Sociological archetypology: analysis of theoretical and methodological principles and postmodern practices in Ukraine

The author substantiates conceptual and methodological principles based on a comprehensive analysis of the theoretical and scientific status of sociological archetypology within the system of modern socio-humanitarian knowledge. These principles are represented in the conceptual system comprising the following central provisions: general orientation of scientific research in the area of sociological archetypology on society as a collective subject, whose vital activity at the implicit level of the collective unconscious is primarily determined by archetypes; the dialectic character of transformations within conceptual and methodological foundations of sociological archetypology through the integration of new components, among which the most significant innovative potential is displayed by the concept of G. Durand involving the need to update the traditional methodology (in particular, through substantiation of methodological psychology and the method of convergence) and introduce into the research discourse additional archetypal symbols (theriomorphic, nyctomorphic, catamorphic, diaeretic, inversion, light-visual and cyclic symbols); methodological parity of ontological and epistemological functions of archetypes; and methodological revision of key concepts and ideas of sociological archetypology from the standpoint of contemporary postmodern sociology, characterized by the actualization of research interest in traditional culture at a new theoretical level (M. Maffesoli). The paper explains theoretical and interpretive trends of modern sociological archetypes, among which the leading ones are the following: polysemy of “archetype” as a concept and debatable interpretation of its definition markers; broad functionality of the concept “archetype”, which represents the trend of research interest actualization in traditional culture; intensification of the national researchers’ interest in deep archetypal foundations of the Ukrainian culture and mentality and in sociological analysis of modernity, mainly to diagnose transformational changes in Ukrainian consciousness and study the psycho-social foundations of contemporary postmodern civilizational identity, which reflects the theoretical continuity of traditional and postmodern interpretation of the essence of the archetype, starting with the Jungian conceptual paradigm; the promotion in the scientific publications of an analytical approach based on the understanding the archetype as the name of a particular type of personality in personology.