Ukrainian Society

9-23

Authors: Lukeria T. M.

Paper dwells upon approaches to the concept of electoral behaviour and emphasizes the importance of constructing a model based on the synthesis of macro- and microfactors that determine it and the one that takes into account the conditions of democratic processes development in Ukraine. The analysis of empirical studies shows that there is a lack of concepts in Ukrainian scientific theorizing that would explain the essence, content, and factors of influence on electoral behaviour in modern Ukrainian society, since empirical investigation continues to prevail in this area. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a multifactorial analysis of electoral behaviour based on the latest theoretical developments and up-to-date methods of empirical research, which would consider changes in theorizing in the present world sociological thought, and the methodological procedures proposed on their basis, which have been adapted to Ukrainian realities. Author has distinguished several classical approaches to the interpretation of electoral behaviour in the social sciences, in particular in sociology, social psychology and economics based on the analysis of relevant scientific literature of a multidisciplinary nature. Paper describes limitations and possibilities of using these approaches under modern conditions together with the heuristic possibilities of M. Archer’s theory of dualism, which modified according to Ukrainian specificity. This allowed providing a synthesized conceptual model for the study of electoral behaviour through the synthesis of macrofactors and agent’s actions, with the identification of relevant concepts and their definitions. In particular, personal factors include social status, socio-demographic characteristics, personal motives, level of political culture, political activity, level of trust to political institutions, affiliation to religious denomination, political socialization. Macro factors are divided into three groups: political, economic and cultural. Paper elaborates possible interdependence (correlation) of the actor’s (voter’s) action and macrostructures in the context of contemporary Ukrainian society. Three types of correlations are proposed to explain voter’s action and system features: correlation between systems, correlation between systems and voter action, correlation between voter actions (microfactors).

54-72

Authors: Dmytruk D. A., Levin R. Ya.

Based on the materials of the sociological survey authors analysed and showed differences between participants and non-participants of the lifelong learning process and revealed significant advantages of the first in the main dimensions of life activity. The paper outlines the qualitative and quantitative characteristics, which are crucial for personal well-being and social development for lifelong learning participants. In particular, participants in the lifelong learning are far more likely to have a positive assessment of their health than those with a predominantly negative self-esteem; there are more of those who show higher life satisfaction; they are more objective in assessing social reality, have better understanding of the job market demands and life in general; and they are more aware of the influence of factors related to one’s personal qualities on the life success achievement in today’s domestic society than the rest of the population. Lifelong learning participants are more gender-sensitive than the archaic society as a whole. The number of life learning participants is especially higher among the group of respondents with a better financial situation. They have a number of advantages in the skills required for successful living in today’s Ukrainian society and the globalized world (there are many more of them among regular computer users, Internet users, and much more among those who speak basic European languages at a sufficient level). The obtained results demonstrate that it is advisable to develop and implement a special direction of the state socio-economic policy to promote the participation of the population in lifelong learning as one of the promising strategies for accumulating a country’s human capital in favour of national development.

84-98

Authors: Yarovyi V. D., Fraier O. V.

The paper investigates the formation aspects of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), its models and forms in different countries. The foreign experience of CSA in the context of its implementation perspectives in Ukraine is generalized. Preconditions for the development of CSA, producers and consumers’ incentives to join CSA, and conditions for its social and economic efficiency are summarized. The CSA forms, such as traditional and cooperative ones in the USA, local community partnerships in Great Britain, and social CSA in Spain are envisaged. The emerging problems of CSA formation and ways out are investigated. The paper proves that the tasks and functions of CSA are consistent with national and local economic interests in Ukraine and, being an integral part of the agrifood system, the CSA is able to complement mechanisms and instruments of sustainable development that are currently used nationally and locally. It is shown that social demand for CSA in Ukraine is not generated today and demand for relevant CSA services is much smaller than in countries with a well-developed agrifood system. Thus, the inclusion of stimulation objectives for the development of CSA to the priorities of national agricultural and rural development policy is suggested. Priority CSA development paths that need support at the state and local levels in Ukraine are defined. The family farm cooperation model and social CSA in partnership with local communities are among them. The role of small CSA producers in greater access to markets as a component for the development of family farms working on the basis of informal private households is observed. It is shown that the decentralization reform and transforming of state agricultural land into the communal property of communities form preconditions and economic framework for the development of social CSA as a mechanism for implementing local development goals. The introduction to the strategic plans for the development of local community measures to create and support CSA is proposed.

109-123

Authors: Huk L .P.

The article dwells upon the problems of matching the supply of labour force with a certain educational level, which creates market for educational services; and the demand created by the national labour market. Author investigates the existing distribution of the employees by educational levels in Ukraine and this investigation reveals the correspondence of the acquired educational qualification level and the actual necessity in order to fulfill the professional duties. Based on this distribution, paper offers balance between the national labour market supply and demand of workers belonging to groups with secondary vocational qualifications. The principles of transformation of the educational structure of the employed population are established and it is determined that the general tendency for Ukraine is to change the structure of the employed population towards an increase in the number of people with higher education and a dramatic decrease in the low-educated cohort of the population. From an economic viewpoint such imbalance, creates problem of excess education. It is established that the demand for workers of secondary vocational level remains stable. According to the distribution of employed population with vocational education by age groups, it is determined that there is a gradual transition of the employed with this level of education to a cohort of older employees, and therefore incapacitated, as well as there is a refusal of young people of vocational education. This will lead to a rapid reduction of the group of skilled workers with vocational education in the near future. Analytical evaluation of employees by large professional groups, which are related to the secondary vocational education level, provided a general idea of the labour market security by specialists trained in vocational schools. The study of the specificity of the labour market saturation by specialists of certain professions allowed to form a list of professions that have the greatest influence on the imbalance of supply and demand of workers with secondary vocational education level at the Ukrainian labour market.

133-145

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

Based on the data of the nationwide survey, authors present the assessments of the socio-economic situation, social sentiments, the structure and size of income, self-assessment of the financial standing of the population, trends and the structure of savings.