Dynamic of support for social changes in Ukraine and confessional belonging: is there a connection?

Abstract

The social changes that have taken place in Ukraine since independence are determined by the activities of various social actors. One such actor may be religious organizations (Churches), which include most Ukrainian believers. The expectation of such influence, especially in the direction of contributing to the building of an independent nation state, is common among politicians and public activists. However, the results of the public opinion polls show that the dominant Church in Ukraine (OCU, UOC, UGCC) has practically no influence on the changes in the orientations of the population to the restructuring of the social system. Indicators such as the idea of the role of the State in the economy and the possibility/impossibility of the free sale of land, support for the movement of Ukraine towards the EU and the Union of Russia and Belarus, awareness of State independence, national and cultural revival, the democratic development as personal values, the predominance of national identity, has changed in almost the same way over the last 20 years in groups of different Churches and non-religious people. This situation allows us to assert that changes in mass orientations about the basic components of social change are due to the action of various social factors unrelated to the positions of the dominant Churches.