The main component of the social structure of a society is. Basic elements of social structure
Any society is always structured on many grounds - national, social class, demographic, settlement, etc. Structuring - people's belonging to certain social, professional, socio-demographic groups can give rise to social inequality. Even natural genetic or physical differences between people can form the basis for the formation of unequal relationships! Inequality is an enduring fact of every society. Ralf Dahrendorf wrote: “Even in a prosperous society, the unequal status of people remains an important enduring phenomenon... Of course, these differences are no longer based on direct violence and legal norms on which the system of privileges in a caste or class society was based. Nevertheless, in addition to the cruder divisions of property and income, prestige and power, our society is characterized by many differences of rank - so subtle and at the same time so deeply rooted that claims about the disappearance of all forms of inequality as a result of equalizing processes can be perceived as at least skeptical."
Society is a system of real relationships into which people enter in their daily activities. Typically, they do not interact with each other in a random or arbitrary manner. Their relationships are characterized by social orderliness. Sociologists call this orderliness - the intertwining of relationships between people in repeating and stable forms - social structure. It finds its expression in the system of social positions and the distribution of people in it.
There are two generally accepted paradigms for considering social structure: 1) theories of social institutions and 2) theories of social inequality.
E. Durkheim figuratively defined social institutions as “factories of reproduction” of social relations and connections, i.e. Institutions generally mean certain types of relationships between people that are constantly in demand by society and therefore are revived again and again. Social institutions are specific formations that ensure the relative stability of connections and relationships within the boundaries of the social organization of society, historically determined forms of organization and regulation of social life. Social institutions are historically established persistent forms of organizing the joint activities of people. They must ensure reliability and regularity of meeting the needs of individuals, cereals, and society as a whole. Social institutions determine the functioning of any society. When using the concept of “social institution,” they most often mean various kinds of ordering, formalization of social connections and relationships, mastery of such features as:
constancy and degree of interactions between participants in connections and relationships;
a clear definition of the functions, rights and responsibilities that ensure the interaction of each of the communication participants;
regulation and control over the interaction of subjects, the presence of specially trained personnel who ensure the functioning of social institutions.
In order for such a structural element of society as a social institution to arise and develop, special conditions are needed:
1) a certain need must arise and spread in society, which, being recognized by many members of society (as a general social or societal one), becomes the main prerequisite for the formation of a new institution;
2) operational means must be available to satisfy this need, i.e. the established system of functions, actions, operations, private goals necessary for society, realizing a new need;
3) in order for the institute to actually fulfill its mission, it is endowed with the necessary resources (material, financial, labor, organizational), which society must steadily replenish;
4) to ensure the self-reproduction of an institution, a special cultural environment is also necessary, i.e. a subculture unique to it must be formed (a special system of signs, actions, rules of behavior that distinguish people belonging to this institution).
Social institutions are diverse:
Political institutions (state, party, army);
Economic institutions (distribution of labor, property, taxes, etc.)
Institutes of kinship, marriage, family;
Institutions operating in the spiritual sphere (education, culture, mass communications), etc.
Social inequality in society is most often understood as stratification - the distribution of social groups in a hierarchically ordered rank (in ascending or descending order of some characteristic).
Theories of social inequality are divided into two fundamental directions: functionalist and conflictological.
Functionalism, in the tradition of E. Durkheim, derives social inequality from the division of labor: mechanical (natural, gender and age) and organic (arising as a result of training and professional specialization).
Marxism focuses on issues of class inequality and exploitation. Accordingly, conflict theories usually emphasize the dominant role of differentiating relations of property and power in the system of social reproduction.
So, the social structure of society is the totality of those connections and relationships that social groups and communities of people enter into among themselves regarding the economic, social, political and spiritual conditions of their life, and its main elements are:
o social communities (large and small groups);
o professional groups;
o socio-demographic groups;
o socio-territorial communities.
The types of social structures vary depending on the level of development of the division of labor and socio-economic relations.
Thus, the social structure of a slave-owning society was made up of classes of slaves and slave owners, as well as artisans, traders, landowners, free peasants, representatives of intellectual activity - scientists, philosophers, poets, priests, teachers, doctors, etc.
The social structure of feudal society was the interrelation of the main classes - feudal lords and serfs, as well as classes and various groups of the intelligentsia. These classes, wherever they arise, differ from each other in their place in the system of social division of labor and socio-economic relations. Estates occupy a special place in it. Estates are social groups whose place in society is determined not only by their position in the system of socio-economic relations, but also by established traditions and legal acts.
In Russia, for example, there were such classes as the nobility, clergy, peasantry, merchants, and petty bourgeoisie.
Capitalist society, especially modern society, has a complex social structure. Within the framework of its social structure, primarily various groups of the bourgeoisie, the so-called middle class and workers interact.
The main elements of a socialist society are the working class, the cooperative peasantry, the intelligentsia, professional and demographic groups and national communities.
Almost all elements of the social structure are heterogeneous in composition and, in turn, are divided into separate layers and groups, which appear as independent elements of the social structure with their inherent interests, which they realize in interaction with other subjects.
Social groups are relatively stable, historically established communities of people who differ in their role and place in the system of social connections of a historically defined society.
Sociologists distinguish social groups from aggregations in that the former are united on the basis of objective circumstances and belonging to a group is associated with the objective position of people in the system of social connections, the fulfillment of certain social roles, and the latter are a certain number of people who have gathered in a certain physical space and are not carries out conscious interactions. In order for a collection of people to be recognized as a group, there must be interaction between its members and the existence of expectations shared by each member of the group regarding its other members.
There are formal and informal groups:
A formal group is “a social group that has legal status, is part of a social institution, organization, and has the goal of achieving a certain result within the division of labor in a given institution or organization.” It is important that a formal group is characterized by a certain hierarchical structure of subordination.
An informal group is a social community that is formed on the basis of interpersonal relationships and does not have an official, legally fixed, approved status. The form of existence of informal groups can be different; they can function as relatively isolated, closed social communities and can develop within official groups and be an integral part of the official group.
Based on the individual's affiliation, one can distinguish between an ingroup and an outgroup.
Ingroups are those groups to which an individual feels that he belongs and in which he is identified with other members, that is, he understands the members of the ingroup as “we”. Other groups to which the individual does not belong are outgroups for him, that is, “they”.
In addition to the ingroup and outgroup, a reference group is also distinguished, which means a real or conditional social community with which an individual relates himself as a standard and to the norms, views, values and assessments of which he is guided in his behavior and self-esteem. There are normative and comparative referent functions of the group. The first is manifested in the fact that the group acts as a source of norms of behavior, social attitudes and value orientations of the individual.
The other (comparative function) is manifested in the fact that the reference group acts as a standard by which an individual can evaluate himself and others.
Based on the nature of the relationships between group members, primary and secondary groups are distinguished. In a primary group, each member sees the other group members as individuals and individuals. Members of groups such as friends and family tend to make social relationships informal and relaxed.
In secondary groups, social contacts are impersonal and have a utilitarian, one-sided nature. All contacts are functional according to social roles.
To analyze the social structure of society, we use such an elementary part of society that contains all types of social connections - this is a small social group whose social relations manifest themselves in the form of direct personal contacts. A small group can be either primary or secondary, depending on what type of relationship exists between its members. A large group can only be secondary. When studying small groups, one can trace the emergence of social processes, mechanisms of cohesion, the emergence of leadership, and role relationships.
There are a large number of social groups in society that differ in their position in the system of social connections. The most important social communities are national-ethnic formations, which arise on the basis of a common historical, geographical origin and culture; demographic, which are related to the socio-biological nature of man.
Ethnic communities include family, clan, clan, tribe, nationalities, and nation. They are united on the basis of genetic connections and form an evolutionary chain, the beginning of which is the family.
Family is the smallest consanguineous group of people related by common origin. Several families entering into an alliance form a clan. The clans are united into clans, consisting of a group of blood relatives and bearing the name of the alleged ancestor. Several united clans make up a tribe, which is a higher form of organization, covering a large number of clans and clans, with their own language or dialect, territory, formal organization, and common ceremonies.
In the course of further economic and cultural development, tribes were transformed into nationalities, which at higher stages of development turned into nations.
A nation is a historically established form of community of people that replaces nationality. It is characterized by common economic living conditions, territory, language, well-known psychological traits, as well as a common national character, manifested in the peculiarities of culture and life.
The formation of nations, like earlier communities, is associated with the awareness of belonging to a community, the acceptance of its values and norms. Ethnicity presupposes a sense of unity, which is expressed through the opposition “us - them”. If there is no sense of belonging to a community, there is no awareness of the distinctive features of the ethnic, it comes down mainly to the content of ethnic consciousness and self-awareness. The latter, according to I.S. Kona is the main feature.
The socio-demographic structure of society is closely connected with the social-settlement, national-ethnic, professional, class substructures, the result of which is their mutual influence and interaction.
The socio-demographic substructure of society is made up of certain social groups and communities according to such basic criteria as gender, age, marital status.
The optimal gender structure provides for an equal distribution of men and women in society. In this sense, categories such as biological and social sexual characteristics become important. Biological - physical and genetic differences between men and women. Social characteristics are a set of norms of behavior and attitudes that are associated with males and females in each society.
The type of age structure is determined in the ratio of the following groups:
Children and adolescents under 16 years of age;
Young people from 16 to 36 years old;
Middle-aged people 36-55 years old;
Seniors 55 years and older.
According to marital status, they distinguish, firstly, a person’s belonging to the family, and, secondly, the social roles that are performed in it.
Based on this, the object of analysis of the demographic substructure is the quantity and quality of the population, which is expressed in its size and growth rate, number and composition of families, population structure by gender, age, etc.
Fertility is the frequency of childbirth in a particular population, expressed as the ratio of the number of children born to the number of one or another category of the population.
Mortality is the process of population extinction, which consists of a set of single deaths that occur at different ages among different segments of the population and is measured by the ratio of the number of deaths to the number of the entire population or its individual groups, differentiated by gender, age, social class, and territory.
Marriage is all the processes that characterize marriage and its termination. The concept of marriage is associated with the processes of widowhood and divorce and, together with them, constitutes the reproduction of the marriage structure of the population.
The category of migration is closely related to the concepts of quantity and quality of population, which are accompanied by an increase or decrease in the population, changes in its gender, age, family, ethnic composition, and the social structure of territorial communities both in places of departure and in places of settlement of migrants.
Ukraine is a fairly ethnically diverse country. In modern conditions, more than 100 nationalities live here, of which Ukrainians are the main component of the national-ethnic structure - about 75% of the total population and are increasing their share. Russians make up approximately 19% of the population, and people of other ethnic origins make up around 6%. They reduce their specific gravity.
The development of Ukraine in recent years has been greatly influenced by external migration. At the end of 1980 - at the beginning of 1990 XX century Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars returned to Ukraine en masse. Together with the Ukrainians, Russians also arrived, whose share in the national-ethnic structure of immigrants was inferior to the share of Ukrainians. After a sharp decline in the standard of living of the population in 1992-1993. The attracting factor was replaced by a repelling factor. The emigration of Russians has intensified.
Ukrainians have a rich and entirely positive experience of interaction with other ethnic groups with whom they had to live as part of a single state. Social transformations of the second half of the 80s of the XX century. determined the content of national self-affirmation and the development of national culture. On October 28, 1989, the Law on Languages in Ukraine was adopted, which grants state status to the Ukrainian language and guarantees the free functioning and development of languages of all nationalities living in Ukraine.
During the 80-90s, hundreds of faculties for the study of Polish, Bulgarian, Greek, Hebrew, Crimean Tatar and other languages were opened, dictionaries, phrase books, etc. were published. Numerous national societies for the culture of national minorities began to operate in Ukraine. The foundations of the national policy of the Ukrainian democratic state are set out in the Declaration of State Sovereignty and the Declaration of the Rights of the Nationalities of Ukraine. Emphasizing the need for the national and cultural revival of the Ukrainian people, these documents guarantee equal political, economic, social and cultural rights to all ethnic minorities and individual citizens. The documents became the legal basis for preserving interethnic harmony in Ukraine.
Assessing the socio-demographic situation in Ukraine, we can say that society today is experiencing a state of demographic crisis. This conclusion can be drawn from the observed trends.
Firstly, the predominance of mortality over the birth rate, the reasons for which are high prices, inflation, the general low standard of living of the population, changes in the value system, etc. A decrease in the standard of living and loss of hope for the support of familiar social institutions, uncertainty about the future of the family led many people to reviewing your marriage and reproductive plans.
Secondly, and this is a consequence of the first, there is an aging of the population, and therefore an aging of the working population.
Thirdly, trends associated with a number of family problems, which are characterized by an increase in alternative marital family forms, a large number of single people, and a transition to a youth family. This is due to a decline in living standards, loss of hope for the support of traditional social institutions, and uncertainty about the future of the family.
Fourthly, there is a tendency towards emigration, which affects the decline in the population of Ukraine.
The existence of the above-mentioned problems indicates the need to carry out a certain way of directed demographic policy, which is part of the population policy, which includes economic, social and legal processes, and is aimed at achieving in the long term the favorable nature of the processes of natural reproduction of generations.
The priority directions of Ukraine's demographic policy should be:
Protection of motherhood and childhood;
Improving the financial condition of large low-income families;
Organization and improvement of consumer services;
Providing free medical care to socially vulnerable segments of the population;
Providing benefits to young families;
Creating favorable conditions for the creative development of specialists in all sectors of society, etc.
Social stratification and mobility
Social structure is a stable connection of elements in a social system. In other words, it is the internal structure of society, which consists of correspondingly located elements that interact with each other.
The main elements of the social structure of society are,
Firstly, individuals occupying certain positions (status) and performing certain social functions (roles),
Secondly, association of these individuals based on their status characteristics into groups or other communities.
Social structure expresses the objective division of society into communities, classes, strata, groups, etc. She points out the different positions of people in relation to each other according to numerous criteria. Depending on which criterion is highlighted as the main one, the structure of society can be presented as group, class, community, stratification, institutional, organizational, 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.
Social (stratification) structure refers to the stratification and hierarchical organization of various layers of society, as well as the set of institutions and the relationship between them. The term “stratification” comes from the Latin word stratum - layers, layer. Strata are large groups of people who differ in their position in the social structure of society.
The basis of the stratification structure of society is the natural and social inequality of people. However, on the question of what exactly is the criterion for this inequality, their opinions differ. Studying the process of stratification in society, K. Marx called such a criterion the fact of a person’s possession of property and the level of his income. M. Weber added to them social prestige and the subject’s affiliation with political parties and power. Pitirim Sorokin considered the cause of stratification to be the uneven distribution of rights and privileges, responsibilities and duties in society. He also argued that social space has many other criteria for differentiation: it can be carried out by citizenship, occupation, nationality, religious affiliation, etc. Finally, supporters of the theory of structural functionalism proposed as a criterion to rely on those social functions that are performed by certain social strata in society.
Historically, stratification, i.e., inequality in income, power, prestige, etc., arises with the emergence of human society. With the advent of the first states, it becomes tougher, and then, in the process of development of society (primarily European), it gradually softens.
In sociology, there are four main types of social stratification - slavery, castes, estates and classes. The first three characterize closed societies, and the last type - open ones.
The first system of social stratification is slavery, which arose in ancient times and still persists in some backward regions. There are two forms of slavery: patriarchal, in which the slave has all the rights of the youngest member of the family, and classical, in which the slave has no rights and is considered the property of the owner (a talking tool). Slavery was based on direct violence, and social groups during the era of slavery were distinguished by the presence or absence of civil rights.
The second system of social stratification caste should be recognized build. A caste is a social group (stratum) in which membership is transferred to a person only by birth. A person's transition from one caste to another during his lifetime is impossible - for this he needs to be born again. A classic example of a caste society is India. In India there are four main castes, which, according to legend, originated from different parts of the god Brahma:
a) brahmins - priests;
b) kshatriyas - warriors;
c) vaishyas - merchants;
d) Shudras - peasants, artisans, workers.
A special position is occupied by the so-called untouchables, who do not belong to any caste and occupy a lower position.
The next form of stratification consists of estates. An estate is a group of people that has rights and responsibilities enshrined in law or custom that are inherited. Usually in society there are privileged and unprivileged classes. For example, in Western Europe, the first group included the nobility and clergy (in France they were called that way - the first estate and the second estate) and the second - artisans, merchants and peasants. In Russia before 1917, in addition to the privileged (nobility, clergy) and unprivileged (peasantry), there were also semi-privileged classes (for example, the Cossacks).
Finally, another stratification system is class. The most complete definition of classes in the scientific literature was given by V.I. Lenin: “Classes are large groups of people that differ in their place in a historically defined system of social production, in their relationship (mostly fixed and formalized in laws) to the means of production, in their role in the social organization of labor, and, consequently, according to the methods of obtaining and the size of the share of social wealth that they have.” The class approach is often contrasted with the stratification approach, although in fact class division is only a special case of social stratification.
Depending on the historical period in society, the following classes are distinguished as the main ones:
a) slaves and slave owners;
b) feudal lords and feudally dependent peasants;
c) the bourgeoisie and the proletariat;
d) the so-called middle class.
The stratification of society is inextricably linked with social mobility, that is, with the transition from one group to another. Social mobility is divided into two types: horizontal And vertical. Horizontal mobility is a transition from one social group to another at the same level (for example, a transition from one job to a similar job). Vertical mobility refers to the movement of individuals up or down the social ladder (for example, a person who, due to his financial situation, did not even belong to average economic circles, suddenly finds himself in higher politics).
The movement of people from one social group to another occurs with the help of social institutions - "social elevators" This is primarily the army, the church, the school.
In the process of such movements, a situation may arise when a subject - a group or an individual - is outside any group and, therefore, does not have a certain social status. This state is called marginality. Marginal groups include groups that occupy an intermediate position among stable communities. One of the main channels of marginalization is the mass migration of the population from rural areas to cities. Former rural residents, having lost touch with the village way of life, find it difficult to adapt to the urban environment. For some time, they become people with severed social ties and destroyed spiritual values. Another group that seems to fall out of the stable social structure of society is the LUMPENS. These include people who have sunk to the bottom of public life - tramps, beggars, homeless people. These come from different strata and classes.
Such sections of the population, unrooted, with an unstable social position, strived for a firm order established by the state, for a “strong hand.” This created a social basis for an anti-democratic regime. This is a negative consequence of the increase in marginalized groups. At the same time, one cannot help but admit that often it is these segments of the population, not bound by traditions and prejudices, who especially actively support the advanced, and often act as its initiators.
As a result of social stratification, groups occupy different positions in society and have unequal access to social benefits such as money, power, and prestige. It shows clearly here social inequality. It manifests itself most clearly in wealth inequality. Inequality is a characteristic feature of any society. Inequality is generated even by natural differences between people, but it manifests itself most clearly as a consequence of social factors. As a result, some individuals, groups or strata have greater capabilities or resources than others.
There are several theories explaining the causes of social inequality. For example, Marxism explained this primarily by an unequal attitude to the means of production, to property, as a result of which other forms of inequality arise.
According to the theory of functionalism, division occurs according to the functions performed by different groups in society. Thus, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato believed that there are three classes in the state: rulers, warriors and farmers, each of which should do its own thing.
There is another theory, according to which the upper class is formed by the most talented and skillful people, who are entrusted with the most important types of social activities. Social inequality is considered as a natural feature of social development, in the process of which the most capable are promoted to the highest levels.
Types of social norms
In the course of their lives, people constantly interact with each other. Various forms of interaction between individuals, as well as connections that arise between different social groups (or within them), are usually called public relations. A significant part of social relations is characterized by conflicting interests of their participants. The result of such contradictions is social conflicts that arise between members of society. One of the ways to harmonize the interests of people and smooth out conflicts that arise between them and their associations is normative regulation, i.e. . regulation of individual behavior through certain norms.
The word "norm" comes from Lat. norma, which means “rule, pattern, standard.” The norm indicates the boundaries within which this or that object retains its essence and remains itself. Norms can be different - natural, technical, social. The actions and actions of people and social groups who are subjects of social relations regulate social norms.
Social norms are understood as general rules and patterns, behavior of people in society, determined by social relations and resulting from the conscious activity of people . Social norms develop historically and naturally. In the process of their formation, refracted through social consciousness, they are then consolidated and reproduced in the relationships and acts necessary for society. To one degree or another, social norms are binding on those to whom they are addressed, and have a certain procedural form of implementation and mechanisms for their implementation.
There are various classifications of social norms. The most important thing is the division of social norms depending on the characteristics of their emergence and implementation. On this basis, five types of social norms are distinguished: moral norms, customary norms, corporate norms, religious norms and legal norms.
Moral standards represent are rules of behavior that are derived from people’s ideas about good and evil, about justice and injustice, about good and bad. The implementation of these norms is ensured by public opinion and the inner conviction of people.
Norms of customs- these are rules of behavior that have become a habit as a result of their repeated repetition. The implementation of customary norms is ensured by the force of habit. Customs with moral content are called mores.
A variety of customs are traditions that express people’s desire to preserve certain ideas, values, and useful forms of behavior. Another type of customs are rituals that regulate the behavior of people in the everyday, family and religious spheres.
Corporate standards are the rules of conduct established by public organizations. Their implementation is ensured by the internal conviction of the members of these organizations, as well as by the public associations themselves.
Under religious norms refers to the rules of behavior contained in various holy books, or established by the church. The implementation of this type of social norms is ensured by the internal beliefs of people and the activities of the church.
Legal norms - these are rules of behavior established or sanctioned by the state, church norms are true, established or sanctioned by the state, and sometimes directly by the people, the implementation of which is ensured by the authority and coercive power of the state.
Different types of social norms did not appear simultaneously, but one after another, as needed.
With the development of society they became more and more complex.
Scientists suggest that the first type of social norms that arose in primitive society were rituals.
A ritual is a rule of behavior in which the most important thing is the strictly predetermined form of its execution.
The content of the ritual itself is not so important - it is its form that matters most. Rituals accompanied many events in the life of primitive people. We know about the existence of rituals for seeing off fellow tribesmen on a hunt, taking office as a leader, presenting gifts to leaders, etc. Somewhat later, rituals began to be distinguished in ritual actions. Rituals were rules of conduct that consisted of performing certain symbolic actions. Unlike rituals, they pursued certain ideological (educational) goals and had a deeper impact on the human psyche.
The next social norms to appear, which were an indicator of a new, higher stage of human development, were customs. Customs regulated almost all aspects of the life of primitive society.
Another type of social norms that arose in the primitive era were religious norms. Primitive man, aware of his weakness before the forces of nature, attributed divine power to the latter. Initially, the object of religious worship was a really existing object - a fetish. Then man began to worship some animal or plant - a totem, seeing in the latter his ancestor and protector. Then totemism was replaced by animism (from the Latin “anima” - soul), i.e., belief in spirits, soul or the universal spirituality of nature. Many scientists believe that it was animism that became the basis for the emergence of modern religions: over time, among supernatural beings, people identified several special ones - gods. This is how the first polytheistic (pagan) and then monotheistic religions appeared.
In parallel with the emergence of norms of customs and religion in primitive society, moral norms were also formed. It is impossible to determine the time of their occurrence. We can only say that morality appears along with human society and is one of the most important social regulators.
During the period of the emergence of the state, the first rules of law appeared.
Finally, the last to emerge are corporate norms.
All social norms have common features. They represent rules of conduct of a general nature, i.e., they are designed for repeated use, and operate continuously over time in relation to a personally indefinite circle of persons. In addition, social norms are characterized by such features as proceduralism and authorization. The procedural nature of social norms means the presence of a detailed regulated order (procedure) for their implementation. Authorization reflects the fact that each type of social norms has a specific mechanism for implementing their requirements.
Social norms define the boundaries of acceptable behavior of people in relation to the specific conditions of their life. As already mentioned above, compliance with these norms is usually ensured by the internal beliefs of people or by applying social rewards and social punishments to them in the form of so-called social sanctions.
Social sanction is usually understood as the reaction of society or a social group to the behavior of an individual in a socially significant situation. In terms of their content, sanctions can be positive (incentive) and negative (punitive). There are also formal sanctions (coming from official organizations) and informal sanctions (coming from unofficial organizations). Social sanctions play a key role in the system of social control, rewarding members of society for fulfilling social norms or punishing for deviation from the latter, that is, for deviance.
Deviant (deviant) is behavior that does not meet the requirements of social norms.
Sometimes such deviations can be positive and lead to positive consequences. Thus, the famous sociologist E. Durkheim believed that deviation helps society gain a more complete understanding of the diversity of social norms, leads to their improvement, promotes social change, revealing alternatives to existing norms. However, in most cases, deviant behavior is spoken of as a negative social phenomenon that harms society. Moreover, in a narrow sense, deviant behavior means deviations that do not entail criminal punishment and are not crimes. The totality of an individual’s criminal actions has a special name in sociology - delinquent (literally criminal) behavior.
Based on the goals and direction of deviant behavior, destructive and asocial types are distinguished. The first type includes deviations that cause harm to the individual (alcoholism, suicide, drug addiction, etc.), the second type includes behavior that harms communities of people (violation of rules of conduct in public places, violation of labor discipline, etc.).
While exploring the causes of deviant behavior, sociologists drew attention to the fact that both deviant and delinquent behavior are widespread in societies experiencing a transformation of the social system. Moreover, in conditions of a general crisis of society, such behavior can acquire a total character.
The opposite of deviant behavior is conformist behavior(from Latin conformis - similar, similar). Conformist is social behavior that corresponds to accepted norms and values in society. Ultimately, the main task of regulatory regulation and social control is the reproduction of a conformist type of behavior in society.
Social role
Status - it is a specific position in the social structure of a group or society, connected to other positions through a system of rights and responsibilities.
Sociologists distinguish two types of status: personal and acquired.
Personal status
is the position of a person that he occupies in the so-called small, or primary, group, depending on how his individual qualities are assessed in it. On the other hand, in the process of interaction with other individuals, each person performs certain social functions that determine his social status.
Social status is called the general position of an individual or social group in society, associated with a certain set of rights and obligations.
1. Personality – it is a subject of social relations, a stable system of socially significant traits that characterize an individual as a member of society or community.
2. Social community – is an association of people in which a certain social connection is created and maintained b.
Main types of social communities:
· social groups: professional; labor collectives; socio-demographic; gender and age;
· classes and strata;
· socio-territorial communities;
· ethnic communities.
In addition, social communities can be divided according to quantitative criteria, according to scale.
· Large social communities - collections of people existing on the scale of society (country): classes; social layers (strata); professional groups; ethnic communities; gender and age groups.
· Medium or local communities: residents of one city or village; production teams of one enterprise.
· Small communities, groups: family; labor collective; school class, student group.
3. Social Institute – a certain organization of social activity and social relations, a set of institutions, norms, values, cultural patterns, sustainable forms of behavior.
Depending on the spheres of social relations, the following types of social institutions are distinguished:
· economic: production, private property, division of labor, wages, etc.;
· political and legal: state, court, army, party, etc.;
· institutions of kinship, marriage and family;
· educational institutions: family, school, higher educational institutions, media, church, etc.;
· cultural institutions: language, art, work culture, church, etc.
4. Social connection – is a social process of articulation of at least two social elements, resulting in the formation of a single social system.
5. Social relations – interdependence and connections between elements of the social system that develop at various levels of society.
Social laws and patterns of functioning and development of society are manifested in relationships.
Main species social relations are:
· Power relations – relationships associated with the use of power.
· Social dependence is a relationship based on the ability to influence the satisfaction of needs through values.
They develop between subjects regarding the satisfaction of their needs for appropriate working conditions, material goods, improvement of life and leisure, education and access to objects of spiritual culture, as well as medical care and social security.
6.Culture – the totality of life forms created by man in the course of his activity and life forms specific to him, as well as the process of their creation and reproduction.
Culture includes material and spiritual components:
· values and norms;
· beliefs and rituals;
· knowledge and skills;
· customs and regulations;
· language and art;
· equipment and technology, etc.
Culture is the basis of social, public behavior of individuals and social groups, as it is a system of collectively and individually shared norms, rules, and patterns of activity.
Thus, society is a complex social system consisting of different but interconnected elements.
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Sociology
PART 1 STUDY MANUAL FOR STUDENTS OF ALL SPECIALTIES AND DIRECTIONS Ulyanovsk UlSTU UDC 316 (075) B
Definition of Sociology
Sociology is a fairly young science about a very ancient subject - society. For two and a half thousand years, thinkers analyzed and described society without calling the knowledge gained social
Object and subject of sociology
The object of sociological science is social reality. M. Weber identified the conscious interaction of people as a special distinctive feature of this reality: “expectation of life
Structure and features of social sciences
Like any other science, sociology has its own subject and specific research methods. It is included in the general system of scientific knowledge and occupies a strictly defined place in it. Co
Features of the sociological study of reality
Sociology deals with large masses of people whose opinions are studied using questionnaires. The data it receives is called statistical and is only suitable for all kinds of averaging. Poet
Structure and features of the humanities
Humanitarian disciplines include history, philosophy, literary studies, art history, and cultural studies. The humanities operate with loose models, value judgments and quality
Internal structure of sociology
Sociology is divided into many research areas - areas of interest of sociologists, for example, the study of juvenile delinquency. An area is formed when a specific social problem
Empirical and theoretical components of sociological knowledge
As we found out, the intradisciplinary matrix of sociology is a set of branches that cover the entire thematic field studied by sociological science. Intradisciplinary matrix of socio
Sociological structure – a reflection of social development
There is not only a close connection, but also a direct correspondence between the level and complexity of social knowledge and the level and complexity of the development of society. Sociology can be considered an objective mirror of
Functions of sociology
The number and list of branches of national sociology, the level of their development and the time of their appearance reflect the movement of a given country along the path of technical and social progress. Developing in various
Main functions of sociology
Functions Directions 1. Cognitive
The Birth of Sociology
Sociology is a relatively young science; It took shape as a professional field only a century and a half ago. But the object of its study - society - originated in ancient times. Counting down history
The first sociological theories: the scientific project of O. Comte
Auguste Comte sharply contrasted sociology with philosophy. Having received a mathematical and natural education, O. Comte believed that sociology should become accurate knowledge using natural methods.
Organic theory of G. Spencer
The English sociologist Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903) created the doctrine of social evolution - the organic theory. Having received an engineering and craft education, G. Spencer turned to studied
Teachings of K. Marx
The German philosopher and sociologist Karl Marx (1818 - 1883) received a comprehensive education and, together with Friedrich Engels (1820 - 1895), developed the concept of socio-economic development
French sociological school
The beginning of this school was laid by O. Comte, but the real foundation was created by Emile Durkheim. French sociologist Emile Durkheim (1858 - 1917) was born into the family of a hereditary rabbi, but the family faith
German School of Sociology
German sociologist Max Weber (1864 – 1920) received historical, economic and legal education. Weber's works are amazing in their breadth of coverage and boldness of generalizations with
American Sociological School
An outstanding representative of American sociological thought was the Russian-born scientist Pitirim Sorokin (1889 - 1968), who, due to the universality of his coverage of the sociological problem,
Stages of development of Russian sociology
Sociological thought in Russia is developing as part of world sociological science. Experiencing the influence of various schools and currents of Western sociology, it at the same time reflects the uniqueness of the development of sociology.
Subjective sociology
Subjective sociology, created by the populists P. L. Lavrov (1823 - 1900) and N. K. Mikhailovsky (1842 - 1904), boiled down to the following: · the essence of social development consists in processing
Theories of the structure of society
The formation of the sociological concept of M. M. Kovalevsky was influenced by the ideas of O. Comte and the achievements of the comparative historical method developed in jurisprudence. Sociological
Modern Russian sociology
In the 1990s, along with socio-economic living conditions, the influence of socio-psychological and behavioral factors increased significantly. Complex factor “lifestyle” associated with social
Concept of society
Society is a set of historically established and developing forms of joint activities and relationships between people. Society is not a collection of individuals, but a special
Society as a system
A system (from the Greek system - a whole made up of parts; a connection) in a broad sense is a set of elements that are in relationships and connections with each other, forming a certain whole
Typology of societies
Depending on one or another criterion in sociology, there are a number of typologies of societies that existed before and exist now. 1. By the presence or absence of writing, everything about
Social communities
Society is a collection of a wide variety of groups: large and small, real and nominal, primary and secondary. A social group is understood as any collection
Society, its signs
Social structure covers the placement of all relationships, dependencies, interactions between individual elements in social systems of different ranks. The elements are social
Social stratification: historical types and modern strata
The assignment of individuals to various forms, types and types of activities is essentially the basis of social inequality, and the performance of specific work requires different labor potential
Historical types of stratification
In sociology, there are four main types of stratification - slavery, castes, estates and classes. The first three characterize closed societies, and the last - open ones.
Models of social stratification
M. Weber is considered one of the founders of the theory of social stratification, who proposed dividing society into layers. The most famous stratification model is the model proposed
Stratification of modern Russian society
Stratification in Russia is increasingly taking the form of polarization. According to O. M. Zdravomyslova, “in Russia, “worlds” incompatible with each other have almost formed, each of which can live only
Types of social mobility
Understanding social mobility as any transition of an individual or social object from one position to another, P. Sorokin identifies two types of it: 1. Vertical: · ascending
Sociology attaches exceptionally great attention to the study of social institutions of society. The concept of “social institution” has a central place in the systemic-structural analysis of social life
By adapting to the environment, society throughout history develops tools suitable for solving many problems and satisfying critical needs. These tools are called social
Institutionalization and institutional crisis
Institutionalization is the consolidation of a practice or area of social relations in the form of a law or social norm, an accepted order. Institutionalization means development and history
Since foreign, and after them Russian, sociologists adhere to different definitions of a social institution, it is quite natural that they understand its internal structure differently
R. Mills counted five institutional orders in modern society, meaning the main institutions: 1. Economic - institutions that organize economic activity;
Function (from Latin functio - execution, implementation) is the purpose or role that a certain social institution or process performs in relation to the whole (for example,
Functions Types of institutions Reproduction (reproduction of society as a whole and its individual members, as well as their work
Functions once performed by one institution may, over time, be transferred to others or distributed, partially or completely, among others. Let's say, in the distant past, the institution of the family did not fulfill
Types and role purpose of organizations
Today, the sociology of organizations is one of the most developed private sociological theories. At the same time, it is not a holistic and monolithic discipline - it is a dynamically developing multi-model
Organization and social order
The basis for the emergence of an organization is the need for people to carry out joint cooperative activities and achieve certain common goals. A necessary condition for the functioning of
Elements of the internal structure of an organization
The first of the most important elements of the internal environment and internal situational variables of an organization is organizational goals. The special role of goals in the formation of organizational structure and
Sociology of city and village
Social communities of territorial type include the city and the village. A city is a concentrated territorial settlement of people engaged in diverse and heterogeneous
Urbanization and its social consequences. Contemporary problems in the lives of city residents
The city can be considered as the material basis of all human life. It provides for a person’s entire life: from the maternity hospital to the cemetery. The city is a self-sufficient system.
The situation of the rural producer: rural sociology
For rural sociology, important methodological provisions are: · agricultural production is a sphere that ensures the integrity of the national economic organism and without
Concept of culture
Culture (from Lat. culture - cultivation, upbringing, education, development) is a set of life created by man in the course of his activities and specific to him
Cultural conflicts
Anomie means a violation of the unity of culture associated with the lack of clearly defined social norms. When the process of industrialization accelerated in Europe and America,
Functions of culture
The first is educational. From its name one can see its goal, i.e. education, upbringing or, as sociologists say, socialization of the individual, that is, the acquisition of knowledge, language, symbols
Basic structural elements of culture
The following structural elements of culture can be distinguished. The first element is concepts, which are contained mainly in language. Thanks to concepts, human relationships are organized
Cultural Norms
Closely related to cultural values are norms, that is, certain standards of behavior, work, and relationships between people. As mentioned above, for compliance with norms an individual is respected, loved,
Forms and types of culture
The division of culture into material and spiritual is widely known. But there is no such thing that was 100% material or, conversely, 100% spiritual culture. Ordinary passenger car - uh
Public opinion is the attitude developed in society, explicit or hidden, towards social events and phenomena, the activities of various groups, organizations, and individuals.
Main characteristics of public opinion
At the empirical level, it is proposed to determine public opinion through: attitudes, value judgments or practical actions of social communities, which express their response to p
Conditions for the formation of public opinion
Public opinion is formed where and when a problem of important practical importance is brought up for discussion among the population, affecting the essential interests of people (economic,
Structural elements of public opinion
Even G. F. Hegel studied the phenomenon of public opinion. He identified a number of structural elements in it: the first is the condition for the existence of public opinion, the second is the object (content) of social
Types of public opinion
Important types of public opinion are analytical and constructive, which are closely related: making any decision requires a deep and comprehensive analysis, which requires
Measuring and managing public opinion
In a modern democratic society, the role of public opinion approaches the role of a “social institution” and is determined by the following factors: · The presence of an extensive network of mass media
Labor as a form of existence. Work motivation
The term “labor” in Russian has a positive connotation. To work is the duty of every person. In ideological terms, debates about this have not yet become a thing of the past. Whose labor creates the people's b
Sociology of labor
Labor activity is decisive in the life of every member of society. Sociology studies labor as a socio-economic process and solves the following problems: 1. Study and
Functions of the sociology of labor as a science
Each science performs three important functions: positive, normative and socio-technological. The positive function of science is to identify the real patterns of
Essence, functions and models of work motivation
In order to involve a person in solving a particular problem, one must be able to find the motivation that would prompt him to action. And only with appropriate motivation can people be inspired
Labor incentives
Labor stimulation is the influence on the employee’s work behavior through motivation. Motivation is verbal behavior aimed at choosing motives (
Labor collective as a social organization
A work collective is an association of workers engaged in joint labor activities. In modern sociology, the concept of a work collective
Social processes in a labor organization
A labor organization is a complex socio-economic organism in which progressive and regressive changes occur. Sociology is interested, first of all, in the processes of formation and
Typology of labor organizations
Labor organizations can be typologized on the following grounds: 1. In relation to production: · production labor organizations: o industrial;
Unemployment and its social consequences
Unemployment is the presence of unemployed people. Unemployed is a person who does not have a permanent job or income. This definition is given to unemployment in the Russian dictionary of S.I. Ozhegov. Unemployed
Types of unemployment
Economic theory uses two indicators that can paint an objective picture of economic instability in the labor market. This is the unemployment rate and its average duration.
The essence of social conflict
Social conflict (from the Latin conflitus - confrontation) is a confrontation between two or more social actors in the process of achieving reward. As a carrier
Typology of social conflicts
Social conflicts can be typologized on the following grounds: 1. By structure: · horizontal – occurring at the same social level; · vertical – m
Problems of social conflicts, social tension, manifestation of group egoism in modern Russia
Tensions and conflicts in the regions of Russia have not yet attracted due attention from leading sociological research centers. The somewhat artificial focus of the scientific community's attention
Concept of social interaction and action
Social interaction is a system of interdependent social actions connected by cyclical dependence, in which the action of one subject is both the cause and consequence of the response.
Interaction in the social action system
Social interaction, consisting of individual actions, includes, first of all, statuses and social roles. From here we can typologize them into areas: 1. Economic.
Interaction as exchange
Every interaction can be seen as an exchange. You can exchange anything: signs of attention, words, gestures, symbols, material objects. The foundations of exchange theory were not laid
Concept of social relations
Social relations are a set of connections that arose as a result of the interaction of social actors. Social relations are closely related to social statuses, and one cannot socialize
Types of public relations
Social relations act as elements of the social system. Existing social relations can be represented as follows. 1. Economic relations. These are from
Concept of social movement
A social movement is a set of collective actions aimed at supporting social change or resisting social change in society or social
Types of Social Movements
In accordance with the goals pursued by social movements, the following types are distinguished: 1. Reform movements. They advocate progressive and gradual changes in existing
Stages of social movements
Despite the differences in goals, methods of action and behavior, all social movements go through the same stages in their development. Russian sociologist S.S. Frolov will highlight such life cycles of social
Concept of social change
Social change is the process of the emergence of new features and elements in social structures and systems of social relationships. Changes in society are very close
Social processes
Social changes are the result of social interaction, and the interaction is unidirectional - to satisfy one’s needs. Since the needs of the individual and social group
Concept of social progress
Social progress is the world-historical process of the ascent of human society from a primitive state to the heights of civilization. Social progress on
Types of social progress
In sociology, the following types of social progress are distinguished: 1. Reform is a partial improvement in any area of life, a series of gradual transformations that do not affect
Concept and types of ethnic groups
The life of modern society is complex and diverse, and national or ethnic relations play a huge role in social relations. Currently, there are more than
Genus. Tribe
A clan is a group of blood relatives, a collection of several families descending from a common ancestor. Main characteristics of the genus: presence of a common genus
Nationality
There is currently controversy among scientists regarding the definition of nationality. Some consider nationality a transitional community from tribe to nation; a community that has lost the main features of a tribe,
Nation concept
A nation (from Latin nation - tribe, people) is a historical community of people that takes shape in the process of forming a common territory, economic ties, literary
Nations and modernity
A nation is the highest type of ethnic group. Whether the nation will be able to develop on a global scale into a global community will probably not be shown in the near future. The nation is a noumenon, not a phenomenon of history, I am forever developing
National relations in modern Russian society
Ethnic communities constantly interact with each other and with other subjects of social life. National relations are a set of connections between ethnic groups
Concept of the national question
The national question is a set of political, economic, territorial, legal and cultural relations between ethnic communities regarding their equality.
National self-determination
The national question, as we see, can be resolved in various ways, up to the full realization of the right of peoples to self-determination. National self-determination is a key principle of national
Nationalism
Nationalism was understood in the Soviet Union only as an ideology, psychology, social practice and policy of subordinating some nations to others, preaching national exclusivity and superiority,
Causes of national conflicts in the context of globalization
The source of exacerbation of conflicts between large groups is the accumulation of dissatisfaction with the existing state of affairs, increasing demands, radical changes in self-awareness and social
Definition of national conflict
In today's world there are about 200 sovereign states. And naturally, conflicts and clashes of interests existed and still exist between ethnic communities. There are a variety of
Types of national conflicts
According to its typological characteristics, a national conflict is, first of all, social, since its subjects are large social groups whose interests become contradictory
Ways to prevent and resolve national conflict
In recent years, the state of interethnic relations and the nature of conflicts in this area have changed quite significantly. It was possible to reduce the intensity of open mass armed conflicts and their consequences
Concept of personality
It is known that on one of the twelve columns of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi the inscription was carved: “Know thyself.” From those ancient times until today, man has been cognizing himself and cognizing himself to the end.
Personality structure
Personality is a complexly organized system that combines the biological and the social. Each society leaves its own specific imprints on the individual. In general, personality structure
Personality as an activity type
Jean-Paul Sartre famously said: “Man is nothing other than what he makes himself.” This expression clearly shows the idea of self-realization, a person’s desire to achieve
Concept of social status
Social status (from the Latin state, position) is an intrative indicator of an individual or social group in a hierarchical structure, in a system of social connections and relations
Concept of social role
A social role is a normative pattern of behavior, a set of actions that must be performed by an individual occupying a certain status in the social system. M
Types and properties of social roles
In his life and even every day, a person plays several roles. A collection of roles is called a role set. The following groups or types of roles can be distinguished: 1. Family-related - with
Personality socialization: stages and results
Personal socialization (from the Latin socialis - public) is the process of assimilation by a human individual of a certain system of knowledge, patterns of behavior, social norms, etc.
Personality types
The result of personality socialization is the formation of one or another type of personality. Social personality type is a product of a complex interweaving of historical, cultural and socio-economic
Social norms and social control
The social role includes two theses of completely non-coinciding aspects: role expectation and role performance. A person's character acts as a connecting link between them. Roles
Implementation of social control
Acting as a regulator of social interaction, social control can be implemented in the following ways: 1. Self-control. The person knows the basic m
Social sanctions
Social sanctions (from the Latin sanction - the strictest decree) are measures of influence, reward and/or punishment for social actions. Sanctions rewarded
The concept of deviation
Deviant behavior (from the Latin de - separation and via - road, devio - deviation) is the behavior of an individual or group that does not correspond to generally accepted norms
Causes of deviation
There are disagreements among sociologists regarding the causes and origins of deviant behavior. Some see the reasons for deviant behavior in heredity, others - in the structural features of the human body.
Types of deviation
Deviant behavior can be typologized on the following grounds: 1. According to the scale of deviation: primary - insignificant and tolerable deviation, when the actions of an individual
Theories of deviation
Problems of deviant behavior have always been studied by sociologists, and as a result, the following theories have emerged. 1. Theories of physical types. The founder of these theories was
Deviant behavior of Russian youth: forms and causes
In modern Russia, the main forms of deviant behavior among young people are the same as those characteristic of the entire population of the country. At the same time, they are characterized by some specific shades. In first place one hundred
Family concept
Family is a small social group based on marriage or consanguinity, whose members are bound by a common life, mutual assistance, moral and legal responsibility.
Genesis of the family
The origin of the family is rooted in the deep past. In the genesis of a family, a number of stages can be distinguished. Stage 1 – starting a family. This stage is characterized by: ·
Signs of a family
The modern family in its development goes through the following periods (phases) of the life cycle: · formation of a family - marriage; Beginning of childbearing – birth of the first child
Family types
Analyzing the modern family, we can distinguish the following types: 1. Democratic or friendly, prosperous family. This type of family is characterized by: gradual
Family roles
To understand the family as a social institution, the analysis of role relationships in the family and the functions of the family is of great importance. Family roles can be defined as follows: 1. Spouse
Basic functions of the family
Social needs Functions Individual needs Biological reproduction Reproduction
Dynamics of family life norms
Norms of a traditional family Functions of a family Norms of a modern family A family should have many children Repro
Family transformation
The dynamics of family life norms testify to the transformation of the family, the main indicators of which are the following: · A tendency towards fewer family members. Typical modern family - m
Conflict in the family
The transformation of the family and its development trends show that the relationship between spouses is of decisive importance for the stability of the family. In overwhelming cases, the basis of divorce is the conflict between
Marriage concept
The modern family is increasingly transforming into a social group and social institution based on a marriage bond built on love and mutual respect. Marriage
Types of marriages
Sociologists know many types of marriage, let's consider the main ones: 1. Endogamous - a marriage entered into by a man and a woman of the same social group. 2. Exogamous - marriage when
Globalization and features of its manifestation in the political, economic and cultural spheres of society
At the present stage of human development, a unified civilization is being formed on the entire planet. The rooting of this idea in science and public consciousness contributed to the awareness of the globalization of processes in the Soviet Union.
Manifestations of globalization
In the political sphere: · the emergence of supranational units of various scales: political and military blocs (NATO), imperial spheres of influence (US sphere of influence), ruling coalitions
Russia in the modern global world
There are both supporters and opponents of globalization in Russia. At the same time, the former, as a rule, share the ideas of neoliberalism, while the latter gravitate toward the well-known “soilers.” Unfortunately, very often
Sociological research as a means of studying social reality
Sociological research is a specific type of scientific research in general. It is subject to general scientific requirements, the main one among which is the identification of truth
Logic and methodology of research
Any sociological research involves the collection of empirical data, carried out according to a specific program and using the rules of scientific inference, putting at the disposal of the scientist
Research stages
The stages of sociological research are successive stages of research development, reflected in the program and work plan. Sociological research usually includes
Sociological Research Program
The sociological research program includes two main components: 1. Research methodology: · Definition and justification of the problem; · Definition of q
Research work plan
The work plan of the study reflects the main procedural activities, stages of the study and may include: 1. Preparatory stage: o discussion and approval of the program
Basic methods and results of applied research
Research methods and procedures are a system of more or less formalized rules for collecting, processing and analyzing the information received. But here too, methodological premises play a crucial role,
Types of questions
The art of questioning lies in the precise wording and placement of questions. All questions are divided into three types: 1. Open - this is a direct question to which
Bibliography
Literature* 1. Large Sociological Dictionary (Collins). In 2 volumes: trans. from English – M.: Veche; AST, 2005. – 1 volume - 528 pp.; 2t. -544 c. 2. Gorshkov, M. K. Applied
Internet resources
1. http://www.isras.ru – website of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Literature, publications, statistics, events. – (04/20/2011). 2. http://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_Buks/Sociolog/INDEX_SOCIO.php – bibliography
Society is a complex social system, a structurally organized integrity, which is formed by different elements and components. In turn, they also have a certain level of organization and orderliness of their own structure. This gives grounds to assert that the social structure of society is a complex, multidimensional formation.
The social structure of society is the basis for the study of all processes and phenomena in social life, since changes in the social structure are the main indicator of changes in the social system of society.
The concept of “social structure” has several interpretations. Most often, this term is used to divide society into different social groups, systems of stable connections between them, and also to determine the internal structure of certain social communities.
There are two main levels of structural organization: 1) microstructure, 2) macrostructure. Microstructure means stable connections in small groups (work collective, student group, etc.). The elements of structural analysis are individuals, social roles, statuses, group norms and values. Microstructure significantly influences the processes of social life, such as socialization and the formation of social thought.
Macrostructure- this is the composition of classes, layers, ethnic groups and social categories characteristic of a given society, the set of stable relations between them and the peculiarity of their structural organization. The main aspects of the macrostructure of society are social-class, socio-professional, socio-demographic, socio-territorial and socio-ethnic substructures.
Social structure- an ordered set of individuals, social groups, communities, organizations, institutions, united by connections and relationships, differing from each other by position in the economic, political, spiritual spheres of their life.
In other words, this is the internal structure of society, which consists of ordered elements interconnected: individuals, social groups, social strata, classes, estates, social communities (socio-ethnic, socio-professional, socio-demographic, socio-territorial).
A person is almost never directly involved in the structure of society. He always belongs to a certain group, whose interests and norms of behavior influence him. And these groups already form a society.
The social structure has certain features:
1) the stability of the connection between any elements of society, i.e. stable interdependencies, correlations;
2) regularity, stability and repeatability of these interactions;
3) the presence of levels or “floors” according to the significance of the elements that are included in the structure;
4) regulating, initiated and dynamic control over the behavior of elements, including various norms and sanctions adopted in a given society.
The social structure has a “horizontal projection” and a “vertical projection” - a hierarchically organized set of statuses, groups, classes, layers, etc.
The concept of “social structure” covers system-organizational and stratification aspects. According to the systemic-organizational aspect, the main content of the social structure is formed by social institutions, primarily such as: economy, politics (state), science, education, family, preserving and maintaining the relationships and connections existing in society. These institutions normatively regulate, control and direct people’s behavior in vital areas, and also determine stable, regularly reproduced role positions (statuses) in different types of social organizations.
Social status is the primary element of the social structure of society, which determines a person’s place in the social structure of society. It is determined by profession, age, education and financial situation. Social positions (statuses) and connections between them determine the nature of social relations.
Social status- this is the social position (position) of an individual in the social structure of society, associated with belonging to any social group or community, the totality of its social roles.
Social status– a generalized characteristic covering a person’s profession, economic status, political opportunities and demographic characteristics. For example, “builder” is a profession; “hired worker” is an economic trait; “party member” is a political characteristic; “a man of 30 years old” is a demographic feature. All these characteristics describe the social status of one person, but from different sides.
It is necessary to distinguish personal and social types of status. Social status has two meanings - wide and narrow. Status in a broad sense is the social position of a person in society, which gives him a general characteristic. In a narrow sense, this is the position of a person that he automatically occupies as a representative of a large social group (professional, class, national).
Personal status- this is the position that a person occupies in a small social group (family, among friends, in a team, sports team, student group, etc.), depending on how he is assessed by his individual qualities. In them, everyone can occupy a high, medium or low status, i.e. be a leader, independent or outsider.
The status may be prescribed(surname, pedigree), reached or mixed.
Prescribed cannot be identified with natural born. Only three biologically inherited statuses are considered innate: gender, nationality, race, which a person inherits regardless of his will and consciousness.
Achieved status a person receives through his own efforts, desire, free choice. The more statuses achieved in a society, the more dynamic and democratic it is.
Mixed status simultaneously has the features of both prescribed and achieved. For example, the title of professor is initially a status that is achieved, but over time it becomes prescribed because is eternal, although not inherited.
Social role – typical human behavior associated with his social status, which does not cause negative reactions from others. An individual can perform several social roles. For example: friend, athlete, public figure, citizen, student. Each person has several social roles and statuses.
Any society can be represented in the form of many status and role positions, and the more there are, the more complex the society. However, status-role positions are not a simple heap, devoid of internal harmony. They are organized, connected to each other by countless threads. Organization and orderliness are ensured thanks to more complex structural formations - social institutions, communities, organizations - which connect status-role positions with each other, ensure their reproduction, and create guarantees of their sustainability.
On the basis of close social statuses, which establish the potential possibility of an individual’s participation in relevant types of activities, more complex structural elements of society—social groups—are formed.
Social group- a relatively stable, historically established set of people united on the basis of common characteristics, interests, values, and group consciousness.
The concept of “social group” is generic relative to the concepts of “class”, “social layer”, “collective”, “nation”, “community”, as it captures social differences between separate groups of people in the process of distribution of labor and their results. These differences are based on relations to the means of production, power, specifics of labor, specialty, education, income level, gender, age, nationality, place of residence, etc.
Class- any social stratum in modern society that differs from others in income, education, prestige, and attitude to power.
Social layer– a group of individuals engaged in equivalent types of work and receiving approximately equal remuneration.
Social community – a set of people united by relatively stable social ties, relationships, having common characteristics that give it unique originality.
In every society there is a certain number of social groups, the creation of which is due to:
General activities (for example, professional groups, teams);
General spatio-temporal existence (environment, territory, communication);
Group attitudes and orientations.
It is necessary to distinguish social groups from random unstable associations such as: bus passengers, readers in a library, spectators in a cinema.
Social groups arose on the basis of objective conditions of existence, a certain level of development of society. Thus, at the dawn of humanity, a clan and tribe arose. With the division of labor, professional groups appeared (craftsmen, farmers, hunters, gatherers, etc.). With the advent of private property - classes.
The formation of a social group is a long and complex process of its social maturation, which is associated with awareness of one’s position, community and interests, values, the formation of group consciousness and norms of behavior. A social group becomes socially mature when it realizes its interests, values, forms norms, goals and objectives of activities that are aimed at maintaining or changing its position in society. In this regard, R. Dahrendorf identifies hidden and open group interests. It is awareness of interests that turns a group of people into an independent subject of social action.
Social groups of different sizes interact in the social structure. Traditionally they are divided into small and large.
Small social group- a small group of people whose members are united by common activities and enter into direct communication, which is the basis for the emergence of emotional relationships and special group values and norms of behavior.
A generic feature of a small social group is the presence of direct long-term personal contacts (communications, interactions), characteristic, for example, of a family, a team of workers, a group of friends, a sports team, etc.
Large social group- a large group of people united for common activities, but the relationships between them are predominantly formal.
These include professional, demographic, national communities, and social classes.
The social structure of modern Ukrainian society depends on the direction of the essence of social transformations, the essence of which is changing functional connections in society. Its basis is:
1. Changing the social form of all major social institutions - economic, political, cultural, educational; a deep social revolution and reform of those social regulators that form the social structure of society (it has become less rigid, more flexible).
2. Transformation of the social nature of the main components of the social structure - classes, groups and communities; their renewal as subjects of property and power; the emergence of economic classes, layers and strata with a corresponding system of social conflicts and contradictions.
3. Weakening of stratification restrictions existing in society. The emergence of new channels for increasing status, strengthening horizontal and vertical mobility of Ukrainians.
4. Activation of marginalization processes.
Marginalization– (Latin margo – edge, border) – the process of a person’s loss of objective belonging to a certain social group, without subsequent subjective entry into another community, stratum.
This is the process of a subject changing one socio-economic status to another. In Ukrainian society at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries, it is characterized by a transition mainly to the lower strata of the population (the phenomenon of the “new poor”, social groups of military personnel, intelligentsia).
5. Changes in the comparative role of the components of social status. If the stratification of Soviet society was dominated by the administrative and official criterion associated with the place in the system of power and management, then in modern society the decisive criterion is property and income. Previously, political status determined financial status; now the amount of capital determines political weight.
6. Increasing the social prestige of education and qualifications, strengthening the role of the cultural factor in the formation of high-status groups. This is due to the formation of the labor market. However, this applies to specialties that are in demand on the market, primarily economics, legal and management.
7. Changes in the qualitative and quantitative parameters of the social structure. It is known that the more progressive the gender and age structure, the greater development opportunities it is endowed with, the more stable the social (labor, intellectual, cultural) potential of the population. Due to negative demographic trends, the population of Ukraine decreases by 400 thousand people every year, against the background of general depopulation of the population (every fifth Ukrainian family has no children), the birth rate is decreasing, and the average life expectancy is decreasing (if in the early 90s of the twentieth century, according to indicators health, Ukraine ranked 40th in the world, then ten years later it moved into the second hundred).
8. Deepening social polarization of society. The property indicator is the core of transformation. The economic status and lifestyle of the elites and the upper class increased sharply, while that of the majority of the population decreased sharply. The boundaries of poverty and poverty have expanded, the social “bottom” has emerged - homeless, declassed elements.
The structure of Ukrainian society, which has undergone significant changes compared to Soviet society, continues to retain its features. For its significant transformation, a systemic transformation of the institutions of property and power is necessary, which requires a long time. The stratification of society will continue to lose stability and unambiguity. The boundaries between groups and layers will become more transparent, and many marginal groups with an uncertain or contradictory status will emerge.
The social structure of Ukrainian society, based on sociological research by N. Rimashevskaya, can be generally presented as follows.
1." All-Ukrainian elite groups”, which consolidate in their hands property in amounts equal to the largest Western countries, and also own the means of power influence at the national level.
2. " Regional and corporate elites”, which have a significant position and influence on a Ukrainian scale at the level of regions and entire industries or sectors of the economy.
3. Ukrainian “upper middle class”, which owns property and incomes that provide Western standards of consumption, as well. Representatives of this layer strive to improve their social status and are guided by established practices and ethical standards of economic relations.
4. Ukrainian “dynamic middle class”, which has incomes that ensure the satisfaction of average Ukrainian and higher standards of consumption, and is also characterized by relatively high potential adaptability, significant social aspirations and motivations and an orientation towards legal ways of its manifestation.
5. “Outsiders”, who are characterized by low adaptation and social activity, low income and focus on legal ways of obtaining it.
6. “Marginal people”, who are characterized by low adaptation, as well as asocial and antisocial attitudes in their socio-economic activities.
7. “Criminality,” which is characterized by high social activity and adaptability, but at the same time fully consciously and rationally opposes legal norms of economic activity.
Contemporary American anthropologist Julian Steward, in his book “The Theory of Cultural Change,” moved away from Spencer’s classical social evolutionism, based on the differentiation of labor. Each society, according to Steward, consists of several cultural fields:
- technical and economic;
- socio-political;
- legislative;
- artistic, etc.
Each cultural field has its own laws of evolution, and the whole society as a whole is in unique natural and social conditions. As a result, the development of each society is unique and does not obey any economic-formational linearity. But most often the leading reason for the development of local societies is the technical and economic sphere.
Marsh (1967), in particular, indicated the signs under which a social community can be considered society:
- permanent territory having a state border;
- replenishment of the community as a result of childbearing and immigration;
- developed culture (concepts of experience, concepts of the connection between elements of experience, values-beliefs, norms of behavior that correspond to values, etc.);
- political (state) independence.
As you can see, economics is not among the listed features.
The structure of society in Parsons' sociology
The most famous, complex and used in modern sociology is the understanding of society proposed by. He views society as a type of social system, which in turn is structural element of the action system. As a result, a chain arises:
- action system;
- social system;
- society as a form of social system.
The action system includes the following structural subsystems:
- social a subsystem whose function is to integrate people into a social connection;
- cultural a subsystem consisting of the preservation, reproduction and development of a pattern of human behavior;
- personal a subsystem consisting in the implementation of goals and execution of the action process inherent in the cultural subsystem;
- behavioral organism whose function is to carry out physical (practical) interactions with the external environment.
The external environment of the action system is, on the one hand, the “highest reality”, the problem of the meaning of life and action, contained in the cultural subsystem, and on the other hand, the physical environment, nature. Social systems are open systems in constant exchange with the external environment, “formed by states and processes of social interaction between acting subjects.”
Society is "type of social system in the entirety of social systems, which has reached the highest degree of self-sufficiency in relation to its environment.” It consists of four subsystems - bodies that perform certain functions in the structure of society:
- the societal subsystem is the subject of social action, it consists of a set of norms of behavior that serve the integration of people and groups into society;
- the cultural subsystem of preserving and reproducing a model, consisting of a set of values and serving for people to reproduce a model of typical social behavior;
- a political subsystem that serves to set and achieve goals by the societal subsystem;
- economic (adaptive) subsystem, which includes a set of people’s roles and interactions with the material world (Table 1).
The core of society is the societal community - a unique people, and the remaining subsystems act as tools for preserving (stabilizing) this community. It represents a complex network of interpenetrating groups (families, businesses, churches, government agencies, etc.), within which people have common values and norms and are distributed between statuses and roles. “Society,” writes Parsons, “is that type of social system in the totality of social systems that has achieved the highest degree of self-sufficiency in relations with its environment.” Self-sufficiency includes the ability of society to control both the interaction of its subsystems and external interaction processes.
Table 1. Structure of society according to T. Parson
The main social problem, according to Parsons, is the problem of order, stability and adaptation of society to changing internal and external conditions. He pays special attention to the concept of “norm” as the most important element of a social connection, institution, organization. In reality, no social system (including society) is in a state of complete integration and correlation with other systems, because destructive factors are constantly at work, as a result of which constant social control and other corrective mechanisms are necessary.
Parsons's concept of social action, social system, society has been criticized from various sociological points of view. Firstly, his society turned out to be squeezed between the cultural and anthropological (personality and behavioral organism) subsystems, while the cultural subsystem remained outside of society. Secondly, the societal community is not part of the political, economic, cultural subsystems, therefore societal statuses, values, and norms turn out to be functionally undifferentiated in relation to social systems. Thirdly, the main element of society is the societal community, which is formed by values and norms, and not the process of activity leading to a certain result.
In my opinion, the structure of society proposed by Parsons can be significantly changed. It makes sense to add demosocial to the subsystems of society, associated with the reproduction and socialization of people. It is not covered by the personal and behavioral subsystems, playing a fundamental role in society. Need to split cultural subsystem on spiritual And mental, since their confusion in the cultural subsystem interferes with Parsons himself when analyzing individual cultural subsystems - for example, the church and the religious worldview. Should be included in all social systems of society - societal parts (functional societal communities).
Modern ideas about the structure of society
From my point of view, society consists of the following main system-spheres:
- geographical (natural basis of existence and subject of production);
- demosocial (demographic and social) - reproduction and socialization of people;
- economic (production, distribution, exchange, consumption of material goods);
- political (production, distribution, exchange, consumption of power-order, ensuring integration);
- spiritual (artistic, legal, educational, scientific, religious, etc.) - production, distribution, exchange, consumption of spiritual values (knowledge, artistic images, moral standards, etc.), spiritual integration;
- mental, conscious, subjective (a set of instincts, feelings, views, values, norms, beliefs inherent in a given society).
Each of the listed systems includes subsystems that can be considered as relatively independent parts of society. These representations can be shown schematically as follows (Scheme 1).
Scheme 1. Basic systems of society
The systems of society, firstly, are arranged in such a “ladder”, primarily depending on the ratio of the material (objective) and mental (subjective) in them. If in the geographical sphere the subjective component (worldview, mentality, motivation) is absent, then in the conscious sphere it is fully present. When moving from a geographical (unconscious) to a mental (conscious) system, the role of meanings constructing society, i.e., the conscious component of people’s life, increases. At the same time, there is an increase mismatch everyday (empirical) and scientific (theoretical) knowledge and beliefs. Secondly, demosocial, economic, political, spiritual systems are focused on satisfying functional needs (demosocial, economic, etc.). Therefore, the concept of social connection (sociality) acts as a methodological basis for the analysis of these systems of society. Thirdly, these systems are complementary, complement one another and build on one another. Various cause-and-effect, essentially-phenomenal and functional-structural connections arise between them, so that the “end” of one social sphere is at the same time the “beginning” of another. They form a hierarchy, where the result of the functioning of one system is the beginning of another. For example, the demosocial system is the source of the economic system, and the latter is the source of the political system, etc.
The same person acts as a subject of different social systems, and therefore societal communities, implements different motivational mechanisms in them (needs, values, norms, beliefs, experience, knowledge), performs different roles (husband, worker, citizen, believer and etc.), forms various social connections, institutions, organizations. This, on the one hand, enriches the status and role set of people, and on the other hand, preserves the unity of social systems and societies. The individual, his activities, and motivation are ultimately one of the main integrators of the population into the society-people. In understanding sociology, Parsons' sociology and
In phenomenological sociology, individual social action is the main element of the social.
Public, social, societal existence - it is a set of demosocial, economic, political, spiritual systems and connections between them. The listed terms express essentially the same thing. Systems of social communication, social existence, social systems are processes of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of some social goods (goods, order, truths, etc.).
Society - This is a set of social systems with the exception of the geographical one. In sociology textbooks, as a rule, there is a section culture of society, which in the narrow sense of the word is understood as a system of values, norms, thoughts, and actions characteristic of a given society. In the broad sense of the word society and culture society - identical concepts, therefore in this textbook I have excluded the section “culture”: it is discussed in different topics due to the great vagueness of the very concept of “culture”. Culture person has been discussed before.
Society - it is the totality of all social systems and connections between them, its main metasystems are people, formation and civilization. In social systems (social life), three main parts can be distinguished in order to simplify their understanding and role in society. Firstly, this initial, subjective, societal part of social systems includes functional communities (demosocial, economic, etc.) that have functional subjectivity(needs, values, knowledge), abilities to act, as well as roles.
Secondly, this basic, activity part - the process of producing some public goods - which represents the coordinated actions of individuals with different roles, their mutual communication, the use of objects and tools (activity situation). An example would be managers, engineers and workers together with the means of production in the operation of an industrial enterprise. This part is basic because this social system depends on it.
Thirdly, this effective, auxiliary part that includes produced social goods: for example, cars, their distribution, exchange and consumption (use) by other social systems. The effective part of the social system also includes reinforcement initial and basic parts, confirmation of their adequacy for their purpose. Like this realistic, the point of view softens the extremes of subjectivist, understanding, positivist and Marxist sociology.
Unlike Parsons, the functional societal community in this interpretation is the initial element of each social system, and does not act as a separate system. It also includes the status and role structure that characterizes a given social system. It, and not the cultural subsystem, acts as a specific functional cultural part of the social system.
Further, not only the economic and political, but also the demosocial and spiritual systems are social, that is, they have their own functional societal communities, with their own needs, mentality, abilities, as well as actions, norms, institutions and results.
And finally, in all social systems the cultural, societal, personal, behavioral subsystems are in unity, and individual(elementary) action is part of the basic part of every social system, including: a) situation (objects, tools, conditions); b) orientation (needs, goals, norms); c) operations, results, benefits.
Thus, society can be defined as a natural-social organism consisting of mental, social, geographical systems, as well as connections and relationships between them. Society has different levels: villages, cities, regions, countries, systems of countries. Humanity includes both the development of individual countries and the slow formation of a universal superorganism.
In this textbook, society is depicted in the form of a hierarchical structure, which includes: 1) the basic elements of society; 2) systems (subsystems), spheres, organs; 3) metasystems ( peoples, characterizing the “metabolic” structure of society; formations, characterizing the “social body” of society; civilization characterizing his “soul”).
Saint-Simon, Comte, Hegel and others believed that driving force changes in societies is in the sphere of consciousness, in those ideas, methods of thinking and projects with the help of which Man tries to explain and predict his practical activity, manage it, and through it the world. Marxists saw the driving force of historical change in the sphere of struggle between the poor and rich classes, the forces of production and economic relations, that is, in the economic system. In my opinion, the driving force behind the development of societies is also the mental, societal, and objective contradictions within social systems, between social systems within a society, between different societies.
