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KiS baner

Vol. 67 No. 4 (2023)

Articles and essays

Fear in the Face of War in Ukraine: Personal and Geopolitical Concerns of Young Polish Women and Men

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35757/KiS.2023.67.4.10
Submitted: March 14, 2023
Published: December 28, 2023

Abstract

Russia’s attack on Ukraine has acutely affected the experiences of Polish women and men and has translated into a sense of living in constant danger in a society of risk and fear. Young people who have not yet achieved stability and are less socially anchored, are particularly vulnerable to fear, anxiety, economic degradation and a loss of ontological security. In this context, the article uses quantitative and qualitative data from the ULTAGEN project focusing on entry into adulthood in times of crisis to map the personal and geopolitical concerns of young Polish women and men. Data from a representative CAWI survey (N = 2104), conducted in January 2023 among 18–35 year olds, showed that almost a year after the war broke out, the vast majority of them were still anxious about the future. Their concerns were primarily about the cumulative consequences of the war: the economic and energy crises, and deteriorating access to public services and the housing market. The respondents also continued to fear a Russian attack on Poland. The qualitative material in turn, collected using the asynchronous exchange technique in March and April 2022 as part of a qualitative longitudinal study, deepens the above findings with detailed analyses focused on two main axes. First of all, the empirical material shows fear of the political enemy, manifested in fears of the war spilling over, a total war, alongside a cumulative refugee-economic crisis, which the interviewees believed threaten national security. Secondly, at the individual level, fear is closely linked to the vision of a “threatened future”, with young people preaching doom and gloom. From a micro-sociological perspective, the narratives illustrate a constant uncertainty and danger. The findings of the mixed-methods research are interpreted through the prism of the sociology of fear and youth studies.

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