Change of attitudes towards authorities as a consequence of social identities interactions

Abstract

Relevance. In extraordinary conditions, the components of identity cause important, sometimes decisive effects, which are taking its toll in the processes of social self-determination. Social identity should be interpreted as a set of different identities that are actualized under certain conditions, interact with each other and generate specific effects, in particular, in relation to the authorities.

The purpose of the study was to identify possible changes in the attitudes of Ukrainians to the authorities as a result of the interaction of their identities.

Methodology. In February-March 2023, 397 people were surveyed online using a Google form. The basis of the questionnaire was determined at the previous stage of the research. The evaluation scale had the form of a 5-point semantic differential. The relationship between quantitative indicators was established on the basis of correlation, comparative and variance analyses.

The results. Respondents rated their civic identity the highest, followed by local, professional, European, East Slavic, and religious ones. The assessment of the indicators of attitude towards the government took the following form: the attitude towards the government had changed for the better - 3.64, a positive assessment of the state authorities actions - 3.6, a positive assessment of the local authorities actions - 3.23, more trust in official sources of information - 3.66, no feeling of threat to beliefs and values from the Ukrainian authorities - 3.83. Correlation analysis showed that the indicators of a favorable attitudes towards the authorities were most positively correlated with the civic identity of the respondents, to a lesser extent – with the local and professional ones, instead, they were negatively correlated with religious identity and did not correlate with European and East Slavic ones. The application of two-factor variance analysis did not reveal a clear dominance of certain combinations of identity variants in influencing the attitudes to the authorities. At the same time, a paradox was revealed: in the case of direct attribution of indicators of attitude towards the authorities to different variants of identity, civic, local and professional ones in terms of their influence clearly outweighed religious one. However, in the case of interaction between them, the high religious identity of Ukrainians acted as a factor in the deterioration of attitudes towards the authorities, when others identities were weak. Instead, a high or even medium level of other identities "neutralized" such an influence of the religious identity. Therefore, the interaction of different variants of social identity generally had a moderate effect on the citizens' attitudes to the authorities. At the same time, among the bearers of marginal levels of identities, this influence was more significant.

Conclusions. The results of the study gave reason to talk about the effect of extreme interaction of identities.

The practical significance of the study lies: in the development of a methodological approach to identifying the effects of the interaction of different variants of social identity; in the expression of the social and psychological role of religious identity as a factor of attitudes towards the authorities; in highlighting the problematic confessional and worldview situation of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Prospects for research may consist in checking the obtained results on larger and more balanced samples; a clearer distinction of the impact of identity, general political and military factors is desirable; the psychological content of the different identities interactions effects needs clarification.