Belinska L. Ukrainian elite of Eastern Galicia in the nation-building discourse of the second half of the XIX – first half of the XX century.

The dissertation provides a complex analysis of the mentality, consciousness and ethos of the nobility, which comprise the symbolic, cultural and social capital of the na-tion. The work describes the methodology used and lays out the results of the research. The research demonstrates methodological, scholarly and practical results, which reflect the goal and scientific originality of the work. The work outlines the basic characteristics of the manner of thinking and consciousness of the European aristocracy. The aris-tocracy of Europe formed a common (supra-national) culture, and provided a system of values, as well as cultural, social and symbolic capital. It also offered a range of privi-leges, and promoted family unity, which portrayed the aristocratic strata as the elite of society. The essence of this culture informs chivalric ethos, which includes free will, the ideal, faithful service and benevolence. The dynamics of chivalric culture among the aristocracy permeated the aristocratic culture, and continued in transforming the culture of other social classes. In modern times, the societies of Western, Central and Eastern Europe developed in various directions. The inhabitants of towns and cities became important actors in the socio-cultural milieu of Western Europe, who acquired diverse views regarding the no-bility, ranging from negation and confrontation to borrowing and compromise. Such an elite furthered the development of civic society and strong national states. This became possible as long as the social differences between the aristocracy and the middle-class were not too great. The composition of the elite reflected the characteristics of the struggle between the old and the new in areas of morality, culture and nation-building. At the end of the nineteenth century a transformation took place of the western European aristocracy into a middle-class community which retained the cultural, eco-nomic and social capital.