Objects of the social sphere: list, classification, characteristics, purpose. §3 The structure of the social sphere

The concept of socio-cultural sphere. Features and industry structure

Socio-cultural sphere- ϶ᴛᴏ a set of enterprises, institutions, organizations and governing bodies engaged in the production, distribution, preservation and organization of the consumption of goods and services of socio-cultural and information purposes, thereby ensuring the satisfaction of the cultural and information needs of the population.

The purpose of SCS is to enrich the spiritual life of people and create conditions for social and cultural activities.

SCS features:

1. The work of SCS employees is carried out in the form of services.

2. Work of workers is individualized. SCS deals with the individual needs of people with their diverse tastes and moods. This determines the special requirements for the personal qualities of SCS employees. The ability and ability to work with people is highly valued.

3. SCS deals with servicing the population, in connection with this, the territorial distribution of its institutions, organizations depends on demographic factors (number, density, composition of the population, etc.).

4. Labor in the SCS is relatively less amenable to mechanization and automation. Industries in this area are characterized by high labor intensity.

5. Services are commodities, but services cannot be accumulated, the service must be consumed only at the moment of production.

6. The natural factor does not play a huge role in material production.

7. The work of SCS employees is unproductive, because this work does not participate in the creation of material wealth.

8. The main workers are ϶ᴛᴏ specialists with secondary and higher education, most of whom are women.

9. Homogeneity of the structure of consumed costs. The share of material costs is very low: in the theater - 13%, in the circus - 17%, in parks - 20%, in concert organizations - 3.5% (in industry - 83%, in construction - 65%).

The service sector is a set of industries and activities designed to meet the spiritual and material needs of the population.

Non-material good - ϶ᴛᴏ good, acting on the development of human abilities, created in the non-productive sphere. Benefits are:

a) internal - the benefits given to man by nature (voice, ear for music, ability to science);

b) external - what the outside world gives to meet needs (reputation, business ties, patronage).

In accordance with the functions performed, all SCS and tourism industries are classified into 3 large groups:

1. Industries that ensure the process of reproduction of tangible and intangible benefits:

Department of Housing and Utilities; the science.

2. Branches aimed at developing human abilities, maintaining his health, satisfying his cultural and spiritual needs:

Household service; passenger transport; public service communications;

healthcare; social Security; tourism; Culture and art.

3. Industries that meet the needs of society as a whole:

Management and planning of the national economy;

Industries that ensure the security of the state;

Ensuring the protection of property.

There is another classification of SKSF:

1. Public administration, social services.

2. Financing, insurance, pension provision.

3. Housing of a private type.

4. Commercial, social, pension services.

5. Equipment repair.

6. Passenger transport.

7. Health and social. service.

8. Education.

9. Wholesale and retail trade.

10. Natural and economic activity.

11. Culture, art and media.

12. Physical education, sports, recreation, entertainment.

13. Hotel business.

14. Restaurant business and public catering.

All these areas ensure the development of human potential as the source and ultimate goal of social development.

Sectoral structure of SCS includes:

1. Branch of culture – the ideological and moral state of society, determined by the material conditions of society and expressed in its way of life, ideology, education, upbringing, in the achievements of science, art, literature (cinema, theater, museum, library, exhibitions, concert halls, clubs, etc. ).

Functions of the cultural sector:

a) preservation of historical and national cultural monuments;

b) familiarizing people with the creations of culture;

c) education of a cultured person;

d) replenishment of the treasury of cultural achievements in the field of literature, art, artistic creativity, music, painting and sculpture;

e) conducting research in the field of culture;

f) spiritual enrichment of a person.

2. Education industry – is engaged in all forms of education in a wide variety of educational institutions (schools, preschool institutions, gymnasiums, colleges, colleges, technical schools, universities, research institutions in the field of pedagogy).

Functions of the education industry:

Satisfaction of people's needs for knowledge;

implementation of training and retraining for work and work;

facilitating the acquisition of a specialty and the mastery of a profession;

the upbringing of a person.

3. Healthcare – a system of state and public measures for the protection of health, the prevention and treatment of diseases and the continuation of human life (polyclinics, hospitals, outpatient clinics, ambulances, dispensaries, maternity hospitals, health centers, dispensaries, etc.).

Functions of the healthcare industry:

§ taking care of people's health;

§ prevention and treatment of diseases;

§ provision of medical care;

§ providing people with medicines;

§ restoration of lost health.

Physical culture and sports are closely related to the healthcare industry in the part in which they solve the problem of promoting health, promoting a healthy lifestyle for people.

4. Industry of consumer services – for the provision of non-production and production services (baths, photo salons, laundries, dry cleaning, tire fitting, service stations, workshops, hairdressers, childcare services).

5. Housing and communal services – an industry that maintains the housing and communal services in working condition: houses, elevators, water supply, sewerage, heat supply and other housing infrastructure.

6. Social security (social protection) – satisfies the needs of a number of categories of the population in financial resources and sources of livelihood, especially those who do not have stable incomes (social insurance, the provision of material benefits).

7. Science – the sphere of human activity, the function of which is to develop and theoretically systematize objective knowledge and reality (applied, fundamental).

The concept of socio-cultural sphere. Features and branch structure - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "The concept of the socio-cultural sphere. Features and sectoral structure" 2017, 2018.

The structure of the social sphere is the sum of four interrelated parts, which at the same time act as empirical indicators in its subject identification:

1. The social structure of society, historically represented by certain classes and social groups (socio-demographic, ethnic, territorial, etc.) and the relationships between them.

2. Social infrastructure as a set of sectors of the national economy and types of socially useful activities (cooperative and individual, public funds and social initiatives, etc.) aimed at providing services directly to a person.

3. Social interests, needs, expectations and incentives, i.e. everything that ensures the connection of the individual (groups) with society, the inclusion of the individual in the social process.

4. Principles and requirements of social justice, conditions and guarantees for its implementation.

The social sphere does not have a rigid spatial and temporal framework. It exists not by itself, not in isolation, but in a certain relationship with other spheres of society: material-production, political, cultural-spiritual and systems of natural order. The social sphere, expressing life activity in a holistic implementation, resulting in a person, social groups, as it permeates all others, since people, social communities act in each of them. On the other hand, the condition for the development of the social sphere is the functioning of other spheres, since they produce material, spiritual goods and values, and implement the functions of political management of society. Thus, the social sphere, as it were, "overlaps" with other spheres, collecting, as if in focus, all the prerequisites for the reproduction and development of society. In this sense, all other spheres of society can be considered as an environment. In relation to them, the social sphere acts as a factor in strengthening and maintaining the stability of social relations and processes, their relative balance. This is an indispensable condition for maintaining the integrity of the entire social system.

Note that each component of the social sphere cannot be understood by itself. Its function is realized through the activities of people, thereby satisfying their needs. The substantive basis of the social sphere is the joint activity of people in reproducing their real life and the resulting social relations between the subjects of this activity.

The components of the social sphere have varying degrees of complexity, are in relation to each other in a hierarchical relationship and are derived from the social sphere as an integral system. Their specificity, emergence and existence are determined by the main function of the social sphere - the function of social reproduction of people as subjects of life and recreation of structures, social institutions, life support resources of social subjects.

Each component of the social sphere performs a specific function, which is purposeful. Otherwise, the component drops out of the system, becomes unnecessary. Functions determine the elements of an integral structure and materialize within the framework of the internal organization inherent in the social sphere.

The social sphere is an original, complexly organized, ordered whole, united in its essence, in its quality, purpose and multifunctional due to the complexity and ambiguity of the process of reproduction of social subjects with their abilities, needs, diversity of interests. The processes of its life activity are determined by objective laws and are based on certain principles of social management.

Of great theoretical and practical importance for the sociological analysis of the social sphere, improving the management of the social life of society are the knowledge and detailed consideration of its basic components.

In the scientific literature there are various approaches to determining the structure of the social sphere. In one case, the division of the social sphere is carried out depending on the content, in the other - according to the main functions, in the third - according to the categorical apparatus that characterizes the social sphere. Thus, it can be represented as a set of education and health care systems, the sphere of domestic and cultural services, transport services, etc., or as a historically achieved distribution and consolidation of the functions of the social sphere in the form of specific conditions, duties and opportunities for society and its members to satisfy and enriching their needs. In this case, the structure of the social sphere expresses the relationship and position of the organizationally formalized functions of the social sphere as its own elements.

S.A. Shavel presents the structure of the social sphere as the sum of four interrelated parts, which at the same time act as empirical indicators in its subject identification:

1. The social structure of society, historically represented by certain classes and social groups (socio-demographic, ethnic, territorial, etc.) and the relations between them.

2. Social infrastructure as a set of sectors of the national economy and types of socially useful activities (cooperative and individual, public funds and social initiatives, etc.) aimed at providing services directly to a person.

3. Social interests, needs, expectations and incentives, ᴛ.ᴇ. everything that ensures the connection of the individual (groups) with society, the inclusion of the individual in the social process.

4. Principles and requirements of social justice, conditions and guarantees for its implementation.

Other classification systems for the elements of this system can also be given.

A number of researchers believe that it makes sense to talk about the common elements of the spheres of public life from which any of them is built. It is assumed that the elements of all social structures are interconnected, they seem to permeate each other. But this interconnection by no means means the elimination of the qualitative definiteness of spheres. For example, classes and other social communities permeate all spheres of social life with their activities and relations. At the same time, the laws of reproduction, on the basis of which the social sphere is formed, the data of the community that link complex social life into an integral system, function and develop, do not dissolve in the laws of other spheres. Most scientists tend to single out such elements as activities, relationships, subjects in the spheres. Moreover, the factor of social activity is brought to the forefront of the analysis.

Each of these approaches has its own merits, since it allows one to analyze the content and essential characteristics of the social sphere from a certain point of view. At the same time, none of them reveals the full richness, complexity and diversity of the social sphere in its real and substantive embodiment. We propose the principle of structuring the social sphere, based on the characteristics of its sociological analysis. First, let us clarify which objects and processes, in our opinion, can be attributed to the social sphere, and which - to the external environment.

The social sphere does not have a rigid spatial and temporal framework. It does not exist by itself, not in isolation, but in a certain relationship with other spheres of society: material-production, political, cultural-spiritual, and systems of natural order. The social sphere, expressing life activity in a holistic implementation, resulting in a person, social groups, as if permeates all others, since people, social communities act in each of them. On the other hand, the condition for the development of the social sphere is the functioning of other spheres, since they produce material, spiritual goods and values, and implement the functions of political management of society. Τᴀᴋᴎᴍ ᴏϬᴩᴀᴈᴏᴍ, the social sphere, as it were, "overlaps" with other spheres, collecting, as in a focus, all the prerequisites for the reproduction and development of society. In this sense, all other spheres of society can be considered as environment. In relation to them, the social sphere acts as a factor in strengthening and maintaining the stability of social relations and processes, their relative balance. This is an indispensable condition for maintaining the integrity of the entire social system.

It seems that the function of each of them in creating the system-forming properties of the social sphere should be taken as a criterion that makes it possible to delimit the system elements from the environment. In this case, the social sphere includes all objects and processes that are directly involved in the formation of the properties of the system associated with the reproduction and improvement of the individual (group), the satisfaction of its vital and higher needs. Their interaction creates the social sphere as a system with its qualitative differences. The material-production, political and cultural-spiritual spheres, indirectly participating in the formation of integrative qualities, influencing the social sphere through individual components, generally remain external to the system and therefore belong to the environment. Οʜᴎ are connected with it by a network of communications, each of which has a different meaning for the functioning of the social sphere. The environment should also include the natural and climatic conditions in which the social sphere functions.

Based on these considerations and taking into account that in the social sphere the needs for the benefits necessary for the self-realization of the creative potential of a person, a group, are formed and satisfied, let us consider this sphere as a system that has the necessary set of components of a material, procedural, ideological and human nature. The interaction of these structural units should give rise to the qualitative features inherent in this system. Let us classify as such the social infrastructure and the products of consumption produced by it, the processes of education, medical, social and consumer services, the bodies and institutions for managing the social sphere, the mechanisms and regulatory framework for regulating the consumer behavior of the population, individual, group.

Note that each component of the social sphere cannot be understood by itself. Its function is realized through the activities of people, thereby satisfying their needs. The substantive basis of the social sphere is the joint activity of people in reproducing their real life and the resulting social relations between the subjects of this activity.

The components of the social sphere have varying degrees of complexity, are in relation to each other in a hierarchical relationship and are derived from the social sphere as an integral system. Their specificity, emergence and existence are determined by the main function of the social sphere - the function of social reproduction of people as subjects of life and recreation of structures, social institutions, life support resources of social subjects.

Each component of the social sphere performs a specific function, which is purposeful. Otherwise, the component drops out of the system, becomes unnecessary. Functions determine the elements of an integral structure and materialize within the framework of the internal organization inherent in the social sphere.

The limit of the analysis of the social sphere, from our point of view, its primary element is the concept of "the need of an individual, a group" - that is the most simple, elementary formation, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ retains its subordination to the general law of the social sphere, its main function. The primacy of this element is due to the fact that it is characterized by the main contradiction between the growing needs of subjects and the possibilities of satisfying them, which is characteristic of the social sphere. This contradiction, in our opinion, is the main one in the process of self-development, self-realization of each social subject. Its nature and direction determine the possibilities, the real level of development of the social sphere as a whole. It is the need that is the concentration of contradictions inherent in the social sphere, which determine its specificity. Need serves as a source of self-propulsion, self-development of the system. Isolation and study of the main component of the system allows us to analyze the sources, the driving forces of its development, to find out the main direction of movement, the tendencies that are inherent in it.

The material and spiritual needs of the individual, groups are formed under the influence of economic conditions, socio-cultural factors and are characterized, on the one hand, by their minimum acceptable and guaranteed level by society, and, on the other hand, by the level of opportunities and claims of the social actors themselves.

The economic crisis, which led to a decline in the standard of living of the majority of Russians, significantly adjusted the structure of consumption of the population, and for the worse. At the same time, the level of people's needs, which was formed earlier in society, the structure of the needs of various groups of the population, by their nature, has generally been preserved. The resulting gap between needs and the possibility of their satisfaction not only morally injures people's consciousness, but also leads to their physical and mental degradation. The demoralization of the population is fueled by the media, which propagate inflated consumer standards that are accessible only to "new Russians". It seems that all social forces that have the ability to influence the formation of social standards of the population should be guided by a sense of social responsibility for the discrepancy between the average incomes of the population and the proposed standards of consumption.

Value orientations are an important determinant of the social activity of an individual or a group. Οʜᴎ are embodied in the ideals, interests, aspirations of people and determine the behavior of the subjects of the social sphere. Value orientations are formed in the course of socialization, are fixed by the totality of life experience. It is in connection with this that they are one of their stable characteristics. The system of value orientations has a multi-level structure, which includes rational, emotional and behavioral components. Its top is made up of values ​​close to the ideal.

In recent years, the rejection of pre-existing values, which were centered on official doctrine and an unofficial focus on the priority value of labor, the introduction of Western moral attitudes, the spread of the socially attractive mythology of getting rich quick and the "beautiful life" led to the destruction of many people's habitual social and moral ones. landmarks as a result - inconsistency in behavior and consciousness, instability in society at the macro and micro levels.

A vague system of values ​​and norms, often unsupported by appropriate sanctions, but acting as a real basis for the macrosocial process of changing models and regulators of social activity, is one of the factors of the inconsistency of the modern transforming society. It is obvious that further social transformations, if we want to affirm the positive logic of the social, the development of society, the expansion of the space of social activity, are associated with remoralization, the formation in society of a system of social values ​​that are generally significant for the majority of the population.

We believe that one of the leading conditions for this can be reliance on a system of basic value orientations, which would include such values ​​as a good education and high professional qualifications, self-realization and dedication in business life and, only on this basis, a prosperous and comfortable life. . The most important component of the social sphere is the social infrastructure. By it we mean a stable set of material elements that create conditions for satisfying the whole complex of needs (vital and social activity) for the reproduction of man and society. Social infrastructure is the reason for the interaction of the material environment and social subjects and provides conditions for the rational organization of their lives and activities. In terms of its internal organization, the infrastructure of the social sphere is a system of institutions, enterprises and government bodies that ensure the efficient functioning of all institutions of the social sphere. At the same time, the diverse needs of individuals, families and society as a whole are satisfied by a wide and diverse set of goods and services.

Social infrastructure is characterized by types and areas of activity social actors(labor, cultural, leisure, etc.) and by links in each of the types (preschool, out-of-school education, etc.). It can be considered both at the level of society, industry, and region, enterprise. Separate elements of social infrastructure are not interchangeable. Only with a holistic approach that ensures the rational life of people, we can talk about the efficiency of population reproduction.

Social infrastructure can be characterized by the number of institutions, organizations that provide the processes of education, medical, consumer and transport services, as well as the number of places in them, the volume of services. In the analysis of the functioning of social infrastructure, people's subjective assessments of the sufficiency of a real-life social infrastructure in a particular region or at a particular enterprise are important.

According to the level of development of social infrastructure, which is determined using sociological analysis, one can judge the degree of satisfaction of the needs of the population, the quality and quantity in their correlation with the level of pre-reform (1991) Russia or developed countries, the requirements of modern civilization.

The last decade has been marked by the rapid destruction of social infrastructure. In the context of the budget deficit, the state of the material base for the education of schoolchildren and students, and the medical activities of doctors are deteriorating. The number of pre-school and out-of-school institutions, institutions of physical culture and sports has decreased. Road and rail communications, especially suburban ones, are in a crisis situation. The most difficult situation was previously financed from the budgets of industrial enterprises (factory kindergartens, pioneer camps, canteens, clinics, rest houses and sanatoriums). In recent years, fewer and fewer new social and cultural facilities are being put into operation.

The uncontrolled growth in the cost of education, medical, and consumer services has led to a lack of demand for the capacities of educational and recreational institutions that previously provided for the needs of the population. The decline in the availability of various goods and services has deformed the established way of life, increased the burden in the household, reducing free time, especially for women.

As our research shows, only a small number of the population use the services of household institutions. Thus, only every fifth of the families surveyed regularly uses the services of hairdressing salons, laundries, dry-cleaners, sewing studios, occasionally - about half, about a third - do not use them at all.

Radical changes have affected the state housing system. In the conditions of an acute shortage of living, on the one hand, the volume of housing construction is reduced, on the other hand, the volume of sales is growing. In practice, there is a market redistribution of the housing stock built in previous years, and often this happens by infringing on the interests of the weakly protected sections of the population living in the municipal fund. The lack of social protection for those families who are in dire need of housing leads to an increase in the property differentiation of the population.

The processes of education, medical, household, transport services, social protection, etc. represent a set of statistically stable acts of social interaction between people that determine their way of life, the conditions of social reproduction. Like any process, this interaction is characterized by extension in space and time, consistency, continuity. It is designed to serve two interrelated goals: preserving the previously accumulated human potential, ensuring the availability of services and creating new institutional prerequisites for improving the qualitative characteristics of the social reproduction of future generations, and ensuring the growth of the potential of the social sphere. The services of social institutions shape the social ecology.

The system of indicators that record these processes can be represented by indicators characterizing:

Industry potential (staffing of various sectors of the social sphere, quantitative and qualitative characteristics and results of educational activities, the state of health of citizens, housing, social protection, social services, etc.);

Subjective assessment of the degree of satisfaction of the needs of individuals, social groups in housing, medical and consumer services, education, cultural and spiritual communication, political participation;

The ratio of paid and free services, state and private ownership of the enterprises producing them, the degree of accessibility of paid services to various groups and strata of the population.

Assessing the situation in the sectors of the social sphere, we note that they are experiencing a serious decline. The result of the ongoing reforms was the deterioration of social indicators characterizing the above processes, depriving the main group of the population of the opportunity to receive a large part of the services. A sharp differentiation in the provision of the population with socio-cultural services is associated with the polarization of incomes of the population, the rise in prices for goods and services and, as a result, with the narrowing of the effective demand of the general population, as well as the diversion of the highest quality resources to satisfy the needs of a small high-income group society. It should also be noted the differentiation of regional socio-cultural conditions of life, which affects the possibilities of social reproduction of the population and can give rise to conflicts between different territories.

One of the most acute is the problem of social security for vulnerable strata and groups of the population. In recent years, the almost doubling of the number of old-age pensioners, the homeless (according to various estimates, there are now from 1.5 to 2 million people), street children demands from the state in order to ensure the moral health of society, its dynamic development in the perspective of mobilizing human potential, organizing effective social support for these strata.

In the conditions of a catastrophically worsening socio-economic situation in the country, a growing budget deficit, continuous price growth, apparently, this decline will continue in the future, since it is unprofitable for those who plan the country's social development to invest in industries that do not give an immediate effect, but in the distant future. The current crisis may further aggravate due to the rise in prices for goods and services, energy resources, and the tightening of tax policy. Perhaps the most acute will be the problems of communal and transport services.

At the same time, it seems to us, a minimum of free services should be established by law to guarantee the social survival of the population and the future of our country. They should include educational, medical and transport services.

The most important component of the social sphere are people. Οʜᴎ are represented or described as a population - by quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the population of the country, and their social differentiation - through the involvement of people in certain groups or strata of society. At the same time, the state of health of the population, its intellectual potential, cultural and moral values ​​and deviations will be an assessment of the functioning of the social sphere, and the place of a person, a group in the social structure will be an indicator of the potential opportunities for their social reproduction. Note that all social groups and strata, as well as the individual, act as subjects of the social sphere. Each of them is included in its own way.

In the first chapter, we have already given a characterization of the population, let us turn to the characterization of the social stratification of our society in the transition to a market. It should be noted that Russian researchers, building a social structure, use various criteria:

division of labor, property relations; power, prestige, income, level of education. So, according to N.M. Rimashevskaya and I.A. Diskin, the contours of the new social structure of society are determined by the degree of adaptation of people to new economic and social realities, the awareness of various groups and layers of their interests. From the point of view of these authors, the social structure "in the first approximation" is as follows:

1) "elite-oligarchic groups" that have property in size comparable to the largest Western corporations and the means of power influence at the all-Russian level;

2) "regional and corporate elites, which have significant (by Russian scale) fortune and influence at the level of regions and sectors of the economy;

3) the "Russian upper class", which has property and incomes that ensure high Western standards of consumption, as well as claims to improve its social status and orientations towards the established practice and ethical norms of economic relations;

4) "the Russian middle class, which has incomes that ensure the satisfaction of average Russian and higher standards of consumption; relatively high adaptability, significant social claims and motivation; social activity and orientation towards legal ways of its manifestation;

5) "outsiders", characterized by low adaptation and social activity, low incomes and orientation towards legal ways of obtaining them;

6) "marginals", characterized by low adaptation, asocial and antisocial attitudes in their socio-economic activities;

7) "criminals" with high social activity and adaptation, and quite rationally acting contrary to the legal, established norms of economic and socio-economic activity. Academician G.V. Osipov believes that in Russia by 1994 "a qualitatively new, extremely polarized social class structure had basically formed with poles in the form of the bourgeoisie, on the one hand, and semi-declassed wage workers, on the other, with a very unstable middle class which would be more accurately called the middle social stratum.

Approximately the same approach is followed by N.E. Tikhonov. In her speech at the International Theoretical Conference of Sociologists, she notes that "the social structure of the emerging society for the time being will gravitate more towards archaic forms of the early industrial type social structure with fairly rigid class differentiation than towards the social structure of the late industrial type society of the Western type." The author also points to the possibility of reviving the idea of ​​class struggle, "because Russia's position is unlikely to noticeably improve in the foreseeable future."

From our point of view, the formation of the market gives rise to fundamentally new social relations, including production, and new forms of ownership: private, joint-stock, public organizations, cooperative, concession, mixed, etc. This means the emergence in public life of new social groups of people, which are characterized by a more complex and yet unfamiliar combination of features that require reflection. But it is quite obvious that the resuscitation of private property gives rise to a class of owners and exacerbates its relationship with employees, and property differentiation revives the layers of the poor, the poor, the rich, who differ from each other in income and sources of its receipt, as well as in the quality of life.

At the same time, from the standpoint of our analysis, the most significant, in constructing the matrix of social stratification, society, is the criterion of social stratification, when the average per capita income is taken as the basis for its construction. In market conditions, it is this feature that largely determines the effectiveness of social reproduction of a person or group. Although it is extremely important to recognize that even a significant level of income, determining the potential for self-development, the realization of creative potential, does not always and immediately change the behavioral reactions of specific people.

Most researchers of the social structure of society agree on the importance (in order to ensure political stability in society) of the early formation of the so-called "middle class" and, at the same time, the unrealistic of the rapid completion of this task.

It should be noted that there is no clear, unified definition of the category "middle class". This is mainly due to methodological difficulties in fixing the boundaries of this social category. In world practice, belonging to the "middle class" is usually established on the basis of a person's having an average status and prestige. At the same time, the main methodological criterion is the amount of an individual's income, which allows him to have and maintain a certain average standard of consumption. If we take this criterion as the basis for evaluation, then it can be argued that by the beginning of radical social transformations in Russia, the "middle class" was fully formed. In the mid-1980s, skilled workers, intellectuals, and managerial personnel occupied very significant positions in the social structure of the country. Worldview attitudes, moral values ​​associated with obtaining a stable high income on the basis of highly qualified professional and labor activity, distinguished these groups of the population from its other categories.

The reforms, with their most serious social costs, led to the erosion of this layer. The cost of the reforms turned out to be excessively high and it exceeded the margin of safety of this section of the Russian population. In recent years, the level of per capita income has declined markedly. There is a process of impoverishment of large sections of the population. Almost half of Russians are in the poverty zone. State not guarantees every member of society a living wage. For this reason, the number of families that are beginning to be threatened by "irreversible poverty" is growing. This category includes families whose per capita income does not rise above the subsistence minimum for three years. At the same time, our studies show that the number of "potentially poor" is increasing relatively rapidly. ": This risk zone mainly includes people whose incomes exceed the officially established subsistence minimum by no more than 25%. Their situation is characterized by an extreme degree of instability: any change in circumstances pushes these people beyond the poverty line.

The stratification of society has exceeded the allowable (according to world standards) norms. The 10% of the most highly profitable population concentrated 34% of money income, 20% - 46% of the country's money supply, and 20% of Russians only 4.6%.

Under these conditions, the idea of ​​forced formation of a massive "middle class" looks extremely attractive, which, from the point of view of maintaining itself and reproducing future generations, would be characterized by high stability, greater opportunities for self-reproduction and attitudes towards achieving a higher level of development of their social qualities. The solution of this strategic task lies on the way of withdrawing from the direct influence of the market of education, culture, management, raising the status of the intelligentsia, and ensuring a decent standard of living.

Management is an indispensable property inherent in the social sphere at any stage of its development. This property is of a universal nature and follows from the recognition that a person is a social phenomenon, always belongs to a certain social system, class, social group, which impose certain ethical, legal and other requirements on him, put him actions within a certain framework of the economic and social relations prevailing in it.

In the social sphere, there are two types of mechanisms of regulatory influences - spontaneous and conscious. Moreover, at whatever stage of development a society is, it is not able to completely free itself from the elemental force of chance, but the ratio of the conscious and the spontaneous in management is different.

The spontaneous mechanism of managing the social sphere is manifested in the disordered impact of a complex and contradictory set of factors, conditions on the processes of population reproduction, their interweaving, collision. These influences make their way as a general trend that has a probabilistic, stochastic character (for example, the demographic processes of fertility, mortality, marriage, etc.).

Conscious management factors are associated with the purposeful social activity of people, which is carried out through specific public institutions (subjects of management) - a system of bodies and organizations that provide a conscious impact on the social sphere in order to achieve certain results. At the federal level, these are ministries of a social profile (health, education, social protection, labor, etc.), at the regional level - the relevant government bodies, at the local level - city and district committees, divisions, departments, various institutions and local social assistance services. So, for example, in the prefectures of the districts of the city of Moscow, the management of social processes is carried out by the Prefect and his deputy through the Department of Social Development, which is in charge of education, public health, social security and social protection of the population, culture, leisure and sports ͵ youth and family development, crime prevention, environmental protection, employment and assistance to the unemployed, support and development of social activity of various social groups. Each of the directions of social development in any district of Moscow is directly provided by specialized departments and departments.

Social processes in society at all its levels are also influenced by political, social and religious organizations.

The degree of emancipation of each specific society from the spontaneous impact of chance, as well as the strength and effectiveness of its counteraction to spontaneous factors, are of a concrete historical nature. The boundaries of a purposeful impact on the social environment, its content, goals and principles depend on the essence of society, the economic relations that prevail in it, and political institutions. Conscious management is carried out in the interests of the class or social group that dominates economically. In accordance with its interests, the dominant community creates a system of public institutions, bodies and organizations designed to exercise managerial and regulatory influences on society. The subjective factors of such influences in the process of social progress have undergone profound changes - from management through empirical, from direct experience received and transmitted from generation to generation, traditions, customs in primitive society to conscious management of social relations and processes. At the same time, it remains extremely important to improve the management of the social reproduction of real life, which, in turn, determines the requirements for social cognition of significant, stable relationships that express the invariant way of organizing the social sphere into a certain integrity, characterizing ways to preserve its stability and development, taking into account in the management of the social sphere of the unique and random.

The social sphere contains a complex tangle of interweaving of causal relationships and interactions. For example, such a component as social infrastructure is causally connected with other components of the social sphere and is more or less directly "responsible" for certain characteristics of the system as a whole. Its functions are determined by the specific features of the structure of the population, its psychological and national-ethnic traditions, value orientations and attitudes. The components of the social sphere are unequal in terms of their place and role in the integral life of the population, self-realization of the goals and interests of one or another group. However, the structural elements of the social sphere are not interchangeable. For this reason, the study of the social sphere involves not only the study of structural characteristics, but also the disclosure of functional dynamics, prospects for the development of the social sphere. Hence, it is often extremely important for a sociologist to go in his search not from the components to the social sphere, but from the social sphere to the components and, on this basis, to reveal their nature, functions, and purpose.

This section presents only the main components of the social sphere, since the number of its elements in the process of cognition of its various formations can vary depending on the goals of the study.

Topic number 1. Management in the social sphere and its features

Social the sphere covers the entire space of a person's life - from the conditions of his work and life, health and leisure to social class and national relations. It ensures the reproduction, development, improvement of social groups and individuals.

The social sphere is ideally designed to ensure a sufficient level of well-being, the availability of basic life benefits for the majority of the population. It is designed to create opportunities for social mobility, transition to a higher income, professional group, to guarantee the necessary level of social protection, the development of social, labor and entrepreneurial activity, to ensure the possibility of self-realization of a person. The optimal model of the social sphere is associated with ensuring the protection of the economic interests of each citizen, guarantees of social stability and is based on the principles of social justice and state responsibility for the social reproduction of man.

Social sphere of society represents an integral, constantly changing subsystem of society, generated by the objective need of society for the continuous reproduction of the subjects of the social process. It includes a set of social institutions, infrastructure elements that directly ensure human life and development. The social sphere is a stable area of ​​human activity for the reproduction of their lives, a space for the implementation of the social function of society. It is in it that the social policy of the state acquires meaning, social and civil human rights are realized.

The social sphere of society is characterized by a complex integral nature, which is the subject of interest of many social sciences and the humanities. It is a very complex, open, dynamically functioning system. Structurally, the social sphere includes social communities (individuals, families, labor collectives, various strata and groups of the population), social organizations (institutions, social infrastructure enterprises), social institutions (legal mechanisms for regulating social relations), hierarchically subordinate governing bodies - federal, regional and municipal (see Fig. 1).

Fig.1. Structure and functions of the social sphere

At the same time, it should be noted that the social sphere in this interaction of elements of the organization of society has a special integrative role. The fact is that function social sphere is very specific: it is designed to provide reproduction of real life all social subjects in its real, concrete manifestations (development, self-realization of vital forces, self-regulation of intersubjective interaction in all spheres of society, guarantees of security and social protection, health and education, level and quality of life, labor self-realization, etc.).

The structure of the social sphere, as already noted, includes three main components: social subjects (individuals, families, labor collectives, layers and groups of the population), social organizations (institutions, social infrastructure enterprises), as well as social institutions (normative - legal regulations, governing bodies).

Recall that being a relatively independent subsystem of society, the social sphere is in continuous functional interaction with three other spheres - economic (material and production), political and cultural and spiritual. The integral nature of the social sphere is manifested, first of all, in the fact that it appears as a kind of integral space, the habitat of people who form certain community - real aggregates of individuals, families, social strata and groups that act subjects social activities and relationships.

Thus, the social sphere, as it were, "overlaps" with other spheres, collecting, as if in focus, all the prerequisites for the reproduction and development of society. In this sense, all other spheres of society can be considered as an environment. In relation to them, the social sphere acts as a factor in strengthening and maintaining the stability of social relations and processes, their relative balance. This is an indispensable condition for maintaining the integrity of the entire social system.

A significant component of the social sphere - social infrastructure . By it we mean a stable set of material elements that create conditions for satisfying the whole complex of needs for the reproduction of man and society. In terms of its internal organization, the infrastructure of the social sphere is a complex of institutions, enterprises, structures, technical means, and governing bodies designed to meet the diverse needs of the individual and family.

There are usually three components of social infrastructure:

I) system of institutions social service population (assistance to families, children, the disabled, other disadvantaged groups);

II) system of institutions and services direct life support all citizens (health care, education, housing and communal services, transport, etc.);

III) satisfaction of higher needs self-realization of the personal potential of the individual(labor and civil, political activity, information and cultural and spiritual requests).

different sectors are distinguished in the structure of the social sphere, in which services of different types are produced:

1. state, where pure public goods and socially significant goods are produced that provide the GMSS system;

2. voluntarily - public, where mixed public goods of limited access are produced (municipal level, sports clubs, federations, etc.);

3. mixed, where mixed public goods are produced, including socially significant services. It is represented by organizations of mixed forms of ownership;

4. private commercial, where private goods are produced on a commercial basis.

Separate elements of social infrastructure are not interchangeable. Only with a holistic approach that ensures the rational life of people, we can talk about the effectiveness of population reproduction.

Social infrastructure can be characterized by the number of institutions, organizations that provide educational processes, medical, consumer and transport services, as well as the number of places in them, the volume of services. In the analysis of the functioning of social infrastructure, people's subjective assessments of the sufficiency of a real-life social infrastructure in a particular region or at a particular enterprise are important.

According to the level of development of social infrastructure, which is determined with the help of sociological analysis, one can judge the degree of satisfaction of the needs of the population.

The reproduction of the life of social subjects as the main function of the social sphere gives rise to a number of its derivative functions, regulating internal communications, interaction and mutual influence of all social subjects included in the social structure of society. Let's name the most important of these functions:

 Social integrative function - regulates the processes of formation of an integral social structure of society through the mechanisms of distribution, exchange, consumption of the total product produced.

 Socio-organizational function - ensures the formation and interaction of social institutions and organizations serving the satisfaction of the material and spiritual needs of the population.

 Socio-regulatory function - regulates the processes of normative provision of the minimum necessary needs of social subjects, as well as their relationships in the course of joint social activities and communication.

 socially-adaptive function - stimulates the formation and development of social qualities, the creative and creative potential of individuals and groups (education, upbringing, health care, intra-family relations, customs, traditions).

 Social protective function - implements and protects social security, the rights and guarantees of subjects, provides assistance and support to disabled and deprived layers and groups, and provides social services to the population.

The social sphere in a broad sense consists of the following main components

The processes of functioning and development of the social sphere are determined by objective laws and are based on certain principles of social management.

The state of the social sphere in this aspect is an integral indicator of the effectiveness of the country's economy, the humanity of jurisprudence and the political structure of society, its spirituality.

2. Mechanisms for managing the social sphere.

Each social formation is characterized by a certain combination of management and self-government.

Management is the influence that enters the system from the outside.

Self-management is an internal influence produced by the system itself.

Any complex socio-economic system involves the decentralization of management functions. Representatives of each level of management have their own responsibilities, resources and powers for their implementation, bear a certain responsibility for the decisions made.

Under social management we understand the management of social reproduction of social subjects by forming the necessary external environment and internal conditions for this, taking into account the totality of impacts on the social sphere: external and internal, regular and random, as well as different development conditions: sustainable and unstable.

The management of the social sphere is carried out at all three levels of public authority: federal, regional and municipal. The functions of each level are determined in accordance with the legislatively delimited powers.

Public administration of the social sphere is a mechanism for implementing the goals of social policy based on legislatively established imperatives that determine the real standard of living, social well-being, employment of the population, and their social support.

The meaning of social management consists in coordination, harmonization of fundamental interactions, improvement of the structure of this extremely complex systemic formation and requires the participation in its management of a large number of subjects at all levels of its organization: federal, regional, local.

The implementation of the tasks of managing the social sphere is associated with the need to create a fairly complex management system that structurally and functionally corresponds to the managed system. In real practice, the social sphere at the federal level is the object of management of all social ministries: labor and social development, education, healthcare, etc. Relevant committees and departments of the social profile are represented at the regional level, and departments and departments are represented at the local level.

However, despite such a fairly developed management structure, the effectiveness of social management leaves much to be desired. Apparently, this is due to the fact that the presence of several independent subjects of management does not ensure the integrity of the social development management system. There are also contradictions between federal, regional and local governments.

AT tasks of the federal level of power includes the establishment of the foundations of state social policy, the legal regulation of relations in the social sphere, the development of federal programs for the country's social development, the development and approval of state minimum social standards at the federal level, and the provision of state guarantees for their implementation.

Subjects of the Russian Federation develop the foundations of regional social policy, taking into account historical and cultural traditions; establish regional social standards and norms that take into account state minimum social standards; take care of the preservation and strengthening of the social infrastructure owned by the subjects of the Russian Federation; organize training, retraining and advanced training of employees in the field of education, culture, healthcare, social protection of the population; ensure compliance with the legislation of the Russian Federation in all spheres of social policy.

Municipal level is intended to concretize the methods, methods and mechanisms for achieving the goals defined in the framework of federal and regional social policy, in accordance with the characteristics of specific territories. The task of local governments, as the closest to the population, is the direct provision of a range of social services that provide conditions for human life and reproduction. On the basis of regional norms and standards, local self-government bodies can develop local social norms and standards that take into account the specifics of a particular municipality.

The actual volume of social services provided to the population by local governments is much wider than that provided for by the 2003 Federal Law.

At present, for the management system of social institutions, not only the optimization of its structure is relevant, but also a change in the principles, substantive aspects of functioning, which is due to new socio-economic realities. Today in Russia, a regulatory, organizational foundation is being laid for multi-channel financing of these institutions, their financing based on the results of their activities, and not on the basis of the number of beds or the number of employees. The principle of competitiveness of an institution, its ability to offer and qualitatively implement competitive and socially demanded services is brought to the fore. In this context, the manager must constantly strive to optimize not only the activities of the organization, but also the practices of management, organization and administration at work. In other words, professional skills in the field of management are becoming more and more relevant and necessary in social organizations.

The basis of any economy is the production of goods and services, which occurs in the process of interaction between the worker and the objects and means of labor. If the objects of labor are tangible products, then as a result of production, goods are created that have a material form. If the subject of labor is the person himself, then the result of such an impact may be obtaining a profession, improving health, and raising the cultural level. To obtain such a product, certain costs are incurred that arise within the framework of economic relations. In modern economic literature and management practice, there is no clear distinction between such concepts as the non-production sphere, the socio-cultural sphere, social infrastructure, social infrastructure and the social sphere.

Exist 3 points of view in understanding social sphere that have developed:

1) Expansion - includes in the social sphere everything that serves as an object and means of implementing the social policy of the state, for example, income regulation, family issues, household services, etc.

2) Narrowed - represents the social sphere as a set of industries for the provision of social services and for the production of social benefits.

3) Narrow - the social sphere is limited only by activities for social security and social protection of certain segments of the population.

The most appropriate is the second approach, according to which the social sphere is that part of the economy whose activities are aimed at creating conditions for the reproduction and development of a person as a member of a social community and a subject of socio-economic activity.

The social sphere has certain features:

a) social - creating conditions for the development of social activity of a member of society.

b) economic - ensuring the creation of such goods and services that are necessary for the implementation of a social function.

c) educational - determines the level of morality and the nature of the behavior of a particular member of society.

d) humanistic - associated with the provision of conditions for a decent lifestyle and harmonization of relations between various social groups in society.

The social sphere covers such branch systems as healthcare, physical Culture and sport, education, culture, social services and welfare, Department of Housing and Utilities, social insurance and pension provision, etc..

Branches of the social sphere have as their direct addressee people, their material, physical and spiritual capabilities. Health care deals with the prevention and treatment of diseases. Physical culture and sports serve to improve the health of people involved in them, and to obtain emotional experiences for spectators of sports competitions. Education ensures that people acquire knowledge and skills. The activities of cultural and art organizations and the media provide people with emotional experiences, aesthetic impressions, and knowledge. Social services are aimed at meeting the daily needs of those people who need outside help due to age, disability, illness, loss of shelter. The housing sector provides housing maintenance services that ensure the reproduction of the material conditions of people's daily life (water supply, heating, lighting, etc.). Social insurance, the provision of social benefits and pensions support at a certain level the material possibilities of people who have lost their income due to temporary disability, work injury, old age, etc.

Branches of the social sphere are constantly the object of value assessments by the state and society. For example, the possibilities of obtaining medical care and education by various social groups are the subject of assessment in any modern society from the standpoint of social justice. International organizations and the constitutions of many countries consider the availability of medical care, education, and cultural benefits to be inalienable human rights.

The social sphere has a diverse structure. The structure of the social sphere, as a rule, refers to the relationships and interconnections of its constituent industries. On the one hand, only the social sphere includes health care, education, culture, social security, recreation, life, housing and communal services. On the other hand, the social sphere is largely identical to the non-productive sphere, thus, the socio-economic sphere includes communications, information, science, public order and security, public catering and trade. When classifying the types of activities for the production of services, the social sphere, as a rule, includes the repair of cars and household appliances, the hotel and restaurant business, transport, financial intermediation, public administration, etc.

The social sphere can be structured according to various criteria. For example, often the structure of the social sphere is presented as the sum of four interrelated parts:

1. The social structure of society, historically represented by certain classes and social groups (socio-demographic, ethnic, territorial, etc.) and the relationships between them.

2. Social infrastructure as a set of sectors of the national economy and types of socially useful activities (cooperative and individual, public funds and social initiatives, etc.) aimed at providing services directly to a person.

3. Social interests, needs, expectations and incentives, i.e. everything that ensures the connection of the individual (groups) with society, the inclusion of the individual in the social process.

4. Principles and requirements of social justice, conditions and guarantees for its implementation.

The effective functioning of the social sphere is ensured by a developed social infrastructure, a stable set of material elements that create conditions for satisfying the entire set of needs for the reproduction of man and society.

A more realistic idea of ​​the structure of the social sphere is given by the classification of industries:

1. Education - preschool, general educational institutions, institutions of primary, secondary, higher professional and additional education;

2. Culture - libraries, club-type cultural institutions, museums, art galleries and exhibition halls, theaters, concert organizations, parks of culture and recreation, circuses, zoos, cinemas, historical and cultural monuments, publication of book magazines and newspapers;

3. Protection of human health - health statistics, statistics of morbidity of the population, disability, industrial injuries;

4. Healthcare - the activities of health care institutions, their location, condition and equipment, personnel of medical and junior medical personnel;

5.Social security and service - stationary institutions intended for permanent and temporary residence of the elderly and disabled who need constant social and medical services and care, boarding houses, hospices, foundations, etc.;

6. Housing and communal services - housing stock, its improvement, living conditions of the population, production activities of enterprises and services that provide the population with water, heat, gas, hotels and other types of improvement of settlements;

7. Physical culture and sports - a network of sports facilities, their location, personnel, the number of people involved in physical culture and sports.

The structure of the social sphere can also be considered as the structure of the service sector: public services in their pure form, private services in their pure form, mixed services.

The production and consumption of pure public services implies the satisfaction of public needs - national, local and regional. These services cannot be made exclusively for individual use. The non-exclusion of such services from consumption makes it possible for individuals to consume them without paying (public education, certain types of medical, social services, etc.). The state guarantees the availability of such services and the minimum social standard for their provision. The financing of the production of pure public services is carried out at the expense of the regional budget or the national budget. The noted properties of pure public services make it impossible for them to be included in market relations.

In contrast, pure private services are entirely included in market relations and have the following properties: individual consumption, exclusivity, their production is entirely carried out on the basis of private property and competition (for example, private medical centers, private educational services, etc.) .

Most social services are of a mixed nature, having properties of both pure private and pure public services.

Based on the above classification of social services as economic benefits, there is also a division of the social sphere into sectors of the economy (structure by institution): the public sector (net public goods and socially significant benefits are produced, providing a system of state minimum social standards), the commercial sector (private benefits are produced on a commercial basis), non-profit sector (voluntary public) - sports clubs, volunteer associations, creative teams, charitable organizations, etc.

In the branches of the social sphere in the Republic of Belarus there are institutions and organizations of various forms of ownership, as well as ways of managing. The leading positions are occupied by state institutions and organizations that are the property of the Republic of Belarus, in addition, there is a network of departmental socio-cultural institutions that are on the balance sheet of organizations in the production sector (kindergartens, clinics, rest houses, sanatoriums, clubs, etc.) .

The state and development of the social sphere is directly dependent on the level of development of the production sector, the volume of GDP, the established and observed proportions of its distribution between the sphere of production and the service sector. The social sphere exerts a comprehensive influence on the development of productive forces and is an important factor in increasing labor productivity. However, in Belarus, the functioning of social sectors is still often carried out on a secondary principle. Misunderstanding of their significance (as one of the main factors of socio-economic progress, the social orientation of the economy) undoubtedly slows down the course of economic reforms.

At the end of 2013, the amount of funds allocated in Belarus to finance the social sphere (health care, physical education, sports, culture and the media, education, social policy) amounted to 78.6 trillion. rub. (41.9% of the total expenditures of the consolidated budget). Of these, education - 32.2 trillion. rub. (17.2%, in 2012 - 16.7%), healthcare - 25.3 trillion. rub. (13.5%, in 2012 - 13.1%). On the one hand, we seem to be seeing a positive trend. But, on the other hand, the entire social sphere (and this is education, healthcare, culture, sports, etc.) in the context of the republican budget accounts for only 21% of expenditures, while expenditures on defense and law enforcement (siloviki) make up 15.9%, the national economy and public administration (officials) - 15.6%, and education - 5.3%, health care, physical education, sports, media together - 6.1%, social policy - 9.5%. Such figures already raise doubts about the exclusively social orientation of the Belarusian budget.

The Republic of Belarus still lags far behind economically developed countries in terms of the level of development of the service sector. In developed countries, the share of services in GDP ranges from 66 to 86%, while in the republic over the past few years, the share of the service sector in the country's economy did not exceed 39-41%, and the dynamics of the indicator showed a downward trend. True, according to the results of 2014, a certain growth was noted and the share of the service sector in the structure of GDP increased to 47%, overtaking the production sector (43%). For example, the share of education in the structure of GDP for many years has been 4-5%, health - 3-4%. Naturally, these types of services are significantly inferior in the structure of GDP to trade (12%), transport and communications (9%), etc. In the near future, the government of the Republic of Belarus has set the task of achieving the share of services in GDP up to 50%.

Despite certain difficulties in the development of the social sphere, according to the results of 2014, in the Social Progress Index (social development index), Belarus took 58th place out of 132. The calculation took into account only the actual results of the economic policies of countries, and not the resources spent. The social development index shows how the social system satisfies the needs of residents. These include nutrition, first aid and health care in general, housing quality, access to basic and further education, personal security, access to information, and so on. For comparison: Russia is on the 80th line of the rating. This index, focusing on the degree of development of the social sphere in the country, does not fully take into account the economic component. But according to the Human Development Index (and it assesses the level of education, life expectancy and, most importantly, GDP in purchasing power parity), Belarus ranks 50th out of 187 states.