Goals, obstacles and focus of heritage preservation activists in Ukrainian cities

Preservation of historic heritage is a prevalent question in urban social movements in Ukraine. This article focuses on heritage preservation activists’ experiences, including both movements to preserve specific historic sites and monuments, and movements against destruction of the historic environment more generally. We begin by conceptualizing key concepts of heritage preservation movement and offering a background of heritage preservation in a post-soviet setting. This overview is followed by a summary of research findings based on eleven semi-structured interviews with heritage protection activists in major Ukrainian cities. Their activity can be classified firstly based on the strategy of impact (top-down or bottomup); secondly, on the type of historic monuments that they want to preserve (classical architecture, modern (Soviet) architecture and small architectural forms); thirdly, on the territorial scale of their activity (local, municipal or regional); and finally, on their activities (cultural and artistic, political, media and awarenessraising, community-building, etc.).Challenges, identified by activists in their work, were classified as external (related to structural and contextual difficulties), and internal (individual challenges and group dynamics, related to lack of time, resources and institutional knowledge). More generally, the heritage preservation movement in Ukraine is identified by activists as fragmented, reactive, and marked by high institutionalization of grassroots activities and their cooptation. Activists are reflexive of their role in historic preservation and present themselves as the voice of the general public. They identify their impact as creating public resonance, a wide network of passive allies, institutional (as well as internal management) experience for activist initiatives. At the same time, however, they have little faith in the possibility of achieving broader strategic goals. Thus, despite their impact and efficiency in defending specific historic sites, activists are unable to preserve historic heritage in Ukrainian cities on their own. Potential future research includes conducting interviews not only with activists of large cities, but also of smaller towns, as well as using a multi-method approach and supplementing interviews with content-analysis of activists’ public statements, as well as taking into consideration the voices of other interested agents in the heritage preservation movement.

Modelling COVID-19 epidemic and its social consequences

The paper studies different approaches to modelling COVID-19 transmission. It is emphasized that the variety of models proposed for forecasting the dynamics of epidemic and its long-term socio-economic consequences deals with the complexity of the object under investigation. So the multiplicity of models makes it possible to describe different aspects of complex reality. It is also highlighted that agent-based simulation is more suitable for modelling social aspects of the processes (human behaviour, social interactions, collective behaviour, and opinion diffusion) in the situation of deep uncertainty.The computer experiments with the parameters of the model are analysed on the basis of a number of agent-based models in NetLogo, namely epiDEM and ASSOCC. It is demonstrated that the dynamics of COVID-19 has different scenarios, and agent-based modelling is a powerful tool in political decisionmaking, taking into account social complexity that often exhibits unpredictable output of intervention policy. The role of agent-based modelling in social learning is also discussed. It is pointed out that social learning can reduce the impact of unsubstantiated statements and rumors that are not always adequate to the situation. It is also stressed that social learning could influence social behaviour that, in turn, facilitates the development of social patterns that reduces the likelihood of disease spreading. Attention is paid to the idea that involving people into the modelling process is a part of effective anti-epidemic policy because of the sensitivity of the output of political intervention to the behavioural reaction. It has been shown that today the ideas of agent-based modelling are widely used by social scientists worldwide. The aim of this endeavour is not only to overcome the current pandemic and its long-term socioeconomic consequences but also to prepare for new challenges in the future. The paper is also aimed at paying attention to the lack of agent-based models in Ukraine that could help policy-makers in developing practical recommendations and avoiding undesirable scenarios.

Features of using qualitative interviews with injection drug users

This article is dedicated to some features of using qualitative interviews when interviewing injection drug users. The main purpose of this article is to give young researchers and all social scientists some important hints and guidelines that would help them when using qualitative interviews for studying injection drug users. In the first part of the article authors make a literature review concerning specifics and advantages of using qualitative methods for studying specific groups or categories in sociology. However, there are many qualitative methods besides interview, that can be used for studying these groups (focus-groups, observation, content analysis, etc.), authors focus their attention on qualitative interviews as one of the most universal ones, considering its wide-spread use and advantages. In the second part of the article authors reveal and stress some major points on every stage of qualitative interview: preparation, literature review, methodology development, respondent recruiting, interviewing and analysis. Some of the major points are the understanding of the social and cultural context in which the studied group lives, always paying attention to the senses and meanings that respondent give to concepts that are important to the research, the importance of trust for the injection drug users due to the illegality of their actions that is crucial on both recruitment and interviewing stage, ethical issues concerning confidentiality and anonymity, etc. Also researches in this area include such components as practical recommendations and the ways or steps that could be taken to solve problems related to research problematic. Despite concentrating on the use of one particular method for studying people who use injection drugs, hints and guidelines given in this article can be applied to a wider list of specific respondent’s categories and can even be useful when choosing similar methods.

Social business in Ukraine: challenges and obstacles

The aim of this paper is to analyze the current situation of social entrepreneurship in Ukraine and to define challenges and obstacles it faces during development. A multidimensional study of the phenomenon, the relevance of which is due to a change in the whole paradigm thinking about what business is, what responsibility they bear to society, and what impact they can have on the society around them.This article contributes to the literature on combining qualitative and quantitative methods of research on social business in Ukraine. The empirical part of the study was conducted through document analysis (a catalog of social enterprises), semistructured interviews, and a quantitative survey. The perception and understanding of phenomena by social entrepreneurs were clarified. The barriers to social business development were identified and typified by resource, financial, communicational, system, and the quarantine as specific challenges during COVID-19 time.There is no universal definition of “social enterprise”, even among those involved in social business. However, there is a common idea of the image of a social entrepreneur, the emphasis being mainly on intrinsic motivation and outstanding personal characteristics. Resource barriers include rooms/building, land, and materials. Financial barriers are the startup capital, chances to get loans, taxes, and rent. Communication barriers are in interaction with government agencies, investors, and employees search and selection. System barriers are connected to lack of a specific status in legislation and the registration form for social business, also rejection and misunderstanding of the phenomenon by society. Quarantine was named as a specific challenge, because it threatened both social and traditional business during a coronavirus pandemic.The development of social business creates the demand for training programs and for the events where experiences and ideas can be shared. Considering the differences between social and traditional business models, there is a need to develop an appropriate system for monitoring and performance evaluation.

Factors of Ukrainian men involving in men’s movements that support gender equality

In recent years, Ukraine has received more attention to the issues of masculinity, the position of men and their participation in activism in support of gender equality. In Ukraine, there are several men’s organizations and initiatives that support the ideas of gender equality: dad schools, men against violence, HeforShe Ukraine and HeforShe Congresses, profeminist schools for men, national networks of male leaders against violence, an international union of courageous dads, etc. Feminist public activists appear to talk about the benefits of gender equality. The men’s movement for gender equality in the world and in Ukraine is seen as focusing on either women’s rights or men’s rights. According to men’s movement researcher Michael Messner, institutional privileges and costs of masculinity are the aspects of the classification of male movements. As a result of the analysis of six in-depth interviews with Ukrainian activists of men’s movements, Michael Messner’s ideas were illustrated with examples from Ukrainian society. Factors involving men in men’s movements for gender equality differ depending on the type of the men’s movement. Women’s rights movements were characterized by awareness of cases of discrimination against women and a corresponding sense of solidarity and compassion. Movements for men’s rights – by awareness of cases of discrimination against men in their own experience, a sense of the need to respond to the movement for women’s rights, and the situation of men’s movements in Ukraine, i.e. factors that directly affect men. In addition, it has been found that there are common factors in involving men in women’s and men’s rights movements, such as the existence of a feminist movement, a sense of the need for change, and a desire to be involved in local or global change. Expert interviews have found that the use of personal experience is the most effective way to influence the level of men’s involvement in men’s movements for gender equality, including in Ukraine. Attention to real cases of gender discrimination against women will be perceived more sincerely and openly than statistics. Attention to real cases of gender discrimination against women will be perceived more sincerely and openly than statistics. In addition, it is important to demonstrate the experience of men who understand the benefits of gender equality for men as well. They, according to experts, will be able to serve as examples for other men to follow. Separately, experts noted the role of education in the desire to join the struggle of men for the idea of gender equality. Both non-formal education programs and formal education on equal rights and opportunities can be tools for introducing changes in men’s attitudes to discrimination.

Social inequality during COVID-19 pandemic

The topic of inequality in education has already been a major issue in many countries for a long time. However, in 2020 it has shown itself differently because of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to which the whole world was compelled to switch to distance learning. This form of education, previously unfamiliar to many educational institutions and even the whole countries, became a great challenge for both students and school teachers or university lecturers. It required an ability to study with limited assistance from the former ones, good skills of using digital platforms and resources from the latter ones, and availability of technical devices with the Internet connection from both parties. These complications have significantly enhanced the already existing inequality in access to educational resources.Even though no statistical conclusions regarding the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic performance have been made yet, it has already been confirmed that the percentage of senior year school students who postponed their graduation has increased in 2020 in comparison to 2019. And so has the percentage of school graduates who did not appear at entrance examinations despite registering, primarily from rural areas. The academic performance is expected to be worse too, and the difference in grades between students of different socioeconomic backgrounds is highly likely to increase.This paper is an attempt to generalize the challenges which the world education community had to face during the last year and to highlight the main factors of educational inequality in the circumstances of pandemics. It also considers the possible ways of eliminating unequal access to education on the example of particular countries.

The dynamics of class self-identification in Ukraine within the context of discursive and structural changes

The subjective aspects of class, such as class identity, class awareness, or Bourdieu’s “sense of one’s place”, compound the whole cluster of modern class studies. A sufficient amount of empirical data on subjective class issues has allowed Ukrainian scholars to define major class categories that are subjectively salient for Ukrainians, as well as to follow its dynamics throughout the period of Independence. This paper continues the tradition of such studies while using the data from the latest International Social Survey Programme 2019 and previous research. It depicts the current state of subjective stratification as it is viewed and constructed by Ukrainians.We use two methodological approaches here to define and measure classes with which Ukrainians identify themselves: one implies a single-answer multiple-choice survey question and the other is based on an open-ended question. That allows us to compare and verify the results received from the two approaches. Then, we analyze and describe the connection between the dynamics of class self-identification and bigscale changes of the Ukrainian transformation period. The working class and the middle class continue to dominate the landscape of the subjective class structure in Ukraine. These two class identities are the most popular ones whether being chosen by respondents in a multiple-choice question or being mentioned in an open-ended question. However, the dynamics of the two classes differ. While the public request for the middle class increases steadily, the popularity of the working class declines.We suggest addressing these trends, taking into account the conditions of time and place, both from local and global perspectives, and factoring in economic, social, and discursive changes of the period researched.