Social Inclusion as Dimension of Modernization of European Societies
Author: Yuriy Savelyev, yursave@yahoo.com
Department: Sociology
University: Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine
Supervisor: Prof. O.Kutsenko
Year of completion: 2018
Language of dissertation: Ukrainian
Keywords:
social inclusion
, social change
, modernization
, values
Areas of Research:
Comparative Sociology
, Social Transformations and Sociology of Development
, Historical and Comparative Sociology
Abstract
The dissertation elaborates a conceptual model of social inclusion, which is aimed to explain fundamental features and differences of contemporary modernization processes in Ukraine and other European countries and allows obtaining a more accurate comparative assessment of development of modern societies.
Based on the theoretical grounds of the capability approach (Sen, 1999), the model of modernization and the spread of emancipation values (Welzel, 2003; Inglehart, 2010), the theory of civil sphere (Alexander, 2006) and social quality model (van der Maesen, Walker, 2005; Abbott, 2014), the study reveals the invariant characteristics of modern society and modernization process and demonstrates that the post-socialist societies in Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, are capable to follow a development path which is similar to the one of Western European countries.
The dataset for analysis consists of integrated World Values Survey data (waves 3, 4, 5: WVS1994-1999, WVS1999-2004, WVS2005-2007) and European Values Survey data (waves 3, 4: EVS1999-2001, EVS2008-2010) with the matching questions, UN Development Program Human Development Index (1990-2014), World Bank (1996-2014) and International Monetary Fund (1990-2014) data, Competitivness Index (World Economic Forum 2007-2014).
The research tests a modernization model (Welzel, 2003; Inglehart, 2010) and proves a latent shift from materialist to post-materialist emancipative values although this trend is obscured by adverse directions of intracohort values changes in many European societies. The linear decomposition analysis (Firebaugh 1989) showed that the socialization hypothesis on values change was true for both selected West European and East European post-socialist countries.
The novelty of the presented study also comprises revealing the link of sociocultural dimensions of modernization (emancipative values and social inclusion) to the economic development of contemporary society. The author develops an original concept of modern social inclusion based on civic identity which opposes to archaic inclusion practices based on national-territorial identity. Prevalence of modern social inclusion is compared to its opposite form of archaic inclusion among the population of Ukraine as well as in other European countries. The analysis shows that in the contemporary Ukraine archaic elements outweigh the modern ones which jeopardizes the modernization process in general. Since social inclusion is inextricably linked to national identity, one can conclude that the spread of modern social inclusion is possible only in the case of development of civic nation but not ethnic. Thus, the study resolves the contradiction between integrationist and participatory responses to the challenges of the late modernity (Benhabib, 1992) and might indicate the inclusive foundations for solidarity, mutual recognition and strengthening social integration in contemporary heterogeneous societies.
The proposed conceptual model of social inclusion contributes into optimization of existing theoretical and methodological approaches to the comparison of various forms of modernity, the assessment of development of societies in the global world system and the current research on institutional and sociocultural dimensions of modernization of Ukrainian society. This model reveals inclusive features of modernization of European societies and suggests overcoming the limitations of existing international comparative indexes and estimating the prospects and obstacles of Ukraine's development on the path of European integration.
