In sociology the structure of society is viewed from different angles.
The structure of society can be understood as:
1) a set of various social communities and groups that reflect the social inequality of people in society, due to their unequal statuses and social roles (this is the so-called “social structure of society”);
2) system of main spheres of society’s life (each of which corresponds to certain social relations and institutions):
Ø material and economic,
Ø social,
Ø political,
Ø spiritual and cultural).
1. The totality of various social communities and connections between them constitute social structure of society.
The main elements of the social structure of society are:
Ø classes;
Ø strata;
Ø estates (based not only on economic division, but also on traditions);
Ø people of the city and village;
Ø representatives of physical and mental labor;
Ø socio-demographic groups (men, women, old people, youth);
Ø national communities.
There are two main approaches to social structure:
class (common in Marxist philosophy: for K. Marx, the main criterion for social structuring was the attitude to the means of production, to property; the class division of society is based on this - into slaves and slave owners, peasants and feudal lords, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie);
stratification, according to which society consists of a variety of various small social groups - professional, demographic, etc., complementary to each other and interacting with each other; approach typical of Western philosophy.
Of particular importance is social mobility- the possibility of transition from one social group to another (for example, a peasant - among the workers, a worker - among the intelligentsia, an intellectual - among the entrepreneurs, etc.).
Social mobility is the basis for the normal existence of society, the self-realization of every person, and his happiness. As a rule, low social mobility is characteristic of totalitarian states and states in a state of deep economic, political and spiritual stagnation.
The highest level of unification of social groups is civil society- a society whose members consider themselves citizens of a single whole, are aware of common goals, respect laws and moral traditions.
The development trends of modern society are:
turning it into more and more homogeneous, smoothing out contradictions and differences between strata;
complication of the structure, fragmentation of strata to the micro level - the so-called “small groups”.
2. In the structure of society there are main areas of public life (material-economic, social, political and spiritual-cultural).
I. Economic sphere (material production) is the original structure of society. This is basic, determining in the life of society. Material production is the activity of people aimed at the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material goods. Thus, the components of material production are:
direct production;
distribution;
consumption of material goods.
The economic sphere is determined by the method of production(the production of material goods always occurs in a certain social form; this unity of production content and its social form is denoted by the concept of “method of production”).
The method of producing material goods has two components:
productive forces;
industrial relations.
Productive forces- This:
people with their knowledge, skills, and work habits;
and means of production.
Means of production fold up:
from means of labor; This is everything with the help of which production is carried out:
Ø tools (tools, mechanisms, machines);
Ø raw materials and materials;
Ø buildings, structures;
Ø transport, etc.
from objects of labor(these are the things that a person’s labor activity is aimed at).
Relations of production– relationships between people in the production process. Structure of industrial relations:
Ø relations of ownership of the means of production (a kind of center of all economic relations);
Ø relations of production itself;
Ø relations of exchange of activities based on the division of labor;
Ø relations regarding the distribution of production material goods;
Ø consumption relationship.
The interaction of productive forces and production relations is subject to the general dialectical law of interaction between content and form. According to him, content (productive forces) plays a decisive role in relation to form (relations of production). This is the basis of the basic sociological law - “the law of correspondence of production relations to the nature and level of development of the productive forces.” This law was formulated by the classics of Marxism.
The meaning of material production(economic sphere of society) is that it:
Ø creates the material basis for the existence of society;
Ø contributes to solving problems facing society;
Ø directly affects the social structure (classes, social groups);
Ø influences political processes;
Ø influences the spiritual sphere - both directly (on content) and on the infrastructure that bears the spiritual sphere (schools, libraries, theaters, books).
II. Social sphere understood in two meanings:
as an analogue of the “social structure of society” - the sphere of relationships between social groups and communities, the system of the internal structure of society;
as a sphere of human production and reproduction; This is healthcare and education, this is human communication with culture, this is the continuation of the human race, from the birth of children to the passing of the older generation; here man reproduces himself as a biological, social and spiritual being.
III. Political sphere of society – a set of institutions and organizations that express the interests of social groups and manage society.
Elements of the political system companies are:
state and government bodies The main element of the political system of society;
political parties;
public organizations;
trade unions;
other institutions.
The main question of political life is the question of power.
The main function of the political sphere- the function of organizing, streamlining, normalizing social relations.
IV. Spiritual and cultural sphere is the sphere of spiritual production, the sphere of formation and functioning of cultural values, social goals and ideals, art, morality, religion, philosophy, science, etc.
Depending on the spheres of life, the following are distinguished: social institutions:
Economic (division of labor, property, wages, etc.);
Political, or institutions of power (state, army, institute of law, party, trade union, etc.);
Institutions in the field of culture (traditions and habits, morality, educational institutions, families, churches).
Society is a group of people created through purposeful and intelligently organized joint activity, and the members of such a group are not united by such a deep principle as in the case of a true community. Society rests on a convention, an agreement, and the same orientation of interests. The individuality of an individual changes much less under the influence of his inclusion in society than depending on his inclusion in the community. Society is often understood as the sphere that lies between the individual and the state.
The work contains 1 file
1) The concept of society
Society is a group of people created through purposeful and intelligently organized joint activity, and the members of such a group are not united by such a deep principle as in the case of a true community. Society rests on a convention, an agreement, and the same orientation of interests. The individuality of an individual changes much less under the influence of his inclusion in society than depending on his inclusion in the community. Society is often understood as the sphere that lies between the individual and the state.
After attempts to explain the essence of the concept of “society” in antiquity (Aristotle) and in the Middle Ages (Augustine and Thomas Aquinas), this question became, especially in the 1st and 18th centuries, a political and philosophical problem, the comprehensive solution of which Comte tried to give in his sociology; Therefore, society became the subject of consideration and the central point of the new science - sociology.
In the broadest sense, society studied by social philosophy acts as sociality in general, as a society, or a special kind of being in the world.
There are different interpretations of society: subjective, which considers society as a special amateur collective of people; active, which believes that society should be considered not so much the collective itself as the process of collective existence of people; organizational, which views society as an institutional system of stable connections between interacting people and social groups.
Society as an extremely broad concept to designate that part of the material world that is isolated from nature and interacts with it in a certain way. This separation is as follows: in contrast to spontaneous natural forces, at the center of social development is a person with consciousness and will. Nature exists and develops according to its own laws, independent of man and society. In this sense, society is the totality of all forms of association and ways of interaction of people both among themselves and with the natural world around them.
This last definition is considered as the main one in this work.
2) Structure and historical types of societies.
The concept of structure is also used in another, broader sense as
a set of elements and their relationships. In this case, the concept of structure,
essentially identified with the concept of the whole, since, for example,
“elementary” particles and atoms, molecules and other objects and phenomena,
being integral formations, they are referred to as material structures.
Structure is the orderliness and organization of a system. Naturally
therefore, an essential characteristic of the structure is the measure
orderliness, which in its most general form, in the cybernetic sense,
acts as the degree of deviation from the state of its thermodynamic
balance. Social systems tend to increase the degree of orderliness,
own functioning and development.
When applied to society as a system, structure acts as an internal
organization of society or its individual units. The structure of society is
a set of social relations. Society as a whole has structure and
any specific subsystem within its framework. Moreover, any specific system
within the framework of the “global” whole - society - has its own specific
structure, organization, which is a specification of a more general
structure, structure that dominates society.
Since the main component of any social system is
people, then the main element of its structure, so to speak, is its
the central link is human relations, primarily production ones
relationship. People, however, act in different spheres of social life -
economic, socio-political, spiritual, family and everyday life. From here
the presence of specific structures for specific areas of an integral society -
economic structure, socio-political structure, structure
spiritual life, the structure of life and seed life. Each of them has
their characteristics, which bear the stamp of the qualitative nature of society and
determined primarily by the dominant forms of ownership in it.
The structure of the social system appears but only as relationships
people to each other. Relations between various spheres of public life -
economic and socio-political, economic and spiritual, relations
other public spheres are also elements of structure.
Elements of structure can also be relationships between things. In this case it is impossible
forget, of course, that things have a social nature. Structure e.g.
such a system as an enterprise also contains a certain connection,
the order of arrangement of machines, mechanisms, the relationship of technological
processes, etc.
Structure also manifests itself in people’s relationships to things, in particular to
means of production, then ost in forms of ownership that
represent the most important element of the structure of society. She can
act also as people’s attitudes towards ideas. This is a process of development, perception,
dissemination of ideas by certain groups of people, classes, etc. They have
the place and relationship of ideas to ideas, the connection of ideas of various kinds, etc. To
for example, social consciousness as a system of ideas has certain
forms, they, these forms - science, political ideas, art, etc. -
are in a certain connection, relationship.
Structure is also the attitude of people to processes - economic,
political, etc., the relationship between various processes in society, say
revolutions and reforms, economic and socio-political processes, etc.
Basic elements of the structure of society
The first necessary element of social activity is living
human individuals - subjects of activity, with whom its triggers are associated
and regulatory mechanisms.
The second element is the object of social activity. Objects
Social activities can be divided into two classes:
1. Things, “instruments” with the help of which people influence
the real world around them. With these things people
carry out adaptive activities, adapting to the environment
through its material-energy transformation,
purposeful transformation.
2. Symbols, signs (books, paintings, icons, etc.). These items
serve not to directly change reality, but to change
our ideas about the world. They influence our consciousness
aspirations, goals, and through them, indirectly, influence
a reality different from consciousness. The function of symbols is to embody
contains information encoded in a special way, to serve
a means of its storage, accumulation, transmission, allowing people
agree on the goals of their collective activities.
The need for symbols is due to the fact that any ideas, images,
feelings designed to influence people's behavior can make
this, and only in that case will they acquire some kind of “corporeal shell”
becoming material conductors, "carriers"
If things serve as direct instruments of adaptation, then symbols provide
purposefulness of human activity.
3) Social structure of society.
Social structure and social institutions. In sociology, the concept of social structure (separate parts of society ordered into one whole) is interpreted in a broad and narrow sense.
In a narrow sense, social structure is social stratification, i.e. hierarchical distribution of groups and layers, identified according to any characteristic (economic, political, professional, etc.).
In a broad sense, social structure is a set of social institutions, status relations, groups, layers, classes of a given society.
course: Sociology
topic: Social structure of society and its elements
Introduction
1. Society as a social system. Structure and forms of social interaction
2. Institutionalization and its stages. Types and functions of social institutions
3. Social communities, groups and organizations
4. Social structure of society and the basis for its classification
Conclusion
List of used literature
Introduction
I chose the topic “The Social Structure of Society and Its Elements” because I believe that this issue concerning society occupies one of the main places in sociology.
The question of what society is, what its place and role in people’s lives is, has always been the focus of sociology.
Throughout the history of sociology, these have been some of its most important problems, the consideration of which is the main task of this essay.
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. But there are many other definitions of society, as well as its structure and elements, which I will discuss in this essay.
1. Society as a social system
Structure and forms of social interaction
Scientists have been studying society, its essence, basic elements and patterns of development for more than one millennium. Many discoveries in this area were made already in the 4th century. BC. the ancient Greek sage Plato, who tried to create the theory of an ideal state - a perfect human society.
The development of ideas about society as a system is closely related to the development of natural and social sciences in the 18th-19th centuries.
Advances in the development of biology in the 19th century, in particular the emergence of the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin, made it possible to overcome mechanical ideas about the structure of society and contributed to the spread "organismic"(from the word “organism”) the model with which the concepts came into social science “organic whole”, “self-regulation”, “morphological structure” etc.
Under " social system“in modern sociology it is customary to understand an ordered, usually hierarchically constructed set of individuals, social groups, communities, organizations, united by stable connections and relationships, interacting with the environment as a single whole.
Along with the concept of “social system”, the category “society” is used in modern sociology. " Society"can be defined as a sociocultural system that differs from other associations of people - groups, communities, organizations - by its duration of existence and self-sufficiency, i.e. possessing all the necessary resources for its reproduction and development.
The most complete definition of the characteristics of society belongs to the American sociologist Edward Shils. In his opinion, the concept of “society” is applicable to any historical era and any association of people if:
The association lasts longer than the average life expectancy of an individual;
It is not part of any larger social system;
It has a territory of residence that it considers its own;
It has its own name and its own history;
Marriages are concluded primarily between representatives of this association;
It is replenished mainly due to natural growth, i.e. birth of children within the association;
It is united by a common system of values (customs, traditions, norms, laws, rules, morals), which is called culture;
The association has its own management system.
In this regard, it is important to emphasize the difference between the concepts of “society” and “social system” from the concept of “population”, which is widely used in geography, demography and less often in sociology. " Population» is defined as a collection of people living in a common territory.
The categories “society” and “social system” are central categories of sociology, but they describe complex social phenomena, and therefore cannot be initial categories of the system of sociological knowledge.
The initial category of a system of sociological knowledge can only be a category that is a model of the simplest social phenomenon, which logically and historically(genetically) preceded the emergence of society, any social system.
In order for a social system to exist, at least two people are needed, connected to each other through various social interactions.
Modern sociology defines social interaction as a system of interdependent social actions associated with cyclical dependence, in which the action of one subject is both the cause and consequence of the response actions of other subjects.
P.A. Sorokin highlighted the following elements of social interaction ¹:
1) subjects of interaction;
2) mutual expectations of the subjects of interaction;
3) purposeful activities of each party;
4) conductors of social interaction.
Classification of forms of social interaction carried out for various reasons.
Depending on the number of participants:
Interaction between two people (two comrades);
Interaction of one and many (lecturer and audience);
Interaction of many, many (cooperation of states, parties, etc.)
Depending on the similarity or difference in the qualities of the participants in the interaction:
Same or different sexes;
Same or different nationalities;
Similar or different in level of wealth, etc.
Depending on the nature of the acts of interaction:
One-sided or two-sided;
Solidarity or antagonistic;
Organized or unorganized;
Template or non-template;
Intellectual, sensual or volitional.
Depending on duration:
Short-term or long-term;
Having short-term or long-term consequences.
Depending on the nature of the conductors - direct or indirect.
Depending on the frequency of repetition and stability in sociology, the following are distinguished: types of social interaction: social contacts, social relationships, social institutions.
Under social contact in sociology it is common to understand the type of short-term, easily interrupted social interaction caused by the contact of people in physical and social space.
Social contacts can be divided on different grounds. S. Frolov most clearly identifies the types of social contacts. He structured them in the following order:
Spatial contacts, helping the individual determine the direction of the intended contact and navigate in space and time. Two types of spatial contacts:
1. Inferred spatial contact, when human behavior changes due to the assumption of the presence of individuals in a place. For example, a driver reduces speed after seeing a poster “There is a video surveillance and speed control system on this section of the road.”
2. Visual spatial contact, or “silent presence” contact, when an individual’s behavior changes under the influence of visual observation of other people.
Contacts of interest emphasize the social selectivity of our choices. For example, if you are attacked, you will look for a person with great physical strength or power.
Exchange contacts. This is already a higher level in the desire of individuals for social interaction. The main thing that is emphasized when analyzing this type of contact is the absence in the actions of individuals of a goal to change behavior or other socially significant characteristics of each other, i.e. The attention of individuals is currently focused not on the result of the connection, but on the process itself.
« Social relations“- sequences, “chains” of repeated social interactions, correlated in their meaning with each other and characterized by stable norms and patterns of behavior.
The next type and qualitatively new level of development of social interaction is a social institution.
2. Institutionalization and its stages
Types and functions of social institutions
The development of human society cannot occur chaotically. From this point of view, history is a process of ordering, consolidating socially significant types of social relations.
The process of identifying and consolidating certain social relations, social norms, rules, statuses and roles, bringing them into a system focused on satisfying the needs essential for society (at a given historical stage of development) is defined in sociology as “ institutionalization" Its result is the formation of social institutions.
Social institutions are called social relations that have turned into an orderly system of social connections, norms and roles, which unites significant social values and procedures that satisfy the basic needs of society. Institutions do not depend on the personal qualities of the participants in the interaction.
Not all social relations in their development turn into institutions. Social practice selects and consolidates only those relationships between individuals and social groups that become vital for the functioning of society as a complex social system.
The process of institutionalization is the process of the emergence of something new, which is always assessed from the position of the historically established needs of society, that is, from the position of the “developed old”.
Formalizing the process of institutionalization, we can distinguish several stages inherent in the formation of social institutions:
1. The emergence of a need, the satisfaction of which requires joint organized actions.
2. Formation of common goals.
3. The emergence of social norms and rules in the course of spontaneous social interaction carried out by trial and error.
4. The emergence of procedures related to norms and regulations.
5. Institutionalization of norms and rules, procedures, i.e. recognition of their social significance.
6. Establishment of a system of sanctions to maintain norms and rules, differentiation of their application in individual cases, creation of a mechanism of social control.
7.Creation of a system of statuses and roles covering all members of the institute without exception.
The result of the process of institutionalization is considered to be the establishment of a clear status-role structure, socially approved by the majority of participants in this social process. The process of institutionalization is a process of finding compromises and reaching agreement between different social groups.
The successful operation of social institutions largely depends on the implementation of a certain set of conditions:
1. The presence of specific social norms and regulations governing the behavior of people within a given institution.
2. Its integration into the socio-political, ideological and value structure of society, which, on the one hand, provides the formal legal basis for the activities of the institution, and on the other, allows for social control over institutionalized types of activities.
3. Availability of material resources and conditions that ensure the successful implementation by institutions of regulatory requirements and the implementation of social control.
Each social institution has both specific features and common features with other institutions. signs. Firstly, these are attitudes and patterns of behavior. Secondly, cultural symbols. The cultural symbol of an institution can be any material or intangible element of culture that expresses in the most concentrated form the main specific features of a given institution that form its integral image.
Thirdly, social institutions have utilitarian cultural features: the family has a fireplace, a Russian stove, and an electric stove.
The fourth characteristic of institutions is oral or written codes of conduct. People involved in the activities of institutions must take the appropriate roles assigned to them.
The fifth feature of social institutions is the presence of ideology. Ideology can be fairly roughly described as a system of ideas that is sanctioned by a set of norms.
Social institutions, regardless of what social relations they reflect (economics, politics, culture, religion, law, family), perform general institutional functions. In sociology, it is customary to distinguish between explicit (historically recognized, clearly distinguishable and easily recognizable functions) and latent (hidden, not officially recognized) functions.
Explicit functions of social institutions:
1. Identification, consolidation and reproduction of social relations
Society as a social system, through social institutions, establishes norms and rules of behavior for individuals, enshrined in relevant documents. Following these rules ensures stability in society and the opportunity for the development of the individual as a person.
2. Communication function
This function is necessary to maintain the activities of a social institution at the proper level and to implement the internal interconnection of all its parts. In addition, every social institution is interested in receiving external information about the activities of other social institutions.
3. Integrative function(function of maintaining the integrity of a social institution)
This function is aimed at ensuring, during institutionalization, cohesion and strengthening internal and external connections between team members. The integration function consists of three main elements:
1) consolidation, or combination, of efforts;
2) mobilization of private resources of group members to achieve common goals;
3) compatibility of individuals' personal goals with the goals of others or the group as a whole.
4. Regulatory function
This function ensures the development of general socially significant patterns of behavior. The main institution designed to reproduce common patterns of behavior (social ideal) is the institution of culture.
Latent functions are functions that appear during the process of institutionalization, but do not become fundamental for this process.
3. Social communities, groups and organizations
Various types of social systems arise as a result of social interaction. Indeed, in the process of interaction between people, stable connections and relationships are formed that give a new quality to individuals previously independent from each other - they create a “collective unity” (P.A. Sorokin’s term), which interacts with the environment as a whole. As a result of regular interaction, a pair of lovers forms a family, several football fans form a team, a group of believers forms a religious community, several workers form a labor cooperative, etc. Strengthening mutual connections, establishing more stable relationships and the evolution of social communities are two sides of a single process of interaction between people. The interaction of communities and groups results in the social structure of society.
The most general, abstract category of sociology that describes the variety of forms of unification of people is the concept of “ social community“- a collection of people united by common conditions of existence, who have established regular, stable interaction with each other.
The main types of social communities are:
1) nominal community;
2) mass community (quasi-group);
3) social group;
4) social organization (organized group).
Nominal community is a special social category. Unlike all other types of social communities, it does not arise naturally as a result of social interactions and, therefore, strictly speaking, cannot be called a community. A nominal community is a collection of people united by common social characteristics, the relationship between which is established by the researcher in order to solve a scientific problem. These people may have a huge number of common characteristics: eye color, hair, love of animals, etc., but never interact with each other. The term “nominal community” exists as a tribute to scientific tradition and has a more precise synonym “ social aggregate ».
Mass community (quasi-group)- this is a really existing set of people, accidentally united by common conditions of existence and without a stable goal of interaction. The main characteristic features of mass communities can be considered:
Spontaneity of occurrence;
Instability, temporary nature of the coincidence of interests;
Uncertainty of composition and boundaries;
Uniting individuals by external conditions of existence;
Inability to enter as elements into other social communities.
Quasi-groups most often exist for a short time, after which they either completely disintegrate or, under the influence of the situation, transform into stable social groups. Sociologists and social psychologists distinguish the following types of mass communities: audience, crowd, social circles.
1) Audience. An audience is understood as a social community of people united by interaction with a communicator - an individual or group who owns information and brings it to this community. The audience can interact either directly with the communicator (for example, listening to a street speaker, an announcement by a manager in a store or other public places), or indirectly, anonymously (for example, exposure to the media).
The most characteristic feature of the audience is almost one-way interaction, weak feedback from the audience to the communicator, especially from large audiences. Any audience tends to divide into separate communities in which mutual communication and exchange of opinions about the information received begin.
2) Crowd. A crowd is, as a rule, an unstructured gathering of people connected by a similar emotional state and a common object of attention. If a crowd has a structure, it is very simple and rarely more complex than the division into leaders and everyone else. But a crowd is more than a simple aggregation of individuals. Physically confined space leads to social interaction even when people in a crowd try to avoid interpersonal contact. Most often, crowds have certain common characteristics:
1. Suggestibility. People who are in a crowd are, as a rule, more suggestible than those who are outside it. They are more likely to accept the opinions, feelings and actions of the majority.
2. Anonymity. The individual feels insignificant and unrecognizable in the crowd. A crowd often acts as a whole, and its individual members do not stand out or perceive themselves as individuals.
3. Spontaneity. The people who make up a crowd tend to behave more spontaneously than under normal circumstances. As a rule, they do not think about their actions, and their behavior in a crowd depends solely on emotions.
4. Invulnerability. Because the people who make up the crowd are anonymous, they begin to feel outside of social control, realizing that they are difficult to “get to.” For example, when acts of vandalism are carried out by rampaging football fans, each of the participants abdicates responsibility for this, acting together as one.
Crowds can be divided into several types depending on the way they are formed and behave:
1. Random crowd does not have any structure.
2. Conditioned crowd- a meeting of people that is planned in advance and relatively structured. For example, a crowd gathered for a performance behaves differently in a theater, in a stadium, in a meeting, etc.
3. Expressive crowd, is a social quasi-group, which is usually organized for the purpose of obtaining personal pleasure by its members. For example, dancing.
4. Acting crowd– a crowd with extreme types of behavior.
Gathering– an emotionally excited crowd, prone to violent actions.
3) Social circles. Social circles are social communities created for the purpose of exchanging information among their members. These communities do not set any common goals, do not make joint efforts, and do not have an executive apparatus. The main function of social circles is to exchange views, news, comments, and arguments. We can say metaphorically that circles are communities of people discussing.
There are several types of social circles, mainly represented in the classification of J. Szczepanski.
1. Contact circles- these are social communities of people who constantly meet at sports competitions, in transport or in queues. Having a common interest in the topic of discussion allows them to make fleeting acquaintances or exchange opinions on issues that interest them.
2. Professional circles, or circles of colleagues, are social communities whose members gather to exchange information solely on professional grounds. They arise within formalized groups at enterprises, symposiums, meetings, conferences, among workers, engineers, scientists, and artists.
3. Friendly circles- These are social communities for the exchange of information that arise among individuals united by relationships of friendship. Typically, friendly social circles mean companies that gather from time to time and discuss pressing problems or are in correspondence.
4. Status social circles– social communities formed due to the exchange of information among individuals with the same or similar statuses. An example of such a community can be considered aristocratic circles, circles of outcasts (homeless people).
All social circles can have leaders, i.e. persons who accumulate and generalize various opinions and statements that are important to members of a given circle and influence their behavior. These leaders are informal and do not have the ability to control the behavior of members of the social circle.
Social circles are the basis for the formation of active social groups. Such actions are especially evident in politics, with the formation of political parties.
Social group- a set of people united on the basis of joint activities, common goals and having an established system of norms, values, life orientations, stable patterns of behavior, thanks to which individuals develop a sense of group solidarity.
A social group is characterized by a number of specific characteristics:
Stability, duration of existence;
Determination of composition and boundaries;
General system of values and social norms;
Awareness of one’s belonging to a given social community;
Voluntary nature of association of individuals (for small social groups);
Uniting individuals by external conditions of existence (for large social groups);
The ability to enter as elements into other social communities.
According to the number (mass of participants) and the nature of relationships, social groups are divided into big and small .
The main difference between a small social group and a large one is the possibility of direct emotional contacts among group members, in personal relationships between individuals, and because of this, in a clear distribution of them by social status and roles. A classic example of a small social group is the family. Its number is 2-15 people. Based on the type of influence of the community on the process of socialization of the individual, sociologists distinguish primary and secondary social groups.
Primary social groups constitute, as it were, the immediate environment of the individual and are the subjects of primary socialization (family, company of friends, classmates, like-minded people).
Secondary social groups characterized by the impersonal, one-sided, utilitarian nature of interactions between individuals, which indirectly affects the process of socialization. For example, a sports club, a group of philatelists, a joint team of school chess players.
4. Social structure of society and the basis for its classification
If the concept of “social system” indicates the relationships between many individuals, which transform them into a qualitatively new set - “collective unity”, then the category “social structure” reflects the nature of the ordered and interdependent connections between the elements of the social system, describes the composition of the elements and the “internal structure » human community.
Social structure - in the broad sense of the word - means the totality of relations between various social groups, communities, organizations and social institutions that ensure stability in society.
In the process of their own reproduction, people enter into certain social relations, primarily production ones, unite into groups, cooperate, and distribute functions. The dominant mode of production in a given historical period determines the nature of the social structure of a given society.
The classification of various aspects and elements of the social structure depends on the tasks solved by sociologists and the chosen grounds. Social structure can be considered in the following respects:
1) historical, from the point of view of the evolution of society, its development; the elements of such a structure are stages of world history, stages of development of individual countries and peoples;
2) functional, i.e. as an ordered system of forms of social activity that ensure the functioning and development of society; in this case, the units of analysis are individual spheres of the social division of labor (economics, politics, law, morality, education and upbringing systems);
3) institutional, as a system of connections between social institutions that ensure the satisfaction of the most important social needs;
4) as the social composition of society, from the point of view of connections and relationships between various social communities, groups, organizations, identified on a variety of grounds (socio-demographic, socio-territorial, national-ethnic, stratification and other structures of society);
5) as a hierarchy of social statuses, each of which corresponds to a set of rights, responsibilities and certain social roles;
6) as a specific system of socio-cultural orientation of individual and collective actions; The units of analysis in this approach to social structure are the elements of social action (goals and means, motives and incentives, norms and patterns of behavior, etc.).
Other bases for typologizing the social structure of society, derived from those listed above, are also possible. In relation to the labor process, the entire society can be divided into “those employed in social production” and “dependents” (children, students, pensioners, etc.). In relation to legal norms, the entire population can also be divided into groups with: 1) conformal (law-abiding) behavior; 2) deviant (deviant) behavior; 3) delinquent (criminal) behavior.
These approaches to the social structure of society can be considered as its different, complementary elements, each of which allows both theoretical and empirical analysis.
The social structure of society is not something frozen and unchanging. It is influenced by many factors, which by their nature can be both functional and dysfunctional. These include all kinds of internal conflicts and mutual influences of heterogeneous external structures (clash of local cultures or interests). Social structures that differ in their level and type of development are unequally capable of adapting internal and external influences.
The stability of the social structure of society and its adaptive capabilities change in the process of its development. In this case, two interrelated processes occur:
1. “Horizontal” differentiation of functions between individual complementary spheres of social activity (for example, division of spheres of social production, the emergence of new spheres of activity);
2. “Vertical”, hierarchical differentiation of functions between different levels of social management (for example, corresponding differentiation of social institutions, mechanisms of social control and programs of activity of the social system).
To summarize the above, it is necessary to emphasize the enormous importance of studying the social structure of modern, and above all, Russian society. Not a single serious, socially significant institution or organization can do today without a competent sociologist who monitors trends in the development of this particular team and society as a whole.
Conclusion
Thus, having completed an essay on the topic “The social structure of society and its elements,” I answered the main questions of sociology in relation to society.
I defined society, determined its place and role in people’s lives, and examined the social structure of society and its elements.
The constituent elements of society are people, social connections and actions, social interactions and relationships, social institutions and organizations, social groups, communities, social norms and values, and others. Each of them is in a more or less close relationship with the others, occupies a specific place and plays a unique role in society.
In this regard, I identified and examined the tasks of sociology - to determine the structure of society, to give a scientific classification of its most important elements, to find out their relationship and interaction, place and role in society as a social system.
List of used literature
1. Belsky V.Yu., Belyaev A.A., Loshakov D.G. Sociology: Textbook / Ed. Ph.D. Phil. Sciences, Associate Professor Loshakova D.G. – M.: INFRA-M, 2002.
2. Radugin A.A., Radugin K.A. Sociology: Course of lectures. – M.: Vlados, 1995.
3. Toshchenko Zh.T. Sociology. General course. – 2nd ed. – M.: Prometheus, 2002.
4. Sociology. Tutorial. / Under the general editorship. doc. Phil. sciences, prof. Tadevosyan E.V. M.: Knowledge, 1995.
The first necessary element of social activity is living human individuals - subjects of activity with whom its triggering and regulatory mechanisms are associated. Despite the fact that a person represents a whole and integral “microcosm”, he is an element of activity, i.e. its simplest, further indivisible formation.
The second element is the object of social activity. Objects of social activity can be divided into two classes:
Things, “tools” with the help of which people influence the real world around them. With the help of these things, people carry out adaptive activities, adapting to the environment through its material and energy alteration, purposeful transformation. Symbols, signs (books, paintings, icons, etc.). These objects serve not to directly change reality, but to change our ideas about the world. They influence our consciousness, aspirations, goals, and through them, indirectly, influence a reality different from consciousness. The function of symbols is to embody encoded information in a special way, to serve as a means of its storage, accumulation, transmission, allowing people to agree on the goals of their collective activity. The need for symbols is due to the fact that any ideas, images, feelings designed to influence people’s behavior can do this, and only in that case will they acquire some kind of “bodily shell”, becoming material conductors, “carriers of meaning.”
Society - 1) in the broad sense of the word, it is the totality of all types of interaction and forms of association of people that have developed historically; 2) in a narrow sense - a historically specific type of social system, a certain form of social relations. 3) a group of people united by common moral and ethical standards (foundations). 4) an association of people, as a result of which, because this unity, the entire possible space of society becomes public, i.e. property common to these people and their descendants, all other forms are considered to have not completed the unification, i.e. have not fully formed society. The human community is called society. It is characterized by the fact that community members occupy a certain territory and conduct joint collective productive activities. In the community there is a distribution of the jointly produced product.
Any act of joint activity is possible in the presence of interconnected people, things, symbols.
For the life of people, who are characterized by active adaptation to the environment, appropriate things are necessary, the creation of which is carried out by material production. Material production creates means of activity that are used in all its types, allowing people to physically change natural and social reality.
By producing the necessary things, people create a certain system of social relations. (The use of new productive technology in modern Europe led to the emergence and establishment of capitalist relations, which were created not by politicians, but by workers in material production).
In the process of material production, people create and consolidate a certain type of mentality, a way of thinking and feeling.
Social life is the social interaction of a person and society. In the diversity of goals, interests, aspirations, and wills, individual interactions accumulate into mass ones, i.e. the individual is “reduced” to the social, and the social structure of society is formed.
Primitive forms of production and labor organization are forms of consanguinity and family types, the simplest social relations. A socially unified society gradually developed into a socially differentiated one. This occurred on the basis of the division of functions in the social division of labor. A socially differentiated society includes:
1) nationalities, nations;
2) classes;
3) social groups - urban, rural population and people primarily engaged in mental and physical labor;
4) primary groups of people (for example, labor);
6) individuals.
The product of spiritual activity (science, culture, art) of people is information addressed to human consciousness - ideas, images, feelings. Thus, creation (in its broad sense, covering the entire area of human activity) includes ideal impulses that are different from reflexes and belong to the sphere of the unconscious. Sigmund Freud showed what a huge role muddy desires and unconscious drives play in human behavior.
Other social formations are also being formed: informal groups, diffuse, elite.
Classes occupy a central place in a socially differentiated society. A generalized feature of classes is their historical place in a particular production system. Classes are groups of people, one of which can appropriate the labor of another due to the difference in a certain place in the structure of the social economy.
Along with the theory of classes, there is the theory of stratification. In it, society is divided into strata (layers) not only according to the structure of the economic base, but also according to other criteria: profession, income, education, etc.
The social division of labor also determines the division of interests of representatives of city and countryside, mental and physical labor, producers and consumers, managers and managed, national, collective and individual, national and local, national, employed and unemployed, etc.
Proponents of the pluralist movement are convinced that the parts of any social unit are in coordination dependence with each other: mutually influencing each other, they are not divided into determinants and determinants.
Also, materialists (K. Marx) and idealists (P. Sorokin) have different points of view on this problem. P. Sorokin’s “Integral Concept” is based on the idea of unconditional consciousness in the social life of people; the nature of social objects and processes is determined by ideas, goals, and not by the material and energy means used for their implementation. The spiritual completely determines the material in the life of society.
Discussing the structure of society, Sorokin puts forward two levels of organization: the level of cultural systems (a set of interrelated ideas) and the level of social systems proper (a set of interconnected people). Moreover, the second level is entirely subordinate to the first. Sorokin distinguishes between the relations of subordination between the cultural and material levels and the relations of coordination (mutual influence) between the most important components of Culture.
In history, there are alternately two main types of worldviews - “spiritual” and “sensual”, each of which corresponds to its own type of social structure (“sociocultural supersystem”).
People who live in societies of the first type proceed from the belief that the reality around them has a spiritual, divine origin. Accordingly, they see the meaning of their existence in subordination to the divine absolute, treating with contempt or condescension everything worldly and transient. Therefore, material production in such societies is essentially supportive in nature. The main object of influence is considered not to be nature, but the human soul, which should strive to merge with God. Directly opposite characteristics are characteristic of societies of the second type, based on a materialistic perception of the world, emphasizing the sensory aspects of human existence. An important part of social policy is to find a reasonable balance between universal human and national-state interests. As for the nation, it should, in all likelihood, be considered as a unity of ethnic, socio-economic and cultural-historical components, the predominant one being determined by the specific living conditions of a given nation.
Modern society is characterized by the interweaving of the processes of social integration (integrity) and social differentiation (difference). There is an expansion of economic ties, political and cultural contacts, the internationalization of public life as a whole, and efforts are being coordinated to combat the threat of wars, the environmental crisis, diseases, and international crime.
K. Marx, in turn, fully recognizes the fact that the difference between history and natural processes is connected precisely with the presence of consciousness, the ability of a person to “build in his head” what will later be built in reality. K. Marx claims that the root cause of any human actions is objective, i.e. needs independent of people’s desires, indicating what people need for existence and development. In Marx’s theory, needs are understood as a property of human nature, a person’s attitude to the necessary conditions of existence, which is different from consciousness and precedes it: “Consciousness can never be anything other than conscious existence, and the existence of people is the real process of their life.”
Considering consciousness as the real cause of social changes, Marx categorically refuses to recognize them as the root cause, as idealist philosophers did and do (for example, P. Sorokin).
However, consciousness turns out to be capable of influencing not only the functioning, but also the formation of economic realities, as is happening in modern history (A completely conscious reformation of the economic foundations of society is the “New Deal” of President F. Roosevelt in the USA).
As the common features of life develop, differences simultaneously intensify - professional, cultural, everyday, age, national and linguistic.
Overall, the class structure is eroding, and intra-class and non-class social differentiation is intensifying. Presumably, complete abolition of social groups is impossible. In the future, the social organism will become more complex, and not turn into something homogeneous. Any society always has a social structure, which means the entire set of classes, strata, social groups, etc. The social structure of society is always determined by the method of production and changes accordingly as social relations change. Social communities are relatively stable collections of people, distinguished by more or less similar conditions and lifestyles, and more or less similar interests. Societies of various types are forms of joint life activity.
The law of the determining role of material production has various manifestations. First of all, it is associated with the special significance of products of such production. Before being able to engage in politics, science or the arts, people must eat, drink, dress, consuming what creates material production. As a result, all types of activities, not just spiritual ones, are forced to adapt to the requirements of material production, to serve as a means of its optimization, constant development and improvement.
So the priority goal of both the domestic and foreign policy of any far-sighted government is to create and maintain the necessary conditions for the normal operation of material production. It is obvious that no politician is able to control the situation in a society in which such normal work, which is the most important guarantor of political stability, is disrupted. The whole point is that in addition to the technical support of all types of human activity, it is material production that creates life-sustaining products, on which not only the “well-being of society” depends, but the physical survival of each individual person in the very short term. Such products are the subject of not just a need, but a need that must be satisfied first of all, by any means and at any cost, with the “mobilization” of all forces that can help in solving this problem: from politicians to scientists.
A similar situation characterizes both ancient and modern societies; even a radical scientific and technological revolution is not able to refute the determining role of material production.
However, Marx associates the determining role of material production not only with the importance of products. This role is also manifested in the fact that in the process of creating things, people enter into special production relations that determine their entire way of life and form them as social beings. This refers to production and economic property relations. The nature of property is not accidental, and depends on the level of development of productive forces (means of production combined with labor) and the professional division of labor.
There are commonalities:
static (nominal categories) - for example, by registration;
real - the same townspeople, in a real situation;
mass (aggregates) - collections of people identified on the basis of behavioral differences that are situational and not fixed;
group - small and large social groups.
However, we see that modern history, having broken the unambiguous connection between ownership of the means of production and the well-being of people, their property status, thereby significantly corrects Marx’s idea of the dependence between the “base” of society and the social structure of public life. We can no longer directly derive people’s lifestyle, their method of self-reproduction, from their position in the system of production and economic relations.
Social structure- a set of interrelated elements that make up the internal structure of society. The concept of “social structure” is used both in ideas about society as a social system, in which the social structure provides the internal order of connecting elements, and the environment establishes the external boundaries of the system, and when describing society through the category of social space. In the latter case, social structure is understood as the unity of functionally interrelated social positions and social fields.
Society is a complex organization of interactions and interrelations between people, groups, castes, layers, strata, classes.
The structure of society is a set of large and small social groups, collective and individual relations between them.
A social group is a community (association) of people distinguished on the basis of a certain characteristic (for example, the nature of joint activities, common interests and values).
Large social groups are distinguished by their position in society, income, methods of earning a living, level of education, profession, etc.
Some researchers call large groups “strata”, others use the concepts “layer”, “interlayer”, “class”, etc. There is no consensus on this issue.
A peculiar type of social groups are caste.
An example of a social group is estates, developed in medieval Europe. The class division is distinguished by significant property and social differences between individual groups. Class privileges, rights and obligations were formed primarily through political means and were secured by legislation.
It is noteworthy that society is not just divided into groups, but also has a clearly defined hierarchical structure. In science, the term is used to denote this phenomenon "stratification". Social stratification is manifested in all areas of public life - political, professional, cultural.
Forms of social stratification change as society develops. Thus, in medieval Europe, the clergy and aristocracy had the highest status. An impoverished representative of a noble family was more respected in society than a wealthy merchant. At the same time, in bourgeois society, capital became the determining factor in a person’s position in society and opened the way up the social ladder.
The basis of the social structure of society is made up of the following elements: a) components of society - the individual, the collective, the family, the social group (exists in various forms: classes, executions, strata, professional and age groups, etc.), a socially defined type of society; b) social relations that exist as connections and interactions between elements of society.
Social institutions: their structure and functions. The importance of social institutions in the life of society.
Social Institute- social structure or order of social structure that determines the behavior of a certain number of individuals in a particular community. Institutions are characterized by their ability to influence people's behavior through established rules that determine such behavior.
Structure
Concept social institution assumes:
- the presence of a need in society and its satisfaction by the mechanism of reproduction of social practices and relationships;
- these mechanisms, being supra-individual formations, act in the form of value-normative complexes that regulate social life as a whole or its separate sphere, but for the benefit of the whole;
Their structure includes:
- role models of behavior and statuses (instructions for their implementation);
- their justification (theoretical, ideological, religious, mythological) in the form of a categorical grid, defining a “natural” vision of the world;
- means of transmitting social experience (material, ideal and symbolic), as well as measures that stimulate one behavior and repress another, tools for maintaining institutional order;
- social positions - the institutions themselves represent a social position (“there are no empty” social positions, so the question of the subjects of social institutions disappears).
In addition, they assume the presence of a certain social position of “professionals” who are capable of putting this mechanism into action, playing by its rules, including a whole system of their preparation, reproduction and maintenance.
Functions
Each social institution has a main function that determines its “face”, associated with its main social role in consolidating and reproducing certain social practices and relationships. Along with explicit ones, there are also implicit ones - latent (hidden) functions.
Sociologists of different directions sought to somehow classify them, present them in the form of a certain ordered system. The most complete and interesting classification was presented by the so-called. "institutional school". Representatives of the institutional school in sociology identified four main functions of social institutions:
- Reproduction of members of society. The main institution performing this function is the family, but other social institutions, such as the state, are also involved.
- Socialization is the transfer to individuals of patterns of behavior and methods of activity established in a given society - institutions of family, education, religion, etc.
- Production and distribution. Provided by economic and social institutions of management and control - authorities.
- The functions of management and control are carried out through a system of social norms and regulations that implement the corresponding types of behavior: moral and legal norms, customs, administrative decisions, etc. Social institutions manage the behavior of the individual through a system of sanctions.
Role in the development of society
Having examined examples from many countries around the world, scientists came to the conclusion that the determining and necessary condition for the development of any country is the presence of public institutions, which they called publicly accessible. Examples of such countries are all developed democratic countries of the world. Conversely, countries where public institutions are closed are doomed to lag and decline. Public institutions in such countries, according to researchers, only serve to enrich the elites who control access to these institutions - this is the so-called. "privileged institutions". According to the authors, the economic development of society is impossible without advanced political development, that is, without the formation public political institutions.
Family as a social group and social institution. Family relationships and family roles.
The family plays an important place in the social structure of society. In sociology, the family is studied as a social institution and as a small social group.
The family is a special social institution that regulates interpersonal relationships between spouses, parents, children and other relatives connected by a common life, mutual moral responsibility and mutual assistance.
The specificity of this social institution is that the family has a stable structured organization that includes two or more people related by blood, marriage or adoption.
The family as a social institution has the following features:
· This self-regulating system: the microculture of communication is developed by the family members themselves; this is inevitably accompanied by a clash of different positions and the emergence of contradictions, which are resolved through mutual agreement and concessions, which is ensured by the internal culture, moral and social maturity of family members.
· The family exists as socially sanctioned union, the stability of which is possible through interaction with other social institutions: state, law, public opinion, religion, education, culture. By exerting external influence on the family, they regulate its creation and change. Within these institutions, norms and sanctions are created that support the family.
The family as a social institution fulfills the most important Features:
o biological reproduction of society (reproductive),
o education and socialization of the younger generation,
o reproduction of the social structure through the provision of social status to family members,
o sexual control,
o caring for disabled family members,
o emotional satisfaction (hedonic).
The family is analyzed by sociologists as a social institution in cases where it is necessary to find out to what extent its way of life and functioning correspond or do not correspond to certain modern social needs.
Family Research as a social institution mainly research oriented external relations family, and family research as a social group - on internal communications.
The family, being a cell of the social structure of society, acts as a regulator of relations between people. Social norms and cultural patterns existing in society set certain standards of ideas about what a husband or wife, a father or mother should be in relation to children, a daughter or son in relation to elderly parents, etc. This means that from a socio-psychological point of view, a family is a social group that corresponds to the historically established norms and values of a given society, united by a set of relationships formed in joint activities: spouses among themselves, parents to children and children to parents, as well as children among themselves, manifested in love , affection, care, intimacy.
A family is created to satisfy not one or two, but a whole complex of vital human needs.
Families vary depending on the form of marriage.
Polygamous (group) marriage is the marriage of one man to one woman.
Polyandry is a family in which a woman has several spouses.
Polygyny (we know it as a harem) is the marriage of one man with two or more wives.
Depending on the composition there are:
A nuclear (simple) family can be either complete or incomplete.
A complex family is characterized by the fact that it consists of representatives of several generations.
Families vary:
- by the number of children present in them: childless, one-child, few children, large
By length of family life: newlyweds, young family, middle-aged family, elderly couple;
- geographically: rural and urban families;
- by type of leadership in the family: authoritarian and egalitarian.
(On the issue of relationships)
By types of civilizational evolution:
Patriarchal family type- an unusually stable type of family relationships.
Family relationships are built on the principles of hierarchy and inequality of family members, on the principles of forced collectivism and centralism: the individual interests of individual family members are completely subordinate to the interests of the family.
Egalitarian family is a family based on democratic relations, equality between men and women, partnership relations, abolition of all discrimination. Humane methods of education reign here, based on trust in the child’s personality, his individuality, nurturing self-esteem, independent thinking, initiative, and enterprise. The main function of such a family is to satisfy the need for communication and nurture creative individuality.
Family roles- stable functions of the family system assigned to each of its members. The role structure of the family prescribes to its members what, how, when and in what sequence they should do when interacting with each other. In addition to actual behavior, the concept of “role” includes desires, goals, beliefs, feelings, social attitudes, values and actions that are expected or attributed to a particular family member.
The following family roles are distinguished:
1. Roles that describe the interaction of family members at the microsystem level:
· marital roles: husband, wife;
· roles related to the child-parent subsystem: mother, father, son, daughter;
· roles related to the sibling subsystem: brother, sister.
2. Roles that describe the interaction of family members at the macrosystem level:
· roles, the emergence of which is due to marital ties: father-in-law, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, etc.;
· roles determined by blood relationship: grandmother, grandfather, grandson, cousin, etc.
In functional families, the structure of family roles is holistic, dynamic, alternative in nature and meets the following requirements:
o consistency of the set of roles that form an integral system, both in relation to the roles performed by one person and the family as a whole;
o the fulfillment of the role must ensure that the needs of all family members are met, while maintaining a balance between individual needs and the needs of other family members;
o compliance of the accepted roles with the capabilities of the individual;
o the ability of family members to function flexibly in multiple roles.