Social role functions
In sociology, functions indicate what consequences (for society, its individual members) have actions committed by one or another person.
Personal behavior, priorities and attitudes, choices and emotions are determined by a number of factors:
- position in society;
- environmental conditions;
- the type of activity carried out;
- internal qualities of the personality, the spiritual world.
Due to the fact that people need each other to satisfy their individual needs, certain relationships and interactions are established between them. At the same time, each person fulfills his social role.
During life, the individual masters many social roles, which are often forced to play simultaneously. This allows you to make the coexistence of different people in one society as comfortable and possible as possible.
The social role performs a number of important functions:
- Sets certain rules of the game: duties and norms, rights, plots of interaction between roles (boss-subordinate, boss-client, boss-tax inspector, etc.). Social adaptation implies the development and study of the rules of the game - the laws of a given society.
- Allows you to realize different sides of your personality. Different roles (friend, parent, boss, public figure, etc.) enable a person to show different qualities. The more roles an individual masters, the more multifaceted and rich his personality will become, the better he will understand others.
- It makes it possible to manifest and develop the qualities potentially inherent in a person: softness, rigidity, mercy, etc. Only in the process of fulfilling a social role can a person discover his capabilities.
- Allows you to explore the resources of the personal capabilities of each person. Teaches to use the best combination of qualities for adequate behavior in a given situation.
Relationship between social role and social status
Social status has an impact on the behavior of the individual. Knowing the social status of a person, one can predict what qualities are characteristic of him, what actions can be expected from him. The expected behavior of an individual associated with his status is called a social role.
Definition 2
A social role is a pattern of behavior that is recognized as the most appropriate for an individual of a given status in society. The role indicates exactly how to act in a given situation.
Any individual is a reflection of the totality of social relations of his historical period.
The social role and social status in communication perform the following functions:
- regulatory function - helps to quickly select the necessary interaction scenario without spending large resources;
- adaptive function - allows you to quickly find a suitable behavior model when changing social status;
- cognitive function - the ability to know your personal potential, to carry out the processes of self-knowledge;
- the function of self-realization is the manifestation of the best qualities of a person, the achievement of desired goals.
The process of learning social roles allows you to learn the norms of culture. Each status of this role is characterized by its own norms and laws, customs. Acceptance of most of the norms depends on the status of the individual. Some norms are accepted by all members of society. Those norms and rules that are acceptable for one status may be unacceptable for another. Socialization teaches role behavior, allows the individual to become part of society.
Remark 1
From the many social roles and statuses offered to an individual by society, he can choose those that will most fully help him to apply his abilities and realize his plans. The adoption of a certain social role is greatly influenced by biological and personal characteristics, social conditions. Any social role only outlines the scheme of human behavior, the choice of ways to fulfill the role of the individual chooses himself.
The social role is a socially necessary type of social activity and a method of individual behavior. The concept of a social role was first proposed by American sociologists Mead and Linton back in the thirties of the last century.
The main types of social roles
The variety of social groups and relations in their groups, as well as types of activities, became the basis for the classification of social statuses. Currently, there are types of social roles, such as: formal, interpersonal and socio-demographic. Formal social roles are related to the position that a person occupies in society. This refers to his occupation and profession. But interpersonal roles are directly related to different types of relationships. This category usually includes favorites, outcasts, leaders. As for socio-demographic roles, these are husband, son, sister, etc.
Characteristics of social roles
The American sociologist Talcott Parsons identified the main characteristics of social roles. These include: scale, method of obtaining, emotionality, motivation and formalization. As a rule, the scale of the role is determined by the range of interpersonal relationships. There is a directly proportional relationship here. For example, the social roles of husband and wife are very significant because a wide range of relationships are established between them.
If we talk about the method of obtaining a role, it depends on the inevitability of this role for the individual. Thus, the roles of a young man or an old man do not require any effort to acquire them. They are determined by the age of the person. And other social roles can be won during life when certain conditions are met.
Social roles can also differ in terms of emotionality. Each role has its own expression of emotions. Also, some roles involve the establishment of formal relationships between people, others - informal, and still others can combine those and other relationships.
Motivation depends on the needs and motives of a person. Different social roles may be due to certain motives. For example, when parents take care of their child, they are guided by a sense of care and love for him. The leader works for the benefit of some enterprise. It is also known that all social roles can be subject to public evaluation.
The types of social roles are determined by the variety of social groups, activities and relationships in which the individual is included. Depending on social relations, social and interpersonal social roles are distinguished.
Social roles are associated with social status, profession or type of activity (teacher, pupil, student, seller). These are standardized impersonal roles based on rights and obligations, regardless of who fills these roles. Allocate socio-demographic roles: husband, wife, daughter, son, grandson ... Man and woman are also social roles, biologically predetermined and involving specific ways of behavior, enshrined in social norms and customs.
Interpersonal roles are associated with interpersonal relationships that are regulated on an emotional level (leader, offended, neglected, family idol, loved one, etc.).
In life, in interpersonal relations, each person acts in some kind of dominant social role, a kind of social role as the most typical individual image familiar to others. It is extremely difficult to change the habitual image both for the person himself and for the perception of the people around him. The longer the group exists, the more familiar the dominant social roles of each member of the group become for others and the more difficult it is to change the stereotype of behavior familiar to others.
An attempt to systematize social roles was made by Talcott Parsons and his colleagues (1951). 3 They believed that any role can be described using five main characteristics:
1. Emotionality.
2. Method of receipt.
3. Scale.
4. Formalization.
5. Motivation
1. Emotionality. Some roles (for example, nurse, doctor, or funeral home owner) require emotional restraint in situations that are usually accompanied by violent manifestations of feelings (we are talking about illness, suffering, death). Less restrained expression of feelings is expected from family members and friends.
2. Method of receipt. 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 being won; when we talk about the doctor of medicine, we mean a role that is not achieved automatically, but as a result of the efforts of the individual.
3. Scale. Some roles are limited to strictly defined aspects of human interaction. For example, the roles of physician and patient are limited to matters that directly relate to the health of the patient. Between a small child and his mother or father, a larger relationship is established; Every parent is concerned about many aspects of a child's life.
4. Formalization. Some roles involve interacting with people in accordance with established rules. For example, a librarian is required to lend out books for a specified period and demand a fine for each day late from those who delay the books. In the performance of other roles, special treatment is allowed for those with whom you have developed a personal relationship. For example, we do not expect a brother or sister to pay us for a service rendered to them, although we could take payment from a stranger.
5. Motivation. Different roles are due to 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 Bureau of Unemployment is supposed to work primarily for the public good, not for personal gain.
According to Parsons, any role includes some combination of these characteristics. For example, the role of a prostitute. Usually these ladies do not show any feelings for their clients. This role is achieved rather than prescribed, as it is acquired on the basis of a certain activity. It is strictly limited to sex offered for money. Usually prostitutes serve their clients in accordance with the accepted rules - a fixed fee for a certain type of service. Prostitutes work for their own benefit - sexual services for personal enrichment.
Performing roles, a person, as a rule, experiences emotional and moral experiences, can come into conflict with other people, experience a moral crisis, split. This gives rise to discomfort, insecurity, psychological distress, which are signs of role tension.
The main causes of role tensions are primarily role conflicts.
Just as the forms, causes, and situations that give rise to role tensions are diverse, so are the ways to overcome them. We are not talking about overcoming the fundamental principles, the root causes of psychological stress in the course of role behavior - we are only talking about ways to overcome stress, possible depression.
One of these ways is the method of rationalization of role expectations, which creates illusory, but seemingly rational excuses for failure.
Rationalization of role expectations can reduce claims, transfer claims from one prestigious status to another, but in a different area, sphere (for example, from production to the family, and vice versa).
The essence of the principle of separation of roles, as a way to overcome role tensions, is the conscious differentiation of the rules, techniques, norms inherent in the performance of one role from the norms, patterns of behavior inherent in another role.
The principle of role hierarchization can also play a huge role in overcoming serious psychological experiences generated by the clash of role predirections. "What is more important to me - children, family, or science?" Faced with such a dilemma, a person finds himself in a dead end, the way out of which is the choice by the personality of one of these roles as a priority. And in conflict situations, one should follow the pre-indications of the role that is preferred.
Regulation of roles is a conscious, purposeful action of society, nation, team, family, the purpose of which is to overcome the psychological stress of the individual caused by role conflict.
One of the forms of regulation of roles associated with the approval (propaganda) by the authorities, the media of new standards of role behavior (could play a significant role in establishing in our society the model of an entrepreneur, farmer, etc., increasing their prestige).
The influence of social role on personality development
The influence of the social role on the development of the individual is quite large. The development of personality is facilitated by its interaction with persons playing a number of roles, as well as its participation in the largest possible role repertoire. The more social roles an individual is able to play, the more adapted to life he is. Thus, the process of personality development often acts as the dynamics of mastering social roles.
Equally important to any society is the prescribing of roles according to age. The adaptation of individuals to constantly changing ages and age statuses is an eternal problem. The individual does not have time to adapt to one age, as another one immediately approaches, with new statuses and new roles. As soon as a young man begins to cope with embarrassment and complexes of youth, he is already on the threshold of maturity; as soon as a person begins to show wisdom and experience, old age comes. Each age period is associated with favorable opportunities for the manifestation of human abilities, moreover, it prescribes new statuses and requirements for learning new roles. At a certain age, an individual may experience problems in adapting to new role status requirements. A child who is said to be older than his years, i.e., has reached the status inherent in the older age category, usually does not fully realize his potential childhood roles, which negatively affects the completeness of his socialization. Often such children feel lonely, flawed. At the same time, immature adult status is a combination of adult status with the attitudes and behaviors of childhood or adolescence. Such a person usually has conflicts in the performance of roles appropriate to her age. These two examples show an unfortunate adjustment to the age statuses prescribed by society.
Learning a new role can go a long way in changing a person. In psychotherapy, there is even an appropriate method of behavior correction - image therapy (image - image). The patient is offered to enter into a new image, to play a role, as in a play. At the same time, the function of responsibility is not borne by the person himself, but by his role, which sets new patterns of behavior. A person is forced to act differently, based on a new role. Despite the conventionality of this method, the effectiveness of its use was quite high, since the subject was given the opportunity to release repressed desires, if not in life, then at least during the game. The sociodramatic approach to the interpretation of human actions is widely known. Life is seen as a drama, each participant in which plays a specific role. Playing roles gives not only a psychotherapeutic, but also a developing effect.
In sociology, the concept of a social role has appeared since the end of the 19th century, although officially this term appeared only at the end of the 20th century within the framework of R. Linton's theory.
This science considers a society or other organized group as a collection of individuals with a certain status and behavior pattern. What is meant by the concepts of social statuses and roles, as well as what significance they have for a person, we will describe further and give examples.
Definition
For sociology, the term "social role" means a model of behavior expected from a person that would correspond to the rights and normative duties established by society. That is, this concept considers the relationship between the function of the individual and its position in society or interpersonal relationships.
It can also be said that a social role is a certain algorithm of actions prescribed to a person by society, which he must follow in order to carry out useful activities in society. At the same time, a person tries on a model of behavior or a prescribed algorithm of actions either voluntarily or forcibly.
Usually this concept is considered as one of the dynamic aspects of the status of an individual. Acting as a member of a society or group and taking responsibility for the performance of certain functions, a person must follow the rules established by this very group. This is expected of him by the rest of the community.
If we consider the concept of a social role on the example of an organization, then we can understand that the manager of an enterprise, training personnel, and persons receiving knowledge are an active organized community, in which the rules and regulations are prescribed for each participant. In an educational institution, the director gives orders to which teachers must obey.
For each participant in role relations, the prescribed normative requirements and individual shades of the status received by him are known. Therefore, the model of human behavior in a particular social circle is expected for the rest of the members of this group. This means that other members of the community can largely predict the nature of the actions of each of its members.
Classification and varieties
Within the framework of its scientific direction, this concept has its own classification. So, social roles are divided into types:
In turn, this type is divided into the main socio-demographic models of behavior, where there are such social roles in the family as husband and wife, daughter, son, granddaughter, grandson, etc. If we take the biological component as a basis, then we can also distinguish such social roles of the individual as a woman / man.
2. Interpersonal - roles determined by the relationship of people in limited conditions and the individual characteristics of each of them. These include any relationship between people, including conflict, arising on the basis of emotional manifestations. In this case, the gradation may look like this: idol, leader, ignored, privileged, offended, etc.
These types of social roles exist in every organized community, and there is a clear relationship between the duration of the group's existence and the likelihood of its typical manifestations in the behavior of participants. It is worth noting that it is extremely difficult to get rid of a stereotype that has developed over the years, familiar to a person and society, over time.
Considering this topic, one cannot ignore the classification according to the characteristics of each specific role. They were able to highlight the well-known sociologist from America T. Parsons in order to get the most complete idea of the term "social role of the individual." For each model, he proposed four distinctive properties at once.
1. Scale. This characteristic depends on the breadth of interpersonal relationships observed between members of a particular group. The closer the communication between people, the greater the significance in such relationships. Here is a good example of the relationship between husband and wife.
Gender representations of a person regarding his role are fixed by the school. The biological characteristics of the individual and the gender stereotypes that have developed in society predetermine further formation under the influence of the environment.
It would be appropriate to note that at present the model of behavior is not so tied to the characteristic manifestations of a particular sex than before. Thus, the social role of a woman now includes not only the duties of a mother and a housewife, but also extends to other areas.
These are models prescribed by society for each person who will not have to make an effort to receive justification from the environment. As achieved roles, one can consider the results of an individual's activity, indicating his social status (for example, career growth).
3. The degree of formalization, on which the formation of the personality and its functions depend. Regarding this criterion, the social status of a person can be formed under the influence of regulatory requirements, or it can develop arbitrarily. For example, the relationship between people in the military unit is regulated by the charter, while friends are guided by personal feelings and emotions.
4. Type of motivation. Each person, when choosing a model of behavior, is guided by a personal motive. It can be financial gain, career advancement, the desire to be loved, etc. In psychology, there are two types of motivation - external, which arises under the influence of the environment, and internal, which the subject determines for himself.
The process of choosing and becoming a role
The role of a person in the social environment does not arise spontaneously. The process of its formation goes through several stages, culminating in the individual in society.
At the next stage of development, the social personality is expected to be educated. Throughout almost the entire life, an individual receives new skills and knowledge from educators, teachers, educators and, of course, parents. As an individual matures, new information will be received from his environment, from the media and other sources.
An equally important component of the socialization of the individual is education. Here the main character is the person himself, choosing the most typical skills for himself and the direction for further development.
The next stage of socialization is protection. It implies a set of processes aimed at reducing the significance of factors that could injure a person in the process of his formation. Using certain social methods of protection, the subject will protect himself from the environment and conditions in which he will be morally uncomfortable.
The processes by which an individual's social role and social status are determined are very complex. But without them, a person cannot become a full-fledged personality, which is why they are so significant in everyone's life. Sociologists argue that there are two phases that contribute to the adaptation of the individual to his social role:
- Adaptation. In this period, a person learns the rules and norms of behavior established by society. Mastering new laws, a person begins to behave accordingly.
- Interiorization. It provides for the adoption of new conditions and rules while abandoning the old foundations.
But "failures" in the process of socialization of the individual are also possible. Often they occur against the background of the unwillingness or inability of the subject to fulfill the conditions and requirements that the social role of a person in society provides.
The definition of conflict in this case is tantamount to a complex of complex emotional states. They can arise in the subject due to the discrepancy or inconsistency of the requirements placed on him by different social circles, of which he is a member.
At the same time, all the roles of a person are very important for him. At the same time, he can identify the significance of each of them in completely different ways. The individual manifestation of social roles by the subject has a specific shade, which directly depends on the acquired knowledge and experience, as well as on the desire and desire of a person to meet the expectations of the society of which he is a member. Author: Elena Suvorova
In scientific literature, and even more so in everyday life, the concepts of “man”, “individual”, “individuality”, “personality” are widely used, often making no distinctions, while there is a significant difference between them.
Human- a biosocial being, the highest level of the animal type.
Individual- an individual person.
Individuality- a special combination in a person of the natural and the social, inherent in a specific, single individual, distinguishing him from others. Each person is individual, figuratively speaking, has his own face, which is expressed by the concept of “personality”.
This is a complex concept, the study of which takes place at the intersection of natural and social. Moreover, representatives of different schools and trends view it through the prism of the subject of their science.
- Socio-biological school (S. Freud etc.), is associated with the struggle in our minds of unconscious instincts and moral prohibitions dictated by society.
- The theory of "mirror self" (C. Cooley, J. Mead), in which “I” is a part of the personality, which consists of self-consciousness and the image of “I”. In accordance with this concept, a personality is formed in the process of its social interaction and reflects a person's ideas about how he is perceived and evaluated by other people. In the course of interpersonal communication, a person creates his mirror self, which consists of three elements:
- ideas about how other people perceive it;
- ideas about how they evaluate it;
- how a person responds to the perceived reaction of other people.
So in theory "mirror self" personality acts as a result of social interaction, during which the individual acquires the ability to evaluate himself from the point of view of other members of this social group.
As you can see, the Meadian concept of personality, in contrast to the theory of Z. Freud, is completely social.
- Role theory (J. Moreno, T. Parsons), according to which the personality is a function of the set of social roles that the individual performs in society.
- Anthropological School (M. Lundman), which does not separate the concepts of "man" and "personality".
- Marxist sociology in the concept of “personality” reflects the social essence of a person as a set of social relations that determine the social, psychological and spiritual qualities of people, socialize their natural and biological properties.
- Sociological approach which guides many modern sociologists, is to represent each person as a personality, to the extent of mastering, acquiring socially significant features and qualities. These include the level of education and training, the totality of knowledge and skills that make it possible to realize various positions and roles in society.
Based on the above theoretical provisions, it is possible to determine personality How individual manifestation of the totality of social relations, the social characteristics of a person.
As an integral social system, a person has its own internal structure, consisting of levels.
biological level includes natural, common in origin personality traits (body structure, age and gender characteristics, temperament, etc.).
Psychological level personality unites its psychological characteristics (feelings, will, memory, thinking). Psychological features are in close relationship with the heredity of the individual.
Finally, social level of the individual divided into three sublevel:
- proper sociological (motives of behavior, interests of the individual, life experience, goals), this sublevel is more closely connected with social consciousness, which is objective in relation to each person, acting as part of the social environment, as material for individual consciousness;
- specific cultural (value and other attitudes, norms of behavior);
- moral.
When studying a personality as a subject of social relations, sociologists pay special attention to the internal determinants of its social behavior. These determinants include primarily needs and interests.
Needs- these are those forms of interaction with the world (material and spiritual), the need for which is due to the peculiarities of the reproduction and development of its biological, psychological, social certainty, which are realized, felt by a person in any form.
Interests are the perceived needs of the individual.
The needs and interests of the individual lie at the basis of her value attitude to the world around her, at the basis of her system of values and value orientations.
Some authors in personality structure include and other elements: culture, knowledge, norms, values, activities, beliefs, value orientations and attitudes that make up the core of the individual, act as a regulator of behavior, directing it to the normative framework prescribed by society.
A special place in the structure of personality is occupied by her and the role.
Having matured, a person actively enters, “introduces” himself into social life, trying to take his place in it, to satisfy personal needs and interests. The relationship between the individual and society can be described by the formula: society offers, the individual seeks, chooses his place, trying to realize his interests. At the same time, it shows, proves to society that it is in its place and will perform well a certain role assigned to it.
The social status of the individual
The social functions of the individual and the rights and obligations arising from them in relation to other participants in social interaction determine it. social status, i.e., the set of actions and the corresponding conditions for their implementation, which are assigned to a given social status of a person occupying a certain place, position in the social structure. The social status of the individual is a characteristic of social positions, on which it is located in the given social coordinate system.
Society makes sure that the individual regularly performs his roles, social functions. Why endows it with a certain social status. Otherwise, it puts another person in this place, believing that she will better cope with social duties, will bring more benefit to other members of society who play different roles in it.
Social statuses are prescribed(sex, age, nationality) and achieved(student, associate professor, professor).
Achieved statuses are fixed taking into account abilities, achievements, which gives a perspective to everyone. In an ideal society, most statuses are attainable. In reality, it's far from it. Each person has many statuses: father, student, teacher, public figure, etc. Among them, the main one stands out, which is the most important and valuable for society. It matches social prestige this person.
Each status is associated with certain expected behavior in the performance of the corresponding functions. In this case, we are talking about the social role of the individual.
The social role of the individual
social role is a set of features, a more or less well-defined pattern of behavior that is expected of a person, holding a certain status in society. So, a family man plays the role of son, husband, father. At work, he can simultaneously be an engineer, a technologist, a foreman of a production site, a member of a trade union, etc. Of course, not all social roles are equivalent for society and are equivalent for an individual. Family, professional, and socio-political roles should be singled out as the main ones. Thanks to their timely development and successful implementation by members of society, the normal functioning of the social organism is possible.
To each man have to perform and many situational roles. By entering the bus, we become passengers and are obliged to follow the rules of conduct in public transport. Having finished the trip, we turn into pedestrians and follow the rules of the street. In the reading room and in the store, we behave differently, because the role of the buyer and the role of the reader are different. Deviations from the requirements of the role, violations of the rules of behavior are fraught with unpleasant consequences for a person.
The social role is not a rigid model of behavior. People perceive and perform their roles differently. However, society is interested in people to master, skillfully perform and enrich social roles in accordance with the requirements of life in a timely manner. First of all, this applies to the main roles: worker, family man, citizen, etc. In this case, the interests of society coincide with the interests of the individual. WITH social roles - forms of manifestation and development of personality and their successful implementation is the key to human happiness. It is easy to see that truly happy people have a good family, successfully cope with their professional duties. They take a conscious part in the life of society, in state affairs. As for the company of friends, leisure activities and hobbies, they enrich life, but are not able to compensate for failures in the implementation of basic social roles.
Social conflicts
However, it is not at all easy to achieve harmony of social roles in human life. This requires great efforts, time, abilities, as well as the ability to resolve conflicts that arise in the performance of social roles. These could be intra-role, inter-role And personality-role.
To intra-role conflicts are those in which the requirements of one role contradict, oppose each other. Mothers, for example, are prescribed not only kind, affectionate treatment of their children, but also demanding, strictness towards them. It is not easy to combine these prescriptions when a beloved child has been guilty and deserves punishment.
Interrole conflicts arise when the requirements of one role contradict, oppose the requirements of another role. A striking illustration of this conflict is the dual employment of women. The workload of family women in social production and in everyday life often does not allow them to fully and without harm to health perform their professional duties and housework, be a charming wife and caring mother. There are many ideas about how to resolve this conflict. The most realistic at the present time and in the foreseeable future are a relatively even distribution of household chores among family members and a reduction in the employment of women in social production (part-time work, a week, the introduction of a flexible schedule, the spread of home work, etc.). . P.).
Student life, contrary to popular belief, is also not complete without role conflicts. To master the chosen profession, to receive education, a focus on educational and scientific activities is required. At the same time, a young person needs a variety of communication, free time for other activities and hobbies, without which it is impossible to form a full-fledged personality, create a family. The situation is complicated by the fact that neither education nor diverse socializing can be postponed to a later date without prejudice to personality formation and professional training.
Personal-role conflicts arise in situations where the requirements of a social role contradict the properties and life aspirations of the individual. Thus, a social role requires from a person not only extensive knowledge, but also good volitional qualities, energy, and the ability to communicate with people in various, including critical, situations. If a specialist lacks these qualities, then he cannot cope with his role. The people on this occasion say: "Not for Senka hat."
Each person included in the system of social relations has countless social ties, is endowed with many statuses, performs a whole range of different roles, is the bearer of certain ideas, feelings, character traits, etc. It is almost impossible to take into account all the variety of properties of each individual, but in this is not necessary. In sociology essential not individual, but social properties and personality traits, i.e. qualities, that many individuals have under similar, objective conditions. Therefore, for the convenience of studying individuals who have a set of recurring essential social qualities, they are typologized, that is, they are attributed to a certain social type.
Social personality type- a generalized reflection, a set of recurring social qualities inherent in many individuals who are part of any social community. For example, European, Asian, Caucasian types; students, workers, veterans, etc.
Typology of personalities can be carried out for various reasons. For example, by profession or type of activity: miner, farmer, economist, lawyer; by territorial affiliation or way of life: city dweller, village dweller, northerner; by gender and age: boys, girls, pensioners; according to the degree of social activity: leader (leader, activist), follower (performer), etc.
In sociology, there are modal,basic and ideal personality types. Modal called the average personality type, which actually prevails in a given society. Under basic is understood as the type of personality that best meets the needs of the development of society. Ideal personality type is not tied to specific conditions and is considered as a model of the personality of the future.
An American sociologist and psychologist made a great contribution to the development of the social typology of personality E. Fromm(1900-1980), who created the concept of social character. By E. Fromm's definition, social character is the core of the character structure, common to most members of a particular culture. E. Fromm saw the importance of the social character in the fact that it allows you to most effectively adapt to the requirements of society and gain a sense of security and security. According to E. Fromm, classical capitalism is characterized by such features of a social character as individualism, aggressiveness, and the desire for accumulation. In modern bourgeois society, a social character is emerging, oriented towards mass consumption and marked by a feeling of satiety, boredom and preoccupation. Accordingly, E. Fromm singled out fourtype of social character:receptive(passive), exploitative, accumulative And market He considered all these types to be unfruitful and opposed them with the social character of a new type, which contributes to the formation of an independent, independent and active personality.
In modern sociology, the allocation of personality types depending on the their value orientations.
- Traditionalists are mainly focused on the values of duty, order, discipline, law-abidingness, and such qualities as independence and the desire for self-realization are very weakly expressed in this type of personality.
- Idealists, on the contrary, have strong independence, a critical attitude towards traditional norms, attitudes towards self-development, and neglect of authorities.
- Realists combine the desire for self-realization with a developed sense of duty and responsibility, healthy skepticism with self-discipline and self-control.
They show that the specificity of relations in various spheres of public life stimulates the manifestation of certain personal qualities and types of behavior. So, market relations contribute to the development of entrepreneurship, pragmatism, cunning, prudence, the ability to present oneself; interactions in the sphere of production form egoism, careerism and forced cooperation, and in the sphere of family and personal life - emotionality, cordiality, affection, the search for harmony.
Relationship, interdependence of the individual and society
Consider the different concepts presented by M. Weber and K. Marx.
M. Weber sees in the role of the subject of public life only certain individuals that act intelligently. And such social totalities as “classes”, “society”, “state”, in his opinion, are entirely abstract and cannot be subjected to social analysis.
Another solution to this problem is the theory K. Marx. In his understanding, the subjects of social development are social formations of several levels: humanity, classes, nations, the state, the family and the individual. The movement of society is carried out as a result of the actions of all these subjects. However, they are by no means equivalent and the strength of their impact varies depending on historical conditions. In different epochs, such a subject is put forward as a decisive one, which is the main driving force of a given historical period.
Nevertheless, it must be borne in mind that in Marx's concept, all subjects of social development act in line with the objective laws of the development of society. They can neither change these laws nor repeal them. Their subjective activity either helps these laws to operate freely and thereby accelerates social development, or prevents them from operating and then slows down the historical process.
How is the problem of interest to us represented in this theory: the individual and society. We see that the individual here is recognized as the subject of social development, although it is not brought to the fore and does not fall into the number of driving forces of social progress. According to Marx's concept, personality Not only subject, but also society object. It is not an abstract inherent in the individual. In its reality it is the totality of all social relations. The development of an individual is conditioned by the development of all other individuals with whom he is in direct or indirect communication; it cannot be divorced from the history of previous and contemporary individuals. Thus, the vital activity of the individual in the concept of Marx is comprehensively determined by society in the form of the social conditions of its existence, the legacy of the past, the objective laws of history, etc., although there is still some space for its social action. According to Marx, history is nothing but the activity of a man pursuing his goals.
And now let's get back to reality, the life of modern Russians in the 21st century. The Soviet totalitarian state collapsed. New social conditions and values emerged. And it turned out that many people cannot perceive, master, assimilate them, find their new way in such a difficult time. Hence the social pathologies that are now the pain of our society - crime, alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide.
Obviously, time will pass and people will learn to live in new social conditions, to seek and find the meaning of life, but this requires the experience of freedom. She gave rise to a vacuum of existence, breaking traditions, estates, and so on, and she will also teach how to fill it. In the West, people are already making some progress in this direction - they have studied longer. Very interesting ideas on this subject are expressed by the Austrian scientist Dr. V. Frankl. He believes that it is natural for a person to strive to ensure that his life is meaningful. If there is no meaning, this is the most difficult state of the individual. There is no common meaning of life for all people, it is unique for everyone. The meaning of life, according to Frankl, cannot be invented, invented; it must be found, it exists objectively outside of man. The tension that arises between a person and an external meaning is a normal, healthy state of the psyche.
Despite the fact that the meaning of each life is unique, there are not so many ways in which a person can make his life meaningful: what we give to life (in the sense of our creative work); what we take from the world (in terms of experiences, values); what position do we take in relation to fate if we cannot change it. In accordance with this, three groups of values can be distinguished: the values of creativity, the values of experiences and the values of relationships. The realization of values (or at least one of them) can help make sense of human life. If a person does something beyond the prescribed duties, brings something of his own to work, then this is already a meaningful life. However, the meaning of life can also be given by an experience, for example, love. Even a single brightest experience will make the past life meaningful. But deeper is the third group of values - the values of attitude. A person is forced to resort to them when he cannot change circumstances, when he finds himself in an extreme situation (hopelessly ill, deprived of liberty, lost a loved one, etc.). Under any circumstances, a person can take a meaningful position, because a person's life retains its meaning to the end.
The conclusion can be made quite optimistic: despite the spiritual crisis in many people of the modern world, there will still be a way out of this state as people master new free forms of life, opportunities for self-realization of their abilities, achievement of life goals.
Personal self-realization, as a rule, occurs not in one, but in several types of activity. In addition to professional activities, most people strive to create a strong family, have good friends, interesting hobbies, etc. All the various activities and goals together create a kind of long-term orientation system for the individual. Based on this perspective, the individual chooses the appropriate life strategy (the general direction of the life path).
Life strategies can be divided into three main types:
- life well-being strategy - the desire to create favorable living conditions, earn another million;
- life success strategy - the desire to get the next position, the next title, conquer the next peak, etc .;
- strategy of life self-realization - the desire to maximize their abilities in certain activities.
The choice of a particular life strategy depends on three main factors:
- objective social conditions that society (the state) can provide to the individual for its self-realization;
- belonging of an individual to a particular social community (class, ethnic group, social stratum, etc.);
- socio-psychological qualities of the personality itself.
For example, most members of a traditional or crisis society, in which the problem of survival is the main one, are forced to adhere to a strategy of well-being. IN democratic society with developed market relations the most popular is life success strategy. In a social society(state), in which the overwhelming majority of citizens have solved the main social problems, it can be very attractive life self-realization strategy.
A life strategy can be chosen by an individual once and for life, or it can change depending on certain circumstances. So, the individual has fully implemented the strategy of life success and decided to focus on a new strategy, or the individual is forced to abandon the previously chosen strategy (a scientist who has lost his job, a bankrupt businessman, a retired military man, etc.).
