Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine
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2015
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| Цитувати: | Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine / Ye. Golovakha, // Социология: теория, методы, маркетинг. — 2015. — № 3. — С. 166-174. — Бібліогр.: 7 назв. — англ. |
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irk-123456789-1152842017-03-31T03:03:04Z Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine Golovakha, Ye. 2015 Article Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine / Ye. Golovakha, // Социология: теория, методы, маркетинг. — 2015. — № 3. — С. 166-174. — Бібліогр.: 7 назв. — англ. 1563-4426 http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/115284 316.2 en Социология: теория, методы, маркетинг Iнститут соціології НАН України |
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Golovakha, Ye. Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine Социология: теория, методы, маркетинг |
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Golovakha, Ye. |
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Golovakha, Ye. |
| title |
Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine |
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Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine |
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Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine |
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Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine |
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Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine |
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human potential of the reluctant social transformations in ukraine |
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Iнститут соціології НАН України |
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2015 |
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Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine / Ye. Golovakha, // Социология: теория, методы, маркетинг. — 2015. — № 3. — С. 166-174. — Бібліогр.: 7 назв. — англ. |
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Социология: теория, методы, маркетинг |
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Yevhen Golovakha
Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine
YEVHEN GOLOVAKHA,UDC 316.2
Doctor of Sciences in Philosophy, Head of the
Department of the Methodology and Methods of
Sociology, Institute of Sociology, NAS of Ukraine
Human Potential of the Reluctant
Social Transformations in Ukraine
Ab stract
The pa per ad dresses the prob lem of na ture and spe cific fea tures of the trans for ma tion
pro cesses in Ukraine and char ac ter ises the cur rent state of hu man po ten tial nec es sary
for fur ther trans for ma tion of the so ci ety. Nat u ral, re stored nat u ral, vol un tary and re -
luc tant trans for ma tions are de fined as the ma jor types of so cial trans for ma tion. The
au thor makes an as sump tion that due to the re luc tant post-So viet trans for ma tion cer -
tain suc cesses achieved in Ukraine’s econ omy (in the early 21st cen tury) were tem po -
rary and, more over, de ter mined by po lit i cal con junc ture, while eco nomic fail ures were
quite nat u ral and re peat edly re pro duc ible. It is shown that suc cess in so cial trans for -
ma tion de pends, first and fore most, on the hu man po ten tial that al lows for avail abil ity
of so cial ac tors (rep re sen ta tives of elite and mass so cial groups) ca pa ble of ar tic u lat -
ing and prac ti cally real is ing nec es sary so cial changes; so cial re sources that these ac -
tors shall pos sess; so cial in sti tu tions pro vid ing the sys tem of rules in com pli ance with
which the pro cess of the so ci ety trans for ma tion ac quires le git i macy. De pend ing on the
fac tor which as sumes pri mary im por tance, sev eral spe cific ap proaches to un der stand -
ing the ma jor com po nent of hu man po ten tial can be out lined: elite, in sti tu tional and
those based on the con cept of so cial class or so cial re source. Ac cord ing to these ap -
proaches, the es tab lish ment of com pletely new so cial lifts, fur ther ance of the de vel op -
ment of mid dle class as a so cial ba sis for ef fi cient trans for ma tion and res to ra tion of
trust in the state, po lit i cal in sti tu tions and busi ness are the fac tors that de ter mine the
pros pects for suc cess ful trans for ma tion of Ukrai nian so ci ety.
Keywords: trans for ma tion of a so ci ety, hu man po ten tial, institutionalisation, elites,
mid dle class, so cial re sources
166 Со ци о ло гия: те о рия, ме то ды, мар ке тинг, 2015, 3
To day, re turn ing to the prob lem of trans for ma tion of Ukrai nian so ci ety ex -
pounded in my book The Trans form ing So ci ety (1997) [Golovakha, 1997], I have
to ac knowl edge that noth ing has rad i cally changed since that time. The so ci ety
still re mains the “post-So viet” one in the sense that it keeps es sen tial fea tures of
the so cial sys tem which has seem ingly been re jected vig or ously. The main con -
clu sion of the book was that the con ser va tive strat egy of the state and so ci ety’s
de vel op ment cho sen by power elites, that were then at the helm led to re pro duc -
tion of the ob so lete so cial struc tures and in sti tu tions which con demned Ukraine
to stag na tion and “shock with out ther apy”. But was there an al ter na tive to such
strat egy un der con di tions of a spe cific type of so cial trans for ma tion in the
post-So viet space and al most to tal ab sence of the hu man (in clud ing ad min is tra -
tive) po ten tial for ef fi cient ref or ma tion of the so ci ety? More over, is there such an
al ter na tive now? To an swer these ques tions now one should pri mar ily con sider,
with al low ance for the lat est so cial changes, the char ac ter and spec i fic ity of the
trans for ma tion pro cesses in Ukraine and de fine the cur rent state of hu man po -
ten tial for fur ther trans for ma tion of the so ci ety.
The pa per is de voted to for mu lat ing the above prob lem.
The cat e gory of trans for ma tion is one of the most im por tant among those re -
flect ing var i ous as pects of es sen tial so cial changes in the pres ent-day world. For
in stance, so ci ol o gists of the 19th cen tury stud ied mainly the cat e go ries of evo lu -
tion and prog ress, in the 20th cen tury rev o lu tion ary changes and so cial de vel op -
ment (later mod erni sa tion and tran sit) found them selves on the edge of the anal y -
sis. But in the re cent years at ten tion has been fo cused most of ten on trans for ma -
tion pro cesses oc cur ring in de vel op ing coun tries or in those which try to get rid of
af ter math of the com mu nist past. It is not sur pris ing es pe cially if one takes into
ac count the fact that bloody rev o lu tions, which re sulted in the build ing of to tal i -
tar ian states, and two world wars of the last cen tury have un der mined the faith of
in tel lec tual elite in prog ress as an in ev i ta ble con se quence of the evo lu tion of hu -
man civili sa tion. In this re gard, clas si cal the o ries of mod erni sa tion and tran sit,
which out lined for all states with out ex cep tion the way fol low ing which “the
golden bil lion” had come to ef fi cient de moc racy and mass pros per ity, proved to
be in suf fi ciently con vinc ing.
It was neo-mod erni sa tion the o ries of the re cent de cades where the so-called
trans for ma tion dis course was formed to take the place of tran si tive West ern-
centric ideas of in ev i ta ble tran si tion from re tarded econ o mies and tra di tional so -
cial re la tions to the mod ern ones. Within the above dis course deep eco nomic
changes and cor re spond ing so cial trans for ma tions are con sid ered nec es sary as to
their es sence, but ex tremely dif fer ent as to their re sult, when bound less achieve -
ments of some coun tries ad join fail ures and losses of other ones. Trans for ma tion
is the pro cess of es sen tial, deep so cial changes.
In con trast to tran sit, trans for ma tion has no goal set be fore hand; it is not the
pro ject of ren o va tion in ac cor dance with cer tain eco nomic pat terns like those
sug gested to de vel op ing coun tries by mod erni sa tion the o rists. The trans for ma -
tion ap proach has as sumed spe cial im por tance for post-so cial ist states, since deep
so cial changes started there in stan ta neously, with out pre lim i nary cal cu lat ing
pos si ble losses, with out pos sess ing trained eco nomic and po lit i cal elite, with out
hav ing any his tor i cal ex pe ri ence of over com ing the so cial leg acy of com mu nism.
Со ци о ло гия: те о рия, ме то ды, мар ке тинг, 2015, 3 167
Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine
More over, the trans for ma tion ap proach is of ex cep tional im por tance for the
post-So viet states which had prac ti cally no ex pe ri ence of dem o cratic tran sit and
le gal busi ness en tre pre neur ship, whose gen er a tions re placed one an other liv ing
un der lack of pri vate own er ship.
Trans for ma tion has no fi nal goal if it is a re sult of nat u ral evo lu tion or un ex -
pected reluctant changes. But it is quite an other mat ter when the trans for ma tion
pro cess is caused by re for ma tory or rev o lu tion ary forces, which set in ad vance the
di rec tion of so cial changes and aims to be achieved. Ac tu ally, tran sit is only one of
the trans for ma tion types hav ing its own “des ti na tion”. Within the lim its of tran -
sit one can dis tin guish a sub type called “mod erni sa tion” as bring ing tra di tional
so ci et ies up to date dur ing the in dus trial (ac cord ing to the ter mi nol ogy of the
Cen ter for Mod erni sa tion Re search of the Chi nese Acad emy of Sci ences) ep och
(“the first mod erni sa tion”), as well as tran si tion to “the sec ond mod erni sa tion”
(which is pop u lar in the ep och of globalisation and net work so ci et ies). In gen eral,
one can de fine sev eral main types of so cial trans for ma tion:
1. Nat u ral (as a re sult of suc ces sive ma tur ing of socio-eco nomic con di tions
for trans for ma tion). The West ern coun tries, where eco nomic changes
and dem o cratic prin ci ples of the so cial life have been ma tur ing for cen tu -
ries, serve as an ex am ple of nat u ral trans for ma tion, when the mat ter con -
cerns mod erni sa tion as a va ri ety of so cial trans for ma tion.
2. Re stored nat u ral (as a re turn to nat u ral trans for ma tion af ter cer tain so cial
up heav als con nected with tem po rary de vi a tions from the nat u ral trans -
for ma tion as a con se quence of es tab lish ing non-dem o cratic po lit i cal re -
gimes, for eign pres sure, etc.). Post-war Ger many and post-so cial ist coun -
tries of Cen tral and East ern Eu rope may serve as an ex am ple of re stored
trans for ma tion.
3. Vol un tary (as a pro ject of deep so cial changes di rected to wards over com -
ing tra di tional prin ci ples of so cial life and im pos ing com pletely new
socio-eco nomic con di tions of the so ci ety’s de vel op ment). That was the
way to “an other mod ern” (by A. Giddens’ def i ni tion) that the for mer
com mu nist re gimes have passed. How ever, the pro jects of vol un tary mod -
erni sa tion im ple mented in the coun tries of South east Asia (Sin ga pore,
South Ko rea, Ma lay sia, etc.) proved to be more suc cess ful.
4. Re luc tant (as a re sult of un ex pected socio-po lit i cal changes which lead to
the ne ces sity of in stan ta neous and spon ta ne ous trans for ma tion of the
prin ci ples of so cial life). Such trans for ma tion has oc curred in the post- So -
viet ter ri tory, where newly formed in de pend ent states (ex cept the three
Bal tic States) were not ready for ex ten sive eco nomic and so cial trans for -
ma tions.
Each of the above-men tioned trans for ma tion types re quires cer tain pre req -
ui sites of suc cess. Any trans for ma tion may be con sid ered suc cess ful only if we
take into ac count cer tain cri te ria; first of all, mac ro eco nomic in di ca tors and liv -
ing stan dards of the pop u la tion. But the suc cess of eco nomic trans for ma tion, if it
is not sup ported by cer tain ex tra-eco nomic fac tors of so cial changes, re mains
tem po rary and does not re sult in the ef fi cient eco nomic sys tem which can with -
stand the chal lenges of new time. That was the pe riod of the im prove ment of eco -
168 Со ци о ло гия: те о рия, ме то ды, мар ке тинг, 2015, 3
Yevhen Golovakha
nomic in di ca tors of Ukraine in the early 21st cen tury. As a re sult of reluctant
trans for ma tion, which had fallen to the lot of this coun try, that eco nomic suc cess
was tem po rary and, more over, de ter mined by po lit i cal con junc ture. That is why
eco nomic fail ures were quite nat u ral and re peat edly re pro duc ible.
In con trast to forced post-So viet trans for ma tion, coun tries of the for mer “so -
cial ist camp” passed to new eco nomic re al i ties, hav ing a re sid ual ex pe ri ence of the
in ter rupted mod erni sa tion, which was formed in the pe riod be tween the two
world wars. This ex pe ri ence was re in forced due to cer tain his tor i cal tra di tions of
the de vel op ment of all Eu ro pean coun tries since the Re nais sance Ep och. This
proved to be enough for these states to un dergo trans for ma tion in the same di rec -
tion as EU mem ber coun tries. Though eco nomic strat e gies were dif fer ent, the
over all out come for post-so cial ist coun tries turned out to be pos i tive [25 years of
tran si tion, 2014].
The paths fol lowed by coun tries of Cen tral and East ern Eu rope were rad i -
cally dif fer ent. As it is dem on strated by nu mer ous re searches, neoliberal cap i tal -
ism as one type of eco nomic trans for ma tion was in her ent in the Bal tic na tions.
Char ac ter is tic fea tures of neoliberal cap i tal ism in clude very low growth rates of
in dus trial pro duc tion, low-level com plex goods pro duc tion, strict fis cal pol icy
and low level of so cial se cu rity. The op po site way was cho sen by Slovenia which
had pre ferred an other type of cap i tal ism — the neo-cor po ra tive one, which was
dis tin guished mainly by high level of so cial se cu rity, rel a tively high share of the
com plex ex port and avoid ing rad i cal mar ket mech a nisms for reg u la tion of eco -
nomic re la tions. The coun tries of the Visegrád Group (Po land, Hun gary, Czech Re -
pub lic and Slovakia) are some where be tween these ex tremes, ori ent ing them -
selves to mod er ate neoliberal model in com bi na tion with the el e ments of so cial
in clu sion [Bohle, Greskovits, 2006].
When ana lys ing the cur rent state and pros pects for trans for ma tion of Ukrai -
nian so ci ety, Bohdan Hawrylyshyn made an apt com ment upon the causes of mis -
for tunes and pos si ble fac tors of suc cess: “Why are some coun tries suc cess ful,
while oth ers are not? This de pends nei ther on nat u ral re sources nor on the ge og -
ra phy of that coun try, nor on its pop u la tion. This de pends on how great is the hu -
man po ten tial of one or an other coun try. Thus, only peo ple de cide how will the
econ omy work. The value sys tem adopted by that state and power struc ture are
im por tant as well. A ma chine has a lot of mech a nisms but har mony is needed so
that they can work reg u larly. The same goes for the state” [Hawrylyshyn, 2014].
T.I. Zaslavskaia, a well-known Rus sian so ci ol o gist, also thought that hu man po -
ten tial is one of the de ci sive fac tors for eco nomic suc cess of trans form ing so ci et ies
[Zaslavskaia, 2005].
But hu man po ten tial is a rather com plex phe nom e non which al lows for avail -
abil ity of so cial ac tors (rep re sen ta tives of elite and mass so cial groups), ca pa ble of
ar tic u lat ing and prac ti cally real is ing nec es sary so cial changes; so cial re sources
that these ac tors shall pos sess; so cial in sti tu tions pro vid ing the sys tem of rules in
com pli ance with which the pro cess of a so ci ety’s trans for ma tion ac quires le git i -
macy. De pend ing on the fac tor, sev eral spe cific ap proaches to un der stand ing the
ma jor com po nent of hu man po ten tial can be out lined.
Elit ist ap proach. Ac cord ing to this ap proach suc cess in trans for ma tion de -
pends first of all on the avail abil ity of com pe tent lead ers, ca pa ble of ini ti at ing,
Со ци о ло гия: те о рия, ме то ды, мар ке тинг, 2015, 3 169
Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine
con trol ling and op por tunely cor rect ing eco nomic pro cesses. Such an ap proach
has an old tra di tion fol low ing which the so cial or der may be en sured by an en -
light ened ruler. To day’s prac tice of the suc cess ful eco nomic mod erni sa tion of the
so-called “Asian Ti gers”, per formed un der com mand of au thor i tar ian lead ers, was
based on the Con fu cian tra di tion which gives a sa cral func tion to such an en light -
ened ruler. But be yond this cul ture au thor i tar ian lead ers achieve suc cess rather
in re pres sions against their op po nents than in the sphere of econ omy. Al though
Sam uel Hun ting ton tried to sub stan ti ate the ne ces sity of the stage of en light ened
au toc racy for all the coun tries trans form ing on the path to de moc racy and free
econ omy, the ex pe ri ence of post-So viet trans for ma tion only proves that au thor i -
tar ian lead ers dem on strate nei ther en light en ment nor even a hint of en sur ing de -
moc racy and free mar ket econ omy in the fore see able fu ture. A soft vari ant of the
elit ist ap proach is the ac cent on mer i toc racy with ref er ence to the outstanding
role in so cial trans for ma tion played by Václav Havel, Leszek Balcerowicz and other
lead ers of the post-so cial ist coun tries of Cen tral and East ern Eu rope. But, firstly,
there were no such lead ers in all post-So viet coun tries; sec ondly, it is not char ac -
ter is tic of the post-So viet space at all, due to spe cific so cial lifts hoist ing to the top
of so cial hi er ar chy the per sons that are close to oli gar chic busi ness or are staunch
sup port ers of pa ter nal is tic leg acy left by So viet econ omy. A unique ex am ple of
Mikheil Saakashvili and his en light ened po lit i cal en vi ron ment, which had
achieved a cer tain suc cess in over com ing mass cor rup tion and ac com plish ing
liberal re forms, was not sup ported by the ma jor ity of vot ers in Geor gia and re -
mained an ex otic case, which is not pe cu liar to post-So viet coun tries.
An ap proach that brings to the fore front the con cept of so cial class still
feeds on the Marx ist the ory of so cial de vel op ment. This ap proach has re cently
gained pop u lar ity among Ukrai nian ex pert cir cles ow ing to the phe nom e non of
two Maidans. Rep re sen ta tives of small and me dium-sized busi ness, which re -
volted twice against the rul ing oli gar chy, are re garded as their mo tive forces. But
even if the cor rect ness of this con cep tion is re cog nised, un fa vour able re sults of
the seem ingly tri um phal Or ange Rev o lu tion and un cer tain eco nomic con se -
quences of Euro-Maidan prove that only strug gle of eco nomic classes for power is
in suf fi cient for suc cess ful eco nomic trans for ma tion. Ac cord ing to mod ern ap -
proaches to the so cial and class struc ture that en sures sus tain able eco nomic de -
vel op ment, the pros pects for Ukrai nian so ci ety should be con nected, first of all,
with the strength of its mid dle class, which has not gained due im por tance in the
so ci ety yet. As it was noted by Olena Simonchuk, a lead ing spe cial ist in re search
of the dy nam ics of so cial and class struc ture of the Ukrai nian so ci ety, “class dis -
tri bu tion of the em ployed pop u la tion of cap i tal ist coun tries dem on strates a clas -
si cal model of so cial struc ture of the ‘mid dle-class so ci et ies’ (by ob jec tive fea tures
and self-iden ti fi ca tion this class con sti tutes two thirds of em ployed re spon -
dents). How ever, Ukraine and other post-so cial ist coun tries are bal anc ing on the
edge — they are no lon ger the work ing-class so ci et ies … at the same time, they
have not yet reached the post-in dus trial stan dard of eco nom i cally de vel oped
coun tries; in other words, mid dle-class rep re sen ta tives have not achieved lead ing
po si tions in the so ci ety” [Simonchuk, 2011: p. 82]. But even pro vided that the
mid dle class takes a proper place in Ukrai nian so ci ety in the near fu ture, its so cial
re sources will prove in suf fi cient for fur ther suc cess in eco nomic trans for ma tion.
170 Со ци о ло гия: те о рия, ме то ды, мар ке тинг, 2015, 3
Yevhen Golovakha
Such state of af fairs is de ter mined by qual ity of so cial re sources that should be in -
volved in the trans for ma tion of post-So viet so ci et ies.
An ap proach that based on the con cept of so cial-re sources has been nearly
the most pop u lar one in re cent years. This ap proach is used when ex plain ing pe -
cu liar i ties of so cial achieve ments or fail ures of the trans for ma tion pro cesses.
Here at ten tion is fo cused mainly on the so cial cap i tal as an in te gra tive char ac ter -
is tic of so cial re sources. So cial cap i tal is the cat e gory which was in cluded to the
ma jor cat e go ries of so ci ol ogy only sev eral de cades ago, ow ing to prom i nent so ci -
ol o gists Pi erre Bourdieu, James Coleman and oth ers. Fur ther in ves ti ga tions
have re vealed that the level of in ter per sonal and in sti tu tional trust, as one of the
most im por tant com po nents of so cial cap i tal, also de ter mines in many cases pos -
si bil ity of suc cess ful trans for ma tion of the so ci ety and its eco nomic en vi ron ment
[Obshchestvo bez doveriia, 2014]. So cial cap i tal as a pos si bil ity of a per son’s in -
clu sion into in for mal so cial net works, built on mu tual trust, mu tual sup port and
gen er al ised ex pe ri ence of in ter ac tion, can also play a neg a tive role in the so ci ety,
when such ex pe ri ence is ac cu mu lated within cor rupt re la tions and so cial net -
works are built on the prin ci ples of nep o tism, shadow and clientelistic re la tions.
Such “va ri ety” of so cial cap i tal widely pre vails in post-So viet so ci et ies now a -
days and re strains eco nomic trans for ma tions which are nec es sary but still far
from mod ern re al i ties. The lat est so cio log i cal stud ies per formed by a group of re -
search ers at the In sti tute of So ci ol ogy of the Na tional Acad emy of Sci ences of
Ukraine have also il lus trated this fact [A So ci ety with out Trust, 2014]. But why
the Ukrai nian so ci ety does still (af ter more than twenty years of post-So viet ex is -
tence) suf fer from lack of so cial re sources, ac cu mu lat ing the ex pe ri ence of so cial
dis trust and cor rupt re la tions at all lev els of so cial hi er ar chy in stead of so cial cap -
i tal nec es sary to sup port eco nomic re forms? Such a sit u a tion is caused by spe cific
fea tures of post-So viet de-institutionalisation and for ma tion of new so cial in sti -
tu tions.
In sti tu tional ap proach came into use within the frame work of neo- institu -
tionalism. Later it was widely used in com par a tive so cio log i cal stud ies con cen -
trated on in sti tu tional foun da tions of so cial changes and on the in ter re la tion ship
be tween so cial in sti tu tions reg u lat ing var i ous spheres of so cial ac tiv ity [Ingle -
hart, Welzel, 2011].
Two ma jor com po nents may be de fined in each in sti tu tion ally reg u lated
sphere of so cial life: 1) the so-called in sti tu tional dom i nant which rests upon laws
in force, de crees and or gan ised con trol; 2) in sti tu tional pe riph ery, which com -
prises le git i mate in sti tu tional re serve (tra di tional or in no va tive). In sti tu tional
changes be gin as a re sult of grad ual or ex plo sive de-le git i ma tion of the in sti tu -
tional dom i nant in one or sev eral spheres of so cial ac tiv ity. The mat ter may con -
cern the change of po lit i cal sys tem or eco nomic struc ture, moral or re li gious prin -
ci ples, etc. caused by grow ing de-le git i ma tion of in ef fec tive laws and or gani sa -
tions con trol ling their ex e cu tion, with al low ance for fur ther legal i sa tion of in sti -
tu tional re serve. Thus, the ini tial phase of in sti tu tional changes (no mat ter how
long it may con tinue) is de ter mined by dis tur bance of the in sti tu tional bal ance
and changes in the in sti tu tional dom i nant.
Со ци о ло гия: те о рия, ме то ды, мар ке тинг, 2015, 3 171
Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine
The So viet Un ion, where ab o li tion of cen sor ship and fur ther in tro duc tion of
dem o cratic elec tions re sulted in de struc tion of fun da men tal in sti tu tions of a sin -
gle-party sys tem, cen trally planned econ omy, com mu nism as an ide ol ogy of the
rul ing party and, at last, led to the col lapse of the state as such, is a strik ing ex am -
ple of rad i cal in sti tu tional changes as a con se quence of dis turbed in sti tu tional
bal ance and changed in sti tu tional dominants. De-le git i ma tion of in ef fi cient so -
cial in sti tu tions may oc cur in evo lu tion ary man ner (spon ta ne ously or as a re sult
of pur pose ful ref or ma tion). But the ar ti fi cially sup ported le gal ity of il le git i mate
so cial in sti tu tions leads, as a rule, to in sti tu tional out bursts. In flu en tial so cial ac -
tors can tem po rarily com pen sate for the lost le git i macy of in sti tu tional for ma -
tions by strength en ing of or gan ised con trol and re pres sions un til the new so cial
in sti tu tions are legal ised as a re sult of rev o lu tion ary trans for ma tions.
The change of in sti tu tional dom i nant hap pens if in sti tu tions had a higher
level of le git i macy in the in sti tu tional re serve — tra di tional or in no va tive. For ex -
am ple, the in sti tu tion of the oc racy gained le git i macy in Iran as a re sult of Is lamic
rev o lu tion (in 1979), while post-So viet Bal tic States have legal ised lib eral po lit i -
cal and eco nomic in sti tu tions. The se quence of in sti tu tional changes in the pe -
riod of Ukraine’s com ing into be ing as an in de pend ent state (dis tur bance of in sti -
tu tional bal ance — change of in sti tu tional dom i nant — legal i sa tion of in sti tu -
tional re serve) has de ter mined in many as pects fur ther con tra dic tions and dif fi -
cul ties in the de vel op ment of Ukrai nian so ci ety. For mal legal i sa tion of the in sti -
tu tions of de moc racy and mar ket was not “un der pinned” with their le git i ma tion
in com mon and elite con scious ness. There was noth ing in no va tive in the in sti tu -
tional re serve ex cept for mass dem o cratic en thu si asm and in ten tions of po lit i cal
ac tiv ists to get rich or to ben e fit from ac cel er ated ver ti cal mo bil ity un der rad i cal
po lit i cal and socio-eco nomic trans for ma tions.
New in sti tu tions have not ap peared out of no where, be cause shadow so cial
in sti tu tions, though en dowed with spe cific le git i macy, had been emerged in the
So viet ep och. Those in sti tu tions func tioned and de vel oped be yond the le gal
sphere, nev er the less they en joyed mass sup port as com pen sa tory reg u la tors of
“nat u ral” hu man and busi ness re la tions within ar ti fi cial le gal and ideo log i cal re -
stric tions im posed by to tal i tar ian sys tem.
In that way (ow ing to legal i sa tion) the in sti tu tions of pri vate prop erty and
en tre pre neur ship could be formed rather quickly from the So viet in sti tu tions of
“crony ism” (to tal pro tec tion ism) and “shadow econ omy”. How ever, the legal i sa -
tion of “shadow in sti tu tions” turned out to be pa tently in suf fi cient to trans form
them into ab so lutely new ef fi cient in sti tu tions which could meet newly de clared
goals of the state and so ci ety’s de vel op ment. Legal i sa tion of “plun der ing of the
state prop erty” in a form of privatisation or “shadow econ omy” in a form of busi -
ness is not suf fi cient to ligimate these in sti tu tions in the so ci ety. Peo ple agree to
live in com pli ance with those norms and rules not as par tic i pants of the “shadow
side of so cial life” but as law-abid ing cit i zens of the dem o cratic state. Il le git i macy
of the new po lit i cal and eco nomic in sti tu tions man i fested it self im me di ately af ter
their legal i sa tion in in de pend ent Ukraine. In their turn, in sti tu tions of So viet so -
ci ety have lost their le gal ity, but they man aged to main tain their “tra di tional” le -
git i macy, i. e. peo ple’s con sent to so cial rules based on the ide ol ogy of state pa ter -
172 Со ци о ло гия: те о рия, ме то ды, мар ке тинг, 2015, 3
Yevhen Golovakha
nal ism, ben e fits for com mon peo ple and priv i leges for rul ing elite en sured by state
so cial ism, etc.
Are there any grounds to con clude that the ex am ple of post-So viet insti -
tutionalisation was unique? Eu ro pean coun tries of the so-called “so cial ist camp”
have also un der gone sim i lar so cial trans for ma tions. How ever, post-com mu nist
trans for ma tions of so cial in sti tu tions in these coun tries dif fer from the post-So -
viet one. For in stance, so cial ist Po land had new le gal and le git i mate in sti tu tions
in the very be gin ning of trans for ma tions, such as mar ket econ omy, “Sol i dar ity”
(a broad anti-bu reau cratic so cial move ment), and the Cath o lic Church. More -
over, the phe nom e non of to tal cor rup tion, which has re duced to zero the pro cess
of le git i ma tion of new so cial in sti tu tions, ap peared only in the post-So viet space.
The in grained idea of ma fia play ing a ma jor role in the de vel op ment of new state
was the re flec tion of this phe nom e non in the col lec tive con scious ness of Ukraine.
Af ter all, only in post-So viet States (ex cept for Bal tic na tions) all gen er a -
tions of cit i zens had al most no so cial ex pe ri ence of liv ing un der con di tions of po -
lit i cal de moc racy and mar ket econ omy. That is why the pres er va tion of so cial in -
te gra tion and sta bil ity in Po land, Hun gary, Czech Re pub lic and other coun tries
of the “late com muni sa tion” has in sti tu tional prin ci ples dif fer ent from those in
Rus sia and Ukraine. These prin ci ples made it pos si ble to per form the ef fi cient
short-term “shock ther apy” in the above-men tioned coun tries, while the econ -
omy of post-So viet states was quickly de grad ing. Nev er the less, po lit i cal life in
the post-So viet space was char ac ter ised by in ten sive de vel op ment of the res to ra -
tion pro cesses. Most cit i zens of Ukraine are still am biv a lent in their at ti tudes
towards in sti tu tional for ma tions whose le gal ity is sup ported nei ther by law nor
by moral prin ci ples.
So cial phe nom e non of du al ity of the in sti tu tional sys tem in a tran si tive so ci -
ety ex ists in all so ci et ies un der go ing tran si tion. But the de gree of in sti tu tional
am biv a lence var ies broadly. In some cases one can ob serve for a long time a clear
pic ture of du al ity in the ma jor spheres of so cial life (such a pic ture is typ i cal of
Ukraine through out the pe riod of its in de pend ence), in oth ers cases both am biv -
a lence is less ex pressed and pe riod of co ex is tence of the old and new in sti tu tions is
not so long (for ex am ple, post-war Ger many and It aly, post-so cial ist states of
Cen tral and East ern Eu rope). A pe cu liar way out of the in sti tu tional du al ity was
found by Rus sia in the pe riod of Boris Yeltsin’s reign; they had re moved the re -
serve re lated to its im pe rial past and Eur asian ide ol ogy from the in sti tu tional pe -
riph ery. Con sol i da tion of the so ci ety and for ma tion of a new so cial or der in Rus -
sia is car ried out fol low ing the prin ci ples of mod er ate au toc racy, sacralisation of
power and great-power ide ol ogy ori ented to Eurasianism, along with sus pi cious -
ness and hos til ity to wards the West as a po ten tial threat to the re na scence of a
great Rus sia. Af ter Euro-Maidan, Ukraine tries to choose the op po site way out of
the trap of in sti tu tional du al ity. Just this has mostly caused Rus sia’s ag gres sive
re ac tion against Ukraine.
If Ukraine has pros pects for suc cess ful trans for ma tion, they are first of all
con nected with over com ing the in sti tu tional du al ity on the path to re con struc -
tion of fun da men tal prin ci ples of the Eu ro pean in sti tu tional sys tem. The re cent
socio-po lit i cal de vel op ments seem ingly give grounds for such in sti tu tional
chang es, be cause an over whelm ing ma jor ity of the pop u la tion pre fers the Eu ro -
Со ци о ло гия: те о рия, ме то ды, мар ке тинг, 2015, 3 173
Human Potential of the Reluctant Social Transformations in Ukraine
pean vec tor of state de vel op ment; be sides, po lit i cal forces and lead ers who are
ori ented to ac cel er ate Eu ro pean in te gra tion have come into power. But there re -
main con sid er able ob sta cles to over come. These ob sta cles in clude not only pres -
sure from out side but also the “in ter nal” prob lems which must be solved in ac cor -
dance with three pre vi ously men tioned as pects (re lated to elites, so cial classes
and so cial re sources) re gard ing de vel op ment of the so cial po ten tial in the so ci ety
un der go ing a re luc tant trans for ma tion:
1. Es tab lish ment of com pletely new so cial lifts en abling the ap point ment of
ef fec tive man ag ers and new pol i ti cians to gov ern men tal po si tions in rel e -
vant of fices.
2. Fur ther de vel op ment of mid dle class as a so cial ba sis for ef fi cient trans for -
ma tion, which re quires max i mal sim pli fi ca tion of reg u la tive prin ci ples for
small and me dium-sized busi nesses.
3. Res to ra tion of trust in the state, po lit i cal in sti tu tions and busi ness.
Spe cific ways and mech a nisms of solv ing these prob lems should be the pre -
em i nent con cern to the state, civil so ci ety and ex perts; among the lat ter, un -
doubt edly, one of the most im por tant roles should be given to so ci ol o gists.
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Translated by Olha Maksimenko
174 Со ци о ло гия: те о рия, ме то ды, мар ке тинг, 2015, 3
Yevhen Golovakha
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