TRANSFORMATION OF PERSONAL SOCIAL IDENTITY UNDER MARTIAL LAW CONDITIONS

Abstract

The article presents a theoretical and psychological analysis of the transformation of personal social identity under conditions of martial law. It has been established that martial law acts as a powerful socio-psychological factor that causes a dynamic restructuring of the structure of an individual’s social identity. It is shown that under wartime conditions national and civic identities are strengthened, performing the functions of psychological protection, social cohesion, and meaning stabilization. At the same time, new identification categories emerge, including military, volunteer, refugee (internally displaced), and traumatic identities, which arise in the process of adaptation to new social conditions. It is substantiated that these forms of identity may have both adaptive and maladaptive characteristics depending on the level of social support, access to significant group resources, and the ability to integrate traumatic experience into the structure of self-consciousness. Particular attention is paid to the phenomenon of traumatic identity, in which an experienced extreme event becomes a central component of an individual’s self-perception. It is shown that traumatic identity may be associated both with psychological maladjustment, stigmatization, and an increased risk of post-traumatic disorders, and with the possibility of post-traumatic growth, the formation of new meanings, and the revitalization of previous or newly formed social identities. It is concluded that social identity acts as an important socio-psychological mechanism of individual adaptation under conditions of martial law, as it provides a sense of belonging, support, solidarity, and meaning in the context of profound social transformations.