This article examines the commemorative practices surrounding the 1992 Transnistrian War as a key arena in which collective memory, national identity, and political legitimacy are constructed and contested in the Republic of Moldova. Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of Maurice Halbwachs, Pierre Nora, Jan and Aleida Assmann, Paul Connerton, James Young, and Jeffrey Olick, the study argues that commemoration in Moldova operates simultaneously as an instrument of state legitimation and as a site of competing narratives of the past. Adopting a qualitative, multi-method approach—combining documentary and legal analysis, participant observation, and discourse analysis—the research investigates the legal framework, monuments, public rituals, and media representations associated with remembrance on both banks of the Dniester River. This qualitative design follows sociological approaches to cultural memory as social practice, enabling contextual interpretation of symbolic and discursive forms of commemoration. The findings show that official commemorations in Chișinău institutionalize communicative memory into cultural memory, reinforcing discourses of sovereignty and Romanian identity, while Transnistrian commemorative practices perpetuate a pro-Russian narrative of victimhood, self-defense, and resistance. This fragmentation of memory across the Dniester reflects Moldova’s broader political and cultural divisions, demonstrating that remembrance remains a deeply politicized process. The article concludes that fostering inclusive and dialogic forms of memory is essential for advancing reconciliation and democratic consolidation in a post-conflict society.

This article examines how Tarot has been transformed through digitalization, focusing on its dual reconfiguration: both as an infrastructure for learning and symbolic legitimation, and as a cultural technology for navigating everyday uncertainty. Based on semi-structured interviews with fifteen young practitioners, the study highlights how social platforms (TikTok, Instagram, YouTube) become constitutive spaces for the formation of interpretative communities around Tarot, in which traditional authorities are replaced by emerging forms of credibility based on expressive authenticity, symbolic coherence and ethical accountability to the public. The research documents the emergence of a ‘digital spiritual habitus’ - a system of aesthetic dispositions and practices adapted to the online environment - whereby traditional symbolism is reconfigured for algorithmic transmission. The article also analyzes the functioning of Tarot as a ‘symbolic refuge’ in a society marked by uncertainty, highlighting the specific ways in which young people integrate this practice into everyday rituals of emotional self-sustainment and narrative construction of meaning. Through a close analysis of digital spiritual bricolage processes and symbolic coping strategies, the study contributes to our understanding of how spiritual practices are transformed by the digital environment, offering empirical insights into contemporary forms of meaning-making in the absence of stable institutional frameworks.

Identity is understood as a set of ideas and roles embedded within the individual self, representing a social construct based on learning processes and the assimilation of specific behaviors. Identity is not a “given”, but rather a trajectory of becoming. This study aims to investigate the process of constructing the social career of theatre actors, analyzing how individuals build their professional and social identity around this occupation. The research is based on a sociological investigation conducted through semi-structured interviews with thirteen participants. The central question is: “How does a person undergo the process of becoming a performing artist?”. The main objective is to identify and describe the stages through which an individual becomes an actor, both in terms of professional trajectory and in relation to the processes of socialization and recognition within the artistic field. The study is grounded in social career theory, offering a sociological interpretation of how individual experiences and institutional structures contribute to identity formation. The results indicate that the professional trajectory of actors follows a structured process, thereby demystifying the romantic perception of the innate artist and talent as a gift. The analysis reveals how artistic identity is constructed through the internalization of institutional norms, transforming individual predispositions into a form of professional competence that is collectively validated. The research data make contributions to the sociology of professions, the study of artistic labor, and theories of identity formation.

This article examines modern medicine as a hybrid social artifact that exists at the crossroads of science, magic, and commerce. Drawing on insights from medical sociology, medical anthropology, and science–technology–society (STS) studies, it develops an integrated theoretical framework that views medicine as an epistemic object, a cultural symbol, and a product of the global political economy. The analysis explores how the processes of medicalization, biomedicalization, and pharmaceuticalization reshape the relationship among the body, identity, and governance, transforming health into a continuous biotechnological endeavor managed through risks, algorithms, and pharmaceutical infrastructures. At the same time, it investigates the symbolic and ‘magical’ aspects of medicine, from the ambivalence of pharmakon and daily rituals of administration to pharmaceutical lives, belief, hope, and conspiracies and demonstrates how these elements intertwine with the economic logic of the globalized pharmaceutical market, characterized by the fetishization and spectacle of commodities, inequalities in access, and regimes of pharmapower. Methodologically, the analysis relies on a theoretical and interpretative review of specialized literature, providing a critical synthesis that considers medicine as a “total social fact” (Mauss, 1925). The article argues that understanding modern medicine requires an interdisciplinary approach that addresses both the physical existence of molecules and their symbolic and economic circulation.

In this study, we analyze the hardships and absenteeism levels of Roma children during their educational lives. Based on this analysis, we would like to find out the current integration problems and the factors with a more intensely negative impact. Each phenomenon that plays a key role in this process has been analyzed, and its favorable and unfavorable effects have been assessed. By examining the research results, the aim is to highlight unresolved issues that require further attention and possible solutions to advance children’s educational experiences. Roma children face numerous problems in daily life and in the process of integration into education, such as having to struggle with discrimination, feeling alienated due to cultural incompatibilities, and having difficulties in accessing the education system due to unemployment or the limited income levels of Roma families. Field research in six Turkish provinces (Erzurum, Samsun, Konya, İstanbul Ataşehir, İzmir Bergama, and Hatay) revealed that most Roma children are unable to attend school owing to financial constraints and prefer to work to assist their families (Ertan, 2011: 65). According to the FRA report (2021: 16), an analysis of the school absenteeism of Roma children in European countries indicates that 70 percent of them still drop out of school at a very early age. In this study, comprehensive field research was conducted by interviewing 20 parents in Timişoara, Romania, and 20 parents in Adana and Izmir, Turkey, to examine the subject in greater depth.

This article explores how startup founders justify AI-related strategic decisions and negotiate boundaries of responsibility, legitimacy, and ethical acceptability in resource-constrained organizational environments. Drawing on a sociological framework of justification and boundary-work, the analysis uses mixed-method survey data from 72 founders. Results show that most respondents employ efficiency-based justifications, while ethical and civic rationales remain largely symbolic or anticipatory. Despite widespread recognition of AI-related risks, only a minority of founders have implemented concrete governance mechanisms, with most relying on informal practices and shifting responsibility across actors. The findings demonstrate how symbolic legitimacy is constructed through selective invocation of moral logics and illustrate the contingent, negotiated nature of ethical boundary-setting in early-stage AI adoption.

This study explores the intersections between art and sociopolitical engagement, with a particular focus on Romanian contemporary art and its manifestations of artivism. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from Bourdieu’s analysis of cultural capital to situationist and artivist approaches, the research examines how artistic practice simultaneously reflects and shapes sociopolitical realities. The project employed a qualitative methodology based on six semi-structured interviews with artists from Bucharest and Cluj, chosen for their engagement with socio-political themes. The findings confirm the assumption that contemporary art is inherently political, whether explicitly framed as activism or subtly encoded in creative expression. Artists perceive their work as a form of public discourse that can amplify marginalized voices, provoke debate, and stimulate social awareness. While aesthetic value remains important, participants emphasized the ethical and political responsibilities of art, often prioritizing social relevance over stylistic concerns. Their artistic interventions address issues such as capitalism, environmental crises, feminism, minority rights, and armed conflict, situating Romanian art within broader global currents of resistance and critique. At the same time, the study highlights tensions between art as a tool for activism and art as an autonomous creative pursuit, reflecting debates over representation, accessibility, and cultural gatekeeping. Interviewees also expressed pragmatic views on the social impact of art, recognizing its role in fostering dialogue and micro-level change, while remaining skeptical of its capacity to drive systemic transformation. Finally, discussions on artificial intelligence revealed openness to its potential as a creative tool and as a catalyst for collaborative rather than competitive artistic practices. Overall, the research demonstrates that in Romania, as elsewhere, art functions both as a mirror of societal struggles and as an active agent in shaping sociopolitical consciousness.

This article uses a generational lens and a quantitative design to examine the relationship between unfulfilled aspirations and perceived anomie in post-socialist Romania. Drawing on Durkheim’s and Merton’s classical theories of anomie, as well as contemporary frameworks on aspirational identity (Markus & Nurius, Appadurai, Currid-Halkett), the study explores how blocked aspirations influence social disintegration. Quantitative data (CATI survey, N=1100) show that low perceived opportunity and self-assessed underachievement are significant predictors of anomie. Generation Z reports the highest levels of aspirational tension and anomie, while older cohorts express disillusionment with institutions. Regression analysis confirms that aspirational indicators (ideal-achievement gap, perceived inequality of opportunity) account for 19% of the variance in anomie. These findings suggest that aspirational identity mediates the relationship between inequality, symbolic selfhood, and social integration in transitional societies. The study contributes by integrating identity and norm breakdown theories and offering empirical evidence from Eastern Europe.

In the context of the proliferation of anti-aging discourse on social media platforms, this study investigates how Romanian women aged between 49 and 80 relate to digital content that promotes aesthetic youth as an aspirational norm. Grounded on a sociological theoretical framework integrating capital theory (Bourdieu, 1986), neoliberal aesthetic governance (Rose, 1999; Gill, 2007) and age social constructionism (Gullette, 2018; Berger & Luckmann, 1966), the research analyzes data from a questionnaire administered to a sample of 110 women. The study explores the relationship between exposure to anti-aging content, its perceived realism and attitudes towards aging, highlighting processes of internalization, reflexive complicity and aesthetic resistance. Contingency analyses show that frequency of content viewing is correlated with perceptions of realism and attitudes towards ageing, while active engagement (like, comments) is associated with increased internalization of aesthetic norms. The results suggest, based on a small sample of 110 Romanian women, that social media may function as an algorithmic visibility regime that potentially amplifies neoliberal ideals of youth, while also indicating possible spaces for identity and counter-narrative negotiation. The study contributes to the digital sociology of ageing by exploring, within the limitations of a non-representative sample, how female ageing may not only be a biological process but also a symbolic territory of contestation and social resignification, where agency appears to be mediated by technological, affective, and discursive infrastructure.