The concept of society, social relations and social structure. Spheres of public life

Miscellaneous

15.01.202127.05.2017

LECTURES

Lecture #1

TOPIC: SOCIETY AND PUBLIC RELATIONS.

1. The concept of society and social relations.

2. The structure of society.

3. Two approaches to the development of society.

4. Progress and regression in the development of society.

1. There are many definitions of the term "society". In a narrow sense, society can be understood as a certain group of people united for communication and joint performance of any activity, as well as a specific stage in the historical development of a people or country.

In a broad sense, society is a part of the material world, inextricably linked with nature and including the ways of interaction between people and the forms of their unification.

In any sense, society is understood as a system (a whole made up of parts interacting with each other), subject to constant evolution and change. This can be represented by a logical chain: a society of primitive hunters and gatherers - a society of farmers and pastoralists - a slave society - a feudal society - an industrial society.

Society consists of a huge number of its constituent elements and subsystems.

1. economic (its elements are material production and relations that arise between people in the process of production of material goods, their exchange and distribution);

2. social (consists of such structural formations as classes, social strata, nations, from their relationships and interactions with each other);

3. political (includes politics, state, law, their correlation and functioning);

4. spiritual (covers various forms and levels of social consciousness, which in the real life of society form a phenomenon of spiritual culture).

All four spheres of social life are interconnected and mutually condition each other.

A person enters society through a collective, being a member of several collectives. Society is presented as a collective of collectives. A person also enters into larger communities of people. He belongs to a certain social group, class, nation. The various connections between social groups, classes, nations, as well as within them in the process of economic, social, political and cultural life called social relations. Distinguish between material and spiritual social relations.

2. Society can be viewed from different positions. It can be reduced to the totality of all groups included in it, then we will deal primarily with the population.

Society can be reduced to a set of five fundamental institutions: family, production, state, education and religion.

Social institutions – these are historically established stable forms of organization and regulation of the joint life of people. Marriage, family, moral standards, education, private property, the market, the state, the army, the court - all these are social institutions. With their help, communications and relations between people are streamlined and standardized, their activities and behavior in society are regulated. This ensures a certain organization and stability of public life.

Structure of social institutions represents a complex system and consists of elements.

1. Spiritual - ideological elements(family - love, devotion, family hearth, raising children; business - personal gain, prestige of the company, profitability)

2. Material elements(family - house, apartment, car, furniture; business - plant, equipment, office, transport, warehouse)

3. Behavioral elements(family - sincerity, respect, trust, mutual assistance; business - professionalism, responsibility, diligence, law-abiding)

4. Cultural - symbolic elements(marriage ritual, wedding rings; religion - cross, icons, candles, religious holidays)

5. Organizational - documentary elements(family - marriage registration, marriage and birth certificates of children; business - statutes, agreements, contracts).

No one "invents" social institutions. They grow gradually, as if by themselves, from this or that specific need of people. For example, out of the need to protect public order, the institution of the police arose. The very process of approval in society of a phenomenon as a social institution is called institutionalization. Institutionalization consists in streamlining, standardizing, organizational design and legislative regulation of those ties and relations in society that “claim” to be transformed into a social institution.

Among the huge variety of institutional forms, depending on their scope, four main groups of social institutions can be distinguished. Each of them, like each institution separately, performs its own specific functions.

1. Economic institutions are called upon to ensure the organization and management of the economy for the purpose of its effective development. For example, property relations secure material and other values for a certain owner and enable the latter to receive income from these values; money is called upon to serve as a universal equivalent in the exchange of goods, and wages are a reward to the worker for his work.

2. Political institutions are associated with the establishment of a certain power and management of society. Political institutions are the state, court, army, political parties.

3. Spiritual institutions are associated with the development of science, education, art, and the maintenance of moral values in society.

4. Institute families is the primary and key element of the entire social system. The family sets the daily tone for all social life.

All institutions of society are closely interconnected. For example, the state operates not only in “its own” political area, but also in all other areas: it is engaged in economic activities, promotes the development of spiritual processes, and regulates family relations.

Formed over the centuries, social institutions do not remain unchanged. They develop and improve along with the movement of society forward.

An important role in science is played by the distinction between formal and informal institutions. Formal institutions are not only institutions that are part of the state, but also some customs that are not formalized (for example, the kinship system is a formal institution). The difference between them lies in the fact that informal institutions presuppose the real freedom of individuals, while formal institutions strictly regulate the behavior of an individual.

3. The greatest interest of scientists is the distinction between societies according to socio-economic characteristics. Two approaches are popular: Marxist (formational approach) and the theory of three stages (civilizational approach)

Formation is a stage in the development of society with its inherent socio-economic structure. Signs - forms of ownership of the means of production and the class structure of society. There are five formations - primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist, communist.

Civilization theory was put forward at the turn of the 50-60s of the 20th century by Western sociologists - Daniel Bell, Walt Rostow.

Civilization - step community development, the level of development of the material and spiritual culture of society.

Three types of society:

1. Pre-industrial (agrarian, traditional)

2. Industrial (industrial)

3. Post-industrial (intellectual, informational).

4. Progress is the movement of society forward, development with an upward trend, movement from lower to higher, from less perfect to more perfect. It leads to positive changes in society and is manifested in new achievements of science and culture, in the growth of productivity, and in the improvement of people's living conditions.

Regression - reverse movement, involves development with a downward trend, reverse movement, a transition from higher to lower, which leads to negative consequences. It manifests itself in a decrease in the efficiency of production and the level of people's well-being, in the spread of drunkenness and drug addiction in society, an increase in mortality, and a drop in the level of people's morality.

LECTURES

in the discipline "Social Science"

Lecture #2

TOPIC: SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE OF SOCIETY.

1. Knowledge of the world around.

2. History of views on society.

3. Civilization and society.

1. Science is based on the process of cognition.

Cognition- this is a reflection and reproduction of reality in the thinking of the subject, the result of which is new knowledge about the world.

The purpose of cognition is the acquisition of not any, namely true knowledge about the objective world.

Knowledge- a practice-tested result of cognition of reality.

Cognition goes through two main stages - sensual and rational cognition. Sensory cognition is carried out in the form of sensations, perceptions and ideas. It involves five sense organs - sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, connecting a person with the outside world. With rational cognition, the general, essential is revealed with the help of thinking and reason. Both stages of cognition are in unity, pass into each other, complement each other.

The process of cognition also includes such forms of mental activity as foresight, fantasy, hypothesis, imagination, dream, intuition.

The method of obtaining scientific knowledge is scientific research.

Research is the process of scientific study of an object in order to identify its patterns. The result of the research is the acquisition of new scientific knowledge - objective truth. True- reflection in the human mind of objects and phenomena as they exist outside and independently of the cognizing subject.

The criterion of truth-practice.

2. The famous work "State" can be considered the first work in social science ancient philosopher Plato. He divided society into three classes: the highest - wise men, the middle - warriors, the lowest - artisans and peasants. Aristotle proclaimed that all people are by nature inclined to knowledge. For Aristotle, the middle class was the backbone of order and the state. After Aristotle and Plato, there was a very long historical pause, when religious views on the origin of man and the world dominated. The turn to truly scientific knowledge occurred only in the 17-18 centuries, when a galaxy of outstanding philosophers appeared in Europe: Rene Descartes, Francis Bacon, John Locke, Immanuel Kant, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith and others. In the 19th century, Auguste Comte proclaimed the emergence of a science of society, calling it sociology. In the 19th century, economics, political science, cultural studies, ethnography, and psychology emerged from philosophy.

3. The word civilization appeared in France in the middle of the 18th century.

At first, civilization denoted the comfort and convenience of the material conditions of human habitation. For a long time, culture and civilization were identified, but in the 19th century they were separated. And at the beginning of the 20th century, the German philosopher Oswald Spengler in his work “The Decline of Europe” he completely opposed them. Civilization appeared to him as the highest stage of culture, on which its final decline takes place.

Modern science has not developed a unified view of the essence of civilization, so there are more than 100 definitions of it in the literature.

Today, two theories compete in science:

The theory of stadial development of civilization;

Theory of local civilizations.

The stadial theory considers civilization as a single process of the progressive development of mankind, where certain stages (stages) are distinguished. The theory of local civilizations considers the world-historical process as a set of historically established communities occupying a certain territory and having their own characteristics of socio-economic and cultural development.

The peoples standing at the preliterate stage of development cannot be considered civilized. Thus, society and culture arose earlier, and civilization later.

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Lecture #3

CIVILIZATIONS OF THE PAST.

1. Prerequisites for the emergence of ancient civilizations.

2. Features of the development of ancient civilizations.

3. Causes of the death of ancient civilizations.

1. Approximately in 3-2 millennia BC. part of humanity has made a giant breakthrough - moved from primitive to civilization. The first centers of civilization arose in Egypt, in the Nile River valley, and in Mesopotamia - between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Somewhat later - in 3-2 millennia BC. - In the valley of the Indus River, the Indian civilization was born, and in the 2nd millennium - the Chinese (in the valley of the Yellow River). These civilizations were riverine. In a special geographical situation, Phoenicia, Greece and Rome developed - seaside civilizations.

Prerequisites for the emergence of ancient civilizations:

1. Irrigation farming system and increasing agricultural productivity.

2. Complication social structure society, the emergence of classes, social inequality.

3. Creation of writing and consolidation of customs in laws.

4. Defense from the attack of neighboring tribes and the capture of new territories.

5. The emergence of cities - military and religious centers, which became the central points of states.

6. The high role of religion, which deified the leader-king, gave him tremendous power over society.

2. Table "Features of the development of ancient civilizations."

3. Reasons for the death of civilizations:

1) Internal contradictions in states.

2) The crisis of the slave system.

3) Weak economic and political ties between regions.

4) Aggressive seizures of militant neighboring peoples.

Civilization is not something immovable. It develops, goes through a series of stages: origin, flourishing, decomposition and death.

An analysis of historical facts shows that the periods of existence of civilizations are different. The ancient Egyptian civilization existed for more than 3 thousand years, the Chinese for more than 4 thousand years, the Indian one still exists, the Byzantine and Russian civilization has existed for a thousand years.

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Lecture #4

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Lecture #5

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Lecture #6

LECTURES

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Lecture No. 7

Individuality is the originality of the psyche and personality of the individual, its uniqueness. The relationship between the individual, personality and individuality can be conveyed by the formula "The individual is born, the personality becomes, the individuality is defended."

Biological and social in a person are not two parallel and independent factors: they affect a person simultaneously and comprehensively, and the intensity and quality of their impact are different and depend on many circumstances.

2. In order to become a personality, an individual goes through the path of socialization necessary for this, that is, the assimilation of the experience accumulated by generations of people, accumulated in skills, abilities, habits, traditions, knowledge, familiarization with the existing system of social ties and relations.

Socialization is carried out through communication, upbringing, education, and the media. It takes place in the family, kindergarten, school, educational institutions, work collective, etc. In the process of socialization, worldly views, work skills, moral standards of behavior, ideals, scientific knowledge, and religious values are assimilated. Socialization begins from the first minutes of the existence of the individual and proceeds throughout his life. Each person goes through his own path of socialization. A person is not born as a person, he becomes a person. A person can be called a personality when he reaches such a level of mental and social development that makes him able to control his behavior and activities, to give an account of his actions. A person becomes a person when he has self-consciousness.

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Lecture No. 8

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Lecture No. 9

TOPIC: HUMAN SPIRITUAL WORLD AND ACTIVITY.

1. Spiritual-theoretical and spiritual-practical activity.

2. Moral assessment of the individual.

3. Worldview and human activity.

1. Scientists often characterize the spiritual world of a person as an indissoluble unity of mind, feelings, and will. The world of personality is individual and unique.

The spiritual life of man is constantly evolving. The inner world of a person manifests itself and changes in the process of spiritual-theoretical and spiritual-practical activity, depends on the moral foundations of the individual and society, worldview and mentality.

Spiritual and theoretical activity is the production of spiritual values. The product of spiritual production are thoughts, ideas, theories, norms, ideals, images that can take the form of scientific and artistic works. Spiritual production is carried out by special groups of people whose spiritual activity is professional.

Spiritual and practical activity is the preservation, reproduction, distribution, distribution, as well as the development (consumption) of created spiritual values, i.e. activity, the result of which is a change in the consciousness of people. The consequence of spiritual and practical activity is the growth of people's spiritual culture. Museums, libraries and archives are engaged in the preservation and dissemination of spiritual values.

Spiritual production, preservation and dissemination of spiritual values are aimed at meeting the spiritual needs of people. The process of their satisfaction is called spiritual consumption. Spiritual consumption is a special type of activity, it has its own focus, requires certain efforts, the use of appropriate means. The orientation of spiritual consumption is determined by social conditions and spiritual needs of a person. In the process of spiritual consumption, the means to achieve the goal are, on the one hand, material possibilities, on the other hand, the corresponding knowledge and skills. The level of education and general culture of the individual directly affects the consumption of spiritual values.

2.Morality is a form of normative-evaluative orientation of an individual, communities in behavior and spiritual life, mutual perception and self-perception of people. Morality is the norms of consciousness, and morality is the implementation of these norms in life, the practical behavior of people.

The doctrine of morality, morality is ethics- a theory that considers their essence, the problems of moral choice, the moral responsibility of a person, relating to all aspects of his life - communication, work, family, civic orientation, professional duty.

Moral assessment is the approval or condemnation of human activity from the standpoint of those requirements that are contained in the moral consciousness of society, an ethnic group, a social class community of people, certain individuals. Moral self-esteem is expressed in such concepts of morality as conscience, pride, shame, repentance. All the variety of moral assessments of human activity is based on the understanding of what is good and what is evil. Moral in human activity is that which can be assessed as good, and immoral - as evil.

One of the most important moral categories is conscience. This is the ability of a person to learn ethical values and be guided by them in all life situations, independently formulate their moral duties, exercise moral self-control, realize their duty to other people.

3. Worldview - a complex phenomenon of the spiritual world of a person, it is a set of a person's views on the world that surrounds him.

Worldview types:

Mentality is the totality of all the results of knowledge, their assessment on the basis of previous culture and practical activities, national consciousness, personal life experience. The mentality determines the spiritual world of a person as a whole.

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Lecture No. 10

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Lecture No. 11

Independence, the ability to be yourself.

In a narrow sense, deviant behavior is understood as any negative and unapproved deviations from social norms. Forms of deviant behavior: crime, drunkenness and alcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution, mental disorders, vagrancy, suicide.

Reasons for deviant behavior:

biological reasons.

psychological reasons.

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Lecture No. 12

Scientific knowledge.

1. "Knowledge is power" - these words were said by the English philosopher Francis Bacon. They express the idea of the huge role of knowledge in the life of an individual and humanity as a whole. Knowledge about the surrounding world is necessary for a person in all activities. Knowledge does not arise by itself. They are the result of a special process - the cognitive activity of people.

The process of cognition always presupposes the presence of two sides: the cognizing person (the subject of cognition) and the cognized object (the object of cognition). How do they relate to each other?

In the 17th century, the idea was formed and dominated for a long time that the cognizing mind, as it were, contemplates the world from the outside and in this way cognizes it. The purpose of cognition is to describe objects as they really are, outside and independently of a person. Many philosophers counter this view with a different point of view. The cognizing subject is not separated from the objective world, but is located inside it. We can cognize the essence of a thing not as passive observers, but only through its inclusion in our active activity. The results of cognitive activity will reflect not only the properties of the subject being studied, but also how we organize the learning process (means and methods of cognition), and the characteristics of ourselves (our positions, predilections, previously accumulated experience, etc.)

Which of the sources of knowledge - reason or feeling - is decisive in human cognitive activity? This question has become the subject of heated debate among philosophers. Philosophers - rationalists preferred reason, thanks to which humanity acquires true knowledge. They came to the conclusion about the existence of certain innate ideas, or inclinations of thinking, independent of sensory knowledge. Philosophers - sensualists recognized the decisive role of sensory experience. The basic principle of sensationalism is "there is nothing in the mind that would not be in the senses."

2. Truth is the process of moving from ignorance to knowledge, from less profound to deeper knowledge. It cannot be regarded as something frozen, unchanging. Eternal, unchanging truths do not exist. Truth is always relative, since it does not cover the entire content of the subject under study, but only a part of it. As knowledge develops, a person gradually overcomes the relativity of truth, adds new knowledge that rechecks, confirms or discards old knowledge that was previously considered true. Through the relative truth, a person goes to the absolute truth - the truth of the most objective, accurate, complete. The criterion of truth is practice. All scientific truths are based on empirical data, they are constantly revised in the light of new evidence.

Truth is opposed in knowledge by falsehood. A lie is a lie, a distortion of the actual state of affairs, with the aim of misleading someone. The source of lies can be logically wrong thinking, wrong facts.

3. The hallmark of scientific knowledge is that it is based on verified evidence. By evidence, in this case, we will understand the concrete results of actual observations that other observers have the opportunity to see, weigh, measure, count or check for accuracy.

In science, empirical and theoretical levels of knowledge are distinguished. Empirical knowledge deals primarily with the facts that form the basis of any science, as well as with the laws that are established as a result of generalizations and systematization of the results of observations and experiments.

Theoretical knowledge deals with more abstract theoretical laws, covering a very wide class of phenomena, as well as objects that cannot be directly observed, for example, electrons, genes. Among these laws are the law of conservation and transformation of energy, the law of universal gravitation, the laws of heredity.

Methods of scientific knowledge:

1. Observation is the direct perception of phenomena in their natural form. It is possible in two versions: non-included observation, which is carried out from the outside, and included observation, carried out from within, with the participation of the observer himself in the events.

2. Experiment - involves the conduct of an artificial scientific experiment, in which the object under study is placed in specially created and controlled conditions.

3. The modeling method is based on the study of phenomena according to their theoretical model (model). This is especially effective mathematical modeling on computers.

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Lecture No. 13

TOPIC: SOCIAL KNOWLEDGE.

1. Unscientific knowledge.

2. Social cognition.

1. Most people draw much information about the world not from scientific treatises. Along with science as a way of knowing the world, there are other ways of knowing.

The earliest way of understanding natural and social reality was myth. A myth is always a narrative, and its truth was not subject to doubt, and its content was always connected in one way or another with the real life of people. Unlike science, which seeks to explain the world, to establish the relationship between cause and effect, myth replaces explanation with a story about the origin, creation of the universe or its individual manifestations. The myths described the creations of the world, animals, people, the origin of natural forces, relief features, various rituals and customs.

A special way of knowing the world is life practice, the experience of everyday life. Since ancient times, people have not only sought to explain the world as a whole, but simply worked, suffered failures, and achieved results. At the same time, they also accumulated certain knowledge.

The increase in the volume and complexity of people's activities aimed at meeting their needs led to the need to record knowledge, achievements of practice in the form of descriptions. Moreover, such descriptions contained, as it were, a generalized experience of different people, sometimes even many generations, gathered together. Such generalized practical knowledge formed the basis of folk wisdom. From the generalization of experience arose peculiar aphorisms, sayings, judgments containing practical conclusions.

Another consequence of the existence of extra-scientific knowledge is the emergence from time to time of such directions, which received the generalized name "parascience". Parascience sins with the nebulosity and mystery of the information with which it operates. It uses information that is not confirmed by experiment, does not fit into accepted theories, or simply contradicts generally accepted and proven scientific knowledge.

2. Social knowledge is the knowledge of society. Through the efforts of scientists studying social phenomena, society cognizes itself, i.e. the subject of knowledge (society) and its object (society) coincide. People are the creators of social life and its changes, they also learn social reality, its history.

Features of social cognition:

1. The inclusion of a person as a social being in the social life that he studies;

2. The complexity of the object under study - society. Various social forces interact in social processes, diverse economic, political, spiritual causes intertwine, they are invaded by many accidents, interests, will, and actions of many people intersect bizarrely.

3. In social cognition, the possibilities of observation and experiment are limited.

Some scientists, given the difficulties of social cognition, come to the conclusion that society is not amenable to scientific study. They believe that only a description of social phenomena is possible.

Any knowledge of society by a person begins with the perception of real facts. Social facts are events that took place at a certain time under certain conditions.

Types of social facts:

1. Actions, actions of people, individuals or large social groups.

2. Material and spiritual products of human activity.

3. Verbal actions - opinions, judgments, assessments.

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Lecture No. 14

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Lecture No. 15

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Lecture No. 16

Religion is a system of people's ideas about the world around them, associated with the belief that an important or decisive role in all events is played not by material causes, but by mysterious supernatural spiritual forces or beings. In developed religions, everything was explained by the will of God.

2. During the existence of mankind there were many religions. Pantheism is known (from the Greek pan - universal and theos - god) - the identification of God with the whole world, the deification of nature. Such are the religious views of many primitive and modern peoples who, for one reason or another, have been delayed in their historical development.

Polytheism is also known (from the Greek poly - many and theos - god) - polytheism, inherent, for example, in the spiritual life of ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, ancient Slavs, a number of religious movements of modern India. These systems also had the main god (Zeus in ancient Greece, Jupiter in Ancient Rome etc.), and numerous gods who took care of certain aspects of human life, embodied various natural and social phenomena.

There is also monotheism (from the Greek mono - one and theos - god) - monotheism, a religious system that recognizes one God. He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipotent, all-good (i.e., has all the virtues). Christianity and Islam are monotheistic.

There is also atheism (from the Greek a - negation and theos - god) - the denial of the existence of gods, the denial of the necessity and legitimacy of the existence of religion.

Tribal religions, national (for example, Confucianism in China) and world religions, widespread in different countries and uniting a huge number of believers. The world religions traditionally include Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. According to the latest data, there are about 1,400 million Christians in the modern world, about 900 million adherents of Islam, and about 300 million Buddhists. In total, this is almost half of the inhabitants of the Earth.

Buddhism- the oldest of the world's religions, which received its name from the name, or rather from the honorary title, its founder Buddha, which means "Enlightened". Buddha Shakyamuni (a sage from the Shakya tribe) lived in India in the 5th-4th centuries. BC e. Other world religions - Christianity and Islam - appeared later (respectively five and twelve centuries later).

If we try to imagine this religion as if "from a bird's eye view", we will see a colorful patchwork of directions, schools, sects, subsects, religious parties and organizations.

Buddhism absorbed many diverse traditions of the peoples of those countries that fell into its sphere of influence, and also determined the way of life and thoughts of millions of people in these countries. Most adherents of Buddhism now live in South, Southeast, Central and East Asia: Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Mongolia, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Cambodia, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Thailand and Laos. In Russia, Buddhism is traditionally practiced by Buryats, Kalmyks and Tuvans.

Buddhists themselves count the time of the existence of their religion from the death of the Buddha, but among them there is no consensus about the years of his life. According to the tradition of the oldest Buddhist school - Theravada, the Buddha lived from b24 to 544 BC. e. According to the scientific version, the life of the founder of Buddhism is from 566 to 486 BC. e. In some branches of Buddhism, later dates are adhered to: 488-368. BC e. The birthplace of Buddhism is India (more precisely, the Ganges valley). The society of ancient India was divided into varnas (estates): Brahmins (the highest class of spiritual mentors and priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (merchants) and Shudras (serving all other classes). Buddhism for the first time addressed a person not as a representative of any class, clan, tribe or a certain gender, but as a person (unlike the followers of Brahmanism, the Buddha believed that women, along with men, are capable of achieving the highest spiritual perfection). For Buddhism, only personal merit was important in a person. So, the word “brahmin” Buddha calls any noble and wise person, regardless of his origin.

The biography of the Buddha reflects the fate real person framed by myths and legends, which over time almost completely pushed aside the historical figure of the founder of Buddhism. More than 25 centuries ago, in one of the small states in the north-east of India, the son of Siddhartha was born to King Shuddhodana and his wife Maya. His family name was Gautama. The prince lived in luxury, knowing no worries, eventually started a family and, probably, would have succeeded his father on the throne, if fate had not decreed otherwise.

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✪ Society and public relations. Video lesson on social studies Grade 10

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Subtitles

Definitions

This phrase has various definitions, some are presented below:

Public relations are a set of socially significant connections between members of society.
Public relations (social relations) - the relations of people to each other, consist in historically defined social forms, in specific conditions of place and time.
Public relations (social relations) - relations between social subjects regarding their equality and social justice in the distribution of life's benefits, the conditions for the formation and development of the individual, the satisfaction of material, social and spiritual needs.
Social relations are those relations that are established between large groups of people. Outside the sphere of manifestation, social relations can be divided into: economic, political, spiritual, social.

Story

Social relations are manifested only in certain types of interactions between people, namely social ones, in the process of which these people bring their social statuses and roles to life, and the statuses and roles themselves have fairly clear boundaries and very strict regulations. Public relations give mutual certainty to social positions and statuses. For example, the relationship in trade between the main factors is the mutual certainty of the seller and the buyer in the process of the transaction (purchase and sale).

Thus, social relations are closely related to social interactions, although these are not identical concepts denoting the same thing. On the one hand, social relations are realized in social practices(interactions) of people, on the other hand, the social relation is a prerequisite for social practices - a stable, normatively fixed social form through which the implementation of social interactions becomes possible. Social relations have a decisive effect on individuals - they direct and shape, suppress or stimulate people's practices and expectations. At the same time, social relations are “yesterday's” social interactions, a “frozen” social form of living human life.

A feature of social relations is that by their nature they are neither object-objective, like relations between objects in nature, nor subject-subjective, like interpersonal relations - when a person interacts with another integral person, but subject-objective, when interaction occurs only with a socially alienated form of his subjectivity (social I) and he himself is represented in them as a partial and incomplete socially active subject (social agent). Public relations in a "pure form" do not exist. They are embodied in social practices and are always mediated by objects - social forms (things, ideas, social phenomena, processes).
Social relations can arise between people who do not directly contact and may not even know about the existence of each other, and interactions between them will be carried out through a system of institutions and organizations, but not due to a subjective sense of obligation or intention to maintain these relations.
social relations- this is a system of diverse stable interdependencies that arise between individuals, their groups, organizations and communities, as well as within the latter in the course of their economic, political, cultural, etc. activities and the implementation of their social statuses and social roles.

It can be argued that social relations arise:

as the relationship of man with society, society with man;
between individuals as representatives of society;
between elements, components, subsystems within society;
between different societies;
between individuals as representatives of various social groups, social communities and social organizations, as well as between individuals from and within each of them.

Problems of definition

Despite the fact that the term "social relations" is widely used, scientists have not come to a common conclusion regarding their definition. There are definitions of social relations through the specification of between whom and about what they arise:

Public relations(social relations) - the relationship of people to each other, developing in historically defined social forms, in specific conditions of place and time.

Public relations(social relations) - relations between social subjects regarding their social equality and social justice in the distribution of life's goods, the conditions for the formation and development of the individual, the satisfaction of material, social and spiritual needs.

However, in any case, they are understood as sustainable forms of organization of social life. To characterize social life, the term "societal" is often used, which characterizes society as a whole, the entire system of social relations.

Social relations are a set of individual subject-subject and subject-object relations normatively regulated by mores, customs and laws, which are formed under the influence of a) mutual struggle of individuals for objects of property, b) joint life activity on a common territory, c) a genetic program for the reproduction of life, and d ) cooperation with each other on the terms of the social division of labor in the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of the total social product. See: Bobrov VV, Chernenko AK Legal technology. - Novosibirsk: Publishing House of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2014. - p. 157.

The existence of people in society is characterized by various forms of life and communication. Everything that has been created in society is the result of the cumulative joint activity of many generations of people. Actually, society itself is a product of the interaction of people, it exists only where and when people are connected with each other by common interests.

In philosophical science, many definitions of the concept of "society" are offered. In a narrow sense, society can be understood as a certain group of people who have united for communication and joint performance of any activity, as well as a specific stage in the historical development of a people or country.

In a broad sense, society is a part of the material world isolated from nature, but closely connected with it, which consists of individuals with will and consciousness, and includes ways of interacting people and forms of their association.

In philosophical science, society is characterized as a dynamic self-developing system, i.e., such a system that is capable of seriously changing, at the same time retaining its essence and qualitative certainty. The system is understood as a complex of interacting elements. In turn, an element is some further indecomposable component of the system that is directly involved in its creation.

To analyze complex systems, like the one that society represents, the concept of "subsystem" was developed. Subsystems are called "intermediate" complexes, more complex than the elements, but less complex than the system itself.

1) economic, the elements of which are material production and relations that arise between people in the process of production of material goods, their exchange and distribution;

2) social, consisting of such structural formations as classes, social strata, nations, taken in their relationship and interaction with each other;

3) political, including politics, the state, law, their correlation and functioning;

4) spiritual, covering various forms and levels of social consciousness, which, being embodied in the real process of the life of society, form what is commonly called spiritual culture.

Each of these spheres, being an element of the system called "society", in turn, turns out to be a system in relation to the elements that make it up. All four spheres of social life are not only interconnected, but also mutually condition each other. The division of society into spheres is somewhat arbitrary, but it helps to isolate and study individual areas of a truly integral society, a diverse and complex social life.

Sociologists offer several classifications of society. Societies are:

a) pre-written and written;

b) simple and complex (the criterion in this typology is the number of levels of management of society, as well as the degree of its differentiation: in simple societies there are no leaders and subordinates, rich and poor, and in complex societies there are several levels of government and several social strata of the population, arranged from top to bottom as income decreases);

c) society of primitive hunters and gatherers, traditional (agrarian) society, industrial society and post-industrial society;

d) primitive society, slave society, feudal society, capitalist society and communist society.

In Western scientific literature in the 1960s. the division of all societies into traditional and industrial has become widespread.

The German sociologist F. Tennis, the French sociologist R. Aron, and the American economist W. Rostow made a great contribution to the formation of this concept.

The traditional (agrarian) society represented the pre-industrial stage of civilizational development. All societies of antiquity and the Middle Ages were traditional. Their economy was dominated by subsistence agriculture and primitive handicrafts. Extensive technology and hand tools predominated, initially providing economic progress. In his production activity, a person tried to adapt to the maximum possible environment obeyed the rhythms of nature. Property relations were characterized by the dominance of communal, corporate, conditional, state forms of ownership. Private property was neither sacred nor inviolable. The distribution of material wealth, the product produced depended on the position of a person in the social hierarchy. The social structure of a traditional society is corporate by class, stable and immovable. There was virtually no social mobility: a person was born and died, remaining in the same social group. The main social units were the community and the family. Human behavior in society was regulated by corporate norms and principles, customs, beliefs, unwritten laws. Providentialism dominated the public consciousness: social reality, human life were perceived as the implementation of divine providence.

The spiritual world of a person in a traditional society, his system of value orientations, way of thinking are special and noticeably different from modern ones. Individuality, independence were not encouraged: the social group dictated the norms of behavior to the individual. The number of educated people was extremely limited ("literacy for the few") oral information prevailed over written.

The political sphere of traditional society is dominated by the church and the army. The person is completely alienated from politics. Power appears to him greater value than right and law. In general, this society is extremely conservative, stable, immune to innovations and impulses from outside, being a "self-sustaining self-regulating immutability."

Changes in it occur spontaneously, slowly, without the conscious intervention of people. The spiritual sphere of human existence is a priority over the economic one.

Traditional societies have survived to this day mainly in the countries of the so-called "third world" (Asia, Africa). From a Eurocentric point of view, traditional societies are backward, primitive, closed, unfree social organisms, to which Western sociology opposes industrial and post-industrial civilizations.

As a result of modernization, understood as a complex, contradictory, complex process of transition from a traditional society to an industrial one, the foundations of a new civilization were laid in the countries of Western Europe. It is called industrial, technogenic, scientific and technical or economic.

The economic base of an industrial society is industry based on machine technology. The volume of fixed capital increases, long-term average costs per unit of output decrease. In agriculture, labor productivity rises sharply, natural isolation is destroyed. An extensive economy is replaced by an intensive one, and simple reproduction is replaced by an expanded one. All these processes occur through the implementation of the principles and structures of a market economy, based on scientific and technological progress. A person is freed from direct dependence on nature, partially subordinates it to himself. Stable the economic growth accompanied by an increase in real per capita income. In the social sphere of an industrial society, traditional structures and social barriers are also collapsing. Social mobility is significant. As a result of the development of agriculture and industry, the share of the peasantry in the population is sharply reduced, and urbanization is taking place. New classes appear - the industrial proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the middle strata are strengthened. The aristocracy is in decline.

In the spiritual sphere, there is a significant transformation of the value system. The man of the new society is autonomous within the social group, guided by his personal interests. Individualism, rationalism and utilitarianism (a person does not act in the name of some global goals, but for a certain benefit) are new systems of personality coordinates. There is a secularization of consciousness (liberation from direct dependence on religion). A person in an industrial society strives for self-development, self-improvement. Global changes are also taking place in the political sphere. The role of the state is growing sharply, and a democratic regime is gradually taking shape. Law and law dominate in society, and a person is involved in power relations as an active subject.

Thus, industrial civilization opposes traditional society in all directions. Industrial societies include most modern industrial developed countries(including Russia).

But modernization gave rise to many new contradictions, which eventually turned into global problems (environmental, energy and other crises).

By resolving them, progressively developing, some modern societies are approaching the stage of a post-industrial society, the theoretical parameters of which were developed in the 1970s. American sociologists D. Bell, E. Toffler and others. This society is characterized by the promotion of the service sector, the individualization of production and consumption, an increase in the share of small-scale production with the loss of dominant positions by mass production, the leading role of science, knowledge and information in society. In the social structure of the post-industrial society, there is an erasure of class differences, and the convergence of the incomes of various groups of the population leads to the elimination of social polarization and the growth of the share of the middle class. The new civilization can be characterized as anthropogenic, in the center of it is man, his individuality. Sometimes it is also called informational, which reflects the ever-increasing dependence of the daily life of society on information. Transition to a post-industrial society for most countries modern world is a very distant prospect.

In the course of his activity, a person enters into various relationships with other people. Such diverse forms of interaction between people, as well as connections that arise between different social groups (or within them), are usually called social relations.

All social relations can be conditionally divided into two large groups - material relations and spiritual (or ideal) relations. Their fundamental difference from each other lies in the fact that material relations arise and develop directly in the course of a person’s practical activity, outside the consciousness of a person and independently of him, and spiritual relations are formed, having previously “passed through the consciousness” of people, determined by their spiritual values. In turn, material relations are divided into production, environmental and office relations; spiritual on moral, political, legal, artistic, philosophical and religious social relations.

A special type of social relations are interpersonal relations. Interpersonal relationships are relationships between individuals. At the same time, individuals, as a rule, belong to different social strata, have different cultural and educational levels, but they are united by common needs and interests in the sphere of leisure or everyday life. The famous sociologist Pitirim Sorokin identified the following types of interpersonal interaction:

a) between two individuals (husband and wife, teacher and student, two comrades);

b) between three individuals (father, mother, child) -

c) between four, five or more people (the singer and his listeners);

d) between many and many people (members of an unorganized crowd).

Interpersonal relations arise and are realized in society and are social relations even if they are in the nature of purely individual communication. They act as a personified form of social relations.

Society and public relations

1) economic, the elements of which are material production and relations that arise between people in the process of production of material goods, their exchange and distribution;

2) social, consisting of such structural formations as classes, social strata, nations, taken in their relationship and interaction with each other;

3) political, including politics, the state, law, their correlation and functioning;

4) spiritual, covering various forms and levels of social consciousness, which, being embodied in the real process of the life of society, form what is commonly called spiritual culture.

Sociologists offer several classifications of society. Societies are:

a) pre-written and written;

b) simple and complex (the criterion in this typology is the number of levels of management of a society, as well as the degree of its differentiation: in simple societies there are no leaders and subordinates, rich and poor, and in complex societies there are several levels of management and several social strata of the population, arranged from top to bottom in descending order of income);

c) society of primitive hunters and gatherers, traditional (agrarian) society, industrial society and post-industrial society;

d) primitive society, slave society, feudal society, capitalist society and communist society.

In Western scientific literature in the 1960s. the division of all societies into traditional and industrial has become widespread.

The German sociologist F. Tennis, the French sociologist R. Aron, and the American economist W. Rostow made a great contribution to the formation of this concept.

The traditional (agrarian) society represented the pre-industrial stage of civilizational development. All societies of antiquity and the Middle Ages were traditional. Their economy was dominated by subsistence agriculture and primitive handicrafts. Extensive technology and hand tools predominated, initially providing economic progress. In his production activities, man sought to adapt to the environment as much as possible, obeyed the rhythms of nature. Property relations were characterized by the dominance of communal, corporate, conditional, state forms of ownership. Private property was neither sacred nor inviolable. The distribution of material wealth, the product produced depended on the position of a person in the social hierarchy. The social structure of a traditional society is corporate by class, stable and immovable. There was virtually no social mobility: a person was born and died, remaining in the same social group. The main social units were the community and the family. Human behavior in society was regulated by corporate norms and principles, customs, beliefs, unwritten laws. Providentialism dominated the public consciousness: social reality, human life were perceived as the implementation of divine providence.

The spiritual world of a person of a traditional society, his system of value orientations, way of thinking are special and noticeably different from modern ones. Individuality, independence were not encouraged: the social group dictated the norms of behavior to the individual. The number of educated people was extremely limited ("literacy for the few") oral information prevailed over written.

The political sphere of traditional society is dominated by the church and the army. The person is completely alienated from politics. Power seems to him of greater value than law and law. In general, this society is extremely conservative, stable, immune to innovations and impulses from outside, being a "self-sustaining self-regulating immutability."

Changes in it occur spontaneously, slowly, without the conscious intervention of people. The spiritual sphere of human existence is a priority over the economic one.

The economic base of an industrial society is industry based on machine technology. The volume of fixed capital increases, long-term average costs per unit of output decrease. In agriculture, labor productivity rises sharply, natural isolation is destroyed. An extensive economy is replaced by an intensive one, and simple reproduction is replaced by an expanded one. All these processes occur through the implementation of the principles and structures of a market economy, based on scientific and technological progress. A person is freed from direct dependence on nature, partially subordinates it to himself. Stable economic growth is accompanied by an increase in real per capita income. In the social sphere of an industrial society, traditional structures and social barriers are also collapsing. Social mobility is significant. As a result of the development of agriculture and industry, the share of the peasantry in the population is sharply reduced, and urbanization is taking place. New classes appear - the industrial proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the middle strata are strengthened. The aristocracy is in decline.

Thus, industrial civilization opposes traditional society in all directions. The majority of modern industrialized countries (including Russia) are classified as industrial societies.

But modernization gave rise to many new contradictions, which eventually turned into global problems (environmental, energy and other crises).

By resolving them, progressively developing, some modern societies are approaching the stage of a post-industrial society, the theoretical parameters of which were developed in the 1970s. American sociologists D. Bell, E. Toffler and others. This society is characterized by the promotion of the service sector, the individualization of production and consumption, an increase in the share of small-scale production with the loss of dominant positions by mass production, the leading role of science, knowledge and information in society. In the social structure of the post-industrial society, there is an erasure of class differences, and the convergence of the incomes of various groups of the population leads to the elimination of social polarization and the growth of the share of the middle class. The new civilization can be characterized as anthropogenic, in the center of it is man, his individuality. Sometimes it is also called informational, which reflects the ever-increasing dependence of the daily life of society on information. The transition to a post-industrial society for most countries of the modern world is a very distant prospect.

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People on a scale societies. Regulation public relations- main function public societies separate norms public relations. And public opinion comes out...

Abstract >> Sociology

People on a scale societies. Regulation public relations- main function public opinions. Its essence ... develops and instills in members societies separate norms public relations. And public opinion comes out...

The concept of society is very multifaceted. It can be attributed to relatively small groups of people united for some reason significant to them, for example, societies of athletes, politicians, animal lovers.

Society can be understood as a separate country, for example, Russian or American society. To characterize stable interethnic, interstate formations, the concept of a community (European community) is used.

Society is also understood as the whole of humanity as a certain, relatively isolated part of nature, as a bearer of reason, a source of culture, as a universal form of human existence.

When it is required to emphasize some essential features of a society, one speaks of its types. According to the technological basis, pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial societies are distinguished. According to the religious basis: Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Confucian. On a national basis: German, French, etc. Each of them, although it differs from the others in its specific features, is subject to general laws.

In philosophy, the understanding of society is associated with the idea of a historically established set of people connected by a common life activity. The main feature of society is its organic integrity, systemicity, since people are united in it on the basis of the common mode of existence necessary for them. The main features of any society include: historically developed population; common territory; a certain way of life; orderliness of relations (economic, social, political); common language, spiritual culture and traditions; organization of power and control.

The main elements of any social system are its subjects. The leading subject of society's activity, of course, is a person. However, various groups, associations of people can also act as subjects of society:

o age (youth, pensioners);

o professional (doctors, teachers, miners);

o ethnic (nationality, nation);

o religious (church, sect);

o political (parties, popular fronts, states).

Society exists and develops only due to the presence of stable relationships between its subjects. Various forms of interaction between people, connections that arise between social subjects or within them are called social relations.

Public relations can be conditionally divided into two large groups: material relations and spiritual relations. Material relations arise and develop directly in the course of human practical activity, and are fixed in the material forms of material culture (creation, distribution, consumption material assets). Spiritual relations are associated with ideal values: moral, artistic, philosophical, religious.

Most often, public relations are divided into spheres of public life. In any society - regardless of language, dominant religion, history, orientation of the economy - there are four types of activities that must be reproduced in order to preserve and continue it. They form the basis for the formation of four main areas of public life and, accordingly, four types of public relations. Thus, allocate

economic relations (relations in the process of material production);

social relations (system-forming relations between the subjects of public life); political relations (regarding the functioning of power in society);

Spiritual-intellectual relations (concerning moral, religious, aesthetic values).

Public relations are influenced by the regulating activity of a person and society as a whole. At the same time, the position and well-being of each person, as well as the direction and pace of social development, depend on the nature of the relations established in a given society. The economic, social, political and spiritual relations of people in every historically defined society exist objectively, largely independently of the desire of the individual. But the system of social relations develops only on the basis of the creative efforts of many people whose practical activity gives rise to new social relations.

In order to understand the phenomenon of society, it is necessary to understand the contradictions of a person as a social “atom”, and then to understand the nature of the patterns that unite people into a single whole, into a social “organism”. In principle, there are three main approaches to explaining these connections and regularities.

The first can be labeled as naturalistic. Its essence is that human society is seen as a natural continuation of the laws of nature, the animal world and, ultimately, the Cosmos. From these positions, the type of social structure and the course of history are determined by the rhythms solar activity and cosmic radiation, features of the geographical and natural-climatic environment, the specifics of man as a natural being, his genetic, racial and gender characteristics. Society appears as a kind of epiphenomenon of nature, its highest, but far from being the most “successful” and sustainable formation. This "experiment" of nature, in view of the obvious imperfection of man and the severity of imperfect global problems, can lead to the suicide of mankind. Within the framework of this direction, it is also assumed that society can change the form of its existence, "go" into space, and there begin a new round of its evolution.

Another approach can be called "idealistic". Here, the essence of the connections that unite people into a single whole is seen in the complex of certain ideas, beliefs, myths. History has known many examples of theocratic states, where unity is ensured by one faith, which thereby becomes the state religion. Many totalitarian regimes were based on a single state ideology, which in this sense served as the skeleton of the social structure. The mouthpiece of these ideas was usually a religious leader or "leader" of the nation and people, and certain historical actions (wars, reforms, etc.) depended on the will of this person, which was based on a given ideological or religious system.

The third approach to explaining the social structure is associated with a philosophical analysis of interpersonal connections and relationships that arise in appropriate natural conditions and in the presence of certain beliefs, but have a self-sufficient, defining character. Society appears as a whole, a certain system, structured in a special way into parts, to which it is not completely reduced. With this understanding, a person realizes himself depending on the place he occupies in society and participation in the general process. The relations of people are determined not by an agreement or contract, but by the consent of the members of society (consensus), which takes into account the objective laws of historical development.

Throughout history, people have tried to understand and explain the causes of the emergence of society, the direction of its development. Initially, such explanations were given in mythological form, in tales about gods and heroes, whose wishes and actions determined human destinies (for example, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey).

Philosophical doctrines of society originated in ancient world when for the first time attempts were made to justify the view of society as a specific form of being that has its own laws. For example, Aristotle defined society as a collection of human individuals who came together to satisfy social instincts. In the Middle Ages, philosophical explanations of social life were based on religious dogmas. Aurelius Augustine and Thomas Aquinas understood human society as being of a special kind, as a type of human life activity, the meaning of which is predetermined by God, and which develops in accordance with the will of God.

During the Modern Age, the idea that society arose and developed naturally on the basis of an agreement between people became widespread. Representatives of the contractual theory (T. Hobbes, D. Locke, J.-J. Rousseau) substantiated the position on the "natural rights" of each person, which he receives from birth.

The concept of civil society in its most complete form was developed by the German philosopher G. Hegel, who defined it as communication, communication of people through the coordination of needs, division of labor, mutual maintenance of order.

In the 19th century, along with philosophy, a specific science of society began to take shape - sociology. This concept was introduced by the French philosopher O. Comte. The subject of study of this science was social progress, the decisive factor of which, according to O. Kont, is the spiritual and mental development of mankind.

A certain stage in development social problems was the theory of Marxism, according to which the development of society appears as a natural-historical process. Human society, according to Marx, goes through five socio-economic formations in its development: primitive communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist. Reproaches against Marxism are connected with the fact that in the variety of historical processes economic factors are brought to the fore, and the influence of human, socio-spiritual elements is given a secondary role.

At the end of the 19th century, the "philosophy of life" gained popularity. Its representative, F. Nietzsche, called for a reassessment of all values from the standpoint of individualism, intellectual and moral aristocracy. O. Spengler considered history not as a whole, but as a set of closed cycles, each of which represents the history of the culture of a separate people. O. Spengler believed that European society entered the end of the decline.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the works of the greatest philosopher M. Weber, who considered the problems of social action, became widespread. K. Popper's works are devoted to the analysis of possible types of social organization, the opposition of totalitarianism and democracy, the responsibility of a person for the choice of the society in which he will live.

In the second half of the 20th century, the philosophical knowledge of social life was supplemented by technological concepts. R. Aron, D. Bell, W. Rostow, Z. Brzezinski, A. Toffler put forward a number of theories that explained the processes taking place in society by changes in technology and technology. They identified three main stages in the development of society:

pre-industrial (agrarian),

Industrial (industrialized),

Post-industrial (high-tech, aimed at the individual needs of each person).

Since the beginning of the 20th century, numerous attempts have been made to explain social reality by means of the natural sciences: geography, biology, psychology, cybernetics, and, more recently, synergetics (G. Spencer, M. Kovalevsky, Z. Freud, J. Piaget, I. Prigogine). This trend itself is very indicative from the standpoint of the convergence of natural science and social theories.

Thus, the history of philosophical thought shows, on the one hand, the growing power of scientific knowledge in the sphere of social relations, and, on the other hand, demonstrates the growing complexity of developing social systems. A way out of such a contradiction is possible on the path of understanding the general laws governing the existence and development of society.

The presence of stable ties between all components of society, their unity has never caused doubts among philosophers. However, there have been and still are different approaches to understanding the nature of the integrity of society. In the history of philosophy, the "atomistic" theory of society, the theory of "social groups", the theory of social institutions and organizations, the theory of "society as an organism" are known. Today, many philosophers (P. Alekseev, V. Kokhanovsky, A. Bogolyubova, P. Grechko and others) use the theory of society as a system. This system has special qualities:

Integrity (the system as a whole is higher than its individual elements);

functionality (the role of each element depends on its place within the system);

Structurality (relative stability of connections and relationships between elements of the system);

interdependence with the external environment (each system is an element of a larger system and, on the one hand, depends on the impulses of this large system, and on the other, it itself affects the external environment).

All of these signs correspond to human society.

Society is a multilevel system. The main levels can be represented as follows. The first level is social roles that determine the structure of social interactions. The second level is the various social groups and institutions in which these social roles are distributed. The third level is culture, which sets patterns of human activity, maintains and reproduces norms tested by the experience of many generations. The fourth level is the political system, which regulates and strengthens ties within the social system through legal acts.

Society is a self-reproducing, self-organizing, self-regulating, dynamic system that is in the process of continuous change. The main source of the development of society is the creative energy embodied in the behavior of people, which does not always fit into the framework of established regulations. Such energy is also called innovative. This energy causes changes in the cultural and institutional systems of society, which are carried out due to the mechanisms of internal self-regulation and control.

The development of society, as a rule, is aimed at creating more and more complex system elements. The dynamics of the development of society is associated with the alternation of periods of acceleration of life processes and their slowdown, partial collapse of social structures, with a partial return to the old.

Of course, each individual person is born in a certain society and in a certain historical era. He finds the existing system of social relations, which cannot be ignored. But he must determine his place and role in this system. The power of the objective laws of society is not something fatal. As noted by V. Kokhanovsky, V. Yakovlev, L. Zharov and T. Matyash, "the whole history is the movement of mankind towards freedom and humanism in social relations." Today, humanity is experiencing a moral and cultural crisis associated with the inability to establish harmonious relations between society and man, between peoples, nations, states.

The social structure of society involves considering society as an integral system with internal differentiation, and the various parts of this system are in close relationship with each other. Various social communities of people in real life constantly interact with each other, interpenetrate each other. The relations of classes, for example, have a great influence on the relations of nations, and the relations of nations, in turn, have a certain influence on the relations of classes.

The whole complex set of social communities that exists in modern conditions is not just a certain set of parallel coexisting social forces, but an organic social system, a qualitatively defined social integrity. This is the complexity of the existence and functioning of the social structure of society, that in it various social communities, interpenetrating, intertwining, interacting with each other, at the same time remain as qualitatively stable social formations.

The social structure is considered in the broad and narrow sense of the word. The social structure in the broad sense of the word includes various types of structures and is an objective division of society according to various, vital signs. The most important sections of this structure in the broadest sense of the word are social-class, socio-professional, socio-demographic, ethnic, settlement, etc.

Social structure in the narrow sense of the word is a social class structure, a set of classes, social strata and groups that are in unity and interaction. Historically, the social structure of society in the broad sense of the word appeared much earlier than the social class structure. So, in particular, ethnic communities appeared long before the formation of classes, in the conditions of primitive society. The social class structure began to develop with the advent of classes and the state. But one way or another, throughout history, there has been a close relationship between the various elements of the social structure. Moreover, in certain eras, various social communities (classes, nations or other communities of people) began to play a leading role in historical events.

The social structure of society has a concrete historical character. Each socio-economic formation has its own social structure, both in the broad and narrow sense of the word, in each of them certain social communities play a decisive role. Thus, it is well known what a great role the bourgeoisie played in the development of the economy, trade, science and culture during the Renaissance in the countries of Western Europe. No less important was the role of the Russian intelligentsia in the development of social life in Russia in the nineteenth century.

In this regard, it is necessary to dwell separately on the role of the social class structure and the role of classes and class relations in the social structure of society. Quite a lot of historical facts are known that testify to the fact that it was classes and their relations that left a big imprint on the social life of society, because it is in the class community that the most important economic interests of people are embodied. Therefore, the social class structure of society plays a leading role in the social life of society. However, no less important, especially in modern conditions, belongs to other social communities of people (ethnic, professional, socio-demographic, etc.).

Talking about structure modern society, it should be said about its social class character. Philosophy and sociology (as a science of society) today proceed from the fact that social groups are relatively stable collections of people who have common values, interests and norms of behavior. Large social groups are: social classes; social strata; professional groups; ethnic communities (nation, nationality, tribe); age groups (youth, pensioners). Small social groups, a specific feature of which is the direct contacts of its members, are: a family, a production team, a school class, neighboring communities, and friendly companies. A social class is a large social group distinguished by its attitude to the means of production and property. The class character of the structure of society has objective roots, since associated with the place of the given class in production. However, today to consider classes and the class struggle as the main engine of history (as the founders of Marxism-Leninism did), in my opinion, is completely wrong. The scientific and technological revolution and social progress are leading mankind to a gradual blurring of the distinctions between mental and physical labor, as well as people of different classes of society.

In our time, very important changes are taking place in the social class structure of society. Two factors play an important role here. First, more than half of the population of our planet has moved to an urban (urban) lifestyle. In almost all countries of the world, education is today considered the most important area of social development. Man, his consciousness, thinking and creativity come to the fore in the life of modern society. Secondly, for almost fifty years now there has been a gradual transition to the information model of human development, where the line between production and consumption is blurred, where human activity is primarily associated with information and knowledge as the main development resource.

In addition to the social class structure of society, each person is included in the professional structure. The professional structure of society is the composition of the population employed in the economy by occupation (in a particular industry) and professions (taking into account qualifications and education).

Any individual is also included in the cultural environment, settlement structure (city, village), family, etc. Thus, we see that a complex interweaving of the social structure of society is being created. It is also very important to note here that a person can change his class affiliation and profession during his life. Only gender, ethnicity and cultural characteristics are stable elements modern structure society.

Understanding the essence, content, patterns of development of society is the most important, initial in the entire system of philosophical studies of human life and humanity as a whole. This is natural, since the forms of people's existence, their material well-being, spirituality, happiness or adversity to a large extent depend on the society in which they were born, formed as a person, showed their abilities, gained social status, significance for the family, nation , states, all mankind, finally.

So, society is a set of historically established forms of joint activity of people; in a narrower sense, society is a historically specific type of social system, a certain form of social relations.

Public relations are diverse connections between social groups, nations, religious communities, as well as within them, in the process of their economic, social, political and cultural activities.

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The meaning of the name Alina. Name interpretation. "Alina" - the meaning of the name, the origin of the name, name day, zodiac sign, talisman stones Character traits or how to make friends with Alina

Why dream of a canary in the hands of a woman

Fortune telling on playing cards: simple layouts and interpretations