Igor Vujčić
Prace Etnograficzne, Tom 46, Numer 2, 2018, s. 69 - 90
https://doi.org/10.4467/22999558.PE.18.023.10524The term psychological operations, viewed in the context of security sciences as one of the fundamental methods of contemporary hybrid warfare is commonly described as the use of non-military means such as information campaigns, subversive activities, indirect strategic communication and propaganda in attempts to achieve certain strategic goals. However, I will argue that by describing these activities as psychological, we risk losing sight of their cultural aspects, namely the fact that they are directed at and conducted within a specific cultural context. By placing the concept of hybrid warfare within the framework of semiotic anthropology, I will show how the activities traditionally viewed by the security experts as psychological in nature are actually directly linked to shared cultural meanings, values, motivations, worldviews and cultural and subcultural identities. I will argue that hybrid warfare, in its essence, can be viewed as a conflict resulting from the simultaneous presence of competing interpretations of social reality within one sociocultural context.