Society is complex social education, and the forces acting within it are so interconnected that it is impossible to foresee the consequences of each individual action. In this regard, institutions have overt functions that are easily recognizable as part of the recognized purposes of the institution, and latent functions that are carried out inadvertently and may not be recognized or, if recognized, are considered by-product.

People with significant and high institutional roles often do not realize enough latent effects that can affect their activities and the activities of people associated with them. As good example The use of latent functions in American textbooks is most often cited by the activities of Henry Ford, the founder of the campaign that bears his name. He sincerely hated labor unions, big cities, large loans and installment purchases, but as he advanced in society, he stimulated their development more than anyone else, realizing that the latent, hidden, side functions of these institutions work for him, for him. business. However, the latent functions of institutions can either support recognized goals or make them irrelevant. They can even lead to significant damage to the norms of the institution.

How does a social institution function? What is its role in the processes taking place in society? Let's consider these questions.

Explicit functions of social institutions. If considered in the general view activity of any social institution, then we can assume that its main function is to satisfy social needs for which it was created and exists. However, in order to perform this function, each institution performs functions in relation to its participants that ensure joint activities people who want to meet their needs. These are primarily the following functions.
1. The function of consolidation and reproduction of social relations. Each institution has a system of rules and norms of behavior that fixes, standardizes the behavior of its members and makes this behavior predictable. Corresponding social control provides the order and framework in which the activities of each member of the institution should proceed. Thus, the institution ensures the stability of the social structure of society. Indeed, the code of the institution of the family, for example, implies that members of society should be divided into sufficiently stable small groups - families. With the help of social control, the institution of the family seeks to ensure the stability of each individual family, and limits the possibility of its disintegration. The destruction of the family institution is, first of all, the appearance of chaos and uncertainty, the collapse of many groups, the violation of traditions, the impossibility of ensuring normal sexual life and quality education of the younger generation.
2. Regulatory function lies in the fact that the functioning of social institutions ensures the regulation of relationships between members of society by developing patterns of behavior. The whole cultural life of a person proceeds with his participation in various institutions. Whatever type of activity an individual engages in, he always encounters an institution that regulates his behavior in this area. Even if some kind of activity is not ordered and regulated, people immediately begin to institutionalize it. Thus, with the help of institutions, a person manifests in social life predictable and standardized behavior. He fulfills the role requirements-expectations and knows what to expect from the people around him. Such regulation is necessary for joint activities.
3. Integrative function. This function includes the processes of cohesion, interdependence and mutual responsibility of members social groups occurring under the influence of institutional norms, rules, sanctions and systems of roles. The integration of people in the institute is accompanied by the streamlining of the system of interactions, an increase in the volume and frequency of contacts. All this leads to an increase in the stability and integrity of the elements of the social structure, especially social organizations.
Any integration in an institution consists of three main elements or necessary requirements: 1) consolidation or combination of efforts; 2) mobilization, when each member of the group invests its resources in achieving goals; 3) the conformity of the personal goals of individuals with the goals of others or the goals of the group. Integrative processes carried out with the help of institutions are necessary for the coordinated activities of people, the exercise of power, the creation complex organizations. Integration is one of the conditions for the survival of organizations, as well as one of the ways to correlate the goals of its participants.
4. Broadcasting function. Society could not develop if it were not possible to transfer social experience. Each institution for its normal functioning needs the arrival of new people. This can happen as an extension social boundaries institutions and generational change. In this regard, each institution provides a mechanism that allows individuals to socialize to its values, norms and roles. For example, a family, raising a child, seeks to orient him to those values family life held by his parents. State institutions seek to influence citizens in order to instill in them the norms of obedience and loyalty, and the church tries to accustom as many members of society to the faith as possible.
5. Communicative function. Information produced in an institution should be disseminated both within the institution for the purpose of managing and monitoring compliance, and in interactions between institutions. Moreover, the character communication links Institute has its own specifics - these are formal connections carried out in a system of institutionalized roles. As the researchers note, the communicative capabilities of institutions are not the same: some are specially designed to transmit information (means mass media), others have very limited opportunities for this; some actively perceive information ( scientific institutes), others passively (publishers).

The explicit functions of institutions are both expected and necessary. They are formed and declared in codes and fixed in the system of statuses and roles. When an institution fails to fulfill its explicit functions, it is bound to face disorganization and change: these explicit, necessary functions can be appropriated by other institutions.

latent functions. Along with the direct results of the actions of social institutions, there are other results that are outside the immediate goals of a person, not planned in advance. These results may have great importance for society. Thus, the church seeks to consolidate its influence to the greatest extent through ideology, the introduction of faith, and often achieves success in this. However, regardless of the goals of the church, there are people who leave production activities for the sake of religion. Fanatics begin to persecute non-Christians, and the possibility of major social conflicts on religious grounds. The family strives to socialize the child to accepted norms family life, but it often happens that family education leads to conflict between the individual and cultural group and serves to protect the interests of certain social strata.

The existence of the latent functions of institutions is most prominently shown by T. Veblen, who wrote that it would be naive to say that people eat black caviar because they want to satisfy their hunger and buy a luxurious Cadillac because they want to buy a good car. Obviously, these things are not acquired for the sake of satisfying obvious urgent needs. T. Veblen concludes from this that the production of consumer goods performs a hidden, latent function - it satisfies the needs of people to increase their own prestige. Such an understanding of the actions of the institute for the production of consumer goods radically changes the opinion about its activities, tasks and conditions of functioning.

Thus, it is obvious that only by studying the latent functions of institutions can we determine the true picture of social life. For example, very often sociologists are faced with a phenomenon that is incomprehensible at first glance, when an institution continues to successfully exist, even if it not only does not fulfill its functions, but also prevents their implementation. Such an institution obviously has hidden functions by which it satisfies the needs of certain social groups. A similar phenomenon can be observed especially often among political institutions, in which latent functions are developed to the greatest extent.

Latent functions, therefore, are the subject that should primarily interest the researcher. social structures. The difficulty in recognizing them is compensated by creating a reliable picture social connections and features of social objects, as well as the ability to control their development and manage the social processes taking place in them.

Relationships between institutions. There is no social institution that would operate in a vacuum, in isolation from other social institutions. The action of any social institution cannot be understood until all its interrelations and relationships are explained from the standpoint of common culture and subculture groups. Religion, government, education, production and consumption, trade, family - all these institutions are in multiple interaction. Thus, the conditions of production must take into account the formation of new families in order to meet their needs for new apartments, household items, childcare facilities, etc. At the same time, the education system is largely dependent on the activities of government institutions that maintain prestige and possible prospects development of educational institutions. Religion can also affect the development of education or government agencies. The teacher, the father of the family, the priest or the functionary of a voluntary organization are all affected by the government, since the actions of the latter (for example, issuing regulations) can lead to both success and failure in achieving vital goals.

An analysis of the numerous interconnections of institutions can explain why institutions are rarely able to fully control the behavior of their members, to combine their actions and attitudes with institutional ideas and norms. For example, schools can apply standard educational plans for all students, but the reaction of students to them depends on many factors beyond the control of the teacher. Children in whose families are encouraged and implemented interesting conversations and those who are introduced to reading books that develop them acquire intellectual interests more easily and to a greater extent than those children in whose families preference is given to watching TV and reading entertainment literature. Churches preach high ethical ideals, but parishioners often feel the need to neglect them under the influence of business ideas, political allegiances, or the desire to leave the family. Patriotism glorifies self-sacrifice for the good of the state, but it is often inconsistent with the many individual desires of those raised in families, business institutions, or some political institutions.

The need to harmonize the system of roles assigned to individuals can often be satisfied by agreement between individual institutions. Industry and commerce in any civilized country depend on the support of the government, which regulates taxes and arranges exchange between the individual institutions of industry and commerce. In turn, the government depends on industry and trade, which economically support regulations and other government actions.

In addition, given the importance of certain social institutions in public life, other institutions are trying to seize control of their activities. Since, for example, education plays a very significant role in society, attempts to fight for influence on the institution of education are observed among political organizations, industrial organizations, churches, etc. Politicians, for example, contribute to the development of the school, confident that in doing so they support attitudes towards patriotism and national identity. Church institutions are trying, with the help of the education system, to instill in students loyalty to church doctrines and a deep faith in God. Industrial organizations are trying to orient students from childhood to the development of industrial professions, and the military - to raise people who can successfully serve in the army.

The same can be said about the influence of other institutions on the institution of the family. The state is trying to regulate the number of marriages and divorces, as well as the birth rate. In addition, it establishes minimum standards for the care of children. Schools are looking for cooperation with the family, creating teachers' councils with the participation of parents and parent committees. Churches create ideals for family life and try to hold family ceremonies within a religious framework.

Many institutional roles begin to conflict because of the belonging of the person who performs them to several institutions. An example is the well-known conflict between career and family orientations. In this case, we are dealing with clashes of norms and rules of several institutions. Sociological research shows that each institution seeks to the greatest extent possible to “disconnect” the individuals included in it from playing roles in other institutions. Enterprises try to include the activities of the wives of their employees in their sphere of influence (a system of benefits, orders, family vacations, etc.). Army institutional rules can also be bad for family life. And here they find ways to include wives in army life so that the husband and wife are related to the same institutional norms. Most definitely, the problem of a person playing an exclusively role this institute solved in some institutions of the Christian Church, where the clergy are released from family responsibilities by taking a vow of celibacy.

The appearance of institutions is constantly adapting to changes in society. Changes in one institution tend to lead to changes in others. After changing family customs, traditions and rules of conduct, a new system social security of such changes involving many institutions. When peasants come from the countryside to the city and create their own subculture there, the actions of political institutions, legal organizations, etc. must change. We are accustomed to the fact that any change in political organization affects all aspects of our Everyday life. There are no institutions that would be transformed without change into other institutions or would exist separately from them.

institutional autonomy. The fact that institutions are interdependent in their activities does not mean that they are ready to give up internal ideological and structural control. One of their main goals is to exclude the influence of the leaders of other institutions and to keep their institutional norms, rules, codes and ideologies intact. All major institutions develop patterns of behavior that help maintain a certain degree of independence and resist the dominance of people grouped in other institutions. Enterprises and businesses strive for independence from the state; educational institutions also try to achieve the greatest independence and prevent the penetration of the norms and rules of foreign institutions. Even the institution of courtship achieves independence in relation to the institution of the family, which leads to some mystery and secrecy in its rituals. Each institution attempts to carefully sort the attitudes and rules brought in from other institutions in order to select those attitudes and rules that least degree may affect the independence of the institution. social order- this is a successful combination of the interaction of institutions and their independence in relation to each other. This combination avoids serious and destructive institutional conflicts.

The dual function of intellectuals in relation to institutions. In all complex societies institutions require constant ideological and organizational support and strengthening of the ideology, the system of norms and rules on which the institution relies. This is carried out by two role groups of members of the institution: 1) bureaucrats who monitor institutional behavior; 2) intellectuals who explain and comment on the ideology, norms and rules of behavior of social institutions. In our case, intellectuals are those who, regardless of education or occupation, devote themselves to the serious analysis of ideas. The importance of ideology lies in maintaining loyalty to institutional norms, through which the heterogeneous attitudes of those people who are able to manipulate ideas are developed. Intellectuals Are Called to Satisfy Urgent Needs for Explanation social development and to do so in terms consistent with institutional norms.

For example, intellectuals associated with the political communist institutions set themselves the task of showing that modern history really develops in accordance with the predictions of K. Marx and V. Lenin. At the same time, intellectuals who study political institutions The United States proves that real history is built on the development of the ideas of free enterprise and democracy. At the same time, the leaders of the institutions understand that intellectuals cannot be completely trusted, since when studying fundamentals of the ideology they support, they also analyze its imperfections. In this regard, intellectuals can begin to develop a competitive ideology that is more suited to the needs of the times. Such intellectuals become revolutionary and attack traditional institutions. That is why in the course of the formation of totalitarian institutions, first of all, they seek to protect ideology from the actions of intellectuals.

The 1966 campaign in China, which destroyed the influence of the intellectuals, confirmed Mao Zedong's fear that the intellectuals would refuse to support the revolutionary regime. Something similar happened in our country in the prewar years. If we turn to history, we will undoubtedly see that any power based on faith in the ability of leaders (charismatic power), as well as power that uses violence, non-democratic methods, seeks to protect the actions of the institution of power from the participation of intellectuals or completely subordinate them to its influence. . Exceptions only emphasize this rule.

So, it is often difficult to use the activities of intellectuals, because if today they can support institutional norms, then tomorrow they become their critics. However, there are no institutions modern world that have escaped the constant influence of intellectual criticism, and there are no features of institutions that can continue to exist for a long time without intellectual protection. It becomes clear why some totalitarian political regimes are torn between a certain freedom and the repression of intellectuals. The intellectual most capable of defending fundamental institutions is the person who does so out of a desire for truth, regardless of obligations to institutions. Such a person is both useful and dangerous for the well-being of the institution - useful because he skillfully achieves the protection of institutional values, respect for the institution, and dangerous because, in search of truth, he is able to become an opponent of this institution. This dual role forces fundamental institutions to deal with the problem of ensuring discipline in society and the problem of conflict and loyalty for intellectuals.

One of the hallmarks of the modern state is the loss of its rigid class organization. Various classes gradually dissolve into the general social organization of civil society, everything more possibilities to move people from one class to another. The state ceases to be an instrument for ensuring class domination, and, consequently, completely loses its exploitative character. The welfare state is coming to replace the exploitative state.

The essence of this type of state is the connection of all social groups of the population, nations and nationalities into a single whole, united in the concept of "civil society". Its fundamental difference from the previous types of the exploitative state is that its main goal is to ensure the protection and maintenance of the interests of the whole society as a whole, and not its separate part. Such a state is built on the recognition of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of a person as the highest value, the priority of human rights over the interests of other participants in public relations (economic entities, state bodies, officials etc.).

An integral element welfare state is a parliament in which all social groups of the population of a given state are equally represented.

One of the features of the modern state is increased care about socially unprotected categories of citizens: children, the disabled, the elderly. In their interests, state benefits and subsidies, pensions and subsidies are established.

In turn, the problem of supporting socially unprotected categories of the population is directly related to the participation of the state in managing the country's economy. The fact is that the modern state is a market state. The essence of a market economy is reduced to free exchange of goods, recognition of the inviolability of private property and the legitimate interests of the owner, freedom of labor and private enterprise.

In a market economy, the main regulator of social relations are the laws of the market, and the main one is the law of supply and demand. In accordance with this law, prices for goods and services are formed, and ultimately, the standard of living of the country's population is determined. The fall in demand for individual goods forces the entrepreneur to improve the quality of products, reduce the cost of their manufacture, support the development of science and technology by creating new, more modern, products and products that are in great demand. An example of such a pursuit to satisfy consumer demand in modern state serves, for example, the development of the automotive industry in the leading countries of the world (USA, Japan, Germany, Italy, France, etc.).

welfare state
Internal functions	External functions,
1. Economic and organizational function ( organization of production, entrepreneurship promotion, internal trade management)	1. Protection state borders, organization of customs, solution of other issues national security
2. Collection of taxes, fees and other obligatory payments to the budget	2. Diplomatic and trade and economic relations with other countries, participation in the activities of international and interstate organizations
3. Management of education, science, culture	3. Cultural, scientific and information exchange with other states
4. Caring for the individual and, first of all, support and assistance to socially unprotected segments of the population (social function)	4. Struggle for peace, disarmament, non-use of force in relations between states and peoples, curbing aggressors
5. Protection of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of citizens	5. Participation in international control over ensuring the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of citizens in all countries of the world
6. Protection of law and order, punishment of criminals and other persons who have committed unlawful acts	6. Participation in the implementation of interstate environmental, cultural and social programs, solving social problems

But the paradox of modern society is that market relations develop the better, the less the state restricts the freedom of participants in these relations. However, not all members of society participate in market relations (private entrepreneurship). A significant part of the country's population continues to work in the so-called public sector economy, that is, in institutions and organizations maintained at the expense of the state. In different countries, the number of people employed in this area is different. But there are such areas of public life that cannot be transferred to the area of ​​private interests: the protection public order and the fight against crime (the organization and maintenance of the police, courts, prisons), the defense of the country (the staffing of the army, the production of certain types of weapons) and some other areas of public life.

There are also categories of the population that cannot be participants in market relations, not because of their employment in the public sector, but because of their general inability to engage in productive labor along with other citizens. We are talking about the socially unprotected categories of the population mentioned above: children, the disabled, the elderly. In the interests of these people, as well as in order to maintain the budgetary sphere of production, the state intervenes in market relations, redistributing income from the wealthiest categories of the population to the less wealthy and withdrawing funds to replenish state budget. Thus, in the conditions of a modern social state, the traditional internal function of the state is preserved - the collection of taxes and other obligatory payments to the budget.

Of course, the Russian Federation today can hardly be fully attributed to this type of state. However, the trend towards this can be traced at least in attempts to constitutionally consolidate many of the listed features of the state. of this type. Therefore, it seems legitimate to call Russia a country in transition to a welfare state.

It performs a welfare state and a number of traditional regulatory and security functions: maintaining public order, punishing criminals, resolving disputes and conflicts, protecting against external danger etc. However, the ratio of the functions of security (suppression) and regulatory in comparison with the exploitative state is changing in the direction of progress.

Thus, the modern welfare state is an institution aimed at organizing a normal life and development of the whole society as a whole, protecting the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of all citizens and peoples inhabiting it, a tool for resolving disputes and conflicts both within the state and outside it. . It should be noted that the state does not completely lose its punitive and repressive functions, but applies them only as a last resort, in relation to narrow circle persons who violate the rights and freedoms of citizens, as well as against aggressor states and despotic regimes that violate the rights and freedoms of their own peoples.

In connection with the analysis of the essence of the welfare state, it seems necessary to turn to the consideration of the socialist state, which until recently existed in our country. Despite the etymological similarity of the names of these states, their essence is a striking contrast, although the historical roots of their origin have some similarity.

One of the signs of mankind's entry into the era of civilized development was the attempts to consciously transform the social and state structure in accordance with certain theoretical concepts created by scientists-philosophers, lawyers, theologians, etc. aimed at improving human life, eliminating shortcomings in the development of its main institutions.

One of the concepts of such development was the socialist doctrine. Having originated almost simultaneously in various countries (France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain), this doctrine has many schools, shades, independent branches and directions of development. One of the most peculiar models of social development within the framework of this doctrine in modern conditions is the so-called Swedish model of socialism. The so-called Soviet model, which existed for a long time in the USSR and the countries of Eastern Europe, was distinguished by a significant originality.

The theoretical model of a socialist state of the Eastern European type was laid down by the works of K. Marx and F. Engels, who defended the idea of ​​building a single planetary state of workers, the first steps of which were the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the overthrow of the power of the bourgeoisie, the abolition of private ownership of tools and means of production, and its replacement by public property , exclusion of the exploitation of man by man, egalitarian distribution of funds, collectivism in the organization of production and social life. The ultimate goal of social development, according to K. Marx, was the construction of communism, that is, such a social system, the basis of which would be the highest labor productivity, ensuring the distribution of life's blessings among people in accordance with their needs.

One of the fundamental shortcomings of this theory was that, having given a brilliant critique of the pre-monopoly capitalist society and state of their time, K. Marx and F. Engels only outlined the prototype of the future social structure in general terms, without showing the ways of its real achievement. Their theory also suffered from a number of significant shortcomings of a fundamental nature. Thus, these philosophers considered the existence of private property to be the reason for the exploitation of man by man. They were negative about federal structure states, preached the idea of ​​withering away ("falling asleep", in the figurative expression of F. Engels) of the state, etc. The reason for these mistakes was their excessive enthusiasm for the theory of the class struggle, to the interests of which all the thoughts of these undoubtedly outstanding thinkers of the 19th century were subordinated.

A significant contribution to the development of the teachings of K. Marx and F. Engels was made by V. I. Lenin, who in practice embodied a number of ideas of the socialist doctrine, belonging to the extreme left views of the political spectrum. In particular, based on the possibility of the victory of socialism in one single country, V. I. Lenin created the theory of the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, brilliantly embodied it as a result of the October (1917) armed uprising in Russia "a country poorly prepared not only for socialist The building of socialism in the USSR was accompanied by the replacement of the dictatorship of the proletariat by the dictatorship of the party-state nomenclature, the introduction of an egalitarian distribution of income, the creation of a command and administrative system for managing the economy, the nationalization of property, the introduction of a mono-ideology, the restriction of democracy, etc. Further development countries followed the path of strengthening the authoritarian regime, vulgarizing socialist and communist ideas, strengthening the fiscal and punitive functions of the state, armed opposition to "ideological" opponents in the face of "capitalist" countries, turning the state into an authoritarian-exploiting one.

At the same time, most countries of the world are following the path of implementing socialist ideas, but not of the leftist, but of the liberal-democratic persuasion (lat. libere- free). The socialist idea itself is attracting more and more supporters, as can be judged by the expansion of the political representation of socialist parties in the parliaments and governments of the developed countries of the world. However, the essential difference between the social state described above and the socialist, especially the "Soviet" type, lies precisely in the presence of a liberal-democratic model of development.

Liberal-democratic society is based on non-interference of the state in the life of an individual and civil society as a whole. One of its principles is ideological and political pluralism, according to which citizens have the right to make their own democratic choice of the political regime and type of social structure that they most like. The possibility of such a choice makes it possible to correct the shortcomings that exist in any (not only in the socialist) model of social and state development, to subordinate the state through the institutions of direct and representative democracy to the interests of the whole society, the whole people.

Naturally, the more democratic and free a society is, the stronger, stable and stable the state should be, ensuring its normal existence and protection. However, such a state cannot but be social, democratic, legal (the listed features will be discussed in more detail below).

SOCIAL FUNCTIONS

PRESS

The question of the social functions of the press is one of the most difficult in theoretical journalism.

Social Features- these are the most generalized tasks solved by the press to satisfy the main public needs. Raising the question about the functions involves searching for an answer to the question why society needs journalism, what are the main, strategic objectives press in the course of social progress.

In the press of the communist era, this question was extremely clear and boiled down to the formulation: "The press is not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator, but also a collective organizer of the masses." With regard to the conditions of the autocracy of the party, aimed at the capture and forcible retention political power and exercising authoritarian (and in some periods, totalitarian) leadership of the life of society - such a formulation seems ideal. For decades, the party and Soviet press has indeed been an excellent conductor of the ideas of the party - from the RSDLP to the CPSU - to the masses.

But in a democratic society, the press is not a simple transmission mechanism from the party headquarters to the population. Mechanisms social management such a society (more precisely, its self-government) are such that in them the media are called upon to become a powerful subject of social control - otherwise the fundamental laws of the functioning of this society are violated, and in particular the law of free circulation of information. With the development of democratic principles in the life of the people and the state, a new, socially responsible model of the press is gradually strengthening - and this cannot but mean a radical change in its functions in socio-political life.

It is obvious that journalism, before disseminating socially significant information, must first acquire it. The press cannot exist without knowing the world around us every day. Society is also extremely interested in this. Mankind and its separate communities (countries, nations, classes) with the help of the press get to know themselves better, understand the essence of their actual problems. It is not for nothing that in the USA journalists are called “ watch dogs” - “watchdogs”: they smell changes in the situation better than others, and in this capacity they bring the nation more benefit than “pet dogs” from newspapers and shopping and entertainment centers, working to please their founders and knowing not so much the world as the desires of their owners.

Cognition, as you know, goes through two stages: analysis and synthesis.

At the first stage, the press studies the situation, considers the causes, the course of events, and their consequences.

For this, journalism has its own apparatus - highly qualified creative workers who constantly, by virtue of their vocation, education, experience and official duties study life, cognize the surrounding reality, analyze the information they have collected.

If necessary, the press turns to science or art for help, which also independently carry out the knowledge of the world - respectively, in the form scientific knowledge or artistic images, through “ratio” and “emotion”. Finally, mythological (but for millions of believers the only true one) is the way of knowing the world through the knowledge of God, and the press also uses this way.

On the basis of acquired knowledge, at the second stage, something new is created, synthesized from the source material. On the scale of society, in the context of the question of the main social functions of journalism, this new is the mass of materials prepared for publication, containing the total knowledge offered by the entire press of the world to the world - that is, needed by society socially significant information.

Thus, the first of the main social functions of journalism is cognitive function in its two stages - analysis and synthesis. As a result of its implementation, a certain mass of finished intellectual products is created: journalistic works prepared for printing or airing in the form of articles, correspondence, reports, filmed and edited stories, typeset pages, etc.

It is necessary for society that all this mass ready for distribution socially meaningful information left the editorial walls as soon as possible and in order to more people were given the opportunity to see it.

That's why the second main social function of journalism is communicative(or intermediary, mediative) - consists in the wide dissemination of journalistic products in society. It is here that the sacrament of the transformation of socially significant information into mass information takes place. Here the role of journalism as an intermediary, a “mediator” between the fact and the audience is clearly manifested (hence English title media - mass media). Of course, this process cannot be carried out without technical means mass media - printing houses, television centers, radio houses, without forwarding services. It is they who ensure that the press fulfills its main task- to be the all-penetrating infrastructure of society, to reach everyone and everyone of everyone.

Every day, billions of newspapers in circulation, every second, thousands of television and radio companies turn to people with news, comments, appeals, and so on. Does humanity hear them and individual person? The society is interested in journalists being heard, because for the most part they carry the word of truth, goodness and justice to the world. Their work should lead to positive changes in the social process, to the development of society along the path of progress.

But they become active participants surrounding life only if the result of their work is not just delivered to the audience, but read, seen, heard by readers, TV viewers, radio listeners. Consumed socially significant information becomes social information.

That's why the third main social function of the press is constructive(or creative) - consists in introducing journalistic products into the mass consciousness and obtaining a certain social effect as a result.

After all, in the final analysis, it is for this that journalists all over the world work.

All their work may be useless if, for various reasons, the information is not consumed by the audience. If the reader did not read, the viewer did not see, the radio listener did not hear the text addressed to him - for all the routineness of such an event, a tragedy actually occurs: the mind, talent, intellect of the author were wasted, no one needed them.

This situation cannot be considered normal. Society is not interested in journalism running idle. The course of events should be different: ideally, each copy of the newspaper should be read, each transmission seen or heard by those to whom they are addressed. Achieve this in real life impossible, and in the emerging competition the one who is smarter, more talented, who can and knows more than others will be able to break through to the audience.

Consequently, a message that has not reached the addressee and is not perceived by him cannot be called information as having not fulfilled the constructive function of journalism.

The essence of the constructive function is expressed in two terms that are extremely relevant to the press: efficiency and effectiveness. Many scientists, combining these concepts, also talk about the effectiveness of the press - however, there is another point of view: along with the impact on the mass consciousness and the sphere of social management, one should distinguish between the real consequences of publications, for example, repairing a road, removing a bureaucrat from office, etc. . - and these changes should be considered effective. In connection with the rapid development of advertising, the meaning of the term “performance” is beginning to take on a new quality; when signing contracts for advertising campaigns, it is increasingly used to denote the dynamics of the movement of goods after advertising or, conversely, the time for which the goods intended for sale will “leave” after being released into advertising material light. However, here, rather, we should talk about the effectiveness of advertising, rather than journalism. In science, the question remains whether performance is a summing indicator of efficiency and effectiveness, or whether it is a separate category with its own essential characteristics.

The effectiveness of the media is understood as a change in the knowledge, way of thinking or social behavior of people after exposure to the press. And the effectiveness is manifested in those specific changes that occur as a result of media appearances in the system of social management. Therefore, there are two ways to implement the constructive function of the press.

The first, organically inherent in it, is through the mechanisms of mass consciousness. Journalists directly address millions of people with facts, assessments and emotions known to them, and as a result, people correct, change their attitude to the world, individual life collisions, correct their social behavior. This is the first and main way the impact of the press on social process. The minimum “quantum” or “indivisible atom” of efficiency is one person reading one publication. The larger the audience, the volume of the publication or the airtime of the broadcaster, the higher its influence on public opinion and thus, higher efficiency.

The second, also of no small importance, but still characteristic of other species human activity, for example, jurisprudence - influence on the social process through the mechanisms of social management of society: authorities, political parties, etc. The actions they take as a result of the influence of the press directly change the course of events. For example, if a newspaper applies to the government or local administrations with an official request to pay attention to a publication or a letter to the editor and take action on them, it takes the second path. If such measures are taken, we can talk about effectiveness, and if they lead to real changes, then about effectiveness.

The diagram below clearly (albeit simplified) explains what is the mechanism for acquiring, processing and mass dissemination of socially significant information - as well as its influence on the social process.

With.

social status the position that a person (or social group) occupies in society is called.

Each human is a member of various social groups and, accordingly, the holder of many different statuses. The whole set of human statuses is called status set. The status that the person himself or those around him consider the main one is called main status. This is usually professional or family status, or status in the group where the person has achieved the greatest success.

Statuses are divided into prescribed(obtained by virtue of birth) and achieved(which are acquired purposefully). The freer the society, the less important are the statuses prescribed and the more important are the achieved ones.

A person can have different statuses. For example, his status set can be: male, unmarried, candidate of technical sciences, computer programming specialist, Russian, city dweller, Orthodox, etc. A number of statuses (Russian, male) were received by him from birth - these are prescribed statuses. A number of other statuses (candidate of sciences, programmer) he acquired, having made certain efforts for this, these are achieved statuses. Suppose this person identifies primarily as a programmer; hence, being a programmer is his main status.

The social prestige of a person

The concept of status is usually associated with the concept of prestige.

social prestige - it is a public assessment of the significance of the position that a person occupies in social structure.

The higher the prestige social position a person, the higher his social status is estimated. For example, the professions of an economist or a lawyer are considered prestigious; education received in a good educational institution; high post; a specific place of residence (capital, city center). If they talk about the high importance not of a social position, but of a particular person and his personal qualities, in this case they mean not prestige, but authority.

social role

Social status is a characteristic of a person's inclusion in the social structure. In real life, the status of a person is manifested through the roles that he plays.

social role is a set of requirements that are imposed by society on persons occupying a specific social position.

In other words, if someone occupies a certain position in society, they will be expected to behave accordingly.

A priest is expected to behave in accordance with high moral standards, a rock star - scandalous acts. If a priest begins to behave scandalously, and a rock star begins to preach sermons, this will cause bewilderment, discontent and even condemnation of the public.

In order to feel comfortable in society, we must expect people to play their roles and act within the rules prescribed by society: a teacher in a university will teach us scientific theories, not pseudoscientific; the doctor will think about our health, not his earnings. If we did not expect others to fulfill their roles, we would not be able to trust anyone and our lives would be filled with hostility and suspicion.

Thus, if social status- this is the position of a person in the social structure of society with certain rights and obligations, then the social role is the functions performed by a person in accordance with his status: the behavior that is expected from the owner of this status.

Even with the same social status, the nature of the roles performed can vary significantly. This is due to the fact that the performance of roles has a personal coloring, and the roles themselves can have different versions of performance. For example, with r. the owner of such a social status as the father of the family, may be demanding and strict with the child (play his role in an authoritarian manner), may build relationships in a spirit of cooperation and partnership (democratic behavior), or may let events take their course, giving the child a wide degree of freedom (permissive style). In exactly the same way, different theater actors will play the same role in completely different ways.

Throughout life, a person's position in the social structure may change. As a rule, these changes are associated with the transition of a person from one social group to another: from unskilled workers to specialists, from villagers to city dwellers, and so on.

Features of social status

Status - it is a social position that includes a given type of profession, economic situation, political preferences, demographic characteristics. For example, the status of a citizen I.I. Ivanov is defined as follows: "salesman" - a profession, "a wage worker who receives an average income" - economic traits, "LDPR member" - a political characteristic, "a man aged 25" - a demographic quality.

Each status as an element of the social division of labor contains a set of rights and obligations. Rights refer to what a person can freely allow or allow in relation to other people. Duties prescribe some necessary actions to the status holder: in relation to others, at their workplace, etc. Responsibilities are strictly defined, fixed in rules, instructions, regulations, or enshrined in custom. Responsibilities limit behavior to certain limits, make it predictable. For example, the status of a slave in the ancient world assumed only duties and did not contain any rights. In a totalitarian society, rights and obligations are asymmetrical: the ruler and senior officials have maximum rights and minimum duties; ordinary citizens have many duties and few rights. In our country in Soviet times, many rights were proclaimed in the constitution, but not all of them could be realized. In a democratic society, rights and obligations are more symmetrical. It can be said that the level of social development of a society depends on how the rights and obligations of citizens are correlated and observed.

It is important that the duties of the individual presuppose his responsibility for their qualitative fulfillment. So, the tailor is obliged to sew a suit on time and with high quality; if this is not done, he must be punished somehow - pay a penalty or be fired. The organization is obliged under the contract to deliver products to the customer, otherwise it incurs losses in the form of fines and penalties. Also in Ancient Assyria there was such an order (fixed in the laws of Hammurabi): if an architect built a building, which subsequently collapsed and crushed the owner, the architect was deprived of his life. This is one of the early and primitive forms of manifestation of responsibility. Nowadays, the forms of manifestation of responsibility are quite diverse and are determined by the culture of society, the level of social development. In modern society, rights, freedoms and obligations are determined by social norms, laws, and traditions of society.

In this way, status- position of the individual social structure of society, which is connected with other positions through a system of rights, duties and responsibilities.

Since each person participates in many groups and organizations, he can have many statuses. For example, the mentioned citizen Ivanov is a man, a middle-aged person, a resident of Penza, a salesman, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, an Orthodox, a Russian, a voter, a football player, a regular visitor to a beer bar, a husband, a father, an uncle, etc. In this set of statuses that any person has, one is the main one, the key one. The main status is the most characteristic for a given individual and is usually associated with the main place of his work or occupation: "salesman", "entrepreneur", "scientist", "bank director", "worker at industrial enterprise”,“ housewife ”, etc. The main thing is the status that determines the financial situation, and hence the lifestyle, circle of acquaintances, demeanor.

Given(innate, prescribed) status determined by sex, nationality, race, i.e. biologically predetermined characteristics inherited by a person in addition to his will and consciousness. The achievements of modern medicine make some statuses changeable. Thus, the concept of biological sex, socially acquired, appeared. With the help of surgical operations, a man who played with dolls from childhood, dressed like a girl, thought and felt like a girl, can become a woman. He finds his true gender, to which he was psychologically predisposed, but did not receive at birth. What gender - male or female - should be considered innate in this case? There is no single answer. Sociologists also find it difficult to determine what nationality a person belongs to whose parents are persons of different nationalities. Often, moving to another country in childhood, emigrants forget the old customs, their native language and practically do not differ from the indigenous inhabitants of their new homeland. In this case, the biological nationality is replaced by the socially acquired one.

Acquired Status is a status that a person receives under certain conditions. So, the eldest son of an English lord after his death inherits this status. The kinship system has a whole set of acquired statuses. If innate statuses express consanguinity ("son", "daughter", "sister", "brother", "nephew", "uncle", "grandmother", "grandfather", "aunt", "cousin"), then non-blood relatives have an acquired status. So, having married, a person can get all his wife's relatives as relatives. “Mother-in-law”, “father-in-law”, “sister-in-law”, “brother-in-law” are acquired statuses.

Achieved status - socially acquired by a person through his own efforts, desire, luck. Thus, a person acquires the status of a manager through education and perseverance. The more democratic the society is, the more statuses are achieved in the society.

Different statuses have their own insignia (symbols). In particular, the uniform of the military distinguishes them from the mass of the civilian population; in addition, each military rank has its own differences: a private, major, general has different badges, shoulder straps, headgear.

status image, or image, is a set of ideas about how a person should behave in accordance with his status. In order to match the status image, a person must “not allow himself too much”, in other words, look the way others expect from him. For example, the president cannot sleep through a meeting with the leader of another country, university professors cannot sleep drunk in the stairwell, as this does not correspond to their status image. There are situations when a person undeservedly tries to be “on an equal footing” with a person who has a different status in terms of rank, which leads to the manifestation of familiarity (amikoshonstvo), i.e. unceremonious, cheeky attitude.

Differences between people, due to assigned status, are noticeable to one degree or another. Usually each person, as well as a group of people, tends to take a more advantageous social status. Under certain circumstances, a flower seller can become a vice-premier of the country, a millionaire. Others do not succeed, because the assigned status (sex, age, nationality) interferes.

At the same time, some social strata are trying to raise their status by uniting in movements (women's movements, organizations like the "union of entrepreneurs", etc.) and lobbying their interests everywhere. However, there are factors that hinder attempts individual groups change your status. Among them are ethnic contradictions, attempts by other groups to maintain the status quo, lack of strong leaders, and so on.

Thus, under social status in sociology is understood the position that a person (or social group) occupies in society. Because each person is a member of a different social groups, he is the owner of a set of statuses (that is, the carrier of some status set). Each of the available statuses is associated with a set of rights that determine what the holder of the status can afford, and obligations that prescribe the implementation of specific actions. In general, status can be defined as the position of an individual in the social structure of society, associated with other positions through a system of rights, duties and responsibilities.

Social control is a set of means and techniques by which society guarantees that the behavior of its members, individual subjects of management, social groups will be carried out in accordance with the established social norms and values. Order in society means that every person, every subject of activity, taking on certain duties, in turn has the right to demand that others fulfill them.

There are three ways of exercising social control.

1. Effective education and socialization, during which people consciously accept the norms and values ​​of society, its individual groups and social institutions.

2. Coercion - the application of certain sanctions. When an individual, group, subject of management do not follow laws, norms, rules, society resorts to coercion, which is aimed at overcoming deviations from the norm, accepted values. In this sense, social control is closely related to the categories of freedom and responsibility. Indeed, effective management involves the manifestation of initiative and creativity, independence on the part of all subjects of management, but freedom is impossible without responsibility for social consequences activity that usually occurs after the exercise of social control.

3. Political, moral, legal, financial and other forms of responsibility. All big role play such forms of responsibility as group, collective, as well as cultural values, traditions, group norms. The effectiveness of social control depends entirely on the nature and extent of the country's progress towards civil society, whose institutions and organizations are able to support and realize the interests and needs of their members, to protect them outside and in addition to the state.

Functions of social control:

Regulatory - control is the most important factor social regulation at all levels of society;

· protective - social control serves to preserve the values ​​existing in society and accepted by it and to suppress attempts to encroach on these values. To such unquestionably significant for modern society values ​​include: human life, property, honor and dignity, physical integrity, freedoms and rights of the individual, established political system, national, state, religious priorities. This social control feature allows you to broadcast social experience from generation to generation;

stabilizing - social control, organizing behavioral expectations, ensures the predictability of people's behavior in standard situations and thereby contributes to the immutability of the social order.

social values- beliefs shared in society regarding the goals to which people should strive, and the main means of achieving them. Social values ​​are significant ideas, phenomena and objects of reality in terms of their compliance with the needs and interests of society, groups, and individuals.

Frankl showed that values ​​not only control actions, they play the role of the meanings of life and make up three classes: values ​​of creativity; experiences (love); relations.

Classification of values. 1. Traditional (focused on the preservation and reproduction of established norms and goals of life) and modern (arise under the influence of changes in public life). 2. Basic (characterize the main orientations of people in life and the main areas of activity. They are formed in the process of primary socialization, then remaining fairly stable) and secondary. 3. Terminal (express the most important goals and ideals, meanings of life) and instrumental (approved in this society means of achieving goals). 4. Hierarchy from the lowest values ​​to the highest is possible.

N. I. Lapin offers his own classification of values, based on the following grounds:

By subject content (spiritual and material, economic, social, political, etc.); By functional orientation (integrating and differentiating, approved and denied); According to the needs of individuals (vital, interactionist, socializational, meaningful life); By type of civilization (values ​​of traditional societies, values ​​of modernity societies, universal values).

main function social values- to be a measure of assessments - leads to the fact that in any system of values ​​it is possible to distinguish:

1) what is most preferred (acts of command approaching the social ideal - what is admired). The most important element system of values ​​is a zone of higher values, the value of which does not need any justification (that which is above all, which is inviolable, is “holy” and cannot be violated under any

circumstances);

2) what is considered normal, correct (as they do in most cases);

3) what is not approved is condemned and - at the extreme pole of the value system - appears as an absolute, self-evident evil that is not allowed under any circumstances.

social norms- a set of requirements and expectations that a social community (group), organization, society imposes on its members in their relationships with each other, with social institutions for the purpose of carrying out activities (behavior) of the established pattern. These are universal, permanent prescriptions that require their practical implementation.

The social norm in the sphere of people's behavior in relation to specific acts can be characterized by two main series of numerical, quantitative indicators. These indicators include, firstly, relative number acts of behavior of the corresponding type and, secondly, an indicator of the degree of their correspondence to some average sample. The objective basis of the social norm is manifested in the fact that the functioning, development social phenomena and processes takes place in the corresponding qualitatively

quantitative limits. The totality of actual acts of action that form social norms is made up of homogeneous, but not identical, elements. These acts of action inevitably differ among themselves in the degree to which they conform to the average pattern of social norm. These actions, therefore, are located along a certain continuum: from complete conformity to the model, through cases of partial deviation, up to complete going beyond the limits of the objective social norm. In qualitative certainty, in the content, sense and significance of a qualitative characteristic social norms, in real behavior, the dominant system of social values ​​is ultimately manifested. Total homogeneous (i.e., more or less corresponding to a certain feature) acts of behavior - the first quantitative indicator of a given set of acts.