HAPPINESS OF UKRAINIANS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE UKRAINIAN–RUSSIAN WAR : A CULTUROLOGICAL ASPECT

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to conduct a comprehensive cultural analysis of the phenomenon of happiness among Ukrainians during the Russian-Ukrainian war (2014-2025), interpreting it as an immanent component of the national conceptual sphere that undergoes significant transformations under the influence of existential, axiological, and sociocultural challenges of wartime reality.
Research Methodology: The study is based on an interdisciplinary approach combining diachronic analysis, comparative cultural studies, axiological interpretation, discourse analysis, and the generalization of empirical sociological data (KIIS, Rating Group, Gradus Research, Gallup, UNDP). The research employs sampling, content analysis, interpretative cultural analysis, and theoretical generalization.
Results: The article demonstrates that the Ukrainian model of happiness has a distinct axiological and existential nature. It is rooted in historical continuity, national identity, and cultural memory, and it intensifies under wartime conditions. The study reveals key axiological dominants – the value of life, dignity, freedom, love, unity, and hope – which structure the contemporary Ukrainian felicitary paradigm. Analysis of media discourse (literature, music, visual art, and digital narratives) shows that happiness is represented as a form of resilience, solidarity, and cultural selfpreservation.
Empirical data confirm paradoxically high levels of subjective well-being among Ukrainians despite warrelated trauma.
Practical Significance: Solving this scientific task will contribute to defining new guidelines for felicitar discourse and developing generalized methods for its analysis.
Novelty: The article substantiates the uniqueness of the Ukrainian cultural model of happiness in wartime, interpreting it as a cultural dominanta, an axiological resource of national survival, and a key element of modern Ukrainian identity. The research offers a new theoretical perspective on felicitary discourse as a cultural mechanism of resilience and collective meaning-making.
Practical Significance: Solving this scientific task will contribute to defining new guidelines for felicitar discourse and developing generalized methods for its analysis.