Transformation of friendship in extreme situations of today
Students Name: Tsaitler Yuliia Olehivna
Qualification Level: magister
Speciality: Sociology
Institute: Institute of the Humanities and Social Sciences
Mode of Study: full
Academic Year: 2022-2023 н.р.
Language of Defence: англійська
Abstract: Even though friendship occupies one of the central places in our social life, it has only recently appeared as a field of study in sociology. In a world where the word "friend" has become a verb and many people are "friends" in social media, they may not actually be friends in the real world, but instead are acquaintances, colleagues, professional contacts, and even strangers, adding a sense of ambiguity to the concept "friend". At all times, friendship was considered one of the greatest values in a person’s life. At the scientific level, classics and modern sociologists consider friendship as a selfless relationship between people, based on sincerity, mutual sympathy, common interests and passions, where the most important thing is trust and mutual assistance. The concept of "friendship" also includes a close emotional attachment: it is characterized not only by common goals and interests but also by the strength and duration of ties, mutual sympathy, trust and devotion. At the same time, friendship is a structurally ambivalent phenomenon: being a vivid social manifestation at the intimate and personal level, being a mass cultural practice it is of unconditional interest for sociology precisely because of its relevance for the stabilization of social relations (Allan and Adams, 2006). The sociological literature on friendship has emphasized its importance for social cohesion and its role in reproducing wider social inequalities. Although socio-structural and psychological aspects may combine to produce patterns of friendship that vary from society to society, the sociological emphasis tends to focus on structural issues. In particular, H. Simmel considered friendship as an important social form of community among people occupying the same social position (Wolff, 1950). Sociologist F. Tennis, who is often called the "first sociologist of friendship", theoretically distinguished two types of social structures (Tennis, 2005). E. Giddens points out that initial kinship and emotional involvement lead to deep emotional intimacy between friends, which also characterizes intimate relationships in modern societies (Eve, 2002). Sociologist R. Park compared the meanings attached to intimacy and closeness within friendship and concluded that the former is a richer and more inclusive term than the latter, with respondents generating more meanings for it and reporting a greater variety of relationships (McCall, 2017). In the studies of J. Johnson and H. Becker, the dyadic relationship is chosen as the main analytical direction. (McCall, 2017). Undoubtedly, the Covid-19 pandemic and the full-scale invasion on the territory of Ukraine transformed social relations, changing the methods and frequency, the fullness of interpersonal connections. For many people, this has been manifested as isolation, physical distance, loneliness, stress and anxiety, and for some it has provided a rare opportunity to revisit existing and rekindle former friendships. As the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated changes in the social culture of communication, it has illuminated intimate relationships, accelerating natural changes in our social connections. Considerable attention was paid to the interpretation of the concept of friendship by such Ukrainian sociologists as A. Slobodyaniuk, who investigates how students define friendship and their attitude towards friendship (Slobodyaniuk and Ivanchyk, 2020), A. Ruchka, who examines friendship through a value system (Ruchka, 2013). Sociologist T. Sanina in her study "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on daily childhood practices" examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the self-organization of leisure time and friendship practices among Ukrainian children of different age groups (Sanina, 2021). Modern theoretical and empirical developments mainly focus attention on the principles of friendship formation, motivation and internal connections within friendship (Bailey et al., 2021), (Dinic, 2021), (It Takes Time to Make Friends, 2018). Recent research on the functioning of friendships in the context of the crisis caused by the Covid-19 epidemic provides a statistical description of the preservation and dissolution of friendships, the reasons for this and the impact of cases of Covid-19 on people’s behaviour during the pandemic, focusing on the roles played by friends (Bailey et al., 2021), (Dinic, 2021), (Sabharwal, 2021), (Elizalde, 2022). But, unfortunately, there is practically no analysis of the transformations of friendly relations in the conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic. The study of the functioning of society in the conditions of active hostilities includes the analysis of the thoughts, experiences, and physical and emotional state of the respondents. Thus, the Cedos study "First Days of Full-Scale War in Ukraine: Thoughts, Experiences, Actions" (First Days of Full-Scale War in Ukraine: Thoughts, Experiences, Actions, n.d.) and "Six Months of Full-Scale War in Ukraine: Thoughts, Experiences, Actions" ( Six Months of Full-Scale War in Ukraine: Thoughts, Experiences, Actions, n.d.) in the block of research on the experiences of the respondents considered their communication with close people, in particular with friends, which greatly helped us in the research. In view of this, the goal of the master’s thesis is to analyze, based on the analysis, the transformational processes that took place and continue to take place in friendly relations during the Covid-19 pandemic and the full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine. The object of the work is friendship as an important aspect of social relations not only of individuals but also of social communities, and society as a whole. The subject of the work is the transformational processes of friendship under the influence of extreme situations, in particular the Covid-19 pandemic and the full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine. After conducting the research and analyzing its results, we drew the following conclusions: Friendship is seen as a place of psychological and emotional support, a mutual attachment based on shared interests or interests, and as a relationship built on trust. Frequent telephone and video calls, communication through social networks or online have become the main ways of maintaining friendly relations during extreme situations. The main criteria that influenced the transformation of friendly relations among respondents are the frequency and quality of personal meetings, the level of support of interpersonal contacts between friends during extreme situations. In particular, the level of trust and support within friendships increased, especially under the influence of a full-scale invasion. Extreme situations affected the value of close friendships, namely increased it; after the full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine, the number of those who began to value their friendship more increased (50% compared to 26% during the pandemic), and nothing has changed for 48% of respondents. Keywords: friendship, friendly relations, transformation, extreme situations, the Covid-19 pandemic, a full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine.