Are you already familiar with the concept of social dynamics? Society does not stand still, constantly changing directions of its development. Is society really increasing the pace of its development, what is its direction? We’ll look at how to answer it correctly in task 25 after the topic.
“Progress is movement in a circle, but more and more quickly”
This is what the American writer Leonard Levinson thought.
To begin with, let us remember that we already know the concept and it and have also worked on the topic
Let us remember that one of the signs is development, movement. Society is constantly in the process of change; the institutions it needs are developing, making them more complex. Undemanded institutions are dying out. We have already traced the development of the institute
Let's look at other important institutions - imagine their development and social demand for them in the form of a table:
Social dynamics are expressed in various directions of development of society.
Progress– the progressive development of society, expressed in the complication of the social structure.
Regression– degradation of social structure and social relations (the opposite term to PROGRESS, its antonym).
The concepts of PROGRESS AND REGRESS are very conditional; what is characteristic of the development of one society cannot be acceptable for another. Let us remember that in Ancient Sparta, weak newborn boys were simply thrown off a cliff, because they could not become wars. Today this custom looks barbaric to us.
Evolution– gradual development of society (the opposite term to REVOLUTION, its antonym). One of its forms is reform– a change emanating from and changing relationships in one of the spheres (for example, the agrarian reform of P.A. Stolypin). REVOLUTION in the sense comes from
Social dynamics is the subject of study of one of the sciences about SOCIETY - social. There are two main approaches to the study of society.
According to Marx, every society must go through all stages of development and arrive at (linearity of development). The civilizational approach provides for the alternative paths of each parallel existence of societies with different levels of development, which is more consistent with modern realities. It is this approach that is most in demand in the context of Unified State Examination tasks.
Let's try to compare the three types of societies according to various important parameters in the form of a table:
And we conclude that in historical development there are three main types of society:
Traditional society – historical type of civilization based on both the predominance and
Industrial society – a historical type of civilization based on the introduction and elimination of the monarchical political system of the Middle Ages.
Post-industrial (information) society – a modern type of civilization based on the dominance (of computers in production, the result of the 20th century.
Thus, today we have worked on the following important topics from
- The concept of social progress;
- Multivariate social development (types of societies).
And now PRACTICUM! LET'S CONSOLIDATE THE KNOWLEDGE WE GOT TODAY!
We carry out
exercise 25. What meaning do social scientists put into the concept of “criterion of progress”? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, compose two sentences: one sentence revealing the features of progress, and one sentence containing information about the criterion(s) for determining progress.
First, let's not make the most common mistake associated with this task. What is required from us is not two sentences, but a CONCEPT and 2 SENTENCES (three in total!). So, we remembered the concept of progress - the progressive development of society, its movement forward. Let's choose a synonym for the word criterion - measure, yardstick. Respectively:
The “criterion of progress” is a measure by which the degree of development of society is judged.
1. A feature of progress is its inconsistency; all criteria for progress are subjective.
And, we remember that although the degree of development of a society can be measured in different ways (there are many approaches - the level of development of science, technology and technology, the degree of democracy, a generally accepted single criterion is the humanity of society). So:
2. The universal criterion for determining progress is the degree of humanity of society, the ability to provide maximum conditions for development to each person.
So this is what our response looks like:
25. The “criterion of progress” is a measure by which the degree of development of society is judged.
- A feature of progress is its inconsistency; all criteria for progress are subjective.
- The universal criterion for determining progress is the degree of humaneness of society, the ability to provide maximum conditions for development to each person.
Condorcet (like other French educators) considered the development of reason to be a criterion of progress. Utopian socialists put forward a moral criterion of progress. Saint-Simon believed, for example, that society should adopt a form of organization that would lead to the implementation of the moral principle: all people should treat each other as brothers. A contemporary of the utopian socialists, the German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling (1775-1854) wrote that the solution to the question of historical progress is complicated by the fact that supporters and opponents of the belief in the perfectibility of mankind are completely confused in disputes about the criteria of progress. Some talk about the progress of mankind in the field of morality, others - about the progress of science and technology, which, as Schelling wrote, from a historical point of view is rather a regression, and proposed his own solution to the problem: the criterion for establishing the historical progress of the human race can only be a gradual approach to legal structure.
Another point of view on social progress belongs to G. Hegel. He saw the criterion of progress in the consciousness of freedom. As the consciousness of freedom grows, society develops progressively.
As we see, the question of the criterion of progress occupied the great minds of modern times, but they did not find a solution. The disadvantage of all attempts to overcome this task was that in all cases only one line (or one side, or one sphere) of social development was considered as a criterion. Reason, morality, science, technology, legal order, and the consciousness of freedom - all these are very important indicators, but not universal, not covering human life and society as a whole.
In our time, philosophers also hold different views on the criterion of social progress. Let's look at some of them.
One of the existing points of view is that the highest and universal objective criterion of social progress is the development of productive forces, including the development of man himself. It is argued that the direction of the historical process is determined by the growth and improvement of the productive forces of society, including the means of labor, the degree of man’s mastery of the forces of nature, and the possibility of using them as the basis of human life. The origins of all human life activities lie in social production. According to this criterion, those social relations are recognized as progressive, which. correspond to the level of productive forces and open up the greatest scope for their development, for the growth of labor productivity, for human development. Man is here considered as the main thing in the productive forces, therefore their development is understood from this point of view as the development of the wealth of human nature.
This position has been criticized from another point of view. Just as it is impossible to find a universal criterion of progress only in social consciousness (in the development of reason, morality, consciousness of freedom), so it cannot be found only in the sphere of material production (technology, economic relations). History has provided examples of countries where a high level of material production was combined with the degradation of spiritual culture. In order to overcome the one-sidedness of criteria that reflect the state of only one sphere of social life, it is necessary to find a concept that would characterize the essence of human life and activity. In this capacity, philosophers propose the concept of freedom.
Freedom, as you already know, is characterized not only by knowledge (the absence of which makes a person subjectively unfree), but also by the presence of conditions for its implementation. A decision made on the basis of free choice is also necessary. Finally, funds are also required, as well as actions aimed at implementing the decision made. Let us also recall that the freedom of one person should not be achieved by infringing on the freedom of another person. This restriction of freedom is of a social and moral nature.
The meaning of human life lies in self-realization, self-realization of the individual. So, freedom acts as a necessary condition for self-realization. In fact, self-realization is possible if a person has knowledge about his abilities, the opportunities that society gives him, about the methods of activity in which he can realize himself. The wider the opportunities created by society, the freer a person is, the more options for activities in which his potential will be revealed. But in the process of multifaceted activity, the multilateral development of the person himself also occurs, and the spiritual wealth of the individual grows.
So, according to this point of view, the criterion of social progress is the measure of freedom that society is able to provide to the individual, the degree of individual freedom guaranteed by society. The free development of a person in a free society also means the revelation of his truly human qualities - intellectual, creative, moral. This statement brings us to consider another perspective on social progress.
As we have seen, we cannot limit ourselves to characterizing man as an active being. He is also a rational and social being. Only with this in mind can we talk about the human in man, about humanity. But the development of human qualities depends on people's living conditions. The more fully a person’s various needs for food, clothing, housing, transport services, and his needs in the spiritual field are satisfied, the more moral the relations between people become, the more accessible to a person the most diverse types of economic and political, spiritual and material activities become. The more favorable the conditions for the development of a person’s physical, intellectual, mental strength, his moral principles, the wider the scope for the development of individual qualities inherent in each individual person. In short, the more humane the living conditions, the greater the opportunities for human development: reason, morality, creative powers.
Humanity, the recognition of man as the highest value, is expressed by the word “humanism”. From the above, we can draw a conclusion about a universal criterion of social progress: that which contributes to the rise of humanism is progressive.
Criteria for social progress.
In the extensive literature devoted to social progress, there is currently no single answer to the main question: what is the general sociological criterion of social progress?
A relatively small number of authors argue that the very formulation of the question of a single criterion for social progress is meaningless, since human society is a complex organism, the development of which takes place along different lines, which makes it impossible to formulate a single criterion. Most authors consider it possible to formulate a single general sociological criterion of social progress. However, even with the very formulation of such a criterion, there are significant discrepancies...
Most philosophers and historians consider progress to be the leading trend, the main direction of development of society.
The goal of social progress- comprehensive development of the essential forces of each person.
These formulations reflect the humanistic orientation of progress; those. man is the main goal and meaning of history.
The development of technology, the growth of production, scientific discoveries in themselves cannot serve as an indicator of progress; they are progressive only if they improve human life and contribute to his development.
Progress criteria. By what signs and criteria can one determine the level of development of society; Which society is more progressive, which one is less? And is it possible to find a single criterion of progress? There are two opposing answers to the last question.
Some social scientists believe that it is impossible (or difficult) talk about a general, unified criterion of progress. In each sphere of public life there are specific patterns that determine a special criterion: economic, technical, scientific, social, political, moral, aesthetic and others. It is difficult, they believe, to determine the level of development, for example, of technology and morality using the same criterion.
Others believe that since there is a single historical process, there must be a comprehensive criterion for its evaluation. A variety of points of view are expressed on the problem of the main criterion of progress:
ü - level of development of productive forces, first of all, techniques and technologies - (technocratic concepts);
ü - type of industrial relations (Marxism);
ü - level of social labor productivity (GNP per capita per year - used in international economic statistics);
ü - consumption level (standard of living, quality of life);
ü - method of distribution of the finished product (to what extent are the principles of justice and equality implemented);
ü - degree of personal freedom;
ü - quantity and structure of use of free time;
ü - the degree of consciousness and use of social laws;
ü - human happiness as a universal moral criterion of progress (the degree of realization of a person’s essential powers).
First on this list, technical and economic criteria have the advantage that they are expressed in fairly accurate, specific quantitative indicators, and this is a necessary element in any comparison procedure. Their disadvantage is that they only indirectly affect the main figure of progress - man. Such complex, humanistic criteria as freedom and happiness reflect the essence and meaning of human existence, but are difficult to identify. Any of the above criteria can be taken as the main link in the chain and then pulled out the entire chain (try this as a logic exercise).
Patterns of progress. From the idea of the unity of world history follows the proposition about the general laws of progress. Let's name some of them:
1. Social progress is always contradictory, is carried out through the struggle between old and new (conservative and revolutionary forces) and therefore has a non-linear character. History has never progressed smoothly or evenly; Within the leading progressive trend there are always elements of regression and stagnation.
2. The relationship between progression and cyclicity. In society, since it has such an element as historical memory, the law of negation is implemented more quickly (there are many more examples of the fact that “the new is the well forgotten old”).
1) What is religion in the broad and narrow sense of the word? Is it possible, in your opinion, to give a definition of it that would equally suit both believers and people?atheists? Why?
2) Describe the role of religion in the life of a person, society, and state. What is the moral force of religion?
3) What is a world religion? What is the essence of the debate about the number of world religions? What do you think are the criteria used by those experts who name more than three world religions?
4) What role have world religions played and are playing in the history of mankind?
5) What role does the religious factor play in modern conflicts? Can we say that often it is only a pretext for starting an armed confrontation?
1. Are the judgments correct?A. By discovering new laws of nature, interfering more and more actively in the natural environment, man clearly defines the consequences of his intervention,
B. The consequences of the industrial and post-industrial revolutions for nature are only positive
2. using such criteria as the success of science and technology, one can show a progressive character
1) abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861,
2) Dissemination of information technologies in society,
3) elimination of class privileges,
4) treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
3. The inclusion of “braking mechanisms”, the inability of society to perceive the new, advanced, is called
1) progress, 2) regression, 3) stagnation, 4) stagnation.
4. Progress means
1) decline of culture, 2) movement forward, 3) cyclical development, 4) state of stability
5. He called the most ancient society the “Golden Age”
1) Plato, 2) Aristotle, 3) Lucretius Carus, 4) Hesiod
6. French enlighteners considered progress to be
1) development of reason and morality, 2) complication of legal institutions, 3) development of productive forces, 4) conquest of nature
7. Is it true?
A. The progressive development of society is always an irreversible movement forward.
B. Social progress is contradictory and does not exclude return movements and regression.
1) only A is true, 2) only B is true, 3) both judgments are correct, 4) both judgments are incorrect
8. K. Popper believed that
A. The historical process is progressive.
B. Progress is possible only for the individual.
1) only A is true, 2) only B is true, 3) both judgments are correct, 4) both judgments are incorrect.
9. The criterion for the development of society is not
1) level of development of science, 2) degree of satisfaction of personal needs, 3) religious preferences of society, 4) state of the economy
10. The idea that society is developing along the path of regression was defended
1) Plato, 2) Aristotle, 3) Hesiod, 4) Condorcet
11. The highest criterion of social progress according to Marx is
1) development of productive forces, 2) moral, spiritual and ethical state of society, 3) degree of increase in human freedom, 4) development of the human mind
12. What can be attributed to the reasons for social changes?
1) external factors, environmental influences, 2) contradictions arising within society, 3) people’s desire for something new, more perfect, 4) all of the above
13. What is the highest criterion of social progress?
1) interests in the development of productive forces, 2) the moral, spiritual state of society, 3) a person, the quality of his life (progressive is what contributes to the rise of humanism), 4) all of the above
14. Is it true?
A. The development of science and technology is a universal criterion of social progress.
B. The development of humanism is a universal criterion of social progress.
1) only A is true, 2) only B is true, 3) both judgments are correct, 4) both judgments are incorrect
15. The criterion of social progress can be considered
1) development of the mind, 2) development of production, science, technology, 3) development of morality, 4) all of the above
16. Insert dusty word
Public...
A. Replacement of outdated forms of social organization with new ones
B. Movement from less perfect to more perfect
17. Are the judgments correct?
A. A sense of responsibility cannot be cultivated
B. Responsibility is an exclusively internal quality and is not associated with external forms of influence on a person
1) only A is true, 2) only B is true, 3) both judgments are correct, 4) both judgments are incorrect
18. Is it true?
A. Human freedom is synonymous with permissiveness
B. Human freedom is impossible in conditions of public relations and interactions
1) only A is true, 2) only B is true, 3) both judgments are correct, 4) both judgments are incorrect
19. Is it true?
A. Human freedom is manifested in conscious choice when making decisions
B. The only limitation on a person’s freedom is his moral principles
1) only A is true, 2) only B is true, 3) both judgments are correct, 4) both judgments are incorrect
20. Is it true?
A. Freedom is permissiveness, the ability to act only according to your desires
B. Human freedom in society presupposes the opportunity to make an informed choice and take responsibility for it.
1) only A is true, 2) only B is true, 3) both judgments are correct, 4) both judgments are incorrect
33. What typologies of society are accepted in science, what is pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial society?
34. How is social, scientific and technological progress manifested?
35. How would you characterize the global problems of humanity?
36. What is the world community?
37. How does a person become a person?
38. What is socialization and education?
39. What human needs have you become familiar with?
40. How does a person learn about the world and himself?
41. What does a person’s spiritual life consist of?
42. How are freedom and responsibility related?
43. How does a person manifest himself in a group?
44. What are interpersonal relationships and the communication process?
45. How do conflicts arise and be resolved in society?
What is progress? The idea of regression
Progress(from Latin: “moving forward”) is a direction of development characterized by a transition from lower to higher.
Regression- movement from higher to lower, processes of degradation, return to obsolete forms and structures.
Humanity as a whole has never regressed, but its forward movement could be delayed and even stopped for a while, which is called stagnation.
Characteristics of progress
1. Inconsistency
2. Specific historical character
3. Multidimensionality
4. Nonlinear nature
5. Relativity of progress
Social progress- a global, world-historical process of the ascent of human societies from primitive states (savagery) to the heights of a civilized state, based on the highest scientific, technical, political, legal, moral and ethical achievements.
Areas of progress: economic progress, social (social progress), scientific and technological progress.
Forms of social progress:
1. Reformist (evolutionary), i.e. gradual
2. Revolutionary, i.e. spasmodic
Reforms can be economic, political, social.
There are short-term revolutions (the French Revolution of 1848, the February Revolution of 1917 in Russia, etc.) and long-term ones (“Neolithic Revolution”, “Industrial Revolution”)
The inconsistency of progress
What is the inconsistency of progress?
1) If you depict the progress of humanity graphically, you will get not an ascending straight line, but a broken line, reflecting the ups and downs, ebbs and flows in the struggle of social forces, accelerated movement forward and giant leaps back.
2) Society is a complex organism in which different “bodies” function (enterprises, associations of people, government institutions, etc.), and various processes (economic, political, spiritual, etc.) occur simultaneously. These parts of one social organism, these processes, various types of activity are interconnected and at the same time may not coincide in their development. Moreover, individual processes and changes occurring in different areas of society can be multidirectional, that is, progress in one area may be accompanied by regression in another.
Throughout history, the progress of technology is clearly visible: from stone tools to iron ones, from hand tools to machines, from the use of the muscular power of humans and animals to steam engines, electric generators, nuclear power plants, from transportation by pack animals to cars, high-speed trains, airplanes, spaceships, from wooden abacus with dominoes to powerful computers.
But the progress of technology, the development of industry, chemicalization and other changes in the field of production have led to the destruction of nature, to irreparable damage to the human environment, and to the undermining of the natural foundations of the existence of society. Thus, progress in one area was accompanied by regression in another.
3) The progress of science and technology has had ambiguous consequences. Discoveries in the field of nuclear physics made it possible not only to obtain a new source of energy, but also to create powerful atomic weapons. The use of computer technology has not only unusually expanded the possibilities of creative work, but also caused new diseases associated with long-term, continuous work at the display: visual impairment, mental disorders associated with additional mental stress.
The growth of large cities, the complication of production, the acceleration of the rhythm of life - all this has increased the load on the human body, created stress and, as a consequence, pathologies of the nervous system and vascular diseases. Along with the greatest achievements of the human spirit, the world is experiencing an erosion of cultural and spiritual values, drug addiction, alcoholism, and crime are spreading.
4) Humanity has to pay a high price for progress. The conveniences of city life are paid for by the “diseases of urbanization”: traffic fatigue, polluted air, street noise and their consequences - stress, respiratory diseases, etc.; Convenience of traveling in a car - due to congestion of city highways and traffic jams.
The idea of the cycle
The circulation of historical theory– various concepts according to which society as a whole or its individual spheres move in their development in a vicious circle from barbarism to civilization and to a new barbarism.
Progress criteria
Progress criteria
1) French enlighteners (Condorcet): development of the mind.
2) Utopian socialists (Saint-Simon, Fourier, Owen): society must adopt a form of organization that would lead to the implementation of the moral principle: all people should treat each other as brothers.
3) Schelling (1775 – 1854): gradual approach to a legal structure.
4) Hegel (1770 – 1831): as the consciousness of freedom grows, society develops progressively.
6) Marxism:
The highest and universal objective criterion of social progress is the development of productive forces, including the development of man himself. The direction of the historical process is determined by the growth and improvement of the productive forces of society, including the means of labor, the degree of man's mastery of the forces of nature, and the possibility of using them as the basis of human life. The origins of all human life activities lie in social production.
According to this criterion, those social relations are recognized as progressive, which correspond to the level of productive forces and open up the greatest scope for their development, the growth of labor productivity, and human development. Man is considered as the main thing in the productive forces, therefore their development is understood from this point of view and as the development of the wealth of human nature.
Just as it is impossible to find a general, universal criterion of progress only in social consciousness (in the development of reason, morality, consciousness of freedom), so it cannot be found in the sphere of material production (technology, economic relations). History has provided examples of countries where a high level of material production was combined with the degradation of spiritual culture.
Conclusion: The disadvantage of all attempts to solve this problem was that in all cases only one line (or one side, or one sphere) of social development was considered as a criterion. Reason, morality, science, technology, legal order, and the consciousness of freedom - all these are very important indicators, but not universal, not covering human life and society as a whole.
Universal criterion of progress
The criterion of social progress is the measure of freedom that society is able to provide to the individual, the degree of individual freedom guaranteed by society. The free development of a person in a free society also means the revelation of his truly human qualities - intellectual, creative, moral.
The development of human qualities depends on people's living conditions. The more fully the various needs of a person for food, clothing, housing, transport services, and in the spiritual field are satisfied, the more moral relations between people become, the more accessible to a person the most diverse types of economic and political, spiritual and material activities become. The more favorable the conditions for the development of a person’s physical, intellectual, mental strength, his moral qualities, the wider the scope for the development of individual properties inherent in each individual person. The more humane the living conditions, the more opportunities there are for the development of humanity in a person: reason, morality, creative powers.
Humanity, the recognition of man as the highest value, is expressed by the word “humanism”. From the above, we can draw a conclusion about a universal criterion of social progress: that which contributes to the rise of humanism is progressive.
Integrative indicators of the progressive development of modern society
Integrative indicators of the progressive development of modern society:
1. average life expectancy;
2. child and maternal mortality;
3. level of education;
4. development of various spheres of culture;
5. interest in spiritual values;
6. health status;
7. feeling of satisfaction with life;
7. degree of respect for human rights;