Institute of Sociology NASU

Evil and cultural order

stmm. 2026 (2): 214-230

Full text:

VICTOR BURLACHUK, Doctor of Sciences in Sociology, Leading Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology of Culture and Mass Communication, Institute of Sociology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (12, Shovkovychna St., Kyiv, 01021)

bourlatchouk@gmail.com

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6197-0356

In thinking about the cultural order, which includes values, norms, narratives, rituals and symbols the concept of negativity has not received sufficient attention. By negative we understand those phenomena in social life that are aimed at destroying the cultural order and threaten society and the individual with misfortunes or even destruction.

The challenge arises to consider how culture responds to phenomena that negate cultural values. Does this mean that the destruction of the cultural order is accomplished through an attack against values in general, from anti-value positions, or is this destruction inherent in the cultural process?

The majority of cultural researchers understand the negative as something that deforms the cultural order, some deviation from the cultural constructions of goodness. Modern war of Russia against Ukraine forces us to recognize the insufficiency of the understanding of badness and negativity as a certain deviation, an excess, subsequently overcome by cultural institutions. From the standpoint of modern social science, which perceives culture as consisting of values worthy of all respect, it is difficult to explain the support of the majority of the Russian population for this aggressive and unjust war. The idea that it is not the values of evil, but the absence of values creates an aggressive society, does not fit well with the participation of a large part of Russian intelligentsia in militaristic propaganda.

Therefore, we must agree with J. Alexander's position that evil is a necessary component in a culture of goodness, that every value has its complementary anti-value. To preserve cultural order evil must be encoded, transformed into a narrative, and adapted to core cultural values. Cultural order reestablishes itself when there are existing well-developed narratives about how evil arises and develops, where it can be expected to appear, what constitutes the struggle between good and evil in, and how good can triumph over evil.

In the connection with Russian invasion, we can observe the emergence of new narratives designed to explain the evil perpetrated by Russian state. One of the dominant narratives is the narrative of the “evil” nature of Russian culture and language, which pose a threat to the civilized world.

To understand the processes unfolding in contemporary society, namely the full-scale war raging on the European continent at the beginning of the 21st century, it is necessary to rethink traditional notions that a pragmatic, reflective individual cannot commit an act that is evil and inhumane in its consequences.

Keywords: cultural order, social evil, J. Alexander, hypertext, "evil culture", ritual

References:

Alexander, J. (2003). The Meanings of Social Life. A Cultural Sociology. Oxford University Press.

Arend, H. (1951). The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanowich.

Badiou, A. (2000). Ethics: An Essay on Understanding of Evil. New York: Verso.

Baudrillard, J. (1995). The Gulf War Did Not Take Place. Indiana University Press.

Foucault, M. (2015). Politcs, Philosopy, Culture. Taylor & Francis Group.

Thompson, E. (2023). Troubadours of the Empire. Russian Literature and Colonialism. [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv: Nash Format. [=Томпсон, Е. (2023). Трубадури імперії. Російська література та колоніалізм. Київ: Наш Формат.]

Received 08.09.2025

Accepted for publication after review 15.10.2025