Institute of Sociology NASU

Political consequences of the traumatic experience of Ukrainians in a large-scale war

stmm. 2025 (1): 43-60

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2025.01.043

Full text:

OLEKSANDR REZNIK, Doctor of Sciences in Sociology, Principal Research Fellow at the Department of Social Expertise, Institute of Sociology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (12, Shovkovychna St., Kyiv, 01021)

oleksanderreznik@gmail.com

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5201-8489

https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=57202520976

The article examines the potential of applying the concept of social trauma to political consequences for Ukraine in the context of ongoing Russian aggression. The conceptualization of social trauma has distinguished two types of trauma. Collective trauma is largely ontological and is formed through periodic interactions among those who have directly experienced it. The political consequences of collective trauma depend on the course and outcome of the ongoing war. Cultural trauma, on the other hand, is more relevant to the post-war period and reflects the symbolic interpretation of tragic events and is formed through collective identities that can be shared without social interaction. As a result of the Russian aggression of 2014 and the low-intensity war, there was an increase in Ukrainians’ support for the Euro-Atlantic course, a strengthening of their national identity, and a decrease in regional polarization. At the same time, this had an insignificant impact on ideological beliefs, when about half of the population retained their ideological uncertainty. In the conditions of a large-scale war, especially at the initial stage, the phenomenon of «the rally around the flag» was recreated, trust in state institutions increased, and political consciousness was radicalized through a significant increase in support for right-wing ideologies and a decrease in uncertainty. Empirical data indicate that people who have directly suffered trauma, lost their businesses, or lost loved ones are more likely to identify themselves as national democrats and nationalists. The political radicalization of these social groups indicates that the social traumas of Ukrainians caused by the ongoing war are gradually acquiring a collective meaning when self-reflection of social pain concerns mainly the victims who have directly experienced the destruction of the basis of their social relations.

Keywords: social trauma, war trauma, Russian-Ukrainian war, political consequences, ideological beliefs

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Received 20.01.2025