Ukrainian Society

9-34

Authors: Chernysh N. Yo.

The article assesses the state of sociological theorizing in Ukrainian sociology from the last years of the Soviet period to the present. It was stated that, despite the lack of ideological pressure, after institutionalization of Ukrainian sociology as an independent academic discipline, its development was mainly due to the construction of the middle range theories and, to a greater extent, through the implementation of applied sociological research. At the same time, the structure of sociological knowledge in Ukrainian sociology was incomplete and it was not completed by the establishment of its higher level – the general sociological theory. Author considers the reasons of methodological chaos and phobia for theorizing, which in many respects are due to the so-called Soviet heritage (Soviet legacy). It is emphasized that the construction of a general sociological theory in both its branches (“grand theory” and meta-theory) in modern conditions is possible either through the efforts of the sociologists themselves or through the application of interdisciplinarity, and it is argued that the second option at the beginning of the 21st century is the mainstream of world sociological thought. Nowadays, methodological turns and interdisciplinarity are examples of scientific reflexivity that provide a significant increase in sociological knowledge in its entirety and at all levels of theorizing through interfaces of sociology and other branches of scientific knowledge, including the natural sciences. The cases of the exchange of meanings between sociology and philosophy (mostly post-classical) that can be considered new to Ukrainian sociology are analyzed; attention is focused on new possibilities of studying modern social systems in coordination with new discoveries of natural sciences. It is substantiated that such kind of interfaces form horizontal locus of mutual interaction of sciences without the dictation of any of them and on the terms of contingent consent and a polylogue between them. An authorial position is formulated in relation to the meanings that sociology today is able to emit for its own sake, based on the reflections on globalization and fragmentation of mankind.

51-60

Authors: Dziuba O. M.

Discourse analysis as a research method of hidden semiotic aspects of media texts has recently been disseminated in Ukrainian sociological science. It generates some new tasks. The article proposes a method for determining the nomination of a research object in the Ukrainian discourse-analytic tradition. This method was developed by the author based on the research results of English-and Ukrainian speaking academic discourse devoted to discourse analysis, including the discourse about Muslims and the discourse created by Muslims; an expert survey on the peculiarities of perceptions of nominations in the English and Ukrainian languages and on the adequate translation of these nominations into Ukrainian, considering the shades of meaning. The purpose of the analysis is to standardize the nomination methods of the discourse-analytical research object and thus to achieve mutual understanding in the academic space. In the article different subject-object variables in the creation of discourse nominations are considered. The following standardization of nomination creation is offered. Author suggests and rationalizes the following standardization of the creation of object nominations for the discourse-analytical study (based on the Muslim discourse): the phrase “Muslim discourse” refers to the discourse with the nodal sign “Muslims”, that is, the discourse on Muslims; the discourse in which Muslims act as the subject of speech, where the “Muslim discourse” is the discourse created by Muslims with any nodal sign.

84-96

Authors: Shyshkov S. Ye.

Paper highlights classification factors of capital markets in the context of the imperfection of the Ukrainian stock market and the features of its unattractiveness for international investors. Author determined peculiarities and consequences of formation and deepening of the stock market deformations in Ukraine, as a reaction to the institutional trap of oligarchism. It was noted that Ukraine does not belong to the world leaders either in terms of the aggregate wealth of the richest people, nor in terms of their number, nor their share in the economy, nor inequality in society as a whole. However, due to the study of sectoral specialization of the billionaires’ assets in the economies of different countries, it was revealed that Ukraine has one of the highest concentrations of billionaire assets in the “raw” industries and the smallest in the financial and innovation sectors, which is one of the reasons for low values of quality of life and pace of their growth. The emphasis is on the consequences of such an economy and property structure that leads to lower competitiveness, insufficient financial incentives for innovation, reduced attractiveness for foreign investment through stock market instruments, simplified monopolization of strategic sectors of the economy and maximization of profits, complexity of market valuation of assets and fair taxation, generating profits and attracting investment in more attractive jurisdictions, limiting the sources of development internally at the stock market. It has been revealed that currently the regulated Ukrainian stock market is represented almost exclusively by government bonds, while the market for other securities is in a depressed state, not least because of the imperfect implementation of European standards, in particular squeeze-out procedures, as well as the lack of incentives for the functioning of public companies and public offerings. It was noted that the oligarchic nature of the Ukrainian economy with the predominance of semi-raw material specialization actually conserves the current state of the stock market with its key deficiencies (illiquidity, limited number of financial instruments, and the inability to form objective prices). As a result, due to a number of objective (socio-economic) and subjective (distorted regulation) reasons, there are no conditions and opportunities for the formation of fair prices for the vast majority of financial instruments (with the exception of only government bonds), including securities, which are used to calculate stock market indices, which determines their periodic staggering growth.

111-126

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

Based on data from a nationwide survey, assessments of the socio-economic situation and social sentiments, structure and size of incomes, self-assessment of the financial standing, dynamics and structure of savings are presented.