Interaction. Interview. Interpretation
ISSN: 2687-0401 (online)
Publication frequency: Quarterly. Founded in 2002.
Editor-in-Chief: V.V. Semenova, Dr. Sci. (Sociol.)
Founders: FCTAS RAS, Russian Society of Sociologists
Publisher: Institute of Sociology FCTAS RAS
Indexation: RSCI
Double blind peer review
Interaction. Interview. Interpretation - peer review journal. The title of the journal has a conceptual sense refers to intersubjectivity and to social interaction as basic elements of sociality. The journal is not limited to sociologists but rather invites a wide circle of scholars in other fields: anthropologists, historians, linguists, cultural and social workers, psychologists, political scientists, all who are oriented towards the study of micro-sociality and to phenomena such as the (hidden) multiculturality of local communities.
Current Issue
Vol 17, No 1 (2025)
Theoretical Discourses and Debates
No Country for Heroes: Culture of Contemporary Wars
Abstract
The article explores the evolution of the phenomenon of war in the context of political and sociocultural transformations over the past century. Using Carl von Clausewitz’s concept as a foundational model, the author traces the transition from the symmetric and regular interstate wars of the 18th and 19th centuries to contemporary conflicts marked by asymmetry. Particular attention is paid to changes after World War II, including the growing importance of international law, the democratization of Western societies, and the advent of weapons of mass destruction. These factors, combined with rising living standards in developed countries, contributed to the delegitimization of war as a political tool and gave rise to “post-heroic” societies, where individual life is valued above collectivist ideals.At the same time, the nuclear deterrence era fostered the development of proxy conflicts, actively involving non-state actors. Using the example of the war in Afghanistan (2001–2021), the author highlights key features of modern warfare: the blurring of boundaries between civilian and military targets, the difficulty of achieving decisive victories, and the growing ethical responsibility for the consequences of military operations. The article identifies challenges posed by contemporary wars to the international community, including infrastructure destruction, regional destabilization, and mass migration.The author raises the issue of states’ moral responsibility for the fate of civilians caught in conflicts, criticizing the cynical approach that reduces war to minimizing strategic risks while ignoring its humanitarian dimensions. The author concludes by emphasizing that modern conflicts rarely end traditionally with the signing of peace treaties, as irregular forces often seek to prolong wars for profit, while conventional political actors find it impossible to resolve conflicts solely on the battlefield.
Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2025;17(1):11-21
11-21
Masculine Ideology and Attitudes towards Violence in the Construct of Military Identity
Abstract
The article examines the mechanisms of formation and maintenance of military identity using the example of participants in a special military operation in Ukraine. Based on the concept of vocation as a key component of identity, the study examines two important dimensions of military identity — narrative and bodily. The empirical base consisted of 15 in-depth interviews and 3 completed body maps created by combatants, including wounded and demobilized military personnel. The analysis shows that the stability of military identity is supported by two key elements: a specific masculine ideology and a characteristic relationship with violence. The masculine ideology manifests itself through the constant desire for trials, the rejection of a "settled" life and the formation of closed solidarity within the homosocial community. In turn, violence, alienating itself from its operator, contributes to the formation of a specific type of sociality characterized by radical egalitarianism and a rigid division into friends and enemies. The study also addresses factors that potentially destabilize military identity — injury, disability, and captivity. Paradoxically, these events can not only undermine, but also strengthen military identity through the desire to return to combat or the search for alternative ways to maintain masculinity. The results obtained deepen the understanding of the processes of formation and transformation of the identity of combatants, which is important for understanding the problems of their subsequent integration into civil society.
Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2025;17(1):22-41
22-41
Field Work Research
Narrative Genres and Cultural Resources of Ordinary Justification of the Soviet War in Afghanistan (1979–1989)
Abstract
This paper examines ordinary justification of military conflicts and their cultural resources based on interviews with veterans of the 1979-1989 war in Afghanistan. We begin by reviewing studies of public justifications and ordinary perception of wars. Based on the review of studies of the relationship between public opinion and decisions to initiate and terminate military conflicts, we conclude that ordinary perceptions of military conflicts have a prescriptive force. We criticize the utilitarian focus characteristic of studies of public justifications, as well as the limited consideration of cultural resources and beliefs about what is proper in the study of ordinary perception. To overcome these limitations, we turn to the strong program in cultural sociology that postulates the thesis of the autonomy of culture and offers tools for studying justifications - narrative genres and cultural resources. Ordinary justifications of military conflicts are examined using interviews with veterans of Afghanistan as an example. Based on the analysis of 22 interviews with veterans of the war in Afghanistan, three narrative genres of ordinary legitimation and delegitimation of this conflict are identified: social realism, apocalyptic, and skeptical. Each narrative genre is characterized by its own approach engaging cultural resources, different views on the war in Afghanistan and some of its particular events, such as the withdrawal from Afghanistan of the Soviet troops. Ordinary justifications demonstrate relative autonomy from public justifications, the ability of independent work with an extensive cultural repertoire within the Russian historical context.
Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2025;17(1):42-62
42-62
Representation of Soldiers’ Death: Discourse Analysis of Military Obituaries in the Context of the Special Military Operation
Abstract
The article is dedicated to a critical analysis of military obituaries published in the context of the Special Military Operation. The focus is on how obituaries shape public perceptions of soldiers' deaths and which ideological narratives are supported through these texts. The study examines the structures and discursive affiliations of the obituaries, the narratives they represent, and the strategies of war legitimation, soldier heroization, and comforting the grieving. Using qualitative discourse analysis, 50 obituaries published by May 2024 were analyzed. The results highlight strategies for presenting and discursively measuring soldiers' deaths through the concepts of self-sacrifice, the social body, and death as symbolic exchange, as well as methods for constructing soldiers' identities and the value of their lives. The findings demonstrate that obituaries function as an important tool of dominant discourse in shaping collective memory and public opinion.
Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2025;17(1):63-86
63-86
Social Policy Discourse as a Frame of a New Repertoire of Gender Contracts for Wives of the Mobilized
Abstract
The article studies a model of social policy aimed at supporting families of the mobilized in Russia as a tool for promoting a preferred gender contract. Families of the mobilized, having no experience of interacting with the institute of the army in conditions of military conflict, are forced to adapt to the requirements of the state in a short time. The context of the study: family policy is becoming a priority in the Russian Federation not only as support for socially vulnerable families of SVO participants, but also as an ideological tool for forming a new balance of power and gender relations in Russian families affected by militarization. The study uses critical discourse analysis that allows us to research the discourse of social support measures in the official statements of lawmakers, evaluating these measures from the perspective of the wives in thematic online chats mobilized as collective discourses. As a result of the analysis, family policy in relation to families of the mobilized is characterized as traditional and paternalistic, it is shown that there remains a gap between the normative concepts of state aid and the measures being implemented. The wives of those mobilized note their satisfaction with the monetary level of support as well as the difficulty of obtaining indirect benefits, and the system's inability to provide personalized assistance. The repertoire of women's gender contracts is differentiated on an interactive level, the importance of market participation for Russian women is consolidated, and the role of the state in a woman's willingness to serve the army institute is small.
Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2025;17(1):87-107
87-107
Visual Sociology
Re-Photography as Documentation and Understanding of the “Dirty War” in Argentina: G. Germano’s Photo Project “Absence”
Abstract
The article considers a special form of photographic practice that may be in demand in sociology — repeated photography or re-photography. This is an act of repeating a photograph of the same place/character/practice, with a time lag between the two images, a look at a certain object “then and now”. The possibilities of re-photography were primarily used by researchers of the urban environment, demonstrating vivid variability. In the social sciences, the secondary use of visual documents can serve the purposes of education, policy, practice and advocacy. The format of re-photography can be heuristic in the direction of instrumentalization of temporality and social change. It is not devoid of methodological reflection, providing for a procedural sequence of the techniques undertaken [reflected and socially designated focus of comparison; archival evidence; technically justified stand point; idea of the applied task]. But there are also ethical issues that arise when re-photographing individuals. Field research using re-photography in social sciences can have multiple purposes - to document the rhythm of changes in a specific location based on the primary image, to generate social meanings in the torn fabric of social events. In relation to the latter, the article analyzes the Argentine photo project by G. Germano “Absence”, which thematizes the consequences of the dictatorship of the military junta [1976-1983] in Argentina. The technique of re-photography used by Germano in the series of diptychs produces the affect of a time torn apart by a traumatic event, in which some are destined to disappear and not grow old with their loved ones. The diptychs not only potentially evoke an individual “punctum”, they also provide the format of an open cultural stage through which viewers can access collective forms of mourning and empathy. Germano’s re-photography project fits into various strategies of artistic resistance that act out the elimination of collective trauma through the creation of new aesthetic proposals. The art of photography is re-politicized, seeking to undermine the social and cultural representations of the post-authoritarian discourse, which has never provided Argentine society with an exhaustive historical grand narrative.
Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2025;17(1):108-125
108-125