Social Mentoring in the European Communication Space: Cases of the Russian-Ukrainian War

This research aims to substantiate the content, forms, principles, andpeculiarities of social mentoring, which remains insufficiently explored in sociology, as well as to clarify the implementation of its practical cases in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war.A mixed methodology was applied to investigate social mentoring, combining general scientific and specific sociological methods. Based on traditional and critical analysis of and foreign scientific sources, the main scientific approaches to interpreting social mentoring were clarified; its content, principles, forms, and application areas were specified; similarities and differences between social mentoring, mentoring, and coaching were identified. The comparative-historical method facilitated understanding the history of the emergence of social mentoring and specifying the features of its development in European countries and Ukraine. The main features and principles of social mentoring at the individual-personal and societal-group levels were identified through analysis and synthesis. Based on content analysis of mass media and social networks, cases of social mentoring in Ukraine in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war were identified across a wide range of spheres: charity, volunteering, civil and legal sectors, interface design, cultural and project management, education, medical services, social sphere, etc.In the conclusions, the authors substantiated the content, principles of social mentoring, clarified the features of its development in Ukraine, determined the characteristics of the communicative space in which social mentoring is implemented, presented the most famous cases that have spread in the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and identified the problems that exist on the path of its institutionalization.Keywords:mentor, mentee, social mentoring, mentoring, target groups, communicative space, cases, social capital.