EU population

LINA MALYSH, Doctor of Sciences in Sociology, Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy (8/5, Voloska St., Kyiv, 04070)

malysh.lina@ukma.edu.ua

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3155-3209

The article clarifies the EU population's perception of the war in Ukraine and identifies its cross-cultural features. The findings are based on the data of the survey “EU's response to the war in Ukraine”, conducted in April 2022 by Ipsos European Public Affairs at the request of the European Commission. The target population of the study is the citizens of the European Union member countries, aged 15 years and over (N = 26053).

In the perception of the Russian-Ukrainian war, informational and activity-related aspects were distinguished. The first one included indicators of informational involvement (frequency of following and discussing news about the war in Ukraine) and trust in various sources of information (national authorities, European authorities, NGOs, journalists, and social media). The second one consisted of indicators of approval of measures announced by the EU (economic sanctions against Russia and Russian oligarchs, financial support to Ukraine, military and humanitarian aid, the ban on broadcasting in the EU of state-owned Russian media, welcoming in EU people feeling the war) and satisfaction with reactions of main actors (national authorities, the EU, NATO, UN, USA, citizens of own country). For cross-cultural comparison of various aspects of Russian-Ukrainian war perception, several macro indicators have been constructed.

Common characteristics of the war perception in EU countries were a high frequency of following news and discussing it with friends and relatives, approval of main EU measures aimed at supporting Ukraine; great satisfaction with the reaction of the main actors to the events in Ukraine.

People do not equally trust various sources of information and the ranking of sources according to their credibility has cross-cultural differences. The most reliable sources were national and EU authorities and fewer people trust NGOs and journalists. Social media were widely untrusted. At the same time, there are two main patterns of trust in various sources. The first one is a combination of distrust in social media with high trust in other sources. The second one is distrust in most or even all sources of information.

Keywords: comparative study; perception of the war in Ukraine; approval of EU measures; awareness of the war in Ukraine; trust in various sources of information about the war

References

Malysh, L. (2022). Social factors of the perception of armed conflicts by Ukrainian population on the eve of Russian aggression. [In Ukrainian]. In: Golovakha, Ye., Makeiev, S. Ukrainian society in the conditions of the war. Kyiv: NaUKMA. [= Малиш, Л. (2022). Соціальні чинники сприйняття збройних конфліктів населенням України напередодні російської аґресії. В: Є. Головаха (ред.), Є. Макеєв (ред.). Українське суспільство в умовах війни. Київ: Інститут соціології НАН України.]

European Commission, Brussels (2022). Flash Eurobarometer 506 (EU’s Response to the War in Ukraine). GESIS, Cologne. ZA7871 Data file Version 1.0.0, DOI: https://doi.org/10.4232/1.13919.

Operational Data Portal (2023). Refugees fleeing Ukraine (since 24 February 2022). Retrieved from: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine.

Lücke, M., Saha, D. (2019). Labour migration from Ukraine: Changing destinations, growing macroeconomic impact. German Advisory Group. Policy Studies Series [PS/02/2019]. Retrieved from: https://www.german-economic-team.com/en/publication/labour-migration-from-ukraine-changing-destinations-growing-macroeconomic-impact/.

Received 12.03.2023

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EU population's perception of the war in Ukraine

stmm. 2023 (1): 10-23

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2023.01.010

Full Text: http://stmm.in.ua/archive/ukr/2023-1/4.pdf