SOCIAL SELF-ORGANIZATION OF UKRAINIAN SOCIETY IN THE PERSONAL NARRATIVES OF VOLUNTEERS (BASED ON THE BOOK “UNITY IS STRENGTH”)

Abstract

This article examines the phenomenon of social self-organization of Ukrainian society in the context of full-scale war through the prism of volunteers’ personal narratives. The aim of the study is to analyze volunteers’ testimonies as a source for understanding the mechanisms of civic mobilization, solidarity, and collective action in the context of national resistance to Russian aggression. The empirical basis of the study consists of oral testimonies and narratives of volunteers collected by the author and published in the book “Unity is strength”. Methodologically, the article relies on a combination of narrative analysis, qualitative content analysis, and theoretical approaches to the study of social self-organization, social capital, and trust. The study found that volunteer narratives reflect the spontaneous, emergent nature of self-organization based on horizontal connections, mutual trust, and moral responsibility. It is argued that the processes of decentralization and institutional strengthening of territorial communities created favorable conditions for the rapid mobilization of civic initiatives in the first months of the war. It is concluded that social self-organization, as recorded in personal volunteer narratives, is an important factor in national resilience and the formation of a new culture of civic participation in Ukraine.