Stability for ourselves, well-being for others. How did we change?

“Whenever sociologists are being asked to describe how exactly did society change over the past decade, the first reaction is actually bafflement,” says Tymofii Brik, Rector of the Kyiv School of Economics. “That’s because sociologists study a myriad of parameters: from employment to mental health, from tobacco use to religious affiliation, from political views to pet ownership.” So, what criteria should be used for comparison? 

In this joint project by Reporters and KSE, we’ve attempted to put together a collective image of Ukrainians. Taking into account sociological research, interviews of experts in various fields, and personal observations, the authors of the following pieces analyzed changes in Ukrainians over the past decade, that is, from 2014 to 2024. Changes in attitudes, values, preferences, ways to remember the past, and visions of building the future. 

In the first part of the article, KSE Rector Tymofii Brik reflects on the paradoxical combination of phenomenal proactiveness and lack of social trust among Ukrainians.

The war has had a profound impact on Ukrainian society. According to experts in economics and demographics, even the structure of the population has changed. From the beginning of the war in 2014 until the full-scale invasion, out of the entirety of Ukraine’s population, approximately 2 million people were internally displaced persons (IDPs). Since the full-scale invasion, this number has increased, hovering at around 4 million. At the same time, approximately 6 million Ukrainians are in forced displacement abroad. This is a tremendous and dramatic change. 

Obviously, Ukrainian society is losing resources and facing demographic problems. But what does this society feel and think? Reading up on sociology research on Ukraine in the 1990s and early 2000s results in a discouraging conclusion: our society was quite cynical and paternalistic, with little awareness of statehood identity and weak civil society. The war only brought on more negativity.