What can sociology do in times of war? Is it still useful to conduct sociological research when immediate solidarity is needed? Drawing on wartime Ukraine and informed by insights from Palestine and the Philippines, this article reviews some crucial roles played by sociology in wartime: making sense of rapid social transformations, bearing witness to violence, and sustaining democratic horizons. Since 2022, Ukrainian sociologists have continued to document fast changes in everyday life and society, civic engagement, values, resilience, and war crimes. Insightful epistemological discussions have arisen on the conditions, limits, and responsibilities of knowledge production in wartime, addressing the tensions between scientific rigour and civic commitment and the ethical demands of research. By foregrounding the experience of sociology in a society under existential threat, the article invites international dialogue and mutual learning on the public, ethical, and democratic responsibilities of sociology in wartime.
ArugayABaquisalJ (2023) Bowed, bent, & broken: Duterte’s assaults on civil society in the Philippines. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs42(3): 328–349.
2.
BakirovV (2025) The phenomenon of Ukrainian resilience: The synergy of sociocultural factors. In: Keynote at the Fifth Ukrainian Congress of Sociology, Online, 20–21 November.
3.
BakirovVGolovakhaY (eds) (2018) Ukrainian Sociology in the 21st Century: Theory, Methods, Research Results. Kharkiv: Karazin Kharkiv National University.
4.
BakkeKDahlMRickardK (2025) Conflict exposure and democratic values: Evidence from wartime Ukraine. Journal of Peace Research62(5): 1376–1392.
5.
BlochE (1986[1954]) The Principle of Hope. Vol. 1. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
6.
BoichakOMcKernanB (2024) Narratives of volunteering and social change in wartime Ukraine. Cultural Sociology18(1): 48–71.
7.
BradshawSElswahMHaqueM, et al. (2024) Strategic storytelling: Russian state-backed media coverage of the Ukraine war. International Journal of Public Opinion Research36(3): edae028.
8.
BurawoyM (2021) Public Sociology. Cambridge: Polity press.
9.
ColesJAstburyJDartnallE, et al. (2014) A qualitative exploration of researcher trauma and researchers’ responses to investigating sexual violence. Violence against Women20(1): 95–117.
10.
CostasJProkhorovaAStepanenkoV, et al. (2024) Academic activism in time of war: Voices from Ukraine. Organization32(5): 760–771.
11.
EmeranC (2017) New Generation Political Activism in Ukraine 2000–2014. London: Routledge.
12.
FassinD (2025) Moral Abdication: How the World Failed to stop the Destruction of Gaza. London: Verso Books.
13.
GolovakhaEIvashchenko-StadnikKMikheievaO, et al. (2023) From patronalism to civic belonging: The changing dynamics of the national-civic identity in Ukraine. In: MadlovicsBMagyarB (eds.) Ukraine’s Patronal Democracy and the Russian Invasion. Vienna: Central European University Press, pp. 297–329.
14.
GolovakhaYDembitskyiS (eds) (2024) Українське суспільство в умовах війни. Рік 2024 [Ukrainian society in wartime: Year 2024]. Kyiv: Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
15.
GrushetskyAPaniottoV (2025) War and the transformation of Ukrainian society (2022–23) (Empirical Evidence). Stuttgart: Ibidem
JawadRDawaniSShehadehS, et al. (2025) Against Frames of Trauma and Testimony: Palestinian Children’s Narratives from Within a Contemporary Genocide. Journal of Palestine Studies54(3): 71–82.
19.
KarakaiDMoskotinaR (2025) Existential upheavals: Tracing war’s immediate effect on individual religiosity in Ukraine. Social Compass72(1): 66–85.
20.
KIIS – Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (2024) To what extent do Ukrainians consider Ukraine a democratic country and the priority of a democratic system? Available at: https://kiis.com.ua/?lang=eng&cat=reports&id=1406&page=1
21.
KleinEPleinesHVolosevychI, et al. (2025) Public opinion research in Ukraine under wartime conditions. Ukrainian Analytical Digest, No. 006, May. Zurich: ETH Zurich Research Collection.
22.
KlosterkampSJeffreyA (2024) The intimate geopolitics of evidence gathering in war crime investigation in Ukraine. Political Geography Open Research3: 100008.
23.
KostenkoASemenovVOsetrovaO, et al. (2024) Resilience and vulnerability of Ukrainians: The role of family during the war. Problems and Perspectives in Management22(1): 432–445.
24.
KrymetsLSaienkoONedvyhaO, et al. (2025) The formation of Ukrainian national identity in the context of Russian aggression: A philosophical and psychological analysis. International Journal on Culture, History, and Religion71: 518–536.
25.
KutsenkoO (2025a) Democratic resilience: Ukrainian alternative to militant authoritarianism. In: WejnertB (ed.) The global rise of autocracy: Its threat to a sustainable future. London: Routledge, pp.251–285.
KutsenkoO (2025c) Resilience under fire: Navigating societal challenges, agency, and innovation in times of war. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research38(1): 1–10.
28.
KutsenkoOBabenkoS (2024) The power of Ukrainian sociology in post-USSR transformations and Russia’s war in Ukraine. In: RoncevicBValičTB (eds) Sociology and Post-socialist Transformations in Eastern Europe. London: Springer, pp.437–462.
29.
LavryshYLytovchenkoILukianenkoV, et al. (2025) Teaching during wartime: Experience from Ukraine. Educational Philosophy and Theory57(3): 197–204.
30.
LevitasR (2013) Utopia as Method: The Imaginary Reconstitution of Society. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
31.
MishalovaOHordiichukOSokolovskyiO (2024) Russia’s war in Ukraine as a ‘war for identity’ and appropriation of cultural tradition. Ethics in Progress15(1): 73–94.
32.
MuslehA (2025) Weaving life through stories: Lamlamah – the art of gathering and uplifting ‘ourselves’. Critical and Radical Social Work20: 1–16.
33.
NechitailoIAlievaA (2025) Resilience of the educational system in conditions of global social upheavals: The ratio of centralization and autonomy. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research38(1): 28–49.
34.
NekoliakR (2025) The centre for civil liberties. In: GrzebykPUczkiewiczD (eds) The Russian-Ukrainian conflict and war crimes: Challenges for documentation and international prosecution. London: Routledge, pp.159–175.
OinasEOnoderaHSuurpääL, et al. (2018) What Politics? Youth and Political Engagement in Africa. Leiden: Brill
37.
OleinikA (2018) Building Ukraine from within: A Sociological, Institutional, and Economic Analysis of a Nation-State in the Making. Stuttgart: Ibidem Press
38.
OleinikAPaniottoV (2024) Propaganda channels and their comparative effectiveness: The case of Russia’s war in Ukraine. International Sociology39(3): 217–240.
39.
PaniottoV (2024) Methods for data quality assessment in wartime surveys in Ukraine. In: KleinEPleinesHVolosevychI, et al. (eds) Public opinion research in Ukraine under wartime conditions. Ukrainian Analytical Digest, No. 006, May. Zurich: ETH Zurich Research Collection, pp.9–13.
40.
PleyersG (2024) For a global sociology of social movements. Globalizations21(1): 183–195.
SaidE (1984) Permission to narrate. Journal of Palestine Studies13(3): 27–48.
45.
SanchezP (2021) Engaging in public sociology. The Philippine case. In: BurawoyM (ed.) The Routledge international handbook of public sociology. London: Routledge, pp.154–172.
SmithEPooleyJ-AHolmesL, et al. (2023) Vicarious trauma: Exploring the experiences of qualitative researchers who study traumatised populations. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness17: e69.
48.
StepanenkoVStewartS (2025) Who, if not us?’: Civic activism and defence in wartime Ukraine. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research38(1): 152–168.
49.
Tamer Institute for Community Education (2019) Thirty Years of Community Education and Cultural Resistance. Ramallah: Tamer Institute for Community Education.
WardM (2025) How the past became a weapon of genocide in Palestine. Public Humanities1: 10051.
54.
WilliamsonEGregoryAAbrahamsH, et al. (2020) Secondary trauma: Emotional safety in sensitive research. Journal of Academic Ethics18: 55–70.
55.
WylegalaA (2025) Ethical and methodological challenges of documenting the war. In: GrzebykPUczkiewiczD (eds) The Russian-Ukrainian Conflict and War Crimes: Challenges for Documentation and International Prosecution. London: Routledge, p.14.
56.
ZayachukY (2025) Ensuring quality higher education in Ukraine in times of war. Journal of Adult and Continuing Education31(1): 135–159.
