EXISTENTIAL INTRANSIGENCE WITHIN THE THEORY OF SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION (AN EPISTEMIC-HEURISTIC INQUIRY GROUNDED IN I. V. BOYCHENKO'S LEGACY)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/2523-4064.2025/13-9/14Keywords:
existential intransigence, social transformation, actual/normative/desirable triad, acceptability thresholds, waiting regimes, institutional stabilization, acceleration, Ukraine.Abstract
B a c k g r o u n d . The article develops the notion of existential intransigence as a present-locking disposition that canonizes the actual as the normative and narrows the desirable to the reproduction of the familiar. Its ontological status is argued within a non-linear historical time marked by accelerated and uneven shifts. The aim is to explain the mechanism by which intransigence modifies thresholds of acceptability for novelty and the tempo of macro-transitions, and to demonstrate its analytical utility on Ukrainian material.
M e t h o d s . A reconstructive-critical reading of I. V. Boychenko's ideas; an institutional-analytic approach (norms, procedures, sanctions); the semantics of historical time (the split between the "space of experience" and the "horizon of expectation"); and a case analysis of contemporary Ukrainian practices.
R e s u l t s . The paper proposes a working definition of transformation as a qualitative and irreversible change in a regime of social ordering. It introduces the triad actual/normative/desirable as a minimal scheme of order-bearers' self-understanding, and specifies the mechanism of action of intransigence: recoding the triad by raising acceptability thresholds, narrowing the field of legitimate alternatives, and shifting decisions into waiting regimes. Five measurement parameters are distinguished (threshold, intensity, duration, valence, modality) alongside three levels of manifestation (individual, institutional, societal). The effects are shown to depend on the reliability of official information and on "normality/change" markers (price stability, regulatory constraints, access to basic services). Ukrainian evidence indicates a conjunction of a stabilizing effect–channeling resources into defence, finance, and energy–with the stalling of some reforms and technological novelties, which narrows the windows of opportunity.
C o n c l u s i o n s . Existential intransigence is not a psychological bias but a regime of future selection that systematically alters thresholds and tempos of transition: in moderate configurations it stabilizes manageable change and creates time buffers for adaptation; in extreme ones it blocks innovation, produces archaization, and erodes adaptability, raising the risk of counter-reforms.
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