General sociology. Cheat sheet: briefly, the most important

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General sociology. Cheat sheet: briefly, the most important

Lecture notes, cheat sheets

Directory / Lecture notes, cheat sheets

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Table of contents

Subject, object of sociology
The concept of "social". Basic approaches to social analysis
Tasks and functions of sociology
Sociology in the Humanities
Approaches to defining the structure of sociology. The concept of general sociological theory
The concept of empirical sociology, "theory of the middle level", micro- and macrosociology
Elements of the system of sociological knowledge. The concept of social law and its types
Society as a social organism
Factors of social processes in the theory of G. Spencer
The sociological doctrine of Karl Marx
Marxist sociology after K. Marx
The sociological realism of Émile Durkheim. "Sociologism" as a social theory
E. Durkheim's theory of social fact
E. Durkheim's analysis of the social causes of suicide
Typology of suicides according to E. Durkheim
Understanding sociology of M. Weber. The concept of "ideal type"
The concept of social action. Ideal types of social actions
The concept of "society" and its interpretation
Society as an object of study of megasociology
Social structures, groups and communities
Culture concept
Elements of culture
Cultural universals and diversity of cultural forms
The concepts of "man", "individual", "personality"
Socialization of the individual
Personality in the system of social statuses and roles
The essence of social interaction
Theories of social interaction. Concept of social exchange
The concept of symbolic interactionism. Experience management concept
The concept of a social institution. Types of social institutions
Functions and basic characteristics of social institutions
System approach: general provisions. Systemological concepts
The concept of "social system" and social organization
Social organization as a kind of social system. Types of social organizations
Elements of an organization
The essence and causes of social inequality. The concept, content, foundations of social stratification
The concept of one-dimensional and multidimensional stratification
The concepts of nation and ethnicity
Historical types of stratification
The main theoretical approaches in the definition of classes. Non-Marxist approaches
Social stratification of modern societies
The concept of "lifestyle". Social mobility and its types
Mobility types
Typology of small groups
Structure and socio-psychological parameters of a small group
Dynamic processes in a small group
Concept, subject and object, means and stages of public opinion formation
Functions and characteristics, methodology for studying public opinion
Public Opinion and Social Stereotypes as Results of Mass Communication
The concept and types of deviant behavior
Explanation of deviant behavior in the theory of labeling and from the standpoint of the theory of social solidarity
Anomic concept of deviation
Essence and forms of social control
The main components of social control
Typology of conflicts
Sociometric methods

1. Subject, object of sociology

Under the object, as a rule, understand the range of phenomena (phenomena) subject to its study. The object of sociological knowledge is society. The project of sociology in Kont implied that society is a special entity, different from individuals and the state and subject to its own natural laws. The practical meaning of sociology is participation in the improvement of society, which, in principle, lends itself to such improvement.

Social life is closely connected with the life of an individual and affects the behavior of each person. Thus, the object of study of sociology is social reality, the person himself and everything that surrounds him, which he created with his own hands.

The subject of research is usually understood as a set of characteristics, qualities, properties of an object that are of particular interest to a given science. The subject of sociology is the social life of society, that is, a complex of social phenomena arising from the interaction of people and communities. The vital activity of people is realized in society in three traditional spheres (economic, political, spiritual) and one non-traditional - social. The first three give a horizontal section of society, the fourth - a vertical one, implying a division according to the subjects of social relations (ethnic groups, families, etc.). These elements of the social structure in the process of their interaction in traditional spheres form the basis of social life, which in all its diversity exists, is recreated and changes only in the activities of people.

Status refers to a person's position in society, which determines access to education, wealth, power, and so on. Thus, sociology studies social life, that is, the interaction of social subjects on issues related to their social status.

It is the totality of such actions that forms the social process as a whole, and in it some general tendencies can be distinguished, which are sociological laws. The role of sociology and sociological research immeasurably increases in crisis situations, when it becomes important to take into account public opinion, its reorientation and change of ideals and paradigms.

Sociology studies the social structure of society, social groups, cultural system, type of personality, recurring social processes, changes occurring in people, while emphasizing the identification of development alternatives. Sociological knowledge acts as a unity of theory and practice, empiricism. Theoretical research is an explanation of social reality based on laws, empirical research is specific detailed information about the processes taking place in society (observations, surveys, comparisons).

2. The concept of "social". Basic approaches to social analysis

The social is a combination of certain properties and features (social relations) of social communities (classes, groups of people) in the process of their joint activity in specific conditions, manifested in their relationship to each other, to their position in society, to the phenomena and processes of social life. A social phenomenon or process occurs when the behavior of even one individual is influenced by another individual or social group. It is in the process of interacting with each other that people influence each other and thereby contribute to the fact that each of them becomes the bearer and exponent of any social qualities. Thus, social connections, social interaction, social relations and the way they are organized are objects of sociological research.

We can distinguish the following main features that characterize the specifics of the social.

First, it is a common property that is inherent in different groups of people and is the result of their relationships.

Secondly, this is the nature and content of relations between different groups of people, depending on the place they occupy, and on the role they play in various social structures.

Thirdly, it is the result of "the joint activity of various individuals", manifested in communication and in their interaction.

The social arises precisely in the course of people's interaction, and is conditioned by the differences in their place and role in specific social structures.

Basic approaches to sociological analysis. In the sociological analysis of society, two traditions, two approaches are observed: macro- and micro-sociological. The macro-sociological or organic approach (represented by Plato and Aristotle) suggests that society is a single whole, structured into parts. The method used by scientists within the framework of this approach is philosophical analysis (induction, deduction, analysis, synthesis).

The microsociological or atomistic approach (representatives of Democritus and Leibniz) believes that the main thing is a person, and society is the sum of individuals. The method of use is empirical, i.e., experimental analysis (observations, surveys, experiments). It is important to be able to combine these two approaches, and reliable sociological knowledge is a consequence of the fact that macro- and micro-levels are considered in close relationship.

3. Tasks and functions of sociology

Sociology as an independent science has its own tasks. Sociology, studying social life in various forms and spheres, firstly, solves scientific problems that are associated with the formation of knowledge about social reality, the development of methods for sociological research. Secondly, sociology studies the problems that are associated with the transformation of social reality, the analysis of ways and means of purposeful influence on social processes.

The role of sociology is especially growing in the context of the transformation of our society, since every decision made, every new step taken by the authorities, affects social interests, changes the position and behavior of many interacting groups.

The adoption of the most correct and necessary decision by the highest authorities is the first step in the transformation of reality. This makes it necessary to constantly monitor the implementation of decisions, the flow of specific processes in society.

We must also not forget about such an important task of sociology as the formation of social thinking in people.

The tasks facing sociological science determine its functions.

Sociology performs many different functions in society.

The main ones are:

1) epistemological - gives new knowledge about society, social groups, individuals and the patterns of their behavior. Of particular importance belongs to special sociological theories that reveal patterns and prospects for the social development of society. Sociological theories provide scientific answers to topical problems of our time, indicate real ways and methods of social transformation of the world;

2) applied - provides specific sociological information for solving practical scientific and social problems. Revealing the patterns of development of various spheres of society, sociological research provides the specific information necessary to exercise control over social processes;

3) social forecast and control - warns about deviations in the development of society, predicts and models trends in social development. On the basis of sociological research, sociology puts forward scientifically based forecasts regarding the development of society in the future, which are the theoretical basis for building long-term plans for social development, and also gives practical recommendations developed by sociologists for more effective management of social processes;

4) humanistic - develops social ideals, programs for the scientific, technical, socio-economic and socio-cultural development of society.

4. Sociology in the system of the humanities

Sociology occupies a special place in the system of the humanities. This is due to the following reasons:

1) it is a science about society, its phenomena and processes;

2) it includes a general sociological theory, or the theory of society, which acts as the theory and methodology of all other humanities;

3) all the humanities that study various aspects of the life of society and man always include the social aspect, i.e. those laws that are studied in a particular area of public life and are implemented through the activities of people;

4) the technique and methods of studying a person and his activity, which are developed by sociology, are necessary for all social and human sciences, since they are used by them for their research;

5) a whole system of research has developed, which is carried out at the intersection of sociology and other sciences. These studies are called social studies (socio-economic, socio-political, socio-demographic, etc.).

The specificity of sociology lies in its borderline position between natural science and socio-humanitarian knowledge. It simultaneously uses the methods of philosophical and socio-historical generalizations and the specific methods of the natural sciences - experiment and observation. Sociology studies both the general laws of being (ontology) and the general principles of cognition (epistemology, logic, methodology). But philosophy penetrates most deeply into the structure of sociology, becoming part of its theoretical system (especially social philosophy). The connection between sociology and history is also important. Sociology makes extensive use of historical data.

An important role for sociology is played by statistics, which gives it a concrete scientific character.

Sociology closely interacts with psychology. Social psychology is a branch of scientific knowledge that arose at the intersection of sociology and psychology.

With all the sciences of society, sociology is connected by the social aspect of his life; hence socio-economic, socio-demographic and other studies, on the basis of which new "frontier" sciences are born: social psychology, socio-biology, social ecology, etc. In the system of socio-humanitarian knowledge, sociology plays a special role, since it gives other sciences about society scientifically substantiated theory of society through its structural elements and their interaction; methods and techniques of human study.

The significance of sociology for other sciences lies in the fact that it provides a scientifically based theory about society and its structures, provides an understanding of the laws of interaction of its various structures.

5. Approaches to defining the structure of sociology. The concept of general sociological theory

In modern sociology, three approaches to the structure of this science coexist.

Content - implies the obligatory presence of three main interrelated components:

1) empiricism, i.e. a complex of sociological research focused on the collection and analysis of real facts of social life using a special methodology;

2) theories - a set of judgments, views, models, hypotheses that explain the processes of development of the social system as a whole and its elements;

3) methodology - a system of principles underlying the accumulation, construction and application of sociological knowledge.

The second approach is targeted. Fundamental sociology (basic, academic) is focused on the growth of knowledge and scientific contribution to fundamental discoveries. Applied sociology is focused on practical use. This is a set of theoretical models, methods, research procedures, social technologies, specific programs and recommendations aimed at achieving a real social effect.

The third approach - large-scale divides science into macro- and microsociology. The first studies large-scale social phenomena (ethnic groups, states, social institutions, groups, etc.); the second - the spheres of direct social interaction (interpersonal relations, communication processes in groups, the sphere of everyday reality).

In sociology, content-structural elements of different levels are also distinguished: general sociological knowledge; sectoral sociology (economic, industrial, political, leisure, management, etc.); independent sociological schools, directions, concepts, theories.

The concept of a paradigm denotes "the original conceptual scheme, a model for posing problems and solving them, research methods that dominated during a certain historical period in the scientific community." With regard to sociology, this means a certain set of views and methods of scientific research generally recognized by all representatives of a given science (or its separate trend).

In its sociological usage, the concept comes from T. S. Kuhn's work on the nature of scientific change. According to T. Kuhn, scientists work within paradigms, which are general ways of understanding the world and dictate what kind of research work needs to be done and what types of theory are considered acceptable. In sociology, this concept has an indefinite meaning, denoting sociological schools, each of which develops relatively independently, developing its own methods and theories.

6. The concept of empirical sociology, "theory of the middle level", micro- and macrosociology

Empirical sociology is a set of methodological and technical methods for collecting primary sociological information. This is a fairly independent scientific discipline, which has other names. Empirical sociology is also called sociography.

Any empirical sociological research is aimed at identifying or solving a specific problem in a specific place and at a specific time. Therefore, the information obtained in the course of such a study is accumulated and comprehended in one or another branch (or special) sociological theory. They are now increasingly referred to as middle-level theories. This concept was introduced into scientific circulation by the American sociologist Robert Merton. A brief definition of "theories of the middle level" R. Merton formulates as follows: these are theories that are in the intermediate space between particular, but also necessary working hypotheses that arise in many in the course of everyday research, and all-encompassing systematic attempts to develop a unified theory that will explain everything observable types of social behavior, social organization and social change.

Among the theories of the middle level are: 1) those sociological concepts that are developed at the intersection of sciences (sociology of law, medical sociology, economic sociology, sociology of management, etc.);

2) various branches of institutional sociology - a special area associated with the study of sustainable forms of organization and regulation of social life (sociology of religion, sociology of education, sociology of marriage and family, etc.);

3) middle-level sociological theories related to the study of certain spheres of social life (agrarian sociology, urban sociology, the sociology of reading, etc.).

Macrosociology is the theoretical and empirical study of large collectivities (cities, churches) or, more abstractly, social systems and social structures, the economic and political order, the identification of more or less large social changes, as well as the factors influencing such changes. . In addition, macrosociology includes such influential theoretical currents as structural functionalism, conflict theory, and neo-evolutionism. Microsociology includes concepts and schools that study the mechanisms of people's behavior, their communication, interaction, and interpersonal relationships. Thus, the theories of exchange and symbolic interactionism are referred to as microsociological. Microsociology is more closely associated with empirical research.

7. Elements of the system of sociological knowledge. The concept of social law and its types

The establishment of social facts is served by such elements of sociological knowledge as:

1) general and special sociological theories (for example, the theory of stratification, the theory of cultural relativism, etc.). The task of these theories is to resolve the issue of the possibilities and limits of knowledge of society in certain aspects;

2) sectoral sociological theories, such as economic sociology, sociology of the family, sociology of the city. Their task is to give a description of individual spheres of the life of society, to substantiate the programs of specific sociological research, to provide an interpretation of empirical data;

3) data collection and analysis methods serve to create an empirical base and primary generalization of empirical data (mass survey, observation, document analysis, experiment). The choice of research method depends on the specification of the object and the objectives of the study, for example, the mood of voters can be studied using a survey of voters, a survey of experts, or an in-depth interview with a typical voter.

Social law is an essential, stable, recurring relationship between social phenomena and processes, primarily in the social activities of people or their actions. Two groups of social laws should be distinguished.

The first group is the laws that have been in force throughout the history of the development of society (the law of the determining role of the mode of production, the law of the consistent causal dependence of various aspects of the life of society, the patterns of transition from one social formation to another, etc.). These laws are the way in which society functions and develops (the law of the determining role of the mode of production).

The second group is the laws that follow from the circumstances that have developed earlier and in which the leading trend in the development of society is manifested, due to the objective laws of its activity and development. This type of social regularity is nothing but the result of concretely developing circumstances that are determined by the objective position of production and society and depend to a greater extent on the will and actions of the classes, groups, and individuals that make up society.

The essence of social laws lies in the fact that they determine the relationship between different individuals and communities, manifesting themselves in their activities. General laws operate in all social systems (for example, the law of value and commodity-money relations). The effect of specific laws is limited to one or more social systems (for example, laws associated with the transition from one type of society to another or the period of primary accumulation of capital).

8. Society as a social organism

From the point of view of organic analogy, G. Spencer considered society as a social organism. He pointed out the following main similarities between social and social organisms:

1) just like a biological organism, society increases in size, grows;

2) as both biological and social organisms grow, their internal structure changes and becomes more complicated;

3) in both biological and social organisms, the complication of structure entails an ever-deepening differentiation of the functions of their various organs;

4) simultaneously in the course of the evolution of the second and third processes, the interaction and mutual influence of all the organs that make up the structure develop and increase;

5) both in society and in a biological organism, when the life of the whole is upset, individual parts can continue their own independent existence for some time.

The totality of the individual parts of a biological organism forms a concrete from lat. concretus - "condensed, compacted, fused". The constituent units of a social organism - society are discrete (from Latin discre-tus - divided, intermittent): the organs that make up the body are closely interconnected by an inextricable link, being in constant contact with each other; and the living units that make up society are spatially separated, free, not in contact with each other, can leave this community, uniting with individuals of another community and entering into its composition.

In society, its individual units are interconnected in a different way, most often by no means through simple physical contact, but through intellectual and emotional conductors of interaction. These conductors, as well as the results of the interaction, G. Spencer calls supraorganic products.

According to G. Spencer, the social organism consists of three main bodies (institutions): regulatory (management), production (supporting) and distribution (means of communication, transport, trade, etc.). All social control, according to G. Spencer, rests on fear. Both of these social institutions arose and gradually developed from the simplest embryonic forms that existed in primitive society. Social control of people's behavior in everyday life is carried out by "ceremonial institutions" that are older than the church or the state, and often perform their functions more efficiently than they do. He considered the condition for the successful development of society to be the assertion of the principle of equal freedom of individuals, which is limited only by the possibilities of ensuring freedom for other individuals, the equal influence of all members of society and social strata on political decision-making, as well as free competition.

9. Factors of social processes in the theory of G. Spencer

G. Spencer identifies primary and secondary factors. In turn, the primary factors are divided into external and internal. External factors include such as climate, the nature of the relief of the Earth's surface, its flora and fauna. To internal - the intellectual and emotional qualities of social units - individuals that make up society. Secondary, or derivatives, are those that are caused by the very process of social evolution, but in the future they begin to influence it - for example, the consequences of deforestation, abundant irrigation or, on the contrary, drainage of the soil, which are caused by purposeful (but not always rational) human activity.

One of the most important factors of social development G. Spencer calls the growth of society, which is both a cause and a consequence of social evolution. Indeed, the division of labor cannot be deep in the small size of society, where there are a small number of individuals who can take on a limited number of functions. As human communities increase in size, they begin to exert ever stronger influence on each other, either through military clashes or through the strengthening of trade and industrial relations. Gradually more and more influential causes of further social changes are constantly accumulating and becoming more complex supraorganic products - both material and purely spiritual.

The growth of societies is due to two processes, which take place either together or separately:

1) due to the simple reproduction of members of society, which leads to an increase in their number;

2) internal growth factor;

3) by combining various, originally independent groups into large ones.

The second process, according to G. Spencer, is preferable (more precisely, more common), since the primitive social group never reaches any significant size through simple reproduction. The formation of larger communities is accomplished by combining small groups into larger ones (sometimes voluntarily, but more often by force, by force), and the process of evolution, as a rule, benefits from this.

One of the main features of G. Spencer's system of philosophical and ethical views is that he was a consistent supporter of the idea of individual freedom as an independent value. He was firmly convinced that society exists for individuals, and not vice versa.

G. Spencer considered socialism unacceptable, since this system, in his opinion, in any of its forms implied slavery.

10. The sociological doctrine of Karl Marx

Alienation is a special kind of relationship that develops between people. They are presented in the form of a loss of control by a person over some objects or even his own qualities that make up his own essence. The essence of alienation is most clearly manifested in property relations and in relations of market exchange.

Marx, in a number of his works, beginning with the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, goes far beyond such an interpretation of alienation.

Marx singled out four specific manifestations of alienation in capitalist society:

1) the worker is alienated from the product of his labor, since what he produces is appropriated by others, and he does not control the future fate of this product;

2) the worker is alienated from the act of production. Work becomes an alienated activity that gives no inner satisfaction, presses on the worker as an external coercive force, and ceases to be an ending in itself and yet includes labor at a price offered by someone else as forced labor. In fact, work becomes an object of trade, which is sold and whose only value for the worker is the demand for it as an agent of production;

3) the worker is alienated from his human nature or from his "generic being" because the first two aspects deprive him of the specifically human qualities of productive activity which separate it from the activity of animals and thus determine proper human nature;

4) the worker is alienated from other people, since capitalism transforms all his relations with other people into market relations; people are judged by their position in the market rather than by their purely human qualities. Exploitation is nothing but the gratuitous appropriation of a part of the product of labor of the direct producer.

Labor theory of value. The concept of exploitation underlies the theory of surplus value. The part of the product of labor appropriated free of charge by the owner of funds is measured by surplus value. Suppose the working day is ten hours. During part of it, say six hours, the worker will produce commodities whose value is equal to the value of his existence. During the remaining four hours, the worker will create surplus value, which is appropriated by the capitalist. Thus, surplus value is nothing but the value remaining after the value of the reproduction of his labor power is deducted from the total value of the product produced by the worker - a necessary value measured under capitalism by wages.

11. Marxist sociology after K. Marx

There are a number of areas in sociology where the work of K. Marx has spread and where at least some of his principles remain true. Let us point out some of these trends, mentioning the most prominent authors whose concepts have received the greatest recognition in sociological science:

1) in the analysis of the class structure, some early Marxists argued that the scheme of K. Marx should be revised, since there are no real signs of the collapse of capitalism or the strengthening of the class struggle. Some Marxists, and above all A. Gramsci, V. I. Lenin, and D. Lukacs, paid special attention to the concept of class consciousness as a prerequisite for the class struggle;

2) in the analysis of the political life of society, the argument that the state is an instrument of the ruling class opened the way for a more complex analysis of the state as relatively autonomous from the ruling class, responding to pressure from the working class through the institution of parliamentary democracy, but ultimately acting primarily in the interests of capital;

3) revisions of Marx's economic views took the form of distinguishing between different fractions of capital and taking into account the monopoly phase of capitalism, which differs significantly from the earlier phase of free competition that dominated during the life of K. Marx;

4) a characteristic feature of capitalism of the XX century. was his ability to seek markets in undeveloped countries, and often to colonize these countries and take them under his control. Many studies have linked the chronic underdevelopment of some societies with the satisfaction of capitalism's need for expansion;

5) in the Marxist sociology of the XNUMXth century. interest in the analysis of the role that ideology plays in the life of society has increased significantly. It has been argued, in particular, that capitalism owes its long-term survival to the establishment of ideological control exercised by the ruling class. This type of analysis was inspired by the notion of hegemony put forward by A. Gramsci and the work of the Frankfurt School;

6) there is a continued interest in the study of the philosophy and method of Marxism, in particular, in the Frankfurt School, Critical Theory, as well as in the later works of J. Habermas and the followers of L. Althusser. Often the study of methodology was supplemented by attempts to purge Marxism of positivism;

7) many sociologists used the work of Marxist historians, who analyzed social changes through class struggle, and in more recent times, resorting to the concept of the mode of production for this.

12. Sociological realism of Emile Durkheim. "Sociologism" as a social theory

Emile Durkheim is widely known as one of the "godfathers" of modern sociology, whose work has largely helped to define the subject content and establish the autonomy of sociology as a scientific and academic discipline. E. Durkheim, being the successor of Comte's positivist tradition in sociology, was largely guided by models of natural science analysis (especially in the early stages of his scientific activity), placing at the forefront of his scientific method the need for empirical validity, accuracy and evidence of theoretical positions.

Gradually, E. Durkheim forms his own sociological method, which is most clearly outlined in the work "The Method of Sociology".

The theoretical and methodological basis on which E. Durkheim built his system of sociological views was the so-called "sociologism", which is considered one of the varieties of sociological realism. The main feature of this trend was to oppose itself to nominalism. Sociological realism proclaims as its paradigm the need and requirement to recognize human society as a special reality (along with the reality of the natural environment and the reality of the inner mental world of a person).

E. Durkheim tried to show that society has its own reality, which cannot be reduced to psychological facts. As he argued, society is "a reality existing in itself / sui generis /". Society resists our thoughts and desires because it has an objectivity that is comparable to the objectivity of nature, although it is not the same.

Strictly speaking, sociologism does not claim to have a completely special interpretation and explanation of social life as a separate general sociological theory. The essence of this philosophical and sociological concept is rather the assertion of a certain initial position: the recognition of the paramount and exceptional importance of social reality in human existence, as well as the use of sociological methods to explain this existence.

Since society is recognized not only as a specific, but also as a dominant, higher reality, the sociological way of explaining everything that happens in the surrounding world (sociologization) is proclaimed to be the only true one. It must either exclude other methods or include them as a special case.

The ontological (essential) aspect of sociologism consists primarily in affirming the autonomy of social reality in relation to other types of reality - physical, biological, psychological.

13. E. Durkheim's theory of social fact

The content of social reality consists of social facts, which should not be reduced to economic, legal, or any other facts of reality. These social facts have the following independent characteristics:

1) objective existence^ e. not dependent on any single individual. Therefore, says E. Durkheim, "... social facts should be considered as things. Things are everything that is given to us, that appears or, rather, is imposed on observation." The main error of all previous scientific disciplines that studied society, according to E. Durkheim, was that in their study of social phenomena they proceeded from the meaning that we ourselves attach to them; meanwhile, their real significance can be discovered only with the help of objective scientific research;

2) the ability to put pressure on any individual individual, coercive force, and therefore determine his actions. As one of the most important tasks of sociological science, E. Durkheim defined the study of these social facts, which, in fact, depreciated explanations of social action from the point of view of "free will". E. Durkheim divided the entire set of social facts into two main groups: morphological and spiritual.

Morphological, forming a kind of "material substrate" of society, include, for example, population density. It really does not depend on the actions and intentions of any of the individual individuals; but their living conditions depend on the density quite strongly. At the same time, it is necessary to distinguish between the physical density of society and the moral one, by which E. Durkheim meant the frequency of contacts or the intensity of communication between them. When explaining social phenomena, E. Durkheim used demographic and socio-ecological factors (including the structure and degree of complexity of social groups).

Morphological social facts are phenomena, the totality of which forms the material conditions of people's lives and are not of a natural nature, but are generated by the activity of society itself.

As for spiritual social facts, they are no less objective (that is, they have an external nature in relation to each individual member of society, do not depend on him and have coercive power) than morphological ones, although they do not have such a "material" embodiment. .

Social norms and other social factors influence the behavior of individual members of society through certain mechanisms of their assimilation, and the effectiveness of the action of social regulators is manifested in the fact that the implementation of the norms becomes desirable for the individual himself.

14. E. Durkheim's analysis of the social causes of suicide

One of the most famous works of E. Durkheim - "Suicide" - is devoted to the analysis of social connection, the nature and various types of manifestation. This book is regarded as a classic sociological work. In this study, E. Durkheim turned to the social causes of suicide. Suicide is one of the most unique individual acts that only humans are capable of. Durkheim showed, using statistical data, that social grounds are decisive in determining the likelihood of suicide. The first major section of this book looks at the non-social factors that can influence the change in suicide statistics in a particular society - psychopathic conditions; racial and hereditary characteristics; seasonal fluctuations in climatic conditions; imitation mechanisms. Based on extensive statistical analysis, E. Durkheim concludes each part of this section with the conclusion that none of them can satisfactorily explain the suicide rate. The summary of the first section is as follows: "... in every social group there is a completely specific inclination to suicide, inexplicable neither by the physico-organic structure of individuals, nor by the physical nature of their environment. From this, by the method of elimination, it follows that this inclination must inevitably depend on social causes and represent is a collective phenomenon.

And, consequently, only sociological science is able to satisfactorily explain the causes of suicide.

Analyzing statistical data, E. Durkheim draws the reader's attention to a number of patterns: in cities, the proportion of suicides is higher than in rural areas; Suicide is more common among Protestants than Catholics; bachelors are more prone to suicide than married people, the percentage is especially high among divorced people; women are less likely to commit suicide than men. The number of suicides is significantly reduced during periods of wars and disasters on a national scale. All this suggests that the main factor in suicide as a more or less mass phenomenon is, first of all, the nature and strength of social ties inherent in a particular social community. The weakening or even rupture of the individual's social ties can lead him to the conclusion that his further existence is aimless and the decision to die. "If the ties connecting a person with life are broken, then this is because his connection with society has weakened." However, the excessive strength of social ties can also push the decision to die for some individuals in certain circumstances. In accordance with this, E. Durkheim develops his own typology of suicides.

15. Typology of suicides according to E. Durkheim

Selfish suicide. E. Durkheim comes to the conclusion that "the stronger private judgments are manifested in a group of believers, the less the role of the church in people's lives, the weaker its cohesion and vitality." Therefore, "the predominance on the side of Protestantism in the field of suicide comes from the fact that this church is essentially less integral than the Catholic."

The reasons for the increased tendency to suicide among the single (and especially divorced and widowed) are primarily that "spouses have a better physical and moral organization than the celibate."

Consideration of a number of options for this kind of suicide allows E. Durkheim to come to the conclusion of an egoistic suicidal type.

Altruistic suicide. This type of suicide, which E. Durkheim also calls "endemic", is directly opposite to the one discussed above and occurs "in the case when the public completely and without a trace absorbs ... individuality." Such suicides include, in particular, the customs of old people known from the history of some peoples to commit suicide "when life became a burden to them," or the self-immolation of widows at the funeral of her husband, customary in Hinduism. According to E. Durkheim, altruistic suicide, i.e. suicide in the name of group interests, was the result of strong group pressure and social approval.

Anomic suicide. This type is associated with the nature of the regulation of social relations by society. Anomie is "a social condition characterized by an explosion of norms that govern social interaction", or "a state of society in which a significant part of its members, knowing about the existence of norms that bind them, treats them negatively or indifferently."

E. Durkheim examines the reasons for the surge in the suicide curve during periods of economic crises. He believes that in societies there are social groups that are distinguished by internal discipline according to the very conditions of their lives, accustomed in advance to abstinence and moderation; these people "with much less effort of will can endure the new necessary hardships." At the same time, those who, by the nature of their occupation and way of life, strive for the fastest possible progress, have no support in the past and present, and therefore more often become victims of economic crises, up to voluntary death.

E. Durkheim compares different regions of France, Germany, Switzerland and comes to the conclusion that there is a stable positive correlation between suicide statistics and divorce statistics. This gives him reason to assert that the breakup of the family (which is also anomie in many respects) acts as one of the factors in suicides.

16. Understanding sociology of M. Weber. The concept of "ideal type"

Positivism from the very beginning acquired a dominant position in sociology. However, as it develops, M. Weber proceeds from the fact that sociology must learn the meanings that people attach to their actions. For this, the term "verstehen" is introduced, which literally translates from German as "understanding".

At the same time, sociology, being a science that studies human behavior in the most generalized form, cannot devote itself to identifying the motives of each individual individual: all these motives are so different and so unlike one another that we will not be able to compose how many of them some coherent description or create some kind of typology. However, according to M. Weber, there is no need for this: all people have a common human nature, and we just need to make a typology of the various actions of people in their relationship with their social environment.

The essence of using "verstehen" is to put yourself in the position of other people in order to see exactly what meaning they attach to their actions or what goals they believe they serve.

As one of the important research tools in his social analysis, M. Weber uses the concept of an ideal type. An ideal type is a kind of mental construction that is not extracted from empirical reality, but is created in the researcher's head as a theoretical scheme of the phenomenon under study and acts as a kind of "standard".

M. Weber emphasizes that the ideal type itself cannot provide knowledge about the relevant processes and connections of the studied social phenomenon, but is a purely methodological tool.

M. Weber assumed that sociologists select certain aspects of behavior or institutions that are available for observation in the real world as characteristics of the ideal type, and exaggerate them to forms of a logically understandable intellectual construction. Not all characteristics of this design can be represented in the real world. But any particular situation can be understood more deeply by comparing it with the ideal type. For example, particular bureaucratic organizations may not exactly match the elements of the ideal type of bureaucracy, but knowledge of this ideal type can shed light on these real variations. Therefore, ideal types are rather hypothetical constructions formed from real phenomena and having explanatory value.

M. Weber, on the one hand, assumed that the revealed discrepancies between reality and the ideal type should lead to a redefinition of the type, and on the other hand, he also argued that ideal types are models that are not subject to verification.

17. The concept of social action. Ideal types of social actions

One of the central concepts of Weberian sociology is social action.

First, the most important sign of social action is subjective meaning - personal understanding of possible behaviors.

Secondly, the conscious orientation of the subject to the response of others, the expectation of this reaction, is important. Social action differs from purely reflex activity (rubbing tired eyes) and from those operations into which action is divided (prepare a workplace, get a book, etc.).

Purposeful action. This most rational type of action is characterized by clarity and awareness of the set goal, and this is correlated with rationally meaningful means that ensure the achievement of precisely this, and not some other goal. As a social action (and therefore oriented towards certain expectations on the part of other people), it involves the rational calculation of the acting subject on the corresponding reaction from the people around him and on the use of their behavior to achieve the set goal.

Valuable action. This ideal type of social action involves the commission of such actions, which are based on the belief in the self-sufficient value of the act. Value-rational action, according to M. Weber, is always subject to certain requirements, in following which the individual sees his duty. If he acts in accordance with these requirements - even if rational calculation predicts a greater likelihood of adverse consequences for him personally, then we are dealing with value-rational action.

Traditional action. This type of action is formed on the basis of following tradition, i.e., imitation of certain patterns of behavior that have developed in culture and are approved by it, and therefore are practically not subject to rational understanding and criticism. Such an action is carried out largely purely automatically according to established stereotypes, it is characterized by the desire to focus on habitual patterns of behavior that have developed on the basis of one's own experience and the experience of previous generations.

Affective action is the least meaningful of the ideal types listed in the table. Its main characteristic is a certain emotional state: a flash of passion, hatred, anger, horror, etc. An individual acts under the influence of an affect if he seeks to immediately satisfy his need for revenge, pleasure, devotion, blissful contemplation, or relieve the tension of any other affects, no matter how low or subtle they may be.

18. The concept of "society" and its interpretation

"Society" is a fundamental category of modern sociology. Society is a historically developing set of relations between people, emerging in the process of their life.

The sociological thought of the past explained the category "society" in different ways. In ancient times, it was identified with the concept of "state".

In the Middle Ages, the idea of identifying society and the state again reigned. Only in modern times in the sixteenth century. in the works of the Italian thinker N. Machiavelli, the idea of the state as one of the states of society was expressed. In the seventeenth century the English philosopher T. Hobbes forms the theory of the "social contract", the essence of which was the giving by members of society of part of their freedoms to the state, which is the guarantor of compliance with this contract. XVIII century was characterized by a clash of two approaches to the definition of society: one approach interpreted society as an artificial formation that contradicted the natural inclinations of people, the other - as the development and expression of natural inclinations and feelings of a person. At the same time, economists A. Smith and D. Hume defined society as a labor union of people connected by the division of labor, and the philosopher I. Kant - as humanity taken in historical development.

Beginning of the XNUMXth century was marked by the emergence of the idea of civil society.

It was expressed by G. Hegel, who called civil society the sphere of private interests, distinct from the state ones. The founder of sociology, O. Comte, considered society as a natural phenomenon, and its evolution as a natural process of growth and differentiation of parts and functions.

According to K. Marx, society is a historically developing set of relations between people that develop in the process of their joint activities.

In modern sociology, a society is considered to be an association of people, which has the following features:

1) is not part of any other larger system;

2) its replenishment is mainly due to childbearing;

3) has its own territory;

4) has its own name and history;

5) exists longer than the average life expectancy of an individual;

6) has a developed own culture. Thus, we can say that society is people interacting in a certain territory and having a common culture. Culture is understood as a certain set (complex) of symbols, norms, attitudes, values inherent in a given social group and transmitted from generation to generation.

19. Society as an object of study of megasociology

Sociological theories are divided according to the level of generalization into a general theory (megasociology), middle-level theories (macro-sociology, studying large social communities) and micro-level theories (microsociology, which studies interpersonal relationships in everyday life). The problem block (What is society?) includes a set of questions about the structure of society, its components, the factors that ensure its integrity, and the processes taking place in it. They are reflected in numerous versions of scientists, in the theories of the socio-demographic and social class structure of society. The problem of changes in society implies two questions: Is society developing? Is its development reversible or irreversible? The answer to them divides the existing general sociological concepts into two groups: theories of development and theories of historical circulation. The former were developed by the Enlighteners of the New Age, the theorists of positivism, Marxism and others, who proved the irreversibility of the development of society. The latter are permeated with the idea of cyclicity, that is, the movement of society as a whole or its subsystems in a vicious circle with a constant return to its original state with cycles of revival and decline.

The next problematic block reveals the direction of development of society by posing questions about whether society, man, relations between people, relations with the natural environment are improving, or the reverse process is underway, i.e., the degradation of society, man and relations with the environment. The content of the answers to these questions divides the concepts into two groups: theories of progress (optimistic) and theories of regress (pessimistic).

The problem of the relationship between the importance of the individual and the role of social communities in the process of social change is associated with those theories that either give preference to communities as the main driving force (statism, fascism, leftist pseudo-Marxism, ethno-nationalism), or emphasize the priority of the individual over any communities (positivism, socialism K. Marx, neo-Marxism). The problems of the type and model of the development of society are revealed in the theories of their absolutization (reductionism) and synthesis (complex theories).

In megasociology, on the issue of periodization of the development of society, two approaches are most widely used: formational (K. Marx) and civilizational (Morgan, F. Engels, F. Tennis, R. Aron, D. Bell, etc.). According to K. Marx, the basis of the typology of societies is the criterion of the mode of production. In accordance with the formational approach, society in its development goes through a number of socio-economic formations:

1) primitive communal;

2) slaveholding;

3) feudal;

4) capitalist. The civilizational approach is more heterogeneous, since the very category of "civilization" is very multifaceted. In practice, this criterion is most often reduced to a territorial one (for example, a European society or civilization) or a religious one (for example, an Islamic society).

20. Social structures, groups and communities

Society is a system, since it is a set of elements that are in interconnection and relationships and form a single whole, capable of changing its structure in interaction with external conditions. The structure of society is understood as its internal structure.

According to the form of life manifestation of people, society is divided into economic, political and spiritual subsystems, which are called in sociology social systems (spheres of public life). According to the subject of public relations in the structure of society, demographic, ethnic, class, settlement, family, professional and other subsystems are distinguished. According to the type of social connections of its members in society, social groups, social institutions and social organizations are distinguished.

A social group is a collection of people who interact with each other in a certain way, are aware of their belonging to this group and are considered members of it from the point of view of other people. Traditionally, primary and secondary groups are distinguished. The first group includes small groups of people, where direct personal emotional contact is established. This is a family, a company of friends, work teams, etc. Secondary groups are formed from people between whom there is almost no personal emotional relationship, their interactions are due to the desire to achieve certain goals, communication is predominantly formal, impersonal.

Social communities are relatively stable aggregates of people who are distinguished by more or less similar conditions and lifestyle, similar interests. Societies of various types are forms of joint life activity.

Commons are:

1) statistical (nominal social categories). They are constructed for the purposes of statistical analysis;

2) real;

3) mass (aggregates);

4) group (small and large social groups).

Mass communities are collections of people distinguished on the basis of behavioral differences.

Group communities - large and small social groups.

Large social groups include:

1) ethnic communities (races, nations, nationalities, tribes);

2) socio-territorial communities (sets of people permanently residing in a certain territory, having a similar lifestyle);

3) socio-demographic communities (divided according to gender and age characteristics);

4) social classes and social strata

(sets of people who have common social characteristics and perform similar functions in the system of social division of labor).

21. The concept of culture

Culture is a diverse concept. This scientific term appeared in ancient Rome, where the word "cultura" meant the cultivation of the land, upbringing, education. With frequent use, this word has lost its original meaning and began to denote the most diverse aspects of human behavior and activity.

Culture is phenomena, properties, elements of human life that qualitatively distinguish a person from nature. This difference is connected with the conscious transforming activity of man.

The concept of "culture" can be used to characterize the behavior of the consciousness and activities of people in certain areas of life (work culture, political culture). The concept of "culture" can fix the way of life of an individual (personal culture), a social group (national culture) and the whole society as a whole.

Culture can be divided according to various criteria into different types:

1) by subject (bearer of culture) into social, national, class, group, personal;

2) by functional role - into general (for example, in the system of general education) and special (professional);

3) by genesis - into folk and elite;

4) by type - into material and spiritual;

5) by nature - into religious and secular.

All social heritage can be viewed as a synthesis of material and non-material cultures. Non-material culture includes spiritual activity and its products. It combines knowledge, morality, upbringing, enlightenment, law, religion. Non-material (spiritual) culture includes ideas, habits, customs and beliefs that people create and then maintain. Spiritual culture also characterizes the inner wealth of consciousness, the degree of development of the person himself.

Material culture includes the entire sphere of material activity and its results. It consists of man-made items: tools, furniture, cars, buildings, and other items that are constantly being modified and used by humans. Non-material culture can be viewed as a way of society's adaptation to the biophysical environment through its appropriate transformation.

Comparing both these types of culture with each other, one can come to the conclusion that material culture should be considered as the result of non-material culture. The destruction caused by World War II was the most significant in the history of mankind, but despite this, cities were quickly restored, as people have not lost the knowledge and skill necessary to restore them. In other words, non-destroyed non-material culture makes it quite easy to restore material culture.

22. Elements of culture

Language is a sign system for establishing communications. Signs distinguish between linguistic and non-linguistic. In turn, languages are natural and artificial.

Values are ideas about the significant, important, which determine the life of a person, allow you to distinguish between desirable and undesirable, what should be strived for and what should be avoided (assessment - attribution to value).

Distinguish values:

1) terminal (goal values);

2) instrumental (mean values). The subject's value system includes:

1) life-meaning values - ideas about good and evil, happiness, purpose and meaning of life;

2) universal values:

a) vital (life, health, personal security, welfare, education,

b) public recognition (industriousness, social status, etc.);

c) interpersonal communication (honesty, compassion, etc.);

d) democratic (freedom of speech, sovereignty, etc.);

3) particular values (private):

a) attachment to a small homeland, family;

b) fetishism (belief in God, striving for absolutism, etc.).

Norms of admissible actions. There are the following types of norms:

1) formalized rules (everything that is officially recorded);

2) moral rules (associated with people's ideas);

3) patterns of behavior (fashion).

beliefs and knowledge. The most important element of culture are beliefs and knowledge. Beliefs are a certain spiritual state, a property in which the intellectual, sensual and volitional components are combined. Any beliefs include in their structure certain information, information about this phenomenon, the norm of behavior, knowledge.

Ideology. Ideology appears as a complex and multi-layered formation. It can act as the ideology of all mankind, the ideology of a particular society, the ideology of a class, a social group and an estate. At the same time, the interaction of different ideologies takes place, which, on the one hand, ensures the stability of society, and on the other hand, allows you to choose, develop values that express new trends in the development of society.

Rites, customs and traditions. A rite is a set of symbolic collective actions that embody certain social ideas, ideas, norms of behavior and evoke certain collective feelings (for example, a wedding custom is a form of social regulation of people's activities and attitudes taken from the past, which is reproduced in a particular society or social group and is familiar to its members.

Traditions are social and cultural heritage passed down from generation to generation and preserved for a long time. Traditions function in all social systems and are a necessary condition for their life.

23. Cultural universals and diversity of cultural forms

cultural universals. J. Murdoch singled out common features common to all cultures. These include:

1) joint work;

2) sports;

3) education;

4) the presence of rituals;

5) kinship systems;

6) rules for the interaction of the sexes;

7) language.

The emergence of these universals is connected with the needs of man and human communities. They can be compared in connection with the existence of East-West supersystems, national culture and small systems (subcultures): elite, popular, mass. The diversity of cultural forms raises the problem of the comparability of these forms.

Cultures can be compared by elements of culture; manifestation of cultural universals.

elite culture. Its elements are created by professionals, it is focused on a trained audience.

Folk culture is created by anonymous creators. Its creation and functioning are inseparable from everyday life.

Mass culture. These are cinema, print, pop music, fashion. It is publicly available, targeted at the widest audience, and the consumption of its products does not require special training.

Subcultures. These are parts of culture inherent in certain social groups or associated with certain types of activities (youth subculture). The language takes the form of jargon. Certain activities give rise to specific names.

Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

Ethnocentrism and relativism are extreme points of view in the study of the diversity of cultural forms.

Ethnocentrism makes one cultural form the standard against which we measure all other cultures: in our opinion, they will be good or bad, right or wrong, but always in relation to our own culture. This is manifested in such expressions as "chosen people", "true teaching", "super race", and in negative ones - "backward peoples", "primitive culture", "rough art".

Numerous studies of organizations conducted by sociologists from different countries show that people tend to overestimate their own organizations and underestimate all others.

The basis of cultural relativism is the assertion that members of one social group cannot understand the motives and values of other groups if they analyze these motives and values in the light of their own culture.

The most rational way of development and perception of culture in society is a combination of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism, when an individual, feeling pride in the culture of his group or society and expressing adherence to samples of this culture, is able to understand other cultures, the behavior of members of other social groups, recognizing their right to Existence.

24. The concepts of "man", "individual", "personality"

In order to understand what a person is, it is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of "man", "individual", "personality".

The concept of a person is used to characterize the qualities and abilities inherent in all people. An individual is a single representative of the human race, a specific bearer of human traits. He is unique, unrepeatable. At the same time, it is universal - after all, each person depends on social conditions, the environment in which he lives, the people with whom he communicates. An individual is a person insofar as, in relations with others (within specific social communities), he performs certain functions, implements socially significant properties and qualities in his activities.

A person occupies a certain position in the system of social relations, belongs to a certain class, social stratum, group. In accordance with his social status, a person plays certain social roles.

In sociology, the following theories of personality are best known.

The theory of the mirror "I" (C. Cooley, J. Mead). Supporters of this theory understand personality as a set of reflections of the reactions of other people. The core of the personality is self-consciousness, which develops as a result of social interaction, during which the individual has learned to look at himself through the eyes of other people, that is, as an object.

Psychoanalytic theories (Z. Freud).

They are aimed at revealing the inconsistency of the inner world of a person, at studying the psychological aspects of the relationship between the individual and society. The scope of the human psyche includes:

1) the unconscious - id (natural instincts);

2) the consciousness of the individual - the ego, which is the regulator of instinctive reactions;

3) super-ego - laws, prohibitions learned in the process of education.

Role theory of personality. R. Minton, R. Merton, T. Parsons describe her social behavior with two basic concepts: "social status" and "social role". Social status refers to the specific position of the individual in the social system, which implies certain rights and obligations. A person can have several statuses - prescribed, natural, professional and official, and the latter, as a rule, is the basis of the main status, which determines the position of a person in society.

The Marxist theory of personality considers personality as a product of historical development, the result of the inclusion of an individual in a social system through active objective activity and communication, while the essence of personality is revealed in the totality of its social qualities, due to belonging to a certain type of society, class and ethnicity, features of work and image life.

25. Personal socialization

The most important type of social interaction, during which the formation of any person as a full-fledged and full-fledged member of society, is socialization. Socialization as a process makes possible the continuation of society and the transmission of its culture from generation to generation. This process is conceptualized in two ways.

Socialization can be understood as the internalization of social norms: social norms become obligatory for the individual in the sense that they are rather established by him for himself than imposed on him by means of external regulation and are thus part of the individual's own individuality. Due to this, the individual feels an internal need to adapt to the social environment surrounding him.

Socialization can be thought of as an essential element of social interaction based on the assumption that people are willing to add value to their own image by gaining approval and status in the eyes of others; in this case, individuals are socialized to the extent that they measure their actions in accordance with the expectations of others.

Consequently, socialization is understood as the process of assimilation by a person of patterns of behavior of society and groups, their values, norms, attitudes.

In the course of socialization, the following goals are realized:

a) the interaction of people on the basis of the development of social roles;

b) the preservation of society due to the assimilation by its new members of the values and patterns of behavior that have developed in it. The stages of socialization coincide (conditionally) with the stages of the age development of the individual:

1) early (primary) socialization. It is associated with the acquisition of general cultural knowledge, with the development of initial ideas about the world and the nature of human relationships.

A special stage of early socialization is adolescence;

2) secondary socialization:

a) professional socialization, which is associated with the acquisition of special knowledge and skills, with familiarization with a particular subculture;

b) the inclusion of the individual in the system of social division of labor. It assumes adaptation in a professional subculture, as well as belonging to other subcultures. The speed of social changes in modern societies leads to the fact that there is a need for resocialization, the assimilation of new knowledge, values, instead of outdated ones. Resocialization covers many phenomena (from reading and speech correction to professional training or a change in value orientations of behavior);

c) retirement age or disability. It is characterized by a change in lifestyle due to exclusion from the production environment.

26. Personality in the system of social statuses and roles

Status is a certain position of a person in society and a set of rights and obligations associated with it. A role is the dynamic, behavioral side of a status.

Distinguish between innate status (social origin, nationality) and achievable (education, qualifications, etc.). A person can change his social status, raise it, having received a good education, or, on the contrary, lower it. Each person performs many roles, and his behavior varies depending on what social role he performs at the moment (the role of a father, husband, head of an enterprise, voter, member of a political party, public organization, etc.).

A person can have several statuses, but most often only one determines his position in society. Social status is reflected in external behavior and appearance (clothes, jargon and other signs of social and professional affiliation), and in the internal position (in attitudes, value orientations, motivations, etc.).

There are also natural and professional-official statuses.

The natural status of a person presupposes essential and relatively stable characteristics of a person (men, women, maturity, old age). Professional and official is the basic status of the individual, for an adult, most often it is the basis of an integral status.

Prestige is a hierarchy of statuses shared by society and enshrined in culture, in public opinion. In the zone of influence of a prestigious status, special social tension is created, the most active, prepared, ambitious members of society are concentrated.

Social status means the specific place that an individual occupies in a given social system. The totality of requirements imposed on the individual by society forms the content of the social role. A social role is a set of actions that a person holding a given status in the social system must perform. Each status usually includes a number of roles. The set of roles arising from a given status is called a role set.

The variety of social roles performed by us becomes the cause that gives rise to various phenomena of individual life. The uniqueness of the combination of social functions and roles acts as one of the aspects of the individual personality, the features of its spiritual properties and qualities.

Orientation to two parallel, contradictory social roles leads to the internal struggle of the personality, its bifurcation.

27. Essence of social interaction

Social interaction is a generalized concept, central to a number of sociological theories. This concept is based on the idea that a social figure, individual or society is always in the physical or mental environment of other social figures - factors (individual or group) and behaves in accordance with the social situation in which he finds himself.

Interaction is a process of direct or indirect influence of subjects on each other, as well as the organization of their joint activities.

P. Sorokin introduces and analyzes three main conditions for the emergence of any social interaction:

1) the presence of two or more individuals that determine the behavior and experiences of each other;

2) the commission by them of some actions that affect mutual experiences and actions;

3) the presence of conductors that transmit these influences and the effects of individuals on each other.

A fourth condition can be added to this list:

4) the presence of a common basis for contacts, contact.

Let us consider in more detail the conditions of social interaction:

1) the presence of two or more individuals that determine the behavior and experiences of each other.

These individuals must have the ability and desire to influence each other and respond to such influence;

2) the commission by individuals of some actions that affect mutual experiences and actions. Interaction occurs only when at least one of the two individuals has an impact on the other, in other words, performs some act aimed at the other;

3) the presence of conductors that transmit the influences and influences of individuals on each other. This condition is quite closely related to the fact that the information transmitted in the course of interaction is always imprinted on some kind of material carriers. The most significant difference between social interaction and communication between animals is the presence of the so-called second signaling system. This is a system of conditioned reflex connections, peculiar only to a person, formed under the influence of speech signals. The second signal system, being the basis for the emergence of generalized abstract thinking, can develop only in the course of specifically social interaction;

4) the existence of a common basis for contacts between social actors. In the most general case, this means that any effective interaction can occur only when both parties speak the same language. We are talking not only about a single linguistic base of communication, but also about the same understanding of the norms, rules, principles that guide the interaction partner.

28. Theories of social interaction. Concept of social exchange

The concept of social interaction is one of the central ones in sociology. There are a number of sociological theories that develop and interpret its various problems and aspects at two main levels of research - the micro level and the macro level. At the micro level, the processes of communication between individuals who are in direct and immediate contact are studied; such interaction proceeds mainly within small groups. As for the macro level of social interaction, this is the interaction of large social groups and structures; here the interest of researchers covers, first of all, social institutions.

The most famous theoretical concepts are: exchange theory, symbolic interactionism, impression management theory.

The conceptualization of social interaction, social structure, and social order in terms of exchange of relationships has a long history in anthropology, although it has only relatively recently been adopted by sociologists. One of the initial prerequisites on which the theory of exchange is based is the assumption that a certain rational principle is embedded in a person’s social behavior, which encourages him to behave prudently and constantly strive to obtain a wide variety of benefits - goods, money, services, prestige, respect, approval. , success, friendship, love, etc.

In the early 1960s The American sociologist George Homans came to the conclusion that such concepts as "status", "role", "conformism", "power" and others, which have become established in sociology, should be explained not by the action of macrosocial structures, as is customary in functionalism, but from the point of view of the social relations that give rise to them. The essence of these relations, according to Homans, is the desire of people to receive benefits and rewards, as well as in the exchange of these benefits and rewards.

Proceeding from this, Homans explores social interaction in terms of the exchange of actions between the "doer" and the "other", assuming that in such an interaction each of the parties will seek to extract the maximum benefit and minimize their costs. Among the most important of the expected rewards, he refers, in particular, to social approval. The mutual reward that arises in the course of the exchange of actions becomes repetitive and regular, and gradually develops into relationships between people based on mutual expectations. In such a situation, the violation of expectations on the part of one of the participants entails frustration and, as a result, the emergence of an aggressive reaction; at the same time, the very manifestation of aggressiveness becomes, to a certain extent, satisfaction.

29. The concept of symbolic interactionism. Experience management concept

Symbolic interactionism is a theoretical and methodological direction that analyzes social interactions mainly in their symbolic content. The followers of this approach argue that any actions of people are manifestations of social behavior based on communication; communication becomes possible due to the fact that people attach the same meaning to a given symbol. The very concept of symbolic interactionism was introduced back in 1937 by the American sociologist G. Bloomer, who summarized the basic principles of this approach from the standpoint of three assumptions:

1) human beings perform their actions in relation to certain objects on the basis of the values that they attach to these objects;

2) these meanings arise from social interaction;

3) any social action results from the adaptation to each other of individual lines of behavior.

The difference between man and any active creature of a different breed, according to Mead, includes the following two differences:

1) all types of active beings, including man, are equipped with a brain, but only man has a mind;

2) all other species, including man, have bodies, but only man has a sense of his own exclusive and unique personality.

Human forms of cognition are characterized by a process in which the social mind endows the biological brain with the ability to know the world around it in very special forms. The mind can fill the brain with information to the extent (and to the extent) to which the individual incorporates the points of view of other people into his actions.

Social life depends on our ability to imagine ourselves in other social roles, and this acceptance of the role of the other depends on our ability to internally talk to ourselves. Mead envisioned society as an exchange of gestures that included the use of symbols.

From the point of view of Erwin Hoffman, a person appears as an artist, a creator of images. His life is the production of impressions. The ability to manage impressions and control them means to be able to manage other people. Such control is carried out with the help of verbal and non-verbal means of communication.

The main idea of Hoffman's theory is that in the process of interaction, people usually play a kind of "show" for each other, directing the impressions about themselves perceived by others. Social roles are thus similar to theater roles. The regulation of interactions between people is based on the expression of symbolic meanings that are beneficial to them, and they often themselves create situations in which, as they believe, they can make the most favorable impression on others.

30. The concept of a social institution. Types of social institutions

Social institutions are stable forms of organization and regulation of social life. They can be defined as a set of roles and statuses designed to meet certain social needs.

The term "social institution" in sociology, as well as in everyday language or in other humanities, has several meanings. The combination of these values can be reduced to four main ones:

1) a certain group of persons called to perform tasks that are important for living together;

2) certain organizational forms of a set of functions performed by some members on behalf of the entire group;

3) a set of material institutions and means of activity that allow certain authorized individuals to perform public impersonal functions aimed at satisfying the needs or regulating the behavior of group members;

4) some social roles that are especially important for the group are sometimes called institutions.

In total, there are five fundamental needs and five basic social institutions:

1) the need for the reproduction of the genus (the institution of the family);

2) needs for security and order (state);

3) the need to obtain means of subsistence (production);

4) the need for the transfer of knowledge, the socialization of the younger generation (institutions of public education);

5) the need for solving spiritual problems (the institute of religion).

Consequently, social institutions are classified according to public spheres:

1) economic (property, money, regulation of money circulation, organization and division of labor), which serve the production and distribution of values and services. These institutions are formed on the material basis of society;

2) political (parliament, army, police, party) regulate the use of these values and services and are associated with power. Politics in the narrow sense of the word is a set of means, functions, based mainly on the manipulation of the elements of power to establish, execute and maintain power;

3) the institutions of kinship (marriage and family) are associated with the regulation of childbearing, relations between spouses and children, and the socialization of young people;

4) institutions of education and culture Their task is to strengthen, create and develop the culture of society, to pass it on to the next generations. These include schools, institutes, art institutions, creative unions;

5) religious institutions organize a person's attitude to transcendental forces, i.e., to supersensitive forces acting outside the empirical control of a person, and attitudes towards sacred objects and forces.

31. Functions and basic characteristics of social institutions

Social institutions perform the following functions or tasks in public life:

1) create an opportunity for members of society to satisfy various kinds of needs;

2) regulate the actions of members of society within the framework of social relations, i.e., ensure the implementation of desirable actions and carry out repressions in relation to undesirable actions;

3) ensure the stability of public life by supporting and continuing impersonal public functions;

4) carry out the integration of the aspirations, actions and relationships of individuals and ensure the internal cohesion of the community.

Taking into account E. Durkheim's theory of social facts and proceeding from the fact that social institutions should be considered the most important social facts, sociologists have deduced a number of basic social characteristics that social institutions should have:

1) institutions are perceived by individuals as an external reality. In other words, the institution for any individual person is something external, existing separately from the reality of thoughts, feelings or fantasies of the individual himself. In this characteristic, the institution resembles other entities of external reality—even trees, tables, and telephones—each of which is outside the individual;

2) institutions are perceived by the individual as an objective reality. Something is objectively real when any person agrees that it really exists, and independently of his consciousness, and is given to him in his sensations;

3) institutions have coercive power. To some extent, this quality is implied by the two previous ones: the fundamental power of the institution over the individual is precisely that it exists objectively, and the individual cannot wish it to disappear at his will or whim. Otherwise, negative sanctions may occur;

4) institutions have moral authority. Institutions proclaim their right to legitimation - that is, they reserve the right not only to punish the violator in any way, but also to issue him a moral censure. Of course, institutions vary in their degree of moral strength. These variations are usually expressed in the degree of punishment imposed on the offender. The state in an extreme case can deprive him of his life; neighbors or co-workers may boycott him. In both cases, punishment is accompanied by a sense of indignant justice in those members of society who are involved in this.

32. System approach: general provisions. Systemological concepts

The word "system" comes from the Greek "systema", which means "a whole made up of parts." Thus, a system is any set of elements that are somehow connected to each other and, thanks to this connection, form a certain integrity, unity.

There are some general features of any system:

1) a set of some elements;

2) these elements are in a certain relationship with each other;

3) thanks to this connection, the aggregate forms a single whole;

4) the whole has qualitatively new properties that do not belong to individual elements as long as they exist separately.

Such new properties that arise in a new holistic formation are called emergent in sociology (from the English "emer-ge" - "appear", "arise"). "The social structure, - says the famous American sociologist Peter Blau, - is identical to the emergent properties of the complex of its constituent elements, that is, properties that do not characterize the individual elements of this complex."

The entire array of systemological concepts can be conditionally divided into three groups.

Concepts that describe the structure of systems.

Element. This is further an indivisible component of the system with this method of dismemberment. Any element cannot be described outside of its functional characteristics, the role it plays in the system as a whole. From the point of view of the system, it is not so important what the element itself is, but what it does, what it serves within the framework of the whole.

Integrity. This concept is somewhat more vague than an element. It characterizes the isolation of the system, the opposition to its environment, everything that lies outside it. The basis of this opposition is the internal activity of the system itself, as well as the boundaries separating it from other objects (including system ones).

Connection. This concept accounts for the main semantic load of the terminological apparatus. The systemic nature of an object is revealed, first of all, through its connections, both internal and external. We can talk about interaction links, genetic links, transformation links, structure (or structural) links, functioning links, development and control links.

There is also a group of concepts related to the description of the functioning of the system. These include: function, stability, balance, feedback, control, homeostasis, self-organization. And, finally, the third group of concepts are terms that describe the processes of system development: genesis, formation, evolution, etc.

33. The concept of "social system" and social organization

Social systems are a special class of systems that differ significantly not only from inorganic systems (say, technical or mechanical), but also from such organic systems as biological or ecological.

The concept of "social system", being a generalized name for a whole class of systems, is not quite unambiguously and clearly outlined. The range of social systems is quite wide, stretching from social organizations as the most developed type of social systems to small groups.

A thorough and deep search for stable elements of social life leads to the conclusion that this life is an infinite number of intertwining interactions of people, and, therefore, the attention of researchers should be focused on these interactions. According to this approach, it can be argued that social systems are not simply made up of people. Structures are positions (statuses, roles) of individuals in the system. The system will not change its structure if some specific individuals stop participating in it, fall out of their "cells", and other individuals take their place.

A social organization is an association of people who jointly implement a certain program or goal and act on the basis of certain procedures and rules.

The term organization in relation to social objects means:

1) a certain instrumental object, an artificial association that occupies a certain place in society and is intended to perform certain functions;

2) some activity, management, including the distribution of functions, coordination and control, that is, a targeted impact on the object;

3) a state of order or a characteristic of the order of some object.

Taking into account all these aspects, the organization can be defined as a purposeful, hierarchical, structured and managed community.

Organization is one of the most developed social systems. Its most important feature is synergy. Synergy is an organizational effect. The essence of this effect is the increase in additional energy that exceeds the sum of individual efforts. The source of the effect is the simultaneity and unidirectionality of actions, the specialization and combination of labor, the processes and relations of the division of labor, cooperation and management. The organization as a social system is distinguished by complexity, since its main element is a person who has his own subjectivity and a wide range of choice of behavior. This creates significant uncertainty in the functioning of the organization and the limits of controllability.

34. Social organization as a type of social system. Types of social organizations

Organizations are purposeful social systems, that is, systems formed by people according to a predetermined plan in order to satisfy a larger social system or to achieve individual goals that coincide in direction, but again through the promotion and pursuit of social goals. Therefore, one of the defining features of social organization is the presence of a goal. A social organization is a deliberately targeted community, which causes the need for a hierarchical construction of its structure and management in the process of its functioning.

The main factor in uniting people in organizations is, first of all, in the mutual strengthening of their participants as a result of such an association. This serves as an additional source of energy and the overall efficiency of the activity of this population of people.

There are three types of organizations: voluntary, coercive, or totalitarian, and utilitarian.

People join voluntary organizations to achieve goals that are considered morally significant, to obtain personal satisfaction, increase social prestige, the possibility of self-realization, but not for material reward. These organizations, as a rule, are not associated with state, government structures, they are formed to pursue the common interests of their members. Such organizations include religious, charitable, socio-political organizations, clubs, interest associations, etc.

A distinctive feature of totalitarian organizations is involuntary membership, when people are forced to join these organizations, and life in them is strictly subject to certain rules, there are supervisory personnel who deliberately control the people's environment, restrictions on communication with the outside world, etc.

In utilitarian organizations, people enter to receive material rewards, wages.

According to the degree of rationality in achieving goals and the degree of efficiency, traditional and rational organizations are distinguished.

You can also distinguish the following types of organizations:

1) business organizations. Membership in an organization provides workers with a livelihood. The basis of internal regulation is the administrative order associated with the principles of unity of command, appointment and commercial expediency;

2) public unions. Regulation is carried out by a jointly adopted charter, it is based on the principle of election. Membership in the organization is associated with the satisfaction of various needs;

3) intermediate forms that combine the characteristics of unions and entrepreneurial functions (artels, cooperatives, etc.).

35. Elements of organization

Organizations are highly variable and highly complex social formations in which the following individual elements can be distinguished: social structure, goals, participants, technologies, external environment.

The social structure includes a set of interrelated roles, as well as ordered relationships between members of the organization, primarily the relationship of power and subordination.

The social structure of an organization differs in the degree of formalization. A formal social structure is a structure in which social positions and the relationships between them are clearly specialized and defined independently of the personal characteristics of the members of the organization occupying these positions.

Goals - for the sake of their achievement and carried out all the activities of the organization. The goal is considered as the desired result or the conditions that the members of the organization are trying to achieve using their activity to meet collective needs.

The joint activity of individuals gives rise to their goals of different levels and content. There are three interrelated types of organizational goals.

Goals-tasks are assignments issued from the outside by a higher-level organization, designed as programs of general actions.

Orientation goals are a set of goals of participants implemented through the organization.

System goals are the desire to preserve the organization as an independent whole, that is, to maintain balance, stability and integrity. Goals-systems should organically fit into goals-tasks and goals-orientations.

Members of the organization, or participants - an important component of the organization. This is a set of individuals, each of which must have a certain set of qualities and skills that allow him to occupy a certain position in the social structure of the organization and play an appropriate social role.

Technology. It is a set of basic characteristics of the production process of a particular product. The specificity of the technology is that it algorithmizes the activity.

External environment. All organizations, in order to exist, function, achieve goals, must have numerous connections with the outside world.

Studying the external environment of organizations, the English researcher Richard Turton identified the main factors influencing the organization of the external environment:

1) the role of the state and the political system;

2) market influence (competitors and labor market);

3) the role of the economy;

4) the influence of social and cultural factors;

5) technology from the external environment.

36. The essence and causes of social inequality. The concept, content, foundations of social stratification

Inequality is the living of people in conditions in which they have unequal access to resources. The concept of "social stratification" is used to describe the system of inequality. On the basis of inequality, a hierarchy of estates and classes is created. Signs of social differentiation:

1) gender and age characteristics;

2) ethno-national characteristics;

3) religion;

4) income level, etc.

The reason for inequality is the heterogeneity of labor, which results in the appropriation of power and property by some people, the uneven distribution of rewards and incentives. The concentration of power, property and other resources in the elite contributes to the formation of social conflicts.

In Western societies, the reduction of social distance occurs through the middle class (small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, the prosperous part of the intelligentsia, enterprise workers, small proprietors), which is the guarantor of stability.

People differ among themselves in many ways: gender, age, skin color, religion, ethnicity, etc. But these differences become social only when they affect the position of a person, a social group on the ladder of the social hierarchy. Social inequality in sociology is usually understood as the inequality of the social strata of society.

It is the basis of social stratification. Literally translated, stratification means "to make layers", that is, to divide society into layers (from "stratum" - "layer", "fa-cere" - "to make"). The four main dimensions of stratification are income, power, education and prestige. A stratum is thus a social stratum of people who have similar objective indicators on the four scales of stratification.

In the 20s. XX century P. Sorokin introduced the concept of "stratification" to describe the system of inequality in society. Stratification can be defined as structured inequalities between different groups of people. Societies can be seen as consisting of strata arranged hierarchically, with the most privileged strata at the top and the least at the bottom. The foundations of the theory of stratification were laid by M. Weber, T. Parsons, P. Sorokin and others.

Social stratification performs a dual function: it acts as a method of identifying the strata of a given society and at the same time represents its social portrait.

In sociology, there are several approaches to the study of social stratification:

1) "self-evaluative", when the sociologist grants the respondent the right to attribute himself to the population group;

2) the method of "assessment", in which the respondents are asked to evaluate the social position of each other;

3) here the sociologist operates with a certain criterion of social differentiation.

37. The concept of one-dimensional and multidimensional stratification

P. Sorokin distinguishes two ways of stratification of society: one-dimensional and multidimensional

stratification. One-dimensional stratification is based on distribution according to one attribute (religion, profession, property, etc.). Such one-dimensional stratification can consist of the following groups: sex and age trait; socio-demographic; professional; racial communities; objects and subjects of power and management; on religion and language; on property ownership.

There are many criteria by which any society can be divided.

1) according to the division of labor and the prestige of the position (organizational, executive, mental, physical, qualified, creative, etc.). There are several categories of workers:

a) the highest class of professionals;

b) mid-level technical specialists;

c) workers performing managerial functions;

d) skilled workers;

e) they all have different prestige. So, it is obvious that being a university teacher is more prestigious than a laborer at a construction site. Today, however, prestige is often shifted and associated with the level of income from the occupation: the higher the income, the greater the prestige of the job;

2) by income level - income is the amount of money that an individual or family receives during a certain period of time (month, year);

3) access to resources of property and power. Power - the right and ability to dispose of someone or something, to subordinate people to their will. However, there is also a multidimensional stratification, when several signs are taken as a basis at once. Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many such communities:

1) slavery - enslavement of people, bordering on complete lack of rights;

2) castes - groups of people who observe ritual purity. Each caste is a closed group. The place of each caste is manifested in the system of division of labor. There is a clear list of occupations that members of this caste can engage in.

The position in the caste system is inherited, the transition to another caste is almost impossible:

1) estates - peculiar social and legal groups in pre-capitalist formations that were relatively closed and hereditary;

2) ethnic communities of people, which are stable groups - tribes, nationalities, nations;

3) socio-territorial communities (cities, villages, regions), differing in place in the social division of labor, style, standard of living;

4) social classes, layers, groups as multidimensional social communities.

38. Concepts of the nation and ethnos

Nation - type of ethnic group; a historically emerging socio-economic and spiritual community of people with a certain psychology and self-consciousness.

There is no single approach to the definition of this extremely complex phenomenon. Representatives of the psychological theory see in the nation a cultural and psychological community of people united by a common destiny.

The largest supporters of the materialistic concept focused on the commonality of economic ties as the basis of the national community.

One of the classics of modern sociology, P. Sorokin, considers the nation a complex and heterogeneous social body, an artificial structure without its own substance. Some researchers name common territory, economic ties, language, psychological make-up, history, culture and self-consciousness among the essential features of a nation.

The processes of nation formation are objectively connected with the formation of states. Therefore, K. Kautsky considered the national state to be the classical form of the state. However, the fate of far from every nation is connected with statehood; rather, this is an ideal coincidence. According to the concept of K. Kautsky, the most important factors in the consolidation of people into a nation were commodity production and trade. Most modern nations were born in the process of the formation of bourgeois relations (from the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries), but they also formed and developed before capitalism.

In countries where development was hindered for centuries by colonialism, this process continues to the present.

Last third of the XNUMXth century marked by the emergence of national statehood on the ruins of pseudo-federal and allied states.

Ethnos (from Greek - "society", "group", "tribe", "people") - a stable community of people, a cultural and historical group, whose members were originally united by a common origin, language, territory, economic, life, and over time and spiritually on the basis of a common culture, historical traditions, socio-political ideals.

Types of ethnos - nations, nationalities, ethnic and ethnographic groups. Their representatives can live compactly with or without their own national statehood, or they can be distributed among other peoples.

Unlike a nation, a nationality is a socio-ethnic community with a relatively identical ethnic composition, a common consciousness and psychology, and less developed, stable economic and cultural ties.

An ethnic group is a small community, the basis of which is the language, common origin, culture, way of life and traditions.

An ethnographic group is a community that speaks the same language with a particular nation, nationality, but also has specifics in everyday life, traditions, and customs.

39. Historical types of stratification

Social stratification is a certain orderliness of society. At the stages of human existence, its three main types can be traced: caste, estate and class.

The first type of social stratification is the division of society into castes. The caste system is a closed type of society, i.e. status is given from birth and mobility is practically impossible. The caste was a hereditary association of people connected by traditional occupations and limited in communication with each other. The hierarchical ladder of access to wealth and prestige in India had the following steps:

1) brahmins - priests;

2) kshatriyas - military aristocracy;

3) vaishyas - farmers, artisans, merchants, free community members;

4) Shudras - not free community members, servants, slaves;

5) "untouchables", whose contacts with other castes were excluded.

This system was banned in India in the 50s. XX century, but caste prejudices and inequality still make themselves felt today.

The second type of social stratification - class - also characterizes a closed society, where mobility is strictly limited, although it is allowed. The estate, like the caste, was associated with the inheritance of rights and obligations enshrined in custom and law. But unlike caste, the principle of inheritance in estates is not so absolute, and membership can be bought, bestowed, recruited. Its model is medieval France, where society was divided into four estates:

1) the clergy;

2) nobility;

3) artisans, merchants, servants (city dwellers);

4) peasants.

Class stratification is characteristic of open societies. It differs significantly from caste and class stratification. These differences appear as follows:

1) classes are not created on the basis of legal and religious norms, membership in them is not based on hereditary status;

2) class systems are more mobile, and the boundaries between classes are not rigidly delineated;

3) classes depend on economic differences between groups of people associated with inequality in the ownership and control of material resources;

4) class systems mainly carry out connections outside of a personal nature. The main basis of class differences - inequality between conditions and wages - operates in relation to all professional groups as a result of economic circumstances belonging to the economy as a whole;

5) social mobility is much simpler than in other stratification systems, there are no formal restrictions for it, although mobility is really constrained by a person's starting capabilities and the level of his claims.

40. Basic theoretical approaches in the definition of classes. Non-Marxist approaches

Classes can be defined as large groups of people that differ in their general economic opportunities, which significantly affect their types of lifestyle.

According to Marx, a class is a community of people in direct relation to the means of production. He singled out the exploiting and exploited classes in society at different stages. The stratification of society according to Marx is one-dimensional, connected only with classes, since its main basis is the economic situation. All other rights and privileges, power and influence fit into the "Procrustean bed" of the economic situation and are combined with it.

M. Weber defined classes as groups of people who have a similar position in a market economy, receive similar economic rewards and have similar chances in life. He proposed a three-dimensional division: if economic differences (by wealth) give rise to class stratification, then spiritual (by prestige) - status, and political (by access to power) - party.

In various sociological schools, for example, American and English, class theories developed in several different directions. Post-war American sociologists generally viewed their society as classless. This was partly due to the fact that they believed that there were no longer sharp differences in the distribution of material rewards.

British sociologists during this period initially accepted the division of labor as the decisive determinant of class and defined the basic principle of class division as the boundary between manual and non-physical labor. There is a condensed version of the six socioeconomic classes, which are described as:

1) professionals;

2) employers and managers;

3) clerks - intermediate and junior workers of non-physical labor;

4) skilled manual workers and independent (self-employed) non-professionals;

5) semi-skilled manual workers and service personnel;

6) unskilled manual workers.

The traditional division adheres to a four-term structure:

1) the upper class (Upper Class), characterized by the highest levels of wealth and power;

2) the middle class (Middle Class), which is formed by a very motley conglomerate of social groups - from medium-sized entrepreneurs to medium-paid engineers and clerks;

3) working class (Working Class), uniting workers of manual labor;

4) the lower class (Underclass), which includes, as a rule, representatives of ethnic minorities, as well as individuals employed in the lowest paid, least safe and least attractive jobs.

41. Social stratification of modern societies

The Stalin-Brezhnev model of stratification was reduced only to forms of ownership and, on this basis, to two classes (workers and collective farm peasantry) and a stratum (intelligentsia). The existing social inequality, the alienation of classes from property and power in Soviet science were not subjected to open structuring until the mid-1980s. However, foreign researchers were engaged in the stratification of social inequality in Soviet society. One of them, A. Inkels, analyzed the 1940s-1950s. and gave a conical model of the hierarchical division of society in the USSR. Using the material level, privileges and power as bases, he outlined nine social strata: the ruling elite, the upper intelligentsia, the labor aristocracy, the mainstream intelligentsia, the middle workers, the wealthy peasants, the white collar workers, the middle peasants, the underprivileged workers, and the forced labor group ( prisoners).

Variations of three layers are known (business layer, middle layer, lumpen layer) and a model of eleven hierarchical levels (apparatus, "comprador", "national bourgeoisie", directorate, "merchants", farmers, collective farmers, members of new agricultural enterprises, lumpen- intellectuals, working class, unemployed). The most developed model belongs to Academician T. Zaslavskaya, who identified 78 social strata in modern Russia.

Western sociologists in the twentieth century. use different approaches to social stratification:

1) subjective - self-evaluative, when the respondents themselves determine their social affiliation;

2) subjective reputational, when the respondents determine the social affiliation of each other;

3) objective (the most common), as a rule, with a status criterion.

Most Western sociologists, structuring the societies of developed countries, divide them into the upper, middle and working classes, in some countries also the peasantry (for example, France, Japan, third world countries).

An important feature of modern society is that, by supporting in the mass consciousness the idea of the necessity and expediency of a social hierarchy, it gives everyone a chance to test their strength in the most difficult ascent of the steps of the stratification ladder.

Thus, conditions are created for directing the energy generated by dissatisfaction with one's position in the hierarchical structure, not to destroy the structure itself and the institutions that protect it, but to achieve personal success. A stable idea is being created in the mass consciousness about personal responsibility for one's own destiny, for one's place in the pyramid of power, prestige and privileges.

42. The concept of "lifestyle". Social mobility and its types

Another key concept of stratification (especially in American studies) is lifestyle. This concept, first introduced by Weber, refers to the common culture or way of life of different groups in a society. Some American sociologists emphasized lifestyle instead of economic factors, and thought through this to provide an unambiguously non-Marxist way of examining stratification. This is especially true of stratification studies in America, stimulated by the work of Lloyd Warner. In the 1930s-1940s. L. Warner conducted a detailed field study of the social structure of the Newburyport community in Massachusetts (following the usual rule of anonymity in field work, Warner called this community "Yankee City"). At the same time, he took reputation as the main typological feature, or rather, how his neighbors and countrymen defined someone's class affiliation.

Lifestyle is a very broad concept that includes subjective and objective factors. The first means the subjective needs of a person, the second - the specifics of work, life and leisure. The lifestyle consists of several components - it is both a way of producing material goods, and the environment, the political system of society, life, traditions, habits.

The concept of "social mobility" was introduced by P. Sorokin.

A person does not remain at the same level of status throughout their life; sooner or later he will have to change it by moving to a new status position. Such processes, occurring in any society continuously and covering almost all of its members, are described in sociology by the concept of social mobility. Social mobility means the movement of individuals and groups from one social strata, communities to others, which is associated with a change in the position of an individual or group in the system of social stratification.

The possibilities and dynamics of social mobility differ in historical contexts. P. Sorokin refers to the following social institutions as channels or "elevators" of social mobility: the army, the church, educational institutions, the family, political and professional organizations, the media, etc.

Social institutions, which are channels of vertical mobility: school, army, church, organizations, sort of filter and select individuals, carrying out a kind of selection. The family also serves the interests of social selection, but now it is not the origin and nobility of the family that is valuable, but personal qualities.

The options for social mobility are diverse:

1) individual and collective;

2) vertical and horizontal;

3) intragenerational and intergenerational.

43. Types of mobility

Intragenerational (within one generation) mobility compares the positions achieved by the same individual at different points throughout his or her life (as a rule, this refers to a work biography, and, therefore, a career). Therefore, some researchers prefer to call it "professional mobility or labor force mobility, because it is usually associated with occupation, and not with social status. Thus, intragenerational mobility means that a person changes position in the stratification system throughout his life.

Intergenerational (between generations) mobility compares the current positions of individuals with the positions of their parents, i.e., it denotes a change in the son's social status in comparison with the social position of his father.

In connection with the orientation of mobility, vertical and horizontal are distinguished. Strictly speaking, only the first of them refers to social mobility as such, that is, to the rise or fall of status within the stratification system. Horizontal mobility, on the other hand, refers to such changes in social position, when its subject remains within the same stratum. Thus, vertical mobility is a change in the social position of an individual, which is accompanied by an increase or decrease in his status, and horizontal mobility is a change in the social position of an individual, which does not lead to an increase or decrease in his status.

Vertical mobility, in turn, is divided into ascending and descending. These concepts largely speak for themselves. Ascending mobility characterizes an increase in social status, a transition to a stratum located higher in the hierarchical ladder; descending means, on the contrary, a descent along the same hierarchical ladder, a decrease in social rank.

Group mobility occurs when the status of an entire class, class, caste decreases or rises. The causes of group mobility are the following factors: social revolutions, foreign interventions, interstate wars, military coups, political regime changes, peasant uprisings, the struggle of aristocratic families, the creation of an empire.

There are many cases in history when entire social groups drastically changed their status as a result of some events. As a result, the status of practically all individuals belonging to this group also changes. Sorokin cites the October Revolution as an example. As a result, her whole privileged class of the nobility made a collective social descent: in 1920-1930.

44. Typology of small groups

A small group is defined as a small association of people in which social relations take the form of direct personal contacts.

So, according to the level of group consciousness, the following types of groups are distinguished (according to L. I. Umansky):

1) a conglomerate group - which has not yet realized the single goal of its activity (the concepts of a diffuse or nominal group are similar to this);

2) an association group with a common goal; all other signs (preparedness, organizational and psychological unity) are absent;

3) group-cooperation - characterized by the unity of goals and activities, the presence of group experience and preparedness;

4) a group-corporation, which is placed above cooperation by the presence of organizational and psychological unity (sometimes such a group is called autonomous);

5) collective - a group distinguished by the highest level of social development, goals and principles of high humanism;

6) a gomphotheric ("downed") team - in which psychophysiological compatibility is added to all other qualities (for example, the crew of a spaceship).

According to the nature of the predominant orientation of the activity of groups, two types of them are distinguished.

The activity of a group of type "internal" (int-groups) is directed inside the group, on its members (all together or separately). These are children's clubs, psychotherapeutic groups, etc.

The activity of an "external" type group (ext-group) is directed outside of it. This type includes associations of volunteers, Masonic lodges, etc.

Small groups are also divided into formal and informal. According to Mayo, a formal group is distinguished by the fact that all the positions of its members are clearly defined in it, they are prescribed by group norms.

Informal groups are associations of people that arise on the basis of internal needs inherent in individuals for communication, belonging, understanding, sympathy and love.

By the time of existence, temporary groups are distinguished, within which the association of participants is limited in time (these can be participants in one conference, neighbors in the cabin or tourists who make up a tourist group). Stable, the relative constancy of which is determined by their purpose and long-term goals of functioning (family, employees of one department and students from one group).

Groups are divided into open and closed - depending on the degree of arbitrariness of a person's decision to enter a particular group, participate in its life and leave it.

45. Structure and socio-psychological parameters of a small group

The structure of a small group is a set of connections that develop between its members. Since the main areas of activity of representatives of a small group are joint activities and communication, when studying small groups, the following are most often distinguished:

1) the structure of connections and relations generated by joint activities (functional, organizational, economic, managerial);

2) the structure of connections generated by communication and psychological relations (communicative structure, structure of emotional relations, role and informal status structure).

To study the informal structure of a small group, the sociometry method proposed by D. Moreno is most often used.

The following socio-psychological parameters of a small group can be distinguished: group composition, group compatibility, socio-psychological climate, value-personal orientations, group cohesion coefficient, group norms and values.

The composition of the group can be described in different ways depending on whether, for example, the age, professional or social characteristics of the group members are significant in each particular case.

A very important characteristic of a group, which is manifested in the ability of its members to coordinate their actions and optimize relationships, is group compatibility. There are such types of it as: physiological, psycho-physiological (for example, temperaments), psychological (in particular, according to interests) and the highest level - ideological (includes value-oriented unity).

Very important characteristics of the group are its value-personal orientations (CLO) - personality traits that are most valued in this group. It can be talent, position in society, charm, business qualities, etc.

The group is characterized by such a parameter as the coefficient of group cohesion (CGC). The higher it is, the stronger the group is, as a rule, although sometimes it indicates only a large number of mutually sympathetic pairs of individuals, which can be "balanced" by no fewer mutually antagonizing pairs.

Group norms are certain rules that are developed by the group, adopted by it, and to which the behavior of its members must obey in order for their joint activities to be possible. Group norms are associated with values, since any rules can be formulated only on the basis of acceptance or rejection of some socially significant phenomena. The values of each group are formed on the basis of the development of a certain attitude to social phenomena, dictated by the place of this group in the system of social relations, its experience in organizing certain activities.

46. Dynamic processes in a small group

The term "group dynamics" can be used in three different senses:

1) this term denotes a certain direction in the study of small groups in social psychology, the school of K. Levin;

2) these are certain methods that are used in the study of small groups and which were mainly developed in the Levin school. "Group dynamics" in this case is a special kind of laboratory experiment, specially designed for the study of group processes;

3) this is a set of those dynamic processes that simultaneously occur in a group in some unit of time and which mark the movement of the group from stage to stage, i.e., its development.

From the point of view of the third approach, group dynamics includes the following processes:

1) cohesion or disunity of groups;

2) the process of formation of informal groups within formal groups;

3) the formation of group norms (this is the most important process), spontaneously emerging standards of individual behavior.

A holistic view of the development of a group according to the characteristics of group processes is based on a detailed analysis, when the development of group norms, values, the system of interpersonal relations, etc. is studied separately.

In its development, the group goes through the following four stages:

1) the verification and dependency stage; For newly formed groups at this stage, the formation of a sense of belonging to the group, the emergence of a desire to establish relationships with other participants, orientation in group tasks and norms, and the distribution of group roles are characteristic. Existing small groups go through this stage again under certain conditions, for example, the appearance of a new member of the group, a change in the goals of the group;

2) the stage of internal conflict. It is characterized by the fact that cohesion in the group falls, tension and discontent increase, the process of distribution of roles begins. However, the processes taking place with the group during this period must be distinguished from the processes taking place in an interpersonal conflict. This stage is of great importance for the subsequent development of the group, since the effectiveness of the next stage depends on it. The success of the group passing this stage is determined by its leader or leader;

3) the stage of productivity. At this stage, group cohesion develops, group members begin to effectively interact with each other, solving their goals;

4) the stage of cohesion and affection. Group members establish a closer emotional connection, they get together only to communicate with each other, while (if it is, for example, a production team), its immediate goals and objectives recede into the background.

47. Concept, subject and object, means and stages of public opinion formation

Public opinion reflects the real state of public consciousness, interests, moods, feelings of classes and groups of society. This is the attitude of social communities to the problems of social life.

The origin of this term is English. In 1759, John Solburn first used it in a parliamentary speech.

The most important factor in shaping public opinion is the interests of the people. Public opinion arises where a question of great practical importance is put forward, or a question of a debatable nature. The mechanism of formation of public opinion involves the struggle of individual opinions.

What is the essence of public opinion?

First, it is the result of the mental activity of people.

Secondly, in the formation of public opinion, the selection criterion is public interests and needs.

Thirdly, mass judgments of people have varying degrees of objectivity, sometimes, if there is no scientific foundation, an erroneous public opinion arises, often prejudices are passed off as public opinion.

Fourthly, public opinion is the driving force of people to practical activity.

Fifth, the fusion of individual opinions, where non-linear addition occurs.

The subject of public opinion - the majority of the people - has an internal structure, the consideration of which is important for sociological research. These are classes, separate layers, groups and other communities, individuals. It is within these communities that public opinion is formed.

The object of public opinion is something about which public opinion is formed. The stronger the object affects the interests of people, the more clearly public opinion manifests itself.

Stages of formation of public opinion: the emergence of individual opinions, the exchange of opinions, the crystallization of a common point of view from many opinions and the transition to a practical state. In real life, these processes proceed simultaneously and have qualitative leaps and mutual transitions in the development of individual, group and public opinions.

Almost always public opinion had its leaders. Finally, a layer of ideologists formed who were able to formulate and justify the dominance of a certain opinion, the elites of countries sought to make public opinion develop in their favor (often, the elite acts with the help of propaganda, censorship, methods of social psychology to promote the spread of prejudices).

The content of the prevailing public opinion consists only of those assessments that are shared by the majority, even if they are not true.

48. Functions and characteristics, methodology for studying public opinion

Public opinion, depending on the preferences of the subject, may have a positive or negative orientation, or be indifferent. Being formed, it can maintain stability for a long time, and sometimes it can even gain a foothold in customs and traditions.

Public opinion has its own spheres of regional and social distribution.

Mature public opinion is distinguished by special competence, social orientation and significant prevalence. The spheres of manifestation of public opinion are politics, law, morality, religion, science, and culture.

Opinion can be classified as follows: individual, group and public.

The following functions of public opinion can be distinguished:

1) control, which controls the institutions of power and the state;

2) advisory, when it gives advice to the authorities;

3) directive, when decisions on problems of social life are made through a referendum;

4) estimated.

Public opinion is sometimes formed under the influence of emotions, but it is better if it is based on constructive, analytical research. It can act in the form of positive and negative judgments.

Sociology cannot do without the question - what does the people think and feel, what does it want? In our country, sociological surveys of the population began relatively recently, but now they are conducted regularly, the results of public opinion polls are published and announced on television.

The basis for the study of public opinion is its methodological base, in particular, the compilation of a questionnaire. Gallup Institute back in the 40s. XNUMXth century based on the experience of predicting the course of election campaigns, he developed a five-dimensional plan, which had the goal of improving the methodology for studying public opinion.

It turned out that the most important thing is the choice and wording of questions. The shortcomings identified in this area occurred in unskilled surveys. Questions were asked to people who had no idea about the subject of discussion; no distinction was made between those who answered without thinking and those who weighed the answer. Questions were formulated in such a way that they could have different meanings for different groups of people; some questions could not be answered unambiguously; the fact why the respondent holds this particular opinion was ignored

Gallup's plan called for a study of 5 different aspects of public opinion:

1) knowledge of the subject about the subject;

2) his general views;

3) the reasons why he holds these views;

4) his specific views on specific aspects of the problem;

5) intensity of the expressed opinion.

49. Public opinion and social stereotypes as the results of mass communication

A social stereotype is a simplified image of social objects or events that has significant stability. The persistence of stereotypes may be related to the reproduction of traditional ways of perceiving and thinking.

The positive value of stereotypes is to help you navigate in circumstances that do not require analytical thinking.

The negative value is associated with the possible emergence of hostility, enmity between national groups; and also with the fact that they replace the analysis of information with the reproduction of standards of behavior and evaluation.

In interpersonal perception, when assessing the roles and personal characteristics of others, people, as a rule, rely on established standards. The standards are based on the belief in a stable relationship between certain features of appearance and certain role and personality traits of a person. Identifying the interlocutor with the standard according to some observable features, we simultaneously attribute to him many other features that, in our opinion, are found in people of this kind.

At the same time, the stereotypical perception of people according to standards is associated with a number of specific errors:

1) the projection effect - when we tend to attribute our own merits to a pleasant interlocutor, and our shortcomings to an unpleasant one, that is, to most clearly identify in others those features that are clearly represented in ourselves;

2) the effect of the average error - the tendency to soften the estimates of the most striking features of another person towards the average;

3) the order effect - when, with conflicting information, more weight is given to the data received first, and when communicating with old acquaintances, on the contrary, there is a tendency to trust more recent information;

4) the halo effect - when a certain attitude is formed towards a person according to his any act; The halo can have both positive and negative okraaka;

5) the effect of stereotyping, which consists in attributing to a person features characteristic of certain social groups (for example, professional ones: a teacher, a salesman, a mathematician.

A social stereotype is a stable idea of any phenomena or signs characteristic of representatives of a particular social group. Different social groups, interacting with each other, develop certain social stereotypes. The most famous are ethnic or national stereotypes - ideas about members of some national groups from the point of view of others, for example, stereotypical ideas about the politeness of the British, the frivolity of the French, or the mysteriousness of the Slavic soul.

50. The concept and types of deviant behavior

Socialization is aimed at the development of a conforming person, that is, one who would fulfill social standards, correspond to social standards. Deviation from them is called deviation. Thus, deviant behavior is determined by conformity to social norms.

A social norm is not necessarily actual behavior, and normative behavior is not just the most commonly encountered pattern. Since this concept refers mainly to social expectations (expectations) of "correct" or "proper" behavior, norms imply the presence of some kind of legality, carry a connotation of consent and prescription, i.e. requirements to do something or, on the contrary, a ban on an action.

Deviant behavior is not always negative, it can be associated with the desire of the individual for something new, progressive. Therefore, sociology does not study any deviations from the norms, but those that cause public concern. Deviation is understood as a deviation from the group norm, which entails isolation, treatment, imprisonment, etc. It traditionally includes: crime, alcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution, suicide, and others.

Deviant, i.e. deviating from the norms, behavior covers a huge range of human actions. Depending on the amplitude of the deviation, as well as on the nature of the violated norms, three degrees of it can be distinguished:

1) he calls minor deviations from the norms of morality and etiquette actually deviant;

2) violations of the rule of law, but not so significant that they are subject to criminal liability, are called delinquent behavior in sociology. The concept of "delinquent behavior" covers a fairly wide range of violations of legal and social norms. And in criminology, it is defined as a typical youth (youthful) offense, which indicates a rather high level of offenses subject to judicial or administrative prosecution, committed by young people between the ages of twelve and twenty;

3) serious violations of the norms of criminal law, called crimes, could be called criminal behavior.

Deviant research quite often includes a wide variety of behaviors, from drug abuse to football hooliganism and even the practice of witchcraft and magic, as behavior labeled as deviant and even delinquent. The sociology of deviation thus takes as its object of study broader, more heterogeneous categories of behavior than traditional criminology.

51. Explanation of deviant behavior in the theory of labeling and from the standpoint of the theory of social solidarity

In the theory of labeling, deviant behavior is treated not as a product of individual psychology or genetic heredity, but as the consequences of the influence of social structure and social control.

This theory is based essentially on two assumptions. The first is that deviant is not just a violation of the norm, but in fact any behavior that is successfully defined as such, if it can be labeled as deviant. Deviation is contained not so much in the action itself, but in the reaction of others to this action. The second proposition states that labeling produces or propagates deviation. The deviant's response to the social reaction leads to re-deviation, through which the deviant comes to accept a self-image or definition as a person who is permanently locked into the deviance of his role. The peculiarity of the approach here is that it draws attention to deviation as a result of social accusations and the manifestation of social control over the actions of its members.

The process of acquiring a criminal identity is also called stigmatization. Stigma is a social sign that discredits an individual or even an entire group. There are stigmas of the body (defect or deformity), individual character (homosexuality) and social collectivities (race or tribe). In other words, deviation is a kind of stigma that social groups with power put on the behavior of other, less protected groups.

Sociologists who rely on the theory of social solidarity. developed by Durkheim, argue that deviation in general and crime in particular are necessary; they carry a special functional load, since they objectively contribute to strengthening social integration. This integration arises from a greater or lesser degree of unanimity with which the "normal" part of society condemns the deviant actions of those of its members who violate generally accepted norms. The sense of unity is enhanced through commonly accepted rituals of judgment.

Another idea of Durkheim served as the starting point for the creation of an influential sociological theory of deviation. This is the idea of anomie. This concept describes a social situation characterized by the decline of the norms that govern social interaction. Durkheim argues that quite often deviations (to which he refers, in particular, suicide) occur due to the lack of clear social norms. In this case, the general state of disorganization, or anomie, is aggravated by the fact that the passions are least willing to submit to discipline precisely at the moment when it is most needed.

52. Anomic concept of deviation

Based on the idea of anomie, Robert Merton developed the anomic concept of deviation. Among the many elements of the social structure, R. Merton singles out two, in his opinion, especially important ones. The first is the intentions and interests determined by the culture of a given society, which act as "legitimate" goals - acceptable to the whole society or its individual sections, socially approved. These intentions and interests are called institutional. The second element defines, regulates socially approved means (methods for achieving these goals) and controls their use.

Conformity is, in fact, the only type of behavior that is not deviant. The social order - the stability and sustainability of social development - depends on the degree of its prevalence in society.

Innovation. This form of adaptation arises from the fact that the individual has accepted for himself generally recognized cultural values as life goals, shares them. However, he does not consider those means of achieving these goals that are available to him as effective, allowing him to achieve success.

Ritualism presupposes abandoning or lowering too high cultural goals of great monetary success and rapid social mobility where these aspirations can be satisfied. In other words, in those cases where the content of the goal and the possibilities of achieving it for a given social factor come into conflict, the individual prefers unconditional observance of institutional norms and abandons the goal.

Retreatism. This type of deviation could be characterized as a desire to escape from reality, rejection of one's own social world. Members of society with this orientation do not accept either the dominant social goals in the minds of most social goals, or the socially approved means of achieving them. These are people "not of this world" - hermits, dreamers, poets. Purely statistically, the number of such individuals cannot be large in any society, it is simply not able to accommodate a sufficiently large number of such "strange" people.

Rebellion as a type of deviation is most widespread in societies that are in a state of deep crisis, on the verge of social fractures. Such deviations can hardly be attributed to the forms of "individual adaptation to society" in the full sense of the word, since rebellion is rather an active refusal to adapt to the existing norms of social life.

53. Essence and forms of social control

The efforts of society aimed at preventing deviant behavior, punishing and correcting deviants are described by the concept of "social control". It includes a set of norms and values of society, as well as the sanctions applied to implement them.

The term "social control" itself was introduced into scientific circulation by the French sociologist and social psychologist Gabriel Tarde. The most developed theory of social control was developed by American sociologists E. Ross and R. Park. Ross tried to find and study ways to achieve a balance between ensuring social stability, on the one hand, and individual freedom, on the other. He considered necessary, first of all, internal ethical and social control, based on the internalization of social values. Robert Park, one of the founders of the Chicago school, the author of the "classical" socio-ecological theory, believed that society is control and consent. He understood social control as a special means that provides a certain relationship between human nature and social forces.

Talcott Parsons in his work "The Social System" defined social control as a process by which deviant behavior is neutralized through the imposition of sanctions and thereby social stability is maintained. He analyzed three main methods of exercising social control:

1) isolation, the essence of which is to put impenetrable partitions between the deviant and the rest of society without any attempts to correct or re-educate him;

2) isolation - limiting the deviant's contacts with other people, but not complete isolation from society; such an approach allows for the correction of deviants and their return to society when they are ready to fulfill generally accepted norms again;

3) rehabilitation, seen as a process in which deviants can prepare for a return to normal life and the correct performance of their roles in society.

Two forms of social control can also be distinguished:

1) formal, including criminal and civil law, internal affairs bodies, courts, etc.;

2) informal, providing for social reward, punishment, persuasion, reassessment of norms.

Thus, the essence of social control lies in the desire of society and its various constituent communities to strengthen the conformity of its members, cultivate "socially desirable" forms of behavior, prevent deviant behavior, and return the deviant to the mainstream of social norms.

54. Main components of social control

A typical social control system includes eight main components:

1) individual actions that are manifested in the course of an active interaction of an individual with his social environment are any acts of a productive, cognitive and adaptive nature;

2) a social rating scale, on the objective existence of which the reaction of the surrounding social environment to these actions depends in society;

3) categorization, which is the result of the functioning of a social rating scale and the assignment of one or another individual action to a certain evaluation category (in the most general form, social approval or social censure);

4) the nature of public consciousness,

on which, in turn, the categorization of any individual action depends, including public self-assessment and assessment by the social group of the situation in which it acts (social perception);

5) the nature and content of social actions that perform the function of positive or negative sanctions, which directly depend on the state of public self-consciousness;

6) an individual rating scale, which is a derivative of the internal system of values, ideals, vital interests and aspirations of the individual;

7) self-categorization of an individual (acceptance of a role, self-identification, identification with a certain category of persons), which is the result of the functioning of an individual rating scale;

8) the nature of individual consciousness, on which the self-categorization of the individual depends; the subsequent action of the individual, which will be a reaction to the evaluative social action, also depends on it. Thus, the most important tool for exercising social control is a social sanction. The system of social sanctions that exists in society is aimed at ensuring the proper execution by members of society of the prescriptions related to their social roles.

There are positive sanctions - encouragement for the commission of actions approved, desirable for society or a group, and negative sanctions - punishments or censures for disapproved, undesirable, non-institutional actions, for various deviant actions. In addition, it is possible to divide sanctions into formal - imposed by officials or bodies specially created by society, within the framework recorded in written sources, and informal - approval or censure expressed (or manifested in non-verbal forms) by unofficial persons, usually the closest environment.

55. Typology of conflicts

Conflict is a form of relationship between potential or actual subjects of social action, the motivation of which is due to opposing values and norms, interests and needs.

There are four main types of conflicts: intrapersonal, interpersonal, between an individual and a group, intergroup.

intrapersonal conflict. This type of conflict does not fully correspond to our definition. Here, the participants are not people, but various psychological factors of the inner world of the individual, often seeming or being incompatible: needs, motives, values, feelings, etc. Intrapersonal conflicts associated with work in an organization can take various forms. One of the most common is role conflict, when different roles of a person make conflicting demands on him. The reason for this conflict is the mismatch of personal needs and production requirements.

Interpersonal conflict. This is one of the most common types of conflict. It manifests itself in organizations in different ways. According to the subjective sign, the following types of interpersonal conflicts can be distinguished in the internal life of each organization:

1) conflicts between managers and managed within a given organization, and conflicts between a leader and an ordinary performer will differ significantly from conflicts between a leader of the first hand and managers of lower levels;

2) conflicts between ordinary employees;

3) conflicts at the managerial level, i.e. conflicts between leaders of the same rank. These conflicts, as a rule, are closely intertwined with personal and personnel conflicts, with the practice of promoting personnel within a given organization, with the struggle for the distribution of the most important positions in its own structure.

Conflict between the individual and the group.

Informal groups establish their own norms of behavior and communication. The group considers deviation from the accepted norms as a negative phenomenon, a conflict arises between the individual and the group.

Another common conflict of this type is the conflict between the group and the leader. Conflicts can develop into intergroup ones. The most difficult such conflicts occur with an authoritarian leadership style.

Intergroup conflict. The organization consists of many formal and informal groups between which conflicts can arise, for example, between management and performers, between employees of various departments, between informal groups within departments, between administration and the trade union.

56. Sociometric methods

The term "sociometry" has three main meanings. They are designated:

1) the theory of small (directly contact) groups created by J. Moreno;

2) any mathematicized procedures for measuring social processes and phenomena (based on the etymology of this word, derived from the Latin societas - "society" and the Greek metreo - "I measure");

3) a set of methods for studying the psycho-emotional relations to each other of members of social groups characterized by a small number and experience of joint life.

We are interested in the last meaning of this concept.

Sociometric techniques are used by sociologists to identify:

1) informal leaders of small groups, those members who have the greatest impact on others;

2) "outcasts" of the team, i.e. people rejected by the majority of the group;

3) candidates who deserve a recommendation for promotion to the positions of official team leaders;

4) the nature of the socio-psychological climate of the team and the tendencies of its transformation;

5) differentiation of primary (i.e., not officially divided into smaller components) groups into social and psychological groupings that have actually developed in it;

6) causes and driving forces of intra-collective conflicts (interpersonal, personal-group and intergroup);

7) many other problems, the solution of which can optimize the activities of primary labor collectives and other

small social groups. It should be noted that in solving the above problems, sociometric methods can play the role of both main and additional methods. But in any case, they are necessarily interfaced with other methods - analysis of relevant documentation, observation, interviews, expert surveys, testing, and others.

Sociometric methods include special techniques for questioning, processing and interpreting data.

In a sociometric survey, each member of the team is asked to choose those members who, in the opinion of the chooser, correspond to a certain sociometric criterion.

Sociometric surveys cannot be completely anonymous - by the names appearing in the answers, the researcher determines who gave these answers. This circumstance can lead to a decrease in the measure of sincerity of answers. To reduce this risk, special procedures are applied. When instructing respondents, the researcher carefully explains the scientific nature of the survey, guarantees the secrecy of everyone's answers.

The processing of the received information is carried out by its transformation either into a sociogram, or into a sociomatrix, or into both.

Author: Gorbunova M.Yu.

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