Filosofija. Sociologija

Title

2026-05-19T12:15:51+03:00

2026-05-19T12:17:35+03:00

Patriotism in the Age of War and Globalisation: Contemporary Dilemmas of Ukrainian Youth

2026-05-19T14:52:58+03:00

This article examines how Ukrainian youth who have remained in the country during the wartime understand patriotism and evaluate the migration decisions of their peers. The study is situated in the context of the prolonged armed conflict initiated by the Russian Federation and intensified by the full-scale invasion in 2022, which has profoundly shaped the socialisation and life strategies of the Ukrainian post-Maidan generation. Based on the quantitative data collected using the CAWI (Computer-Assisted Web Interviewing) method (n = 742), the article analyses declared levels of patriotism, attitudes toward emigration during the war, and factors influencing decisions to stay in Ukraine. Due to wartime constraints, the initial probability-based distribution of the questionnaire could not be fully implemented. As a result, the sampling procedure shifted toward a non-probability design based on voluntary participation, with an additional snowball dissemination through respondents’ peer networks, resulting in a convenience sample with elements of snowball sampling. Qualitative data from an open-ended survey question complement the analysis by capturing students’ moral reasoning and perceptions of the social consequences of youth migration. The findings show that approximately 87% of respondents identify themselves as patriots and that the war has significantly strengthened their sense of national identity. At the same time, respondents expressed ambivalence toward equating staying in Ukraine directly with patriotism. The hypothesis that declared patriotism would be the primary factor preventing migration was only partially confirmed. Family ties, concerns about personal safety abroad, financial constraints, and language barriers proved more influential than patriotic motivation alone. Most respondents assessed their peers’ decisions to leave Ukraine in a neutral or positive manner, emphasising unequal opportunities to migrate.
The results indicate that Ukrainian youth combine a strong national attachment with openness to mobility shaped by globalisation and structural constraints. Remaining in Ukraine or migrating abroad should therefore be understood as alternative strategies of coping and self-realisation rather than mutually exclusive indicators of patriotism.

“I Became a Man”: The Unmaking of Transnational Marriages Among Displaced Ukrainians in Lithuania

2026-05-19T14:52:33+03:00

The 2022 Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine produced an unprecedented gender-selective displacement and separated millions of wives and children from husbands bound by the mobilisation law. This paper aims to examine and demonstrate how wartime displacement has unmade transnational marriages among displaced Ukrainian women in Lithuania. The primary data of the research is drawn from the multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork conducted across five Lithuanian cities between 2024 and 2025. Based on 22 Ukrainian interlocutors (17 women and 5 men), the study traces how spousal roles, obligations, and emotional bonds were reconfigured and were eventually unmade under the pressures of separation. Grounded in transnational social fields theory, moral economy frameworks, and constructivist gender theory, the analysis identifies three interlocking processes driving marital breakdown: the enforcement of gendered moral scripts demanding that men fight and women wait; the progressive emotional alienation produced by protracted separation and diverging life trajectories; and the identity transformation of displaced wives who assumed traditionally male spousal roles in exile, encapsulated in the recurring phrase ‘I became a man’. The paper argues that these marital breakdowns, though perceived as individual cases of failures by the interlocutors themselves, are structurally produced outcomes of wartime moral regimes operating simultaneously across two societies. This study contributes to migration studies by foregrounding breakdown and fragility rather than resilience, and is based primarily on women’s accounts, a limitation that is explicitly acknowledged throughout.

Sport, Identity, and the 'Other': Experiences of Indian Migrants Playing Cricket in Lithuania

2026-05-19T14:52:32+03:00

The article analyses interviews conducted with Lithuania-based Indian cricket players. By drawing on the concepts of transnationalism and social identity, the article examines what function cricket performs in integrating into life in a new country and how sport allows Indians to cultivate multiple identities. Cricket for immigrants becomes a space of social relationships and status building. However, it also functions as a safety net, allowing participants to escape everyday experiences and mitigate the challenges of integration. Since cricket in Lithuania is not well developed, some immigrants work towards creating clubs and popularising the sport. In this way, cricket moves beyond the boundaries of a closed ethnic community and becomes part of the public space.

Schrödinger’s Cats: On the Origins of Uncertainty and its Impact on Belarusian Immigrant Families in Lithuania

2026-05-19T14:52:31+03:00

This article examines how uncertainty shapes the lives of migrant families and the strategies they employ to navigate it, focusing on Belarusian families in Lithuania. In Lithuania, rapidly shifting legal frameworks and politicised migration debates have produced heightened instability. Particular attention is paid to the legal dimension of uncertainty, which constrains planning horizons and reverberates across households through the principle of linked lives. The study draws mainly on the qualitative data collected in 2025 through semi-structured interviews and focus-group discussions with Belarusian families. Research participants often described living in a ‘suspended state’, reminiscent of Schrödinger’s cat, where shifting rules curtailed long-term planning and outcomes remained unknown until the last moment. Families relied on multiple information channels to compensate for fragmented official signals, yet informational complexity itself often deepened uncertainty, producing ‘swings’ in decision making and prompting suboptimal choices such as repeated relocation. The article contributes to migration sociology by conceptualising uncertainty not only as an external condition but also as a cognitive state generated within volatile information environments. Introducing the notion of cognitive uncertainty, borrowed from behavioural economics, we show how subjective doubt about the optimal decision helps explain migrants’ strategies under unstable institutional and discursive contexts. Policy implications include the need for clearer procedures and stronger integration measures. Balanced media coverage is essential to avoid amplifying distrust. Although limited by its qualitative scope and national focus, the study opens avenues for comparative and quantitative research on the long-term consequences of uncertainty for migrant adaptation and wellbeing.

Tensions of Social Segregation in Neringa: What does the Label of an ‘Invasive’ Tell us About Relations of Social, Symbolic and Physical Space?

2026-05-19T14:52:29+03:00

This chapter examines the social tensions resulting from rising social segregation in the Curonian Spit. The analysis of these processes shows a limited explanatory power of the gentrification debate or its derivative notions. Based on the case study of the Neringa city, the core of which is constituted of housing histories of new-comers and old-timers of this area, the article shows important contextual nuances of this place, which are important for understanding of the experience of socio-spatial segregation, as well as their causes and the effects. The old-timers of Neringa are observing changing lifestyles, which affect the symbolic meanings of this place. They experience feelings of symbolic displacement. At the same time, new-comers of the place are facing difficulties of social integration. They are labelled as the ‘invasives’. With this case, study the reader is invited to critically revisit preconceived explanations of the main actors and outcomes of segregation processes outlined in gentrification debates. As a methodological alternative, the Bourdieusian triad of social space, symbolic space and physical space is suggested to explain socio-spatial changes in such areas.

Microcredentials as a Sociological Phenomenon: Transformation of Lifelong Learning in the Digital Society

2026-05-19T14:52:28+03:00

Microcredentials are increasingly discussed as an emerging phenomenon of the digital society, reflecting broader transformations in the ways knowledge, skills and employability are recognised and validated. This paper examines the role of microcredentials through a systematic literature review of scientific articles indexed in the Web of Science and Scopus databases, conducted using the PRISMA methodology. The study focuses on how academic research conceptualises microcredentials and how they relate to contemporary changes in education systems, labour markets and lifelong learning. The analysis combines stakeholder mapping with thematic coding focused on recognition, institutional trust, labour-market alignment, and social inequality. The findings indicate that microcredentials create flexible opportunities for reskilling and upskilling and support more modular and demand-oriented forms of learning. From a sociological perspective, microcredentials can be understood as a mechanism through which education systems adapt to digital transformation and labour market pressures. The paper contributes to the broader discussion on how digitalisation reshapes lifelong learning and the institutional structures that govern access to recognised competencies.

Mnemonic Practices and Cultural Memory: Analysis of Symbols and Rituals

2026-05-19T14:53:00+03:00

The study aimed to address memorial practices in the context of the formation of cultural memory in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Memorial objects and their socio-cultural context were addressed in the study, including the processes of rethinking memory in the countries of the region after independence. To achieve the aim of the study, key memorials were selected, information about their symbolism and architecture was collected and systematised, and a comparison with global memorialisation practices was made. The study demonstrated that memorial sites in Central Asia contribute to the preservation of national identity and cultural memory by integrating local symbols, ornaments, religious motifs, and historical narratives. The symbolism of memorials in Central Asia combines history with cultural traditions, creating a unique space for collective commemoration. The rituals that accompany memorial practices reflect the desire for social unity through an emphasis on shared values and past events. The peculiarity of the region is that Soviet monuments, unlike in many other post-Soviet countries, are rarely dismantled. Instead, they adapt to new realities by rethinking symbolism, changing the context or integrating national motifs. This approach contributes to the formation of a unique narrative of national memory that organically connects the historical past with modern ideas of national identity and cultural heritage. The findings underline the importance of memorial objects as instruments of cultural memory and provide a broader perspective on their role in shaping socio-cultural identities in postcolonial societies.