The concept of society. The main approaches to its definition

There are various approaches to the study of society, among the main ones - idealistic, materialistic, naturalistic. The dispute between them arises on the question of the role that spiritual, material-productive and natural factors play in society.

Representatives of the idealistic approach explain social life by the influence of factors that are spiritual in nature. They consider the ideas that are born in the minds of people to be the reason for the events taking place in society. And since all people are unique, they act arbitrarily, there are no regularities in social life, it is a collection of random and unique events. Some idealist philosophers believe that there are still patterns in public life, as people realize the plan, the plan of any supernatural spiritual forces - God, the World Mind, etc. This point of view was held, for example, by G. W. F. Hegel.

Representatives of the oppositematerialistic approachthink that the same objective laws operate in society as in nature. These laws do not depend on the will and desire of people. The development of society is not a supernatural, but a natural-historical process, which can be studied in the same way as the laws of nature. Knowledge of objective social patterns makes it possible to reform and improve society.

Philosophers-materialists emphasize the importance of the material factors of social life. In their opinion, the basis of social life is material production, and it is there that one must look for the causes of events taking place in society, since the material interests of people decisively influence their consciousness, the ideas that they adhere to in life. K. Marx adhered to a similar point of view.

A variation of the materialistic approach to explaining social lifeis a naturalistic approach. Its representativeslaws of development of society are explained by natural factors. Various natural factors significantly affect the way of life, human production activities, determine the economic specialization of various regions, the mental make-up of nations, their spiritual culture, and thereby predetermine the forms and rates of historical development of different societies. One of the most significant factors is the climate. It has been established that local deterioration of the climate - cooling, drying - always coincided with the emergence of great empires, the rise of human intelligence, and during periods of warming, there was a collapse of empires, stagnation of spiritual life. Social development is also greatly influenced by cosmic factors, for example, 11-year cycles of solar activity. The peaks of solar activity account for the growth of social tension, social conflicts, crime, mental disorders, the emergence of epidemics and other negative phenomena.

Topic 18. Interpretations of the historical process

1. Problems of social dynamics

2. Linear model of society development

3. Nonlinear model of society development

1. Problems of social dynamics

The activities of people move history, but how do people act: freely or out of necessity? Can they realize any of their plans?

In public life there is a combination of freedom and necessity. Necessities to be reckoned with are, for example, those circumstances of life that the new generation inherits from the previous one. Freedom is manifested in the ability of the last generation to create their own history in accordance with their own, already new needs and interests. But each generation cannot immediately, arbitrarily change what was achieved by its predecessors, the existing conditions and circumstances (the level of production achieved, the mentality of people, the level of cultural development, etc.) determine the real possibilities for changing society.

People have to reckon with both the objective laws governing the development of the natural environment and the objective laws governing the development of various spheres of society. For example, the Russian economist N.D. Kondratiev (1892-1938) discovered 50-60 year cycles in the development of the economy, which significantly affect events in other areas of public life. An attempt by various political forces to act, ignoring objective laws, ends in failure, a waste of time and money.

Another interesting question: why is the end result of actions almost always different from the intended plans? The fact is that the goals of different people and social groups, as a rule, do not coincide, action meets opposition. In the end, the will and actions of people are mixed and give a certain general average result, a certain “resultant” of all forces and actions, which no longer depends on anyone in particular. Therefore, there is a discrepancy between the intended goal and the achieved result, up to the opposite (G. W. F. Hegel called this circumstance “the irony of history”). For the same reason The development of society is unpredictable and multivariate.

History is created by all members of society, but who makes the greatest contribution and determines the direction of society? For a long time, historians wrote mainly about the activities of monarchs, generals, religious authorities, outstanding artists and philosophers. It was believed that it was these outstanding personalities who moved history with their ideas and activities.

However, no great personality can accomplish anything in history alone; she needs a circle of like-minded people and associates who are also outstanding people, able to understand and support major undertakings. The best representatives of society - the most educated, intelligent, strong-willed, who have real power due to wealth or nobility - form the elite. Great personalities may or may not be born, realize their talents or remain unknown, but elite groups capable of nominating major figures exist among all peoples and at all times. Therefore, there is a point of view that it is the elites that make the greatest contribution to the development of society.

Proponents of the third point of view believe that the masses are the creator of history, since it is they who create the material goods and spiritual culture necessary for life, carry out political transformations, supporting or, conversely, fighting power. Not a single outstanding person or elite will be able to play his historical role if their ideas do not meet the needs and interests of the masses, the requirements of the time.

Despite theoretical differences, in reality history moves in the interaction of the masses, elites and outstanding personalities.

With all the variety of philosophical and scientific concepts and theories about society, they can be classified, moreover, also for various reasons. One of the classifications involves the allocation of the following major approaches to the study of society:

I. Naturalistic

II. Sociological

III. cultural

IV. Technocratic

V. Civilization

VI. Formational

VII. Psychological

In each of the approaches, one can talk about variants, currents, concepts and theories of individual thinkers.

Let us briefly characterize the listed approaches.

I. Naturalistic approach considers society as part of nature or by analogy with it. Its representatives believe that, by and large, in social reality there is nothing (or there is, but a little) specific in relation to natural reality. And therefore, in particular, it is possible to extrapolate (transfer) from the natural sciences to social concepts, quantities, methods, laws, and even the objects themselves.

In a naturalistic approach, there are several options:

1. Geography(representatives Bockl, Montesquieu). This is a view according to which the main prerequisites for social phenomena and processes (for example, the nature of power, laws, traditions, the mentality of the people) are the conditions of the living environment of a particular society, i.e. geographical factors (natural zone, climate, landscape, natural resources and fossils, access to the sea, etc.);

2. Biologism(representatives Spencer, Darwin). He draws an analogy between society and a living being, in particular between organs, systems and their functions in the body and parts of society. The basic laws of biology are declared social laws: the law of survival, the law of adaptation, the law of balance of the organism and species with the environment, etc.

3. Cosmism(represented by N. Fedorov, Tsiolkovsky, Chizhevsky, Vernadsky, Gumilyov, Moiseev, Teilhard de Chardin). This option developed mainly on the basis of Russian philosophical and scientific thought. Its representatives believed that humanity is a product of the evolution of not just the Earth, but the Universe, and as it develops, humanity becomes a cosmic factor. For example, Tsiolkovsky not only predicted the exit of man into space, but argued about the future development of other planets, about resettlement from the Earth to other planets (and not only our solar system). He also argued about the possibility of connecting human thought, consciousness with other material carriers, which would make a person immortal. The religious philosopher N. Fedorov dreamed of such a mastery of nature by man that would allow him to control meteorological, geological and other processes, and even allow all dead people to be resurrected in an incomprehensible way for eternal life on Earth. The scientist Chizhevsky created the science of heliobiology, somewhat similar to astrology, because it states that events in the history of mankind depend on the Sun, in particular, cycles of solar activity. Another Russian scientist - Vernadsky - to describe social processes, formed the concept of the noosphere, which builds on, complements and changes the biosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere. The noosphere is a set of thoughts, ideas of all mankind, which cover the Earth with an invisible shell and which, if used correctly, will help solve socio-economic, political, moral, scientific, technical and other problems that will lead humanity to the path of sustainable steady progress in all spheres of life. The Russian historian Gumilyov put forward the concept of passionarity - a special state of ethnic groups, which arises under the influence of cosmic and geological factors and which causes ethnic groups to come to life, to active (including aggressive) activity.

There are other variants of the naturalistic approach: physicalism, chemistry, synergy. For example, representatives of the first try to apply physical concepts, quantities, laws (speed, mass, force, pressure, weight, density, friction, resistance, the laws of Newton, Huygens, equations and principles of mechanics, optics, thermodynamics, quantum physics, etc. ) to the description, analysis, explanation of social life.

II. Sociological approach considers society as an objective independent reality, which is not reducible either to nature or to its parts (in particular, individuals and groups). Society is a supranatural holistic formation with its own, special laws, which must be learned within the framework of a separate science - sociology (hence the name of the approach).

Let us briefly characterize the teachings of the representatives of this approach - philosophers and sociologists of the 19th-20th centuries.

1. French thinker O. Comte(he coined the term "sociology") singled out two basic laws of social development: law of order(optimal organization of society and its subsystems) and law of progress(society's desire for continuous self-improvement). Progress without regard to order leads to revolutions, the destruction of foundations, chaos and anarchy. Order without progress leads to stagnation (stagnation), decay and disintegration of the social system. Order and progress are gradual, steady, planned development.
2. French scientist E. Durkheim(Some consider him the founder of sociology as a science) made the concept of “social fact” the basis of his theory.

social fact is any event, mood, norm, value that meets the following criteria:

a) objectivity (independence from the consciousness of individuals)

b) observability (i.e. the ability to fix it with rigorous scientific methods)

c) coercion (what inevitably makes people act in a certain, strictly defined way)

Durkheim was convinced that society is a primary reality in relation to its parts (groups, individuals). A particular person acts as his social position prescribes, i.e. a set of relationships with other individuals and groups. Behavior that deviates from the norm inevitably entails the sanctions of society. Durkheim did not deny the presence of crises, pathologies, and crime in society (he called these phenomena anomie), but emphasized that “normality” always dominates, otherwise society would break up into anatomical units. Durkheim considered the social division of labor (specialization of professions) to be the most important social fact, which deepens and branches as social development progresses. The division of labor like nothing else teaches people (and requires) solidarity, communication, mutual assistance. The division of labor is at the same time a generalization of the rest of life. The division of labor creates moral and legal norms, religious and secular traditions and rituals.

1. The largest American sociologist of the 20th century T. Parsons, the founder of structural functionalism as a theory and method of understanding society.

III. Cultural approach interprets society primarily as a spiritual reality, as a set of embodiment of meanings, values, ideas.

Let's consider this approach on the examples of its largest representatives.

1. V. Dilthey betrayed to distinguish the science of nature and the science of the spirit(i.e. about a person and society). The first fundamental difference is in the object. The object of the natural sciences is always a separate part of nature (small or large, but not connected with other parts). The object of social cognition is the Human Spirit as a kind of infinite, but integral, total reality. In the life of a person and society, everything is connected with everything, nothing can be studied by itself, in isolation, in isolation from others. For example, a person's thought is connected with his other thoughts, in general, thinking is connected with feelings, instincts; the life of one person is always directly or indirectly connected with others (family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, media, power, culture). Thus it turns out: in order to study at least something in the human world, one must study and understand everything (ideally, of course). The second fundamental difference is in the method. The natural sciences cognize reality by explaining it (primarily by answering the “why” question about a natural phenomenon). In social cognition, reality is understood. To understand means to reveal the meaning of a phenomenon, to reveal not only its roots, prerequisites, but also its goals and purpose.
2. G. Rickert proposed a similar division of sciences: the sciences of nature and the sciences of culture. The difference between them is primarily in the method. The main method of the first is the generalizing method - the generalization of the same type of observed facts in the form of laws (in logic it is called induction). In the sciences of culture and society, the individualizing method dominates. Its essence is in a detailed description of historical, social events and phenomena as inimitable, unique. They cannot be generalized, typified, classified, deduced (i.e. derived from others), defined and applied by other logical means of cognition. What remains? Just a maximally complete description of the event, in fact, without explanation.

1. German sociologist M.Weber tried to find a compromise between the culturological and sociological approaches (but still objectively closer to the first in terms of views). He believed that understanding and explanation do not oppose each other as cognitive strategies. In sociology and other humanitarian knowledge, to understand means to explain. But what does it mean to understand? And what should be understood? In other words, what is the object of knowledge in sociology? Weber's answer to these questions is the most important concept of his theory - "social action". He recalls that in society, a specific individual always acts, performs actions (even in a crowd, in a mass). The real subject of social actions, connections and relationships, events and processes is always a person, not a group.

Weber identifies two essential features of social action:

a) the presence of meaning put into the action by a person. Meaning, therefore, is always subjective, it is a personal, individual understanding of one's act;

b) orientation to others (waiting for the reaction of the environment, anticipating the reaction, planning further actions). A social action is always performed with the expectation of another, with the expectation of his assessment, response. This distinguishes social action from all others (meditation, prayer, talking to oneself, manipulating things for one's own purposes).

Weber created a typology of social actions, identifying 4 such types:

a) goal-rational action. It is focused on achieving a practical result, on success, on profit. It clearly correlates ends and means;

b) value action. It is performed on the basis of their moral, religious, aesthetic and other values. For example, the voice of conscience, a sense of duty, responsibility, the idea of ​​the obligation or inadmissibility of certain actions, regardless of the circumstances, the environment, the result;

c) affective. It is performed under the influence of feelings, emotions, passions, instincts, moods;

d) traditional. It is performed by virtue of individual or collective habit (custom, ritual, ceremony, tradition). He may have (or had) a purpose or value, but most often it is not realized. A person acts and says: it’s customary, it’s customary, our ancestors (parents, friends, authorities) did it this way, and I am no exception. I am like everyone else, like the majority.

4. Russian-American sociologist P. Sorokin believed that the primary for any society is a set of values. It determines both the nature of the basic needs of people and the ways to satisfy them, and hence the nature of social institutions and norms. Sorokin distinguishes in this regard three types of cultures, three types of societies:

a) sensual. For them, material values ​​are dominant;

b) ideational. For them, spiritual values ​​are dominant;

in) idealistic. This is a kind of successful synthesis of the first two, based on a harmonious combination of material and spiritual values, needs, objects.

IV. Technocratic approach considers society as a derivative of the level of development of technology (it means a set of tools, technologies, the nature of the use of natural resources). Technique is perceived as the materialization of human rationality, his ability to optimally, intelligently manage himself, nature, production (which does not exclude the emergence of problems, crises and catastrophes of technogenic origin).

1. D. Bell was the first to propose the concept of the three-stage development of mankind, which is fundamental for the approach. The three stages are: pre-industrial (agrarian), industrial, post-industrial society. The transition from one stage to another is carried out through technological revolutions. The symbol of the first stage is the physical labor of a person and the draft power of animals, the second - machine technology, the third - information technology (primarily television and computer). Technology determines the nature of work, the source of wealth, power relations. Post-industrial, i.e. modern society is becoming much more open, mobile, free, dense, diverse than the former. At the same time, other spheres of social life (culture, politics, morality, law, etc.) do not develop in sync with technology. Therefore, technological revolutions bring with them a breakthrough in some areas (science, technology, economics, communications), but they also give rise to problems, crises, and instability in others.

2. E. Toffler creatively reworked and supplemented Bell's ideas in his "Explosion and Wave" concept. Its essence is as follows. There are 4 spheres (subsystems) in society: sociosphere, infosphere, psychosphere, technosphere. The latter plays a decisive role in historical development. However, technological revolutions do not occur simultaneously throughout the Earth, and humanity does not immediately move from one stage to another. First, in certain areas of the Earth, in the most developed civilizations, there is an Explosion (technological revolution). Waves from this Explosion gradually cover other regions. In particular, about 10 thousand years ago there was an agrarian revolution that gave rise to an agrarian civilization. Its main features are: 1) land - the basis of the economy, culture, family, politics; 2) rigid class and estate division of society; 3) the economy is decentralized; 4) power is autocratic, rigid; 5) social mobility is low.

3 centuries ago, as a result of the industrial revolution, an industrial civilization arises. Labor moves from fields and handicraft workshops to factories and manufactories. The main features of an industrial society: urbanization, unification, standardization, maximization, concentration, centralization, massification of everything (work, leisure, services, behavior).

In an industrial society, a person acts in two main guises: as a producer (of goods and services, and more broadly - of standards and norms of life) and as a consumer. It is in the industrial age, according to Toffler, that nations and states of the modern type, political parties and social movements, mass education and mass culture, mass consumption and mass media and communications, etc., arise. Industrial production churned out standard series of identical goods on machines, and industrial culture, through school, family, politics, and the media, churned out identical people: obedient, disciplined, ready for difficult, long, monotonous, monotonous work and life.

But the industrial civilization faced two insoluble problems and therefore exhausted itself: 1) the inability to endlessly draw on non-renewable energy sources for production, 2) the inability of the biosphere to continue to withstand such pressure of human activity (primarily production).

And now, imperceptibly for many, according to Toffler, in the middle of the 20th century there was a third explosion, which marked the beginning of a new, post-industrial era. Its main features: technological breakthroughs made it possible to move a significant part of the workforce from the production sector to the service sector. Production is becoming automated and computerized, science-intensive and innovative. Such an economy requires a different type of person: active, independent, proactive, creative, sociable. The nature of politics, family, education is changing. There is much more freedom and creativity in everything. Culture, leisure, everyday life are demassified. The price - originality, innovation, originality. Mono-ideologies are being replaced by pluralism, multiculturalism, and tolerance.

3. J. Galbraith. He believed that the basis of each type of society is a certain resource, the least accessible, the most scarce. In an agrarian society, land was such a resource, in an industrial society it was capital, in a modern one it was knowledge. This resource determines, among other things, the nature of power, the ruling class. For example, in a post-industrial society, managers (managers) become the ruling class. In terms of their goals and motives, they differ significantly from capitalists, feudal lords, and slave owners. For them, the main motive and goal of work is not profit at any cost, but the desire to receive praise from colleagues and superiors, advancement, a sense of belonging to a corporation, professional solidarity, joy from technological innovations and achievements, optimization and rationalization of production.

V. Civilization approach for the first time questioned the concept of humanity as a single whole, as the only subject of history. According to this approach, humanity has always consisted of fundamentally different, independent, original formations (cultures, peoples, civilizations). There is no point or reason to reduce them to the same denominator. There is no society, but there are societies, each with its own unique face, destiny. At the same time, it is possible to draw some historical parallels between them, look for analogies, make generalizations, and formulate laws.

The main representatives of this approach:

1. N. Danilevsky. He identified 12 major "cultural-historical types": Egyptian, Chinese, Indian, Babylonian, Chaldean, Iranian, Jewish, Greek, Roman, Arabic, European, Slavic. Each civilization consists of 4 elements (politics, economics, religion, culture), but usually one or two elements reach the highest development (only behind the Slavic civilization, with which he often identified the Russian people, he saw the potential for high development of all 4 elements). Formulated 3 laws of historical development: 1) the foundations of one civilization are not transferred to other civilizations, significant intersection, crossing, borrowing is impossible between them; 2) the period of accumulation of cultural potential is much longer than the period of implementation, spending. Civilizations rise to the top for a long time, and slide down from it (degrade, disintegrate) very quickly; 3) all civilizations are equal, there are no more progressive, better or worse.

2. O. Spengler numbered 8 great cultures: Egyptian, Chinese, Indian, Babylonian, ancient, Arabic, Western, Maya. The uniqueness of each culture is provided by the originality of its "soul". It is necessary to comprehend the "soul" of culture not scientifically, but sensually, intuitively. The "soul" of culture, its main idea will manifest itself in politics, economics, art, traditions, science and other spheres of life. All cultures are equal, equal. What cultures have in common is morphology (the structure and dynamics of existence). Each culture is like an organism and in the process of life it goes through a series of stages: birth, childhood, youth, maturity, old age, dying. The total lifespan of each culture is about a thousand years. Actually, the time of old age and the decline of culture Spengler calls civilization. The main signs of degradation, the extinction of culture: materialism, technicalism, pragmatism, expansionism, urbanization, massovization.

3. A. Toynbee created the theory of "Challenge and Response". According to it, only the society that copes with the challenge thrown to it becomes a civilization. A challenge is a catastrophe (natural or social) that poses the question point-blank: either society dies or survives by moving to a qualitatively different level of development. The answer is formulated not by the entire society, but by its elite (creative minority). The masses then have to pick up and implement this answer. Unlike Spengler, Toynbee believed that the lifespan of civilizations is not predetermined. Civilization exists as long as it is able to cope with challenges. Moreover, even a missed call does not mean imminent death. Civilization can undergo a crisis, stagnation, retreat, degradation, but still find the strength to recover, revive and develop further. And only if the challenges follow one after another and all are unanswered, the breakdown, fall and death of civilization follows. In total, Toynbee singled out 21 great civilizations. According to the philosopher, there are two criteria for the development of civilizations: 1) the level of self-determination, self-identification; 2) the level of differentiation (diversity, branching) of life. Civilization for Toynbee, unlike Spengler and Danilevsky, is a synonym for freedom, creativity, and progress.

VI. Formational (economic) approach considers society as a derivative of socio-economic relations and processes. Its founder is the German philosopher, sociologist K. Marx.

Marx analyzed contemporary capitalist society and stated its monstrous injustice. It lies in the fact that some create material wealth (workers, peasants), and dispose of others (capitalists). Historical analysis has shown that this injustice, taking various forms, stretches from the distant past. In this regard, Marx set several research tasks: to find out when this injustice arose (or always was), to understand why it arose, to clarify the prospects (whether it will remain forever) ..

Marsk's fundamental idea is a two-level description of society:

Public consciousness (superstructure)

Social being (basis)

What is a basis? This is the economic way of life, the way of production and distribution of material goods. According to Marx (this is the first fundamental law of social life), being determines consciousness. Those. the economy is primary, everything else is secondary, depends on being and is determined by it. What is included in this add-on? All other spheres of life: politics, law, morality, religion, art, family, education, science, philosophy, traditions, the state and its institutions (power, ideological, etc.). Marx was immediately accused of economic determinism, the simplistic reduction of all complex and rich social life to economics. He accepted this criticism and formulated the second law as a mitigating principle: the law of relative autonomy (independence) of the superstructure and its reciprocal effect on the basis.

But still immutable for Marx remained the primacy of the economy over everything else.

He subjects the basis to a more detailed study, which can be represented in the form of the following scheme:

Marx drew several important conclusions from this universal scheme. First, exploitation, social injustice arises from ownership of the means of production in the hands of others, not those who work. For these others, in order to consolidate such an unfair state of affairs, it is necessary to create an appropriate superstructure (power system, laws, traditions, culture) that will consolidate, conserve this unfair order. Secondly, class society did not always exist. The original - primitive communal society - was based on equality and justice. But this was egalitarian justice, and it was equality in poverty. Everyone worked hard, and everything that was obtained was divided equally. Further, as the productive forces developed, a surplus of product gradually formed, which was appropriated by the leaders, priests, and elders of the tribe. Further, they generally stopped working, but took away most of the production of the tribe. Gradually, a class of exploiters took shape. And since the primitive system was a system of equality, the first after it had to be consolidated only by means of extreme violence, cruelty. Such was the slave system. In it, the slaves did not own not only the results of their labor, but even life itself. They were completely powerless. They could be killed, maimed, sold, donated, exchanged. Those. they were not perceived as human beings by the exploiters. They were like things. Even the greatest thinkers of antiquity were convinced of this. For example, Aristotle called slaves talking tools. Further, according to Marx, the law of advanced development of productive forces in relation to production relations comes into force. The latter become a brake on socio-economic, political, legal, scientific and technical progress. The ruling class is interested in the preservation of the established order, therefore, a conflict is inevitable, a state of irreconcilable dialectical contradiction between the productive forces and production relations. The form of this conflict is social revolution. It leads to a change in property relations, to the emergence of new classes and new relations. This is an inevitable law of social progress. At the same time, each new system, although better than the previous ones, is still bad, because it retains (albeit in a reshaped form) the generic vice of the previous ones: private ownership of the means of production in the hands of new exploiters.

Marx was so determined in his criticism and rejection of class societies for yet another reason. Like Engels, he shared the evolutionary concept of Darwin, but he considered the cause of the emergence of man not just natural selection, but the ability to work. This is the title of Engels' work: "The Role of Labor in the Transformation of Apes into Man." Labor created man in the process of anthroposociogenesis. Man owes everything to work. Labor is a generic characteristic of a person. It distinguishes man from all animals. It makes life meaningful. But in class societies, it is precisely this role of labor that disappears. Labor without disposal of the results of labor becomes a misfortune, a curse of man. Such work makes life meaningless. Therefore, class societies are doomed, historically condemned, they contradict evolution itself, the generic essence of man. They can exist for a long time, but not indefinitely.

But how much exactly?

And here Marx decided on a bold, radical prognosis. He believes that the capitalist society, which replaced the feudal one as a result of the bourgeois revolution, is the last exploitative society in history. As a result of another revolution, it will be replaced by a communist society. There will be no exploitation in it, for everyone will be working and everyone will freely dispose of the results of their labor. Such meaningful, free, happy labor should create a society of universal abundance. Therefore, crime, even vices, must disappear. There will be no need for police, prisons, or a state in general. There will be no need for money, trade. Everything will be enough for everyone, and in this sense everything will be common. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” is the slogan of communism.

VII. Psychological approach considers society through the prism of mental processes (conscious and unconscious) of individuals and social groups. Representatives of this approach believe that social institutions, institutions, laws, actions are only the embodiment, materialization, so to speak, of the movements of the soul. Those. At first, social life flows in the minds of people in the form of ideas, feelings, moods, instincts, and only then takes on visible, tangible, familiar outlines.

Let us briefly characterize the concepts of the main representatives of the psychological approach.

1. G. Tarde believed that social life and behavior are based on three psychological mechanisms: imitation, adaptation, opposition. Each act of an individual, a social process or institution, an entire sphere of public life can be reduced to one of these mechanisms or their combination.
2. G.Lebon focused his attention on the analysis of the psychological background in the behavior of a person in a crowd and the behavior of the crowd itself. This state is characterized by: increased impulsiveness and excitability, increased suggestibility, increased aggressiveness and intolerance, depersonalization (dissolution of one's self in the mass), removal of responsibility. In a crowd, a person does not think, does not analyze. You can’t prove anything to him, you can only emotionally infect him with some idea (even the most delusional), captivate him to some business (most often destructive).
3. German-American psychologist and philosopher E.Fromm(1900-1980) emphasized that man is a biosocial being. Its dual nature gives rise to existential (ie deep, internal) contradictions. These contradictions can result in intrapersonal, interpersonal, personal-group and intergroup conflicts. They cannot be eliminated entirely, they can only be mitigated. Physiologically, man is an animal. Many of his actions are determined by instincts. Many - but not all. In addition, these instincts are weaker than those of animals. They are not enough to survive. Self-consciousness, reason, imagination - this is the spiritual side of human life. The man is confused and doubtful. He is aware of the finiteness of his existence, but often believes in immortality. He is weak and insignificant physically, but he believes in the infinite possibilities of the spirit to self-realize, to come true. He is by nature lonely and social at the same time. He cannot even understand himself, but he believes that he can understand another, he is looking for the meaning of life in communication, friendship, love. Such contradictions Fromm calls "existential dichotomies". This is the curse and greatness of man. Feeling anxiety and hope in connection with them, a person becomes a creator of culture. Man is the only animal for which his own existence becomes a problem. He has to solve it, and he can't get away from it.

The essence of a person is expressed in his true needs. Fromm also calls them existential. They are never completely satisfied. But their awareness and experience make a person a person and give him an impetus to development, to self-realization. Each of the needs can be satisfied in a healthy, creative way or in an unhealthy, neurotic way.

These are the needs:

1) need for communication. Healthy realization is true friendship, love. Unhealthy - violence, selfish possession, manipulation;

2) need for creativity. Healthy realization - humanistic art, fruitful life, developed imagination and emotionality. Unhealthy - aggression, destruction, vandalism;

3) need for security. A healthy realization is a free and reasonable search for a team that best suits your personality, guards and protects you, without requiring depersonalization in return. Unhealthy - the dissolution of one's Self in the crowd, in the group;

4) need for identity. Healthy realization is the free search and affirmation of individual values, one's own worldview, the search for the center of one's spiritual life. Unhealthy - identification with someone deified: an idol, an idol, a father, a leader, a deity;

5) need for knowledge, mastering the world. Healthy realization is an open, disinterested study of the world, comprehension of the meaning of events, discovery of the laws of the universe. Unhealthy - the creation of myths, clichés, dogmas, ideologies, artificial structures that supposedly describe and explain reality;

6) need for freedom. Healthy realization is the desire for independence, self-sufficiency, expansion of conditions for the realization of one's abilities. Unhealthy - limiting the freedom of others as an alleged condition of one's own freedom.

Each type of satisfaction of needs (healthy or unhealthy) corresponds to a special type of personality (humanistic or authoritarian) and a special type of society (democratic or authoritarian, totalitarian). For example, an authoritarian personality type is psychologically and behaviorally manifested through sadism, masochism, conformism, destructiveness, consumerism, despotism, servility, etc. This type of personality is both a product and fertile ground for authoritarian and totalitarian regimes (fascism, communism, religious fundamentalism, autocracies).

Similar information.

Professor at the University of California at Berkeley, one of the patriarchs of modern American sociology Neil Smelser defined five main approaches used by sociologists in the study and explanation of various facts:

First approach - demographic (demography - from the Greek word demos - people). Demographics - study of the population, processes of fertility, mortality, migration and related activities of people. (For example, a demographic analysis could explain the economic underdevelopment of Third World countries by the fact that they have to spend a large part of the funds to feed a rapidly growing population).

The second approach is psychological . It explains behavior in terms of its significance to people as individuals. are being studied motives, thoughts, skills, social attitudes, ideas of a person about himself.

The third approach is collectivist . It applies when we studying two or more people who form a group or organization. For example, this approach can be used when studying such groups as the family, the army, the sports team, since they are collectives of individuals.

The fourth approach reveals relationships . Public life is considered not through certain people participating in it, but through their interaction with each other, due to their roles. A role is the behavior expected of a person who occupies a certain position in a group. There are hundreds of roles in society: a politician, an employee, a consumer, a policeman, a student. And the behavior of people to a certain extent is formed on the basis of these roles.

Fifth and final approach cultural . It is used in the analysis of behavior based on such elements of culture, such as social rules and social values. In the culturological approach, the rules of behavior or norms are considered as factors that regulate the actions of individuals and the actions of groups. For example, in accordance with the criminal code, murder, rape, robbery are considered unacceptable and punishable. There are also implied norms: don't point your finger at people, don't chew with your mouth open, and so on.

Public opinion as an object of sociological analysis.

Public opinion is an average and supported by the majority point of view of various social groups on a problem, taking into account the development of mass consciousness and the role representations of the social group about behavior and thinking within society.

Public opinion is forming from widely disseminated information, such as: opinions, judgments, beliefs, ideologies, as well as from rumors, gossip, delusions. play an important role in shaping public opinion mass media(media), in particular: television, radio broadcasting, printed publications (press). Public opinion is influenced opinions of people recognized by society as authoritative and competent, personal experience of people

Stages of formation of public opinion

1. Perception of information (objective, subjective, tendentious, etc.) at the level of individuals.

2. Conclusions and assessments of the individual - based on existing knowledge, experience, ability to analyze, level of awareness.

3. Exchange of available information, conclusions, discussions with other people. On this basis, the formation of a certain opinion of a small group of people.

4.Exchange between small groups and the formation of the opinion of the social stratum.

5. The emergence of public opinion.

The subject of public opinion can be communities of various levels from the population of a state or the entire planet to individual settlement communities. In this case, the leading subject is population, people generally.

object public opinion can be

1) a phenomenon, event, fact that is associated with the interests of the subject (and not only in the material, but also in the political, cultural, social spheres of life) and has a high degree of relevance;

2) a phenomenon, an event, a fact that allows for the ambiguity of interpretation and the non-conditionality of value judgments;

3) what information is available to the subject.

Formation features:

Public opinion is very sensitive to significant events.

public opinion is usually , is more quickly formulated under the influence of events than words, at least until verbal statements become reality.

Public opinion does not foresee critical situations, it only reacts to them.

From a psychological point of view, public opinion chief driven by the vested interests of the people. Events, words, and any other stimuli affect opinion only to the extent that there is an obvious connection with self-interest..

Public opinion will long be in an agitated state if the people do not feel that their own interests are affected, or if the opinion awakened verbally is not confirmed by the course of events.

If an opinion is shared by a small majority of people, or if it has not yet been substantially constructed, a fait accompli may incline public opinion to its approval.

Public opinion, as well as personal opinion, is always emotionally colored. If public opinion is based mainly on emotions, then it will be ready for especially drastic changes under the influence of events.

9. Microsociology

Section of sociology, the object of study to-rogo are the so-called. small groups (small in composition social groups, members of which are in stable personal communication with each other). Small groups include the family, primary labor, scientific, sports, military, and other groups, the school class, and a religious sect. 20th century as one of the directions of bourgeois sociology. Its methodological basis was the philosophical principles of positivism, the theoretical basis was the work of G. Simmel, C. Cooley, Durkheim, F. Tennis, etc., the empirical basis was the data of studies of various social problems of bourgeois society (the need to resolve interclass, interethnic and interracial conflicts, the search for reserves to increase labor productivity, the effectiveness of propaganda, the fight against crime, the disintegration of the bourgeois family, the growth of mental illness, etc.). theoretical M. is represented by the works of Moreno, J. Homans, R. Bales (USA), Gurvich (France), R. Koenig (Germany), and others. from psychiatry (the Moreno school), psychological, or "group dynamics" (K. Levin's school), and behavioral, represented by the sociologists of the Mayo school. Within these areas, appropriate methods and techniques for studying small groups and contact groups, various types of observations, surveys, interviews, sociometric techniques (building scales, matrices, graphic representation of the structure of small groups, etc.) have been developed. consists in illegal attempts to transfer the conclusions received from studying of the small groups considered as a basic element about-va, on big social groups and about-in as a whole.

The reason for such errors is the idealistic absolutization by bourgeois sociologists of the primacy of psychological factors in the analysis of social phenomena. Marxist sociology recognizes both the existence of small groups and the social conditioning of their formation and activities. The study of the problems of small groups (microenvironment, interaction between the team and the individual, the team and the society, psychological relationships in groups - the "psychological climate", special group values ​​​​and norms of behavior - the "moral climate", etc.) is of great importance for the development sociological theory and social practice.

10.Socialization of the individual.

From the very beginning, a person interacts with the social. environment, with society. The process of this interaction is characterized by the concept of socialization.

Socialization is the process of mastering the surrounding social environment by a person. environment and its transformation into a personality, i.e. social quality.

In the course of socialization, the natural inclinations inherent in a person are realized. . Society while creating the conditions for self-development of personality. The process of socialization goes through a number of stages. In modern literature as main criterion socialization was taken labor activity, in accordance with this, 3 main stages of socialization were distinguished : pre-labour; labor; post-work (related to retirement). However, these stages did not take into account the features of the first and last stages. The third stage did not take into account the process resocialization, i.e. learning new roles.

In Western literature, there are 2 stages of socialization: primary (from birth to the formation of a mature personality); secondary or resocialization. The last stage is understood as a kind of restructuring of the personality in the period of its social. maturity.

Socialization occurs under the influence of social. environment conditions and social. institutions. To the social institutions of socialization include family(parents) school(broadly speaking), mass media, formal and informal organizations.

11.Prognostic function of sociology.

The practical orientation of sociology is expressed in the fact that it is able to develop scientifically based forecasts about the trends in the development of social processes and phenomena in the future. This is the prognostic function of sociology. It is especially important to have such forecasts in the transitional period of the development of society, which Russia is going through at the moment. In this regard, sociology is capable of:

determine the range of possibilities, probabilities that open up to the participants in events at a given historical stage;

· present alternative scenarios for the development of future social phenomena and processes associated with each of the chosen decisions;

Of great importance in the life of society is the use sociological research for planning the development of various spheres of public life. Social planning is developed in all countries of the world, regardless of social systems. It covers a wide range of areas, from from the specific processes of life of the world community, individual regions and countries, ending with the social planning of the life of cities, villages, individual industries, enterprises and collectives.

12. Ethnosociology.

Ethnosociology - a branch of sociological science that studies social processes in different ethnic environments and ethnic processes in social groups. In other words, ethnosociology studies the phenomena and events of social life, one way or another connected with the problems of ethnic groups, the influence of ethnic culture and traditions on social life, interethnic relations and conflicts. “Any ethnic community is based on traditional standards, norms, patterns, stereotypes of behavior, which are firmly established in one or another ethnic moral culture. The culture of each ethnic group is unique, its development takes place in the context of interaction with other ethnic cultures, and the accumulated socio-cultural experience of the ethnic group becomes the starting point in understanding foreign values ​​- language, traditions, etc. This actualizes the issues and problems of interethnic interaction, interethnic adaptation in modern Russian society.

If ethnography considers, describes and analyzes the customs and traditions, way of life and culture, language and folklore of various ethnic groups, then ethnosociology is a special middle-level sociological discipline that studies ethnic groups, their relationships in a broader context of social relations, considering them as parts of society more or less integrated into it and included in societal processes. The legitimacy of this approach is determined by the fact that everything that happens to ethnic groups is always inscribed in the dynamics of society as a whole and is largely explained by it.

In the history of sociology, initially the study of ethnic traditions and rituals was of great importance and was associated with the formation of proper sociological classical paradigms. Thus, E. Durkheim, L. Levy-Bruhl, B. Malinovsky, A. Radcliffe-Brown and other prominent sociologists and social anthropologists of the past turned to the study of the ethnic culture of primitive tribes in order to better understand the origins of sociality as such. Modern ethnosociology is focused on the study of the social parameters of the interaction between ethnic groups and ethnic groups that is currently taking place.

In parallel, there is a related sociological discipline - historical egnosociology, the subject of which is the ethnic problems of the past.

The subject area of ​​ethnosociology includes research related to the following issues:

· Traditions as a factor influencing the social behavior of individuals and ethnic groups;

· the dynamics of ethno-socio-cultural changes arising as a result of modernization;

· socio-cultural differences between the modern city and the countryside;

social components of the process of ethnic identification and self-identification;

· the dynamics of interethnic relations, in particular the development and course of interethnic conflicts;

· mobility of ethnic groups, interregional and interstate migration;

· the origin and social characteristics of ethnic diasporas, including the recently formed Russian diasporas within the borders of the post-Soviet space;

· features of linguistic communication in various ethnic environments, in particular the processes of displacement of the Russian language and its replacement by the languages ​​of the titular nations in the republics of the former USSR, as well as the problems of bilingualism and polylingualism;

· the specifics of intra-family relations in various ethnic groups;

· ethnic culture, intercultural interactions, the role of religion in the formation of intercultural distances, the development of ethnic stereotypes and their social functioning;

Tolerance and intolerance in interethnic relations;

· Formation and development of national and nationalist movements and features of social movements in the ethnic environment.

13.O.Kont - the founder of functionalism.

The origins of structural functionalism were the first sociologists: Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim. They strove to create a science of society that, like physics or biology, could discover and substantiate the laws of social development.

The founder of sociology, Auguste Comte, proclaimed the main task of sociology to be the search for objective laws of social development that do not depend on a particular person.

Comte relied on the methods of analysis of the natural sciences. By analogy with sections of physics, Comte subdivided sociology into "social statics" and "social dynamics". The first was focused on the study of how parts (structures) of society function, interact with each other in relation to society as a whole. First of all, he considered how the main institutions of society (family, state, religion) function, ensuring social integration. In cooperation based on the division of labor, he saw the factor of affirming "universal consent". These ideas of Comte would later be developed by scientists representing structural functionalism in sociology and studying mainly the institutions and organizations of society.

social dynamics was is devoted to understanding the problems of social development and the policy of change. The scientist sought to create, in his own words, " abstract history" without names and without relation to specific peoples.

The founder of positivism was the French thinker Auguste Comte.

His name is associated with the development of the first stage of positivism - "the first positivism".

Main work O. Comte "Positive Philosophy Course" in six volumes it was published in 1830-1846, and subsequently reprinted several times. The main idea of ​​positivism was that the era of metaphysics had ended, the era of positive knowledge had begun, the era of positive philosophy.

Since science relies on laws and strives to discover them, Comte also tried to substantiate his teaching with several laws formulated by him.

"The Law of Three Stages", according to Comte, first of all determines those stages that humanity goes through in its mental development, in its desire to know the world around.

The first stage is theological. Being at this stage of his spiritual development, a person seeks to explain all phenomena by the intervention of supernatural forces, understood by analogy with himself: gods, spirits, souls, angels, heroes, etc.

The second stage that humanity goes through in its mental development is the metaphysical one. It, like the theological stage, is characterized by the desire to achieve exhaustive absolute knowledge about the world. But unlike the first stage, the explanation of the phenomena of the world is achieved not by referring to the divine principles and forces, but is reduced to a reference to various fictitious primordial essences, allegedly hiding behind the world of phenomena, behind everything that we perceive in experience, the basis of which they form.

The third stage, according to Comte, is positive. Having risen to this stage, humanity abandons hopeless and fruitless attempts to cognize the first and final causes, to cognize the absolute nature or essence of all things, i.e. renounces both theological and metaphysical questions and claims and rushes along the path of accumulating positive knowledge obtained by particular sciences.

14. Classical concepts of personality development.

Basic theories of personality development.

The Mirror Self Theory by Charles Cooley. Man evaluates himself according to the following criteria:

a) the view of other people on him, their assessment;

b) response to their opinions and views.

These factors and influence the formation of personality.

The theory of personality formation by George Herbert Mead. Personality is formed in the process interaction with people . This process includes the following steps:

a) imitation of someone else's activities;

b) game stage;

c) collective games of children.

At the last stage, the interaction between individuals is enhanced.

Theory of Sigmund Freud . The desires of the individual are limited by the norms accepted in society, hence the conflict between the person and society arises. The personality structure is as follows: “It” (a person’s desire for pleasure), “I” (orientation in the present

world), "Super-I" (regulator of moral values).

Psychoanalytic theory of Erik Erickson. Personality is formed in accordance with the stages of development. These stages are associated with overcoming crises of a different nature by the individual.

Jean Piaget's theory of the development of knowledge. The process of personality formation is carried out as a person's ability to master new skills. Children go through these stages gradually. They may last longer or shorter, be assimilated with ease or with difficulty, but in a strictly defined sequence.

Lawrence Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development. This scientist paid great attention to the moral aspect of personality development. A person overcomes several stages of development, and throughout life, and not just in childhood. The higher the level reached by a person, the more moral his actions in relation to other people.

15 Durkheim is a representative of sociology.

Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) French sociologist. Partly sharing the point of view of positivism, he opposed the biologization of sociology by Comte.. The structure of sociology, according to Durkheim, includes social morphology, social physiology and general sociology. . Social morphology, like human anatomy, deals with the structure of society. Social physiology studies social life, all spheres, etc. General (theoretical) sociology establishes the general social laws of the functioning of society.

Society is the totality of social facts and the relationships between them. The subject of sociology is social facts (institutions) that represent objective phenomena available for observation: marriage, family, social groups, etc.

The doctrine of Durkheim's society formed the basis of many modern sociological theories, and above all - structural-functional analysis.

As a general concept that expresses the basic principles of the theory and methodology of Durkheim's sociology, stands for "sociologism".

There are two aspects to this concept:

ontological (the doctrine of being, of the most general laws of being): a) social reality; b) society is a reality of a special kind, which means it is autonomous from other realities;

methodological (follows from the ontological): a) since sociology is a part of nature, then sociology is methodologically similar to the science of nature, b) “social facts” should be considered as things (objective realities).

The central sociological idea of ​​Durkheim's teaching is the idea of ​​social solidarity. Starting from two types of society - traditional and modern, he distinguishes two types of social solidarity:

mechanical social solidarity is inherent in traditional society.

organic solidarity is generated by the social division of labor and is based on the division of individuals.

If the first presupposes the absorption of the individual by the collective, then the second presupposes the development of the individual, based on the division of labor.

Thus, the division of labor is a source of social solidarity, and the existence of problems and conflicts in modern society is explained by scientists as a simple deviation from the norms caused by insufficient regulation of relations between the main classes of society.

16 Sociology of the city

The emergence of the sociology of the city is associated with the names of such authors as M. Weber, G. Simmel, F. Tennis. The main task facing the founders of the sociology of the city was a critical analysis of the idea of ​​the alienness of the urban way of life and its opposition to the rural communal way of life.

Among the theoretical approaches to the study of the city, one can single out the territorial-settlement one (the city as a special type of ecological settlement (the city as the ratio of natural and artificial components of the environment;

economic (typologies of cities according to production and economic functions and identification of the morphological structure of the urban territory; urban planning (city as a system of social and functional settlement;

historical and cultural (city in evolutionary development and urban mentality;

sociological (the city as a place for the development of social relations and communicative space, the structure and features of the city as a habitat; features of the urban lifestyle;

The city is, first of all, a special space that organizes the very life of citizens, setting them the trajectory of behavior and life path. M. Weber and F. Tennis formed the idea of ​​the city as a space of communication, different from the traditional (community).

The life of the city is determined by city-forming and city-serving factors. City-forming factors include industry, transport, communications, science, sanatorium and resort business, etc. From a sociological point of view, these factors reflect the interaction of the city and society, predetermining the number of jobs and the structure of employment in general, as well as the social aspects of the functioning of a resident in his work and everyday life. The city-serving factors include the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of jobs associated with the sphere of social services. These are public transport, children's and educational institutions, household and medical services, trade, cultural institutions, etc.

The social development of the city involves the implementation of measures to systematically influence negative processes: crime, child neglect, misconduct against the rules and norms of behavior.

Thus, the sociology of the city is a sociological discipline, the object of study of which is the social life of the city, urban life. The sociology of the city studies the origin of cities, urbanization, urban morphology, urban systems, problems of urban governance, urban communities and power structures. A sociological view of this object implies an analysis of the forms and types of activities of individuals and communities in the urban space, as well as the study of the specifics of the organization of urban space.

17 Tocqueville - political sociology

3. Tocqueville Alexis De, 1805-1859. About democracy.

Tocqueville Alexis De (1805-1859) - fr. sociologist, historian and politician. The main theme of his research and reflection is the historical genesis, essence and prospects of democracy, which he understood as the principle of the social organization of modern society, opposite to feudal.

The subject of greatest interest for Tocqueville Alexis De was democracy, which he saw as the most significant phenomenon of the era. According to Tocqueville, the core of democracy is the principle of equality. . Universal equality, taken by itself, does not automatically lead to the establishment of a political regime that firmly protects the individual and excludes arbitrariness on the part of the authorities.

For Tocqueville it is obvious the greatest social value of freedom. Ultimately, only thanks to her man gets the opportunity to realize themselves in life. Tocqueville is convinced that modern democracy possible in the union of equality and freedom. The problem according to Tocqueville is, on the one hand, to get rid of everything that interferes with the establishment of a reasonable balance of equality and freedom. On the other hand, to develop political and legal institutions that ensure the creation and maintenance of such a balance. Tocqueville believed that one of the most serious problems of freedom and democracy in general is the centralization of state power. To avoid this, Tocqueville proposed a separation of powers.

Tocqueville understood democracy lack of class distinctions, civil (political) equality.

Tocqueville believed that the goal of democracy as the rule of the majority is the welfare of the population.. The world is moving towards ensuring equal conditions of existence for all. Its political form is democracy, which is based on equality of conditions. The result is freedom, the components of which are: 1) the absence of arbitrariness (legality);

2) federation (taking into account the interests of individual parts of the state);

3) the presence of public associations (civil society);

4) independence of the press; 5) freedom of conscience.

18 Socio-territorial communities.

Society, understood as a "product of people's interaction", as the integrity of people's social relations to nature and to each other, consists of many heterogeneous elements, among which the economic activity of people and their relations in the process of material production are the most significant, basic, but not the only ones. Against, the life of a society consists of many diverse activities, social relations, public institutions, ideas and other social elements. All these social phenomena are mutually interconnected and always act in a certain relationship and unity. This unity is permeated material and mental processes, and the integrity of social phenomena is in the process of constant changes, taking various forms. The study of society as the integrity of social relations in all its various manifestations requires grouping heterogeneous elements of society into separate entities in accordance with their common features and then identifying the relationships of such groups of phenomena. One of the important elements of the social structure of society is the social group. Of great importance is the socio-territorial group, which is an association of people that has a unity of relations to a certain territory they have mastered. An example of such communities can be: a city, a village, and in some aspects, a separate district of a city or state. In these groups there is their relationship with the environment. Territorial groups have similar social and cultural traits that have arisen under the influence of certain situations. This happens even though the members of this group have differences: class, professional and others. And if we take the characteristics of various categories of the population of a certain territory, then we can judge the level of development of this territorial community in social terms. For the most part, territorial communities are divided into two groups: rural and urban population. Relations between these two groups developed differently at different times. Of course, the urban population prevails. For the most part, urban culture today, with its patterns of behavior and activity, is penetrating more and more into the countryside, the countryside. The resettlement of people is also important, because regional differences have a significant impact on the economic, cultural state, on the social appearance of a person - there is a lifestyle. All this is influenced by the movement of migrants. The highest level of development of the socio-territorial community is the people. The next step is national territorial communities. The initial is the primary territorial community, which is integral and indivisible. An important function of this community is the socio-demographic reproduction of the population. It ensures the satisfaction of people's needs through the exchange of certain types of human activities. An important condition for reproduction is the self-sufficiency of the elements of the artificial and the nature of the environment. It is also important to take into account the mobility of territorial communities. In some cases, the living environment for reproduction requires the formation of a combination of urban and rural environments, taking into account the natural environment (agglomeration).

19V. Pareto is a representative of psychologism in sociology.

According to Pareto, society has a pyramidal structure, at the top of which is the elite - the leading social layer that guides the life of the whole society. In his works, Pareto was skeptical of democratic regimes, calling them "pluto-democratic" or "demagogic plutocracy", believing that in political life there is a universal law under which the elite always deceives the masses.

The successful development of society, however, is possible only with the timely renewal of the elites, which was understood by Pareto, in the concept of “circulation of elites” put forward by him, as the absorption and inclusion of the most mobile representatives of non-elites or counter-elites into the elite by directive “election from above” by the very or the ruling elite. Otherwise, according to his concept, society will stagnate and, as a result of the revolution, the old elite will be replaced by a new one.

The analysis of human actions and their motives carried out in the works of Pareto was of great scientific importance. The terms and, and subsequently, were practically not used in sociology. Nevertheless, the analysis of the phenomena themselves denoted by these terms revealed to sociologists the essential role of irrational and emotional factors of social behavior, various predispositions, attitudes, prejudices, stereotypes, consciously and unconsciously masked and rationalized in beliefs, etc. That fact that it is precisely this kind of emotional factors that are often much more effective than logical reasoning in inducing mass man to action, is now widely recognized in political science, propaganda theory and mass communication.

Pareto was the first to develop an expanded theory of the elite. He described some socio-psychological characteristics of elite groups and such features of the masses as authoritarianism, intolerance and neophobia. In his concept of elite circulation, he substantiated the need for social mobility to maintain social balance and the optimal functioning of social systems.

The development of the theory of the elite paradoxically contributed to the deepening and refinement of the idea of ​​democracy, so unloved by Pareto himself. Understanding the true place of the elite in society made it possible to move from empty and vague provisions about democracy as the power of the People Itself, about the Self-Government of the People, to the idea of ​​democracy, in particular, as a specific open system for the formation of elites that publicly and on equal terms compete with each other for prestige and power in society.

True, Pareto's theory of the elite partly contradicts his systemic orientation. He is inclined not so much to deduce the characteristics of elites from social systems as, on the contrary, to consider social systems as a consequence of the mental traits and activities of elite groups. Meanwhile, methods of recruitment, functioning and change of elites are not self-contained phenomena and processes. They are different in different social systems, because they are conditioned by the latter; the top of the social pyramid is determined by its base, its entire configuration.

20. Social mobility.

Social mobility is a change by an individual or group of their social position in social space. The concept was introduced into scientific circulation by P. Sorokin in 1927. He singled out two main types of mobility: horizontal and vertical.

Vertical mobility implies a set of social movements, which is accompanied by an increase or decrease in the social status of an individual. Depending on the direction of movement, upward vertical mobility (social rise) and downward mobility (social decline) are distinguished.

Horizontal mobility is the transition of an individual from one social position to another, which is at the same level. An example is the movement from one citizenship to another, from one profession to another, which has a similar status in society. Varieties of horizontal mobility often include geographic mobility, which implies moving from one place to another while maintaining the existing status (moving to another place of residence, tourism, etc.). If social status changes when moving, then geographic mobility turns into migration.

The following types of migration are available:

character - labor and political reasons:

duration - temporary (seasonal) and permanent;

Territories - domestic and international:

status - legal and illegal.

According to the types of mobility, sociologists distinguish between intergenerational and intragenerational. Intergenerational mobility suggests the nature of changes in social status between generations and allows you to determine how much children rise or, conversely, fall on the social ladder compared to their parents. Intragenerational mobility is associated with a social career, which means a change in status within one generation.

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• INTRODUCTION
• 1. MAIN APPROACHES TO STUDYING THE HISTORY OF SOCIOLOGY
• 2. FORMATIONAL AND CIVILIZATIONAL APPROACHES TO SOCIETY
• CONCLUSION
• LITERATURE
• INTRODUCTION
• The functioning of social relations, institutions and organizations gives rise to a complex system of social relations that governs the needs, interests and goals of people. This system unites individuals and their groups into a single whole - a social community and through it - into a social system. The nature of social ties determines both the external structure of social communities and its functions. The external structure of a community can be determined, for example, by its objective data: information about the demographic structure of the community, the professional structure, the educational characteristics of its members, and so on. Among the many types of social communities, such as the family, work collective, groups of joint leisure activities, as well as various socio-territorial communities that form social institutions and organizations are of particular importance in terms of influencing behavior. It gives relevance this research.
• An object research - the history of sociology.
• Subject- basic approaches to the study of the history of sociology.
• Target research - to identify the features of different approaches to the study of the history of sociology.
• To achieve this goal, the following tasks: define the main approaches to the study of the history of sociology; consider formational and civilizational approaches to society.
• methodological the basis of the study is the dialectical method and the principles of philosophical knowledge. The paper reflects the provisions and conclusions on the issues raised, contained in scientific works: E.M. Babosov, V.I. Dobrenkova, I.F. Devyatko, G.E. Zborovsky, I.N. Kuznetsov and others.
• 1. MAIN APPROACHES TO STUDYING THE HISTORY OF SOCIOLOGY
• In order to get a general idea about sociology as a science, about its methods, the structure of sociological knowledge, about the current trends and changes taking place in this area, it is necessary to answer the question: what is sociology? In its most general form, sociology is the science of society. However, this definition of sociology needs to be clarified.
• The history of the development of sociological science has given many different approaches to understanding sociology and its structure, to defining its subject matter. The very term sociology was introduced into scientific circulation by the French philosopher O. Comte to refer to the science, which he originally called social physics, and the subject of which was the consideration of the laws of functioning and development of society. From this point of view, sociology should study society as an integral social organism, as well as the interaction of its main parts, social institutions, social processes using special methods Devyatko I.F. Methods of sociological research / I.F. Nine. - Ekaterinburg, 1998. - P.125. .
• In the process of formation and development of sociology, two levels of study of society have developed: microsociological and macrosociological.
• Microsociology considers the interaction of people. The main thesis of microsociology is that social phenomena can be understood from the analysis of the personality and its behavior, actions, motives, value orientations that determine the interaction of people in society and shape it. This structure of sociological knowledge makes it possible to define the subject of sociology as the scientific study of society and its social institutions.
• Macrosociology studies various social structures: social institutions, education, family, politics and economics from the point of view of their functioning and interconnection. Within the framework of this approach, people included in the system of social structures are also studied.
• Another approach to understanding the structure of sociological knowledge arose in Marxist-Leninist sociology. A three-level model of sociology was proposed - historical materialism, special sociological theories, empirical sociological research. This model sought to fit sociology into the structure of the Marxist worldview, to create a system of links between social philosophy (historical materialism) and sociological research. In this case, the philosophical theory of social development became the subject of sociology; philosophy and sociology had the same subject.
• This approach has isolated Marxist sociology from the world process of development of sociological knowledge.
• Sociology cannot be reduced to social philosophy, since the peculiarity of the sociological approach is manifested in other categories and concepts that correlate with empirically verifiable facts. The peculiarity of sociological knowledge is manifested, first of all, in the ability to consider social institutions, social relations, social organizations on the basis of direct empirical data, including the behavior of the individual, the specific motivation for this behavior.
• In this regard, the specificity of sociology can be defined as follows: it is the science of the formation and functioning of social communities, social organizations and social processes; it is the science of social relations and the mechanisms of the relationship between social communities, individuals; it is the science of the laws of social action and mass behavior.
• This understanding of the subject reflects the peculiarities in the approaches to the consideration of this issue throughout the history of sociology.
• The founder of sociology, O. Comte, drew attention to two features of this science: 1) The application of scientific methods to the study of society; 2) Practical use of sociology in the functioning of society Volkov Yu.G. Sociology / Yu.G. Volkov; under total ed. prof. IN AND. Dobrenkov. - Ed. 3rd. - Rostov-n / D: Phoenix, 2007. - P.231. .
• When analyzing society, sociology uses various approaches from other sciences: the demographic approach studies the population and the activities of people associated with it; the psychological approach explains human behavior with the help of motives, social attitudes; community, or group approach is associated with the study of the collective behavior of groups, organizations and communities of people; role behavior of individuals - structured performance of roles in the main social institutions of society; cultural approach studies human behavior through social rules, values, social norms.
• The structure of modern sociological knowledge determines a significant number of sociological concepts and theories that specialize in the study of individual subject areas: family, religion, culture, human interactions, etc.
• In understanding society as a social whole, as a system, i.e. at the macrosociological level, two fundamental approaches can be named: functional and conflictological.
• Functional theories first arose in the 19th century, and the very idea of ​​such an approach belonged to G. Spencer, who compared society with a living organism. Just like a living organism, society consists of many parts - economic, political, medical, military, etc., and each part performs its specific function. The task of sociology is to study these functions, hence the name of the theory - functionalism.
• The detailed concept of functionalism was proposed and developed by the French sociologist E. Durkheim. Modern functionalists T. Parsons and R. Merton continue to develop this line of analysis. The main ideas of modern functionalism: this is an understanding of society as a system of integrated parts, the presence of mechanisms that maintain the stability of society; the need for evolutionary change in society. Based on these qualities, social integrity and stability are formed.
• Marxism, which substantiates the structure and interaction of structural elements in society, can, with certain reservations, be regarded as a functional theory. However, in Western sociology Marxism is analyzed from a different point of view. Since K. Marx defined the conflict between classes as the main source of development of any society and, on this basis, pursued the idea of ​​the functioning and development of society, such approaches in Western sociology are called the theory of conflicts.
• The class conflict and its resolution, from the point of view of K. Marx, are the driving force of history. Hence, he substantiates the need for a revolutionary reorganization of society.
• Among the adherents of the approach to the study of society from the point of view of conflict, we can name the German sociologists G. Simmel and R. Dahrendorf. If the first believed that the conflict arises on the basis of the instinct of hostility and escalates due to a conflict of interests, then the second was of the opinion that the main source of conflict is the power of some people over others. Conflict arises between those who have power and those who do not.
• The modern American sociologist L. Koser believes that the causes of the conflict are ultimately rooted in the fact that people begin to deny the legitimacy of the distribution system existing in society, which, as a rule, occurs during the period of impoverishment of the masses.
• The initial assumptions of functionalism and conflict theory are completely different: if functionalists consider society as initially stable, evolutionarily changing, then within the framework of conflict theory they see society as constantly changing through the resolution of contradictions.
• The second level, uniting sociological theories that study the behavior and interaction of people within the framework of microsociology, developed in the theories of interactionism (interaction - interaction). W. James, C.H. Cooley, J. Dewey, J. G. Mead, G. Garfinkel. The authors of interactionist theories believed that the interaction of people can be understood on the basis of the categories of punishment and reward, that this is what determines their behavior.
• One variant of interactionalism is symbolic interactionism. Supporters of this concept believe that people do not react to the influence of the outside world, but to certain symbols assigned to phenomena.
• A special place in microsociological approaches is occupied by the theory of roles associated with the names of Ya.L. Moreno, R.K. Merton, R. Linton. The meaning of role theory can be understood from the words of W. Shakespeare:
• ... The whole world is a theater. In it, women, men - all actors,
• They have their own exits, departures, And each of them plays the role of Babosov E.M. General sociology / E.M. Babosov. - Minsk: NTOOO "Tetrasintems", 2002. - P.148. .
• The theory of roles considers the social world as a network of interrelated social positions (statuses) that determine human behavior.
• Sociology, studying social processes, classifies society on various grounds. In some cases, considering the stages of development of society, the state of development of productive forces and technologies (J. Galbraith) is taken as the basis for classification. In the Marxist tradition, the idea of ​​formation is the basis for classification. Society was also classified on the basis of dominant religions, language, means of obtaining livelihood, etc.
• The meaning of any classification is the need to define what modern society is like.
• Modern sociological theory is constructed in such a way that different sociological schools, various theories exist on an equal footing in it, i.e. the idea of ​​a universal sociological theory is denied.
• The modernist society with its idea of ​​development from simple to complex, rationality, rationality, the need to transform social life is being replaced by the concept of postmodern society. The main idea of ​​postmodernists is to fit the new into the already existing old. They believe: there is no absolute rationality - each culture has its own rationality, there cannot be one explanation of the phenomenon, the essence of what is happening, but there is a plurality of explanations.
• Thus, sociologists began to come to the conclusion that there is no rigid theory, there are no rigid methods in sociology. An adequate reflection of the processes taking place in society is provided by qualitative research methods. The meaning of these methods is that the phenomenon is given more importance than the causes that gave rise to it.
• 2. FORMATIONAL AND CIVILIZATIONAL APPROACHES TO SOCIETY

According to formational approach, whose representatives were K. Marx, F. Engels, V.I. Lenin and others, society in its development passes through certain successive stages - socio-economic formations - primitive communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist. A socio-economic formation is a historical type of society based on a certain mode of production. The method of production includes productive forces and production relations Kuznetsov I.N. Technologies of sociological research / I.N. Kuznetsov. - M. - Rostov n / D: Ed. Center "March", 2005. - P.105. .

The productive forces include the means of production and people with their knowledge and practical experience in the field of the economy. The means of production, in turn, include objects of labor (what is processed in the labor process - land, raw materials, materials) and means of labor (what objects of labor are processed with - tools, equipment, machinery, production facilities). Production relations are relations that arise in the process of production and depend on the form of ownership of the means of production.

How is the dependence of production relations on the form of ownership of the means of production expressed? Let's take primitive society as an example. The means of production there were common property, and therefore everyone worked together, and the results of labor belonged to everyone and were distributed equally. On the contrary, in a capitalist society, the means of production (land, enterprises) are owned by private individuals - capitalists, and therefore the relations of production are different. The capitalist hires workers. They produce products, but the same owner of the means of production disposes of them. Workers only get paid for their work.

How is the development of society according to the formational approach? The fact is that there is a regularity: the productive forces develop faster than the relations of production. The means of labor, knowledge and skills of a person employed in production are being improved. Over time, a contradiction arises: the old production relations begin to hold back the development of new productive forces. In order for the productive forces to be able to develop further, the old relations of production must be replaced by new ones. When this happens, the socio-economic structure also changes.

For example, under a feudal socio-economic formation (feudalism), the relations of production are as follows. The main means of production - land - belongs to the feudal lord. Peasants perform duties for the use of land. In addition, they are personally dependent on the feudal lord, and in a number of countries they were attached to the land and could not leave their master. Meanwhile, society is evolving. Technology is improving, industry is emerging. However, the development of industry is hampered by the virtual absence of free labor (peasants depend on the feudal lord and cannot leave him).

The purchasing power of the population is low (mostly the population consists of peasants who have no money and, accordingly, the opportunity to purchase various goods), which means that there is little point in increasing industrial production. It turns out that for the development of industry it is necessary to replace the old relations of production with new ones. The peasants must become free. Then they will have a choice: either to continue to be engaged in agricultural labor or, for example, in case of ruin, to be hired by an industrial enterprise. The land should become the private property of the peasants. This will allow them to dispose of the results of their labor, sell their products, and use the money they receive to purchase manufactured goods. The relations of production in which there is private ownership of the means of production and the results of labor, wage labor is used - these are already capitalist relations of production. They can be established either in the course of reforms or as a result of a revolution. So the capitalist socio-economic formation (capitalism) comes to replace the feudal one.

As noted above, the formational approach proceeds from the fact that the development of society, various countries and peoples goes through certain stages: the primitive communal system, the slave system, feudalism, capitalism and communism. This process is based on the changes taking place in the sphere of production. Proponents of the formational approach believe that the leading role in social development is played by historical patterns, objective laws, within the framework of which a person acts. Society is steadily moving along the path of progress, since each subsequent socio-economic formation is more progressive than the previous one. Progress is associated with the improvement of the productive forces and production relations.

The formal approach has its drawbacks. As history shows, not all countries fit into the "harmonious" scheme proposed by the proponents of this approach. For example, in many countries there was no slave-owning socio-economic formation. As for the countries of the East, their historical development was generally peculiar (to resolve this contradiction, K. Marx came up with the concept of "Asiatic mode of production"). In addition, the formational approach to all complex social processes provides an economic basis, which is not always correct, and also relegates the role of the human factor in history to the background, giving priority to objective laws.

Civilizational approach to the development of society. The word "civilization" comes from the Latin "civis", which means "city, state, civil". Already in ancient times, it was opposed to the concept of "silvaticus" - "forest, wild, rough." In the future, the concept of "civilization" acquired various meanings, many theories of civilization arose. In the Age of Enlightenment, civilization began to be understood as a highly developed society with a written language and cities.

Today there are about 200 definitions of this concept. For example, Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975), a supporter of the theory of local civilizations, called a civilization a stable community of people united by spiritual traditions, a similar way of life, geographical and historical boundaries. And Oswald Spengler (1880 - 1936), the founder of the culturological approach to the historical process, believed that civilization is the highest level that completes the period of development of culture that precedes its death. One of the modern definitions of this concept is as follows: civilization is a set of material and spiritual achievements of society.

There are various theories of civilization. Among them, two main varieties can be distinguished.

The theories of the staged development of civilization (K. Jaspers, P. Sorokin, W. Rostow, O. Toffler, and others) consider civilization as a single process of the progressive development of mankind, in which certain stages (stages) are distinguished. This process began in ancient times, when humanity moved from primitive to civilized. It continues to this day. During this time, there have been great social changes that have affected socio-economic, political relations, and the cultural sphere.

Thus, a prominent American sociologist, economist, historian of the twentieth century Walt Whitman Rostow created the theory of stages of economic growth. He singled out five such stages: 1) Traditional society. There are agrarian societies with rather primitive technology, the predominance of agriculture in the economy, the estate-class structure and the power of large landowners. 2) Transitional society. Agricultural production is growing, a new type of activity is emerging - entrepreneurship and a new type of enterprising people corresponding to it. Centralized states are being formed, national self-consciousness is being strengthened. Thus, the prerequisites for the transition of society to a new stage of development are ripening. 3) Stage of "shift". Industrial revolutions are taking place, followed by socio-economic and political transformations. 4) Stage of "maturity". A scientific and technological revolution is underway, the importance of cities and the size of the urban population are growing. 5) The era of "high mass consumption". There is a significant growth in the service sector, the production of consumer goods and their transformation into the main sector of the economy Volkov Yu.G. Sociology / Yu.G. Volkov; under total ed. prof. IN AND. Dobrenkov. - Ed. 3rd. - Rostov-n / D: Phoenix, 2007. - S.346. .

Theories of local (local from Latin - “local”) civilizations (N.Ya. Danilevsky, A. Toynbee) proceed from the fact that there are separate civilizations, large historical communities that occupy a certain territory and have their own characteristics of socio-economic, political and cultural development.

Local civilizations are a kind of elements that make up the general flow of history. They may coincide with the borders of the state (Chinese civilization), or may include several states (Western European civilization). Local civilizations are complex systems in which different components interact with each other: geographical environment, economy, political structure, legislation, religion, philosophy, literature, art, people's way of life, etc. Each of these components bears the stamp of the originality of a particular local civilization. This uniqueness is very stable. Of course, civilizations change over time, they experience external influences, but there remains a certain basis, a “core”, thanks to which one civilization still differs from another.

Arnold Toynbee, one of the founders of the theory of local civilizations, believed that history is a non-linear process. This is the process of birth, life and death of unrelated civilizations in different parts of the Earth. Toynbee divided civilizations into main and local. The main civilizations (for example, the Sumerian, Babylonian, Hellenic, Chinese, Hindu, Islamic, Christian, etc.) left a bright mark on the history of mankind and indirectly influenced other civilizations. Local civilizations are closed within the national framework, there are about thirty of them: American, German, Russian, etc.

Toynbee believed that the driving forces of civilization were: a challenge thrown to civilization from the outside (unfavorable geographical position, lagging behind other civilizations, military aggression); response of civilization as a whole to this challenge; the activities of great people, talented, "God's chosen" personalities.

There is a creative minority that leads the inert majority to respond to the challenges posed by civilization. At the same time, the inert majority tends to "extinguish" and absorb the energy of the minority. This leads to the cessation of development, stagnation.

Thus, each civilization goes through certain stages: the birth, growth, breakdown and disintegration, culminating in death and the complete disappearance of civilization.

CONCLUSION

microsociology society civilizational

The history of the development of sociological science has given many different approaches to understanding sociology and its structure, to defining its subject matter. In the process of formation and development of sociology, two levels of study of society have developed: microsociological and macrosociological.

Another approach to understanding the structure of sociological knowledge arose in Marxist-Leninist sociology. A three-level model of sociology was proposed - historical materialism, special sociological theories, empirical sociological research. This model sought to fit sociology into the structure of the Marxist worldview, to create a system of links between social philosophy (historical materialism) and sociological research. When analyzing society, sociology uses various approaches from other sciences: demographic, psychological, group, role behavior of individuals, cultural studies.

According to the formational approach, society in its development goes through certain successive stages - socio-economic formations - primitive communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist formational approach proceeds from the fact that the development of society, various countries and peoples goes through certain stages: primitive communal system, slave system, feudalism, capitalism and communism. The civilizational approach is based on the definition that civilization is a set of material and spiritual achievements of society.

Thus, the study of society is based on historical approaches to research.

LITERATURE

1. Babosov E.M. General sociology / E.M. Babosov. - Minsk: NTOOO "Tetrasintems", 2002. - 640 p.

2. Volkov Yu.G. Sociology / Yu.G. Volkov; under total ed. prof. IN AND. Dobrenkov. - Ed. 3rd. - Rostov-n / D: Phoenix, 2007. - 572 p.

3. Devyatko I.F. Methods of sociological research / I.F. Nine. - Yekaterinburg, 1998. - 265 p.

4. Zborovsky G.E. General sociology / G.E. Zborowski. - M.: GARDARIKI, 2004. - 592 p.

5. Kuznetsov I.N. Technologies of sociological research / I.N. Kuznetsov. - M. - Rostov n / D: Ed. Center "March", 2005. - 144 p.

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After studying the material in this chapter, the student should master:

labor activities

Own the entire content of modern social philosophy in the study of various social phenomena and processes, their interaction, as well as in the course of solving practical problems;

necessary skills

Apply the basic ideas of social philosophy in the analysis of social processes, giving decisive importance to the worldview and methodological content of these ideas;

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• society as a social system;
• the role of people's activities and their social relations in the development of society;
• the main elements of the social structure of society, the nature of their interaction;
• the essence and content of the political system of society, its role in the development of modern social processes;
• the legal sphere of society, its role in strengthening public order and legality;
• the spiritual content of social life, the role in its development of social and individual consciousness of people.

Some Fundamental Methodological Approaches to the Study of Society

Society is, first of all, the joint life of many people who actively interact with each other to satisfy their vital needs. As a result, certain relations develop between them regarding the means and methods of satisfying their needs based on existing living conditions. Over time, these relations acquire a stable character, and society itself appears as a set of social relations.

These relations are largely objective in nature, since they arise on the basis of the objective needs of people and the objective conditions of their existence. Relations develop along with the development of the conditions of their life and work. Of course, the system of social relations does not necessarily rigidly and unambiguously determine each step of human behavior. Ultimately, however, it directly or indirectly determines the main content and direction of his activity and behavior. Even the most outstanding, creatively active person acts under the influence of established social relations, including social class, national, family, household, etc.

Thus, as backbone factors of the existence and development of society are the activities of people (social groups and individuals) and their social relations.

Everything that exists in society (the production of material and spiritual values, their consumption, the creation of the necessary conditions for people's lives, as well as their destruction) occurs in the process of corresponding activity - creative or destructive. In this sense activity acts as the basis of all social and a specific way of its existence. At the same time, any activity is mediated by certain social relations.

The activities of people and their social relations constitute the main content of their social being as a real process of their social life. We are talking about their production, family, household, political, legal, moral, aesthetic, religious and other activities and their corresponding public relations, as well as the results of this activity, embodied in objects of material culture, the socio-political structure of society, spiritual values. etc. The significance of all these factors is determined by the extent to which they contribute to satisfying the diverse needs of people, creating conditions for their development, and the manifestation of their creative abilities.

It is possible to single out the objective and subjective aspects of social life. Its objective side is that which exists outside and independently of the consciousness and will of people. It includes the conditions of the natural environment, the needs of people for food, warmth, shelter, procreation, etc., which they cannot cancel and which force them to act in a certain direction. The objective side of social existence also includes the state of material production, the social structure and political system of society, which each new generation of people finds already established. For him, this is an objective given, in the conditions of which he is forced to begin his social life.

The subjective side of people's social existence is their consciousness and will. Here, however, one clarification must be made. The concept of "being" is applicable to consciousness and will only in the sense that they are, exist. They are present in the activities of people, in their social relations, and are their most essential generic features that distinguish them from animals. At the same time, the consciousness of people, being an integral attribute of their social life, is, rather, not directly social being in its, so to speak, objective existence, but its mental reflection - an ideal copy expressed in the images and ideas of people, their views and theories. about the phenomena and processes of social life.

The question of the relationship between the social being of people as a real process of their social life and their social consciousness is one of the fundamental methodological issues of social philosophy.

The answer to it presupposes, in particular, finding out how fully and deeply the social consciousness of people reflects their social existence. This reveals the degree of understanding by people of the phenomena occurring in society and, thereby, the possibility of their adaptive and creative-reforming activity in their own interests.

It must be said that the problem of the relationship between the real life of people and their ideas about it, about the possibilities of their influence on the processes taking place in society, is posed and solved in many philosophical concepts, materialistic and idealistic. It is solved in different ways, say, within the sociological positivism of O. Comte and the dialectical materialism of K. Marx, as well as other philosophical doctrines. It is impossible to avoid its solution in the course of a philosophical analysis of the development of society.

The concepts of "social being" and "social consciousness" play an important role. methodological role in the study of society and in the understanding of individual social phenomena. They express the most general aspects of the existence and development of society. To correctly understand the interaction of these parties means to embark on the path of scientific knowledge of society as a complex social system, as well as individual phenomena, whether in the field of economics, social, political and spiritual life.

The understanding of social consciousness as a reflection of social being points to the objective basis of its development. The content of economic, political, moral, aesthetic, religious and other views and theories is a more or less complete reflection of the relevant aspects of people's lives, their social existence. In their totality, these views and theories represent the self-consciousness of society, i.e. awareness of all aspects of his life in their connection and development.

As soon as social consciousness is a reflection of social being, it has, as it were, a derivative, secondary character. The ego is expressed in the proposition: social being is primary, social consciousness is secondary. This approach makes it possible to explain the development of social consciousness from the standpoint of social determinism, which requires an indication of the objective and subjective causes of certain manifestations of social consciousness. The objective reasons for this are rooted in the conditions of people's social existence, while the subjective reasons are rooted in the peculiarities of their mental activity.

Based on the principle of social determinism, it is also necessary to reveal the interaction of various aspects of social life, their interdependence, which is causal and natural. Such an approach inevitably leads to an analysis of the role of material production in the development of society.

It is probably clear to everyone that society cannot exist without the development of material production: it will perish if the vital needs of people in food, clothing, housing, means of transportation, etc. are not met. Therefore, any modern society attaches paramount importance to the development of material production. Material production creates the necessary conditions for the material support of the functioning of the social and spiritual spheres of society.

Thus, thanks to material production, the material basis for the existence of society, the solution of its many problems, develops. This alone indicates its fundamental role in social development, in the historical process.

However, the matter is not limited to this. Material production directly determines the development of the social structure of society, i.e. the existence of certain classes, other social groups and strata of society. Their presence is due to the social division of labor, as well as economic relations of ownership of the means of production and distribution of material goods created in society. This is the reason for the division of people into various professional and social groups, according to the types of activity, income received, etc.

The mode of production, both directly and indirectly, including through the existing social structure, determines the content and direction of the political processes taking place in society. After all, their subjects are the same classes and other social groups that exist on the basis of a given mode of production. By political means they solve many of their socio-economic, strictly political and ideological problems.

Finally, the mode of production affects the development of the spiritual life of society, both in terms of its material support (construction of library buildings, theaters, philharmonic halls, paper production and the creation of a printing base for the production of books, magazines, newspapers, radio, television, etc.), and and in the sense that existing economic relations influence in a certain way the development of morality, science, art, religion and other aspects of the spiritual life of society.

As can be seen, the mode of production of material goods affects (directly or indirectly) all aspects of society. Proceeding from this, we can say that, in the final analysis, society develops according to the objective laws of social production. It is in the final analysis, because the development of any socio-political and spiritual phenomenon is influenced not only by production and economic, but by many other objective and subjective circumstances.

It is clear that social production in its broadest sense (as not only material, but also spiritual production, the production of all forms of communication between people and the person himself) is not identical to the whole society. After all, in society, not only production, but also other types of activity, various kinds of social relations (political, moral, religious, etc.), as well as numerous forms of interpersonal communication between people, are carried out. Finally, society is a certain objective world of material and spiritual culture. All these phenomena take their place in society as a kind of social organism - society and play their role in its functioning and development.

The approach to society as a social system was developed by many representatives of social philosophy. Its interpretation of society as a system is given in the teachings of K. Marx on the socio-economic formation. This doctrine has its supporters and opponents, which is quite natural in philosophy. Since it is shared to some extent by many representatives of social philosophy, Marxist and non-Marxist, let us dwell on it in somewhat more detail.

Based on the works of Marx and Engels socio-economic formation can be interpreted as a society at a certain stage of its development with its characteristic mode of production, social structure, political system and spiritual life. There are such socio-economic formations as primitive communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist. Each of them is characterized, firstly, as a qualitatively defined type of society, and secondly, as a stage of social progress. At the same time, Marx did not insist that all countries should go through these formations in turn. On the contrary, he pointed out, in particular, the peculiarities of the development of some countries of the East, which went through the so-called Asian mode of production, different from those that existed in the countries of Europe. Other countries have gone through not all, but through three or four of these formations. All this shows the multidimensionality and multivariance of the historical process, its diversity and complexity.

It is important, however, that the concept of "socio-economic formation" made it possible to present society as an integral social system, which it is in reality. The socio-economic formations mentioned above show, rather, the objective trend of the world historical process, and not the development of each individual country. They appeared at different stages of human development. Moreover, each subsequent of them represents, according to Marx, a new and qualitatively higher type of society. The methodology of formational analysis focuses on the study of the rather complex process of the transition of society from one formation to another, the ways and means of this transition, the interaction of objective and subjective factors of this process.

The formational approach to the study of society can be combined with the so-called civilizational approach aimed primarily at studying the culture of a particular society, trends in the development of modern civilization. There are modern Western and Eastern civilizations, Christian and Islamic civilizations, as well as modern industrial civilization, etc. It is important to identify the common features of the material and spiritual culture of the peoples of different countries and continents, as well as its regional, national and other features. The combination of formational and civilizational approaches in the analysis of social development makes it possible to develop more specific ideas about it as a very complex, contradictory and multivariate process.