Society -- social organization countries that ensure the joint life of people. It is a part isolated from nature material world, which is a historically developing form of connections and relationships of people in the process of their life.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that it was the family that was the most ancient of all societies. She is the likeness of a father, the people are like children, and all who are born equal and free, if they alienate their freedom, it is only for their own benefit.
Hegel tried to consider society as a complex system of relations, highlighting as the subject of consideration the so-called civil society, that is, a society where there is dependence of everyone on everyone.
Great value for scientific understanding societies had the work of one of the founders of scientific sociology, O. Comte, who believed that the structure of society is determined by the forms of human thinking (theological, metaphysical and positive). He considered society itself as a system of elements that are the family, classes and the state, and the basis is the division of labor between people and their relationship with each other. We find a definition of society close to this in Western European sociology of the 20th century. So, according to Max Weber, society is a product of the interaction of people as a result of their social action in the interests of one and all.
T. Parsons defined society as a system of relations between people, the connecting beginning of which are norms and values. From the point of view of K. Marx, society is a historically developing set of relations between people that develop in the process of their joint activities.
American sociologist E. Shils singled out the following signs societies:
§ it is not an organic part of any other major system;
§ marriages are concluded between members of a given community;
§ it is replenished by the children of those people who are members of this community;
§ it has its own territory;
§ it has a self-name and its own history;
§ it has its own control system;
§ it lasts longer medium duration the life of an individual;
§ rallies him general system values, norms, laws, rules.
According to a number domestic sociologists, the criteria for society include the following:
§ the presence of a single territory, which is the material basis of emerging within its boundaries social connections;
§ universality (comprehensive character);
§ autonomy, the ability to exist independently and independently from other societies;
§ integrativeness: society is able to maintain and reproduce its structures in new generations, to include more and more new individuals in a single context of social life.
At the same time, a number of scientific theories emerged:
The instrumental concept puts human ingenuity first. Man invented special tools of labor - tools. Welfare increased, which led to a division of labor, a functional division of the community, as well as the emergence of economic differences between people living in the community.
The sexual concept is based on the physiological characteristics of a person. The establishment of birth control is associated with the emergence of families and the establishment of norms governing sexual, and with them other relations of community members.
The gender concept is based on distribution analysis social roles between the sexes. Men create an artificial counterbalance to the female monopoly of reproduction, in the form of a male monopoly on the establishment of order. Feminist theorists argue that social organization arose at the time of the agreement of men on the distribution of women.
The critical concept is based on general theory systems and derives the emergence of society from the development of control subsystems.
The personal qualities of a person (mind, strength, ingenuity, etc.) are unevenly distributed among people, therefore they turn into a monopoly. A person with these qualities takes a leadership position. Leaders (elite) form and maintain a system of rules (norms) that preserve inequality. These rules formed the basis of social organization.
The semantic concept is based on the recognition of the weakness of man as a biological being. The law of survival requires the unification of human efforts, which is associated with their coordination, division and combination of the functions of individuals. There is a need for prior approval and direct adjustment. This is only possible using the language. Developing symbols and signs, rules for their interpretation, actively using speech, people form the world of communications. It precedes, mediates and completes the cycles of people's material activities. As a result, a system of ordered collective interactions arises and special functions society is formed.
Undoubtedly, the key issue of any civilized society is the issue of its organization. Modern society It is organized exclusively on capital, which is why it is called capitalist.
Society - a group of people that is not formally organized, but has common interests and values. Open and closed society - concepts introduced by K. Popper to describe cultural, historical and political systems, characteristic of various societies on different stages their development.
Socialization is a process necessary for the child to acquire the skills necessary for a fulfilling life in society. Unlike other living beings, whose behavior is determined biologically, man, as a biosocial being, needs the process of socialization in order to survive. Initially, the socialization of the individual occurs in the family, and only then in society.
Signs of society as a social system
- Hierarchy
- Self-regulation
- openness
- information content
- Self-determination
- self-organization
Functioning and development social system necessarily implies the succession of generations of people and, consequently, social inheritance - members of society pass on knowledge and culture from generation to generation.
Signs of society (according to Edward Shils)
American sociologist Edward Shils identifies the following criteria of society:
- it is not part of a larger system;
- marriages are concluded between representatives of this association;
- it is replenished mainly at the expense of the children of those people who are already its recognized representatives;
- the association has a territory that it considers its own;
- the society has its own name and its own history;
- it has its own control system;
- the association exists longer than the average life span of an individual;
- it is united by a common system of values (customs, traditions, norms, laws, rules), which is called culture.
R. Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 describes a totalitarian society based on popular culture and consumerist thinking, in which all books that make you think about life are to be burned.
Consider what society is in a narrow sociological significance. When a person emigrates to another country and takes on a new citizenship, he has to adapt not only to a different climate or political regime, but also to social structure, i.e. society. In this regard, three similar concepts should be distinguished: country, state, society (Fig. 3.1).
Country- this is a part of the world or a territory that has certain boundaries and enjoys state sovereignty.
Rice. 3.1.Correlation of the concepts "country", "state", "society"
The state is a political organization of a given country, which includes a certain type of regime of power (monarchy, republic), bodies and structure of government (government, parliament). State is the main political structure society that establishes power, order, control, system of relations between citizens, social groups and layers in a certain territory, carrying out internal and external politics in favor of the ruling structures. It has a management apparatus, protection and law enforcement agencies, developed legal and moral standards that govern the life of society.
Society is the social organization of a given country, the basis of which is social structure.
Main social institutions, or spheres, of Russian society are the family, production (economy), the state, education, culture, science and religion. The population employed in these institutions (citizens or members of society) is divided into three main classes: upper, middle and lower. In our society, there are no more classes, as before. The elite standing at the top of the social pyramid concentrates in their hands most national wealth and takes most of the important decisions for the country. Its number does not exceed 1% of the population. The upper class in terms of numbers is 5%, middle class small - no more than 15-20% of the population. Most people live between extreme poverty and the middle class. The economic basis is market relations. rich cultural heritage Russia allows it to be considered one of the most developed countries world, and the presence nuclear weapons and a strong army makes it possible to be among the leading world powers. At the same time, in terms of the level and quality of life, the state of healthcare, life expectancy and other socially significant indicators, Russia is not among the developed countries.
Geography studies countries, political science studies the state, and sociology studies society. Society should be understood as the historical result of spontaneously or naturally developing relationships between people. Then the state will appear as an artificial political construct - an institution or institution designed to manage these relationships. Another concept - the country - is also an artificial territorial construct, which marks the sovereign boundaries of the state.
The concepts of "country", "people", "state" and "nation" cannot replace the concept of "society". The term "state" can be used as a substitute for the concept of "society" mainly in the political arena, "country" - in the geographical sense, "people" - in the moral and ethical sense, "nation" - in the ethnological sense.
Historically, society is primary, the state is secondary. The society is at least 40 thousand years old, and the state is 5-6 thousand years old. The state arises at a certain stage in the development of society to protect the interests of its citizens. The relationship between society and the state throughout the history of mankind was not easy: there was harmony and conflict, the desire to suppress and establish equal, partnership relations.
It is easiest to think of society within the framework of certain state boundaries. For example, French society coincides with France as a country and state. The same can be said about American, Russian, English and other societies. But it is not always possible to represent society on the basis of the territorial-state principle. For example, in the world there is no such entity as the Luxembourg society.
Society is social organization countries, but also nations, nationalities, tribes. There was a time when there were no clear political or state borders separating one country from another. countries in in the usual sense there was no word then. Entire peoples and tribes moved freely enough in space, mastering new territories. When the process of resettlement of peoples was completed, lands appeared, limited by state sovereignty. Thus, countries are the result of the territorial division of the world.
Society acquires the form of a state when there are three levels territorial organization, of which the third level can also be called political association.
However, society also existed in that distant era when there were no countries and states. Therefore, the concept of "society" is applicable to any historical era, any association (group) of people in size. This concept takes on a very definite meaning when we speak of Russian society, having geographical boundaries, a common legislative system and some kind of national unity. Approximately in this direction sociologists reason when they create a set specific definitions society.
In 1967, the American sociologist Robert Marsh tried to define the conditions under which a social association should be considered a society:
- permanent territory(for example, Spain in its state borders);
- replenishment of society mainly through procreation(although immigration also plays a role in this);
- highly developed culture(cultural models can be varied enough to satisfy all needs public life);
- political independence(a society is not a subsystem or part of any other system, so colonial societies such as the Belgian Congo before independence cannot be considered as such).
The author of the above classification recognized the incompleteness and debatable nature of his criteria. For example, is it possible to apply the criterion of "highly developed culture" to a country where representatives of various religious beliefs and ethnic groups, be it the USA, India or the USSR. There are no common values and ideals accepted by the entire population. Their culture is more properly called collection of subcultures with great difficulty connected together by political and legislative power. Perhaps that is why it turned out to be so fragile Soviet Union. The criterion of "political independence" is no less controversial. On the
On the territory of the USSR there were established and very ancient ethnic groups that had a highly developed culture, but did not have political independence and existed on the rights of a union republic, in particular Armenia, Georgia, Estonia.
The American sociologist Gerard Lensky later singled out six basic elements necessary for the existence of a society: 1) communication between its members; 2) production of goods and services; 3) distribution; 4) protection of members of society; 5) replacement of departing members of the company;
But most full list The necessary and sufficient signs that any social association that claims to be called a society must correspond to were given by the famous American sociologist Edward Shiels:
- 1) the association is not part of any larger system (society);
- 2) marriages are concluded between representatives of this association;
- 3) it is replenished mainly by the children of those people who are already its recognized representatives;
- 4) the association has a territory that it considers its own;
- 5) it has its own name and its own history;
- 6) it has its own management system;
- 7) the association exists longer than the average life expectancy of an individual;
- 8) it is united by a common system of values (customs, traditions, norms, laws, rules, mores), which is called culture.
It is not difficult to guess that modern powers, numbering hundreds of millions of citizens, and ancient tribes that fit on the territory of the present urban microdistrict meet similar criteria. Both have kinship systems (marriage and admission of new members), their own territory, name, culture, history, administration, and most importantly, they are not part of another whole.
Thus, sociology describes society in the unity of three aspects: society, country, state. The country leads us to study the role of the geographical factor in the development of society, territory and the struggle for it, population and demography, migration and emigration, and the standard of living of the population. Country and society are two concepts that are interconnected by the first sign from the typology of E. Shils, namely: the reproduction of the population by members of this society. The country allows us to consider the history of society, including Russian, its historical stages, the role of the territorial factor in the development of Russia, population density, economic market, the development of capitalism, the role of the community. The concept of the state allows us to trace the influence political regime and its change to the state and structure of society, as well as the dependence of the existing political regime in the country on the social maturity of the people.
- Cm.: Marsh R.M. comparative sociology. X.Y., 1967.
- Cm.: Lenski G., Lenski J. Human societies: an introduction to macrosociology. N.Y., 1974.
Society existed in that distant era when there were no countries and states. Therefore, the concept of society is applicable to any historical epoch, to any group or association of people in size. Society is the largest of the groups living in the area. The signs that E. Shils expressed in a concentrated form are applicable to it.
Both modern powers, numbering hundreds of millions of citizens, and ancient tribes, fitting in the territory of the present urban microdistrict, meet these criteria. Both have kinship systems (marrying and recruiting new members), their territory, name, culture, history, administration, and most importantly, they are not part of another whole. But many other human associations do not correspond to them, say, a village or a village, although at first glance they have everything necessary for this: a kinship system, territory, history, culture, name, administration.
The concept of society acquires a very definite meaning when we speak of<российском обществе>, which has geographical boundaries, a common legislative system and some kind of national unity. Approximately in this direction sociologists reason when they create a set of specific definitions of society. In 1967, R. Marsh tried to determine the conditions under which a social association should be considered a society:
1) permanent territory - for example, Spain within its state borders;
2) the replenishment of society mainly through childbearing, although immigration also plays a role in this;
3) highly developed culture - models of culture can be diverse enough to satisfy all the needs of social life;
4) political independence - a society is not a subsystem or part of any other system, therefore, colonial societies such as the Belgian Congo before independence could not be considered as such.
The author of this classification recognized the incompleteness and debatable nature of his criteria. For example, is it possible to apply the criterion<высокоразвитая культура>to a country where representatives of various religious beliefs and ethnic groups live, be it the USA, India or the USSR. There are no common values and ideals accepted by the entire population. Their culture is more correctly called a set of subcultures, with great difficulty linked together by political and legislative power. Perhaps that is why the Soviet Union turned out to be so fragile. Criterion<политическая независимость>is no less controversial. On the territory of the USSR there were established and very ancient ethnic groups that had a highly developed culture, but did not have political independence, but existed on the rights of a union republic, in particular Armenia, Georgia, Estonia.
Shils Edward Albert
(1911) - amer. sociologist. In sociology, Shils is a supporter of the concept of equilibrium, in accordance with which society is viewed as a system that restores "social order" in conditions of violation of its equilibrium. Shils is one of the ardent supporters of the concept of de-ideologization. It was he who gave the name to this concept, putting forward the slogan "the end of ideology" as an attempt to justify a pure, value-free social science.
E. Shils singled out the following signs of society:
1. It is not an organic part of any larger system
2. Marriages are concluded between members of a given community
3. It is replenished by the children of those people who are members of this community
4. It has its own territory
5. It has a self-name and its own history
6. It has its own control system
7. It exists longer than the average lifespan of an individual
8. He is united by a common system of values, norms, laws, rules.
Related information:
- I. There were two trees in the Garden of Eden, one the tree of life, the other the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and this signifies that man has been given freedom of choice in spiritual matters.
In sociology, attempts have been made more than once to give a final definition of society and highlight its essential features - the most typical, stable and repetitive moments of its life. Thus, Emile Durkheim sees the fundamental principle of the stability and unity of society in the signs of the presence of a collective consciousness, a common will that prevents the destructive power of human egoism. Neil Smelser defines the presence of geographical boundaries, a common legal system and a certain national identity as the hallmarks of a society as an association of people. The American sociologist Edward Shils believes that the basis of society is such a characteristic as the functioning of public authority, which ensures control over the entire territory and spreads a common culture.
E. Shils identifies the following signs of society:
- marriages are concluded between representatives of this association;
- it is replenished mainly at the expense of the children of those people who are already its recognized representatives;
- the association has a territory that it considers its own;
- the society has its own name and its own history;
- it has its own control system;
- the association exists longer than the average life expectancy of an individual;
- it is united by a common system of values (customs, traditions, norms, laws, rules), which is called culture.
And yet, by what signs can one judge a society?
The first sign of a society is usually called the territory on which the consolidation of social ties takes place. Our planet has provided an opportunity for many communities to find their ecological niche to ensure the satisfaction of the vital needs of people and to give the life of individuals their own unique features, due to the variety of climatic conditions and the natural landscape. The territory is the basis of the social space in which relations and interactions between individuals are formed and developed.
The second distinguishing feature of society is its ability to maintain and reproduce the high intensity of internal relationships. Noting stability as the most important characteristic of society, sociologists disagree in explaining its fundamental causes. E. Durkheim saw the fundamental basis for the stability and unity of society in the "collective consciousness", in the presence of a common will that prevents the development of the destructive power of human egoism. R. Merton believes that society is preserved thanks to the "fundamental values" assimilated by the majority of the population and orienting each individual towards the observance of the norms of joint life. E. Shils is convinced that society as such exists only under the influence of "general power", which ensures control over the entire territory and promotes a common culture.
The third distinguishing feature of society is its autonomy and high level of self-regulation. The autonomy of society is achieved by its multifunctionality, that is, the ability to create the necessary conditions to meet the various needs of individuals and provide the latter with ample opportunities for self-affirmation and self-regulation. Only in society can a person engage in narrow professional activities, knowing that he can always satisfy his needs for food and clothing. Only in society can he acquire the necessary skills and get acquainted with the achievements of culture and science. Only society can give him the opportunity to make a dizzying career and rise to the top of the social hierarchy. In other words, society has that self-sufficiency that allows it, without outside interference, to fulfill its main purpose - to provide people with such forms of life organization that make it easier for them to achieve their personal goals.
The autonomy and self-sufficiency of society are manifested precisely in the absence of external managerial impulses. Society is regulated and managed exclusively by those institutions and organizations and on the basis of those norms and principles that arise and are created within itself. Self-regulation is an important property of a society that ensures its independence, regardless of size.
Fourthly, society is distinguished by a great integrating force. It socializes each new generation of people, includes it in the existing system of relations, subordinates it to generally accepted norms and rules. Thanks to this quality, society is receptive to innovations, because it organically absorbs new social formations, institutions, norms, thereby ensuring renewal and continuity of development. And the people themselves, connected with society by invisible threads of common language, culture, origin, gravitate towards it. It gives them the opportunity to use the usual patterns of behavior, follow established principles, creates a unique atmosphere of spiritual unity.
The main feature of society is its organic integrity, systemicity, since people are united in it on the basis of the common mode of existence necessary for them. However, in the process of historical development, the secondary signs of society changed, which was analyzed by me in this paragraph.
