The Societal Consequences of War: Social Science Perspectives and Findings From Ukraine

War is an enduring feature of human society, capable of reshaping demographic patterns, economies, institutions, identities, and everyday life. Yet sociological research has given comparatively limited attention to its consequences, largely ceding this large, complex research territory to neighboring disciplines. To map this terrain for sociologists who may wish to venture there, we synthesize theory and evidence across four domains of central concern to sociology: population processes and health, economic growth and inequality, governance and civic life, and ethno‐national and religious identity. Questions concerning social reproduction and transformation cut across these domains. We also highlight findings from studies of the Russo‐Ukrainian war that illustrate these processes under inter‐state (as opposed to civil) war. We argue for the analytical potential and the contemporary urgency of developing a sociology of war that recognizes war as a complex, destructive, yet sometimes generative process through which the fundamental structures of society are often transformed.