SOCIAL COHESION IN UKRAINE (THE EXPERIENCE OF APPLICATION OF BERTELSMANN STIFTUNG METHOD TO EUROPEAN SOCIAL SURVEY DATA)

Abstract

The present article highlights the results of social cohesion study fulfilled on datasets collected during the sixth wave of the European Social Survey. The conducted study involved the explanation of the importance of social cohesion as a social phenomenon, caused by a paradigmatic shift of approaches to measuring the quality of life of societies. This involved the consideration of social cohesion as an important factor to measure the "social quality" of life. For this purpose, a technique implemented by Bertelsmann Stiftung was used, which was applied to available sixth wave of European Social Survey data, the latter, which included Ukraine, and further certified through the analysis of other additional sources. The study allowed to make a number of substantive conclusions about the level of social cohesion in Ukraine comparing to European countries and other countries of the world. Some recommendations for further research on social cohesion also have been given. The said phenomenon is important because it once can cover a wide range of socially important issues, being simultaneously at both the individual and the collective (macro) level of consciousness. The research of social cohesion highlights "problematic social spheres", so-called weak points of social relations, and conclusions provide knowledge about the direction, to which the efforts to improve the life of the society should be primarily directed.