Social Solidarity and Inequality during the War: Callenges and Prospects

According to the author's concept of the influence of wars on the social structure of defending societies, the strengthening of civil solidarity and the mitigation of social inequality are the necessary conditions for successful resistance to aggression and post-war reconstruction. According to the data of the 2022, in the first year of the war, the situation in Ukrainian society met theoretical expectations: more than half of Ukrainians noted an increase in manifestations of interclass solidarity and a reduction of inequality. However, in the context of a protracted war, changes of these phenomena should be expected, as well as the emergence of new types of inequality and conflicts. The goal of the state is to maintain social inequality within limits that do not provoke disintegration and ensure stability.

Our research is based on the following key questions: Do people from different social classes and groups suffer from war and participate in the defense of the country to the same extent? What new types of inequality are emerging and have the potential to create social divisions in society? How has Ukrainians' perception of social inequality changed during the war and compared to the pre-war period?

To obtain empirically based answers, we will use data from two projects of the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine: the Ukrainian society: monitoring social changes (2021 and 2024), and five waves of the survey Social inequality: monitoring times of war, which since September 2022 is held every six months. The indicators are: assessments of Ukrainians regarding the level of income inequality, emotional reactions to differences in well-being between the rich and the poor, a sense of justice in society, perceptions of the social structure of Ukraine and one's place in it, as well as views on current manifestations of inequality and injustice.