Changes in Attitudes Toward the Enemy in Modern Wars: Dehumanization of Russian Soldiers in the Perception of Civilians and the Military of Ukraine

Abstract

The article analyzes the possibilities and limitations of the classical sociological discourse of war for analyzing Russian aggression against Ukraine. It is emphasized that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has created new challenges for the theoretical substantiation of sociological studies of war. The questions are raised whether it is worthwhile to fully rely on the achievements of the "new wars" theorists who argue that due to significant changes in the conduct of modern wars, Clausewitz's postulate of the secondary "paradoxical trinity" inherent in war: people, army and government cannot be applied; or whether the arguments of the supporters of the "old wars" theory should be accepted, who note that the fundamental characteristics of war remain unchanged, only the context of war becomes different. The author emphasizes the dehumanization of Russian soldiers by Ukrainian civilians and the military. Based on the analysis of the results of the author's empirical research conducted in March-June 2022 using the method of in-depth semi-structured interviews with Ukrainian civilians, as well as with military personnel and combat veterans, it is concluded that at the stage of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, the attitude of Ukrainians towards Russian soldiers, in particular their dehumanization, has reached an extremely high level. The author emphasizes the differences in the dehumanization of civilians and military personnel by the enemy. It is noted that for civilians, the dehumanization of the enemy simultaneously serves to strengthen the self-identification of their own group as a conductor of humanistic values. The dehumanization of the enemy by the military is characterized by the depersonalization of Russian soldiers, and their destruction is perceived as part of their professional work. The military mostly avoids the moral context in perceiving the enemy. In both groups, both a normative aversion to violence and tolerance of aggression as a response to the enemy based on the desire to destroy it are recorded. The general conclusion is made that classical theoretical constructs on the peculiarities of interaction in intergroup conflicts, in particular in war, can be applied to explain the attitude to the enemy in the case study, which gives grounds to consider "old" and "new" wars as similar, at least in the context of the population's understanding of the events of the war. Possible further directions for theoretical and empirical research on the issues chosen by the author are identified.