Who are the ‘good Russians’ for Ukrainians during the full-scale war? Attitudes of the Ukrainian society to the Russian opposition in the social media space

The research project aims to examine the attitudes of Ukrainians towards Russians, particularly about the concept of ‘good Russians’ during the ongoing full-scale war. The study will include the exploration of the socio-historical background of Russian-Ukrainian relations, as well as the analysis of the changes in attitudes before and after the Russian aggression in 2014. Then, it will focus on the formation and interpretation of the ‘good Russians’ concept, which is crucial to discover in the Ukrainian discourse to show up its truthful sense in terms of the modern war. With the usage of data scraping methods, the social media data will be collected and analyzed to uncover public sentiment around the ‘good Russians’ and compare such perceptions among demographic, regional, and differently educated groups within Ukrainian society. The research strives to gain an understanding of the war-time dynamics of attitudes, measure the tolerance to Russians, as well as expand this field of academic studies and offer insights into how social media both fosters constructive dialogue and perpetuates divisions within society.

Faculty Supervisor:

Lucan Way

Student:

Partner:

National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Information and Communications Technology; Public Service, Policy, and Governance; Other

University:

University of Toronto

Program: