To help the graduate: "Preparation for the exam in social studies."

Social science is one of the most chosen subjects by school graduates, because. he is profiling in many Russian universities. In order to successfully pass the exam in social studies, not only knowledge is required, but also the ability to apply them in practice (solution of test tasks).

Without the completed part C, there can be no high score. Complete correct performance of the tasks of part 3 (C) is estimated from 2 to 5 points, C1, C2, C5 - 2 points each, tasks C3, C4, C6, C7, C8 - 3 points each, tasks C9 - 5 points, in total for the part C - 26 points.

To help those guys who decided to take social studies this year, the same type of tasks of part C were selected.

Task C5 - task of an increased level to enumerate signs, phenomena or to use a concept in a given context. There are two models of this task:

The first model assumes the enumeration of a certain number of given elements (properties, manifestations, etc.);

The second model involves the definition of a concept and the compilation of two informative sentences with it, reflecting certain theoretical or actual social science data.

Part C5 assignments

C5. one. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "scientific knowledge"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about scientific knowledge.

C5.2. List any three features that characterize a society as an open dynamic system.

C5.3. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "school education"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about school education.

C5.4. What meaning do social scientists invest in the concept of "economic resources"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about economic resources.

C5.5. Name three features of a presidential republic that distinguish it from a parliamentary republic.

C5.6. Name any three functions of politics in a state.

C5.7. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "political behavior"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about political behavior.

C5.8. Give three reasons for grouping people together.

C5.9. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "socialization of the individual"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about the socialization of the individual.

C5.10. What meaning do lawyers invest in the concept of "civil marriage"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about civil marriage.

C5.11. Scientists have determined that the voter's choice during voting is determined by a significant number of factors. List any three factors that influence a voter's decision.

C5.12. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "labor market"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about the labor market.

C5.13. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "social group"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about social groups in society.

C5.14. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "world religions"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about world religions.

C5.15. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "political elite"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about the political elite.

C5.16. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "citizenship"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about citizenship.

C5. 17. It is known that many democratic countries are faced with the problem of low voter turnout. Some countries impose special sanctions (for example, fines) on such voters, others consider turnout to be a right of the voter, which he may not use. Suggest what could be the reasons for low voter turnout? Name three reasons.

C5.18. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of " social control"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about social control.

C5.19. Form four judgments that reveal the various functions of political parties in modern society.

C5.20. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "education"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about education.

C5.21. Name three functions of modern science.

C5.22. What is the limitation economic resources? Give at least three sentences.

C5. 23. name three historical type society.

C5. 24. Name any three human needs.

C5. 25. Name any three global problems of our time.

C5.26. Name three public institutions that contribute to the socialization of the individual.

C5. 27. What meaning do social scientists invest in the concept of "dialogue of cultures"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about the dialogue of cultures

C5. 28. List any three reasons why people join groups.

C5. 29 . Name three property rights of spouses.

C5. thirty. List any three conditions that promote economic freedom in a market economy.

C5. 31. Name any three factors of socialization of the individual.

C5. 32 . List any three features that characterize education as a social institution

C5.33. List any three functions of government that are characteristic of a democratic state.

C5.34. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "political party"? Drawing on knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about a political party.

C5.35. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "social group"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about social groups in society.

C5.36. What meaning do social scientists invest in the concept of "world religions"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about world religions.

C5.37. Name two reasons for the emergence of global problems of our time.

C5.38. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "civilization"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about civilization.

C5.39. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "international division of labor"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about the international division of labor.

C5.40. Name any three types of worldview.

C5.41.What meaning do social scientists invest in the concept of "personality"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about the personality of a person.

C5.42. Name three subjects of the economic system that benefit from unexpected inflation.

C5.43. Name any three factors that increase the supply of goods.

C5.44..What meaning do social scientists invest in the concept of "counterculture"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make up two sentences containing information about the counterculture.

C5.45. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "social relations"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about social relations.

C5.46. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "cognition". Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about cognition.

C5.47. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "producer"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about the manufacturer.

C5.48. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "revolution"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about the revolution.

C5.49. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "unemployment"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make up two sentences containing information about unemployment.

C5.50. What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of " political ideology"? Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, make two sentences containing information about political ideology.

ANSWERS to tasks С5.

one). “Scientific knowledge is knowledge acquired through special methods in science.”

Offers:

Scientific knowledge includes a hypothesis.

One of the detection methods scientific knowledge is an experiment.

Communication of society with nature;

The presence of subsystems;

The relationship of parts and elements of the social structure;

Constant changes in society.

C5.3.“School education is a stage educational system of the state, covering children and adolescents, aged 7-17 years"

Offers:

School education is the most important stage in the socialization of the individual.

One of the tasks of school education is to prepare the younger generation for labor activity(admission to higher educational institutions).

C5.4.“Economic resources are those factors by which services and goods are created in the process of production.”

Offers:

Most economic resources are limited.

One of the most important economic resources is labor.

C5.5.- strict separation of the legislative power from the executive;

Exclusion of combinations of government posts and seats of deputies in parliament;

The president is elected in elections, separate from the parliamentary ones;

Executive power is less dependent on the will of the deputies of parliament.

C5.6.- ensuring the stability of the state;

Mobilization;

managerial;

Humanitarian.

C5.7."Political behavior is the actions of a person that characterize his interaction with political institutions."

Offers:

The political behavior of the individual is explained by his value attitudes.

One form of political behavior is participation in demonstrations and rallies.

C5.8.- groups satisfy the needs of a person in social belonging;

In a group, a person satisfies one or another interest;

In a group, a person performs those activities that he cannot carry out alone;

A person belongs to one or another interest group;

A person belongs to a certain group by age, gender, social status.

C5.9."The socialization of the individual is the assimilation of the basic knowledge accumulated by society and the norms of social life."

Offers:

The family is the primary socialization institution.

The socialization of the individual helps her to adapt to the conditions of social life.

C5.10.« A civil marriage is a marriage legally registered with the registry office.

Offers:

Only civil marriage produces legal relations between spouses.

Along with civil marriage, fictitious, church marriages are distinguished.

C5.11.- the level of income and education of the voter;

Influence of the social sphere;

Media position;

National, religious factors.

C5.12.“The labor market is a set of economic and legal procedures that allow people to exchange their labor services for money and other material goods.

Offers:

- The labor market is characterized by mobility.

The labor market reflects the structure and general state of the economy of the region and the country as a whole.

C5.13.“A social group is a set of people who have some common significant social attribute” or “A social group is any set of people identified according to socially significant criteria.”

Offers:

Social groups are subdivided by number, character, age, sex.

In social groups, a person can realize himself as a person.

In social groups, a person realizes his interests.

C5.14. concept: "World religions are a group of religions that are widespread in all regions of the Earth, addressed to all people, regardless of ethnicity and political affiliation, by the largest number of believers."

Two suggestions:

Islam is the youngest of the world religions.

- "World religions include Buddhism, Christianity, Islam."

- "One of the very first world religions was Buddhism, which arose in ancient India."

C5.15."The political elite is a group of people occupying the highest positions in the political hierarchy" or "The political elite is a relatively small social group that concentrates a significant amount of political power in their hands."

Offers:

The political elite constitutes a minority of society, possessing the qualities of leadership.

The political elite is updated in the process of the election campaign.

C5. 16."Citizenship is a stable legal relationship of a person with the state" or "Citizenship is a person's belonging to any state."

Offers:

Citizenship can be acquired by a person from birth.

Citizenship is not only belonging to the state, but also the mutual obligations of a person and the state to which he belongs.

Low activity may be associated with political stability in society;

Voters do not trust the authorities;

People are busy with their lives, there is no interest in politics;

Crisis phenomena in society, the inability of the authorities to find a way out.

SOCIETY

Society and nature

Culture and civilization

The most important institutions of society

society- this is a certain group of people

Can be defined society and how big

society and nature.

Society and nature

culture

1. “Exactly

the question arose about legal protection of nature .

Legal protection of nature

.

.

Public relations

Important role in the functioning of society play public relations. This concept refers to the diverse connections that arise between social groups, classes, nations, as well as within them in the process of economic, social, political, cultural life and activity.

Material social relations are formed in the sphere of production, in the course of practical activity. Material relations are divided into production, environmental and office relations.

spiritual relationship are formed as a result of the interaction of people in the process of creating and disseminating spiritual and cultural values. They are divided into moral, political, legal, artistic, philosophical and religious social relations.

special kind public relations are interpersonal(i.e. relationships between separate individuals).

Evolution and revolution

There are two main ways of change - evolution and revolution. Evolution comes from the Latin word for "unfolding" -

they are slow, constant changes in a previous state. Revolution(from the Latin turn, change) is a change in all or most aspects of public life, affecting the foundations of the existing social order.

At first glance, revolution differs from evolution only in the rate of change. However, in philosophy there is a point of view about the relationship between these two phenomena: the growth of quantitative changes in development (evolution) eventually leads to a qualitative change (revolution).

In this regard, the concept of evolution is close to the evolutionary path in social development. reform. Reform- this is a transformation, reorganization, a change in any aspect of social life that does not destroy the foundations of the existing social structure.

Reforms in Marxism were opposed to political revolution, as an active political action of the masses, leading to the transfer of leadership of society into the hands of a new class. At the same time, revolutions were always recognized as a more radical and progressive way of transformation in Marxism, and reforms were viewed as half-hearted, painful for the masses, transformations, which in the majority were allegedly due to the potential threat of revolution. Revolutions are inevitable and natural in a society where timely reforms are not carried out.

However, political revolutions usually lead to great social upheaval and casualties. Some scientists generally denied the possibility of creative activity to revolutions. So, one of the historians of the XIX century compared the Great French Revolution with a hammer that only broke the old clay molds, revealing to the world the already cast bell of the new social order. That is, in his opinion, a new social system was born in the course of evolutionary transformations, and the revolution only swept away the barriers for it,

On the other hand, history knows reforms that led to fundamental changes in society. F. Engels, for example, called the "revolution from above" Bismarck's reforms in Germany. The reforms of the late 80s - early 90s can also be considered a “revolution from above”. XX century, which led to a change in the existing system in our country.

Modern Russian scientists have recognized the equivalence of reforms and revolutions. At the same time, revolutions were criticized as extremely inefficient, bloody, full of numerous costs and leading to dictatorship. Moreover, great reforms (i.e. revolutions from above) are recognized as the same social anomalies as great revolutions. Both of these ways of resolving social contradictions are opposed to the normal, healthy practice of "permanent reform in a self-regulating society."

Both reforms and revolutions treat an already neglected disease (the first - by therapeutic methods, the second - by surgical intervention. Therefore, constant innovation- as a one-time improvement associated with an increase in the adaptability of society to changing conditions. In this sense, innovation is like preventing the onset of a disease (i.e., a social contradiction). Innovation in this regard refers to the evolutionary path of development.

This point of view comes from opportunities for alternative social development. Neither the revolutionary nor the evolutionary path of development can be accepted as the only natural one.

Culture and civilization for a long time identified. However Culture and civilization

already in the 19th century, the scientific meaning of these concepts differed. And at the beginning of XX

century German philosopher O. Spengler in his work “The Decline of Europe”

and completely opposed them. Civilization appeared to him as the highest stage of culture, on which its final decline takes place. Culture is a civilization that has not reached its maturity and has not ensured its growth.

The differences between the concepts of "culture" and "civilization" were also emphasized by other thinkers. So, N. K. Roerich reduced the difference between culture and civilization to the opposition of the heart to the mind. He associated culture with the self-organization of the spirit, the world of spirituality, and civilization - with the civil, social structure of our life. Indeed, the word "culture" goes back to the Latin word meaning cultivation, cultivation, processing. However, the word upbringing, veneration, as well as cult (as worship and veneration of something) also goes back to the same root (cult-). The word "civilization" comes from the Latin civilis - civil, state, but the word "citizen, resident of the city" also goes back to the same root.

Culture is the core, the soul, and civilization is the shell, the body. P.K. Grechko believes that civilization fixes the level and result of the progressive development of society, and culture expresses the mechanism and process of mastering this level - the result. Civilization equips the earth, our life, makes it convenient, comfortable, pleasant. Culture is “responsible” for the constant dissatisfaction with what has been achieved, the search for something unattainable, worthy, first of all, of the soul, and not of the body. Culture is a process of humanization of social relations, human life, while civilization is their gradual but steady technologization.

Civilization cannot exist without culture, because the system of cultural values ​​is the feature that distinguishes one civilization from another. However, culture is a polysyllabic concept, it includes the culture of production, material relations and political culture and spiritual values. Depending on which sign we single out as the main criterion, the division of civilizations into separate types also changes.

Types of civilization

Depending on their concept and the criteria put forward, various researchers offer their own versions of the typology of civilization.

Types of civilizations

However, in journalistic literature widespread division into civilizations Western (innovative, rationalistic) and Eastern (traditional) type. Sometimes so-called intermediate civilizations are added to them. What features characterize them? Let's take a look at the following table as an example.

Main features of traditional society and Western society

traditional society	Western society
The “continuity” of the historical process, the absence of clear boundaries between individual eras, sharp shifts and shocks	History moves unevenly, in “leaps”, gaps between eras are obvious, transitions from one to another often take the form of revolutions
Inapplicability of the concept of linear progress	Social progress is quite obvious, especially in the sphere of material production
The relationship of society to nature is based on the principle of merging with it, and not dominating it.	Society seeks to maximize the use of natural resources for its needs
The basis of the economic system is community-state forms of ownership with a weak development of the institution of private property	The basis of the economy is private property. The right to property is seen as natural and inalienable
The level of social mobility is low, the partitions between castes and estates are not very permeable	The social mobility of the population is high, the social status of a person can change significantly throughout life
The state subjugates society, controls many aspects of people's lives. The community (state, ethnic group, social group) has priority over the individual	A civil society emerged, largely autonomous from the state. Individual rights are a priority and are constitutionally enshrined. Relationships between the individual and society are built on the basis of mutual responsibility.
Main regulator social life - tradition, custom	Readiness for change, innovation is of particular value.

Modern Civilizations

Currently, there are different types of civilizations on Earth. In the remote corners of the planet, the development of a number of peoples still retained the features of a primitive society, where life is entirely subordinate to the natural cycle (Central Africa, Amazonia, Oceania, etc.). Some peoples in their way of life have retained the features of eastern (traditional) civilizations. The influence of post-industrial society on these countries is reflected in the growth crisis phenomena, instability of life.

Active promotion of the values ​​of the post-industrial society by the media, raising them to the rank of universal values ​​causes a certain negative reaction from traditional civilizations, seeking not only to preserve their values, but also to revive the values ​​of the bygone past.

Thus, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, etc. are referred to the Arab-Islamic civilization. Between individual Islamic countries and even within these countries, the struggle between supporters of rapprochement with Western civilization and Islamic fundamentalists is intensifying. If the former allow the expansion of secular education, the rationalization of life, the widespread introduction modern achievements science and technology, the latter believe that the basis (foundation) of all spheres of life are the religious values ​​of Islam and take an aggressive position in relation to any innovations and borrowings from Western civilization.

India, Mongolia, Nepal, Thailand, etc. can be attributed to the Indo-Buddhist civilization. The traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism prevail here, religious tolerance. In these countries, on the one hand, the economic and political structures On the other hand, a significant part of the population lives by the values ​​of a traditional society.

The Far East Confucian civilization includes China, Korea, Japan, etc. The cultural traditions of Taoism, Confucianism and Shintoism prevail here. Despite the preserved traditions, these countries in last years converge and developed Western countries (especially in the economic sphere).

To what type of civilizational development can Russia be attributed? In science, there are several points of view on this matter:

Russia is a European country and Russian civilization is close to western style, although it has its own characteristics;

Russia is an original and self-sufficient civilization, occupying its own special place in the world. This is neither Eastern nor Western, but Eurasian civilization, which is characterized by superethnicity, intercultural exchange, supranational nature of spiritual values;

Russia is an internally split, "pendulum" civilization, which is characterized by a constant confrontation between western and eastern features. In its history, cycles of rapprochement with the western, then with Eastern civilizations;

To determine which point of view is more objective, let us turn to the characteristics of Western civilization. Researchers believe that within it there are several local civilizations (Western European, North American, Latin American, etc.). Modern Western civilization is a post-industrial civilization. Its features are determined by the consequences of the scientific and technological revolution (NTR), which took place in the 60-70s. XX century.

Global problems

The global problems of mankind are called problems concerning all people living on Earth, on the solution of which not only further social progress depends, but also the fate of all mankind.

Global problems appeared in the conditions of the scientific and technological revolution in the second half of the twentieth century, they are interconnected, cover all aspects of people's lives and concern all countries of the world without exception.

We list the main problems and show their relationship with each other.

Thermo threat nuclear disaster is closely interconnected with the threat of nuclear war, as well as man-made disasters. In turn, these problems are interconnected with the threat of a third world war. All this is due to the depletion of traditional sources of raw materials and the search for alternative species energy. The unresolved nature of this problem leads to an ecological catastrophe (depletion natural resources, pollution environment, food problem, lack of drinking water, etc.). The problem of climate change on the planet is acute, which can lead to catastrophic consequences. The ecological crisis, in turn, is connected with the demographic problem. The demographic problem is characterized by a deep contradiction: in developing countries there is an intensive population growth, and in developed countries there is a demographic decline, which creates enormous difficulties for the economic and social development.

At the same time, the “North-South” problem is aggravating, i.e. conflicts between developed countries and developing countries"Third World". The problems of protecting health and preventing the spread of AIDS and drug addiction are also becoming increasingly important. The problem of the revival of cultural and moral values ​​is of great importance.

After the events in New York on September 11, 2001, the problem of combating international terrorism sharply escalated. The next innocent victims of terrorists can be residents of any country in the world.

In general, the global problems of mankind can be schematically represented as a tangle of contradictions, where from each problem various threads stretch to all other problems. What is the a strategy for the survival of mankind in the face of exacerbation of global problems? The solution of global problems is possible only through the joint efforts of all countries coordinating their actions at the international level. Self-isolation and peculiarities of development will not allow individual countries to stay away from the economic crisis, nuclear war, the threat of terrorism or the AIDS epidemic. To solve global problems, to overcome the danger that threatens all of humanity, it is necessary further strengthening the interrelationships of the diverse modern world, the change in interaction with the environment, the rejection of the cult of consumption, the development of new values.

In preparing this chapter, materials from the following tutorials were used:

1. Grechko P.K. Introduction to social science. – M.: Pomatur, 2000.
2. Kravchenko A. I. Social science. – M.: “ Russian word– RS” - 2001.
3. Kurbatov V.I. Social science. - Rostov-on-Don: "Phoenix", 1999.
4. Man and society: Tutorial in social studies for students in grades 10-11 / Ed. L.N. Bogolyubova, A.Yu. Lazebnikova. M., 2001
5. Lazebnikova A.Yu. Contemporary school social studies. Questions of theory and methodology. - M .: School - Press, 2000.
6. Klimenko A.V., Rumynina V.V. Exam in social studies: Notes of answers. – M.: 2000.
7. Social science. 100 examination answers./Ed. B.Yu. Serbinovsky. Rostov-on-Don.: "Mar.T", 2000.

SOCIETY

Society as a dynamic system

Society and nature

Culture and civilization

The relationship of economic, social, political and spiritual spheres of society

The most important institutions of society

Variety of ways and forms of social development

The problem of social progress

The integrity of the modern world, its contradictions

Global problems of mankind

The concept of "society" is ambiguous. In its original meaning, it is a kind of community, union, cooperation, association of individuals.

From a sociological point of view society- this is a certain group of people, united by common interests (goal) for joint activities (for example, a society for the protection of animals or, conversely, a society of hunters and fishermen).

Historical approach to the understanding of society is associated with the allocation a specific stage in the historical development of a people or of all mankind(for example: primitive society, medieval society, etc.).

The ethnographic meaning of the concept "society" focuses on ethnic characteristics and cultural traditions of a certain population of people(for example: Bushmen society, society American Indians etc.).

Can be defined society and how big stable group of people occupying a certain territory, having common culture experiencing a sense of unity and considering itself as completely independent education (for example, Russian society, European society, etc.).

What unites the above interpretations of society?

• society consists of individuals with will and consciousness;
• You can't call a society just a certain number of people. People are united in society by joint activities, common interests and goals;
• any society is a way of organizing human life;
• The connecting link of society, its framework, are the connections established between people in the process of their interaction (public relations).

Society as a complex dynamic system

In general, a system is a collection of interconnected elements. For example, a pile of bricks cannot be called a system, but a house built from them is a system where each brick takes its place, is interconnected with other elements, has its own functional significance and serves a common goal - the existence of a durable, warm, beautiful building. But a building is an example of a static system. After all, a house cannot improve, develop by itself (it can only collapse if functional connections between elements - bricks).

An example of a dynamic self-developing system is a living organism. Already in the embryo of any living organism, the main features are laid, which, under the influence of the environment, determine the essential aspects of changes in the organism throughout life.

Similarly, society is a complex dynamic system that can exist only by constantly changing, but at the same time retaining its main features and qualitative certainty.

There is also a broad, philosophical point of view on society.

Society is a form of organization of individuals that has arisen in opposition to the environment (nature), lives and develops according to its own objective laws. In this sense, society is a set of forms of unification of people, a “collective of collectives”, all of humanity in its past, present and future.

Based on this broad interpretation, let us consider the relationship society and nature.

Society and nature

Both society and nature are part of the real world. Nature is the basis on which society has arisen and develops. If nature is understood as the whole of reality, the world as a whole, then society is part of it. But often the word "nature" refers to the natural habitat of people. With this understanding of nature, society can be regarded as a part of the real world that has become isolated from it, but society and nature have not lost their relationship. This relationship has always existed, but has changed over the centuries.

Once upon a time in primitive times, small societies of hunters and gatherers were completely dependent on the cataclysms of nature. Trying to protect themselves from these cataclysms, people created culture, as the totality of all the material and spiritual values ​​of society that have an artificial (i.e., not natural) origin. Below we will talk more than once about the diversity of the concept of “culture”. Now we emphasize that culture is something created by society, but the opposite natural environment, nature. So, the manufacture of the first tools of labor, the skills of making fire are the first cultural achievements of mankind. The appearance of agriculture and cattle breeding is also the fruits of culture (the word culture itself comes from the Latin “tillage”, “cultivation”).

1. “Exactly because of the dangers that nature threatens us, we have united and created a culture designed, among other things, to make our social life possible. - wrote Z. Freud. - Finally, the main task culture, the true rationale is to protect us from nature.”

2. With the development of cultural achievements, society was no longer so dependent on nature. Wherein society did not adapt to nature, but actively changed the environment, transforming it in its own interests. This change in nature has led to impressive results. Let us remember thousands of species of cultivated plants, new species of animals, drained swamps and flowering deserts. However, society transforming nature, exposing it to cultural influence, was often guided by momentary benefits. Yes, the first environmental problems began to appear in antiquity: many species of plants and animals completely disappeared, most of the forests in Western Europe were cut down in the Middle Ages. In the 20th century, the negative impact of society on nature became especially noticeable. Now we are talking about an ecological catastrophe, which can lead to the destruction of both nature and society. That's why the question arose about legal protection of nature .

The protection of the natural environment is understood as the preservation of its quality, which makes it possible, firstly, to preserve, protect and restore the healthy state and integrity of the Earth's ecosystem, and secondly, to preserve the biological diversity of the planet.

Environmental law deals with the legal protection of nature. Ecology (from the word “ekos” - home, residence; and “logos” knowledge) is the science of the interaction of man and society with the natural habitat.

The environmental legislation of the Russian Federation includes a number of provisions of the Constitution, 5 federal laws on environmental protection, 11 natural resource legislation, as well as decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation, etc.

Legal protection of nature

So in the Constitution of the Russian Federation in Art. 42 speaks of the right of every person to a favorable environment, to reliable information about its condition. Article 58 speaks of the obligation of everyone to preserve nature and the environment, to take care of the natural resources of Russia.

The federal laws “On Protection of the Environment” (1991), “On Ecological Expertise” (1995), “On the Protection of atmospheric air” (1999), etc. Attempts are being made to conclude international treaty about the protection of nature. On December 12, 1997, the International Protocol on the Control of Industrial Waste Emissions into the Atmosphere (Kyoto Protocol) was signed in Kyoto.

Thus, the relationship of nature, society and culture can be described as follows:

society and nature in interconnection form the material world. However, society separated itself from nature, creating culture as a second artificial nature, a new habitat. However, even having protected itself from nature by a kind of boundary of cultural traditions, society is not able to break ties with nature.

V. I. Vernadsky wrote that with the emergence and development of society the biosphere (the earthly shell covered by life) passes into the noosphere (the area of ​​the planet covered by intelligent human activity).

Nature still has an active impact on society. So, A. L. Chizhevsky established the relationship between the cycles of solar activity and social upheavals in society (wars, uprisings, revolutions, social transformations etc.). L. N. Gumilyov wrote about the impact of nature on society in his work “Ethnogenesis and the Biosphere of the Earth”.

The relationship of society and nature we see in a variety of ways. So, improvement of agrotechnical methods of soil cultivation results in higher yields, but an increase in air pollution from industrial waste can lead to the death of plants.

Society is a complex dynamic system.

ABOUT SOCIETY AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON, ITS ESSENCE, FEATURES AND STRUCTURE

As noted above, the object and subject of study of sociology as a science is society and the diverse processes of cooperation, mutual assistance and rivalry of people united in large and small social groups and communities - national, religious, professional, etc.

A summary of this topic should begin with what constitutes a human society; what are its distinguishing features; what group of people can be called a society, and what - not; what are its subsystems; what is the essence of the social system.

With all the external simplicity of the concept of "society", it is unambiguously impossible to answer the question posed. It would be wrong to consider society as a simple collection of people, individuals with some of their original qualities that manifest themselves only in society, or as an abstract, faceless integrity that does not take into account the uniqueness of individuals and their connections.

In everyday life, this word is used quite often, widely and ambiguously: from a small group of people to all of humanity (anatomical society, surgical society, Belarusian Society of Consumers, Society of Alcoholics Anonymous, International Society of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, Society of Earthlings, etc.).

Society is a rather abstract and multifaceted concept. It is studied by various sciences - history, philosophy, cultural studies, political science, sociology, etc., each of which explores only its inherent aspects and processes occurring in society. Its simplest interpretation is the human community, which is formed by the people living in it.

Sociology provides several approaches to the definition of society.

1. The well-known Russian-American sociologist P. Sorokin, for example, believed: in order for a society to exist, at least two people with a certain relationship of interaction (family) are needed. Such a case would be the simplest kind of society or social phenomenon.

Society is not any mechanical collection of people, but such an association within which there is a more or less constant, stable and fairly close mutual influence and interaction of these people. “Whatever social group we take - whether it be a family, a class, a party, a religious sect or a state,” wrote

P. Sorokin, - they all represent the interaction of two or one with many or many people with many. The whole endless sea of ​​human communication consists of interaction processes: one-way and two-way, temporary and long-term, organized and unorganized, solidary and antagonistic, conscious and unconscious, sensory-emotional and volitional.

Whole the most complex world public life of people is divided into outlined processes of interaction. A group of interacting people represents a kind of collective whole or collective unity. The close causal interdependence of their behavior gives grounds to consider interacting persons as a collective whole, as one being made up of many people. Just as oxygen and hydrogen, interacting with each other, form water, which is sharply different from the simple sum of isolated oxygen and hydrogen, so the totality of interacting people is sharply different from their simple sum.

2. Society is a collection of people united by specific interests, goals, needs or mutual ties and activities. But even this definition of society cannot be complete, since in one society there can be people with different and sometimes opposite interests and needs.

3. A society is an association of people with the following criteria:

- the commonality of the territory of their residence, usually coinciding with state borders and serving as the space within which relationships and interactions of individuals of a given society are formed and developed (Belarusian society, Chinese society

and etc.);

– its integrity and stability, the so-called "collective unity" (according to P. Sorokin);

– a certain level of cultural development, which finds its expression in the development of a system of norms and values ​​that underlie social connections;

– self-reproduction (although it can increase its numbers as a result of migration processes) and self-sufficiency guaranteed by a certain level of economic development (including through imports).

Thus, society is a complex, holistic, self-developing system of social interactions between people.

and their communities - family, professional, religious, ethno-national, territorial, etc.

Society as a complex, dynamic system has certain features, structure, stages historical development.

1. Sociality, which expresses the social essence of people's lives, the specifics of their relationships and interactions (as opposed to group forms of interaction in the animal world). A person as a person can be formed only among his own kind as a result of his socialization.

2. Ability to maintain and reproduce high intensity socio-psychic interactions between people, inherent only in human society.

3. An important feature of society is the territory and its natural and climatic conditions, where various social interactions take place. If we take for comparison the way of producing material goods, the way of life, culture and traditions of different peoples (for example, the tral-African tribes, small ethnic groups Far North or residents of the middle lane), it will become clear great value territorial and climatic features for the development of a particular society, its civilization.

4. Awareness by people of the changes and processes taking place in society as a result of their activities (as opposed to natural processes that are independent of the will and consciousness of people). Everything that happens in society is carried out only by people, their organized groups. They create special bodies for the implementation of self-regulation of society - social institutions.

5. Society has a complex social structure, consisting of different social strata, groups and communities. They differ from each other in many ways: the level of income and education, the ratio

to power and property, belonging to different religions, political parties, organizations, etc. They are in a complex and diverse relationship of interconnection and constant development.

Nevertheless, all of the above features of society interact with each other, ensuring the integrity and sustainability of its development as a single and complex system.

Society is divided into structural components, or subsystems:

1. Economic subsystem.

2. political subsystem.

3. Sociocultural subsystem.

4. social subsystem.

Consider these structural components in more detail:

1. The economic subsystem of society (often called economic system) includes the production, distribution, exchange of goods and services, the interaction of people in the labor market, economic

stimulation of various types of activities, banking, credit

and other similar organizations and institutions (studied by students

in course in economics).

2. The political subsystem (or system) is the totality socio-political interactions between individuals and groups, the political structure of society, the regime of power, the activities of government bodies, political parties

and socio-political organizations, political rights

and freedoms of citizens, as well as values, norms and rules governing the political behavior of individuals and social groups. Students get acquainted with this system in the course of political science.

3. Sociocultural subsystem (or system) includes education, science, philosophy, art, morality, religion, organizations

and cultural institutions, mass media, etc. It is studied in such courses as cultural studies, philosophy, aesthetics, religious studies, and ethics.

4. The social subsystem is a form of people's life activity, which is realized in the development and functioning of social institutions, organizations, social communities, groups and individuals and unites all other structural components of society. It is the subject of sociological research.

The interaction of the main subsystems of society can be represented

in in the form of a diagram (Fig. 3).

Society as an integral system

Rice. 3. The structure of society

The social subsystem of society, in turn, includes the following structural components: social structure, social institutions, social relations, social ties and actions, social norms and values, etc.

There are other approaches to determining the structure of society as a social system. Thus, the American sociologist E. Shils proposed the study of society as a certain macrostructure, the main elements

the cops of which are social communities, social organizations and culture.

In accordance with these components, society must be considered in three aspects:

1) as a relationship of many individuals. As a result of the interconnection of many individuals, social communities are formed. It is they who are main party society as a social system. Social communities are real-life aggregates of individuals that form a certain integrity and have independence in social actions. They arise in the process of the historical development of society and are characterized by a variety of types and forms.

The most significant are socio-class, socio-ethnic, socio-territorial, socio-demographic, etc. (for more details, see separate topics of the manual).

Forms of interaction between people in social communities are different: individual - individual; individual - social group; individual - society. They are formed in the process of labor, practical activities of people and represent the behavior of an individual or a social group, significant for the development of the social community as a whole. Such social interaction of subjects determines the social ties between individuals, between individuals and the outside world. The totality of social ties is the basis of all social relations in society: political, economic, spiritual. In turn, they serve as the foundation for the functioning of the political, economic, spiritual and social spheres (subsystems) of the life of society.

At the same time, all spheres of society's life, any social community cannot function successfully, and even more so develop without streamlining, regulating relations between people in the process of their practical activities and behavior. To do this, society has developed a peculiar system of such regulation and organization of public life, its "tools" - social institutions. They represent a certain set of institutions - the state, law, production, education, etc. In the conditions of stable development of society, social institutions play the role of mechanisms for coordinating the common interests of various groups of the population and individuals;

2) the second most important aspect of society as a social system is social organization. It means a number of ways to regulate the actions of individuals and social groups to achieve certain goals of social development. In other words, social organization is a mechanism for integrating the actions of individuals and social communities within a particular social system. Its element is

They are social roles, social statuses of individuals, social norms and social (public) values ​​(in a separate topic).

The joint activity of individuals, the distribution of social statuses and social roles are impossible without a certain governing body within the social organization. For these purposes, organizational and power structures are formed in the form of administration, as well as a managerial link in the form of managers and specialist leaders. There is a formal structure of social organization with different social statuses, with an administrative division of labor according to the principle "leaders - subordinates";

3) the third component of society as a social system is culture. In sociology, culture is understood as a system social norms and values ​​enshrined in the practical activities of people,

a as well as this activity. The main link in the social

and cultural systems are values. Their task is to serve to maintain the pattern of functioning of the social system. Norms in sociology are predominantly social phenomenon. They perform mainly the function of integration, regulate great amount processes, contribute to the implementation of normative value obligations. In civilized, developed societies, the basis of social norms is the legal system.

AT The focus of sociology is the question of the social role of culture in society - to what extent certain social values ​​contribute to the humanization of social relations, the formation of a comprehensively developed personality.

MAIN STAGES OF THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIETY, ITS TYPES AND CONCEPTS

As noted above, society is a constantly evolving, dynamic system. In the course of this development, it goes through a series of historical stages and types, characterized by special distinctive features. Sociologists have identified several basic types of society.

1. The Marxist concept of the development of society, proposed in the middle of the XIX century. Marx and Engels, proceeds from the dominant role of the mode of production of material goods in determining the type of society. According to this, Marx substantiated the existence of five modes of production

and their corresponding five socio-economic formations successively replacing one another as a result of the class struggle

and social revolution. These are primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, bourgeois and communist formations. Although it is known that a number of societies have not gone through certain stages in their development.

2. Western sociologists II half of XIX- the middle of the XX century. (O. Comte, G. Spencer, E. Durkheim, A. Toynbee and others) believed that there are only two types of societies in the world:

a) traditional (so-called military democracy) is an agrarian society

With primitive production, a sedentary hierarchical social structure, the power of landowners, an assembly of armed warriors; undeveloped science and technology, insignificant savings;

b) industrial society, which develops gradually, replaces the traditional one as a result of great geographical and scientific and technical discoveries. Slow growth begins technical progress, an increase in the productivity of agricultural labor, the emergence of a layer of merchants, merchants, the formation centralized states. The first bourgeois revolutions in Europe lead to the emergence of new social strata, as well as to the birth of the ideology of liberalism and nationalism, the democratization of society. The historical framework of this type of society - from the Neolithic era to the industrial revolution, carried out in different countries and regions at different times.

Industrial society is characterized by:

– urbanization, an increase in the proportion of the urban population to 60–80 %;

– the accelerated growth of industry and the reduction of agriculture;

– introduction of achievements of science and technology in production processes and increasing labor productivity;

– the emergence of new industries as a result of scientific and technological progress;

– increasing the share of capital accumulation in GDP and investing them in the development of production(15–20% of GDP);

– change in the structure of employment of the population (increase in the share of workers employed mental labor by reducing the unskilled, physical);

– growth in consumption.

3. Since the second half of the XX century. in Western sociology, the concepts of a three-stage typology of society appeared. R. Aron, Z. Brzezinski, D. Bell, J. Galbraith, O. Toffler and others proceeded from the fact that humanity in its historical development goes through three main stages and types of societies (civilizations):

a) pre-industrial (agricultural-handicraft) society, the main wealth of which is land. It is dominated by a simple division of labor, manufacturing. The main goal of such a society is power, a rigid authoritarian system. Its main institutions are the army, the church

cow, Agriculture. The dominant social strata - the nobility, the clergy, warriors, slave owners, later - the feudal lords;

b) an industrial society, the main wealth of which is capital, money. It is characterized by large-scale machine production, scientific and technological progress, a developed system of division of labor, mass production of goods for the market, the development of the media, etc. The dominant layer is industrialists and businessmen.

c) post-industrial (information) society is replacing the industrial one. Its main value is knowledge, science, producing information. The main social stratum is scientists. Post-industrial society is characterized by the emergence of new means of production: information and electronic systems with billions of operations per second, computer equipment, new technologies ( Genetic Engineering, cloning, etc.); the use of microprocessors in industry, services, trade and exchange; a sharp decline in the share rural population and an increase in employment in the service sector, etc. The correlation of various types of society is presented in Table. one.

			Table 1
Differences between traditional, industrial
	and post-industrial types of society
signs		Type of society
	Traditional	Industrial	post-industrial
	(agrarian)
	Natural	commodity economy	Development of the sphere
management	economy		services, consumption
Dominant	Agricultural	Industrial	Production
economic sphere	production	production	information
	Manual labor	Mechanization and auto-	Computerization
way of working		matizationproduction	production
		management	and management
The main social	Church, army	Industrial	Education,
institutions		corporations	universities
	priests,	businessmen,	Scientists, managers
social strata	feudal lords	entrepreneurs	consultants
The method of political	Military Democracy	Democracy	civil
management	tia, despotic		society,
	control		self management
The main factor	physical power,	capital, money
management	divine power
Main	between higher	between labor	between knowledge
contradictions	and lower	and capital	and ignorance
	estates		incompetence

Alvin Toffler and other Western sociologists argue that the developed countries from the 70s–80s 20th century experiencing a new technological

a revolution leading to the continuous renewal of social relations and the creation of super-industrial civilizations.

The theory of industrial and post-industrial society combines five trends in social development: technization, informatization, societal complexity, social differentiation and social integration. They will be discussed below in separate chapters of this publication.

However, it must be borne in mind that all of the above applies to developed countries. All the rest, including Belarus, are at the industrial stage (or in a pre-industrial society).

Despite the attractiveness of many ideas of a post-industrial society, the problem of its formation in all regions of the world remains open due to the exhaustibility of many biosphere resources, the presence of social conflicts, etc.

In Western sociology and cultural studies, the theory of the cyclical development of society is also distinguished, the authors of which are O. Spengler, A. Toynbee and others. It proceeds from the fact that the evolution of society is not seen as rectilinear motion to its more perfect state, but as a kind of closed cycle of rise, prosperity and decline, repeating again as it is completed (the cyclical concept of the development of society can be considered by analogy with life individual person- birth, development, flourishing, old age and death).

Of particular interest to our students is the "healthy society theory" created by the German-American psychologist, physician and sociologist Erich Fromm (1900–1980). Having emigrated from Germany to the USA in 1933, he worked as a practicing psychoanalyst for many years, later he took up scientific activity, and since 1951 he became a university professor.

Criticizing capitalism as a sick, irrational society, Fromm developed the concept of creating a harmonious healthy society with the help of social therapy methods.

The main provisions of the theory of a healthy society.

1. Developing a holistic concept of personality, Fromm found out the mechanisms of interaction of psychological and social factors

in the process of its formation.

2. He derives the health of society from the health of its members. Fromm's concept of a healthy society differs from Durkheim's understanding, who allowed for the possibility of anomie in society (i.e., the denial by its members of basic social values ​​and norms leading to social

al disintegration and subsequent deviant behavior). But Durkheim applied this only to the individual, not to society as a whole. And if we assume that deviant behavior may be characteristic

most members of society and lead to the dominance of destructive behavior, then we get a sick society. The stages of the "disease" are as follows: anomie → social disintegration → deviation → destruction

→ the collapse of the system.

AT In contrast to Durkheim, Fromm calls a healthy society

in in which people would develop their reason to such a degree of objectivity that allows them to see themselves, other people and nature in their true reality, to distinguish good from evil, to make their own choice. This would mean a society whose members have developed the ability to love their children, family, other people, themselves, nature, to feel unity with it, and at the same time - to maintain a sense of individuality, integrity and transcend nature in creativity, and not in destruction. .

According to Fromm, the goal he had set has been achieved by a minority so far. The challenge is to make the majority of society

in healthy people. Fromm sees the ideal of a healthy society in the transformation of all spheres of public life:

– in the economic field, there should be self-government of all those working in the enterprise;

– incomes should be equalized to such an extent as to ensure a decent life for various social strata;

– in political sphere it is necessary to decentralize power with the creation of thousands of small groups with interpersonal contacts;

– changes must simultaneously cover all other areas, since changes in only one have a destructive effect on changes

generally;

– a person should not be a means used by others or by himself, but feel himself the subject of his own strengths and capabilities.

Quite interesting is the theory of social change in society by T. Parsons. He proceeds from the fact that various systems of society are subject to evolution: the organism, personality, social system and cultural system as steps of a growing degree of complexity. Really, profound changes are only those that occur in the cultural system. Economic and political upheavals that do not affect the level of culture in society do not fundamentally change society itself. There are many examples of this.

Summing up the above, it should be noted that all scientific, technical and technological radical changes entail revolutions in other spheres of public life, but they are not accompanied by social revolutions, as Marx, Engels, Lenin argued. Class interests, of course, exist, contradictions too, but hired workers force property owners to make concessions, raise wages, increase incomes, which means

and raise living standards and well-being. All this leads to a reduction in social tension, smoothing out class contradictions and denying the inevitability of social revolutions.

Society as a social, dynamically developing system has always been, is and will be the most complex object of study that attracts the attention of sociologists. In terms of complexity, it can only be compared with the human personality, the individual. The society and the individual are inextricably linked and mutually determined one through the other. This is the methodological key to the study of other social systems.

IN SELF-CHECKING SURVEYS

1. What does human society mean?

2. What are the main approaches in defining the concept of "society"?

3. Name the main features of society.

4. Describe the leading subsystems of society.

5. Outline the structural components of the social system of society.

6. What theories of social development can you name?

7. Describe the essence of E. Fromm's "theory of a healthy society".

Literature

1. American sociological thought. M., 1994.

2. Babosov, E. General sociology / E. Babosov. Minsk, 2004.

3. Gorelov, A. Sociology / A. Gorelov. M., 2006.

4. Luman, N. The concept of society / N. Luman // Problems of theoretical sociology. SPb., 1994.

5. Parsons, T. The system of modern societies / T. Parsons. M., 1998.

6. Popper, K. Open society and its enemies / K. Popper. M., 1992. T. 1, 2.

7. Sorokin, P. Man, civilization, society / P. Sorokin. M., 1992.

Main types (kinds) social activities

So there are 4 element human activity: people, things, symbols, connections between them. The implementation of any type of joint activity of people without them is impossible.

Allocate 4 main type (kind) of social activity:

The main types of social activities:

material production;

Spiritual activity (production)

Regulatory activities

Social activity (in the narrow sense of the word)

1. Material production- creates practical means of activity that are used in all its types. Lets people physically transform natural and social reality. Here everything is created for everyday people's lives (housing, food, clothing, etc.).

However, one cannot speak of absolutization the role of material production in social activity. The role is constantly growing information resources. AT post-industrial society is growing rapidly the role of culture and science, transition from the production of goods to the service sector. Therefore, the role of material production will gradually decline.

2. Spiritual production (activity) - produces not things, ideas, images, values ​​(pictures, books, etc.).

In the process of spiritual activity, a person learns the world, its diversity and essence, develops a system of value ideas, determining the meaning (value) of certain phenomena.

"Mumu", L. Tolstoy "Vanya and plums", sausage in the toilet.

Its role is constantly growing.

3. Regulatory activities - the activities of administrators, managers, politicians.

It is aimed at ensuring the consistency and orderliness of various spheres of public life.

4. Social activities (in the narrow sense of the word) - activities for the direct service of people. This is the activity of a doctor, teacher, artist, service workers, recreation, tourism.

Creates conditions for preserving the activity and life of people.

These four basic types of activity exist in any society and form basis spheres of public life.

Society as a dynamic system

Basic concepts

Society is a constantly changing dynamic system.

Process(P. Sorokin) - yes any change to the object within a certain time

(be it a change in its place in space or a modification of its quantitative or qualitative characteristics).

social process - consistent changing states of society or its subsystems.

Types of social processes:

They differ:

1. By the nature of the changes:

A. The functioning of society - happening in society reversible changes related to everyday activities of society (with its reproduction and maintenance in a state of balance and stability).

B. Change -First stage internal rebirth in society or in its individual parts and their properties, bearing quantitative character.

B. Development -irreversible qualitative shifts as a result of gradual quantitative changes (see Hegel's law).

2. According to the degree of awareness by people:

A. Natural- not realized by people (riots).

B. Conscious – purposeful human activity.

3. By scale:

A. Global- covering all of humanity as a whole or a large group of societies (information revolution, computerization, the Internet).

B. Local– affecting individual regions or countries.

B. Single associated with particular groups of people.

4. By direction:

A. Progress– progressive development society from less perfect to more, increasing vitality, complication system organization.

B. Regression- the movement of society descending lines with simplification and, in the future, with the destruction of the system.

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1. Society as a complex dynamic system. public relations

2. Development of views on society

3. Formational and civilizational approaches to the study of society

4. Social progress and its criteria

5. Global problems of our time

Literature

1. Society as a complex dynamic system. Public relations

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. society attitude civilizational modernity

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 united for communication and joint performance of any activity, and a specific stage in the historical development of any people or country.

In a broad sense society -- it 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 interaction of people and forms of their association.

AT philosophical science society is characterized as a dynamic self-developing system, that is, 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, scientists have developed the concept of "subsystem". Subsystems are called "intermediate" complexes, more complex than the elements, but less complex than the system itself.

It is customary to consider the spheres of public life as subsystems of society, they are usually distinguished by four:

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 certain areas in a real way. whole society, 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 became widespread (at the same time, capitalism and socialism were considered as two varieties of industrial society).

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 value orientations, a way of thinking - special and noticeably different from modern ones. Individuality, independence were not encouraged: the social group dictated the norms of behavior to the individual. One can even speak of a “group man” who did not analyze his position in the world, and indeed rarely analyzed the phenomena of the surrounding reality. Rather, he moralizes, evaluates life situations from the standpoint of his social group. Number educated people was extremely limited (“literacy for the few”) oral information prevailed over written information. 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. spiritual realm human being priority over economics.

Traditional societies have survived to this day mainly in the countries of the so-called "third world" (Asia, Africa) (therefore, the concept of "non-Western civilizations", which also claims to be well-known sociological generalizations, is often synonymous with "traditional society"). 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. They call her industrial, technogenic, scientific_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 economic growth is accompanied by an increase in real per capita income. If the pre-industrial period is filled with the fear of hunger and disease, then the industrial society is characterized by an increase in the well-being of the population. 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 (a person analyzes the world around him and makes decisions on this basis) and utilitarianism (a person acts not 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 from 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, gradually emerging democratic regime. Law and law dominate in society, and a person is involved in power relations as an active subject.

A number of sociologists somewhat refine the above scheme. From their point of view, the main content of the modernization process is in changing the model (stereotype) of behavior, in the transition from irrational (characteristic of a traditional society) to rational (characteristic of an industrial society) behavior. The economic aspects of rational behavior include the development of commodity-money relations, which determines the role of money as a general equivalent of values, the displacement of barter transactions, the wide scope of market operations, etc. The most important social consequence of modernization is the change in the principle of distribution of roles. Previously, society imposed sanctions on social choice, limiting the opportunity to occupy certain social positions a person depending on his belonging to a certain group (origin, birth, nationality). After modernization, it is approved rational principle distribution of roles, in which the main and only criterion for taking a particular position is the candidate's preparedness to perform these functions.

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, the increase specific gravity 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 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.

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 In this case, 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 well-known sociologist Pitirim Sorokin identified the following types 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.

2. Development of views on society

Since ancient times, people have tried to explain the causes of the emergence of society, the driving forces of its development. Initially, such explanations were given by them in the form of myths. Myths are the stories of ancient peoples about the origin of the world, about gods, heroes, etc. The totality of myths is called mythology. Along with mythology, religion and philosophy also tried to find their answers to questions about pressing social problems, about the relationship of the universe with its laws and people. It is the philosophical doctrine of society that is the most developed today.

Many of its main provisions were formulated in the 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. Thus, Aristotle defined society as a collection of human individuals who united to satisfy social instincts.

In the Middle Ages, all explanations of social life were based on religious dogmas. The most prominent philosophers of this period - Aurelius Augustine and Thomas of Aquix - understood human society as a special kind of being, 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.

In the period of modern times, a number of thinkers who did not share religious views, put forward the thesis that society arose and develops naturally. They developed the concept of the contractual organization of public life. Its ancestor can be considered the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus, who believed that the state rests on a social contract concluded by people to ensure general justice. Later representatives of the contract theory (T. Hobbes, D. Locke, J._J. Rousseau and others) developed the views of Epicurus, putting forward the idea of ​​so-called "natural rights", i.e., such rights that a person receives from birth.

In the same period, philosophers developed the concept of "civil society". Civil society was considered by them as a “system of universal dependence”, in which “the subsistence and welfare of an individual and his existence are intertwined with the subsistence and welfare of all, based on them, and only in this connection are valid and secured” (G. Hegel).

In the 19th century part of the knowledge about society, which gradually accumulated in the depths of philosophy, stood out and began to constitute separate science about society - sociology. The very concept of "sociology" was introduced into scientific circulation by the French philosopher and sociologist O. Comte. He divided sociology into two main parts: social static and social dynamics. Social statics studies the conditions and laws of the functioning of the entire public system in general, considers the main public institutions: family, state, religion, the functions they perform in society, as well as their role in establishing social harmony. The subject of the study of social dynamics is social progress, decisive factor which, according to O. Comte, is the spiritual and mental development of mankind.

A new stage in the development of problems of social development was the materialistic theory of Marxism, according to which society was considered not as a simple sum of individuals, but as a set of "those connections and relations in which these individuals are to each other." Defining the nature of the process of development of society as natural history, with their own specific social laws, K. Marx and F. Engels developed the doctrine of socio-economic formations, the determining role of material production in the life of society and the decisive role of the masses in social development. They see the source of the development of society in society itself, in the development of its material production, believing that social development is determined by its economic sphere. According to K. Marx and F. Engels, people in the process of joint activity produce the necessary means of subsistence- thus they produce their material life, which is the basis of society, its foundation. Material life, material social relations, which are formed in the process of production of material goods, determine all other forms of human activity - political, spiritual, social. and etc. And morality, religion, philosophy are only a reflection of the material life of people.

Human society goes through five socio-economic formations in its development: primitive communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist. Under the socio-economic formation, Marx understood a historically defined type of society, representing a special stage in its development.

The main provisions of the materialistic understanding of the history of human society are as follows:

1. This understanding comes from the decisive, determining role of material production in real life. It is necessary to study the real process of production and the form of communication generated by it, that is, civil society.

2. It shows how various forms of social consciousness arise: religion, philosophy, morality, law, etc., and what influence material production has on them.

3. It considers that each stage of the development of society sets a certain material result, a certain level of productive forces, certain production relations. New generations use the productive forces, the capital acquired by the previous generation, and at the same time create new values ​​and change the productive forces. Thus, the mode of production of material life determines the social, political and spiritual processes that take place in society.

The materialistic understanding of history, even during Marx's lifetime, was subjected to various interpretations, with which he himself was very dissatisfied. At the end of the 19th century, when Marxism occupied one of the leading places in the European theory of social development, many researchers began to reproach Marx for reducing all the diversity of history to the economic factor and thereby simplifying the process of social development, consisting of a variety of facts and events.

In the XX century. the materialistic theory of social life was supplemented. R. Aron, D. Bell, W. Rostow and others put forward a number of theories, including theories of industrial and post-industrial society, which explained the processes taking place in society not just by the development of its economy, but by specific changes in technology, economic activity of people. The theory of industrial society (R. Aron) describes the process of progressive development of society as a transition from a backward agrarian "traditional" society dominated by natural economy and class hierarchy, to an advanced, industrialized "industrial" society. The main features of an industrial society:

a) widespread production of consumer goods, combined with a complex system of division of labor among members of society;

b) mechanization and automation of production and management;

c) scientific and technological revolution;

d) a high level of development of means of communication and transport;

e) high degree of urbanization;

f) high level of social mobility.

From the point of view of the supporters of this theory, it is these characteristics of large-scale industry - industry - that determine the processes in all other spheres of social life.

This theory was popular in the 60s. 20th century In the 70s. it was further developed in the views of American sociologists and political scientists D. Bell, Z. Brzezinski, A. Toffler. They believed that any society goes through three stages in its development:

1st stage - pre-industrial (agrarian);

2nd stage - industrial;

3rd stage - post-industrial (D. Bell), or technotronic (A. Toffler), or technological (3. Brzezinski).

At the first stage, the main sphere of economic activity is agriculture, at the second - industry, at the third - the service sector. Each of the stages has its own, special forms of social organization and its own social structure.

Although these theories, as already indicated, were within the framework of a materialistic understanding of the processes of social development, they had a significant difference from the views of Marx and Engels. According to the Marxist concept, the transition from one socio-economic formation to another was carried out on the basis of a social revolution, which was understood as a radical qualitative change in the entire system of social life. As for the theories of industrial and post-industrial society, they are within the framework of a current called social evolutionism: according to them, the technological upheavals taking place in the economy, although they entail upheavals in other areas of public life, are not accompanied by social conflicts and social revolutions.

3. Formational and civilizational approaches to the study of society

Most The approaches to explaining the essence and features of the historical process developed in Russian historical and philosophical science are formational and civilizational.

The first of them belongs to the Marxist school of social science. Its key concept is the category "socio-economic formation"

Formation was understood historically certain type society, considered in the organic interconnection of all his parties and spheres, arising on the basis of a certain method of production of material goods. In the structure of each formation, an economic basis and a superstructure were distinguished. Basis (otherwise it was called relations of production) is a set of social relations that develop between people in the process of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material goods (the main among them are the ownership of the means of production). The superstructure was understood as a set of political, legal, ideological, religious, cultural and other views, institutions and relations not covered by the base. Despite relative independence, the type of superstructure was determined by the nature of the basis. He also represented the basis of the formation, determining the formation affiliation of a particular society. The relations of production (the economic basis of society) and the productive forces constituted the mode of production, often understood as a synonym for the socio-economic formation. The concept of "productive forces" included people as producers of material goods with their knowledge, skills and work experience, and means of production: tools, objects, means of labor. The productive forces are a dynamic, constantly developing element of the mode of production, while the relations of production are static and inert, not changing for centuries. At a certain stage, a conflict arises between the productive forces and production relations, which is resolved in the course of the social revolution, the destruction of the old basis and the transition to a new stage of social development, to a new socio-economic formation. The old relations of production are being replaced by new ones, which open up scope for the development of the productive forces. Thus, Marxism understands the historical process as a natural, objectively conditioned, natural-historical change of socio-economic formations.

In some works of K. Marx himself, only two large formations-- primary (archaic) and secondary (economic), which includes all societies based on private property. The third formation will be communism. In other works of the classics of Marxism, the socio-economic formation is understood as a specific stage in the development of the mode of production with its corresponding superstructure. It was on their basis that in Soviet social science by 1930 the so-called “five-term” was formed and received the character of an indisputable dogma. According to this concept, all societies in their development alternately go through five socio-economic formations: primitive, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist, the first phase of which is socialism. The formational approach is based on several postulates:

1) the idea of ​​history as a natural, internally conditioned, progressive, progressive, world-historical and teleological (directed towards the goal - the construction of communism) process. The formational approach practically denied the national specificity and originality of individual states, focusing on the general that was characteristic of all societies;

2) the decisive role of material production in the life of society, the idea of ​​economic factors as basic for other social relations;

3) the need to match production relations with the productive forces;

4) the inevitability of the transition from one socio-economic formation to another.

At the present stage of development of social science in our country, the theory of socio-economic formations is experiencing an obvious crisis, many authors have highlighted civilizational approach to the analysis of the historical process.

The concept of "civilization" is one of the most complex in modern science: many definitions have been proposed. The term itself comes from the Latin the words"civil". In a broad sense civilization is understood as a level, a stage in the development of society, material and spiritual culture, following barbarism, savagery. This concept is also used to refer to the totality of unique manifestations of social orders inherent in a certain historical community. In this sense, civilization is characterized as a qualitative specificity (originality of material, spiritual, social life) of a particular group of countries, peoples at a certain stage of development. The well-known Russian historian M. A. Barg defined civilization as follows: “... This is the way in which a given society resolves its material, socio-political and spiritual-ethical problems.” Various civilizations fundamentally differ from each other, as they are based not on similar production techniques and technologies (like societies of the same Formation), but on incompatible systems of social and spiritual values. Any civilization is characterized not so much by a production basis as by a way of life specific to it, a system of values, vision and ways of interconnection with the surrounding world.

AT modern theory civilizations, both linear-stage concepts (in which civilization is understood as a certain stage of world development, opposed to "uncivilized" societies), and the concepts of local civilizations are widespread. The existence of the former is explained by the Eurocentrism of their authors, who represent the world historical process as the gradual introduction of barbarian peoples and societies to the Western European system of values ​​and the gradual advancement of mankind towards a single world civilization based on the same values. Supporters of the second group of concepts use the term "civilization" in the plural and proceed from the idea of ​​the diversity of ways of development of various civilizations.

Various historians distinguish many local civilizations, which may coincide with the borders of states (Chinese civilization) or cover several countries (ancient, Western European civilization). Civilizations change over time, but their "core", due to which one civilization differs from another, remains. The uniqueness of each civilization should not be absolutized: they all go through stages common to the world historical process. Usually, the whole variety of local civilizations is divided into two large groups - eastern and western. The former are characterized by a high degree of dependence of the individual on nature and the geographical environment, a close relationship between man and his social group, low social mobility, dominance among the regulators of social relations of traditions and customs. Western civilizations, on the contrary, are characterized by the desire to subjugate nature to the power of man by the priority of the rights and freedoms of the individual over social communities, high social mobility, democratic political regime and the rule of law.

Thus, if the formation focuses on the universal, general, repetitive, then civilization focuses on the local_regional, unique, original. These approaches are not mutually exclusive. In modern social science, there are searches in the direction of their mutual synthesis.

4. Social progress and its criteria

It is fundamentally important to find out in which direction a society is moving, which is in a state of continuous development and change.

Progress is understood as the direction of development, which is characterized by the progressive movement of society from the lower and simple forms social organization to higher and more complex. The concept of progress is opposed to the concept regression, which is characterized by a reverse movement -- from higher to lower, degradation, return to obsolete structures and relationships. The idea of ​​the development of society as a progressive process appeared in antiquity, but it finally took shape in the works of the French enlighteners (A. Turgot, M. Condorcet, and others). They saw the criteria for progress in the development human mind in the dissemination of education. This optimistic view of history changed in the 19th century. more complex representations. Thus, Marxism sees progress in the transition from one socio-economic formation to another, higher one. Some sociologists considered the complication of the social structure and the growth of social heterogeneity to be the essence of progress. in modern sociology. historical progress is associated with the process of modernization, i.e., the transition from an agrarian society to an industrial one, and then to a post-industrial one_

Some thinkers reject the idea of ​​progress in social development, either considering history as a cyclical cycle with a series of ups and downs (J. Vico), predicting the imminent "end of history", or asserting ideas about the multilinear, independent friend from friend, parallel movement various societies (N. Ya. Danilevsky, O. Spengler, A. Toynbee). So, A. Toynbee, abandoning the thesis of the unity of world history, singled out 21 civilizations, in the development of each of which he distinguished the phases of emergence, growth, breakdown, decline and decay. O. Spengler also wrote about the “decline of Europe”. K. Popper's "antiprogressiveism" is especially bright. Understanding progress as movement towards some goal, he considered it possible only for an individual, but not for history. The latter can be explained both as a progressive process and as a regression.

It is obvious that the progressive development of society does not exclude return movements, regression, civilizational dead ends and even breakdowns. And the very development of mankind is unlikely to have an unambiguously straightforward character; both accelerated leaps forward and rollbacks are possible in it. Moreover, progress in one area of ​​social relations can be the cause of regression in another. The development of labor tools, technical and technological revolutions are clear evidence of economic progress, but they have brought the world to the brink of an ecological catastrophe and depleted the Earth's natural resources. Modern society is accused of the decline of morality, the crisis of the family, lack of spirituality. The price of progress is also high: the conveniences of city life, for example, are accompanied by numerous "diseases of urbanization." Sometimes the costs of progress are so great that the question arises: is it even possible to talk about the movement of mankind forward?

In this regard, the question of the criteria for progress is relevant. There is no agreement among scientists here either. The French enlighteners saw the criterion in the development of the mind, in the degree of rationality of the social order. A number of thinkers (for example, A. Saint-Simon) assessed the movement forward according to the state of public morality, its approximation to early Christian ideals. G. Hegel linked progress with the degree of consciousness of freedom. Marxism also proposed a universal criterion for progress -- the development of the productive forces. Seeing the essence of progress in the ever greater subordination of the forces of nature to man, K. Marx reduced social development to progress in the production sphere. He considered progressive only those social relations that corresponded to the level of productive forces, opened up scope for the development of man (as the main productive force). The applicability of such a criterion is disputed in modern social science. The state of the economic basis does not determine the nature of the development of all other spheres of society. The goal, and not the means of any social progress, is to create conditions for the comprehensive and harmonious development of man.

Consequently, the criterion of progress should be the measure of freedom that society is able to provide to the individual for the maximum development of its potentialities. The degree of progressiveness of this or that social system must be assessed by the conditions created in it to satisfy all the needs of the individual, for the free development of a person (or, as they say, according to the degree of humanity of the social structure).

There are two forms of social progress: revolution and reform.

Revolution -- this is a complete or complex change in all or most aspects of social life, affecting the foundations of the existing social order. Until recently, the revolution was seen as a universal "law of transition" from one socio-economic formation to another. But scientists have never been able to detect signs of a social revolution in the transition from primitive communal system to class. It was necessary to expand the concept of revolution so much that it was suitable for any formational transition, but this led to the emasculation of the original content of the term. The "mechanism" of a real revolution could only be discovered in the social revolutions of modern times (during the transition from feudalism to capitalism).

According to Marxist methodology, a social revolution is understood as a radical change in the life of society, changing its structure and signifying a qualitative leap in its progressive development. The most general, deepest cause of the advent of the era of social revolution is the conflict between the growing productive forces and the established system of social relations and institutions. The aggravation of economic, political and other contradictions in society on this objective basis leads to a revolution.

A revolution is always an active political action of the popular masses and has as its first aim the transfer of the leadership of society into the hands of a new class. The social revolution differs from evolutionary transformations in that it is concentrated in time and the masses directly act in it.

The dialectics of the concepts "reform - revolution" is very complex. Revolution, as a deeper action, usually "absorbs" the reform: the action "from below" is supplemented by the action "from above".

Today, many scholars call for abandoning the exaggeration in history of the role of the social phenomenon that is called “social revolution”, from declaring it an obligatory regularity in solving urgent historical problems, since the revolution was by no means always the main form of social transformation. Much more often, changes in society occurred as a result of reforms.

Reform -- this is a transformation, a reorganization, a change in any aspect of social life that does not destroy the foundations of the existing social structure, leaving power in the hands of the former ruling class. Understood in this sense, the path of gradual transformation of existing relations is opposed to revolutionary explosions that sweep away the old order, the old system, to the ground. Marxism believed evolutionary process, which preserved for a long time many remnants of the past, is too painful for the people. And he argued that since reforms are always carried out "from above" by forces that already have power and do not want to part with it, the result of reforms is always lower than expected: the transformations are half-hearted and inconsistent.

The scornful attitude to reforms as forms of social progress was also explained by V. I. Ulyanov_Lenin's famous position about reforms as "a by-product of the revolutionary struggle." Actually, K. Marx already noted that “social reforms are never due to the weakness of the strong, they must be and will be brought to life by the strength of the“ weak ”. The denial of the possibility that the “tops” might have incentives at the start of reforms was strengthened by his Russian follower: “The real engine of history is the revolutionary struggle of classes; reforms are a by-product of this struggle, a by-product because they express unsuccessful attempts weaken, stifle this struggle.” Even in those cases where the reforms were clearly not the result of mass actions, Soviet historians explained them by the desire of the ruling classes to prevent any encroachment on the ruling system in the future. The reforms in these cases were the result of the potential threat of the revolutionary movement of the masses.

Gradually, Russian scientists freed themselves from traditional nihilism in relation to evolutionary transformations, recognizing at first the equivalence of reforms and revolutions, and then, changing signs, attacked revolutions with crushing criticism as extremely inefficient, bloody, replete with numerous costs and leading to dictatorship. path.

Today great reforms (i.e. revolutions "from above") are recognized as the same social anomalies as great revolutions. Both of these ways of resolving social contradictions are opposed to the normal, healthy practice of "permanent reform in a self-regulating society." The "reform-revolution" dilemma is being replaced by a clarification of the relationship between permanent regulation and reform. In this context, both the reform and the revolution “treat” an already neglected disease (the first with therapeutic methods, the second with surgical intervention), while constant and possibly early prevention is necessary. Therefore, in modern social science, the emphasis is shifted from the antinomy "reform - revolution" to "reform - innovation". Innovation is understood as an ordinary, one-time improvement associated with an increase in the adaptive capabilities of a social organism in given conditions.

5. Global problems of our time

Global problems are the totality of the problems of mankind that confronted him in the second half of 20th century and on the solution of which the existence of civilization depends. These problems were the result of contradictions that have accumulated in the relationship between man and nature for a long time.

The first people who appeared on Earth, getting food for themselves, did not violate natural laws and natural circuits. But in the process of evolution, the relationship between man and the environment has changed significantly. With the development of tools, man increasingly increased his "pressure" on nature. Already in antiquity, this led to the desertification of vast areas of Malaya and Central Asia and the Mediterranean.

Period of the Great geographical discoveries was marked by the beginning of the predatory exploitation of the natural resources of Africa, America and Australia, which seriously affected the state of the biosphere on the entire planet. And the development of capitalism and the industrial revolutions that took place in Europe gave rise to environmental problems in this region as well. The impact of the human community on nature reached global proportions in the second half of the 20th century. And today the problem of overcoming ecological crisis and its consequences is perhaps the most urgent and serious.

In the course of his economic activity, for a long time, man occupied the position of a consumer in relation to nature, exploited it mercilessly, believing that natural resources are inexhaustible.

One of the negative results of human activity has been the depletion of natural resources. So, in the process of historical development, people gradually mastered more and more new types of energy: physical strength (first of their own, and then of animals), wind energy, falling or flowing water, steam, electricity and, finally, atomic energy.

Currently, work is underway to obtain energy by thermonuclear fusion. However, the development of nuclear energy is constrained public opinion seriously concerned about the issue of security nuclear power plants. As for other widespread energy carriers - oil, gas, peat, coal - the danger of their depletion in the very near future is very high. So, if the growth rate modern consumption oil will not grow (which is unlikely), then its proven reserves will be enough in best case for the next fifty years. Meanwhile, most scientists do not confirm the forecasts, according to which in the near future it is possible to create this type of energy, the resources of which will become practically inexhaustible. Even if we assume that in the next 15-20 years thermonuclear fusion after all, they can “tame”, then its widespread implementation (with the creation of the necessary infrastructure for this) will be delayed for more than one decade. And therefore humanity, apparently, should heed the opinion of those scientists who recommend him voluntary self-restraint both in the production and consumption of energy.

The second aspect of this problem is environmental pollution. Every year, industrial enterprises, energy and transport complexes emit more than 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide and up to 700 million tons of vapor and gaseous compounds harmful to the human body into the Earth's atmosphere.

The most powerful clusters harmful substances lead to the appearance of so-called "ozone holes" - places in the atmosphere through which the depleted ozone layer allows the ultraviolet rays of sunlight to reach the Earth's surface more freely. This has a negative impact on the health of the world's population. "Ozone holes" - one of the reasons for the increase in the number of cancers in humans. The tragedy of the situation, according to scientists, is also that in the event of the final depletion of the ozone layer, humanity will not have the means to restore it.

Not only air and land are polluted, but also the waters of the oceans. From 6 to 10 million tons of crude oil and oil products get into it every year (and taking into account their effluents, this figure can be doubled). All this leads both to the destruction (extinction) of entire species of animals and plants, and to the deterioration of the gene pool of all mankind. It is obvious that the problem of general degradation of the environment, the consequence of which is the deterioration of the living conditions of people, is a problem for all mankind. Humanity can solve it only together. In 1982, the UN adopted a special document - the World Charter for Conservation of Nature, and then created a special commission on the environment. In addition to the UN, a large role in the development and provision environmental safety humanity is played by such non-governmental organizations as Greenpeace, the Club of Rome, etc. As for the governments of the leading powers of the world, they are trying to combat environmental pollution by adopting special environmental legislation.

Another problem is the problem of world population growth (demographic problem). It is associated with a continuous increase in the number of people living on the territory of the planet and has its own background. Approximately 7 thousand years ago, in the Neolithic era, according to scientists, no more than 10 million people lived on the planet. By the beginning of the XV century. this figure doubled, and by the beginning of the XIX century. approached a billion. The two-billion mark was crossed in the 20_s. XX century, and as of 2000, the population of the Earth has already exceeded 6 billion people.

The demographic problem is generated by two global demographic processes: the so-called population explosion in developing countries and underreproduction of the population in developed countries. However, it is obvious that the Earth's resources (primarily food) are limited, and today a number of developing countries have had to face the problem of birth control. But, according to scientists, the birth rate will reach simple reproduction (i.e., replacement of generations without an increase in the number of people) in Latin America no earlier than 2035, in South Asia - no earlier than 2060, in Africa - no earlier than 2070 Meanwhile, it is necessary to solve the demographic problem now, because the current population is hardly feasible for the planet, which is not able to provide such a number of people with the food necessary for survival.

Some scientists_demographers also point to such an aspect of the demographic problem as the change in the structure of the world population, which occurs as a result of the population explosion in the second half of the 20th century. In this structure, the number of residents and immigrants from developing countries is growing - people who are poorly educated, unsettled, who do not have positive life guidelines and the habit of observing the norms of civilized behavior. this leads to a significant reduction intellectual level humanity and the spread of such antisocial phenomena as drug addiction, vagrancy, crime, etc.

Closely intertwined with the demographic problem is the problem of reducing the gap in the level of economic development between the developed countries of the West and the developing countries of the "third world" (the so-called "North-South" problem).

The essence of this problem lies in the fact that most of those who were released in the second half of the 20th century. from the colonial dependence of countries, embarking on the path of catching up economic development, they could not, despite relative success, catch up with the developed countries in terms of basic economic indicators (primarily in terms of GNP per capita). This was largely due to the demographic situation: population growth in these countries actually leveled the successes achieved in the economy.

And finally, another global problem, which for a long time was considered the most important, is the problem of preventing a new - third world war.

The search for ways to prevent world conflicts began almost immediately after the end of the World War of 1939-1945. It was then that the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition decided to create the UN - a universal international organization, the main purpose of which was to develop interstate cooperation and, in the event of a conflict between countries, to assist the opposing parties in resolving disputes peacefully. However, the final division of the world into two systems, capitalist and socialist, which soon took place, as well as the beginning of the Cold War and a new arms race, more than once brought the world to the brink of nuclear catastrophe. Especially real threat The beginning of the third world war was during the so-called Caribbean crisis of 1962 caused by the deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. But thanks to the reasonable position of the leaders of the USSR and the USA, the crisis was resolved peacefully. In subsequent decades, a number of agreements on the limitation of nuclear weapons were signed by the leading nuclear powers of the world, and some of the nuclear powers undertook obligations to stop nuclear tests. In many ways, the decision of governments to accept such obligations was influenced by the public movement for peace, as well as such an authoritative interstate association of scientists who advocated general and complete disarmament as the Pugwash Movement. It was scientists who, using scientific models, convincingly proved that the main consequence of a nuclear war would be an environmental catastrophe, which would result in climate change on Earth. The latter can lead to genetic changes in human nature and, possibly, to the complete extinction of mankind.

Today we can state the fact that the likelihood of conflict between the leading powers of the world is much less than before. However, there is a possibility of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of authoritarian regimes (Iraq) or individual terrorists. On the other hand, recent events related to the activities of the UN Commission in Iraq, the new aggravation of the Middle East crisis once again prove that, despite the end of the Cold War, the threat of the start of a third world war still exists.

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Interrelation of concepts "country", "state" and "society". A set of signs of society, a characteristic of its economic, political, social and cultural spheres. Typology of societies, the essence of formational and civilizational approaches to their analysis.

abstract, added 03/15/2011


The study of the concept of "social progress" - progressive development, the movement of society, characterizing the transition from lower to higher, from less perfect to more perfect. Features of society as a combination of five fundamental institutions.

presentation, added 09/05/2010


Society as a collection of people and social organization. Signs and types of institutions. conditions for the formation of an organization. Formational and civilizational approaches to the typology of society. The main directions and forms of its movement. Aspects of social dynamics.

presentation, added 06/04/2015


Society as a complex dynamic system, its main features. Spheres of life of society: economic, social, political and spiritual. Culture and tradition in the development of society. National character and mentality. Political life of Russia.

training manual, added 06/04/2009


Formational and civilizational approaches to the periodization of history. Ancient thinkers about society. Features of ancient civilizations. Differences of ancient civilizations from primitiveness. Society on present stage development, the problem of interaction between West and East.

tutorial, added 10/30/2009


The concept of society. The main areas of public life. Man, individual, personality. human needs and abilities. Peculiarities interpersonal relationships. Nations and interethnic relations in modern society. Global problems of the present.

control work, added 03/11/2011


The meaning of the term "society". Nature and society: correlation and interconnection. Approaches to the definition of society in modern science. signs of society. Society is a collection, the sum of individuals. Five aspects of the social system. social supersystem.

control work, added 10/01/2008


Definition of the concept of society, its analysis and characteristics as a system. Functions of the social system. Factors and forms of social change. The problem of direction of history. Civilizational analysis of society. Historical process from the point of view of synergetics.

term paper, added 05/25/2009


Society as a highly complex self-developing system with its own specifics in its genesis and functioning, philosophical and general sociological approaches to its study. Civil society and the rule of law, their relationship and significance.