Political culture and identity politics in the Ukrainian society

Abstract

The development of the political culture among students is a process that is influenced by various historical, social, economic, and political factors. In order to streamline this process, to deprive it of spontaneity, it is important to outline the purposes and tasks that the Ukrainian society sets for itself to build a democratic rule of law state. The study is aimed at analysing the political culture of the Ukrainian population and identifying changes in the Ukrainian political culture. The methodological basis of the research is a set of philosophical, general, and specialised research methods. The study proves that the key element of identity policy is the implementation, maintenance, and adjustment of symbolic boundaries between people. The authors analyse the relationship between social boundaries and symbolic boundaries, examine the role of symbolic boundaries in the political sphere and their place in symbolic politics, show how symbolic boundaries are used in various forms and areas of identity politics. The study analyses the specific features of Ukrainian internal political development, the fluctuations occurring in the country between the presidential-parliamentary and parliamentary-presidential government forms. The authors concluded that the causes for the development of a new political culture as a stabiliser and destabiliser in society indicate the complete absence of clear purposes and objectives at all levels of this culture and the urgent need for stability and cultural rationalism to resolve social contradictions. The practical significance of the research lies in the experimental verification of the conditions that contribute to the intensified development of political culture; introduction of the methodology on the development of political culture to citizens.