Properties of society as a system openness dynamism examples. Main types (kinds) of social activity

Society is a system .

What is a system? “System” is a Greek word, from other Greek. σύστημα - whole, composed of parts, connection.

So, if it is about society as a system, it means that society consists of separate, but interconnected, complementary and developing parts, elements. Such elements are spheres of public life (subsystems), which, in turn, are a system for their constituent elements.

EXPLANATION:

Finding an answer to a question about society as a system, it is necessary to find an answer that contains elements of society: spheres, subsystems, social institutions, that is, parts of this system.

Society is a dynamic system

Recall the meaning of the word "dynamic". It is derived from the word "dynamics", denoting movement, the course of development of a phenomenon, something. This development can go both forward and backward, the main thing is that it happens.

Society - dynamic system. It does not stand still, it is in constant motion. Not all areas develop in the same way. Some change faster, some slower. But everything is moving. Even a period of stagnation, that is, a suspension in movement, is not an absolute stop. Today is not like yesterday. “Everything flows, everything changes,” said the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus.

EXPLANATION:

The correct answer to the question about society as a dynamic system there will be one in which we are talking about any kind of movement, interaction, mutual influence of any elements in society.

Spheres of public life (subsystems)

EXPLANATION

The exam will be presented two types of tasks on this topic.

1. It is necessary to find out by signs what area we are talking about (remember this table).

1. More difficult is the second type of task, when it is necessary, after analyzing the situation, to determine the connection and interaction of which spheres of public life are represented here.

Example: The State Duma adopted the law "On Competition".

In this case, we are talking about the relationship between the political sphere (the State Duma) and the economic (the law concerns competition).

Material prepared: Melnikova Vera Alexandrovna

SOCIETY

Society and nature

Culture and civilization

The most important institutions of society

society- This a certain group of people

Can be defined society and how big

society and nature.

Society and nature

culture

1. “Exactly

the question arose about legal protection of nature .

Legal protection of nature

.

.

Public relations

play an important role in the functioning of society public relations. This concept refers to the diverse connections that arise between social groups, classes, nations, as well as within them in the process of economic, social, political, cultural life and activity.

Material social relations are formed in the sphere of production, in the course of practical activity. Material relations are divided into production, environmental and office relations.

spiritual relationship are formed as a result of the interaction of people in the process of creating and disseminating spiritual and cultural values. They are divided into moral, political, legal, artistic, philosophical and religious social relations.

A special type of social relations are interpersonal(i.e. relationships between separate individuals).

Evolution and revolution

There are two main ways of change - evolution and revolution. Evolution comes from the Latin word for "unfolding" -

they are slow, constant changes in a previous state. The revolution(from the Latin turn, change) is a change in all or most aspects of public life, affecting the foundations of the existing social order.

At first glance, revolution differs from evolution only in the rate of change. However, in philosophy there is a point of view about the relationship between these two phenomena: the growth of quantitative changes in development (evolution) eventually leads to a qualitative change (revolution).

In this regard, the concept of evolution is close to the evolutionary path in social development. reform. Reform- this is a transformation, reorganization, a change in any aspect of social life that does not destroy the foundations of the existing social structure.

Reforms in Marxism were opposed to political revolution, as an active political action of the masses, leading to the transfer of leadership of society into the hands of a new class. At the same time, revolutions were always recognized as a more radical and progressive way of transformation in Marxism, and reforms were viewed as half-hearted, painful for the masses, transformations, which in the majority were allegedly due to the potential threat of revolution. Revolutions are inevitable and natural in a society where timely reforms are not carried out.

However, political revolutions usually lead to great social upheaval and casualties. Some scientists generally denied the possibility of creative activity to revolutions. Thus, one of the historians of the 19th century compared the Great French Revolution with a hammer, which only broke the old clay molds, opening the already cast bell of the new social order to the world. That is, in his opinion, a new social system was born in the course of evolutionary transformations, and the revolution only swept away the barriers for it,

On the other hand, history knows reforms that led to fundamental changes in society. F. Engels, for example, called the "revolution from above" Bismarck's reforms in Germany. The reforms of the late 80s - early 90s can also be considered a “revolution from above”. XX century, which led to a change in the existing system in our country.

Modern Russian scientists have recognized the equivalence of reforms and revolutions. At the same time, revolutions were criticized as extremely inefficient, bloody, full of numerous costs and leading to dictatorship. Moreover, great reforms (i.e. revolutions from above) are recognized as the same social anomalies as great revolutions. Both of these ways of resolving social contradictions are opposed to the normal, healthy practice of "permanent reform in a self-regulating society."

Both reforms and revolutions treat an already neglected disease (the first - by therapeutic methods, the second - by surgical intervention. Therefore, constant innovation- as a one-time improvement associated with an increase in the adaptability of society to changing conditions. In this sense, innovation is like preventing the onset of a disease (i.e., a social contradiction). Innovation in this regard refers to the evolutionary path of development.

This point of view comes from opportunities for alternative social development. Neither the revolutionary nor the evolutionary path of development can be accepted as the only natural one.

Culture and civilization have long been identified. However Culture and civilization

already in the 19th century, the scientific meaning of these concepts differed. And at the beginning of XX

century, the German philosopher O. Spengler in his work “The Decline of Europe”

and completely opposed them. Civilization appeared to him as the highest stage of culture, on which its final decline takes place. Culture is a civilization that has not reached its maturity and has not ensured its growth.

The differences between the concepts of "culture" and "civilization" were also emphasized by other thinkers. So, N. K. Roerich reduced the difference between culture and civilization to the opposition of the heart to the mind. He associated culture with the self-organization of the spirit, the world of spirituality, and civilization - with the civil, social structure of our life. Indeed, the word "culture" goes back to the Latin word meaning cultivation, cultivation, processing. However, the word upbringing, veneration, as well as cult (as worship and veneration of something) also goes back to the same root (cult-). The word "civilization" comes from the Latin civilis - civil, state, but the word "citizen, resident of the city" also goes back to the same root.

Culture is the core, the soul, and civilization is the shell, the body. P.K. Grechko believes that civilization fixes the level and result of the progressive development of society, and culture expresses the mechanism and process of mastering this level - the result. Civilization equips the earth, our life, makes it convenient, comfortable, pleasant. Culture is “responsible” for the constant dissatisfaction with what has been achieved, the search for something unattainable, worthy, first of all, of the soul, and not of the body. Culture is a process of humanization of social relations, human life, while civilization is their gradual but steady technologization.

Civilization cannot exist without culture, because the system of cultural values ​​is the feature that distinguishes one civilization from another. However, culture is a polysyllabic concept, it includes the culture of production, material relations and political culture and spiritual values. Depending on which sign we single out as the main criterion, the division of civilizations into separate types also changes.

Types of civilization

Depending on their concept and the criteria put forward, various researchers offer their own versions of the typology of civilization.

Types of civilizations

However, in the journalistic literature, the division into civilizations is widely established. Western (innovative, rationalistic) and Eastern (traditional) type. Sometimes so-called intermediate civilizations are added to them. What features characterize them? Let's take a look at the following table as an example.

Main features of traditional society and Western society

Modern Civilizations

Currently, there are different types of civilizations on Earth. In the remote corners of the planet, the development of a number of peoples still retained the features of a primitive society, where life is entirely subordinate to the natural cycle (Central Africa, Amazonia, Oceania, etc.). Some peoples in their way of life have retained the features of eastern (traditional) civilizations. The influence of post-industrial society on these countries is reflected in the growth of crisis phenomena and the instability of life.

Active promotion of the values ​​of the post-industrial society by the media, raising them to the rank of universal human values ​​causes a certain negative reaction from traditional civilizations, seeking not only to preserve their values, but also to revive the values ​​of the bygone past.

Thus, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, etc. are referred to the Arab-Islamic civilization. Between individual Islamic countries and even within these countries, the struggle between supporters of rapprochement with Western civilization and Islamic fundamentalists is intensifying. If the former allow the expansion of secular education, the rationalization of life, the widespread introduction of modern achievements in science and technology, then the latter believe that the basis (foundation) of all spheres of life are the religious values ​​of Islam and take an aggressive position in relation to any innovations and borrowings from Western civilization.

India, Mongolia, Nepal, Thailand, etc. can be attributed to the Indo-Buddhist civilization. The traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism prevail here, and religious tolerance is characteristic. In these countries, on the one hand, economic and political structures characteristic of an industrial society have developed, on the other hand, a significant part of the population lives by the values ​​of a traditional society.

The Far East Confucian civilization includes China, Korea, Japan, etc. The cultural traditions of Taoism, Confucianism and Shintoism prevail here. Despite the traditions that have been preserved, these countries have been drawing closer in recent years to developed Western countries (especially in the economic sphere).

To what type of civilizational development can Russia be attributed? In science, there are several points of view on this matter:

Russia is a European country and Russian civilization is close to the Western type, although it has its own characteristics;

Russia is an original and self-sufficient civilization that occupies its own special place in the world. This is neither Eastern nor Western, but Eurasian civilization, which is characterized by superethnicity, intercultural exchange, supranational nature of spiritual values;

Russia is an internally split, "pendulum" civilization, which is characterized by a constant confrontation between western and eastern features. In its history, cycles of rapprochement with Western and Eastern civilizations are clearly marked;

To determine which point of view is more objective, let us turn to the characteristics of Western civilization. Researchers believe that within it there are several local civilizations (Western European, North American, Latin American, etc.). Modern Western civilization is a post-industrial civilization. Its features are determined by the consequences of the scientific and technological revolution (NTR), which took place in the 60-70s. XX century.

Global problems

The global problems of mankind are called problems that concern all people living on Earth, the solution of which depends not only on further social progress, but also on the fate of all mankind.

Global problems appeared in the conditions of the scientific and technological revolution in the second half of the twentieth century, they are interconnected, cover all aspects of people's lives and concern all countries of the world without exception.

We list the main problems and show their relationship with each other.

The threat of a thermonuclear catastrophe is closely interconnected with the threat of nuclear war, as well as man-made disasters. In turn, these problems are interconnected with the threat of a third world war. All this is connected with the depletion of traditional sources of raw materials and the search for alternative forms of energy. Failure to resolve this problem leads to an ecological catastrophe (depletion of natural resources, environmental pollution, food problem, lack of drinking water, etc.). The problem of climate change on the planet is acute, which can lead to catastrophic consequences. The ecological crisis, in turn, is connected with the demographic problem. The demographic problem is characterized by a deep contradiction: in developing countries there is an intensive population growth, and in developed countries there is a demographic decline, which creates enormous difficulties for economic and social development.

At the same time, the “North-South” problem is aggravating, i.e. contradictions are growing between developed countries and developing countries of the “third world”. The problems of protecting health and preventing the spread of AIDS and drug addiction are also becoming increasingly important. The problem of the revival of cultural and moral values ​​is of great importance.

After the events in New York on September 11, 2001, the problem of combating international terrorism sharply escalated. The next innocent victims of terrorists can be residents of any country in the world.

In general, the global problems of mankind can be schematically represented as a tangle of contradictions, where from each problem various threads stretch to all other problems. What is the a strategy for the survival of mankind in the face of exacerbation of global problems? The solution of global problems is possible only through the joint efforts of all countries coordinating their actions at the international level. Self-isolation and peculiarities of development will not allow individual countries to stay away from the economic crisis, nuclear war, the threat of terrorism or the AIDS epidemic. To solve global problems, overcome the danger that threatens all of humanity, it is necessary to further strengthen the interconnection of the diverse modern world, change interaction with the environment, abandon the cult of consumption, and develop new values.

In preparing this chapter, materials from the following tutorials were used:

1. Grechko P.K. Introduction to social science. – M.: Pomatur, 2000.
2. Kravchenko A. I. Social science. - M .: "Russian Word - RS" - 2001.
3. Kurbatov V.I. Social science. - Rostov-on-Don: "Phoenix", 1999.
4. Man and Society: Textbook on social science for students in grades 10-11 / Ed. L.N. Bogolyubova, A.Yu. Lazebnikova. M., 2001
5. Lazebnikova A.Yu. Modern school social science. Questions of theory and methodology. - M .: School - Press, 2000.
6. Klimenko A.V., Rumynina V.V. Exam in social studies: Notes of answers. – M.: 2000.
7. Social science. 100 examination answers./Ed. B.Yu. Serbinovsky. Rostov-on-Don.: "Mar.T", 2000.

SOCIETY

Society as a dynamic system

Society and nature

Culture and civilization

The relationship of economic, social, political and spiritual spheres of society

The most important institutions of society

Variety of ways and forms of social development

The problem of social progress

The integrity of the modern world, its contradictions

Global problems of mankind

The concept of "society" is ambiguous. In its original meaning, it is a kind of community, union, cooperation, association of individuals.

From a sociological point of view society- This a certain group of people, united by common interests (goal) for joint activities (for example, a society for the protection of animals or, conversely, a society of hunters and fishermen).

The historical approach to understanding society is associated with the allocation a specific stage in the historical development of a people or of all mankind(for example: primitive society, medieval society, etc.).

The ethnographic meaning of the concept "society" focuses on ethnic characteristics and cultural traditions of a certain population of people(eg: Bushmen Society, American Indian Society, etc.).

Can be defined society and how big a stable group of people occupying a certain territory, having a common culture, experiencing a sense of unity and considering themselves as a completely independent entity(for example, Russian society, European society, etc.).

What unites the above interpretations of society?

• society consists of individuals with will and consciousness;
• You can't call a society just a certain number of people. People are united in society by joint activities, common interests and goals;
• any society is a way of organizing human life;
• The connecting link of society, its framework, are the connections established between people in the process of their interaction (public relations).

Society as a complex dynamic system

In general, a system is a collection of interconnected elements. For example, a pile of bricks cannot be called a system, but a house built from them is a system where each brick takes its place, is interconnected with other elements, has its own functional significance and serves a common goal - the existence of a durable, warm, beautiful building. But a building is an example of a static system. After all, a house cannot improve, develop by itself (it can only collapse if the functional connections between the elements - bricks) are broken.

An example of a dynamic self-developing system is a living organism. Already in the embryo of any living organism, the main features are laid, which, under the influence of the environment, determine the essential aspects of changes in the organism throughout life.

Similarly, society is a complex dynamic system that can exist only by constantly changing, but at the same time retaining its main features and qualitative certainty.

There is also a broad, philosophical point of view on society.

Society is a form of organization of individuals that has arisen in opposition to the environment (nature), lives and develops according to its own objective laws. In this sense, society is a set of forms of unification of people, a “collective of collectives”, all of humanity in its past, present and future.

Based on this broad interpretation, let us consider the relationship society and nature.

Society and nature

Both society and nature are part of the real world. Nature is the basis on which society has arisen and develops. If nature is understood as the whole of reality, the world as a whole, then society is part of it. But often the word "nature" refers to the natural habitat of people. With this understanding of nature, society can be regarded as a part of the real world that has become isolated from it, but society and nature have not lost their relationship. This relationship has always existed, but has changed over the centuries.

Once upon a time in primitive times, small societies of hunters and gatherers were completely dependent on the cataclysms of nature. Trying to protect themselves from these cataclysms, people created culture, as the totality of all the material and spiritual values ​​of society that have an artificial (i.e., not natural) origin. Below we will talk more than once about the diversity of the concept of “culture”. Now we emphasize that culture is something created by society, but opposite to the natural environment, nature. So, the manufacture of the first tools of labor, the skills of making fire are the first cultural achievements of mankind. The appearance of agriculture and cattle breeding is also the fruits of culture (the word culture itself comes from the Latin “tillage”, “cultivation”).

1. “Exactly because of the dangers that nature threatens us, we have united and created a culture designed, among other things, to make our social life possible. - wrote Z. Freud. “After all, the main task of culture, the true rationale, is to protect us from nature.”

2. With the development of cultural achievements, society was no longer so dependent on nature. Wherein society did not adapt to nature, but actively changed the environment, transforming it in its own interests. This change in nature has led to impressive results. Let us remember thousands of species of cultivated plants, new species of animals, drained swamps and flowering deserts. However, society transforming nature, exposing it to cultural influence, was often guided by momentary benefits. So, the first environmental problems began to arise in antiquity: many species of plants and animals completely disappeared, most of the forests in Western Europe were cut down in the Middle Ages. In the 20th century, the negative impact of society on nature became especially noticeable. Now we are talking about an ecological catastrophe, which can lead to the destruction of both nature and society. So the question arose about legal protection of nature .

The protection of the natural environment is understood as the preservation of its quality, which makes it possible, firstly, to preserve, protect and restore the healthy state and integrity of the Earth's ecosystem, and secondly, to preserve the biological diversity of the planet.

Environmental law deals with the legal protection of nature. Ecology (from the word “ekos” - home, residence; and “logos” knowledge) is the science of the interaction of man and society with the natural habitat.

The environmental legislation of the Russian Federation includes a number of provisions of the Constitution, 5 federal laws on environmental protection, 11 natural resource legislation, as well as decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation, etc.

Legal protection of nature

So in the Constitution of the Russian Federation in Art. 42 speaks of the right of every person to a favorable environment, to reliable information about its condition. Article 58 speaks of the obligation of everyone to preserve nature and the environment, to take care of the natural resources of Russia.

The federal laws “On Environmental Protection” (1991), “On Ecological Expertise” (1995), “On Protection of Atmospheric Air” (1999), etc. are devoted to the legal protection of nature. Attempts are being made to conclude an international treaty on the protection of nature. On December 12, 1997, the International Protocol on the Control of Industrial Waste Emissions into the Atmosphere (Kyoto Protocol) was signed in Kyoto.

Thus, the relationship of nature, society and culture can be described as follows:

society and nature in interconnection form the material world. However, society separated itself from nature, creating culture as a second artificial nature, a new habitat. However, even having protected itself from nature by a kind of boundary of cultural traditions, society is not able to break ties with nature.

V. I. Vernadsky wrote that with the emergence and development of society the biosphere (the earthly shell covered by life) passes into the noosphere (the area of ​​the planet covered by intelligent human activity).

Nature still has an active impact on society. So, A. L. Chizhevsky established the relationship between the cycles of solar activity and social upheavals in society (wars, uprisings, revolutions, social transformations, etc.). L. N. Gumilyov wrote about the impact of nature on society in his work “Ethnogenesis and the Biosphere of the Earth”.

The relationship of society and nature we see in a variety of ways. So, improvement of agrotechnical methods of soil cultivation results in higher yields, but an increase in air pollution from industrial waste can lead to the death of plants.

Society is a complex dynamic system.

In philosophy, society is defined as a "dynamic system". The word "system" is translated from Greek as "a whole, consisting of parts." Society as a dynamic system includes parts, elements, subsystems interacting with each other, as well as connections and relationships between them. It changes, develops, new parts or subsystems appear and old parts or subsystems disappear, they change, acquire new forms and qualities.

Society as a dynamic system has a complex multilevel structure and includes a large number of levels, sublevels and elements. For example, human society on a global scale includes many societies in the form of different states, which in turn consist of various social groups, and a person is included in them.

Consists of four subsystems, which are the main human - political, economic, social and spiritual. Each sphere has its own structure and is itself also a complex system. So, for example, it is a system that includes a huge number of components - parties, government, parliament, public organizations and more. But government can also be seen as a system with many components.

Each is a subsystem in relation to the whole society, but at the same time it is a rather complex system itself. Thus, we already have a hierarchy of the systems and subsystems themselves, that is, in other words, society is a complex system of systems, a kind of supersystem or, as they sometimes say, a metasystem.

Society as a complex dynamic system is characterized by the presence in its composition of various elements, both material (buildings, technical systems, institutions, organizations) and ideal (ideas, values, customs, traditions, mentality). For example, the economic subsystem includes organizations, banks, transport, produced goods and services, and, at the same time, economic knowledge, laws, values, and more.

Society as a dynamic system contains a special element, which is its main, backbone element. This is a person who has free will, the ability to set a goal and choose the means to achieve this goal, which makes social systems more mobile, dynamic than, say, natural ones.

The life of society is constantly in a state of flux. The pace, scale and quality of these changes may vary; there was a time in the history of human development when the established order of things did not change fundamentally for centuries, however, over time, the pace of change began to grow. Compared to natural systems in human society, qualitative and quantitative changes occur much faster, which indicates that society is constantly changing and in development.

Society, as, indeed, any system, is an ordered integrity. This means that the elements of the system are located within it in a certain position and are to some extent connected with other elements. Consequently, society as an integral dynamic system has a certain quality that characterizes it as a whole, having a property that none of its elements has. This property is sometimes called the non-additivity of the system.

Society as a dynamic system is characterized by another feature, which is that it belongs to the number of self-governing and self-organizing systems. This function belongs to the political subsystem, which gives consistency and harmonious correlation to all elements that form a social integral system.

Therefore, a person is a universal element of all social systems, since he is necessarily included in each of them.

Like any system, society is an ordered integrity. This means that the components of the system are not in a chaotic disorder, but, on the contrary, they occupy a certain position within the system and are connected in a certain way with other components. Hence. the system has an integrative quality that is inherent in it as a whole. None of the components of the system. considered in isolation, does not possess this quality. It, this quality, is the result of the integration and interconnection of all components of the system. Just as individual organs of a person (heart, stomach, liver, etc.) do not have the properties of a person. likewise, the economy, the health care system, the state and other elements of society do not have the qualities that are inherent in society as a whole. And only thanks to the diverse connections that exist between the components of the social system, it turns into a single whole. i.e., into society (as due to the interaction of various human organs, a single human organism exists).

The connections between subsystems and elements of society can be illustrated by various examples. The study of the distant past of mankind allowed scientists to conclude that. that the moral relations of people in primitive conditions were built on collectivist principles, i. That is, in modern terms, priority has always been given to the collective, and not to the individual. It is also known that the moral norms that existed among many tribes in those archaic times allowed the killing of weak members of the clan - sick children, the elderly - and even cannibalism. Have the real material conditions of their existence influenced these ideas and views of people about the limits of the morally permissible? The answer is clear: no doubt they did. The need to jointly obtain material wealth, the doom to an early death of a person who has broken away from the race, and laid the foundations of collectivist morality. Guided by the same methods of struggle for existence and survival, people did not consider it immoral to free themselves from those who could become a burden for the team.

Another example may be the relationship between legal norms and socio-economic relations. Let's turn to known historical facts. In one of the first codes of laws of Kievan Rus, which is called Russkaya Pravda, various punishments for murder are provided. At the same time, the measure of punishment was determined primarily by the place of a person in the system of hierarchical relations, his belonging to one or another social stratum or group. So, the fine for killing a tiun (steward) was huge: it was 80 hryvnias and equaled the cost of 80 oxen or 400 rams. The life of a smerd or a serf was estimated at 5 hryvnias, i.e. 16 times cheaper.

Integral, i.e. common, inherent in the whole system, the qualities of any system are not a simple sum of the qualities of its components, but represent a new quality that has arisen as a result of the interconnection, interaction of its components. In its most general form, this is the quality of society as a social system - the ability to create all the necessary conditions for its existence, to produce everything necessary for the collective life of people. In philosophy, self-sufficiency is seen as the main difference between society and its constituent parts. Just as human organs cannot exist outside the whole organism, so none of the subsystems of society can exist outside the whole - society as a system.

Another feature of society as a system is that this system is self-governing.
The administrative function is performed by the political subsystem, which gives consistency to all components that form social integrity.

Any system, whether technical (a unit with an automatic control system), or biological (animal), or social (society), is in a certain environment with which it interacts. The environment of the social system of any country is both nature and the world community. Changes in the state of the natural environment, events in the world community, in the international arena are a kind of "signals" to which society must respond. Usually it seeks to either adapt to changes in the environment, or to adapt the environment to its needs. In other words, the system responds to "signals" in one way or another. At the same time, it implements its main functions: adaptation; goal achievement, i.e., the ability to maintain its integrity, ensuring the implementation of its tasks, influencing the natural and social environment; maintenance obra.scha - the ability to maintain their internal structure; integration - the ability to integrate, that is, to include new parts, new social formations (phenomena, processes, etc.) into a single whole.

SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Social institutions are the most important component of society as a system.

The word "institute" in Latin instituto means "establishment". In Russian, it is often used to refer to higher educational institutions. In addition, as you know from the basic school course, in the field of law the word “institution” means a set of legal norms that regulate one social relationship or several relationships related to each other (for example, the institution of marriage).

In sociology, social institutions are called historically established stable forms of organizing joint activities, regulated by norms, traditions, customs and aimed at meeting the fundamental needs of society.

This definition, to which it is expedient to return, having read the educational material on this issue to the end, we will consider, based on the concept of "activity" (see - 1). In the history of society, sustainable activities aimed at satisfying the most important vital needs have developed. Sociologists identify five such social needs:

the need for the reproduction of the genus;
the need for security and social order;
need for means of subsistence;
the need for knowledge, socialization
the younger generation, personnel training;
- the need to solve the spiritual problems of the meaning of life.

According to the above needs, the society also developed activities, which, in turn, required the necessary organization, streamlining, the creation of certain institutions and other structures, the development of rules that ensure the achievement of the expected result. These conditions for the successful implementation of the main activities were met by historically established social institutions:

institution of family and marriage;
- political institutions, especially the state;
- economic institutions, primarily production;
- institutes of education, science and culture;
- the institution of religion.

Each of these institutions brings together large masses of people to meet a particular need and achieve a specific goal of a personal, group or public nature.

The emergence of social institutions led to the consolidation of specific types of interaction, made them permanent and mandatory for all members of a given society.

So, a social institution is, first of all, a set of persons engaged in a certain type of activity and ensuring in the process of this activity the satisfaction of a certain need that is significant for society (for example, all employees of the education system).

Further, the institution is fixed by a system of legal and moral norms, traditions and customs that regulate the corresponding types of behavior. (Remember, for example, what social norms regulate the behavior of people in the family).

Another characteristic feature of a social institution is the presence of institutions equipped with certain material resources necessary for any type of activity. (Think about which social institutions school, factory, police belong to. Give your examples of institutions and organizations related to each of the most important social institutions.)

Any of these institutions is integrated into the socio-political, legal, value structure of society, which makes it possible to legitimize the activities of this institution and exercise control over it.

A social institution stabilizes social relations, brings coherence into the actions of members of society. A social institution is characterized by a clear delineation of the functions of each of the subjects of interaction, the consistency of their actions, and a high level of regulation and control. (Think about how these features of a social institution show up in the education system, particularly in schools.)

Consider the main features of a social institution on the example of such an important institution of society as the family. First of all, each family is a small group of people based on intimacy and emotional attachment, connected by marriage (wife) and consanguinity (parents and children). The need to create a family is one of the fundamental, i.e. fundamental, human needs. At the same time, the family performs important functions in society: the birth and upbringing of children, economic support for minors and the disabled, and many others. Each family member occupies his own special position in it, which implies appropriate behavior: parents (or one of them) provide a livelihood, run household chores, and raise children. Children, in turn, study, help around the house. Such behavior is regulated not only by intra-family rules, but also by social norms: morality and law. Thus, public morality condemns the lack of care of older family members about the younger ones. The law establishes the responsibility and obligations of spouses in relation to each other, to children, adult children to elderly parents. The creation of a family, the main milestones of family life, are accompanied by traditions and rituals established in society. For example, in many countries, the marriage ritual includes the exchange of wedding rings between spouses.

The presence of social institutions makes people's behavior more predictable and society as a whole more stable.

In addition to the main social institutions, there are non-principal ones. So, if the main political institution is the state, then the non-main ones are the institution of the judiciary or, as in our country, the institution of presidential representatives in the regions, etc.

The presence of social institutions reliably ensures regular, self-renewing satisfaction of vital needs. The social institution makes connections between people not random and not chaotic, but permanent, reliable, stable. Institutional interaction is a well-established order of social life in the main spheres of people's life. The more social needs are met by social institutions, the more developed the society.

Since new needs and conditions arise in the course of the historical process, new types of activity and corresponding connections appear. Society is interested in giving them an orderly, normative character, that is, in their institutionalization.

In Russia, as a result of the reforms of the late twentieth century. appeared, for example, such a type of activity as entrepreneurship. The streamlining of this activity led to the emergence of various types of firms, required the issuance of laws regulating entrepreneurial activity, and contributed to the formation of relevant traditions.

In the political life of our country, institutions of parliamentarism, a multi-party system, and the institution of presidency arose. The principles and rules of their functioning are enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation and relevant laws.

In the same way, the institutionalization of other types of activity that have arisen in recent decades has taken place.

It happens that the development of society requires the modernization of the activities of social institutions that have historically developed in previous periods. Thus, in the changed conditions, it became necessary to solve the problems of introducing the younger generation to the culture in a new way. Hence the steps taken to modernize the institution of education, which may result in the institutionalization of the Unified State Examination, the new content of educational programs.

So, we can return to the definition given at the beginning of this part of the paragraph. Think about what characterizes social institutions as highly organized systems. Why is their structure stable? What is the importance of deep integration of their elements? What is the diversity, flexibility, dynamism of their functions?

PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS

1 Society is a highly complex system, and in order to live in harmony with it, it is necessary to adapt (adapt) to it. Otherwise, you cannot avoid conflicts, failures in your life and work. The condition for adaptation to modern society is knowledge about it, which gives the course of social science.

2 It is possible to understand society only if its quality as an integral system is revealed. To do this, it is necessary to consider various sections of the structure of society (the main areas of human activity; a set of social institutions, social groups), systematizing, integrating the links between them, the features of the management process in a self-governing social system.

3 In real life, you will have to interact with various social institutions. To make this interaction successful, it is necessary to know the goals and nature of the activity that has taken shape in the social institution of interest to you. This will help you to study the legal norms governing this type of activity.

4 in the subsequent sections of the course, characterizing individual areas of human activity, it is useful to re-refer to the content of this paragraph in order, based on it, to consider each area as part of an integral system. This will help to understand the role and place of each sphere, each social institution in the development of society.

Document

From the work of the contemporary American sociologist E. Shils "Society and Societies: A Macrosociological Approach".

What is included in societies? As has been said, the most differentiated of these consist not only of families and kinship groups, but also of associations, unions, firms and farms, schools and universities, armies, churches and sects, parties and numerous other corporate bodies or organizations which, in in turn, have boundaries that define the circle of members over which the appropriate corporate authorities - parents, managers, chairmen, etc., etc. - exercise a certain measure of control. It also includes systems formally and informally organized on a territorial basis - communities, villages, districts, cities, districts - all of which also have some features of society. Further, it includes unorganized aggregates of people within society - social classes or strata, occupations and professions, religions, language groups - which have a culture that is more inherent in those who have a certain status or occupy a certain position than in everyone else.

So, we are convinced that society is not just a collection of united people, primordial and cultural collectives, interacting and exchanging services with each other. All these collectives form a society by virtue of their existence under a common authority, which exercises its control over the territory marked by boundaries, maintains and propagates a more or less common culture. It is these factors that make a set of relatively specialized original corporate and cultural collectives into a society.

Questions and tasks for the document

1. What components, according to E. Shils, are included in society? Indicate to which spheres of life of society each of them belongs.
2. Select from the listed components those that are social institutions.
3. Based on the text, prove that the author considers society as a social system.

SELF-CHECK QUESTIONS

1. What does the term "system" mean?
2. How do social (public) systems differ from natural ones?
3. What is the main quality of society as an integral system?
4. What are the connections and relations of society as a system with the environment?
5. What is a social institution?
6. Oxapacterize the main social institutions.
7. What are the main features of a social institution?
8. What is the meaning of institutionalization?

TASKS

1. Using a systematic approach, analyze Russian society at the beginning of the 20th century.
2. Describe all the main features of a social institution using the example of the institution of education. Use the material and recommendations of the practical conclusions of this paragraph.
3. The collective work of Russian sociologists says: "...society exists and functions in diverse forms... A really important issue is to ensure that society itself is not lost behind special forms, and forests behind trees." How is this statement related to the understanding of society as a system? Justify your answer.

ABOUT SOCIETY AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON, ITS ESSENCE, FEATURES AND STRUCTURE

As noted above, the object and subject of the study of sociology as a science is society and the diverse processes of cooperation, mutual assistance and rivalry of people united in large and small social groups and communities - national, religious, professional, etc.

A summary of this topic should begin with what constitutes a human society; what are its distinguishing features; what group of people can be called a society, and what - not; what are its subsystems; what is the essence of the social system.

With all the external simplicity of the concept of "society", it is unambiguously impossible to answer the question posed. It would be wrong to consider society as a simple collection of people, individuals with some of their original qualities that manifest themselves only in society, or as an abstract, faceless integrity that does not take into account the uniqueness of individuals and their connections.

In everyday life, this word is used quite often, widely and ambiguously: from a small group of people to the whole of humanity (Anatomical Society, Surgical Society, Belarusian Society of Consumers, Alcoholics Anonymous Society, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Society, Society of Earthlings, etc.).

Society is a rather abstract and multifaceted concept. It is studied by various sciences - history, philosophy, cultural studies, political science, sociology, etc., each of which explores only its inherent aspects and processes occurring in society. Its simplest interpretation is the human community, which is formed by the people living in it.

Sociology provides several approaches to the definition of society.

1. The well-known Russian-American sociologist P. Sorokin, for example, believed: in order for a society to exist, at least two people with a certain relationship of interaction (family) are needed. Such a case would be the simplest kind of society or social phenomenon.

Society is not any mechanical aggregate of people, but such an association within which there is a more or less constant, stable and fairly close mutual influence and interaction of these people. “Whatever social group we take - whether it be a family, a class, a party, a religious sect or a state,” wrote

P. Sorokin, - they all represent the interaction of two or one with many or many people with many. The whole endless sea of ​​human communication consists of interaction processes: one-way and two-way, temporary and long-term, organized and unorganized, solidary and antagonistic, conscious and unconscious, sensory-emotional and volitional.

The whole complex world of people's social life is divided into outlined processes of interaction. A group of interacting people represents a kind of collective whole or collective unity. The close causal interdependence of their behavior gives grounds to consider interacting persons as a collective whole, as one being made up of many people. Just as oxygen and hydrogen, interacting with each other, form water, which is sharply different from the simple sum of isolated oxygen and hydrogen, so the totality of interacting people is sharply different from their simple sum.

2. Society is a collection of people united by specific interests, goals, needs or mutual ties and activities. But even this definition of society cannot be complete, since in one society there can be people with different and sometimes opposite interests and needs.

3. A society is an association of people with the following criteria:

- the commonality of the territory of their residence, which usually coincides with state borders and serves as the space within which relationships and interactions of individuals of a given society are formed and developed (Belarusian society, Chinese society

and etc.);

– its integrity and stability, the so-called "collective unity" (according to P. Sorokin);

– a certain level of cultural development, which finds its expression in the development of a system of norms and values ​​that underlie social ties;

– self-reproduction (although it can increase its numbers as a result of migration processes) and self-sufficiency guaranteed by a certain level of economic development (including through imports).

Thus, society is a complex, holistic, self-developing system of social interactions between people.

and their communities - family, professional, religious, ethno-national, territorial, etc.

Society as a complex, dynamic system has certain features, structure, stages of historical development.

1. Sociality, which expresses the social essence of people's lives, the specifics of their relationships and interactions (as opposed to group forms of interaction in the animal world). A person as a person can be formed only among his own kind as a result of his socialization.

2. Ability to maintain and reproduce high intensity socio-psychic interactions between people, inherent only in human society.

3. An important feature of society is the territory and its natural and climatic conditions, where various social interactions take place. If we take for comparison the way of producing material goods, the way of life, culture and traditions of different peoples (for example, the African tribes, small ethnic groups of the Far North or inhabitants of the middle zone), then it will become clear the great importance of territorial and climatic features for the development of a particular society, its civilization.

4. Awareness by people of the changes and processes taking place in society as a result of their activities (as opposed to natural processes that are independent of the will and consciousness of people). Everything that happens in society is carried out only by people, their organized groups. They create special bodies for the implementation of self-regulation of society - social institutions.

5. Society has a complex social structure, consisting of different social strata, groups and communities. They differ from each other in many ways: the level of income and education, the ratio

to power and property, belonging to different religions, political parties, organizations, etc. They are in a complex and diverse relationship of interconnection and constant development.

Nevertheless, all of the above features of society interact with each other, ensuring the integrity and sustainability of its development as a single and complex system.

Society is divided into structural components, or subsystems:

1. Economic subsystem.

2. political subsystem.

3. Sociocultural subsystem.

4. social subsystem.

Consider these structural components in more detail:

1. The economic subsystem of society (often called the economic system) includes the production, distribution, exchange of goods and services, the interaction of people in the labor market, economic

stimulation of various types of activities, banking, credit

and other similar organizations and institutions (studied by students

in course in economics).

2. The political subsystem (or system) is the totality socio-political interactions between individuals and groups, the political structure of society, the regime of power, the activities of government bodies, political parties

and socio-political organizations, political rights

and freedoms of citizens, as well as values, norms and rules governing the political behavior of individuals and social groups. Students get acquainted with this system in the course of political science.

3. Sociocultural subsystem (or system) includes education, science, philosophy, art, morality, religion, organizations

and cultural institutions, mass media, etc. It is studied in such courses as cultural studies, philosophy, aesthetics, religious studies, and ethics.

4. A social subsystem is a form of people's life activity, which is realized in the development and functioning of social institutions, organizations, social communities, groups and individuals and unites all other structural components of society. It is the subject of sociological research.

The interaction of the main subsystems of society can be represented

in in the form of a diagram (Fig. 3).

Society as an integral system

Rice. 3. The structure of society

The social subsystem of society, in turn, includes the following structural components: social structure, social institutions, social relations, social ties and actions, social norms and values, etc.

There are other approaches to determining the structure of society as a social system. Thus, the American sociologist E. Shils proposed the study of society as a certain macrostructure, the main elements

the cops of which are social communities, social organizations and culture.

In accordance with these components, society must be considered in three aspects:

1) as a relationship of many individuals. As a result of the interconnection of many individuals, social communities are formed. They are the main side of society as a social system. Social communities are real-life aggregates of individuals that form a certain integrity and have independence in social actions. They arise in the process of the historical development of society and are characterized by a variety of types and forms.

The most significant are socio-class, socio-ethnic, socio-territorial, socio-demographic, etc. (for more details, see separate topics of the manual).

Forms of interaction between people in social communities are different: individual - individual; individual - social group; individual - society. They are formed in the process of labor, practical activities of people and represent the behavior of an individual or a social group, significant for the development of the social community as a whole. Such social interaction of subjects determines the social ties between individuals, between individuals and the outside world. The totality of social ties is the basis of all social relations in society: political, economic, spiritual. In turn, they serve as the foundation for the functioning of the political, economic, spiritual and social spheres (subsystems) of the life of society.

At the same time, all spheres of society's life, any social community cannot function successfully, and even more so develop without streamlining, regulating relations between people in the process of their practical activities and behavior. To do this, society has developed a peculiar system of such regulation and organization of public life, its "tools" - social institutions. They represent a certain set of institutions - the state, law, production, education, etc. In the conditions of stable development of society, social institutions play the role of mechanisms for coordinating the common interests of various groups of the population and individuals;

2) the second most important aspect of society as a social system is social organization. It means a number of ways to regulate the actions of individuals and social groups to achieve certain goals of social development. In other words, social organization is a mechanism for integrating the actions of individuals and social communities within a particular social system. Its element is

They are social roles, social statuses of individuals, social norms and social (public) values ​​(in a separate topic).

The joint activity of individuals, the distribution of social statuses and social roles are impossible without a certain governing body within the social organization. For these purposes, organizational and power structures are formed in the form of administration, as well as a managerial link in the form of managers and specialist leaders. There is a formal structure of social organization with different social statuses, with an administrative division of labor according to the principle "leaders - subordinates";

3) the third component of society as a social system is culture. In sociology, culture is understood as a system of social norms and values ​​fixed in the practical activities of people,

a as well as this activity. The main link in the social

and cultural systems are values. Their task is to serve to maintain the pattern of functioning of the social system. Norms in sociology are predominantly a social phenomenon. They mainly perform the function of integration, regulate a huge number of processes, and promote the implementation of normative value obligations. In civilized, developed societies, the basis of social norms is the legal system.

AT The focus of sociology is the question of the social role of culture in society - to what extent certain social values ​​contribute to the humanization of social relations, the formation of a comprehensively developed personality.

MAIN STAGES OF THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIETY, ITS TYPES AND CONCEPTS

As noted above, society is a constantly evolving, dynamic system. In the course of this development, it goes through a series of historical stages and types, characterized by special distinctive features. Sociologists have identified several basic types of society.

1. The Marxist concept of the development of society, proposed in the middle of the XIX century. Marx and Engels, proceeds from the dominant role of the mode of production of material goods in determining the type of society. According to this, Marx substantiated the existence of five modes of production

and their corresponding five socio-economic formations successively replacing one another as a result of the class struggle

and social revolution. These are primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, bourgeois and communist formations. Although it is known that a number of societies have not gone through certain stages in their development.

2. Western sociologists of the second half of the 19th - mid-20th centuries. (O. Comte, G. Spencer, E. Durkheim, A. Toynbee and others) believed that there are only two types of societies in the world:

a) traditional (so-called military democracy) is an agrarian society

with primitive production, a sedentary hierarchical social structure, the power of landowners, an assembly of armed warriors; undeveloped science and technology, insignificant savings;

b) an industrial society, which takes shape gradually, replaces the traditional one as a result of great geographical and scientific and technical discoveries. A slow growth of technical progress begins, an increase in the productivity of agricultural labor, the emergence of a layer of merchants, merchants, and the formation of centralized states. The first bourgeois revolutions in Europe lead to the emergence of new social strata, as well as to the birth of the ideology of liberalism and nationalism, the democratization of society. The historical framework of this type of society - from the Neolithic era to the industrial revolution, carried out in different countries and regions at different times.

Industrial society is characterized by:

– urbanization, an increase in the proportion of the urban population to 60–80 %;

– the accelerated growth of industry and the reduction of agriculture;

– introduction of achievements of science and technology into production processes and increase in labor productivity;

– the emergence of new industries as a result of scientific and technological progress;

– increasing the share of capital accumulation in GDP and investing them in the development of production(15–20% of GDP);

– change in the structure of employment of the population (increase in the share of workers engaged in mental labor due to the reduction of unskilled, physical);

– growth in consumption.

3. Since the second half of the XX century. in Western sociology, the concepts of a three-stage typology of society appeared. R. Aron, Z. Brzezinski, D. Bell, J. Galbraith, O. Toffler and others proceeded from the fact that humanity in its historical development goes through three main stages and types of societies (civilizations):

a) pre-industrial (agricultural-handicraft) society, the main wealth of which is land. It is dominated by a simple division of labor, manufacturing. The main goal of such a society is power, a rigid authoritarian system. Its main institutions are the army, the church

cow, agriculture. The dominant social strata - the nobility, the clergy, warriors, slave owners, later - the feudal lords;

b) an industrial society, the main wealth of which is capital, money. It is characterized by large-scale machine production, scientific and technological progress, a developed system of division of labor, mass production of goods for the market, the development of the media, etc. The dominant layer is industrialists and businessmen.

c) post-industrial (information) society is replacing the industrial one. Its main value is knowledge, science, producing information. The main social stratum is scientists. Post-industrial society is characterized by the emergence of new means of production: information and electronic systems with billions of operations per second, computer technology, new technologies (genetic engineering, cloning, etc.); the use of microprocessors in industry, services, trade and exchange; a sharp reduction in the share of the rural population and an increase in employment in the service sector, etc. The correlation of various types of society is presented in Table. one.

Alvin Toffler and other Western sociologists argue that developed countries from the 70s and 80s. 20th century experiencing a new technological

a revolution leading to the continuous renewal of social relations and the creation of super-industrial civilizations.

The theory of industrial and post-industrial society combines five trends in social development: technization, informatization, societal complexity, social differentiation and social integration. They will be discussed below in separate chapters of this publication.

However, it must be borne in mind that all of the above applies to developed countries. All the rest, including Belarus, are at the industrial stage (or in a pre-industrial society).

Despite the attractiveness of many ideas of a post-industrial society, the problem of its formation in all regions of the world remains open due to the exhaustibility of many biosphere resources, the presence of social conflicts, etc.

In Western sociology and cultural studies, the theory of the cyclic development of society is also distinguished, the authors of which are O. Spengler, A. Toynbee and others. It proceeds from the fact that the evolution of society is considered not as a rectilinear movement towards its more perfect state, but as a kind of , prosperity and decline, repeating again as it ends (the cyclic concept of the development of society can be considered by analogy with the life of an individual - birth, development, prosperity, old age and death).

Of particular interest to our students is the "healthy society theory" created by the German-American psychologist, physician and sociologist Erich Fromm (1900–1980). Having emigrated from Germany to the USA in 1933, he worked as a practicing psychoanalyst for many years, later he took up scientific activity, and since 1951 he became a university professor.

Criticizing capitalism as a sick, irrational society, Fromm developed the concept of creating a harmonious healthy society with the help of social therapy methods.

The main provisions of the theory of a healthy society.

1. Developing a holistic concept of personality, Fromm found out the mechanisms of interaction of psychological and social factors

in the process of its formation.

2. He derives the health of society from the health of its members. Fromm's concept of a healthy society differs from Durkheim's understanding, who allowed for the possibility of anomie in society (i.e., the denial by its members of basic social values ​​and norms leading to social

al disintegration and subsequent deviant behavior). But Durkheim applied this only to the individual, not to society as a whole. And if we assume that deviant behavior may be characteristic

most members of society and lead to the dominance of destructive behavior, then we get a sick society. The stages of the "disease" are as follows: anomie → social disintegration → deviation → destruction

→ the collapse of the system.

AT In contrast to Durkheim, Fromm calls a healthy society

in in which people would develop their reason to such a degree of objectivity that allows them to see themselves, other people and nature in their true reality, to distinguish good from evil, to make their own choice. This would mean a society whose members have developed the ability to love their children, family, other people, themselves, nature, to feel unity with it, and at the same time - to maintain a sense of individuality, integrity and transcend nature in creativity, and not in destruction. .

According to Fromm, the goal he had set has been achieved by a minority so far. The challenge is to make the majority of society

in healthy people. Fromm sees the ideal of a healthy society in the transformation of all spheres of public life:

– in the economic field, there should be self-government of all those working in the enterprise;

– incomes should be equalized to such an extent as to ensure a decent life for various social strata;

– in the political sphere, it is necessary to decentralize power with the creation of thousands of small groups with interpersonal contacts;

– changes must simultaneously cover all other areas, since changes in only one have a destructive effect on changes

generally;

– a person should not be a means used by others or by himself, but feel himself the subject of his own strengths and capabilities.

Quite interesting is the theory of social change in society by T. Parsons. He proceeds from the fact that various systems of society are subject to evolution: the organism, personality, social system and cultural system as steps of a growing degree of complexity. Indeed, profound changes are only those that occur in the cultural system. Economic and political upheavals that do not affect the level of culture in society do not fundamentally change society itself. There are many examples of this.

Summing up the above, it should be noted that all scientific, technical and technological radical changes entail revolutions in other spheres of public life, but they are not accompanied by social revolutions, as Marx, Engels, Lenin argued. Class interests, of course, exist, contradictions also exist, but hired workers force property owners to make concessions, raise wages, increase incomes, which means

and raise living standards and well-being. All this leads to a reduction in social tension, smoothing out class contradictions and denying the inevitability of social revolutions.

Society as a social, dynamically developing system has always been, is and will be the most complex object of study that attracts the attention of sociologists. In terms of complexity, it can only be compared with the human personality, the individual. The society and the individual are inextricably linked and mutually determined one through the other. This is the methodological key to the study of other social systems.

IN SELF-CHECKING SURVEYS

1. What does human society mean?

2. What are the main approaches in defining the concept of "society"?

3. Name the main features of society.

4. Describe the leading subsystems of society.

5. Outline the structural components of the social system of society.

6. What theories of social development can you name?

7. Describe the essence of E. Fromm's "theory of a healthy society".

Literature

1. American sociological thought. M., 1994.

2. Babosov, E. General sociology / E. Babosov. Minsk, 2004.

3. Gorelov, A. Sociology / A. Gorelov. M., 2006.

4. Luman, N. The concept of society / N. Luman // Problems of theoretical sociology. SPb., 1994.

5. Parsons, T. The system of modern societies / T. Parsons. M., 1998.

6. Popper, K. Open society and its enemies / K. Popper. M., 1992. T. 1, 2.

7. Sorokin, P. Man, civilization, society / P. Sorokin. M., 1992.