural components of this potential were identified — socio-political, socio-economic, institutional, socio-cultural, scientific and educational sub-potentials — and their level and importance for the innovative development of the domestic economy assessed. The main social barriers that make innovative economic development impossible in Ukraine were established: the system of family-clan oligarchic capitalism, the socio-political system, the socio-economic differentiation of the population, corruption, the monopolisation and shadowing of the economy, and the low standard of living.
The regulative functions of social capital in Ukraine's transition processes
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
The dynamics of socio-cultural processes in Ukrainian society
Unit — Department of Sociology of Culture and Mass Communication
Principal investigator — Kostenko Nataliia Viktorivna
Socio-cultural dynamics are treated as the interaction of the processes, states and outcomes of cultural reproduction and cultural mobility, which combine into distinctive types with respect to changes in the value-symbolic environment, the intangible resources of society, cultural production, and the participation of Ukrainian citizens in culture and cultural practices.
Sociological conceptualisations of society in making sense of modernisation processes
Unit — Department of History and Theory of Sociology
Principal investigator — Stepanenko Viktor Petrovich
The aim of the project is a systematic analysis of contemporary sociological conceptions of society, so as to use their theoretical potential in making sense of the pressing problems of Ukraine's societal transformation and modernisation. Its tasks were to examine the transformation of sociological approaches and methodology and the development of the conceptual apparatus around 'society' as a complex systemic object of meta-sociological research; to analyse and systematise contemporary sociological approaches to studying modern society and the various — reproductive, institutional, functional, symbolic-communicative — aspects of its life; and to bring into focus and study the contemporary sociological problems of social change, transformation, modernisation and stagnation.
Factors and mechanisms regulating social behaviour in situations of social instability
Unit — Department of Social Psychology
Principal investigator — Zlobina Olena Genadiivna
Published from this project
Social stratification in Ukraine in global and local perspective
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Makeiev Serhii Oleksijovych
The quality of life of Ukraine's population under conditions of a differentiated socio-economic space
Unit — Department of Economic Sociology
Principal investigator — Ye. I. Suimenko
Findings
The concept of 'standard of living' is central to an economic-sociological approach to the quality of life. Quality of life can be viewed as a social (societal) and socio-psychological (individual) assessment of the standard of living, an indicator of the social and personal comfort of everyday life. The financial situation and quality of working life of Ukrainian citizens, public health, the ecological environment, the spiritual life of society and other components were analysed. According to opinion polls, over the years of market reform — despite the population's increasing adaptation to capitalist relations — life in the country has been deteriorating: overall consumption is very low, and in important respects the needs of a significant part of the population (from a third to a half) go unmet.
Models of the integration processes of Ukrainian society under contemporary globalisation
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
Ukrainian sociology: recent history since the 1960s and dilemmas of development
Unit — Department of History and Theory of Sociology
Principal investigator — Stepanenko Viktor Petrovich
Findings
The historical stages and social factors of the development of Ukrainian sociology in the 1960s–2000s were analysed in the context of a transforming society and of the development of world sociology. The specifics of the institutionalisation of Ukrainian sociology from Soviet times and of its later formation — connected above all with the proclamation of an independent state and the processes of democratisation — were established. The social and scholarly regularities in the transformation of the conceptual apparatus and subject field of Ukrainian sociology were analysed.
The first expert survey of professional sociologists of Ukraine on the state, problems and prospects of sociology in the country was prepared and carried out. The findings were presented at two international and a number of national conferences; a monograph and more than 15 articles were published, and members of the project took part in drafting the State Concept of the Humanitarian Development of Ukraine to 2020.
The production and transmission of meanings in a multicultural society
Unit — Department of Sociology of Culture and Mass Communication
Principal investigator — Kostenko Nataliia Viktorivna
Published from this project
Social interests in the dynamics of intergroup and interpersonal interaction
Unit — Department of Social Psychology
Principal investigator — Zlobina Olena Genadiivna
Published from this project
Continuity and change in the transformations of social structure
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Makeiev Serhii Oleksijovych
Social structure, value orientations and the image of the future among citizens of Russia and Ukraine: a comparative analysis
The state and prospects of Ukraine's entry into the global socio-economic space
Unit — Department of Economic Sociology
Principal investigator — Ye. I. Suimenko
Findings
Noticeable differences were revealed in the orientation of Ukrainian citizens towards joining the EU, NATO and the Common Economic Space, in favour of the last of these blocs; significant uncertainty was recorded in the population's attitude to the prospects of Ukraine's entry into the EU.
Integration mechanisms of the consolidation of Ukrainian society under social inequality
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
Contemporary sociological theory against the background of globalisation challenges
Unit — Department of History and Theory of Sociology
Principal investigator — Stepanenko Viktor Petrovich
Findings
Contemporary sociological conceptions of globalisation were analysed, in theoretical fields including postmodern theory, the conception of the 'risk society', information and communication theories, the sociology of culture and values, the conflict paradigm, and questions of the representation and image of Ukraine in the contemporary global world. The transformation of contemporary sociological theory under globalisation was examined. The specific features of globalisation in Ukraine and its perception in public opinion and political discourse were analysed. A collective monograph and more than 20 articles were published, and the findings were presented at two international and a number of national conferences.
Subcultures of contemporary Ukraine: features, reproduction, accommodation
Unit — Department of Sociology of Culture and Mass Communication
Principal investigator — Ruchka Anatolii Oleksandrovich
Changes in the lifestyles of Ukraine's population under the influence of socio-cultural determinants
Unit — Department of Social Psychology
Principal investigator — Shulga Mykola Oleksandrovych
Published from this project
Mass emotional states in a situation of immediate socio-political choice
Unit — Department of Social Psychology
Principal investigator — Zlobina Olena Genadiivna
The economic culture of Ukrainian society
Unit — Department of Economic Sociology
Principal investigator — Ye. I. Suimenko
Findings
The polymorphic character of economic culture was established: it shows in a complex internal structure, a multifactorial sociogenesis, varied forms of manifestation and a multiplicity of functions performed. On the basis of an expert survey, the value-normative content of economic culture, its innovative components and its development prospects were examined. The economic culture of the main actors of economic activity was analysed: heads of enterprises and public authorities, entrepreneurs and employees. The level of economic culture of the population as a whole is assessed as below average.
The social dynamics of settlement structures: a comparative analysis
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
Sociological knowledge and power: a dialogue between theory and political practice
Unit — Department of History and Theory of Sociology
Principal investigator — Stepanenko Viktor Petrovich
Findings
The main conceptions of world sociological theory bearing on the problem were analysed: postmodern conceptions, the 'sociology of sociology', conceptions of civil society and social capital, post-structuralism, the phenomenology of culture and symbolic exchange, and conflict theory. The conditions and factors for optimising the communicative model of relations between power, sociological knowledge and society were analysed. A collective monograph and more than 30 articles were published, and an international conference was held.
Traditionalism and innovation in the social priorities of Ukraine's population: social-temporal and social-spatial dimensions
Unit — Department of Social Psychology
Principal investigator — V. O. Tykhonovych
The legitimation and institutionalisation of new social inequalities
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Makeiev Serhii Oleksijovych
A study of the state and direction of public opinion on current problems of Ukraine's socio-political life and of the population's political activity following the 2004 election campaign
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
Mass media as a source of the political, civic and cultural orientations of the population during the democratic transition
Unit — Department of Sociology of Culture and Mass Communication
Principal investigator — Ruchka Anatolii Oleksandrovich
Developing models of life under heightened risk from emergencies and disasters, drawing on the experience of the Chornobyl catastrophe
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
A study of Kyiv residents' opinions on developments in domestic politics and local self-government
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
The influence of civil-society structures and institutions on the electoral behaviour of Ukraine's population during the 2004 election campaign
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
Developing models of labour behaviour in Ukraine's labour market under an insurance-based system of social protection
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
Sociological monitoring of socio-economic, political and socio-cultural processes in Ukraine
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
The formation of a new habitat of individual life under conditions of global change
Unit — Department of Social Psychology
Principal investigator — Shulga Mykola Oleksandrovych
Published from this project
The formation of a new figurative and symbolic social space in the individual and mass consciousness of Ukraine's population
Unit — Department of Social Psychology
Principal investigator — V. O. Tykhonovych
Published from this project
Trends in the formation and transformation of social institutions
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Makeiev Serhii Oleksijovych
Structural change in Ukrainian society (late twentieth to early twenty-first century)
A study of the types of socio-economic behaviour of Ukraine's working-age population
Unit — Department of Economic Sociology
Principal investigator — Ye. I. Suimenko
Findings
The dynamics of various behavioural formations were traced; significant changes in the structure of socio-economic behaviour were recorded, in particular of its entrepreneurial and adaptive types over the period 1998–2003; the priorities of the behavioural strategies of different age groups of Ukraine's population were identified.
Sociological theories of societal transformation
Unit — Department of History and Theory of Sociology
Principal investigator — V. V. Tancher
Findings
The most influential contemporary theoretical models and strategies of societal transformation were analysed — postmodern conceptualisations, the conception of civil society, the function of tradition in social consciousness, conflict theory and others. The conditions and factors for optimising societal transformation were analysed, with an emphasis on the change of sociological paradigms and value systems, the formation of civil society, the new communicative paradigm of power and society, globalisation, and the conditions of nation-state building. One collective and three individual monographs and more than 30 articles were published.
The socio-cultural differentiation of contemporary Ukrainian society: criteria, mechanisms, consequences
Unit — Department of Sociology of Culture and Mass Communication
Principal investigator — Ruchka Anatolii Oleksandrovich
Monitoring of the legal and humanitarian aspects of the reintegration of formerly deported peoples in Crimea
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Pribytkova Iryna Mykhajlivna
Social portraits of those affected by the Chornobyl catastrophe
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
Providing social and informational support for the implementation of pension reform in Ukraine
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
Marginalisation in a transitional society: socio-psychological and culturological aspects
Unit — Department of Social Psychology
Principal investigator — Shulga Mykola Oleksandrovych
The turn of the millennium as a socio-psychological phenomenon (the image of new life opportunities in mass consciousness)
Unit — Department of Social Psychology
Principal investigator — V. O. Tykhonovych
Published from this project
Status and occupational identities: destruction and construction
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Makeiev Serhii Oleksijovych
A national system of social indicators in Ukraine
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
The legitimation of identities in the multicultural space of contemporary society
Unit — Department of Sociology of Culture and Mass Communication
Principal investigator — Ruchka Anatolii Oleksandrovich
Socio-economic behaviour of the actors of production at industrial enterprises
Unit — Department of Economic Sociology
Principal investigator — Ye. I. Suimenko
Findings
A typology of the socio-economic behaviour of industrial workers was developed; the main trends in the socio-economic behaviour of employees, owners, managers and entrepreneurs were identified.
Socio-economic risks of eliminating the consequences of the Chornobyl catastrophe: the case of resettlement
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
Land privatisation and the reform of land relations in Ukraine
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
Mass consciousness in the post-Chornobyl era: social expectations and the potential for behavioural activity among different groups of victims
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
The shadow economy: social problems of unofficial economic activity
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
Methodological problems of the expert assessment of the design and implementation of social policy in Ukraine
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
Problems of the functioning of the civil service in Ukraine: foreign experience and the grounding of methods for modelling the mechanism of government
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
The status legitimation of elite groups in contemporary Ukrainian society
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Vilen Chornovolenko
Contemporary trends of social mobility in Ukrainian society
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Makeiev Serhii Oleksijovych
The social consequences of the reform of Ukraine's coal industry
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Simonchuk Olena Volodymyrivna, Anzhela Patrakova
The social mechanisms of privatisation processes
Unit — Department of Economic Sociology
Principal investigator — Ye. I. Suimenko
Findings
A discrepancy was revealed between the 'standard' model of privatisation and the possibilities and directions of the socio-institutional and socio-personal mechanisms of its implementation; an alternative option for privatisation in Ukraine was considered.
The formation of the cultural and communicative orientations of Ukraine's population under the systemic transformation of society
Unit — Department of Sociology of Culture and Mass Communication
Principal investigator — Ruchka Anatolii Oleksandrovich
Methodology and methods of the social expertise of national and regional programmes and projects
Unit — Department of Social Expertise
A study of the trends and mechanisms of social differentiation and stratification
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Makeiev Serhii Oleksijovych
Features of social-status stratification under conditions of an emerging market economy
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Vilen Chornovolenko
Features of family life under the transformation of Ukrainian society
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Nataliia Lavrinenko
The prestige and attractiveness of occupations for different population groups and the prospects for staffing the branches of Ukraine's economy
Unit — Department of Social Structures
Principal investigator — Makeiev Serhii Oleksijovych
Socio-economic conditions and the motivation of entrepreneurial activity in Ukraine
Unit — Department of Economic Sociology
Principal investigator — Vorona Valerii Mykhailovych
Findings
It was concluded that the fundamental qualities of entrepreneurs as social catalysts of the economy — innovativeness and risk — have been pushed to the periphery of the motivational structure of their activity, while the dominant motive of self-actualisation merely camouflages the pursuit of profit.
Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The country's leading sociology research institution, founded in 1990.