Abstract: The subject of this study is the phenomenon of existential uncertainty, considered as a social effect of the ideological and value polarization between Russia and the West. The author understands existential uncertainty as a state of meaningful disorientation of social groups and individuals, arising from the collapse of familiar value-semantic coordinates and the loss of the ability to generate stable meanings in the context of value conflict. This phenomenon manifests itself in the impossibility of individuals to answer fundamental questions about their own existence. Within the framework of the article, existential uncertainty is analyzed not as an individual psychological issue, but as a systemic social condition generated by macropolitical processes, value pressure, and the transformation of identity under the influence of external informational impact. Special attention is paid to how external value antagonism is projected into the inner world of individuals, creating a gap between personal experience and external demands that impose different value benchmarks. The primary methods employed by the author include a comprehensive socio-philosophical approach that allows for viewing existential uncertainty as a social state produced by macropolitical processes; axiological analysis of the value systems of Russia and the West; existential philosophy (the concepts of S. Kierkegaard and M. Heidegger); and political-philosophical analysis (K. Schmitt, S. Huntington). The results of the study indicate that the key mechanisms for the intensification of existential uncertainty include semantic destabilization, institutional duality, and the digitalization of fear. The author argues that the Russian ideological-value model, unlike the Western one, lacks a fundamental scientific-philosophical foundation, which exacerbates the problem. Strategies for overcoming this issue are proposed, including the formation of an ideological-value core and an individualistic strategy for the development of subjectivity and existential resilience. The area of application of the results encompasses socio-philosophical studies of identity, value conflicts, and existential states of society, and may also be used in the development of state strategies for social consolidation and educational programs aimed at fostering existential resilience. Scientific novelty lies in the introduction of the category "existential uncertainty" as an operational concept for analyzing the social consequences of value polarization, the identification of mechanisms for the transformation of external value confrontation into an internal existential state, and the justification of the dual nature of this phenomenon. The conclusions of the article indicate that existential uncertainty represents a fundamental challenge, requiring the development of a stable capacity for meaning generation in conditions of value turbulence.

Keywords: existential uncertainty, value polarization, social philosophy, identity, value conflict, semantic disorientation, semantic destabilization, digitalization of fear, traditional values, existential resilience