14. A short course of lectures on sociology
Subject« Sociology as the science of society»
Basic provisions
Sociology can be defined in the most succinct way as the scientific study of society. However, such a definition is overly general; it can also be applied to other sciences that study society, to history, political science, jurisprudence, and economic theory. Therefore, to correctly understand the specifics of sociology, it is necessary to establish what constitutes the object of its research and what its subject is.
As in all other sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, etc.), the object of sociology exists objectively, that is, outside man, regardless of man, his consciousness, feelings, will, aspirations, actions. But if society as a whole in its basic features , features, patterns do not depend on the will, consciousness and actions of one person, but a person in his consciousness, in his development, in his behavior depends on society. It is these distinctive features that determine the uniqueness of the object of sociology, which is the development of society and people interacting within its framework and conditions, united in certain social communities - family, professional, territorial, national, etc.
If the object of sociology is outside the consciousness of the person studying it and does not depend on him, then with the subject of sociology the situation is different. It arises as a subject of research not without the influence of human consciousness, but only thanks to it, when the researcher seeks to isolate from the object of interest some of its important aspects, parts or features. Thus, the subject of sociology is to isolate certain aspects of the development of society from the diverse aspects social communities, relationships and interactions, the different but inextricably linked poles of which are, on the one hand, society as a complex and developing system, and on the other, a person, an individual. And this allows us to draw the following general conclusion: the subject of sociology is the study of the interaction of individuals and social communities in their structural interdependencies in certain conditions of their existence and in the processes of their change and development in society.
The subject of sociology is not only and not so much individual individuals, but the social structures created and functioning in the process of their interaction: family, educational institution, enterprise, firm, political elites, armed forces, sociocultural or religious associations and other social communities that leave a certain imprint on the life destinies of individuals and their group interactions. Therefore, the key, fundamental category of sociology is precisely the social community.
A social community (family, professional, territorial, national, etc.) is an interaction of individuals that is determined by the similarity or unity of interests, goals, value orientations, characteristics of their work and life in the context of common economic, political, sociocultural and other living conditions.
The main sources of sociologists’ knowledge about society and
life activities in it are: historical experience, study
real facts of social life, establishing the interdependencies of social facts, studying trends and patterns of social development.
Based on the idea of an object, the subject of sociology,
sources of sociological knowledge, we can define sociology. It is as follows: sociology is the science of the characteristics, trends and patterns of formation, development and interactions
various social communities and systems, about mechanisms and forms
manifestations of these patterns in the actions of individuals, social groups and society as a whole in the totality of certain social relations and in certain historical conditions.
Sociology as an independent science solves a number of important cognitive problems. The main ones are as follows:
a) study of social facts;
b) study of the social structure of society;
c) understanding and explaining the causes and trends in the development of society;
d) identifying possible options for changing the studied social phenomena and processes in the future;
making management decisions.
This means that sociology has not only important theoretical, but also practical significance, because it is capable of bringing real
contribution to the improvement of existing social relations and
management activities in society.
In the process of fulfilling its tasks, sociology carries out
several functions. They are: 1) cognitive; 2) conceptual-descriptive; 3) evaluative; 4) explanatory; 5) worldview-ideological; 6) prognostic; 7) managerial; 8) educational.
Sociology is the study of human society and the behavior of people in social circumstances. It allows us to more clearly see and explain the social forces that influence our lives. The concept of “social” (sociality), emphasizing the factor of interaction between people, its influence on their thoughts and behavior as a basic characteristic of social life, is key in how sociologists define the subject of their science.
Sociology is closely related to common sense, i.e. with people’s ideas about the world and themselves, which are formed on the basis of everyday experience, uncritically combining naive realism and the stereotypes dominant in this society. The sociologist studies human actions that have already been named and thought through, albeit insufficiently coherently and clearly, by the actors themselves even before he began to study them. But unlike the ordinary mind, the field of study of sociology is not limited to the life world of the sociologist, his individual goals, and the people with whom he communicates. Sociology compares many life worlds with each other, which has not only quantitative (more facts and statistics instead of individual cases), but also qualitative significance when using its knowledge. Thus, sociology does not so much inform us of radically new knowledge, but rather provides more adequate formulations regarding social circumstances, strives to re-describe the object in such a way as to reveal its complexity.
Sociology is scientific knowledge because it studies empirical facts and builds certain theoretical systems based on evidence and logical arguments. At the same time, it contains such features inherent in humanitarian knowledge as interpretability, conventionality of forecasts and conclusions.
It is necessary to distinguish between social and sociological problems. The former are focused on solving practical problems primarily by those in power; the latter are theoretical, methodological in nature, aimed at understanding what happens within the framework of social interaction, how the system as a whole operates, what are the initial prerequisites for its existence and by what means its unity is maintained. Even if a sociologist is engaged in solving a specific social problem, he seeks to understand the social situation as a whole, the values and modes of action of all parties involved in it. The ability to see any situation as if from the outside, detached, impartially is a distinctive feature of sociological consciousness.
Fundamental sociological questions can be formulated as follows: 1) how is society possible in the form of sustainable integrity; 2) how the individual and society are interconnected.
Depending on the answer to them, theoretical directions in sociology are distinguished. When answering the first question, functional and conflict approaches are distinguished; when answering the second question, use structural and behavioral (or activity) approaches.
Representatives of the functional approach believe that society develops into a stable integrity automatically through the process of self-regulation (like biological organisms), when its various parts (economy, state, family, school, etc.) perform complementary functions and thereby contribute to social integration. Proponents of the conflict approach believe that the natural state of society is conflict between different people, groups and organizations, each of which strives for power. In this struggle, the privileged minority, which controls the most important resources of society, will most likely organize and arrange society in accordance with their interests.
In the structural (or structuralist) approach, the behavior of the individual and group is explained by social circumstances and the social structure in which they are located is considered as a product and derivative of the social system.
Proponents of the activity approach believe that society arises from the meaningful and purposeful actions of individuals. And although these actions are socially conditioned, they do not become rigidly programmed; human behavior is a creative process, it is based on how people interpret and direct existing social circumstances.
Sociology is a multi-paradigmatic science, i.e. it should provide diverse explanations of the same social processes, while maintaining not only tolerance for the views and conclusions of various research schools and directions, but also supporting the desire of sociologists to connect, search for a harmonious combination of different approaches, conclusions, interpretations regarding individual phenomena or events .
The sociological imagination, according to C. Wright Mills, makes it possible to see our personal experiences in the context of what is happening in the world around us. It includes structural, historical, personal aspects, i.e. the ability to understand the surrounding social environment - the structure of society, its elements, how they are connected to each other, how they function; the ability to understand the distinctive features of our world in comparison with the past; the ability to understand what types of people play a special role in modern society at this stage and which ones are replacing them.
Topic: “Methodology and methods of sociological research”
Basic provisions
Applied sociological research is focused on obtaining specific empirical data about social phenomena or social processes. Depending on the goals of applied research, they are divided into exploratory, descriptive and analytical. Based on the frequency of studies conducted, point and repeat types are divided.
Methods of applied sociological research include: observation, document analysis, expert assessment, sociological experiment and sociological survey. The most common and used method in sociological research is the sociological survey. There are two types of surveys: questionnaires and interviews. To conduct a survey, it is necessary to accurately define the general and sample populations. The reliability and validity of research results will depend on the representativeness of the sample.
Conducting a sociological study requires careful preparation. At the stage of preparatory work, a program and plan for sociological research are created. The program formulates the research problem, defines its subject and goals, selects variables, interprets and operationalizes basic concepts, and develops working hypotheses. The research plan identifies the general and sample populations, and also determines the methodology for collecting and analyzing primary information.
Sociological research ends with the analysis and processing of the data obtained. There are both quantitative and qualitative methods for analyzing and summarizing information obtained as a result of sociological research. Quantitative methods include: grouping, calculation of correlation coefficients, regression and factor analysis. Qualitative methods of analysis and generalization are typologization, modeling and theory creation.
Sociological research strategy
When organizing and carrying out sociological research, the development of its strategy is important. A sociological research strategy is a creative application of a systematic approach to defining the purpose of a given study, formulating the tasks arising from it, identifying the personnel, financial, technical and other resources necessary to solve them, as well as determining the sequence of stages (steps) towards achieving a strategic goal .
The development and application of a sociological research strategy has several distinctive features: features:
The process of developing a strategy for sociological research does not end with any immediate action. Usually it ends with the establishment of a very specific direction, the movement along which research thought, applied theoretical structures (concepts, concepts, etc.) and methods will ensure the achievement of the set research goal and the tasks arising from it.
The formulated strategy is used to develop a strategic project (program) and a research plan using the scientific search method. The role of the search strategy is, firstly, to help the researcher (research group) focus on certain areas of social reality and the possibilities for their study; secondly, discard all other possibilities that could lead away from the intended goal.
In the process of formulating a research strategy, it is impossible to foresee all the possibilities that open up when developing a research program and plan. Therefore, most often it is necessary to use highly generalized, incomplete, and sometimes fragmentary information, which must be used to begin research activities on a problem of interest to sociologists.
In the process of developing a sociological research program and a plan for its implementation, it is necessary to distinguish between strategies and guidelines. Landmarks represent the goal that the researcher seeks to achieve, and strategy is a means of as accurately and clearly as possible logical definition of the goal and the ways and means of achieving it. A strategy that is justified with one set of guidelines (for example, ways to establish an effective state) may turn out to be ineffective if the research guidelines change (for example, if it is necessary to study the dynamics of value orientations of young people).
The process of developing and implementing a research strategy includes, as an integral component, determining the most likely prospects for the implementation of the intended research program, establishing priorities in the distribution and use of human, financial, and technical resources between various types of scientific activities (development of a program, research plan, preparation of research tools, collection of empirical material, its computer processing, analysis and theoretical generalization and understanding of the data obtained), as well as at various stages of the research project.
The starting point for developing a research strategy is problematic situation requiring your permission. Most often, it arises due to insufficient awareness of the real processes and phenomena of social reality or the inability to use existing knowledge for possible change and regulation of relevant social processes. Awareness of the significance of a social problem and the need for its scientific solution leads the researcher to choose a specific object of research.
Developing a sociological research strategy includes several stages (“steps”). The first step is to determine the object of research. This must inevitably be followed by the next step - isolating from the object what constitutes the subject area of the study, i.e. subject of study.
The next step must be taken: determining the purpose and objectives of the study. The purpose of the research focuses on obtaining its final result, and the objectives include the formulation of questions to which answers must be obtained to achieve the goals of the research.
The next step in the formation of a research strategy is clarification, a theoretical interpretation of basic concepts, which is carried out by finding points where these concepts touch (or detect the absence thereof) with the real processes and phenomena that they reflect.
This is followed by an empirical interpretation of the concepts, i.e. identification of their empirical meanings, signs, as well as real properties, characteristic features of events and phenomena reflected by the concepts used in the study.
The empirical interpretation of key concepts, which together cover the substantive essence of the problem under study, constitutes a prerequisite for the subsequent stage of forming a strategy for sociological research. The content of the next stage is a preliminary system analysis of the object and subject of research. It must identify the main factors that determine the development trends of the object being studied, its general (typical) and specific elements, knowledge of which gives the researcher the opportunity to describe the situation under study in its systemic properties.
A preliminary systematic analysis of a research problem allows for its conceptual dissection and theoretical explication, which closely leads to the development of a strategic research plan. The main goal of the strategic plan for sociological research is to more clearly identify and define the problem of interest to researchers, to provide a strict, scientifically proven description of the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the social object being studied (phenomenon, process, event, structure, community, etc.) , create theoretical and empirical prerequisites for the study of structural-functional and causal dependencies between the various components of the object under study.
The next stage in the formation of a sociological research strategy is to establish the possibility of changes and new trends in the development of the object being studied.
Following this stage in the development of a sociological research strategy, there should be an identification of possible ways, means and means of improving managerial influence on the social phenomena, processes and events being studied. The main attention is paid to the development of scientifically based recommendations, the application of which in the practical work of management structures can lead to more effective activities of the latter.
Finally, the final stage of developing a sociological research strategy is to determine the methods and ways of its implementation in the process of research activities. In this case, rational and sufficient provision of the research project with human, financial, information and technical resources becomes crucial.
The selection of an actual social problem, the development of an effective strategy for its research, and the consistent implementation of the main stages of the research strategy create the necessary conditions for the successful implementation of the research program and the acquisition of new theoretical and applied sociological knowledge.
Subject« The emergence and development of sociology»
Basic provisions
Interest in studying the problems of society is associated with different names and traditions in the history of science: with the names of Plato and Aristotle in ancient philosophy, N. Machiavelli and T. More in the Renaissance, with the ideas of the European Enlightenment. The term “sociology” itself was first used in 1824 by O. Conto. Comte and G. Spencer's approach to society was based on the conviction that the principles of positivism could become the foundation for the scientific study of society. Sociology, they believed, should discover the general laws of social change, using methods similar to natural science. The main interest for positivist sociology was primarily the structure of society, phases, stages in its development - that is, macrosociological institutions and processes. Depending on which factor was declared decisive for social development, directions in sociology emerged: organic, geographical, psychological, racial-anthropological.
In the 19th century directions that have become widespread in our century are already emerging - functionalism and conflict sociology.
Functionalism in one form or another was present in all social theories that used the principles of a systematic study of society. At the same time, an analogy arose between society and the organism (organicism). The elements of society were distinguished according to the principle of organs, the functioning of which ensures the viability of the whole. Many features of the functional approach can be found in Comte, Spencer and Durkheim, who had one of the first formulations of the definition of function in sociology. An important stage in the history of functionalist ideas in sociology was American structural functionalism represented by T. Parsons and R. Merton.
Based on criticism of Parsons' structural functionalism, modern conflict paradigms were created (K. Marx and M. Weber are considered the founders). If functionalism emphasizes cooperation and stability, then conflict paradigms emphasize heterogeneity in society (R. Dahrendorf, C. Mills). Being, like functionalism, macrosociological paradigms, all conflictological directions consider society as a single whole, but proceed from the fact that in society there are groups of people with different interests. Due to the existence of different interests in society, there is always the potential for conflict, leading to a certain degree of instability.
Conflict paradigms and functionalism analyze society as a whole, and consider social structure as a given, as something objective, inherent in the social world. These macro theories focus on how the structure of society influences people's behavior. Vice versa. Microsociological paradigms focus on how people, through their activities and interactions, create and change society. These issues are considered in symbolic interactionism, exchange theory, phenomenological sociology, and ethnomethodology.
Russian sociology emerged in the late 60s of the 19th century, at the initial stage developing in the tradition of post-Comte positivism (P. Lilienfeld, A. Stronin, P. Lavrov, N. Mikhailovsky, N. Kareev, E. De Roberti, etc.)
At the end of the 19th century. antipositivism takes shape, naturalistic attitudes are criticized (B. Kistyakovsky, P. Novgorodtsev, L. Petrazhitsky, etc.).
At the beginning of the 20th century. neopositivism appears. The idea of neo-positivist sociology was most fully expressed by Pitirim Aleksandrovich Sorokin, one of the largest Russian and then American sociologists of the first half of the 20th century.
After 1917 and until the end of the 80s. The history of Russian sociology has been very contradictory. Currently, a new generation of Russian sociologists is re-acquiring research experience. They have the opportunity to develop sociology as an independent science at the level of world standards.
Topic: “Society as a sociocultural system. Classification of societies"
Basic provisions
Ideas about society as an integral system began to take shape in sociology under the influence of the works of representatives of structural functionalism, and above all T. Parsons and R. Merton.
The initial concept of Persona’s macrotheory of society is “social action”. The set of stable interactions between people is designated by Parsons as a system of actions. Like any other open system, it must perform a number of functions, the most significant of which are adaptation, goal achievement, integration and latency. Adaptation is associated with maintaining balance, adapting the social system to the environment and controlling it. Goal achievement means defining and structuring goals, as well as mobilizing resources to achieve them. Integration involves coordinating the structural elements of the system, maintaining solidarity and internal order, and counteracting the disintegration of the system. Latency implies the reproduction of cultural patterns, their renewal and transmission to subsequent generations. The listed functions are performed both by the entire system as a whole and by the four corresponding subsystems.
The function of society integration is implemented by the social system. Goal achievement is a system that Parsons designates as personal. The reproduction of norms and values of society is carried out by the cultural system, and the maintenance of balance is carried out by the behavioral organism
A social system, according to Parson's model, is understood as a system formed by the state and processes of organized social interaction between acting subjects. Its structure consists of four main components: values, norms, teams and roles.
The most important component of the social system is institutionalization - the process of formation of stable models of interaction between social actors. These interactions are regulated by certain norms and thanks to this they acquire a constant and predictable character. The consequence of the process of institutionalization is the formation of a social structure - a set of standard relationships of role bearers. Therefore, a social system can also be represented as an institutionalized set of roles. In relation to the social system, three other subsystems of social action: cultural, personal and behavioral organism act as the environment. The subsystems of the social system, in turn, are the economic system, the political system, the societal community system and the socialization system.
The stability of a social system is based on deterministic relationships between its parts, as opposed to random and unstable interactions. The interdependence of the system components ensures social order, which has a tendency to self-sustain and is expressed in balance. He names the mechanisms of socialization and social control as necessary prerequisites for the sustainable reproduction of the system. With the help of the latter, social roles are organized and deviations from standard patterns of interactions are reduced. The elements of social control are: institutionalization; sanctions; structures that ensure the preservation of values; violence and coercion.
R. Merton, being critical of Parsons' theory, reworked and created his own methodology for analyzing the social system. In developing an alternative form of functional analysis, the American sociologist criticized three traditional postulates of functionalism. Firstly, the postulate about the functional unity of society. Merton put forward the position that the degree of integration of a system is not constant and can vary in different societies. Secondly, the postulate of the universality of functionalism or the functional utility of all existing forms and structures. In contrast to this statement, he believes that the elements of the system, along with functions, can also perform dysfunctions (negative functions) or be non-functional. Functions can be both positive and negative; both explicit and latent. Merton sees the differences between manifest and latent functions in the degree to which they are known and predictable. The sociologist is most interested in the functions of the latter type. Thirdly, the postulate of necessity, according to which functions satisfy the basic needs of the system, and each structure performs a very specific function and is therefore irreplaceable. Merton objected to the rigid connection between structures and functions. He formulated a different interpretation: firstly, a structure can perform several functions, secondly, the same structures in different systems can perform different functions, thirdly. Different structures in different systems may serve similar functions.
An important step in the development of the systems approach was the theory of the German sociologist N. Luhmann. According to its main provisions, there are three types of social systems: interaction systems, social systems and organizations. The first type of system is based on individuals' personal perceptions of each other. Systems of the second kind are more comprehensive, since they include all communicative actions. Compared to interaction systems, they are more highly organized. The modern societal system is, first of all, a world society. Systems belonging to the third type are in an intermediate position between societal systems and interaction systems. A specific feature of these systems is the relationship between membership in them and certain conditions. Organizations contribute to the “generalization” of individual motives and value-normative orientations. The most important features of open social systems, according to Luhmann, are self-reference and autopoiesis. Self-reference is the ability of a system to distinguish itself from the environment (self-closure), and therefore from other systems. In fact, it comes down to the ability of the system to set its boundaries. Autopoiesis means the possibility of reproducing system elements and relationships within the system itself. The main elements of a social system are not actions, but communications, which are understood as the simplest processes of constructing reality. They arise in the presence of at least two subjects and are characterized by “meaning”.
The dichotomy between modern and traditional societies is based on the focus on social change (in the first case) or the refusal of the social system to accept or initiate social change. This basic value setting corresponds to the economic, stratification, political, and ideological subsystems that ensure the integration and functioning of the entire system.
One of the first sociologists to address this dichotomy was F. Tönnies, who identified two specific forms of social organization: community (Gemeinschaft) - a traditional community and society (Gesellschaft) - a modern, complexly structured community. His works influenced E. Durkheim, M. Weber, T. Parsons. As a result, a unique multidimensional scale was developed that makes it possible to compare different types of social systems.
Traditional society (Gemeinschaft) is characterized by: (1) natural division of labor (mainly by gender and age); (2) the connection of members by kinship relations (“family” type of community organization); (3) high structural stability; (4) relative isolation; (5) relationship to property, mediated through clan, community or feudal hierarchy; (6) hereditary power, rule by elders; (7) tradition as the main method of social regulation, a universal way of action shared by the individual and the community as a natural path to achieving any particular goals. The general problem situation is experienced as a direct repetition of a precedent; (8) regulation of social behavior by specific instructions and prohibitions, absence of a free personality, total subordination of the individual to society and authority; (9) behavioral maxims, in which the main emphasis is on the path leading to the goal, associated with this are attitudes such as “keep your head down,” “be like everyone else,” “behave as expected”; (10) the dominance of dogmatism, ethnocentrism in the worldview, and magical thinking. At the same time, the strength of archaic thought lies in the understanding of the whole, and not of particulars, a mythopoetic vision of the world.
Modern society (Gesellschaft) is characterized by:
Developing deep division of labor (on a professional qualification basis related to education and work experience);
Social mobility;
The market and the mechanism that regulates and organizes the behavior of individuals and groups not only in the economic, but also in the political and spiritual spheres;
The identification of a variety of social institutions that make it possible to provide for the basic social needs of members of society, and the associated formal system for regulating relations (based on written law: laws, regulations, contracts, etc.), the role-based nature of interaction, in accordance with which expectations and behavior identities are determined by the social status and social functions of individuals;
A complex system of social management - the allocation of an institute of management, special government bodies: political, economic, territorial and self-government;
Secularization of religion, i.e. its separation from the state, its transformation into an independent social institution;
Dominant in the worldview is criticism, rationalism, individualism;
Emphasis on the goal of action, which is reinforced in behavioral maxims: “get the job done,” “don’t be afraid of risk,” “strive for victory,” “leave your mark”;
The absence of specific regulations and prohibitions, which leads to the erosion of morality and law.
In the modern world, different types of social organization often coexist and come into close contact; the social structure of any developed society organically includes various “communities”: settlement, religious, ethnic, clan, corporate. They do not integrate, but intersperse into it, maintaining relative isolation and their own special character of reproduction.
In social theory, the concept of “modernity” is not identical to the definition of “our time”. Modernity is a certain qualitative and meaningful characteristic of people’s life, regarding the content of which there is a certain discrepancy between researchers. For some, modernity is a characteristic of a certain set of institutions and procedures that represent a description of the current practices of Western societies. For others, modernity is a problem that arises in different cultural and historical contexts (countries, regions, eras) due to various circumstances as a challenge to their existence and the possibility of development. In this sense, modernity is not so much a goal as a formidable necessity that must somehow be dealt with. With this approach, only those institutions and procedures can be considered “modern” that made it possible to “cope” with this problem.
The most commonly identified organizing principles of modernity are:
individualism (i.e. the final affirmation in society of the central role of the individual instead of the role of a tribe, group, nation);
Differentiation (the emergence in the sphere of labor of a huge number of specialized occupations and professions, and in the sphere of consumption - a variety of possibilities for choosing the desired product (service, information, etc.), in general, choosing a lifestyle;
Rationality (i.e. reducing the significance of magical and religious beliefs, myths and replacing them with ideas and rules that are justified with the help of arguments and calculations; the value of scientific knowledge recognized by all);
Economism (i.e. the dominance of economic activity, economic goals and economic criteria over all social life);
Expansion (i.e. the tendency for modernity to cover both ever wider geographical areas and the most intimate, private spheres of everyday life, the sphere of leisure, etc.).
Among the main features inherent in a modern personality are:
Openness to experimentation, innovation and change;
Willingness for pluralism of opinions;
Focus on the present and future, not on the past;
Recognition of the high value of education;
Respect for the dignity of other people, etc.
Modernity carries not only a positive, but also a negative charge: there is a threat of a person losing his individuality; the possibility of anomie, i.e. the absence of values and norms shared by all members of a given community and, as a consequence, the emergence of social chaos; manipulation of mass consciousness; division of the world into main and peripheral with poverty destined for the large population of the periphery.
The pros and cons of modern civilization serve as a starting point for various theoretical views regarding the future of human society. The most famous among them are:
The theory of post-industrial (information) society, according to which the main economic factor of the society of the future is knowledge (information), and the main sphere of production is the production sphere (information). Accordingly, in the social structure, intellectuals engaged in the production of knowledge, from a relatively small social group, as it was in pre-industrial and industrial society, will turn into a noticeable social stratum;
The concept of a post-economic society, according to which the socio-cultural base of the society of the future is a system of post-material values, overcoming labor as a utilitarian activity and replacing it with creative activity not motivated by material factors, a new type of family and new forms of social partnership, increasing the role of knowledge and changing the education system. Thus, the new society makes its way by denying elements of the previous social structure. According to supporters of the concept under consideration, the denial of the economic era also means that exploitation can be overcome not so much as an economic phenomenon, but as a phenomenon of consciousness;
The concept of “high (or late) modernity”, the author of which E. Giddens believes that we are moving not towards postmodernism, but towards a period. In which the features inherent in the present stage will become even more acute and become universal. However, the radicalization of the present itself acts as a qualitatively new phenomenon that transforms the modern world. Among the features (or traits of “high modernity”) he identified four: faith; risk; "opacity"; globalization.
The concept of faith does not have a religious meaning, but indicates the importance of faith in the operation of many complex systems on the reliability of which everyday life depends (for example, transport, telecommunications, financial markets, nuclear power plants, military forces, etc.). Faith allows people to use them and not depend on them.
The risk is that increasingly uncontrollable situations arise that pose a threat not only to individuals, but also to large systems, including states.
“Opacity” means a loss of clarity, intelligibility, and predictability of what is happening and, as a result, is accompanied by the unstable nature of social life.
Globalization indicates the continued coverage of economic, political, and cultural relations throughout the world, which, in particular, leads to a decrease in the role of nation states.
The concepts of modernization and neo-modernization are associated with the search for answers to the question of the adaptation of backward societies to changing conditions, of their achievement of the modern level of social development.
The theory of modernization was adopted in Western sociology after the Second World War, when, as a result of the liberation of the colonies, the problem of interaction between the West and the liberated countries (the so-called Third World) arose. At the same time, it was assumed that the economic model of Western countries would become the guideline for the development of the latter. To denote the processes of modernization in the “second echelon” countries, i.e., following the more developed ones, the term “lagging modernization” was introduced. However, many of the assertions of modernization theory contradicted obvious historical facts and were theoretically unconvincing. Attempts to modernize society often did not lead to the promised results. Poverty in other countries could not be overcome; moreover, its scale even increased, wars became commonplace, and new forms of religious fundamentalism, nationalism, and regionalism emerged.
The concept of neo-modernization became a response to criticism of the previous theory; a number of methodological provisions were revised in it. Thus, instead of a single universal model of modernity, which backward societies should take as a model, the idea of “moving epicenters of modernity” was introduced; it was argued that modernization is a diverse, multifaceted process, its pace, rhythms, and consequences in different areas of social life are different; the important role of values, relationships, symbolic meanings and cultural codes, and the fact that local traditions can harbor important modernization potentials, became clear; modernization potential as the main agents; The main agents of modernization were considered not the political elite acting “from above”, but the activity “from below”, the mass desire of citizens to change the conditions of their existence.
Revised modernization theory is a methodological basis for the study of transition processes (or, as they sometimes say, transforming societies).
To analyze the features of modernization in Russia, the concept of recurrent modernization was introduced, i.e. periodically returning modernization “to catch up” with its severe social consequences and high human cost.
Subject« Social interaction and social change»
Key points:
Social change is a transformation that occurs over time in the organization of society, patterns of behavior and thinking of its constituent groups and individuals.
Among the mechanisms of change, there are adaptation (sometimes called quantitative) and crisis (sometimes called bifurcation, or qualitative). The adaptation mechanism ensures change by adapting the system to environmental conditions (for example, mastering new technologies in industry or education; adapting a first-grader to the school regime, etc.). The main feature of the adaptation mechanism is that it allows, in principle, to foresee the results of an action, and therefore to predict events.
The crisis (or bifurcation) mechanism leads to a sharp qualitative change in the processes occurring in the system (for example, social revolutions). Moreover, the transition of the system to a new state is ambiguous, i.e. there are many possible structures within which it can further develop. It is impossible to predict in advance which of these structures will be realized, since it depends on those random influences of the external environment, which will determine selection at the moment of transition through the threshold state. The uncertainty of the future is the main feature of the bifurcation type of change.
In real development processes, both mechanisms coexist.
Changes can be caused by demographic, political, economic, technological, cultural, religious and many other reasons. Most modern sociologists oppose the absolutization of any “single” or “dominant” factor causing change.
When highlighting the most essential conditions for the transformation of a subject into an agent of social change, it is usually necessary to name: (1) personal characteristics of performers, such as a creative attitude to work, independence, determination, and the ability to adequately assess the social situation; (2) rich and flexible structures, i.e. a diverse, open social environment that allows for a wide range of variations; (3) favorable, resource-rich natural conditions; (4) a long and respected tradition; (5) an optimistic, long-term view of the future and its planning, the belief that the future depends on human efforts and is therefore variable. It is precisely such conditions that generate a progressively oriented personality.
The source of progress is found in man's unlimited ability to create and learn, in the ability to perceive or create innovations, as well as inherit and constantly increase the general store of knowledge, skill, strategies, and technologies. If these conditions are met, then continuous progress of humanity will become possible.
The typology of social change is based on models of social time. First of all, models of linear and cyclic time.
The linear time model served as the basis for identifying the so-called progressive-progressive type of change, or social development itself. In this case, we are talking about unlocking the potential that was originally inherent in the system. The idea of development has become central to all varieties of evolutionary theories, as well as to historical materialism. Classical evolutionary theories are represented by the names of O. Comte, G. Spencer, E. Durkheim.
The model of cyclical time served as the basis for the idea of a cyclical type of social change. The social cycle does not have a specific direction, although it is not random. Any state in which the system is at one stage or another can arise in the future, and it has already happened in the past. In a short time interval, changes occur, but over a long period of time. Since the system returns to its original state, there is no change.
As a variant of the cyclic type of social change, we can distinguish the wave-like or spiral type of evolution. The undulation presupposes, on the one hand, a certain direction of development of the social system, for example, a tendency towards its complexity, and on the other hand, the presence of successive waves of changes that correspond to different levels of organization of the social system. Examples of waves of world development are the famous long waves of N.D. Kondratiev, which largely determine not only the economic, but also the socio-political and cultural development of many countries.
A special type is the bifurcation model of social change. In it, in contrast to the linear-progressive, cyclic and wave approaches, the emphasis is not so much on the trajectory of change (whether it is an arrow, a vicious circle or a wave), but on the problem of choosing the next path. It is based on the existence of a number of critical turning points at which the transition from one phase of development to another occurs, and its vector can change, since there are many possibilities, alternatives and development options. Thus, this model recognizes the free goal-setting activity of people as the most important component, although the degree of this freedom varies at different points and phases of development. In principle, it is impossible to accurately predict people’s actions: under the same conditions, two people can make completely different decisions. Hence the ambiguity and uncertainty of possible continuations of the development process.
The social crisis is considered in the bifurcation model as a fundamental property of the process of social development.
The idea of wave-like and bifurcation types of social changes turn out to be relevant for understanding the development of Russia, in the history of which there is a strict periodicity of pulsation, a regular change of “hard” and “relaxed” phases. Waves of liberal modernization were replaced by waves of anti-liberal counter-modernization, reforms by counter-reforms, political orientation to the West by orientation to the East. Modern reforms in Russia from this point of view appear as a certain phase, a wave of the modernization process, behind which the next wave can be discerned - a peculiar reaction to the current state of society.
Collective behavior is a group reaction to a situation that affects the interests of a community of people. Forms of collective behavior are: crowd, panic, social movement, mass protests, etc. Research on collective behavior originates from the work of French sociologists G. Tarde and G. Lebon. The greatest interest among sociologists at the turn of the century was caused by such a form of collective behavior as a crowd. The main features of the crowd were identified: impulsiveness, irritability, authoritarianism, intolerance. Their existence was associated with the action of three mechanisms: anonymity, infection and suggestibility. Modern research on collective behavior is developing within two directions: symbolic interactionism and structural functionalism. The first includes the theory of the emergence of norms by R. Turner, the second - the theory of increasing value by N. Smelser. According to the main provisions of the theory of the emergence of norms, the behavior of several people can become a standard for other participants in collective action. As a result of the formation of new norms, common assessments of the situation and common models of behavior are formed. From the perspective of incremental value theory, collective movements seek to change the social environment due to the existence of generalized beliefs. For the emergence of collective behavior, appropriate conditions are necessary, which include: a problematic situation in society or structural tension, public agreement on a possible reaction to the current situation, incidents that increase discontent and indignation, mobilization for collective actions.
A social movement is a loosely institutionalized activity of free collective entities aimed at promoting or hindering social change. There are different types of social movements: general, specific and expressive (G. Blumer), norm- and value-oriented (N. Smelser), progressive and “retroactive”, seeking to change the personality or social structure, instrumental and expressive. “old” and “new” (P. Sztompka). In its development, a social movement goes through four stages: formation, mobilization, formalization and completion. Symbols perform communicative functions in a social movement. Rumors, stereotypes and social myths.
Protest behavior is an open demonstration of a negative attitude towards the social system as a whole, its individual elements, norms and values. One of the main reasons for protest behavior is relative deprivation, which is a state of discontent. Caused by a discrepancy between expected and achieved values. There are three theoretical models of deprivation in sociology. According to the first of them, deprivation is a consequence of a loss of faith in the fair nature of social inequality and the fair nature of social inequality and the distribution of scarce resources and an unwillingness to tolerate the existing order. The second model interprets deprivation as a result of the discrepancy between expected values and those achieved as a result of a sharp deterioration in the economic situation. The third model derives the state of deprivation from the growth of hopes against the background of a reduction in the importance of achieving desired goals.
Topic: “Culture as a social system”
Basic provisions
In sociology, the concept of “culture” means an artificial environment of existence and self-realization created by people: these are customs, beliefs, values, norms, symbols that are expressed in the objective environment, patterns of behavior that are learned by people, passed on from generation to generation, and are an important source of regulation. social interaction and behavior. Culture can be viewed as a system of spiritual codes, a kind of information program that forces people to perceive and evaluate what is happening in a certain sense, to act one way and not another. Values, symbols, words, meanings, evaluations and social behavior within one culture are closely related to each other.
Although in the real world culture and society represent a single whole and cannot be separated from each other, in sociological analysis it is customary to analytically highlight the social and cultural aspects of society’s life as relatively independent, irreducible to each other. The term “culture” focuses on the substantive and symbolic environment created by man and filled with meanings and meanings that are understandable and shared in a given community. The term “society” involves, first of all, consideration of a network of social relationships, the nature of relations between individuals and groups that have common cultural values. Contradictions may arise between social relations and cultural ones, which manifest themselves as a conflict between proclaimed values and the actual structure of social relations, between historically established cultural programs and innovations that change them. The possibility of a sociocultural contradiction arising is due to the fact that changes in culture and changes in social relations are subject to different patterns.
Culture can be structured by highlighting its various elements and the relationships between them. Thus, a distinction is made between material and intangible culture. Material culture includes all physical objects created by people, which are given a certain meaning - books, clothes, schools, churches, weapons, gardens, parks, etc. the most important source of material culture is technology as a branch of knowledge dealing with applied science and engineering. Intangible culture appears as a system of values, beliefs, rules, customs, systems of government, languages, i.e. everything that belongs to the realm of the spiritual, non-objective.
All parts of culture are intertwined into a complex whole. Customs, beliefs, values and technology are interconnected. The depth and degree of such interrelation between various aspects of culture, the stable cultural models that arise in this case, are denoted by the term “cultural integration”.
To understand the processes occurring in culture, the following concepts are introduced:
Dominant culture, denoting those values, traditions, views that are shared only by a part of society, but this part has the ability to impose them on society as a whole due to the fact that these groups constitute the ethnic majority, or they have coercive mechanisms;
Subcultures, indicating a different lifestyle and values of ethnic, religious, professional, socioeconomic, age and many other groups in society from the dominant culture, while members of such groups identify themselves in terms of these special group values;
Counterculture, denoting a type of subculture that is in conflict with the dominant culture.
Worldviews regarding one's own and foreign cultures may differ. The tendency to evaluate one's own culture as good and correct, and other cultures as strange or primitive and even immoral, is called “ethnocentrism.” The idea that any element of culture must be correlated with the specific time, place and social conditions that gave rise to it is called “cultural relativism.” The most optimal way of intergroup and intercultural perception and interaction is a combination of features of both ethnocentrism and cultural relativism, when an individual, feeling a sense of pride in the culture of his group or society and showing commitment to the basic values of this culture, is at the same time able to understand other cultures and behavior members of other social groups, recognizing their right to exist.
The socio-cultural diversity of the modern world gives rise to the problem of interaction between cultures. It is necessary to understand how interaction is possible, aimed at coexistence, and not confrontation and clash, while preserving the national-cultural identity and civilizational diversity of humanity.
The production of culture - from the emergence of a new idea, thing, model through its embodiment, execution, testing and to its promulgation and acceptance by members of the community - is a complex and long-term social process in which many people participate. Among them: cultural figures themselves (or “cultural innovators”) - designers, artists, scientists, composers, writers, in a word, representatives of those intellectual professions whose purpose is to create new elements of culture; the first performers, interpreters, demonstrators, whose activities are associated with the transformation of a new idea into a cultural model; “cultural guards” - book publishers, editors, censors, disc jockeys, film critics, hosts of popular programs, art gallery owners, museum administrators, i.e. those who, as it were, “stand at the gates”, regulating the penetration of new elements of culture into society and on whom (as well as on the performers) depends what and how will be shown to the public, whether it will arouse its interest, whether it will attract its attention; finally, the mass public, whose social tastes largely determine the popularity of certain cultural products (films, books, music, etc.).
Mass culture acts as a new type of cultural functioning in conditions of democratization, massification of society, commercialization of art and the emergence of new technologies of mass communication. It differs both from the so-called “high culture”, i.e. secular culture, established at the turn of the Middle Ages and modern times, in its orientation educational, in its social composition - culture for the educated, and from “folk culture” - a spontaneous, autochthonous expression of the people. Mass culture is introduced from above, technically fabricated by businessmen, designed for passive consumers, their participation is limited to the choice: to buy its products or not to buy. It is a powerful means of manipulating consciousness, averaging and preserving the spiritual development of people. At the same time, mass culture meets important needs of people. Performing primarily a compensatory and entertainment function, as well as a function of social adaptation. Its fundamental universality, non-elitistism, and open focus on making a profit turns it into a necessary basis for civil society.
Subject« Social institutions and organizations»
Basic provisions
By social institution we mean stable forms of organization and regulation of social life; a stable set of rules, norms, and guidelines that regulate various spheres of human activity and organize them into a system of social roles and statuses.
Institutionalization is the process of defining and consolidating social norms, rules, statuses and roles, bringing them into a system that can satisfy a particular social need. Institutionalization is the replacement of spontaneous experimental behavior with predictable behavior that is expected, modeled, and regulated.
The process of formation of a social institution involves several successive stages: the emergence of a need, the satisfaction of which requires joint organized actions; development and adoption of social norms, rules and procedures, material and symbolic design of the emerging institutional structure. The process of institutionalization can be considered complete only if all the listed stages have been completed.
We live in a highly institutionalized society. Any sphere of human activity, be it economics, art or sports, is organized according to certain rules, adherence to which is more or less strictly controlled. The diversity of institutions corresponds to the diversity of human needs, such as the need to produce products and services; the need for the distribution of benefits and privileges; the need for security, protection of life and well-being; the need for social control over the behavior of members of society; the need for communication, etc. Accordingly, the main institutions include: economic (division of labor, property, taxes, etc.); political (state, parties, army, etc.); institution of kinship, marriage and family; institutes in the fields of education, mass communications, science, sports, etc.
The main function of a social institution is to satisfy the social need for which it was created. Expected and required functions are called explicit functions. They are recorded and declared in codes and charters, constitutions and programs, and are enshrined in a system of statuses and roles. Along with the direct results of the actions of social institutions, there are results that were not planned in advance. These are the latent functions of a social institution. The study of latent functions allows us to more accurately determine the picture of social life.
From the institutions of traditional society, based on rules of behavior and family ties prescribed by ritual and custom, to modern institutions based on achievement values (competence, independence, personal responsibility, rationality), specialized in functions and relatively independent of moral precepts - this is the evolution of social institutions .
The general trend is the segmentation of institutions, i.e. multiplication of their number and complexity, which is based on the degree of division of labor in society, specialization of activities, which, in turn, causes differentiation of institutions. However, in social society there are also so-called total institutions - organizations that cover the full daily life cycle of their wards (army, penitentiary system, clinical hospitals, etc.), which has a profound impact on their psyche and behavior.
Changes in social institutions can be caused by internal and external reasons. The first, as a rule, are associated with the ineffectiveness of existing institutions, with a possible contradiction between existing institutions and social motivations (what is needed and what would be desired); the second - with a change in cultural paradigms, a change in cultural orientation in the development of society.
Social roles and the behavior of specific people “revive” institutions and make them really exist. In turn, by performing roles, the individual participates in the social world. The institutional structure appears as a kind of labyrinth, where the actions and movements of social subjects are carried out only in accordance with certain rules of role correspondence.
The sociology of organizations studies the most common features inherent in all organizations in all spheres of life of modern society, as well as the conditions for the effectiveness of organizational activities that exist regardless of whether the organization is public or private, whether it operates in the field of business, religion, medicine or military affairs.
In its broadest sense, social organization can be defined as a way of ordering and regulating the actions of individuals and social groups for the effective accomplishment of a common task. In a narrower sense, a social organization is a group of people focused on achieving a fixed goal, the implementation of which requires joint and coordinated action.
Depending on the source of organization and the nature of relationships between people, formal and informal organizations are distinguished.
A formal organization is an officially established structure of statuses, a program of activities and a set of norms and rules prescribed by a given social organization.
An informal organization is a spontaneously formed system of social connections, norms, and actions as a result of more or less prolonged interpersonal and intragroup communication. Emerging and existing along with the formal one, the informal organization is of vital importance for organizational activities as a certain way of resolving the contradiction between individual interests and organizational goals.
There are different typologies of organizations. They may be based on the ways the organization interacts with the external and internal environment; reasons why people join organizations, etc.
The term "bureaucracy" refers to the effort expended to keep an organization functioning rather than the effort required to achieve its main goal. The degree of bureaucratization depends on the amount of effort aimed at solving administrative problems, on the percentage of administrative personnel, on the rigidity of administrative procedures, etc.
The main problem of bureaucracy, which is analyzed by the German sociologist Max Weber, is the search for rational means of managing a highly complex system, such as a large organization. The “ideal type” of a bureaucratic organization developed by Weber includes the following mandatory conditions:
Specialization of each division;
A hierarchical structure in which each official has a clearly defined sphere of authority and is accountable for his actions to his superiors;
The position as the main activity is an activity that provides a salary and the prospect of regular promotion;
Impersonality in working with clients;
Competence, i.e. officials are selected on the basis of ability, receive the necessary training and control access to official information.
The American sociologist R. Merton studied in detail the dysfunctions of the bureaucracy. According to Merton, each of Weber's characteristics of bureaucracy contains “secondary consequences.” Thus, discipline, learned as obedience to the rules in any situation, becomes not a means to achieve goals, but an end in itself and manifests itself as the ritual behavior of a “virtuoso” bureaucrat who does not forget a single rule, but is unable to help the client. Thus, the main problem of bureaucracy is that the bureaucratic system easily turns from a means of control into an end in itself.
French sociologist Michel Crozier suggested looking at bureaucracy as a self-regulating system. Its equilibrium rests on the existence of a series of relatively stable vicious circles; it is an organization that cannot correct its behavior by learning from its mistakes. A vicious circle, for example, manifests itself in the fact that the more orders come from above, the less they are carried out, which leads to a further increase in orders. Or, for example, the so-called “collective irresponsibility” effect, when responsibility distributed between levels of the hierarchy leads to the fact that it is impossible to find those responsible for a vicious decision.
At the same time, bureaucratic systems provide individuals with a fairly good combination of independence and security. Rules protect people, and people obey them. Compulsory participation on which bureaucratic organization relies. It turns out to be more favorable for the individual than voluntary participation, since it does not entail obvious responsibility. The official has little chance of advancement in the organization, but there is no danger of failure or meeting a hostile rival. By participating in a bureaucratic organization, an individual achieves two opposing goals at the same time: firstly, he attaches importance to his work by participating in a common cause and, secondly, maintains his independence in a situation where open admission of responsibility is dangerous.
One of the main tasks of modern management is the “humanization of the bureaucracy”, changing its role and the activities of the organization in accordance with the principles developed by M. Weber, many researchers see the path to achieving this goal in changing the attitudes of representatives of the bureaucracy, in establishing a connection between their well-being and career with the final the result of the organization's activities. The solution to this problem lies in line with further research into types of organizations, the nature of organizational effectiveness, and understanding the interests of people working in organizations.
Topic “Social groups and communities”
Basic provisions
As necessary characteristics of a small group, researchers name: a small number of group members; unification of participants by common activities; direct personal communication between group members; the presence of common group norms and developed structure; a sense of belonging to a given group and the perception of a given person by others as a member of that group.
Groups can be classified on a wide variety of grounds. Most often, primary and secondary groups are distinguished; formal and informal; membership and reference groups; external and internal.
The peculiarities of communication in a group are determined by the intragroup structure. Group structure is a system of hierarchically located intragroup relations. In a group, two levels of interaction between its members can be distinguished: the first is associated with the group’s fulfillment of the tasks assigned to it, this is the so-called instrumental function of the group; the second - with the establishment and maintenance of relationships between group members, this is the so-called emotional or expressive function of the group.
The role structure identifies the functions that participants can perform in group activities. It is assumed that a group member can either be directed toward a task and acts accordingly, or attempts to improve or remove relationships between group members, or attempts to satisfy personal needs or goals outside of group ones.
Group dynamics is defined as the development or movement of a group over time, determined by the interaction and relationships of group members with each other and with the group leader, as well as external influences on the group. Usually there are several specific stages, at each of which the tasks and relationships between group members change.
Group cohesion is the degree to which group members and the group as a whole are mutually attractive. Cohesion can be enhanced by any factor that increases the value of the group to the individual.
Group cohesion can cause an effect called “group thinking.” Its result may be a decision that causes negative social consequences.
Among the forms of group decision-making, group discussion, brainstorming, nominal groups, and buzzing groups can be distinguished. The quality of the decision made by the group is seriously influenced by the sequence of steps in considering the issue at hand. Management theory uses the “reflective frame” model, which is a group decision-making scheme consisting of several interrelated blocks of questions.
A family is a community of people based on marriage, consanguinity or adoption, presupposing a common life and responsibility for the socialization of children. The basis of the family is marriage, which is understood as a set of relations between spouses, regulated by official norms. Based on the scope of partner choice, marriages are divided into endogamous and exogamous. The first of them are based on a marital union between representatives of the same class or one social group, respectively, the second - on a marital union between representatives of different classes or social groups. Depending on the structure and number of partners, a distinction is made between monogamous marriages (between one man and one woman) and polygamous marriages (between a partner of one sex and several partners of the other). The varieties of polygamy are polygyny - marriage between one man and several women and polyandry - marriage between one woman and several men.
The structure of a family is determined by the nature of the relationships between its members, the distribution of roles and power within it. In accordance with the composition of families, they are divided into nuclear, consisting of both parents and children, and extended or related, including, along with spouses and children, other relatives: grandparents, etc. The most common in modern society are nuclear families.
The English sociologist E. Bott, studying the distribution of roles between spouses, came to the conclusion that the roles can be differentiated or similar. The nature of this distribution depends on the degree of family involvement in the social context. The greatest delineation of roles is formed under the condition that after marriage the spouses continue to live in the same place where they lived before. As a result, they retain their previous social connections, which contributes to their isolation from each other when fulfilling certain family responsibilities, spending leisure time or during periods of employment. Most modern researchers dealing with the problem of division of roles within the family pay attention to the contradiction between family and professional structure. Its essence lies in the difficulty of combining family and social (primarily professional) roles.
The functions of the family mean its activities. Having certain social consequences. Its most important functions include: reproductive, psychological, socializing, economic, social status functions, as well as the function of sexual control.
In modern sociology, various types of families are distinguished. Based on their place of residence, they distinguish patrilocal (if a married couple lives with the husband’s family or in the vicinity of it), matrilocal (when the husband is included in the wife’s family), evangelical (characterized by the husband and wife living with the family of an uncle or aunt), as well as non-local families, distinguished by separate residence both from the family of the husband and from the family of the wife of both spouses. Depending on who plays the role of leader in the family (husband/father or wife/mother), patriarchal and matriarchal families are distinguished.
Subject« Social stratification, inequality and social mobility»
Basic provisions
In any society, individuals and groups occupy unequal positions associated with the existence of inequality. Orderly and organized inequality is called stratification. The basis for stratification can be such characteristics as wealth, prestige, power, profession, qualifications, education, social norms, behavioral patterns, etc. The emergence of inequality and the formation of social stratification are interpreted differently by supporters of functionalism and conflict theory. From a functionalist perspective, inequality is based on rewarding the most talented and capable people engaged in important social activities. From the standpoint of conflict theory, inequality arises due to the uneven distribution of power and authority.
In modern industrial society, the dominant type of stratification is class. Most often in sociological works, three main classes are distinguished: higher, middle and lower. The middle class is considered the most numerous. Within this class, there are various layers of “old” and “new”, “higher” and “lower” middle class. The model of inequality that has emerged in Western society is dispersed. This means that an individual can occupy different positions according to different criteria.
The change in the position of an individual in social space is called social mobility. Mobility associated with a change in social status (demotion or promotion) is called vertical. In turn, vertical mobility is divided into upward and downward. Horizontal mobility is not associated with a change in status. There are also individual and group, intergenerational and intragenerational types of mobility. The channels of mobility are the army, church, school, political and professional organizations, institutions that produce distributive values, family and marriage. A change in social position without subsequent acquisition of a new one and the resulting loss of previous social connections, norms, and patterns of behavior are captured in the concept of “marginality.” Marginality is divided into economic, political and religious. According to the nature of the processes of marginalization, its economic, political and religious varieties are distinguished.
The stratification system of pre-revolutionary Russia can be characterized as class. During the Soviet period, there was an etacracy system of stratification. In modern Russian society, restructuring and the formation of a new look and type of stratification are taking place. The modern social structure consists of both “traditional” elements and new ones that arise in the process of forming a class type of stratification.
Subject« Personality and society. Socialization of personality»
Basic provisions
Personality is a set of social properties of a person, the result of social development and the inclusion of the individual in the system of social relations. The main problems of the sociological theory of personality are related to the process of personality formation in connection with the functioning of social communities, the study of the relationship between the individual and society, and the regulation of the social behavior of the individual.
There are two subsystems in the personality structure: relations with the external environment and the inner world of the individual. The set of connections with the external environment represents the basis of the personality; it determines the formation and development of its inner world. In sociology, a whole set of elements of the internal structure of a person is considered, which determines readiness for a particular behavior: needs, interests, goals, motives, value orientations, attitudes, dispositions.
Socialization is a complex process of including an individual into the world of society, a process during which he learns patterns of behavior, social norms and values necessary for successful functioning in a given society. Socialization includes two stages - primary socialization in childhood and secondary socialization, or resocialization.
People and institutions through which the socialization of an individual is carried out are called agents of socialization. Agents of primary socialization are parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, all other relatives, family friends, peers. Teachers, doctors, trainers, etc. - all those people who are connected with an individual by close personal relationships. Secondary socialization is carried out by people connected by formal business relations. Therefore, agents of secondary socialization are, for example, representatives of the administration of a school, university, enterprise, army, employees of the media, party, court, etc.
Theories of socialization have a rather long history of formation and development. The theories of C. Cooley, J. Mead, R. Linton, Z. Freud, and J. Piaget are the most famous.
Each person occupies several positions in society. Each of the social positions associated with certain rights and responsibilities is called status. Social role is a set of requirements imposed by society on persons occupying a certain social position.
Each person can be characterized by a “status set”. Status set is the totality of all statuses occupied by a given individual. This concept was introduced by the American sociologist R. Merton, who also proposed another concept, closely related to the first: a role set as a set of roles associated with one status.
A person can have a number of statuses, but only the main one determines his position in society. The main thing is the status that determines the lifestyle, social circle, manner of dressing, etc. Statuses are divided into “assigned” (ascriptive) and “achieved” (acquired). Ascription means obtaining status due to external characteristics uncontrollable by a person (age, gender, nationality). Acquired statuses are determined and analyzed using professional economic and political criteria.
Basic concepts: individual, personality, value orientations, interests, needs, disposition, marginal, modal personality, socialization, internalization, resocialization, agents of socialization, identification, imitation, status, ascription, social role, role distance, role set, role conflict.
Basic theories and concepts: dispositional concept of personality, theory of needs, theory of social character, theory of the mirror self, concept of the “generalized other”, concept of social learning, role concept of personality.
Subject« Social control and deviant behavior»
Basic provisions
Social behavior is regulated by social norms, which are understood as wishes, regulations, expectations and requirements that define the possible boundaries of social action.
Social behavior is ordered and regulated through social norms and values.
Values are understood as social ideals, as well as the most generalized ideas about the goals and means of social activity. Values are concretized in social norms that ensure the preservation of the former. Social norms are divided into norms-expectations and norms-requirements. The first of them determine the framework of socially approved behavior, the second - socially acceptable. In most modern societies, the most important and significant norms (norms-rules) acquire legal status and are enshrined in laws. Being a kind of standard of social behavior, norms ensure the stability of the social system, promote social integration and control over deviant behavior. The group's reaction to an individual's social behavior is called a sanction. Sanctions can be either negative (censure, punishment) or positive (encouragement, reward). Formal and informal sanctions are also distinguished. Formal - are coercive in nature and are carried out by official social institutions. Informal - softer, implemented by primary groups through public opinion and group pressure. There is a division of sanctions into three types: physical, with the help of which punishment is carried out for violation of social norms; economic, blocking the satisfaction of current needs, such as: fines, penalties, restrictions on the use of resources, dismissals; administrative, including lowering social status, warnings, penalties, removal from positions.
The activities of the mechanisms by which statuses and roles are organized in a social system and social deviation is prevented form the basis of social control. The structure of social control includes external, internal and indirect control. Methods of social control are isolation, restriction of social contacts, and rehabilitation. Its effectiveness depends on the degree of integration and level of institutionalization of society, the results of socialization and recognition of the importance of social norms, as well as the degree of accessibility of socially significant resources.
Deviant behavior is behavior that deviates from existing social norms. There are two main types of deviant behavior: culturally approved and culturally disapproved. Based on goals and orientation, destructive, asocial and illegal (delinquent) behavior are also distinguished. Sociological theories of deviant behavior include: the concepts of anomie by E. Durkheim and R. Merton, the theory of stigmatization, the theory of internalization of subculture norms.
According to Durkheim, anomie is a social condition characterized by the weakening or disintegration of norms. It was with the help of this concept that the French sociologist tried to explain the social origins of deviant behavior. R. Merton defines anomie as a discrepancy between the goals, intentions and interests that are determined by a given culture, on the one hand, and socially approved ways of achieving these goals, on the other. The American sociologist classified deviant forms of behavior as: innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion.
Another common theory of deviant behavior is the concept of "labeling", stigmatization (from the Greek Stigma - brand, stain) or "societal reaction". The founders of this approach are considered to be American sociologists E. Lemert and G. Becker. According to this theory, behavior that is defined as such by other members of society becomes deviant in the proper sense. A person is, as it were, labeled as a deviant (stigma).
From the point of view of cultural theory, deviation is the result of an individual’s assimilation and acceptance of subculture norms that are radically different from the generally accepted ones. An individual who has accepted such norms has a negative attitude towards socially approved norms, considering them beneficial only for groups alien to him. In addition, a violation of social norms may be considered by him as a norm of the subculture he has adopted.
Topic: Social Conflicts»
Basic provisions
Modern conflict theory arose as a reaction to functionalism. The theoretical premises of the conflictological approach were formulated in the works of K. Marx and G. Simmel. a significant contribution to the theory of conflict was made by R. Dahrendorf and L. Coser. The concept of the German sociologist laid the foundation for conflict structuralism. According to its main provisions, the causes of the conflict are the uneven distribution of authority within “imperatively coordinated associations” and their members’ awareness of their interests. The conflict becomes more acute if the distribution of power is largely linked to the distribution of resources, if relative poverty increases and the intensity of mobility decreases, if it is non-institutionalized. According to Dahrendorf, the most acute conflicts are capable of causing serious structural changes. The concept of the American sociologist gives rise to conflict functionalism. The main causes of the conflict are: doubts among poor groups about the legal nature of the existing order of distribution of scarce resources, relative impoverishment of groups, low intensity of social mobility and the lack of channels for expressing discontent. The severity and duration of the conflict are determined by the presence of numerous causes and conditions for its occurrence, the rigidity of the social structure, concentration around values, increased emotionality, lack of agreement between groups regarding the symbols of victories and defeats, etc. Unlike Dahrendorf, Coser pays more attention to the functions of the conflict. He includes the establishment of clear boundaries for conflict groups, intragroup integration, the formation of new associative coalitions, and stimulation of social change.
Conflict in modern sociology is understood as a confrontation or confrontation between at least two parties over the distribution of values, resources and power. The emergence of a conflict is possible as a result of the formation of a conflict situation and incident. The causes of conflict may be opposing values, uneven distribution of resources and power, disintegration between different parts of the social system. During the conflict, the parties can choose different behavioral strategies: avoiding the conflict. Confrontation, compliance, cooperation and compromise. Their choice depends on persistence in realizing their goals and the ability to take into account the interests of other participants in conflict interaction.
There are two ways to end a conflict: regulation and resolution. The first of them involves the development and application of a number of measures aimed at limiting the scale of the conflict and reducing its severity. The second is aimed at eliminating the causes that caused the conflict.
Lecture notes for the course “Sociology” were compiled for 3rd year full-time students of the mining, chemical-metallurgical and energy-mechanical faculties of the Navoi State Mining Institute in accordance with the state educational standard of higher professional education and the course program approved by the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan .
Approved at meeting No. _ 1 __ department "Pedagogy and humanities" from "_ 27 _»__ 08 __2009
Compiled by: Eshonkulova N.A.
Yusupova F.Z.
Introduction
The sociological culture of a higher school graduate is a very relevant and practically necessary concept. The market economy and the social-production sphere require constant research, control and forecasting in the organization of activities by specialists who have sufficiently mastered sociological knowledge. Sociological culture is the ability to carry out activities on the basis of scientific planning, forecasting, industry management, studying the needs, interests and demands of the population in various fields, as well as on the basis of opinions, judgments, assessments and proposals on various social issues, phenomena and processes.
In recent years, several textbooks and teaching aids for higher educational institutions in sociology have been published, where the greatest attention is paid to methodological problems of sociology, the main directions of development of modern sociology and a general sociological analysis of the state of society. This is, of course, a necessary part of sociological knowledge. But in a technical university, it is more advisable to structure the course in such a way that students learn to apply sociological knowledge in practical activities.
The emphasis on applied sociology is justified by the practical need for the use of sociological data in management, organization, forecasting and in working with individual social groups and the population as a whole. Thus, the purpose of the lecture notes is to contribute to the process of forming the sociological thinking of future specialists, both in terms of analysis and comprehension of social problems, and in terms of obtaining social information about these problems and phenomena of social life. The lecture notes as a whole are indicative, informational and educational in nature, and correspond to the logic of studying the material and the tasks of developing students’ independence and activity. In working on the lecture material, the authors turned to monographs, textbooks, scientific articles on theoretical and applied sociology, sociological journalism by domestic and foreign authors of recent years, and also used personal experience of teaching at a university.
Lecture No. 1. Sociology as a science, its subject, structure
and role in public life.
Purpose of the lesson: discuss the features of social knowledge in comparison with other types of humanitarian knowledge; formulate fundamental questions of sociology and consider their formulation and solution by different theoretical traditions in sociology; determine the importance of social imagination for personal and social development of a person.
PLAN:
1. Sociology as a science. The structure of sociology.
2. Object and subject of sociology.
3. Fundamental issues of sociology.
4. Functions of sociology.
5. The place of sociology in the system of social sciences.
Key words: social society, social fact, stability, sustainability, fundamental issues, sociological imagination, social problem, theory, scientific method.
1. Sociology as a science.
QUESTION: What is sociology?
Sociology is a branch of the science of human behavior that aims to reveal cause-and-effect relationships formed in the process of social relations between people, in the process of interactions and relationships between individuals and groups. (Volkov Yu.G.)
According to American sociologist Neil Smelser, this is, simply put, one of the ways to study people. The philosopher is interested in man from the point of view of his essence, his purpose on earth, his place in the world. Philosophers of all times talk about the meaning of human life, about the connection of man with the cosmos, about man as a symbol of the Universe, about his mind and soul. Psychology considers a person in a system of physiological, biological, genetic determinants; it wants to understand what, how and why a person thinks, what he feels, how feelings are related to human activity, etc. Culturology studies how a person assimilates the historical and cultural experience of mankind, what he connects with cultural tradition, to what extent he is civilized, to what extent he is cultural and what place he occupies in spiritual production. Ethics examines a person from the point of view of his moral choice, value orientations, freedom and responsibility.
QUESTION: What interests sociology as a science?
Sociologists strive to find out why people behave in certain ways, what groups they form and why - environmental movements, sexual minorities, single mothers, hippies, punks and others.? Why do people go to war, to demonstrations, to concerts? Why do social phenomena create preferences for certain artistic or political phenomena? Why did everyone at one time strive to watch the film “Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears”, “We’ll Live Until Monday”, “Simply Maria”, etc.? Why do they worship something, get married or, conversely, not get married, get divorced, buy this and not that? Why do they vote and go on strike? That is, sociology is interested in everything that happens to people when they interact with each other or with social objects.
Based on this, sociology is the science of society. This basic meaning expresses the term "sociology", formed from the combination of the Latin word "societies"(society) and Greek"logos"(teaching). This term was introduced into science by a French scientist and philosopher of the New Age. Auguste Comte(1798 - 1857), who is often called the founder of sociology as an independent science of society. Peculiar, sometimes very original views on the development of society, the problem of politics, morality, science, religion, art were expressed in the teachings of ancient Indian, ancient Chinese and ancient Greek philosophers, European thinkers of the Middle Ages and Modern times.
QUESTION: Who is a sociologist? What does he do?
Who is a sociologist? In the most common view, this is a person with a questionnaire with which he addresses the people around him at his place of work, residence, or even just on the street, to find out their opinion on a particular issue. This approach, on the one hand, gives the sociologist the image of a person who does not lose touch with reality (how these efforts are assessed in society is another matter). On the other hand, there is nothing sadder than reducing sociology to the collection of random opinions on random (and often stupid) issues, which discredits sociology as a science and reduces it to some kind of auxiliary means of knowledge, and even one that can be manipulated.
Sociologists study society at two levels: micro- and macro-level. Microsociology studies the behavior of people in their direct interpersonal interactions. Researchers working in this vein believe that social phenomena can be understood only on the basis of an analysis of the meanings that people attach to these phenomena when interacting with each other. The main subject of their research is the behavior of individuals, their actions, motives, meanings that determine the interaction between people, which affects the stability of society or the changes occurring in it.
Macrosociology interested in large-scale social systems and processes occurring over long periods of time. She focuses on behavioral patterns that help to understand any society. These models, or structures, represent social institutions such as family, education, religion, and economic and political systems. People involved in a given system of social structures are deeply influenced by them. Microsociologies study the relationships between different parts of society and the dynamics of their changes.
Meanwhile, if we talk about sociology, then this is a theory. And science is not about society in general,
(society is studied by social philosophy, history, political science, legal sciences, and cultural studies), and society in its socio-human guise. It’s not just society for a person, but a person in society - that’s what constitutes the essence of sociology. And where does a person begin in his social guise? From consciousness, from the ability to understand the world, evaluate it from personal and social positions, comprehend, based on certain values, the surrounding reality and build behavior on this basis, taking into account the influence of both the macroenvironment (all social relations) and the microenvironment (immediate environment) .
2. Object and subject of sociology.
Sociology, like other sciences, has a very specific subject of study. Object of sociology- society and people. Society is studied through the prism of social phenomena, processes, relationships that constitute the main content of social reality. Sociology is the scientific study of society and social relations.
Many representatives of sociology claimed that sociology is a kind of metascience and, based on data from other social and human sciences, builds its concept, its understanding of ongoing processes in society. Naturally, this formulation of the question raised objections from representatives of related sciences.
In search of its own specificity, sociology faced serious difficulties. Definitions like “sociology is the science of the laws and driving forces of the development of society” did not clarify anything, since it could just as well be argued that physics studies physical laws, chemistry studies chemical laws, etc.
QUESTION: What, then, is sociology intended to study?
First of all, attention should be paid to the numerous attempts to find various forms of compromise between the definitions of historical mathematics and sociology. In Marxist social science, until recently, only Bulgarian scientists distinguished between historical materialism as a philosophical science about society and sociology as a non-philosophical, specific science about society.
Meanwhile, in the history of scientific thought there is a well-known approach aimed at more clearly identifying the object of sociology – civil society.
It must be emphasized that civil society could emerge only at a certain stage of human development. Although its elements and immature forms existed at the early stages, it was formed as an independent phenomenon at the point when a person began to demonstrate fundamentally new features of behavior and lifestyle. This was caused by the process of formation and development of bourgeois society, when a person got the opportunity to act as an independent social force, the influence of which largely depended on the level and degree of consciousness and creativity of the participants in the real historical process.
In contrast to the conditions of slave-owning and feudal societies, people in large numbers found themselves responsible for the fate of economic transformations, and subsequently for the structure of the political life of bourgeois society.
The fact that the emergence of a person as a citizen is associated only with a certain stage of development of society is also evidenced by the remark of K. Marx that “to be a slave or to be a citizen is ... the relationship of person A to person B,” which are established in society, through and with the help society.
It was with the advent of capitalism that people began to influence the course of social life on a qualitatively new basis. The participation of the individual in solving a wide variety of life problems has increased sharply. At the same time, people are increasingly beginning to act together - not as individuals in ancient times or the Middle Ages, but as classes, social groups and strata, joining political other associations and organizations.
All this allows us to assert that civil society - this is a set of appropriately organized, historically established forms of joint life activity, certain universal values that guide people and every person in all spheres of society - economic, social, political and spiritual.
The logic of social development confirms the need for constant comparison of the life activities of classes, social groups and strata not only within a particular society, but also between different types of societies.
This impulse - finding and comparing various types of life activities, taking into account the specifics of each country - can characterize the contribution of sociology to solving both global and specific problems that concern all of humanity or its individual layers and groups. “From the point of view of the basic ideas of Marxism, the interests of social development are higher than the interests of the proletariat...”
Finding and identifying such indicators of the vital activity of people - members of various social systems that unite them, and only then, on the basis of this, a study of the specific characteristics of each society is carried out. This is precisely what characterizes the essence of sociology as a science in determining the basic object her research is a civil society in which the general is in organic unity with the special, the specific. In conditions when society pursues universal, humanistic goals, the importance of sociology as a science that studies these characteristics that unite various social forces becomes an indicator of social progress in the broadest sense of the word.
Subject of sociology. Studying social processes and phenomena, sociologists increasingly place the focus of their attention on man, his consciousness, and attitude to social changes not only as an individual, but also as a member of a certain social group, social stratum, or institution. The motives of his behavior in a specific social situation, his needs, interests, and life orientations also become of great importance. Even statistics for sociology are important not as information about quantitative processes, but as an indicator by which one can judge the state of people’s inner world.
The object of study became an increasingly large group of issues characterizing the state of a person’s consciousness, his behavior and attitude towards processes occurring in society, their professional, national and regional implications.
Moreover, real consciousness and behavior are not limited to individuals or random groups of people. They are a product of collective creativity, characteristic both of the whole society and of social-class groups, strata and communities. Arising as a reaction to the direct perception of reality, as a reflection of the empirical conditions of existence, real consciousness and behavior acquire an independent role, expressed in public opinion and people's mentalities.
Real, living consciousness and behavior are the “richest” social processes in their manifestations. In fact, they reflect at the empirical level the state of social consciousness and social activity as a whole in all its diversity, inconsistency, randomness and necessity. They act as a sensitive indicator of the state, progress of development and functioning of social processes. Therefore, their research represents an important tool for making scientifically based decisions in all spheres of public life without exception - from economic to spiritual.
Summarizing what has been said, we can say that sociology is the science of the driving forces of consciousness and behavior of people as members of civil society. Subject of Sociology as science includes: real social consciousness in all its contradictory development; activities, the actual behavior of people who act as the objective embodiment (in form and content) of knowledge, attitudes, value orientations, needs and interests, recorded in the living consciousness; conditions in which real consciousness and activity, real behavior of people develop and take place.
3. Fundamental issues of sociology.
Studying the history of sociology leads to the conclusion that sociological thought is aimed at finding answers to two fundamental questions:
1.What is society (what makes society a stable whole; how is sociological order possible)?
2. What is the nature of the relationship between society as an ordered structure, on the one hand, and the individuals operating in it, on the other?
Sociology proceeds from the fundamental dualism of man's relationship to reality. Every person is free. In principle, at any moment he can act differently than he did before. However, most people feel quite strongly dependent on their social status and current circumstances. The problem in general is to understand how these two forms of existence relate to each other: individual subjects acting at the micro level, on the one hand, and society, consisting of social institutions, on the other.
When answering the first fundamental question, two directions emerge: 1) Some sociologists follow the systemic-functional approach, based on the proposition that society develops into a stable integrity automatically. This occurs due to the process of self-regulation of the social system, when its various parts perform complementary functions and thereby contribute to social integration.
2) Proponents of the conflict theory believe that the natural state of society is conflict between different people, groups and organizations seeking power.
When answering the second fundamental one, two directions also emerge:
1) According to the structural approach (E. Durkheim), the behavior of an individual or group is explained by social circumstances and the social structure in which they find themselves. In other words, the position of an individual in society predetermines what he does - from language preferences to accepted forms of etiquette. Systematic - functional approach, based on the proposal that society develops into a stable integrity automatically.
This occurs due to the process of self-regulation of the social system, when its various parts perform complementary functions and thereby contribute to social integration.
Supporters conflict theories believe that the natural state of society is conflict between different people, groups and organizations seeking power.
By structural approach
(E. Durkheim) the behavior of an individual or group is explained by social circumstances and the social structure in which they find themselves. In other words, an individual's position in society determines what he does, from language preferences to accepted forms of etiquette.
Supporters theories of action (understanding sociology)(M. Weber and
G. Simmel) believe that a social system is created by the individuals acting in it. In their opinion, it is a mistake to view society as a rigid external structure. It arises through conscious, purposeful actions.
4. Functions of sociology.
The functions of sociology are divided into two groups: 1. Epistemological- manifest themselves in the most complete and specific knowledge of certain aspects of social life. 2. Social– reveal ways and means of their optimization.
These functions exist and operate only in interconnection and interaction. In turn, these two subgroups include the following more specific functions of sociology:
a) epistemological and critical– the main epistemological functions of sociology. This function consists in the fact that sociology accumulates knowledge, systematizes it, and strives to create the most complete picture of social relations and processes in the modern world. It is obvious that without specific knowledge about the processes occurring within individual social communities or associations of people, it is impossible to ensure effective social management. The degree of systematicity and specificity of sociological knowledge determines the effectiveness of the implementation of its social functions.
b) descriptive function – This is a systematization, a description of research in the form of analytical notes, various kinds of scientific reports, articles, books, etc. When studying a social object, high moral purity and integrity of the scientist are required, because practical conclusions are drawn and management decisions are made on the basis of data, facts and documents.
c) prognostic function – This is the issuance of social forecasts of the object being studied.
d) conversion function – consists in the fact that the conclusions, recommendations, proposals of the sociologist, his assessment of the state of the social subject serve as the basis for the development and adoption of certain decisions.
e) information function – represents the collection, systematization and accumulation of information obtained as a result of research. Sociological information is concentrated in computer memory.
f) ideological function of sociology
Information function
Worldview function of sociology
5. The place of sociology in the system of social sciences.
1. Dobrenkov V.I., Kravchenko A.I. Sociology. Textbook. M., INFRA-M, 2004.
2. Kravchenko A.I. Sociology: General course: Textbook. manual for universities. – M.: PER SE; Logos, 2000
3. Sociology: Fundamentals of General Theory: Textbook for Universities / Ed. Osipova G.V., Moskvicheva L.N. – M., 2005
4. Abercrombie N. Sociological Dictionary / N. Abercrombie, S. Hill, B.S. Turner; lane from English I.G. Yasaveeva; edited by S.A. Erofeeva. - 2nd ed., revised. and additional – M.: Economics, 2004.
5. Russian sociological encyclopedia / edited by. ed. G.V. Osipova. M.: NORM-INFRA. M, 1999.
6. Smelser N. Sociology: trans. from English – M.: Phoenix, 1998.
7. Sociology: Encyclopedia / Comp. A.A.Gritsanov, V.L.Abushenko, G.M.Evelkin, G.N.Sokolova, O.V.Tereshchenko. – Mn.: Book House, 2003
8. Encyclopedic sociological dictionary / General. ed. G.V. Osipova. - M.: ISPI RAS, 1995.
Sociology as a science
1. Object and subject of sociology.
2. The structure of sociology.
3. Functions of sociology.
O. Comte- founder of sociology as a science.
In 1839 He first used the term “Sociology” and put forward the task of studying society on a scientific basis in the third volume of his work “Course of Positive Philosophy.”
1. Object and subject of sociology.
Object sociological knowledge is society , considered as a single social organism. In other words, the object of sociological knowledge is the entire set of properties, connections and relationships between people that develop in the process of their life activity .
Item in sociology, since it is the result of research activities, cannot be defined as unambiguously. The understanding of the subject of sociology has changed throughout the history of this science. Representatives of various schools and directions have expressed and are expressing different understandings of it. And this is natural, since the subject of science is in close connection with the research activities of scientists.
Founder of sociology, French thinker O. Comte believed that sociology is a positive science about society. Outstanding French sociologist E. Durkheim called the subject of sociology social facts. Moreover, social, according to Durkheim, means collective. Therefore, the subject of sociology, in his opinion, is the collective in all its manifestations.
From the point of view of a German sociologist M. Weber, sociology is the science of social behavior, which it seeks to understand and interpret. Behavior is considered social when, according to the meaning that the subject gives it, it is correlated with the behavior of other individuals.
The following definition of sociology is widespread in our domestic literature. Sociology is the science of society as a social system as a whole, of the functioning and development of this system through its constituent elements: individuals, social communities, institutions ( G.V. Osipov).
No definition of sociology is exhaustive due to the diversity of concepts and directions.
2. The structure of sociology.
When studying and explaining various kinds of social phenomena and processes, sociologists use five main approaches.
1. Demographic . Demography is the study of population, especially fertility, mortality, migration and related human activities. For example, a demographic analysis of Third World countries might explain their economic backwardness by the fact that they have to spend most of their resources to feed a rapidly growing population.
2. Psychological . It explains behavior in terms of its significance to people as individuals. Motives, thoughts, skills, social attitudes, and a person’s ideas about himself are studied.
3. Collectivist . Used when studying two or more people forming a group or organization. This approach can also be used when studying groups, bureaucratic organizations and various kinds of communities. With its help, you can analyze competition between political parties, conflicts on a racial and religious basis, and rivalry between groups. In addition, this approach is important in the study of collective behavior, such as crowd actions, audience reactions, and social movements such as civil rights and feminism.
4. Interactive . Social life is viewed not through certain people participating in it, but through their interaction with each other, determined by their roles.
5. Cultural . This approach is used to analyze behavior based on cultural elements such as social rules and social values. In the cultural approach, rules of conduct, or norms, are considered as factors regulating the actions of individuals and the actions of groups.
Levels of study of society:
1. level of fundamental research, whose task is to increase scientific knowledge by constructing theories that reveal universal patterns and principles of this field;
2. level of applied research, in which the task is to study current problems that have direct practical value, based on existing fundamental knowledge;
3. social engineering the level of practical implementation of scientific knowledge for the purpose of designing various technical means and improving existing technologies. This classification allows us to distinguish three levels in the structure of sociology: theoretical sociology, applied sociology, social engineering.
Along with these three levels, sociologists also distinguish macro- and microsociology within their science. Macrosociology explores large-scale social systems and historically long processes (functionalism - Merton, Parsons, conflict theory - Marx, Dahrendorf, Coser). Microsociology studies the everyday behavior of people in their direct interpersonal interaction (exchange theory - George Homans, Peter Blau, ethnomethodology - G. Garfinkel, symbolic interactionism - Charles Cooley, W. Thomas, G. Simmel, J. G. Mead).
A peculiar form of intersection of all these levels are such structural elements of sociology as sectoral sociology: sociology of labor, economic sociology, sociology of organizations, sociology of leisure, sociology of health care, sociology of the city, sociology of the countryside, sociology of education, sociology of the family, etc. In this case, we are talking about the division of labor in the field of sociology according to the nature of the objects being studied.
The original concept of the development of sociology was put forward by the American sociologist R. Merton. In 1947, arguing with T. Parsons, who advocated the creation in sociology of “a comprehensive theory based on theories of social action and the structural-functional method.” R. Merton believed that the creation of such theories was premature, since there was no reliable empirical basis yet. He believed that it was necessary to create theories middle level. They are called upon to generalize and structure empirical data within individual areas of sociological knowledge. Middle-level theories are thus relatively independent and at the same time closely related to both empirical research (which supplies the necessary “raw” material for their development) and general sociological theoretical constructs.
All middle-level theories are conditionally divided into three groups: theories of social institutions (sociology of family, education, science, religion, art, army, politics, religion, labor), community theories (sociology of small groups, organizations, crowds, ethnosociology, feminist sociology), theories of social processes (sociology of deviant behavior, conflicts, mobility and migration, cities, social movements).
3. Functions of sociology.
Cognitive- the increase in new knowledge about various spheres of social life, reveals the patterns and prospects for the social development of society.
Application function– solving practical social problems.
Social control function. Sociological research provides specific information for the implementation of effective social control over social processes. Without this information, the possibility of social tension, social crises and disasters increases. In the vast majority of countries, executive and representative authorities, political parties and associations widely use the capabilities of sociology to pursue targeted policies in all spheres of public life.
The prognostic function of sociology is development of scientifically based forecasts about trends in the development of social processes in the future. In this regard, sociology is able to: 1) determine the range of possibilities and probabilities opening up to participants in events at a given historical stage; 2) present alternative scenarios for future processes associated with each of the selected solutions; 3) calculate the probable losses for each of the alternative options, including side effects, as well as long-term consequences, etc.
Social planning function. Of great importance in the life of society is the use of sociological research to plan the development of various spheres of public life. Social planning is developed in all countries of the world, regardless of social systems.
Ideological function. The results of research can be used in the interests of any social groups to achieve certain social goals. Sociological knowledge often serves as a means of manipulating people’s behavior, forming certain behavioral stereotypes, creating a system of value and social preferences, etc.
Humanistic function. Sociology can also serve to improve mutual understanding between people, to create a sense of closeness among them, which ultimately helps to improve social relations.
Social structure.
1. Interpersonal interaction and social structure: the concept of role.
2. Characteristics of roles.
3. Role conflict and role tension
4. Social institutions.
1. INTERPERSONAL INTERACTION AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE: THE CONCEPT OF ROLE
Personality is a system of social qualities of an individual. An individual is a single person taken as a representative of the human race, individuality is a unique combination of human qualities.
Socialization is the process of personality formation.
Each person occupies several positions in society. For example, a woman can be a musician, a teacher, a wife and a mother. Each of these social positions, associated with certain rights and responsibilities, is called status. Social status is the position occupied by a person in society. Although a person may have a number of statuses, one of them, which can be called main status , determines his social position. Often a person's main status is determined by his work.
Some statuses are given at birth. In addition, statuses are determined by gender, ethnic origin, place of birth, and family surname. Such statuses are called attributed (prescribed ).
Vice versa, reached (acquired ) status determined by what a person has accomplished in his life. The status of a writer is acquired as a result of the publication of a book; husband's status - after obtaining permission to marry and entering into marriage. No one is born an author or a husband. Some statuses combine prescribed and achieved elements. Earning a PhD is undoubtedly an achievement. But, once acquired, the new status remains forever, becoming a permanent part of the person's personality and social role, defining all his intentions and goals as a prescribed status.
Role is called expected behavior due to a person’s status (Linton, cited in Merton, 1957). Each status usually includes a number of roles. The set of roles corresponding to a given status is called role-playing set (Merton, 1957).
Learning different roles is a big part of the process socialization (socialization is the process of personality formation). Our Roles are defined by what others expect of us. . Thus, in the structure of roles there are role expectation(behavior expected by others based on our status) and role playing(how we behave based on the status we occupy and the role associated with it).
Exist formal And informal role expectations .
A distinction can be made between them. The most striking example of the former are laws . Other expectations may be less formal—such as table manners, dress code, and politeness—but they also have a big impact on our behavior.
Reactions , which can be caused by our actions that do not correspond to role expectations, can also be classified as formal And informal . When a person’s actions correspond to role expectations, he receives such social rewards , How money And respect . Taken together, these promotions And punishments are called sanctions . Whether applied by one or more interacting individuals or by others, sanctions reinforce rules that determine what behavior is appropriate in a given situation (Goode, 1960).
2. CHARACTERISTICS OF ROLES
An attempt to systematize social roles was made by Talcott Parsons and his colleagues (1951). They believed that any role could be described using five basic characteristics:
1. Emotionality . Some roles (for example, a nurse, a doctor, or a funeral home owner) require emotional restraint in situations that are usually accompanied by intense expression of feelings (we are talking about illness, suffering, death). Family members and friends are expected to show less reserved expressions of feelings.
2. Method of obtaining . Some roles are conditioned by prescribed statuses - for example, child, youth or adult citizen; they are determined by the age of the person playing the role. Other roles are won; When we talk about a doctor of medicine, we mean a role that is not achieved automatically, but as a result of the individual’s efforts.
3. Scale . Some roles are limited to strictly defined aspects of human interaction. For example, the doctor and patient roles are limited to issues that directly relate to the patient's health. A broader relationship is established between a small child and his mother or father; Each parent is concerned about many aspects of their child’s life.
4. Formalization . Some roles involve interacting with people according to set rules. For example, a librarian is obliged to issue books for a certain period of time and demand a fine for each day of overdue from those who delay the books. In other roles, you may receive special treatment from those with whom you have a personal relationship. For example, we do not expect a brother or sister to pay us for a service rendered to them, although we might accept payment from a stranger.
5. Motivation . Different roles are driven by different motives. It is expected, say, that an enterprising person is absorbed in his own interests - his actions are determined by the desire to obtain maximum profit. But a social worker like the Unemployment Compensation Bureau is supposed to work primarily for the public good, not for personal gain.
According to Parsons, every role includes some combination of these characteristics.
3. Role conflict and role tension
Since each person plays several roles in many different situations (within family, among friends, in a community, in society), there are always conflicts between roles.
Role conflict arises:
1. due to the need to satisfy the demands of two or more roles (Merton, 1957). This is a common occurrence in highly organized societies, where each person plays a huge variety of roles.
2. when people move from one social class to another , when they strive to maintain existing relationships with their family members and old friends.
3. between different aspects of the same role .
Ways to overcome role conflict
Merton (1957) believes that there are several ways to reduce role conflict.
First way : Some roles are recognized as more important than others.
Second way : separation of some roles from others.
There are other, more subtle ways to reduce role conflict. One of them is a joke. Role conflicts, especially those arising within the family, create tension. A joke can help us vent our feelings, say, if our husband comes home drunk at night or our mother-in-law constantly grumbles. Jokes “combine our friendliness and at the same time our disapproval of certain actions; they help overcome the hostility that usually arises in conflict situations” (Brain, 1976, p. 178).
4. SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS.
Institute is a set of roles and statuses designed to satisfy a specific social need.
One of the important features of the institute is its compliance with “social needs”.
Almost all theorists of social sciences sought to determine what is necessary to maintain the functioning of society. Karl Marx believed that the basis of society is the need for material survival, which can only be satisfied through the joint activities of people; Without this, society cannot exist. In other words, the type of society is determined by the way people organize their activities for the purpose of their material survival .
Other social science theorists view social needs differently. Herbert Spencer(1897), who compared society to a biological organism, emphasized the need for "active defense" (we are talking about military affairs) to fight "surrounding enemies and robbers", the need for activities that support "basic livelihoods" (agriculture, clothing production), the need for exchange (i.e. markets) and the need to coordinate these different activities (i.e. in the state).
Finally, more modern researchers G. Lenski And J. Lenski(1970) compiled the following list of basic elements necessary to maintain the integrity of society.
1. Communication between members of society . Every society has a common spoken language.
2. Production of goods and services necessary for the survival of members of society.
3. Distribution these goods and services.
4. Protection of members of society from physical danger (storms, floods and cold), from other biological organisms (for example, pests) and enemies.
5. Replacement of retiring members society through biological reproduction and through the assimilation by individuals of a certain culture in the process of socialization.
6. Control over member behavior society in order to create conditions for the creative activity of society and resolve conflicts between its members.
Institutions serve not only to organize the joint activities of people to satisfy their social needs. They also regulate the use of resources available to society. One of the important functions of institutions is to stabilize people's activities by reducing them to more or less predictable patterns of social roles. Institutions very rarely remain stable for long periods of time. The conditions affecting them are constantly changing.
SOCIAL GROUPS
1. The concept of a social group. Types of social groups.
2. Functions and roles of groups.
3. Structure and dynamics of groups.
1. The concept of a social group. Types of social groups.
WHAT IS THE GROUP?
Merton (1968) defines a group as a collection of people who interact with each other in certain ways, recognize their membership in the group, and are considered members of the group from the point of view of other people.
First significant trait of groups– a certain way of interaction between their members. These characteristic patterns of activity and interaction determine the structure of groups.
Second important trait of groups– membership, a feeling of belonging to a given group.
According to Merton, people who belong to groups are perceived by others as members of those groups. The group has its own identity from the point of view of outsiders - the third feature - group identity.
Types of groups.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY GROUPS
Primary group consists of a small number of people between whom relationships are established based on their individual characteristics. Primary groups are not large, because otherwise it is difficult to establish direct, personal relationships between all members.
Charles Cooley(1909) first introduced the concept of the primary group in relation to the family, between whose members stable emotional relationships develop .
Secondary group is formed from people between whom there are almost no emotional relationships; their interaction is determined by the desire to achieve certain goals. In these groups, the main importance is attached not to personal qualities, but to the ability to perform certain functions. The individual characteristics of each person mean almost nothing to the organization and, conversely, members of a family or group of players are unique. Their personal qualities play an important role; none can be replaced by someone else.
Because roles in a secondary group are clearly defined, its members often know very little about each other. In an organization related to labor activity, industrial relations are the main ones. Thus, not only the roles, but also the modes of communication are clearly defined. Communication is often more formal and is carried out through written documents or telephone calls.
Small groups.
Small groups are only those groups in which individuals have personal contacts each with each other.
Small group– a small number of people who know each other well and constantly interact with each other.
Example: sports team, school class, youth party, production team.
Sometimes in the literature the term “small group” is equated with the term “primary group”.
Basic signs of a small group:
· Limited number of group members . The upper limit is 20, the lower limit is 2 people. If the group exceeds the “critical mass”, it splits into subgroups.
· Composition stability .
· Internal structure . Includes a system of informal roles and statuses, a mechanism of social control, sanctions, norms and rules of behavior.
· The smaller the group, the more intense the interaction within it. .
· The size of the group depends on the nature of the group's activities .
· Interaction in a group is only sustainable when it is accompanied by mutual reinforcement of the people participating in it .
2. Functions and roles of groups.
Instrumental role of the group
Many groups are formed to do a specific job. These instrumental groups are necessary to carry out tasks that are difficult or impossible for one person to complete. A construction team, a surgical team, a manufacturing line, and a football team are created to achieve specific goals.
Expressive aspect in group formation
Some types of groups are called expressive. They aim to satisfy group members' desires for social approval, respect and trust. Such groups form spontaneously with relatively little outside influence. Examples Such groups can serve groups of friends and teenagers who like to play, play sports or have parties together. However, there is no clearly defined boundary between instrumental and expressive groups.
Supportive role of groups
People come together not only to perform common activities and satisfy social needs, but also to alleviate unpleasant feelings.
3. Structure and dynamics of groups.
When a collection of people becomes a group, norms and roles are formed, on the basis of which an order (or pattern) of interaction is established. Sociologists study these patterns and have been able to identify a number of factors influencing their formation. Among these factors, one of the most important is group size.
BAND SIZE
Dyads
Dyad, or group of two people(for example, lovers or two best friends), has some unique features. She is very fragile and is destroyed if one member leaves the group.
Triads
When a third person joins a group of two, a triad is formed, which usually develops complex relationships. Sooner or later there will be a rapprochement between two members of the group and the exclusion of the third from it. “Two people make a company, three make a crowd”: this is how they clearly make it clear to the third member of the group that he is the odd one out. According to the point of view of the German sociologist of the 19th century. Georg Simmel, who had a great influence on the study of groups, the third member of the group can play one of the following roles: an indifferent mediator, an opportunist who takes advantage of others, and a divide-and-conquer tactician.
Larger groups
Increasing the size of a group affects the behavior of its members in many ways. Larger groups (consisting of five or six people) are more productive than dyads and triads. Members of larger groups tend to make more valuable suggestions than members of smaller groups. In a larger group, there is less agreement, but also less tension. In addition, large groups put more pressure on their members, increasing their conformity. In such groups there is inequality between members. There is evidence that groups with even number of members differ from groups with odd composition. The former are more prone to disagreement than the latter, so groups with an even number of members are less stable. They can split into factions with an equal number of members. This is impossible in groups with an odd number of members: in them one of the parties always has a numerical advantage.
GROUP DYNAMICS
In groups, events and dynamic processes take place, periodically repeating in a certain sequence. These include pressure on group members to conform, exclusion from the group, and role shaping.
Family.
1. The concept of family.
2. Dimensions of the family structure
3. Family alternatives
4. Social functions of the family
5. Family policy
1. Family concept.
In any society, the family has a dual character. On the one hand, this social institution, with another - small group, which has its own patterns of functioning and development. Another social institution is closely related to the institution of family - the marriage. Marriage- a socially and personally appropriate, stable form of sexual relations sanctioned by society.
Family is a small group whose members are connected by marriage and kinship, common life, mutual moral responsibility and mutual assistance. A distinctive feature of a family is joint housekeeping.
2. DIMENSIONS OF FAMILY STRUCTURE
The nature of the family structure depends on a number of factors: the form of the family, the underlying form of marriage, the distribution of power, place of residence, etc.
Family form.
Sociologists and anthropologists have introduced a number of parameters on the basis of which different family structures can be compared. This makes it possible to make generalizations about many societies.
Nuclear family consists of adult parents and children who depend on them. For many Americans, this type of family seems natural.
extended family(as opposed to the first type of family structure) includes a nuclear family and many relatives, such as grandparents, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, cousins.
FORM OF MARRIAGE
The main form of marriage is monogamy– a marriage between one man and one woman. However, there are reports of several other forms. Polygamy– a marriage between one and several other individuals. Marriage between one man and several women - polygyny; marriage between one woman and several men - polyandry. Another form is group marriage- between several men and several women.
TYPES OF POWER STRUCTURES
Most family systems in which extended families are considered the norm (for example, peasant families in Ireland) are patriarchal. This term denotes the power of men over other family members. This type of power is considered generally accepted and often legalized in Thailand, Japan, Germany, Iran, Brazil and many other countries. At matriarchal In the family system, power rightfully belongs to the wife and mother. Such systems are rare. In many families in patriarchal societies, women acquire informal power, but this is not the norm.
In recent years there has been a transition from patriarchal to egalitarian family system. This is mainly due to the increase in the number of working women in many industrialized countries. Under such a system, influence and power are distributed almost equally between husband and wife.
PREFERRED PARTNER
Rules governing marriages outside of certain groups (such as families or clans) are rules exogamy. Along with them there are rules endogamy, prescribing marriage within certain groups.
RULE FOR CHOOSING RESIDENCE
Societies have different rules for choosing the place of residence of newlyweds. In the US, most of them prefer neolocal residence – this means that they live separately from their parents. Patrilocal residence - the newlywed leaves her family and lives with her husband’s family or near his parents’ house. In societies where the norm is matrilocal residence, the newlyweds must live with or near the bride's parents.
3. FAMILY ALTERNATIVES
Over the past decades, several alternatives to family life have emerged. Among them the main ones are living together without marriage And creation of a commune.
Living together
In recent years, the number of heterosexual couples living together but not marrying has increased significantly. Some non-traditional families are not based on sexual relationships, for example, they include older women renting rooms to college students, or older men hiring nurses or housekeepers to live in their home.
Most unmarried couples do not have children. However, they challenge the family's monopoly on regulating intimate relationships between adults. The legal aspect of these relationships is of particular concern, since there is no law controlling the behavior of the partners.
In many ways, unmarried couples are like married couples. For example, there is evidence that such partners have the values, views and goals usually associated with spouses. But, as a rule, they are less religious and attend church less frequently than in-law husbands and wives (Newcomb, 1979).
Life in a commune
The trend towards creating communes arose in the 60s as a form of protest against the existing social order. Many people who chose communal life considered the traditional family to be unstable and ineffective. Some communes also set themselves religious and other utopian goals. Most communes had many adults living in them; some were married to each other; Their children lived with the adults. However, marriage and blood ties played only a secondary role in the life of communes.
The tendency to create communes as a form of ideological protest began to weaken in the 70s, and at present it cannot be considered vital (Zablocki, 1980). Nevertheless, during the 70s the number of communal connections continued to grow, although they began to be created not for ideological, but rather for practical reasons. For example, in communes people may be given greater opportunities for economic cooperation than in a nuclear family (Whitehurst, 1981).
Some sociologists find similarities between communes and extended families of the lower and working classes (Berger, Hackett, Miller, 1972). Like children in working-class families, young commune residents have many male and female role models, often with multiple mothers and fathers (Berger, 1972).
Finally, in communities where it is customary to openly express their feelings and not stand on ceremony, fathers often abandon their wives and children. As a result, the number of women who must be the sole parent of their children increases, which is also characteristic of the lower class. Like lower-class women, single women living in communes usually hope to gain support and love from others.
4. Social functions of the family:
1. Organization and regulation of sexual behavior;
2. Having children;
3. Caring for children until they can take care of themselves;
4. Socialization of children;
5. Emotional function (love, care, providing emotional security);
6. Providing leisure and recreation for family members.
Murdoch identified 4 main vital social functions of the family:
1. Regulation of potentially destructive sexuality through a socially approved system of control such as marriage;
2. Reproduction of offspring by easily identifiable and responsible parents;
3. Production and distribution of resources to support the population, such as food, clothing, livelihood;
4. Transfer of cultural patterns from generation to generation through education and training.
5. FAMILY POLICY
Today there have been many changes in family and family life; many observers view them as social problems worthy of public attention. Among them, the following problems should be highlighted:
· reduction in the level of marriages;
· an increase in the number of divorces and spouses living separately;
· increase in the number of cohabiting couples who do not marry;
· increase in the number of children born out of wedlock;
· an increase in the number of single-parent families headed by women;
· reduction in the birth rate and family size;
· changes in the distribution of family responsibilities due to the growing involvement of women in the workforce; participation of both parents in raising the child.
While these changes occur unevenly and cause alarm in varying degrees, collectively they influenced the creation of a new field of knowledge called “family policy” (Kammerman, Kahn, 1978). This term refers to all aspects of social policy that have a direct or indirect impact on family size, family stability, health, wealth, etc.
Social structure and stratification. Mobility.
1. The concept of social stratification. Types of stratification.
2. Classes. Models of the class structure of society
3. Social mobility
1. The concept of social stratification. Types of stratification.
To describe the system of inequality between groups (communities) of people in sociology, the concept is widely used "social stratification". Stratification– hierarchical stratification of society due to differences between people. Inequality(in general terms) – unequal access to limited resources of material and spiritual consumption.
At the same time, under equality understand: 1) personal equality; 2) equality of opportunity to achieve desired goals (equality of chances), 3) equality of living conditions (welfare, education, etc.); 4) equality of results. Inequality, as obvious, assumes the same four types of relationships between people, but with the opposite sign.
Social stratification describes social inequality in society, the division of social strata by income level and lifestyle, by the presence or absence of privileges.
Basis of stratification– power, income, prestige and education.
Income– the amount of cash receipts of an individual or family for a certain period of time (month, year). This is the amount of money received in the form of salaries, pensions, benefits, alimony, fees, and deductions from profits. Income is most often spent on maintaining life, but if it is very high, it accumulates and turns into wealth. Wealth is accumulated income, i.e. the amount of cash or materialized money. In the second case, they are called movable (car, yacht, securities, etc.) and immovable (house, works of art, treasures) property.
Power– the ability to impose one’s will against the wishes of other people.
Prestige- the respect that a particular profession, position, or occupation enjoys in public opinion.
Income, power, prestige and education determine aggregate socioeconomic status, i.e. the position and place of a person in society. Status acts as a general indicator of stratification.
Historical types of stratification: slavery, castes, estates, classes.
2. Classes. Models of the class structure of society.
Class systems differ in many respects from systems of slavery, caste and estate. Class Features:
1. Unlike other types of strata, classes are not created on the basis of legal and religious norms; membership is not based on hereditary status or custom . Class systems are more fluid than other systems of stratification, and the boundaries between classes are never clearly defined. There are also no formal restrictions on marriages between representatives of different classes..
2. An individual's belonging to a class must be “achieved” by himself, rather than simply being “given” at birth, as in other types of stratification systems.
Social mobility- movement up and down in the class structure is much simpler than in other types (in the caste system, individual mobility, the transition from one caste to another is impossible).
3. Classes depend on economic differences between groups of people associated with inequality in ownership and control of material resources. In other types of stratification systems, non-economic factors (such as the influence of religion in the Indian system) are most important.
Classes(strata) - large groups of people differing in their general economic opportunities, which significantly influence the types of their lifestyle.
Main classes existing in Western societies: top class(those who own and directly control production resources, the rich, large industrialists, top management); middle class(“white collar” and professionals); working class(“blue collar” or manual labor).
In some industrial countries, such as France or Japan, the fourth class is the peasantry. In third world countries, peasants usually make up the largest class.
Models of the class structure of society
Currently, there are a large number of models of class structures. Most famous W. Watson model, which was the result of research conducted in the 30s. in USA:
1. Highest-highest class- representatives of influential wealthy dynasties with very significant resources of power, wealth and prestige throughout the state. Their position is so strong that it practically does not depend on competition, falling stock prices and other socio-economic changes in society.
2. Low-high class– bankers, prominent politicians, owners of large companies who achieved the highest status through competition or due to various qualities. Typically, representatives of this class are fiercely competitive and depend on the political and economic situation in society.
3. Upper-middle class successful businessmen, hired company managers, prominent lawyers, doctors, outstanding athletes, the scientific elite. Representatives of this class do not claim influence on a state scale, but in rather narrow areas of activity they
the position is quite strong and stable. They enjoy high prestige in their fields of activity. Representatives of this class are usually spoken of as the wealth of the nation.
4. Lower-middle class– hired workers (engineers, mid-level and minor officials, teachers, scientists, heads of departments at enterprises, highly qualified workers, etc.). Currently, this class is the most numerous in developed Western countries. His main aspirations are increasing status within a given class, success and career. In this regard, economic, social and political stability in society is a very important point for representatives of this class. Standing for stability, representatives of this class are the main support for the existing government.
5. Upper-lower class- hired workers who create surplus value in a given society. Dependent in many respects on the upper classes for their livelihood, this class has struggled throughout its existence to improve its livelihood. In those moments when its representatives realized their interests and rallied to achieve goals, their conditions improved.
6. Lower-n upper class– beggars, unemployed, homeless, foreign workers and other representatives of marginalized groups of the population.
Experience The use of Watson's model showed that in its presented form it is in most cases unacceptable for the countries of Eastern Europe, Russia and our society, where in the course of historical processes a different social structure took shape and fundamentally different status groups existed. However, at present, due to the changes that have occurred in our society, many elements of Watson’s structure can be used in the study of the composition of social classes in Russia and Belarus.
Middle class.
Middle class– a set of social strata occupying an intermediate position between the main classes in the system of social stratification.
In almost all developed countries, the share of the middle class is 55-60%.
The middle classes express a tendency to reduce contradictions between the content of labor of various professions, urban and rural lifestyles, and are conductors of the values of the traditional family, which is combined with an orientation toward equal opportunities for men and women in educational, professional, and cultural terms. This is a stronghold of the values of modern society, a stronghold of stability, a guarantee of evolutionary social development, the formation and functioning of civil society.
3. Social mobility
Social mobility– movement of individuals between different levels of the social hierarchy. All social movements of an individual or social group are included in the process of mobility. By P. Sorokin, “social mobility is understood as any transition of an individual, or a social object, or a value created or modified through activity, from one social position to another.”
Types of social mobility:
1. Horizontal mobility- this is the transition of an individual or social object from one social position to another, lying at the same level (transition of an individual from one family to another, from one religious group to another, as well as change of place of residence). In all these cases, the individual does not change the social stratum to which he belongs or his social status.
2. Vertical mobility– a set of interactions that contribute to the transition of an individual or social object from one social layer to another ( career advancement (professional vertical mobility), significant improvement in well-being (economic vertical mobility) or transition to a higher social stratum, to another level of power (political vertical mobility)). Vertical mobility happens ascending(social uplift) and descending(social decline).
Forms of mobility: individual And group.
Closed type of society characterized by zero vertical mobility, unlike open.
Culture as a social phenomenon.
1. The concept of culture.
2. Universal elements of culture.
3. Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.
4. Forms of culture.
1. The concept of culture.
Culture - these are the beliefs, values and means of expression (used in art and literature) that are common to a group; they serve to organize experience and regulate the behavior of members of this group. The beliefs and attitudes of a subgroup are often called a subculture.
The assimilation of culture is carried out through learning. As you know, people are unique in that their behavior is only partly driven by instinct.
Culture organizes human life. In human life, culture largely performs the same function that genetically programmed behavior performs in animal life.
Culture is created, culture is taught. Since it is not acquired biologically, each generation reproduces it and passes it on to the next generation. This process is the basis of socialization. As a result of the assimilation of values, beliefs, norms, rules and ideals, the child’s personality is formed and his behavior is regulated.
So, culture shapes the personalities of members of society, thereby it largely regulates behavior.
The possibilities of culture cannot be exaggerated. Culture's ability to control human behavior is limited for many reasons. First of all, unlimited biological capabilities of the human body . Exactly the same limit of knowledge that the human brain can comprehend. Environmental factors also limit the impact of culture.
Maintaining sustainable public order also limits the influence of culture. The very survival of society dictates the need to condemn such acts as murder, theft, and arson.
2. Elements of culture.
Common features common to all cultures - cultural universals.
George Murdoch(1965) identified more than 60 cultural universals. These include sports, body decoration, communal labor, dancing, education, funeral rituals, gift-giving, hospitality, incest prohibitions, jokes, language, religious practices, sexual restrictions, tool making, and attempts to influence the weather.
However, different cultures may have different types of sports, jewelry, etc. Environment is one of the factors causing these differences. In addition, all cultural characteristics are determined by the history of a particular society and are formed as a result of unique developments. On the basis of different cultures, different sports, prohibitions on consanguineous marriages and languages arose, but the main thing is that in one form or another they exist in every culture.
Basic elements of culture.
According to the anthropologist Ward Goodenough, culture consists of four elements:
1.Concepts(signs and symbols). They are contained mainly in the language. Thanks to them, it becomes possible to organize people's experiences. For example, we perceive the shape, color and taste of objects in the world around us, but in different cultures the world is organized differently. In German, eating by humans and eating by animals are referred to by different words, while in English both are referred to by the same word. There is a word in Welshglas, representing all the colors that are referred to in English as green, blue and grey.
2.Relationship. Cultures not only distinguish certain parts of the world with the help of concepts, but also reveal how these components are related to each other - in space and time, by meaning (for example, black is opposite to white), on the basis of causality. Our language has words for the Earth and the Sun, and we are sure that the earth revolves around the sun. But before Copernicus, people believed that the opposite was true. Cultures often interpret relationships differently.
3.Values. Values are generally accepted beliefs about the goals to which a person should strive. They form the basis of moral principles. Different cultures may favor different values (heroism on the battlefield, artistic creativity, asceticism), and each social system establishes what is a value and what is not.
4.Rules. These elements (including norms) regulate people's behavior in accordance with the values of a particular culture. Norms can represent standards of behavior. But why do people tend to obey them? Even if it's not in their best interest? Social punishments or rewards that promote compliance with norms are called sanctions. Punishments that deter people from doing certain things are negative sanctions(fine, imprisonment, reprimand, etc.). Positive sanctions– incentives for compliance with norms (monetary rewards, empowerment, high prestige).
In addition to these elements of culture, we can also distinguish such as: etiquette, customs, rituals, traditions.
3. Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.
Ethnocentrism is the tendency to judge other cultures from a position of superiority to one's own. The principles of ethnocentrism find clear expression in the activities of missionaries who seek to convert the “barbarians” to their faith. Ethnocentrism is associated with xenophobia– fear, hostility to other people’s views and customs.
American sociologist William Graham Sumner wrote about this in the book “Folk Customs”. Published in 1906. In his own opinion, a culture can only be understood by analyzing its own values in its own context. This point of view is called cultural relativism. Readers of Sumner's book were shocked to read that cannibalism and infanticide made sense in societies where such practices were practiced.
Another American scientist - anthropologist Ruth Benedict(1934) refined this concept as follows: Each culture can only be understood in its own context and must be considered as a whole. No single value, ritual, or other feature of a given culture can be fully understood when viewed in isolation.
4. Forms of culture.
In most European societies, two forms of culture had emerged by the beginning of the 20th century.
High(elite) culture– fine art, classical music and literature – were created and perceived by the elite. Folk the culture, which included fairy tales, folklore, songs and myths, belonged to the poor. The products of each of these cultures were intended for a specific audience, and this tradition was rarely violated. With the advent of the media (radio, mass mail publications, television, the Internet), the differences between high and popular culture began to blur. This is how it arose Mass culture, which is associated with regional, religious or class subcultures. The media and popular culture are inextricably linked.
A culture becomes “mass” when its products are standardized and distributed to the general public.
Mass culture, as a rule, has less artistic value than elite or popular culture. But it has the widest audience.
A system of norms and values that distinguish a group from the majority of society, called subculture.
The subculture is formed under the influence of such factors as social class, ethnic origin, religion and place of residence. The term “subculture” does not mean that a particular group opposes the dominant culture in society. But sometimes a group actively seeks to develop norms or values that conflict with core aspects of the dominant culture. Based on such norms and values, the counterculture. A well-known counterculture in Western society is bohemianism, and the most striking example of it is the hippies of the 60s.
DEVIATION AND SOCIAL CONTROL
1. The concept of deviation.
2. Theories explaining deviation
3. Types of deviations
4. Social control
1. The concept of deviation.
Deviance determined by the compliance or non-compliance of actions with social expectations. Due to these difficulties, it is likely that the same act can be considered both deviant and non-deviant; Moreover, the same act (for example, Joan of Arc's challenge to the Catholic Church) could be considered both a serious crime in the era in which it was committed and a great feat, arousing the universal admiration of subsequent generations.
Should be considered, that deviation cannot be identified with crime (delinquent behavior), although analysis of deviance often focuses on criminal behavior. Crime, or behavior prohibited by criminal law, is a form of deviation.
Deviant (deviant) behavior – an act, human activity or social phenomenon that does not correspond to officially established or actually established norms in a given society, which entails isolation, treatment, imprisonment or other punishment for the offender.
Based on this definition, we can distinguish three main deviation component: Human, which is characterized by a certain behavior; expectation, or norm, which is a criterion for assessing deviant behavior, and some other person, a group or organization that responds to behavior.
2. theories explaining deviation
BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION
At the end of the 19th century. Italian doctor Cesare Lombroso found a connection between criminal behavior and certain physical traits. He believed that people are predisposed to certain types of behavior by their biological make-up. He argued that the "criminal type" is the result of a degradation to earlier stages of human evolution. This type can be identified by such characteristic features as a protruding lower jaw, a sparse beard and decreased sensitivity to pain. Lombroso's theory became widespread, and some thinkers became his followers - they also established a connection between deviant behavior and certain physical traits of people.
William H. Sheldon(1940), a famous American psychologist and physician, emphasized the importance of body structure. In humans, a certain body structure means the presence of characteristic personality traits. Endomorph(a person of moderate obesity with a soft and somewhat rounded body) is characterized by sociability, the ability to get along with people and self-indulgence. Mesomorph(whose body is strong and slender) tends to be restless, active and not overly sensitive. And finally, ectomorph, characterized by the subtlety and fragility of the body, is prone to introspection, endowed with increased sensitivity and nervousness.
Based on a study of the behavior of two hundred young men in a rehabilitation center, Sheldon made conclusion, What Mesomorphs are most prone to deviation, although they do not always become criminals.
Although such biological concepts were popular at the beginning of the 20th century, other concepts gradually replaced them.
More recently, biological explanations have focused on sex chromosome (XY) abnormalities of the deviant. Normally, a woman has two type X chromosomes, while a man typically has one type X chromosome and one type Y chromosome. But sometimes individuals have additional type X or Y chromosomes (XXY, XYY, or, which is very common). rarely, XXXY, XXYY, etc.).
PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATION
The psychological approach, like the biological theories discussed above, is often applied to the analysis of criminal behavior. Psychoanalysts proposed a theory that linked deviant behavior with mental disorders. For example, Freud introduced the concept of “criminals with a sense of guilt”– we are talking about people who want to be caught and punished because they feel guilty about their “destroy drive”, they believe that imprisonment would somehow help them overcome this drive. (Freud, 1916-1957). Concerning sexual deviation, then some psychologists believed that exhibitionism, sexual perversion and fetishism were caused by an unresolved fear of castration.
Thorough research has shown that the essence of deviation cannot be explained solely on the basis of an analysis of psychological factors. It is more likely that deviance results from a combination of many social and psychological factors.
SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION
Sociological explanation takes into account the social and cultural factors on the basis of which people are considered deviants.
Anomie theory.
For the first time, a sociological explanation of deviation was proposed in theory anomie, developed Emile Durkheim. Durkheim used this theory in his classic study of the nature of suicide. He considered one of the causes of suicide to be a phenomenon called anomie(literally “misregulation”). Explaining this phenomenon, he emphasized that social rules play an important role in regulating people's lives. However, during times of crisis or radical social change, life experiences no longer correspond to the ideals embodied in social norms. As a result, people experience a state of confusion and disorientation. To demonstrate the impact of anomie on people's behavior, Durkheim showed that during unexpected economic downturns and booms, suicide rates tend to be higher than normal.. Social norms are destroyed, people become disoriented and all this contributes to deviant behavior (Durkheim, 1897).
The term " social disorganization"(anomie) refers to a state of society where cultural values, norms, and social relationships are absent, weakened, or contradictory.
Merton's Anomie Theory
Robert K. Merton(1938) made some changes to the concept of anomie proposed by Durkheim. He believes that the cause of deviance is the gap between the cultural goals of society and the socially approved means of achieving them. According to Merton, when people strive for financial success but become convinced that it cannot be achieved through socially approved means, they may resort to illegal means, such as racketeering, horse racing, or drug dealing. We will return to discuss Merton's views on the consequences of anomie later.
CULTUROLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
So-called cultural theories of deviance are essentially similar to the above, but emphasize the analysis of cultural values that favor deviance.
Sellin And Miller They believe that deviation occurs when an individual identifies himself with a subculture whose norms contradict the norms of the dominant culture. Edwin Sutherland(1939) argued that crime (the form of deviation that interested him primarily) are being trained. People perceive values that promote deviation in the course of communicating with the bearers of these values. If most of a person's friends and relatives are involved in criminal activities, there is a possibility that he will also become a criminal.
Criminal deviation (delinquency) is the result of preferential communication with carriers of criminal norms. Moreover, Sutherland carefully described the factors that combine to promote criminal behavior. He emphasized that everyday communication at school, at home or at regular “street hangouts” plays an important role in this. The frequency of contacts with deviants, as well as their quantity and duration, influence the intensity of a person’s assimilation of deviant values. Age also plays an important role. The younger a person is, the more readily he assimilates patterns of behavior imposed by others.
Stigma theory(labeling or branding) On one's own.
Howard Becker proposed a concept opposite to those discussed above. "The Outsiders" (1963).
Conflictological approach On one's own.
Austin Turk, Queenie (1977)
Recently, less importance has been attached to the biological or psychological factors that “push” people towards deviant behavior. Recent theories, especially "new criminology", emphasize the character of society and seek to reveal the extent to which it is interested in creating and maintaining deviance.
The newest theories are much more critical of the existing social structure; they prove the need to correct not individual people, but the entire society as a whole.
3. TYPES OF DEVIATIONS
The typologization of deviant behavior is associated with difficulties, since any of its manifestations - abortion, addiction to alcoholic beverages, eating pork, etc. – can be considered both deviant and non-deviant; everything is determined by the regulatory requirements against which they are assessed. Therefore, there is probably no point in trying to make a precise classification of types of completely deviant behavior, although some of them, such as rape and incest, are considered deviant by most people (but not all).
The classification of deviant acts proposed by Merton is the most successful of all those developed so far. According to Merton, deviance results from anomie, a gap between cultural goals and socially approved means of achieving them.
Merton's typology of deviance
Sociology as a science of society. Subject and objectives of the course.
Literature:
1) Sociology / G.V. Osipov et al. M: Mysl, 1990.
2) Marxist-Leninist sociology. / Ed. N.I. Dryakhlova. M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 1989
3) System of sociology. Pitirim Sorokin, 1920 (1941).
4) A brief dictionary of sociology.-M.: Politizdat, 1988
5) Subject and structure of sociological science, sociological research, 1981.№-1.p.90.
6) The basis of sociology. Ed. Saratov University, 1992.
Plan.
1). Sociology as the science of society
2) Object and subject of sociological science.
3) Sociology in the system of social and human sciences.
Sociology as the science of society
The term “sociology” comes from the Latin word “societas” (society) and the Greek “hoyos” (word, doctrine). From which it follows that “sociology” is the science of society in the literal sense of the word.
At all stages of history, humanity tried to comprehend society, to express its attitude towards it. (Plato, Aristotle) But the concept of “sociology” was introduced into scientific circulation French philosopher Auguste Comte in_the_30s last century. As a science, sociology was formed in the 19th century in Europe. Moreover, scientists writing in French and German participated most intensively in its formation. English languages. Auguste Comte (1798 - 1857) and then the Englishman Herbert Spencer first substantiated the need to isolate social knowledge into an independent scientific discipline, defined the subject of the new science and formulated specific methods inherent only to it. Auguste Comte was a positivist, i.e. a supporter of a theory that should have become as demonstrative and generally valid as natural scientific theories, should have been based only on the method of observation, comparative, historical and resist speculative reasoning about society. This contributed to the fact that sociology immediately became an imperial science, a science tied to the earth. Comte's point of view on sociology as a science identical to social science dominated literature until the end of the 19th century.
At the end of 19 - beginning. 20th centuries In scientific studies of society, the social began to stand out along with the economic, demographic, legal and other aspects. In this regard, the subject of sociology becomes narrower and begins to be reduced to the study of the social aspects of social development.
The first sociologist to give a narrow interpretation of sociological science was Emile Durkheim (1858 -1917) - a French sociologist and philosopher, the creator of the so-called “French sociological school.” His name is associated with the transition of sociology from a science identical to social science to a science associated with the study of social phenomena and social relations of social life, i.e. independent, standing among other social sciences.
The institutionalization of sociology in our country began after the adoption of the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars in May 1918 “On the Socialist Academy of Social Sciences,” where a special clause stated “.. one of the priority tasks is to set a number of social studies at the Petorgrad and Yaroslavl Universities.” In 1919, the Sociobiological Institute was established. In 1920, the first faculty of social sciences in Russia with a sociological department was formed at Petrograd University, headed by Pitirim Sorokin.
During this period, extensive sociological literature of a theoretical profile was published. Its main direction is to identify the relationships between Russian sociological thought and the sociology of Marxism. In this regard, various sociological schools are observed in the development of sociology in Russia. The discussion between representatives of non-Marxist sociological thought (M. Kovalevsky, P. Mikhailovsky, P. Sorokin, etc.) and the sociology of Marxism was decisively influenced by the book by N.I. Bukharin (The Theory of Historical Materialism: A Popular Textbook of Marxian Sociology M. - 1923), in which sociology was identified with historical materialism and turned into an integral part of philosophy. And after the publication of the short course “History of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks” by I.V. Stalin, sociology was abolished by administrative order, and a strict ban was imposed on the specific study of processes and phenomena of social life. sociology was declared a bourgeois pseudoscience, not only incompatible with Marexism, but also hostile to it. Basic and applied research was stopped. The very word “sociology” turned out to be outlawed and was withdrawn from scientific use, and social professionals disappeared into oblivion.
The principles, theory and methods of cognition and mastery of social reality turned out to be incompatible with personal dictatorship, voluntarism and subjectivism in the management of society and social processes. Social mythology was elevated to the level of science, and real science was declared pseudoscience.
The thaw of the sixties also affected sociology: a revival of sociological research began, they received citizenship rights, but sociology as a science did not. Sociology was absorbed by philosophy, specific social research, as incompatible with sociology and the specifics of philosophical gnosiology, was taken beyond the boundaries of social knowledge. In an effort to retain the right to conduct specific research, sociologists were forced to place the main emphasis on the “positive aspects of the country’s social development and ignore negative facts. This explains the fact that the works of many scientists of that period until the last years of “stagnation” were one-sided. Not only were they not accepted, but they also condemned the alarming signals from social networks on the problems of the destruction of nature, the increasing alienation of labor, the alienation of power from the people, the growth of nationalism. trends, etc.
Such scientific concepts as ecology, alienation, social dynamics, sociology of labor, sociology of politics, sociology of family, sociology of religion, social norm, etc. were prohibited. Their use for a scientist could result in him being included in the number of followers and propagandists of revolutionary bourgeois sociology.
Since sociological research had the right to life, by the mid-60s the first major sociological works on social engineering and specific social analysis began to appear: S. G. Strumilina, A. G. Zdravomyslova, V.A. Yadova and others. The first sociological institutions were created - the department of sociological research at the Institute of Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the laboratory of social research at Leningrad University. In 1962, the Soviet Social Association was founded. In 1969, the Institute of Concrete Social Research (from 1972 - the Institute of Sociological Research, and from 1978 - the Institute of Sociology) of the USSR Academy of Sciences was created. Since 1974, the journal “Sots issl” began to be published. But the development of sociology was constantly hampered during the period of “stagnation.” And after the publication of “Lectures on Sociology” by Yu. Levada, the Institute of Sociological Research was declared to inculcate bourgeois theoretical concepts, and a decision was made to create a Center for Public Opinion Polls on its basis. Once again the concept of “sociology” was banned and replaced by the concept of applied sociology. Theoretical sociology was completely rejected.
The ban on the development of theoretical sociology was in 1988. The seventy-year period of struggle for sociology as an independent science of society ended. (Resolution of the CPSU Central Committee of June 7, 1988 increasing the role of Marxist-Leninist sociology in solving key and social problems of Soviet society) Today in the West, much attention is paid to sociology in the USA. In the USA alone, there are 90,000 scientists working in the field of sociology, 250 faculties graduate people with a sociological education.
Ours had its first graduation of one hundred people in 1989. Now about 20,000 people are professionally involved in this specialty, but do not have a basic education, so the demand for specialists is very high.
Object and subject of sociological science.
The object of sociological knowledge is society, but defining only the object of science is not enough. For example, society is the object of almost all humanities, therefore the justification for the scientific status of sociology, like any other science, lies in the difference between the object and the subject of knowledge.
The object of knowledge is everything that the researcher’s activity is aimed at, that opposes him as an objective reality. Any phenomenon, process or relation of objective reality can be the object of study of a wide variety of sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, sociology, etc.). When we are talking about the subject of research of a specific science, then this or that part of objective reality (city, family, etc.) is not taken as a whole, but only that side of it that is determined by the specifics of this science. All other parties are considered secondary.
The phenomenon of unemployment
· economists
· psychologists
· sociologists
Each science differs from another in its subject. Thus, physics, chemistry, economics, sociology and other sciences in general study nature and society, which is characterized by an infinite variety of phenomena and processes. But each of them studies:
1. Your special side or environment of objective reality
2. Laws and patterns of this reality specific only to this science
3. Special forms of manifestation and mechanisms of action of these laws and patterns
The subject of any science is not just a certain phenomenon or process of the objective world, but the result of theoretical abstraction, which makes it possible to identify those patterns of functioning of the object being studied that are specific to this science and nothing else.
Sociology rather lately branched off from philosophy in France, political economy in Germany, and social psychology in the USA precisely for the reason that the object and subject of sociological knowledge were identified. To this day, many sociologists of various schools and directions still suffer from this serious methodological flaw.
So what is the subject of sociology? According to Comte, sociology is the only science that studies both the mind and the intellect of a person, this is done under the influence of social life.
Saint - Simon Subject sociology - social responsibilities, groups, social. institutions, social phenomena and processes, as well as interactions between them and their relationships, functioning and development.
The specificity of sociology as a science is that it studies every manifestation of human activity in a social context, i.e. in connection with society as a whole, in the interaction of various parties and levels of this social system.
Sorokin P. - “Sociology studies the phenomena of interaction between people. on the one hand, and the phenomena arising from this process of interaction, on the other.”
He adds: “...interhuman interactions,” that is, he gives boundaries.
Society is a social organism consisting of a complex, interconnected, integral and contradictory complex of social communities, institutions, collectives, groups. Each of the components of this complex is a relatively independent subject of social life and is in interaction with other elements regarding its reproduction, implementation and development as a single whole.
Society is not the sum of individuals, but an ensemble of human relationships.
For example: At present, people are the same as a year, two, or three ago, but the state of the state has changed. Why? Relationships have changed. Thus: Sociology studies the phenomena of interaction of people with each other, on the one hand, and the phenomena arising from this process of interaction, on the other.
If we imagine society in the form of a cube and roughly designate the spheres of people’s life activities, we get:
The subject of sociology is the social side of society.
So, we get that sociology studies the entire set of connections and relationships that are called social.
Social relations are relationships between groups of people occupying different positions in society, taking an inadequate part in its economic, political and spiritual life, differing lifestyles, levels and sources of income, and the structure of personal consumption.
Social relations are an expression of the mutual dependence of subjects regarding their life activities, lifestyle, attitude to society, internal self-organization, self-regulation, and relationships with other subjects.
Since connections and relationships in each specific social object (society) are always organized in a special way, the object of sociological knowledge acts as a social system.
The task of sociological science is to typologize social systems, study the connections and relationships of each typologized object at the level of patterns, obtain specific scientific knowledge about the mechanisms of their action and forms of manifestation in various social systems for their purposeful management.
So: The object of sociological knowledge, its features are associated with the concept of social, social connections and relationships and the method of their organization.
The subject of sociological science is social patterns.
Sociology is the science of the laws of formation, functioning, development of society as a whole, social relations and social communities, the mechanisms of interrelation and interaction between these communities, as well as between communities and the individual (Yadov).
Sociology in the system of social and human sciences.
Let us ask ourselves the question: Are there sufficient grounds for the creation of a special science - sociology, whose task is to study the phenomena of interaction between people?
The answer to this question depends on the solution of three preliminary questions:
Is the class of phenomena that sociology studies important enough?
· does it represent a sui generis phenomenon whose properties are not found in other classes of phenomena
· Isn’t it being studied by other sciences that appeared earlier than sociology, and therefore making the latter as an independent science redundant?
Let's try to answer these questions.
Practical and theoretical importance of sociology.
The practical importance of studying the phenomena of human interaction is undeniable, if only because we are vitally and selfishly interested in studying them.
The theoretical importance of sociology becomes obvious if we prove that the properties of the phenomena studied by it are not found in other classes of sciences and are not studied by other sciences, i.e. the last two questions need to be answered.
Let's consider them as follows
a) Sociology and physical and chemical sciences
The class of phenomena of interaction between people is not reducible to simple physical, chemical and biological processes. M. b. in the distant future, science will reduce them to the latter and explain the entire complex world of interhuman phenomena with the laws of physics and chemistry. In any case, such attempts have been and continue to take place. But for now - alas! What came of it? We have a number of formulas such as: “consciousness is the flow of a nervous-energy process,” “war, crime and punishment are the essence of the phenomenon of energy leakage,” “selling and buying is an exchange reaction,” “cooperation is an addition of forces.” , “social struggle - subtraction of forces”, “degeneration - disintegration of forces”
Even if this is true, what do we gain from such analogies? Just an inaccurate comparison.
The same conclusion can be drawn regarding the creation of social mechanics, in which the concepts of mechanics are transported into the area of human relationships.
Here the individual turns into a “material point”, his environment - socio-humans - into a “field of forces”, etc.
From here come theorems like the following: “an increase in the kinetic energy of an individual is equal to a decrease in potential energy,” “the total energy of a social group in relation to its work at some moment T is equal to the total energy that it had at the initial moment T0, increased by the total work that at this the period of time (T1-T0) was produced by all forces external to the group that acted on individuals or elements of this group,” etc.
Although this is true from a mechanical point of view, it does not give us anything to reveal interhuman interactions, because in this case, people cease to exist as people, as opposed to inanimate objects, and become only a material mass.
If crime is a drain of energy, does it mean that any dissipation of energy is at the same time a crime?
That is, in this case, what is observed is not the study of social communication between people, but the study of people as ordinary physical bodies.
All the more reason for the existence of a special science that studies people and their interactions as human beings, with all the unique richness of its content.
b) Sociology and biology, in particular ecology.
The world of human interactions is not studied by such biological disciplines as morphology, anatomy and physiology. dealing not with interhuman processes, but with phenomena given within or within the human body.
The situation is different with ecology as a part of biology. Ecology is a science that studies the relationship of an organism to its external environment, in the sense of the totality of conditions of existence (organic and inorganic). Ecology. studying the relationship of organisms to each other diverges into two branches: 300-sociology, which has as its subject the relationship of animals to each other (animal communities).
and phyto-sociology, sociology that studies the relationships of plants to each other (plant community)
As we see, ecology has as its object of study a class of phenomena similar to that. what is the subject of sociology? Both here and there the facts of interaction are studied. And here and there the processes of interaction between organisms are studied (for homo sapiens is also an organism)
Isn’t sociology thus being absorbed by ecology? The answer is: if people are no different from amoebae and other organisms, if they do not have specific properties. They can be equated between a person and an amoeba or another organism, between a person and a plant - then , yes, then no special homo-sociologist is needed. However, on the contrary, 300 - and phyto-sociology not only do not make homo-sociology superfluous, but also require its existence.
c) Sociology and psychology
1. If we talk about individual psychology, then its object and the object of sociology are different. Individual psychology studies the composition, structure and processes of the individual psyche and consciousness.
It cannot unravel the tangle of social factors, and, therefore, cannot be identified with sociology.
Collective or, as it is otherwise called, social psychology has an object of study that partially coincides with the object of sociology: these are phenomena of human interaction, the units of which are individuals “heterogeneous” and “having a weakly organized connection” (crowd, theater audience, etc.) In In such groups, interaction takes on different forms than in the aggregate “homogeneous” and “organically connected” groups that sociology studies.
It is clear that they (social psychology and social psychology) do not replace each other, and moreover, social psychology could become the main one of its sections, as a science that studies all the main forms of interaction between people.
Psychology focuses on the inner world of a person, his perception, and co-studies a person through the prism of his social connections and relationships.
d) Sociology and special disciplines that study relationships between people.
All social sciences: political science, law, the science of religion, morals, morality, art, etc. also study the phenomena of human relationships, but each from its own special point of view.
Thus, the science of law studies a special type of phenomena in human relationships: the trustor and the debtor, the spouse and the spouse.
The object of political economy is the joint economic activity of people in the sphere of production, exchange, distribution and consumption of material goods.
The science of morals studies the collective ways of thinking and acting of people
Morality is a certain type of human behavior and provides a recipe for proper interaction
Aesthetics - studies the phenomena of interaction that arise on the basis of the exchange of aesthetic reactions (between an actor and spectators, between an artist and a crowd, etc.)
In short, social sciences study one or another type of human interaction. And co occupies a special place in the system of social and human sciences.
This is explained as follows.
co is the science of society, its phenomena and processes
· it includes a general sociological theory, or theory of society, which acts as the theory and methodology of all other social and human sciences
· all social and human sciences... that study various aspects of the life of society and man, always include a social aspect, i.e. laws and patterns that are studied in one or another area of public life are implemented through the life of people
· technology and methodology for studying man and his activities, methods of social measurement, etc. developed by sociology are necessary and used by all other social and human sciences. A whole system of research has developed at the intersection of scientific and other sciences (socio-economic, socio-political, etc.)
The position of sociology among other social and human sciences can be illustrated by the following formula
If there are n different objects to study, then the sciences that study them will be n +1, i.e. n sciences that study objects, and n +1 is a theory that studies what is common to all these objects.
Co occupies a general rather than a specific place among the social and human sciences; it provides scientifically based information about society and its structures, provides an understanding of the laws and patterns of interaction of its various structures. The position of co in relation to special social disciplines is the same as the position of general biology in relation to anatomy, physiology, morphology, systematics and other special biological branches of knowledge. The position of the general part of physics - to acoustics, electronics, the study of light, etc.
e) Sociology and history
In the system of social sciences there is a discipline with which the connection of sociology is the closest and most mutually necessary. This is history
Both history and history have society and its laws in their specific manifestations as the object and subject of their research. Both sciences reproduce social reality...
Faculty of Sociology
Lecture No. 2
Function, structure and method of sociology
I. Functions of sociology
II. Structure of sociology
III. Method of sociological science
I. Functions of sociology.
The functions of each science express the diversity of its interactions and connections with the daily practice of society. The functions contain the need of society for a specific cognitive or transformative action of a given science.
The purpose of sociology is determined by the needs of the functioning and development of the social sphere of life of society and individuals.
Thus sociology, the study of social life
firstly: solves scientific problems related to the formation of knowledge about social reality, description, explanation and understanding of the processes of social development, development of the conceptual apparatus of sociology, methodology and methods of sociological research. The theories and concepts developed in this area answer two questions:
1) “what is known?” - an object;
2) “how is it known?” - method;
those. are associated with the solution of epistemological (cognitive) problems and form theoretical, fundamental sociology.
secondly: it studies problems associated with the transformation of social reality, analysis of ways and means of systematic, targeted influence on social processes. This is the field of applied sociology.
Theoretical and applied sociology differ in the goal they set for themselves, and not in the object and method of research.
Applied sociology sets itself the task, using the laws and patterns in the development of society known by fundamental sociology, to find ways and means of transforming this society in a positive direction. Therefore, she studies practical branches of human activity, for example, the sociology of politics, the sociology of law, labor, culture, etc. and answers the question
"For what?":
(for social development, for the formation of a legal society, for social management, etc.)
The division of sociological knowledge by orientation into fundamental and applied is quite arbitrary, because both make a certain contribution to solving both scientific and practical problems.
The same applies to empirical sociological research: they can also be oriented towards solving practical problems.
Taking into account these two aspects, the functions of sociology can be presented and grouped as follows:
Fundamental
Cognitive:
1) descriptive (descriptive)
2) diagnostic
3) prognostic (attempt to predict)
4) modeling of social objects
Applied
Forecast
Social design and construction
Organizational and technological
Management
Instrumental
Cognitive function
Sociology studies the social.
Let's expand on this concept, because... it is key for sociology.
Social is a set of certain properties and features of social relations, integrated by individuals or communities in the process of joint activity (interaction) in specific conditions and manifested in their relationships to each other, to their position in society, to the phenomena and processes of social life. Any system of social relations (economic, political, cultural and spiritual) concerns the relationship of people to each other and to society, and therefore has its own social aspect.
The social arises as a result of the fact that people occupy different places and roles in specific social structures, and this is manifested in their different relationships to the phenomena and processes of social life. That's what social is.
Sociology is designed to study precisely this.
On the one hand, the social is a direct expression of social practice, on the other hand, it is subject to constant change due to the influence of this very social practice on it.
Sociology is faced with the task of cognition of the stable, essential and at the same time constantly changing in the social, analysis of the relationship between the constant and the variable in the specific state of a social object.
In reality, a specific situation acts as an unknown social fact that must be realized in the interests of practice.
A social fact is a single socially significant event, typical for a given sphere of social life.
Theoretical and empirical analysis of this social fact is an expression of the cognitive function of sociology.
1). At the same time, relying on fundamental knowledge about the social process, the subject, knowledge is accumulated about the nature of the specific state of the social phenomenon, its transformation and the real result of the development of this phenomenon.
That is, the cognitive function acts as descriptive (descriptive) and diagnostic at the same time in this case.
2). But the cognitive function must cover not only the object being studied, but also the process that is required to transform it, i.e., try to predict and anticipate this process.
For example, to know, say, not only how united people are in a given group or team, united among themselves, but also what needs to be done to make them even more united, i.e. to see these ways.
To solve this problem, sociology, as a rule, relies on related sciences - economic, demographic, psychological.
3). Another direction of the cognitive function is the development of the theory and methods of sociological research, methods and techniques for collecting and analyzing sociological information.
Prognostic function.
Science in general has a predictive function.
Science is able to build a short-term or long-term forecast based on:
Knowledge of the quality and essence of reality;
Knowledge of the laws of functioning of this reality;
Knowledge of the laws of reality development
When it comes to social phenomena, forecasting is especially important here, because it shows:
The need for certain changes;
The ability to make these changes.
Sociology in this case is based on one side:
– knowledge of the general foundations of the development of the society under study, its general prospects;
with another:
– knowledge of the specific capabilities of an individual social subject.
For example: predicting the development prospects of a particular state today. enterprises, we rely on the general trend of today's transformations in the public sector (privatization, creation of joint-stock companies, termination of subsidies to unprofitable enterprises, etc.) and on studying the potential capabilities of a given specific enterprise, taking into account all its features (who is in charge, what is the contingent of employees, what is the raw material base, scientific, material and technical, social and everyday, etc.), i.e., all the positive and negative factors of a given subject. And on this basis, the estimated characteristics of the possible future state of the subject in the forecast period are built. (how the social structure of the team will change, job satisfaction, what level of development will be achieved, etc.) and effective recommendations are drawn up.
The prognostic function of sociology is a reflection of society’s need to create conditions for the conscious development and implementation of a scientifically based prospect for the development of each social division of society.
Social forecasting must take into account the reverse impact of the forecast on people’s consciousness and their activities, which can lead to its “self-realization” (or “self-destruction”). This feature of forecasting requires the development of a scientific forecast in the form of options, development alternatives that describe possible forms and manifestations, the pace of development of processes taking into account control influences, as well as their qualitative changes.
There are 2 types of social forecasts, which combine extrapolation (prediction) and goal setting in different ways:
– search (designed to describe a possible state based on current trends taking into account control actions)
– normative (related to goal setting, describes the desired state, ways and means of achieving it).
Classification of forecasts by forecast periods:
– short-term
– medium-term
– long-term
There is a classification by role: For example: Forecasts, warnings, etc.
Tools and methods used for forecasting:
- statistical analysis;
– construction of time series with subsequent extrapolation;
– method of expert assessments of main trends;
- math modeling.
The best effect is a combination of different methods
Sociologists are conducting forecast developments in various areas. For example:
– development of the social structure of society;
– social problems of labor;
– social problems of the family;
– social problems of education;
– social consequences of decisions made (the most relevant ones).
Forecasting must be distinguished from utopias and futurological concepts (lat. futurum future + ... ology), which perform corresponding ideological functions.
Functions of social design and construction
Social design (from the Latin projectus - protruding forward) is a scientifically based design of a system of parameters for a future object or a qualitative new state of an existing object. This is a form of social management.
In social design, it is social problems that are solved, regardless of what the object is: social (hospital, school), production (plant, factory), architectural (neighborhood), etc., i.e. social parameters are included in the project, requiring comprehensive provision of conditions for the implementation of all interrelated subgoals of social design, namely:
– socio-economic efficiency;
– environmental optimality;
– social integration;
– social and organizational manageability;
– social activity.
This is stage I.
Then stage II: a range of pressing social problems is identified, the solution of which is necessary to achieve each subgoal.
Stage III: Specific tasks for developing a social project are determined.
1). as a system of social parameters of the designed object and their quantitative indicators;
2). as a set of specific measures that ensure the implementation of the designed indicators and qualitative characteristics of the future facility.
When determining the degree of feasibility of social projects, the business game method is effective. This method has proven itself and is used in practice.
Organizational and technological function
An organizational-technological function is a system of means that determine the order and clear rules of practical actions to achieve a specific result in improving social organization, a social process or social relations, and solving various kinds of social problems. Increasing labor productivity, improving management organization, purposefully influencing public opinion through the media, etc. In other words, this is the creation of social technologies.
The organizational and technological function is, as it were, a continuation of the function of social design, because Without a project, an expected social result, it is impossible to create a social technology and develop measures for its implementation.
With the creation of a network of social services in the national economy, this function is becoming more and more widespread.
Social technologies are based on empirical experience and theoretical principles.
Management function
Scientific results of sociology -
Offers;
Techniques;
Assessments of various characteristics of the subject, his practice;
All this is the source material for developing and making management decisions.
Consequently, in order to make a competent decision on one or another social problem, so that it has a scientific basis, sociological activity is necessary.
For example: A management decision related to a change in the work regime in a work team requires a sociological analysis of direct and indirect factors that arise:
In the field of labor activity;
In the sphere of everyday life, leisure, etc.
The managerial function of sociology is manifested:
In social planning;
When developing social indicators and standards;
Instrumental function
Along with general methods of social cognition, sociology develops its own approaches and techniques for analyzing social reality.
With the help of some methods, a social phenomenon is cognized and reflected in its specific state;
with the help of others, ways of transforming it are being developed.
Those. this is a separate and independent function of sociology aimed at developing methods and tools for
Registration
Processing
Analysis
Generalization
primary sociological information.
Sociological research itself is the most general tool in sociology, and it includes a whole series of methods, the development and improvement of which continues. And this activity of developing research tools for social cognition occupies a significant place in sociology.
II. The structure of sociology.
Sociology is a fairly differentiated system of knowledge.
Each of its structural parts is determined by the needs of cognitive and productive activity and, in turn, characterizes the multifaceted and multipurpose purpose of sociology as a science.
The structure of sociology can be imagined as consisting of 4 main blocks:
I. Theoretical and methodological foundations of sociology.
II. A huge number of social theories (sociology of journalism, among others), i.e. all the problems.
III. Methods of sociological research, methods of processing, analysis and generalization of sociological information, i.e. empirical and methodological arsenal of science.
IV. Social engineering activities, social technologies, i.e. knowledge on the organization and activities of social development services, on the role of sociology in the national economy and management.
For Part I:
The study of a social phenomenon involves identifying the essence and nature of the social phenomenon, its historical specificity, and its connection with the economic and political aspects of life. This stage of cognition represents the fundamental theoretical foundations for the study of any social phenomenon. Without possessing this fundamental theoretical knowledge, it is impossible to study a social phenomenon.
For Part II:
Sociology deals with individual social phenomena (single or mass, reduced to an average statistical fact). Two points stand out from their study:
1) knowledge of the nature of a specific social phenomenon (personality, work collective, self-expression of the subject through any activity, manifestation of the subject’s social position in relation to something or opinion). It is systematized in special sociological theories, reveals the essence of a particular phenomenon, the specificity of the expression of the social in it.
2) knowledge of the nature of the very state of a social phenomenon as a moment and limit in its development.
For Part III:
The specificity of cognitive activity - the theory and methods of sociological research, methods of collecting, processing, and analyzing primary information about the state of a social phenomenon - is an important independent part of sociology.
For Part IV:
The theory of organization and activities of social development services, revealing the functions and role of a sociologist, is an independent specific part of sociology. This is a tool for transforming practice, which is owned by the head of any enterprise, workers of sociological services, and government agencies.
III. Method of sociological science.
Hegel said: “All philosophy is summed up in method.”
So in sociology - the specificity of the object and subject of science determined the specificity of its method.
Since in order to understand a social process, phenomenon, etc. it is necessary to obtain primary detailed information about it, its strict selection, analysis, then it is obvious that the tool in the process of such knowledge is sociological research.
Sociological research is one of the main methods in sociology. It includes:
1) Theoretical part
(- development of a research program,
Justification of goals and objectives,
Definition of hypotheses and stages of research).
2) Instrumental part (procedural part)
(- a set of information collection tools
Choosing a method of collecting information
Definition of the effective sample
Ability to process information
Obtaining characteristics of the state of the reality under study).
Faculty of Sociology
Lecture No. 3 (+ see lecture on MG)
II. Social laws: essence, classification
Faculty of Sociology
Literature:
A social phenomenon always has a certain social quality.
For example: “A group of students” is a social phenomenon.
Its qualities:
1) these are people who study;
2) have secondary or secondary specialized education;
3) a certain age (up to 35 years);
4) a certain level of intelligence;
These qualities of a social phenomenon are infinitely diverse and are in constant motion.
Example: - “group of full-time students”
Some quality characteristics;
- “a group of evening students”;
- “a group of technical university students”;
- “a group of students of a humanitarian university;
Specific states of a social phenomenon
Other quality characteristics.
All characteristics are mobile and appear as very different shades of the “whole”, i.e. the social phenomenon itself as a whole.
This unity and diversity, constancy and mobility of any social phenomenon in its specific state is reflected in the corresponding categories, concepts and laws of sociology.
To describe the specific state of a particular social phenomenon, the entire system of knowledge is necessary:
1) as relative to the social in general;
2) and in relation to the special area of a given social phenomenon down to its specific state;
From what has been said we can conclude:
In understanding any social phenomenon in sociology, it is necessary to take into account two interrelated points (contradictions).
1) Recognition of the individuality and specificity of the social phenomenon being studied (in our example, a group of students).
2) Identification of essential characteristics of a social phenomenon associated with the manifestation of statistical patterns of distribution of characteristics common to a given class of social phenomena, which manifest themselves in certain conditions and give grounds for drawing conclusions about the natural nature of the development, functioning and structure of both this social phenomenon and the whole class of related phenomena.
The theory of probability and the law of large numbers apply here:
The higher the probability of the manifestation of a certain characteristic, the more reliable and justified our judgment about a particular social phenomenon and its qualitative and quantitative characteristics.
The specificity of the object and subject of science determines the specificity of the categories (concepts) of a given science.
The extent to which the category apparatus has been developed characterizes the level of knowledge in a particular science. And vice versa - deepening knowledge in science is enriched by categories and concepts.
For sociology, one of the main and extremely broad categories is the category of “social”.
Social in its content is a reflection of the organization and life of society as a subject of the historical process. It accumulates experience, traditions, knowledge, abilities, etc.
Therefore, knowledge of the social manifests itself in the following functions:
Promotes understanding to what extent a social phenomenon, process, community contributes to the harmonious development of society and the individual in their integral unity;
Determines the content of interests, needs, motives, attitudes in the activities of social communities and individuals;
Speaking about “social”, I want to remind you: in the 1st lecture we said that this concept is key for sociology and wrote down its definition:
Social is a set of certain properties and features of social relations, integrated by individuals or communities in the process of joint activity (interaction) in specific conditions and manifested in their relationships to each other, to their position in society, to the phenomena and processes of social life.
But I would like you to have a clearer understanding of this area of human relations and therefore I would like to draw your attention to the following:
Historical reference:
K. Marx and F. Engels used two terms in their works:
Public
Social
The concept of “public”, “social relations”, etc. were used when talking about society as a whole (economic, political, spiritual, etc. spheres).
It was often identified with the concept of “civil”.
The concept “social” was used in the study of the nature of people’s relationships to each other, to the factors and conditions of life, the position and role of a person in society, etc.
When developing the theory of historical materialism, K. Marx and F. Engels paid main attention to the interaction of all aspects of the life of society and therefore used the term “social relations”.
Subsequently, Marxist scientists lost sight of this circumstance and began to equate the concepts of “public” and “social.”
And when sociology was replaced by historical materialism, the specific object of sociological knowledge, social connections and relationships, was lost.
However, in Western European countries and the United States, the concept of “social” has traditionally been used in a narrow sense.
And in order to designate phenomena and processes related to society as a whole, the concept “societal” was introduced, used to characterize society as a whole, the entire system of social relations (economic, political, social, spiritual).
In our country, the concepts of “public” and “civil” were used. The first is as a synonym for “social”, the second is as a term of legal science, i.e. the true semantic meaning of the social was lost along with the science of sociology itself.
(End of historical information).
The social sphere is the sphere of reproduction of the subject, that is, the reproduction of the subject for the future and maintaining its existence in the present, so that it can function fruitfully in the spheres of production, political, cultural and spiritual.
The world is systematized: complete.
Every whole is a set of some elements and they make up a system, which means they have a communication structure.
Likewise:
Society is a whole, and society is a multitude, but not just people, but their connections, which forms a multitude and a whole.
"Whole"
"A bunch of"
"Structure"
"Function"
“Social role”
"Position"
Thus, we received the social structure of society.
To study society, you need to know its structure, and therefore the relationships and their connections.
As Mayakovsky said: “If the stars light up, it means someone needs it.”
Likewise, if there are social relationships, then this is necessary.
Social relationships are functional.
Those. Each member of society has his own functions (journalist, doctor, teacher, metallurgist, pensioner, husband, wife, etc.).
This defines a “social role”—a normatively approved mode of behavior.
“Position” is the place that an individual occupies, that is, how he relates to his role and functions.
We examined the concept of “social”.
The next, no less important category in sociology, with which all other groups and series of categories and concepts are consistent, is the category “social in its specific state.” Whether this concerns any social subject (social community, family, work collective, individual, etc.) or some social process (lifestyle, communication, struggle for the implementation of social interests, etc.), it is associated with identifying the social in its specific implementation.
Here, knowledge about each of the subject areas is of exceptional importance.
This knowledge, as well as the corresponding concepts and category apparatus, are accumulated and systematized in special sociological theories.
An independent and significant place in the system of categories and concepts of sociology is occupied by categories (concepts) that reflect the specifics of collecting and processing social information, organization and behavior of sociological research.
Here the categories are: “sociological research”, “programming and organization of social services”. research”, “technique and methodology of social. research”, “methods of collecting primary information”, “social tools. research”, etc.
The fourth section of sociology has its own conceptual apparatus: “social engineering”, “social design”, “social technologies”, etc.
II. Sociological laws: essence, classification
The core of any science is its laws.
A law is an essential connection or essential relationship that has universality, necessity and repeatability under given conditions. Social law is an expression of the essential, necessary connection of social phenomena and processes, primarily the connections of people’s social activities or their actions. Social laws express the stable interaction of forces and their uniformity, which reveals the essence of phenomena and processes.
To study social laws and patterns means to establish significant and necessary connections between various elements of the social sphere.
Classification of laws.
Laws vary in duration
General – valid in all social systems.
(Law of value and commodity-money relations).
Specific - operating within one or more social systems.
(The law of transition from one type of society to another)
Laws vary in their degree of generality.
Laws - characterizing the development of the social sphere as a whole.
Laws - determining the development of individual elements of the social sphere: classes, groups, nations, etc.
Laws differ in the way they are manifested:
Dynamic - determine the direction, factors and forms of social change, fix a rigid, unambiguous connection between the sequence of events in specific conditions
Statistical (stochastic) - reflect trends while maintaining the stability of a given social whole, determine the connection between phenomena and processes not rigidly, but with a certain degree of probability. It records only individual deviations from the line of movement specified by the dynamic law. They do not characterize the behavior of each object in the class of phenomena under study, but some property or feature inherent in the class of objects as a whole. They establish the trend of behavior of a given class of objects in accordance with their general properties and characteristics.
Causal - they record strictly determined connections in the development of social phenomena (to increase the birth rate, it is necessary to improve social and living conditions).
Functional - reflect empirically observed and strictly repeating mutual dependencies between social phenomena.
Example: method of production during the transition from one social-economy. Formations to another
Or the law about the determining role of being in relation to consciousness.
Example: Dependence of labor productivity on qualifications; knowledge from activity in class.
Example: demographic processes, staff turnover processes.
Women's increased economic independence increases the likelihood of divorce.
Laws of development (development of self-government).
The law of development determines the transition from one quality of social. object to another.
Laws of functioning (distribution of role functions in the family)
Typology of social laws according to forms of connections (5 categories)
(Example: Under totalitarian governance there is always a latent opposition).
II category. Laws reflecting development trends. They determine the dynamics of the structure of a social object, the transition from one order of relationships to another. This determining influence of the previous state of the structure on the subsequent one has the character of a law of development.
III category. Laws that establish functional relationships between social phenomena. The preservation of the social system is ensured, but its elements are mobile. These laws characterize the variability of the system, the ability to assume different states.
If the laws of development determine the transition from one quality of a social object to another, then the laws of functioning create the prerequisites for this transition.
(Example: The more actively students work in class, the better they master the educational material).
(Example: A necessary condition for increasing the birth rate in the country is improving social and living conditions for women).
(Example: Increased economic independence of women increases the likelihood of divorce.
The growth of alcoholism in the country increases the likelihood of childhood pathology).
Social actions are characterized by a random variable. These random variables together form a certain average resultant value, which acts as a form of manifestation of the social law.
Social regularity cannot manifest itself other than in the average, social, mass regularity with the interaction of individual deviations in one direction or another.
To identify the average resultant it is necessary:
1). Establish the direction of actions of similar groups of people in the same conditions;
2). Establish a system of social connections within the framework of which this activity is determined;
3). To establish the degree of repetition and stability of social actions and interactions of groups of individuals in the conditions of a given social system of functioning.
If we watch one person, we will not see the law. If we observe a set, then taking into account the deviations of each individual in one direction or another, we obtain the resulting results, i.e. pattern.
Therefore, a sample population is taken from the General Population and a prediction is made from it for the entire population.
If the sample is made accurately, then the pattern is derived extremely accurately.
Thus, sociology as a science is based on a complex hierarchical system of laws that characterize the peculiarities of being in its various manifestations.
Faculty of Sociology
Lecture No. 4
Literature:
I. Junior Sociology. Ed. N.N. Dryakhlova. M. Publishing house of Moscow Faculty, 1989. pp. 55-83, 186-194, 249-256
II. Sociology G.V. Osipov M. Mysl, 1990 pp. 50-79, 119-185.
III. Social structure of Soviet society: history and modernity - M. Politizdat 1987
IV. A brief dictionary of sociology - M. Politizdat 1988
1) Social as an objective essence of sociological science.
2) Social structures and relationships.
Social as the objective essence of sociological analysis. Social structures and relationships.
I. Social as a subject community of social. Sciences.
1. When it comes to production processes, the interactions of people and various social groups and communities regarding the production and exchange of consumer goods are considered ® mutual dependence is formed between people in society regarding their participation in social labor, the distribution and consumption of its results ® develops and the system of economic relations of society is functioning.
2. People, due to the need for a certain organization of the life of society, enter into interaction and interdependence with each other regarding the organization and exercise of political power; the political sphere of society’s life is formed and operates (political relations are formed).
3. People interact regarding the production and distribution of spiritual values in society - knowledge, orientations, norms, principles, etc. ® the cultural-spiritual sphere of society’s life is formed (cultural-spiritual relations are formed).
4. What is the social side or sphere of life of society?
The need for the social as a special phenomenon in the life of society lies in the complexity of the organization of society itself as an integral subject of the historical process. This complexity is expressed in the fact that society is built, forms its own systems and organs: 1). By function (production, political, demographic, etc.; 2) By the level of connection of people into various social formations (family, work collective, settlement, ethnic community, etc.).
Society (see the definition in lecture No. 1, p. 10 or abbreviated here) is an organism that is a system of relatively independent elements, each of which implements an integral life process and is in constant interaction with all other subjects of the social process regarding its implementation .
As a subject of life, any individual, any social organization or community occupies a specific position in the organization of society, in its structure and structure. He (the subject) needs historically determined conditions for his existence and reproduction, which would be adequate to his life needs. This is the main social interest of a given subject, characterizing its social position.
The essence of the social as a phenomenon of existence lies precisely in the fact that people, their diverse social groups and communities are in constant interaction regarding both maintaining their social position in society and improving their life process.
Thus, society has a complex functional and structural organization, in which all subjects are in interaction with each other regarding the integrity and qualitative certainty of their way of life and social position in society. ® This expresses the necessity, specificity, certainty of the social, its essence and significance in sociology.
Social is a set of certain properties and features of social relations, integrated by individuals or communities in the process of joint activity (interaction) in specific conditions and manifested in their relationships to each other, to their position in society, to the phenomena and processes of social life. Any system of social relations (economics, socialist politics) concerns the relationship of people to each other and to society: it has its own social aspect.
A social phenomenon or process occurs when the behavior of even one individual is influenced by another or a group (community) regardless of their physical presence.
The social arises as a result of the fact that people occupy different places and roles in specific social structures, and this is manifested in their different relationships to the phenomena and processes of social life.
On the one hand, the social is a direct expression of social practice, on the other hand, it is subject to constant change due to the influence of this very social practice on it.
Social in its content is a reflection of the organization and life of society as a subject of the historical process. It accumulates experience, traditions, knowledge, abilities, etc.
Therefore, knowledge of the social manifests itself in the following functions:
As a criterion for assessing the compliance of the state of society and its elements with the achieved level of social progress;
Promotes understanding to what extent any social phenomenon, process, community contributes to the harmonious development of society and the individual in an integral unity;
Acts as the basis for the development of social norms, standards, goals and forecasts of social development;
– determines the content of interests, needs, motives, attitudes in the activities of social communities and individuals;
Has a direct impact on the formation of social values and life positions of people, their way of life;
It acts as a measure for assessing each type of social relations, their compliance with actual practice and the interests of society and individuals.
Because economic, political and other social relations represent the mutual dependence of individuals regarding the implementation of a specific type of activity necessary for society, and, accordingly, occupying a place in the organization of society, and, accordingly, occupying a place in the organization of society for the implementation of this activity (industrial organizations, political organizations, etc.) .p.) then social relations are the mutual dependence of individuals, large and small groups regarding their life activities, lifestyle in general and place in the organization of society, i.e. regarding the integrity of the existence of society and man as subjects of life.
Social relations between groups of people occupying different positions in society, taking unequal participation in its economic, political and spiritual life, differing in lifestyle, level and sources of income, and structure of personal consumption.
Society is formed on the basis of property, accumulated labor in the form of material wealth and culture.
Labor as a purposeful activity of a person, as a manifestation of his generic essence, is a fundamental factor in the formation of the social.
The quality of a social phenomenon, subject or process has not only a general historical nature, but also a specific historical essence:
the peculiarity of the inclusion and participation of people in social production, in the production of all social life, determines the specifics of the social in various historical periods and phases of the development of society.
An important expression of the social is public opinion. In it and through it, the social position of the subject and his attitude to both the conditions of life as a whole and to individual events and facts are revealed.
Public opinion is the most sensitive expression of a subject's social position to mobile devices.
Public opinion is a state of mass consciousness that contains the hidden or explicit attitude of various social communities to problems, events and facts of reality.
It is indeed an important expression of the social.
We said that public opinion is sensitive to the social position of the subject.
Let's remember what a position is:
Society is a “Whole”, consisting of a “many” individuals, their relationships represent a system or “structure” of connections, each in this social structure has its own “functions”, and therefore fulfills its “social role” (normatively approved mode of behavior ) and have your own “position” (the place that an individual occupies, i.e., how he relates to his role, functions).
But besides this, there is another important concept that sociology studies: meanings.
Society is multidimensional. It is measured and changes in four dimensions (the cube: height, depth and width) plus time (social time). But there is also a fifth dimension - quasi (supposedly a dimension).
Let us conventionally depict it as a cylinder inscribed in a cube. This cylinder is meanings.
This cylinder also has a time dimension.
Parable: Three homosapiens were walking and saw a stone. One thought: it would be nice to make a weapon out of it for hunting mammoths”; another – “it would be good to use it for the hearth”; the third - “it would be nice to make a head out of it, carve out a head.”
That is, the object is in space, outside of us, and its essence lives in our consciousness, depending on our needs. Everyone has their own needs and their own vision.
Likewise, journalists invest their essence, that is, from the same object, depending on their subjective perception of this objective object, they extract their essence, depending on their position.
That is, each subject has his own idea of the same object, the same connections, relationships.
The task of sociology is to delve into these meanings, to recognize them in every social phenomenon, process, and relationship.
The social is diverse, because events, facts, situations are diverse, which are the expression of the specific state of a particular social phenomenon.
On the other hand, we are talking about the integrity, specificity and certainty of the organization of society, that is, social phenomena.
Thus, it is necessary to take into account the unity and diversity of the social in its cognition.
So, we have established that the essence of the social lies in the interaction of people regarding both maintaining their social position and improving their life process.
In other words:
Social or social phenomenon is the reproduction of man as such, his preservation and his development.
The sphere of life of society is a special type of its life activity, the process of development of society in which one or another function of society is realized. (for example: in the productive sphere the production function is implemented, etc.).
The social sphere is the process of functioning and development of society, in which its social function, social existence itself, is realized, i.e. holistic reproduction and enrichment of society and humans as subjects of the life process.
Everything that is aimed by society at ensuring the immediate life of people, their reproduction, and on this basis the reproduction of society as a whole, characterizes the social environment of life of society and people.
Those. The social environment is everything that is directed by society to ensure the immediate life of people, their reproduction and the development of their abilities and needs.
It can also be said that
The social sphere is the process of self-expression of society and man as the creator of his own life.
Based on the dialectics of the general, the particular and the individual, it should be emphasized that each subject (person, family, work collective, population of a city, village, district, etc.) is included in its own way in the social sphere of society. For each of the subjects, this environment is the sphere of his valuable life existence and life reproduction, the sphere of self-realization and self-development.
The social sphere can be represented as a system of characteristics of the social sphere, highlighting the fundamental needs of people's lives and how to satisfy them.
(For example: the need for housing and its actual satisfaction).
Identification of the characteristics of the social sphere makes it possible to develop their indicators, which should take into account both the normative-calculated, cancer and the actually achieved possibility of satisfying needs due to the potential created in society and the method of such satisfaction.
(For example:
By 1986, the average real total living space per person in the country was 14.6 square meters. m, and the calculated rational norm assumed 20 sq. m per person. The country needed to invest “1,000 billion rubles in housing construction.)
The quantitative characteristics of the social sphere represent a special aspect - social infrastructure.
Social infrastructure is the material and organizational components of the social sphere. This is a complex of institutions, structures, vehicles designed to serve the population, as well as a set of relevant sectors of the economy and social relations taking into account the population, i.e. real needs.
Based on the state of the infrastructure, one can assess the level and quality of satisfaction of needs, their correlation with the level of developed countries and the requirements of the development of modern civilization.
The structure of occupations and the activities of people characterizes the development of the social sphere and its infrastructure. Social policy is aimed at improving classes and their structure.
Social policy is the activity of the state to manage the development of the social sphere of society and aimed at raising the labor and socio-political activity of the masses, satisfying their needs, interests, increasing well-being, culture, image and quality of life.
At the same time, the development and use of social technologies by special social services are of great importance.
Faculty of Sociology
Lecture No. 5
I. Methodology
Literature
Methodological apparatus of sociological science.
I. Methodology.
Methodology is a system of principles of scientific research.
Example: “Social tension increased in September.”
How to come to such a theoretical conclusion?
Necessary:
Study the social structure of society;
Determine indicators of the standard of living of society and its social communities;
Study the dynamics of changes in these indicators over a certain period; (measure them);
Study the reaction of people and individual communities to changes in living standards and changes in indicators;
This is a methodology: a system of principles of scientific research, a set of research procedures, techniques and methods for collecting and processing data.
There are three levels of methodology:
Scientific branches/
Methodology levels
In science in general
In sociology in particular
I level (upper)
Philosophical, or universal scientific methodology
Level II (intermediate)
General scientific
Sociological methodology
III level (lower)
Specific scientific
Special methodology of sociological research
I Level.
Philosophy as a methodology equips the researcher with knowledge of the most general laws of development of nature, society and thinking, allows one to embrace the world in its entirety, determine the place of the problem being studied among many others, its connection with them, etc.
Discussing the methods of cognition, A. Einstein wrote: “To apply his method, the theorist needs as a foundation some general assumptions, the so-called principles, from which he can draw consequences.”
Philosophy as a methodology, representing a system of the most general concepts, laws, principles of the movement of matter, directs human activity in a certain direction. In this case, either the entire arsenal of known philosophical generalizations can be used, or a group of some general ideas, or one of the principles that begins to act as the main one, organizing, grouping other ways of cognition around itself.
The philosophical level or the level of universal scientific methodology is an expression of the heuristic (i.e. search) function. And the main thing here is the dialectical approach to knowledge.
Thus, dialectics asserts that the qualities or stable properties of an object (a social object in our case) are revealed as something that is preserved in the diverse relationships of this object with others.
All the basic provisions arising from the laws and categories of philosophy act as methodological principles:
Materialistic understanding of social reality;
Dialectical development;
Unity and struggle of opposites;
Dialectical negation;
Essence and phenomenon;
Relationship between quantitative and qualitative changes
They express a conscious philosophical position.
The methodological principle that follows from this:
It is necessary to provide for certain research procedures in order to “grab” precisely the stable properties of the object.
For example: “What is the structure of motives for work?”
Three types of specific situations are considered:
1) School graduates who are deciding on choosing a profession are surveyed. They evaluate the various advantages and disadvantages of the chosen specialty; value orientations and personally significant standards for assessing the content and conditions of work are identified. This is a projective (imaginary) situation.
2) They interview young workers who evaluate the positive and negative aspects of their actual work. This is a real balanced situation.
3) Workers who change jobs are surveyed, because for some reason they are not satisfied with it. This is a stressful or even conflict situation.
Comparing the data from the three situations, we find that some motives for work are constantly present in all three cases:
Earnings amount;
Opportunity for job advancement;
Prestige of the profession.
This is the motivational core, i.e. stable combinations characterizing the attitude towards work in its various states and connections.
The next statement of dialectics is associated with the need to consider social processes in their development and change.
(In the example above, this means interviewing these workers after "15 years."
This example shows how the rules of procedure implement a general methodological requirement:
consider phenomena and processes in the diversity of their connections and dynamics, thus identifying their stable and changeable properties.
In addition to the dialectical principle, one can also mention the principle of systematic theoretical knowledge and practice.
Being a philosophical principle that concretizes the dialectical-materialistic principle of universal connection, in relation to specific scientific directions it acts as a general scientific one, on its basis a certain general scientific methodology is developed.
So, level II.
General scientific methodology allows us to have certain laws and principles of research that are effective in various fields of knowledge.
For example, electromagnetic theory can be considered as a methodology for studying a wide range of electrodynamic phenomena.
For sociology, this is the general methodology of sociological research or sociological methodology. (from the Greek metodos - the path of research or knowledge and the Greek logos - word, concept, teaching) - the doctrine of the method of social cognition.
Social reality is specific, therefore, for its knowledge there is its own methodology - sociological methodology. Since there are different worldview approaches in sociology, today in the West alone, according to the main currents of philosophical thought, about 19 schools and directions of sociological methodology are subdivided. The most irreconcilable opposition remains between positivism and antipositivism. Until recently, the Marxist-Leninist methodology, which is based on the method of materialist dialectics, was officially in force in our country.
Acting as applied logic, general sociological theory helps to find the fundamental structure and main lines of relationships in the phenomenon being studied in order to move on to a targeted empirical study of the object.
(For example: “Increasing social tension” - everything up to empirical measurements, everything is sociological methodology, i.e. the methodology of the general theory of sociology.)
Sociological positivism is the leading direction in sociology of the 19th century. (Saint-Simon, Comte, Mill, Spencer). The main aspiration of positivism is the rejection of speculative reasoning about society, the creation of a “positive” social theory, which should have become as demonstrative and generally valid as natural scientific theories.
Positivism is the leading direction in sociology of the 19th century, the main methodological guidelines were formulated by Saint-Simon, the main concepts were developed in the works of Comte, Mill, and Spencer.
It developed in opposition to theorizing.
The main aspirations of positivism are the departure from speculative reasoning about society, the creation of a social theory that is evidence-based, like natural science theories. (Observational, comparative, historical and mathematical methods).
Structuralism is a methodological movement that proceeds from the idea of the predominance and advantage of structural change in any phenomena of the surrounding world: from structural analysis as a method of understanding nature and society.
(Montesquieu 1689-1755; Saint-Simon 1760-1825, Comte 1798-1856, Spencer, Durigame).
Functionalism is one of the main methodological approaches. The essence is in highlighting the elements of social interaction, determining their place and meaning (function) (Spencer, Durrheim, etc.)
A special sociological research methodology or a specific sociological research methodology.
In science in general, specific scientific methodology reflects the sum of patterns, techniques, and principles that are effective for studying a specific area of reality.
The methodology of specific sociological research is the doctrine of methods for collecting, processing and analyzing the utilization of primary sociological information.
Research activities are guided by the following principles:
1) constant reference to the object of study in order to concretize knowledge and achieve truth;
2) comparison with the results of previously acquired knowledge in science;
3) dividing all cognitive actions into simpler procedures in order to test them using proven methods
The specification of these principles is in the nature of requirements for conducting sociological research.
Summarize. The concept of “methodology” is a collective term that has various aspects. General scientific methodology is a method of searching for the most general approaches to the study of a subject. General sociological methodology provides guidance on the fundamental principles for the development of particular sociological theories in relation to their factual basis. The latter, in turn, contain special methodological functions, acting as the applied logic of research in a given subject area.
II. Methods, techniques, procedures.
In contrast to methodology, research methods and procedures are a system of more or less formalized rules for collecting, processing and analyzing information.
To study the problem posed, methodological premises and principles play a decisive role in the choice of certain techniques.
Neither in Soviet nor in foreign practice is there a uniform usage of words regarding particular methods of sociological research. Some authors call the same system of actions a method, others - a technique, others - a procedure or technique, and sometimes - a methodology.
Let's introduce the following meanings of words:
Method is the main way of collecting, processing or analyzing data.
Technique is a set of special techniques for the effective use of a particular method.
Methodology is a concept that denotes a set of technical techniques associated with a given method, including particular operations, their sequence and interrelation.
For example: Method - questionnaire survey:
Some open questions
Part of the closed questions (options of possible answers are proposed)
These two methods form the technique of this questionnaire survey.
Application form, i.e. data collection tool,
Instructions to the questionnaire
Methodology.
Procedure - the sequence of all operations, the general system of actions and the method of organizing the study. This is the most general concept related to the system of methods for collecting and processing sociological information.
For example: Conducted under the guidance of B.A. Grushin's study of the formation and functioning of public opinion as a typical mass process included 69 procedures. Each of them is like a completed miniature empirical study, which is organically included in the general theoretical and methodological program.
Thus, one of the procedures is devoted to the analysis of the content of central and local media on problems of international life;
the other aims to establish the effect of these materials on the reader;
the third is a study of a number of other sources that influence awareness of international issues;
Some procedures use the same method of data collection (for example, quantitative text analysis), but different techniques (text analysis units can be larger - topic and smaller - concepts, names).
The methodology of this major study is concentrated in its general design, the essence of the hypotheses developed and tested further, in the final generalization and theoretical understanding of the results obtained.
An analysis of all the methodological, technical and procedural features of the work of a sociologist shows that, along with special methods, general scientific methods are used, borrowed from other disciplines, especially from economic, historical, and psychological.
A sociologist must master the techniques of statistical analysis, and therefore know the relevant branches of mathematics and statistics, otherwise he will not be able to correctly determine the method of processing and analyzing the collected material, quantify the content of the primary material, i.e. quantitatively display qualitative features (represent the properties and relationships of social objects in quantitative form).
III. Sociological research is the main method of sociology. Its classification.
(See Lecture on “The Program and Organization of Sociological Research of the Social Sphere” pp. 4-14).
Faculty of Sociology
Lecture No. 6
Methodology and principles of a systematic approach to the analysis of social objects.
I. Methodology
II. Methods, techniques, procedures.
III. An integrated approach and system-functional analysis in sociology.
Literature
I. V. A. Yadov “Sociological research: methodology, program, methods” M. Science 1987
II.M-l sociology/Under. ed. N. I. Dryakhlova, B. V. Knyazeva, V. Ya. Nechaeva - M. Moscow University Publishing House, 1989 (p. 124)
Averyanov A. N. Systemic understanding of the world: methodological problems M. Politizdat, 1985
Methodology and principles of a systematic approach to the analysis of social objects.
III. An integrated approach and system-functional analysis in sociology.
When studying social reality, an integrated approach is of fundamental methodological importance. This is explained by the fact that every social phenomenon is multifaceted. In addition, no less important are those specific components that characterize the diverse conditions that determine a given social phenomenon.
Let's highlight them:
I. Correspondence and consistency of the dynamics of a social phenomenon with the general perspective of the development of the socio-economic system, i.e. how and to what extent the specificity of the socio-economic formation is represented in a given social phenomenon, to what extent it is adequate.
II. The role and place of this social phenomenon in the existing socio-economic system.
III. The connection of this social phenomenon with a specific type of production, its specificity and scale (branch of the national economy, enterprise, team, etc.).
IV. The connection of a social phenomenon with a region, certain territorial and economic conditions, their mutual dependence and conditionality.
V. Ethnic characteristics of a social phenomenon, the influence of the national factor on the course of the social process.
VI. The political nature and political form of this social phenomenon.
VII. The social phenomenon and the time in which it occurs, i.e. specific conditions (established norms, value orientations, opinions, traditions, etc.).
VIII. The social subject with which the social phenomenon is associated, the level of its organization, the degree of socio-psychological stability, maturity, etc.
All of these factors are in constant interaction. The specific state of a social phenomenon is the integrated result of this interaction.
Consequently, it is possible to correctly understand a social phenomenon only through a comprehensive coverage of the action of all the diverse forces and dependencies.
Thus, the integrated approach represents a thoughtful, scientifically based system of cognitive activity of representatives of various disciplines.
For example: Studying: “Stability of the workforce.”
The following characteristics need to be studied:
Economic;
Socio-political;
Social-psychological;
Social;
Very often, the object being studied seems to exist on its own, but the first thing a sociologist must do when studying it is to identify all the diversity of connections and interacting components of this object, i.e. its integrity.
Integrity, expressing the same quality of the whole and its elements, is a necessary characteristic of the objective reality of a certain quality.
Wholeness reveals to us all the interactions of the whole and the necessity of these interactions.
For example: “Work collective” is a whole.
And a holistic idea of it is knowledge of such connections as the relationship to the means of production of a given collective, the form of labor organization, formal and informal connections, etc.
So, an integrated approach in sociology expresses the need to take into account the interactions of a social phenomenon in its specific state, which would make it possible to reveal the integrity of the reality under study to the greatest extent.
Systemic-functional analysis in sociology reveals the dialectic of the whole and the part.
System analysis, a systems approach is a necessary component of the dialectical-materialist method.
Thus, it should be emphasized once again that the essence of the systems approach (analysis) in sociology is to strictly and consistently proceed from knowledge of the integrity of the social process and social organization in the study of a social phenomenon in its specific state and to consider the social object under study as a necessary organ or element of the socio-political system.
The relationship between the system, its organs and parts is recorded as a functional dependence and, in general terms, can be presented as a systemic-functional characteristic of the whole.
Function is defined as the relation of a whole to something.
For example: The problem “Social protection of students” is being studied.
Sociology does not study the functions themselves, no matter how important they are, but the social phenomenon that appears through the implementation of a specific function, in which the very integrity of the system is manifested.
A social phenomenon is complex in that it represents a moment of action of a subject through a specific function.
Systemic-functional analysis allows one to penetrate into a real social situation and understand a social phenomenon.
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1. Sociology as a science. Object, subject, functions of sociology
Sociology is the study of society.
Science object: SOCIETY
1) Social connections
2) Social interactions
3) Social relations and the way they are organized
Science subject: SOCIAL LIFE OF SOCIETY
1) Man, his consciousness, his attitude to social changes
2) Human activity, through the study of which the institutional, stratification, managerial and other levels of organization of social life are revealed
3) Relations between groups of people occupying different positions in society
4) Social structures and structural elements (individuals, social communities, social institutions):
Functions of sociology:
1) Theoretical-cognitive
2) Critical
3) Descriptive
4) Prognostic
5) Transformative
6) Information
7) Worldview
2. Structure of sociology
Sociological knowledge is heterogeneous and has its own rather complex, multi-level structure, due primarily to the difference in perspectives and levels of studying social phenomena and processes.
Sociology studies these phenomena and processes both at the level of society as a whole, and at the level of more or less broad social communities and their interactions, and at the level of the individual and interpersonal interactions. This, in particular, provides an objective basis for dividing sociological science into the following components:
1) general theoretical sociology as a macro-sociological study aimed at elucidating the general patterns of functioning and development of society as a whole;
2) middle-level sociology as research of a lesser degree of generality, focused on studying the patterns of action and interaction of individual structural parts of the social system, i.e. private, special sociological theories, including branches of sociology (sociology of social groups, sociology of the city, sociology of the village, ethnosociology, economic sociology, sociology of education, sociology of politics, sociology of law, sociology of propaganda, sociology of family, sociology of culture, sociology of labor, etc.);
3) microsociology, which studies social phenomena and processes through the prism of the actions and interactions of people, their behavior. In this structure of sociological knowledge the relationship between the general, the particular and the individual finds its expression.
Depending on the level of knowledge gained, sociological research is divided into theoretical and empirical. For theoretical sociological research, a deep generalization of the accumulated factual material in the field of social life is of decisive importance.
The focus of empirical sociological research is the accumulation itself, the collection of factual material in the specified area (based on direct observation, survey, analysis of documents, statistical data, etc.) and its primary processing, including the initial level of generalization.
The structure of sociology is sometimes analyzed through the prism of current problems relevant to various spheres of public life. In the structure of sociology, one should especially distinguish between fundamental and applied sociology. The basis for this division is the differences in the goals and objectives that are set for sociological research: some of them are aimed at building and improving theory and methodology, at enriching the foundations of sociological science itself, while others are aimed at studying practical issues of transformations of social life, at developing practical recommendations. Both theoretical and empirical research can be carried out in these directions. Applied sociology seeks ways and means of practical use of the mechanisms and tendencies of social life known by fundamental sociology.
3. Applied Research Methods
1) Survey method
a) Questionnaire
b) Interviewing
2) Observation method
3) Document analysis methods
4) Experimental methods
4. The role of sociology in modern society
1) Cognitive – provides new knowledge about society
2) Applied – provides specific sociological information for solving practical scientific and social problems.
3) Controlled - political parties and authorities use the possibilities of sociology to carry out targeted policies in all spheres of social activity
4) Ideological – develops social ideals, programs for scientific, technical, socio-economic and socio-cultural development of society
5) Prognostic – warns about deviations in the development of society, predicts and models trends in the development of society.
6) Humanistic - conducting social research and communicating its results to the public can contribute to the improvement of public relations and the development of society
5. Personality as a subject of social relations. Personality structure
The study of personality structure is carried out in science on two interrelated grounds: on the basis of activity and on the basis of social relations into which it enters in the process of its life. The first (“activity”) basis for structuring personality is used primarily in philosophy and psychology, and the second (“relational”) basis is used in sociological science. Thus, we can conclude: the structure of personality, like its essence, is described in completely different ways in philosophy, psychology and sociology.
The structure of personality is considered in sociology in two ways: on the one hand, as the fundamental basis of human activity, determined by the state and development of society as a whole, and on the other, as the social structure of the individual. In the first case, she relies on the principles of philosophical analysis of personality, in the second - on her own capabilities.
The social structure of a personality characterizes both the “external” and “internal” correlation of a person with society: “external” correlation is expressed in a system of social statuses (as the objective position of a person in society) and models of role behavior (as the dynamic side of statuses); “internal” correlation is represented by a set of dispositions (as subjectively meaningful positions) and role expectations (as the dynamic side of dispositions).
Man, being a social being, interacts with various social groups and participates in cooperative, joint actions. However, there is practically no such situation when a person completely belongs to any one group. For example, a person is a member of a family as a small group, but he is also a member of an enterprise team, a public organization, and a sports society. Entering simultaneously into many social groups, he occupies a different position in each of them, determined by relationships with other members of the group. For example, the director of an enterprise, who occupies the highest position in a given team, when he comes to a sports society, will be there as a newcomer and incompetent, i.e. will take a low position.
6. Socialization of personality
The first occurs from birth to one year
Second crisis – 1-2 years
Third crisis – 3-4 years
The fourth crisis is related to going to school
The fifth crisis occurs in adolescence and is associated with determining one’s place in life.
Sixth crisis (18-20 years old) relationship building
Seventh crisis (40 years) approximate outcome of life
Eighth crisis (old age) final summing up of life
7. Social statuses and roles
In modern society, each person occupies a certain position. This means that the individual has some kind of relationship, responsibilities assigned to him, and the rights he has. The totality of these personality characteristics determines it social status.
Status (from lat. status- “legal status”) is a system of rights and obligations of an individual in relation to other people with other statuses. Social status is intended to indicate the position of the individual and the social group to which he belongs in some spheres of human existence, in the sphere of human relationships.
Social status is not a stable characteristic of a person. Throughout life, a person can change a huge number of social statuses.
A person’s social status is determined by the following factors:
1. marital status of the individual;
2. degree of education;
3. the age of the person;
4. profession;
5. position held;
6. nationality.
The totality of all social statuses is called statutory set. So, one and the same person can be a mother, woman, sister, wife, teacher, candidate of science, associate professor, elderly person, Russian, Orthodox, etc.