Abstract Cultural Model(S) of Society in Western

Abstract Cultural Model(S) of Society in Western

ABSTRACT CULTURAL MODEL(S) OF SOCIETY IN WESTERN UKRAINE Nadiia Biletska, M.A. Department of Anthropology Northern Illinois University, 2017 Giovanni Bennardo, Director This thesis examines people’s implicit assumptions about society in Western Ukraine manifested in discourses on the subject. The discourse data were elicited via in-depth interviews with people from diverse backgrounds in Lviv region. The thesis uses cultural models theory and methods in cognitive anthropology as the primary analytical framework. Specifically, it examines the hypothesis that historically different socially-mediated experiences that resulted from the disintegration of the USSR and subsequent societal developments in independent Ukraine were conducive to differences in mental representations of society in the minds of people from different generational cohorts. Evidence of three distinct conceptualizations— cultural models—of society were found. These models were variously combined, integrated, and compartmentalized in discourse, and there was a suggestive pattern of their preferential use by interviewees from the specific age groups. Key Words: Ukraine, cultural model, conceptual metaphor, generational difference, discourse analysis, cognitive anthropology. NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY DE KALB, ILLINOIS DECEMBER 2017 CULTURAL MODEL(S) OF SOCIETY IN WESTERN UKRAINE BY NADIIA BILETSKA ©2017 Nadiia Biletska A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY Thesis Director: Giovanni Bennardo TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF APPENDICES .............................................................................................................. viii Chapter INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 1. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .............................................................................................5 Conceptual Meaning ....................................................................................................... 5 Cultural Model as a Theoretic and Analytic Construct ................................................... 7 Continuity and Variation of Cultural Models ............................................................... 12 Abstract Concepts and Conceptual Metaphor ............................................................... 14 Summary of the Theoretical Background ..................................................................... 21 2. ETHNOGRAPHIC CONTEXT .................................................................................................22 Ukraine and Ukrainian Society ..................................................................................... 22 Nation-Building Process in Independent Ukraine (1991-2004) .............................................23 East-West Dichotomy and Conflicting Agendas (2004-2011) ...............................................24 Country in Transition (2011-Present) .....................................................................................25 Research Sites and Sampling ........................................................................................ 27 iv Chapter Page Lviv (Site 1) ............................................................................................................................28 Chervonohrad (Site 2) ............................................................................................................30 3. METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................................32 Sample Selection and Composition ............................................................................... 32 Data Elicitation Methods ............................................................................................... 35 Data Transcription ......................................................................................................... 37 Methods for Data Analysis ............................................................................................ 38 Descriptive Themes at the Discourse Level ...........................................................................39 Metaphor Identification and Analysis ....................................................................................44 4. RESULTS OF DATA ANALYSIS ...........................................................................................47 Temporal-Relational Context of the Cultural Models of Society ................................. 56 Can’t Fight the System Model ...................................................................................... 65 Prototypical Individuals and Their Relations with Other Individuals ....................................65 Prototypical Institutions ..........................................................................................................68 Locus of Control .....................................................................................................................71 Impediments for Social and Individual Well-Being ...............................................................74 Metaphorical Instantiation of the Model: An Hourglass ....................................... 74 Summary of the Can’t Fight the System ................................................................................77 Common Goals First Model .......................................................................................... 77 Prototypical Individuals and Their Relations with Other Individuals ....................................77 Prototypical Political Institutions ...........................................................................................82 v Chapter Page Locus of Control .....................................................................................................................84 Impediments for Social and Individual Well-Being ...............................................................85 Metaphorical Instantiation of the Model: A Path .................................................. 85 Metaphorical Instantiation of the Model: A Building............................................ 91 Summary of the Common Goals First ....................................................................................98 Achieve Anything You Want Model ............................................................................ 99 Prototypical Individuals and Their Relations .......................................................................100 Prototypical Institutions ........................................................................................................101 Locus of Control ...................................................................................................................103 Impediments for Social and Individual Well-Being .............................................................104 Metaphorical Instantiation of the Model: A Human Body .................................. 104 Summary of the Achieve Anything You Want Model .........................................................107 Generational Distribution ............................................................................................ 110 5. DISCUSSION ..........................................................................................................................119 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................126 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................134 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 3.1. Recruiting Criteria ............................................................................................................ 34 4.1. Cultural Models Comparison .......................................................................................... 108 4.2. Generational Distribution of the Key Meaning Foci ...................................................... 111 4.3. Personal Disengagement Codes ...................................................................................... 115 4.4. Society as a Unitary Actor Codes ................................................................................... 116 4.5. Personal Responsibility/Contribution Codes .................................................................. 117 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1.1: Conceptual mappings for the source domain BUILDING and the target domain COMPLEX SYSTEMS .................................................................................................. 18 2.1: (Reconsidering Russia and the Former Soviet Union, 2016) Modified to show research sites in Western Ukraine ................................................................................................ 31 3.1: Methodological algorithm............................................................................................... 40 3.2: Document portrait. .......................................................................................................... 42 3.3: Code co-occurrence .......................................................................................................

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