Social practice of board games during forced isolation

Abstract

This article examines board games as a specific social practice in conditions of forced isolation (drawing on the cases of the COVID-19 pandemic and the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine). The relevance of the study is conditioned by the growing role of board games in contemporary forms of leisure, communication, and social interaction, as well as by their insufficient sociological conceptualization in the Ukrainian scholarly field. The theoretical and methodological framework draws on the approaches of J. Huizinga, R. Caillois, P. Yonnet, P. Bourdieu, and A. Giddens, enabling the treatment of play as both a cultural phenomenon and a structured social practice. The study proposes an original typology of board games built on the balance between the agonal principle and other play principles. The empirical basis comprises a pilot online survey of 150 respondents in Ukraine, aimed at identifying the characteristics of engagement with board games, their social functions, and changes in practice across different periods of forced isolation. The results indicate a strengthening of the role of board games as an instrument of socialization, maintenance of communication, and escapism – especially in conditions of crisis social transformation. The conclusion is drawn that board games in contemporary Ukrainian society constitute a dynamic social practice combining leisure, communicative, and identificatory functions, and that their role grows significantly in conditions of social tension and forced isolation.