Ukrainian Society

23-36

Authors: Gusak N. Ye.

Social programs and services for children and youth do not always take into account the position of thetarget groupsrepresentatives. Involving them in action research and participatory action research could help themto address their problems. The purpose of the article is to describe the experience of action research andparticipatory action research in social work with children and youth. The author analyzes reports based on theresults of 20 studies, where action research and participatory action research were used. These researches wereconducted in social work with children and youth during 2001-2013 in Australia,Bosnia and Herzegovina, Britain,Ireland, Iceland, Canada, China, Liberia, Myanmar, Germany, South Africa, Northern Uganda, the United States,Sierra Leone, and Thailand. HINARY database was used for document search. The most popular topics for actionresearch and participatory action research in social work with children and youth have been such as communitywork, involving young people in prevention programs in health care, youth well-being, and social inclusion. Children and young people were involved inresearches in different ways: 1) source of the information; 2)consultants; 3) as researchers’ partners who collaborate with them throughout the process; 4) as researchers’ partners who have ownership of the research and its results. Children and youth are considered as the resourcesthat need to be developed. The main experts in dealing with children and youth were themselves. As a result ofactions in research, children and young people got new opportunities and developed skills.

46-53

Authors: Liapina L. A.

The article dwells upon the multicultural project of the British social theorist Bhikhu Parekh. Scientistproposes to see this multicultural project not as a political doctrine software content and not as a philosophicaltheory of man and the world, but aslife visions in the future. It is due to the fact that nowadays almost all societiesare multicultural and it will remain so in the future. The central idea of this project–is equal dialogue of culturesas the foundation of modern society and dialogueness as a general principle of differences coexistence in themodern world (the world of cultural diversity). Author determines problem field of multiculturalism, which consistsof three ideas: the idea of people’s cultural involvement, the idea of the inevitability and desirability of culturaldiversity and intercultural dialogue, and the idea of each culture’s internal plurality. What are the possible consequences of the suggested perspective? First of all, the rejection of the dominance of moral and politicalconcept or doctrine (liberalism, conservatism, socialism, nationalism), except for the basic democratic values.Secondly, multicultural society values diversity and promotes creative dialogue between different cultures. Itrespects the rights of its members in their culture, cultivates their right to self-criticism, self-determination andpromotes their development. Thirdly, in a multicultural society, there is only a political identity. Its foundation–isnot ethnicity or culture, but the commitment to common principles of political community.Parekh believes that the realization of this concept is a complex political task.

61-74

Authors: Savelyev Yu. B.

Most of publications that use social exclusion and social inclusionconcepts are confined to social andpolitical issues and are detached from existing sociological theories. The article overcomes this gap and definesheuristic potential of the social exclusion and social inclusion sociological concepts. This advances in-depthsunderstanding of the mechanisms for social interaction and reproduction of social order, as well as helps toimprove the dominant approaches to these phenomena within the framework of relational deprivation whichcurrently dominate in internationaland Ukrainian social sciences. The article demonstrates that social exclusionand social inclusion are analyzed in sociological theories through the lens of forming non-equivalent relationshipsbetween social groups. It is also found that there are differences in heuristic potential between concepts of socialexclusion and social inclusion as in the latter reproduction of social order is combined with the transformation ofgroup relations, changes in conditions of participation, social status of social agents and emergence of new fields,rules and institutions.

85-96

Authors: Sushyi O. V.

Paper dwells uponthe issue of trust in the national education system as an integral performanceindicator of the educational sector reformation and the reflection of the social system itself. The author reflects onthe issues that now concern nearly every representative of education and research sector. Is it possible to reform theeducational and scientific sphere in the situation of lack of trust between the parties and nihilism that prevails insociety regarding the educational reform? What causes distrust to the national education system from itsparticipants–subjects of the educational process and citizens? What are the most important indicators of thequality of education? What is the public inquiry on the quality of educational services? What fills education with areal practical sense? This analysis serves as an interpretative filter for modern transformation of the educationalsystem, including the factors hindering its integration into the European educational space, and strategic prioritiesof its development inthe context of European integration of Ukraine. Based on the results of the nationwiderepresentative surveys, conducted by ISPP NAPS of Ukraine, paper highlights the opinions and assessments of thesituation in the area of education. In particular, author suggests the trend analysis of attitudes of the educationalprocess subjects towards the national education system, its accessibility and quality. Author traced change vectorsfor public request on the educational services quality, their connection to the practical activities. It is shown that theeducational sector in Ukraine is marching through reforms, which practical importance is perceived by the majorityof citizens rather as a mediocre one, “on general level”. At the same time public formed a clear request for correspondence of the education quality with the modern challenges: citizens expect to link the knowledge gainedwith the real practice and the needs of the labor market; they have expressed readiness for lifelong learning; theyrequire bringing Ukrainian diplomas to European standards, etc. However, if critically assessing the currentsituation in education, most citizens consider that the integration of the national education system to European education space today is the medium-term objective that should be solved in the future.

108-119

Authors: Suprun N. A., Gamanyuk O. I.

The article investigates the potential of institutional corporate social responsibility (CSR) in addressingthe management of common resources. The purpose of the article is to suggest effective mechanisms formanagement of common resources based on the synthesis of modern theoretical approaches to the analysis of thecommon resources nature and corporate social responsibility (CSR) institutional rules. Analysis of the currenttheoretical approaches to the common resources management shows that under certain institutional conditions theformation of behavioral patterns is possible when common resources are used and reproduced optimally and takeinto account the interests of individual members of society and society as a whole. According to E. Ostrom, the mainparameters within which successful management of common resources should take place, include: clearly definedboundaries for membership in the community of resource users; congruent rules (compliant with the legislation) forthe use of common resources;platform for collective choice; monitoring compliance and accountability; theavailability of sanctions for non-compliance with the rules (i.e. the destruction of the institution); effectivemechanisms for conflict resolution. It is proved that common resources should be treated as a common good notonly for the community that uses them today (people of the current generation), but also as a resource for presentand future generations. This understanding of the common resources’ nature brings out the necessity to view theproblem in the context of the sustainable development paradigm and of the institutional forms that make it possibleto achieve sustainable development goals. Current practices of social interaction give grounds for the conclusionthat the best strategy for achieving sustainable development goals, and the objectives of the common resourcesmanagement is a system of corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is defined as the organization’s responsibility for influence of its decisions and activities on society and the environment that is shown intransparent and ethical behavior that contributes to sustainable development (including health and public welfare)and takes into account the expectations of a wide range of stakeholders. Given thestated mission and objectives,corporate social responsibility can be viewed as a strategy and a system of institutional mechanisms to solve the«tragedy of the commons» of the world as a common resources (or resource package) for human life. In theframework of corporate social responsibility institutional norms are developed that enable implementation ofcommon resource management parameters in practice. Development of the efficient system of corporate socialresponsibility is intended to provide mechanism for addressing numerous social and economic issues and can beconsidered as the optimal strategy for the management of social common resources. Paper suggests algorithm forCSR application for management of common resources.

128-142

Authors: Balakireva O. M., Dmytruk D. A.

Based on the data of two national surveys (October and November of 2015) authors present the snapshotand the analysis of Ukrainian population’s socio-political attitudes, interests in the political life progress, electoralattitudes and orientations. Article tracks the dynamics of trusts to the highest officials, main political and socialinstitutions, political parties and country authorities at all levels during the last 10 years.