Socio-psychological characteristics of the stratification of society. Image, quality and lifestyle
The word ʼʼstratʼʼ means layer, i.e. any community or social group. Without stratification, the nature of communities cannot be understood. The foundations of the modern approach to the study of social stratification were laid by M. Weber, who considered the social structure of society as a multidimensional system, where, along with classes and the property relations that give rise to them, an important place belongs to the status. He believed that stratification was based on property inequality, prestige, and access to power.
The most developed is the functional concept of social stratification. From the point of view of this theory, the stratification system of society is a differentiation of social roles and positions. It is due to the division of labor and social differentiation of various groups, as well as a system of values and cultural standards that determine the significance of any activity and legitimize social inequality.
According to T. Parsons, the universal criteria for social stratification are ˸
Quality (prescribing a certain characteristic to an individual, for example, competence);
Execution (assessment of the individual's activity in comparison with the activities of other people);
Possession of material values, talent, cultural resources.
There are three different approaches to the study of social stratification˸ a) self-assessment, or the method of class identification; b) from the standpoint of assessing reputation (for example, in the recent past it was beneficial to have a worker-peasant origin, but with the onset of other times, people began to look for the roots of their aristocratic origin); c) objective, based on the prestige of the profession, the level of education and income. In this case, the following vertical stratification is used: 1) the highest class of professionals; 2) mid-level technicians; 3) commercial class; 4) petty bourgeoisie; 5) technicians and workers performing managerial functions; 6) skilled workers; 7) unskilled workers.
Social mobility and social stratification are two sides of the same coin. Social stability is ensured by a certain state of the social structure˸ the presence of a set of certain strata, say the middle class, and the state of each of them, for example, the number of unemployed.
The revolution is associated with a change in social stratification˸ some strata disappear, others take their place. Moreover, the revolution gives this process a mass character.
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So, after the revolution of 1917, the classes of the bourgeoisie, the aristocracy, the Cossacks, the kulaks, the clergy, etc., were liquidated.
Socio-psychological characteristics of the stratification of society. Image, quality and style of life - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Socio-psychological characteristics of the stratification of society. Image, quality and style of life" 2015, 2017-2018.
The lifestyle of a normal person includes three basic categories: level, quality and lifestyle.
The standard of living determines the quantitative aspect of living conditions, the size and structure of spiritual people. It includes income, provision with medical care, housing, length of free, working time, level of education, and more.
The standard of living is mainly an economic category. It represents the degree of satisfaction of needs in spiritual, material, cultural values.
Quality of life refers to a category that includes a combination of health conditions and life support. They allow you to achieve mental, social, physical well-being, self-realization.
Life style is determined by the behavior of a particular person, group of people. Lifestyle - also, individuality, the ability to position oneself as a person according to one's own ideas about an interesting, fulfilling life.
The level and quality of life are mostly social in nature. And the last factor is individualized.
Therefore, human health depends mainly on a lifestyle that is personalized. Lifestyle is also determined by personal inclinations, national, historical traditions (mentality, worldview).
The behavior of many is aimed at satisfying personal needs. All individuals are characterized by an individual way of satisfying their desires. And therefore, the behavior is different for all people, depending mainly on education.
As for the concepts quality and lifestyle, the former is directly dependent on the latter. Because the quality of your life directly depends on the lifestyle you choose. That is, from the manner of your behavior, the chosen way to meet your needs.
Refers to the integral components of the category "lifestyle". Included here are the positive conditions of human life, the level of culture (including behavioral), hygienic skills that allow maintaining and strengthening health.
All this contributes to the prevention of health disorders, provides conditions that support the optimal quality of life.
In other words, the key moment in the ratio quality and lifestyle is a healthy lifestyle. And healthy, not only physically, but also spiritually and morally.
If a physically healthy lifestyle is currently the fashion trend, then most people do not worry about spiritual health.
How useful is a lifestyle aimed at a healthy lifestyle and how does it affect the quality of existence? Such a lifestyle is necessary:
- to perform all public, domestic functions in the optimal human mode;
- to improve and maintain health
- for the embodiment of psychological, social, physical capabilities, disclosure of personal potential;
- for active longevity, prolongation of a kind.
Contrary to common beliefs, a healthy lifestyle includes not only proper nutrition, physical activity and abstinence from various abuses and bad habits. It also includes:
- rational organization of educational (labor) activities;
- right ;
- balanced diet;
- rational organization of free personal time;
- suitable driving mode;
- hardening, observance of standards of personal hygiene;
- sexual culture;
- compliance with the rules of mental hygiene;
- family planning;
- prevention of aggression, nervous breakdowns, depression;
- monitoring of health indicators.
concept quality and lifestyle- is multifaceted and covers all layers of our existence and can serve as an integral, generalizing indicator.
Segmentation of any market can be carried out in a variety of ways, according to a variety of features, taking into account various factors. For example, market segmentation by consumer groups can be carried out according to the following criteria:
Geographic: region, administrative division, population, population density, climate.
Demographic: gender, age, family size, marital status, income level, types of professions, educational level, religion, race, nationality.
Psychographic: social stratum, lifestyle, personal qualities.
Behavioral: the degree of randomness of the purchase, the search for benefits, the status of a regular customer, the degree of need for the product, the degree of loyalty, the degree of willingness to buy, emotional attitude.
Each of these four features is used in market analysis not by itself, but in some combination with others, in order to determine as accurately as possible what needs a particular product serves to satisfy. By coincidence, certain groups of consumers have several values of variables, it can be concluded that there is a certain market segment.
Segmentation of the market by product parameters is carried out on the basis of an analysis of which parameters of a particular product are especially attractive to consumers and to what extent your competitors have already taken care of this. Such segmentation is of great importance in the release and marketing of new products.
When segmenting the market of organizations (legal entities), an enterprise can use the same features as for end consumers (individuals).
Traditional segmentation methods are designed mainly for stable markets for mass standardized products and do not provide for a quick change in the range of manufactured products, close integration of marketing with research and development and production. In modern conditions, systems of constant monitoring of changes in the structure of consumer demand and the most rapid improvement of manufactured products and their production technologies, taking into account the changing needs of consumers, have acquired particular relevance.
For segmentation planning to be successful, customer groups must meet five criteria:
Differences between consumers are necessary, otherwise mass marketing would be the required strategy.
Each segment should have enough consumer similarity features so that an appropriate marketing plan can be developed for the entire segment.
The enterprise must be able to measure the characteristics and requirements of customers in order to form groups. This is sometimes difficult for lifestyle factors.
Segments must be large enough to generate sales and cover costs.
Customers in segments must be reasonably easy to reach
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Way of life - typical for specific historical socio-economic relations, the way and forms of individual and collective human life, characterizing the features of his behavior, communication, way of thinking. A way of life is an established form of a person's being in the world, which finds its expression in his activities, interests, and beliefs.
The main parameters of the way of life are work (study for the younger generation), everyday life, socio-political and cultural activities of people, as well as various behavioral habits and manifestations.
The concept of "way of life" is used to indicate the specific, but essential characteristics of representatives of various socio-cultural groups that distinguish (define, identify) them in relation to each other. Such identification, depending on the research task, is carried out according to two classes of features.
The lifestyle of people is determined by two essential groups of factors and conditions, objective and subjective. The objective conditions and factors that differentiate the way of life of people in a particular historical period are divided as follows:
- - natural: geographical, climatic, ecological, biological, demographic, etc.;
- - social: the nature of the division of labor and its conditions, the social structure and stratification (stratification) of society;
- - cultural: the volume of cultural information and its distribution by areas and levels of culture, the structure of the socio-cultural norms and values that operate here - economic, socio-political, ideological, cognitive, ethical, aesthetic, etc. .
The subjective factors and conditions that affect the way of life of people include, on the one hand, the perception and assessment by representatives of various social groups of the objective conditions of their existence, and on the other hand, their needs, requests, motives, motives, interests, value orientations, goals and etc. The specificity of the interaction of subjective and objective factors determines the differences in the content, structure and form of the way of life of people in the same society. Therefore, it is important to dwell in more detail on the consideration of the factors and mechanisms that determine this specificity.
The quality of life is a systemic concept determined by the unity of its components: the person himself as a biological and spiritual being, his life activity and the conditions in which it takes place. It follows that the nomenclature of indicators of the quality of life should include both the objective characteristics of the person (or society), his life activity and living conditions, as well as subjective evaluative characteristics that reflect the attitude of the subject to the realities of his life.
The quality of life is determined, first of all: the first factor inherent in a certain person (or society) is the internal capabilities to carry out life processes - life potential. The second factor in the quality of life is the procedural and effective characteristics of life in relation to people's needs, interests, values and goals. The third factor in the quality of life is external opportunities, i.e. properties of environments, objects and subjects.
When determining the quality of life, two types of indicators are distinguished: objective and subjective.
objective indicators of the quality of life: natural and social.
subjective indicators of quality of life: cognitive (assessments of overall life satisfaction and assessments of satisfaction with various areas of life) and emotional. .
In addition to these indicators, there are also several indicators that can be grouped according to a number of features.
Depending on the hierarchical level:
macro indicators: per capita production of GDP, GNP or NNP; nominal and real incomes of the population; demographic indicators; duration of the working week; free time; inflation rate, etc.;
micro-indicators that characterize the satisfaction of basic needs at the level of an individual or family.
Depending on the nature of the reflection of the essence of the category "standard of living":
direct lines characterizing the standard of living directly, directly, for example, the level of consumption of basic foodstuffs, etc.;
indirect, reflecting the standard of living indirectly, indirectly, for example, demographic indicators.
Depending on the nature of the calculation:
level (absolute values);
structural (components of level indicators);
dynamic (relative, characterizing the change in level indicators).
Depending on the group of needs, the satisfaction of which characterizes one or another indicator. There are three main groups of needs:
physical needs;
spiritual (intellectual) needs;
social needs.
These characteristics can be considered using seven integral properties of the quality of life:
- 1. The quality of the population, integrating such properties of it as the ability to reproduce (fertility, mortality, morbidity, disability, life expectancy, etc.), the ability to form and maintain families (marriage, divorce), the level of education and qualifications (share of the population covered by training in the respective age groups, the achieved level of education, etc.).
- 2. Welfare. The material aspect of well-being is characterized by indicators of income, current consumption and savings of the population (the amount of income in real terms, their distribution by areas of use and various socio-economic groups of the population, the structure of consumer spending of the population, the presence of consumer durables in households, the accumulation of property and valuables etc.), as well as such macroeconomic indicators as GDP per capita, actual household consumption, consumer price index, unemployment and poverty levels.
- 3. Living conditions of the population. The concept of "living conditions" includes the characteristics of housing conditions, the provision of the population with the capacities of health care, education, culture, use of free time, social and geographical mobility, etc.
- 4. Awareness of the population, characterizing the accessibility to telecommunications and information infrastructures (mobile radio operators, information resources, Internet technologies, etc.).
- 5. Social security (or the quality of the social sphere), reflecting working conditions, social security and social protection, physical and property security.
- 6. The quality of the environment (or the quality of the ecological niche), accumulating data on air pollution, water pollution, soil quality, the level of biodiversity of the territory, etc.
- 7. Natural and climatic conditions, characterized by climatic conditions, frequency and specificity of force majeure situations (floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters).
§ 3. Socio-psychological characteristics of the stratification of society. Image, quality and lifestyle
The word "stratum" means layer, i.e. any community or social group. Without stratification, the nature of communities cannot be understood. The foundations of the modern approach to the study of social stratification were laid by M. Weber, who considered the social structure of society as a multidimensional system, where, along with classes and the property relations that give rise to them, an important place belongs to the status. He believed that stratification was based on property inequality, prestige, and access to power.
The most developed is the functional concept of social stratification. From the point of view of this theory, the stratification system of society is a differentiation of social roles and positions. It is due to the division of labor and social differentiation of various groups, as well as the system of values and cultural standards that determine the significance of a particular activity and legitimize social inequality.
According to T. Parsons, the universal criteria for social stratification are:
Quality (prescribing a certain characteristic to an individual, for example, competence);
Execution (assessment of the individual's activity in comparison with the activities of other people);
Possession of material values, talent, cultural resources.
There are three different approaches to the study of social stratification: a) self-assessment, or the method of class identification; b) from the standpoint of assessing reputation (for example, in the recent past it was beneficial to have a worker-peasant origin, but with the onset of other times, people began to look for the roots of their aristocratic origin); c) objective, based on the prestige of the profession, the level of education and income. In this case, the following vertical stratification is used: 1) the highest class of professionals; 2) mid-level technicians; 3) commercial class; 4) petty bourgeoisie; 5) technicians and workers performing managerial functions; 6) skilled workers; 7) unskilled workers.
Social mobility and social stratification are two sides of the same coin. Social stability is ensured by a certain state of the social structure: the presence of a set of certain strata, say the middle class, and the state of each of them, such as the number of unemployed.
The revolution is associated with a change in social stratification: some strata disappear, others take their place. Moreover, the revolution gives this process a mass character. So, after the revolution of 1917, the classes of the bourgeoisie, the aristocracy, the Cossacks, the kulaks, the clergy, etc., were liquidated.
The destruction of layers and classes is accompanied by changes in the way of life. Each stratum is the bearer of certain social (cultural, moral, etc.) relations, standards and way of life. With a sharp and all-encompassing change in stratification, society finds itself in a marginal, extremely unstable state.
In Russian social psychology, for a long time, the class approach to determining the structure of society dominated. A class is a large social group that differs from others in the possibility of access to social wealth (distribution of goods), power, and social prestige. The socio-psychological characteristics of classes are based on their social needs, interests, quality, image and style of life. The main drawback of the class approach is that it does not reflect real stratification, since it determines social differentiation on the basis of taking into account only two indicators: the social division of labor and private ownership of the means of production. Stratification has always existed. In Russia, the tribal community was divided into tribal nobility, free community members and dependent members. Then gradually the estates began to take shape.
They were social groups that differed not only in their actual position in society, but also in their legal place in the state. Belonging to a particular class was considered hereditary. However, this requirement was not strictly observed, in contrast to the unconditional implementation of caste norms. The upper classes included the nobility and the clergy. Real social differentiation has never been limited to such classes as workers, peasants and intelligentsia.
In a totalitarian state with a planned distributive economy, the real stratum-forming feature is the proximity to the distribution of funds, the deficit. In this regard, stratification consists of the following layers: nomenclature, sales workers, etc.
In order to get into the nomenklatura, that is, the elite, and receive a high status for life, one had to be a pioneer, a member of the Komsomol, a party, observe certain etiquette and have connections. But the stratification was not only corporate-departmental, but also territorial. "Watershed" developed between people depending on where the person lived - in the capital, a provincial town or in a village. As for the so-called "declassed" elements, vagrants, the statistics did not take into account these strata.
Deformed stratification began to take shape after the liberalization of prices in the country. In market conditions, the differentiation of society is inevitable, but the character that it acquired immediately after the start of reforms cannot be called anything other than threatening. On the one hand, a layer of those with too high incomes has formed, on the other, an impoverished population: lumpen, unemployed. There was a sharp stratification on a material basis. The difference between the layers has reached a colossal size. At the same time, such features as education and competence have lost their significance. The process of stratification acquired an ugly, largely criminal character. Without starting opportunities, honest people were cut off from business. As for the nomenklatura and former offenders who had start-up capital, they were in a more advantageous position. The middle class of wealthy people never formed.
A deformed stratification has developed not only in society, but also in the army and in criminal communities (however, it has always existed here). In the army, such stratification was called "hazing", "hazing", the essence of which is a mockery of old-timers ("grandfathers") over the "young".
Stratification in a criminal environment, i.e., the caste distinction of people and giving them, in accordance with this, strictly defined rights and obligations, is one of the main manifestations of the criminal subculture. In the youth criminal environment, it suggests:
Rigid division into “us” and “them”, and “ours” into “tops and bottoms”;
Social stigma: designation of belonging to the "elite" with certain symbols (nicknames, etc.);
Difficult upward mobility and facilitated downward mobility (changing status from lower to higher is difficult, and vice versa);
Justification of upward mobility - enhanced passing of tests or a guarantee of "authority", downward mobility - violation of the "laws" of the criminal world;
The autonomy of the existence of each caste, the difficulty, even the impossibility of friendly contacts between the "lower classes" and the "elite" because of the threat of ostracism for those from the "elite" who agreed to such contacts;
The “elite” of the criminal world has its own “laws”, value systems, taboos, privileges;
Stability of status: attempts by people from the "lower classes" to get rid of their status are severely punished, as well as attempts to enjoy privileges in the criminal world that are not according to status (V. F. Pirozhkov).
The status-role structure is manifested not only in privileges, but also in appearance, especially clothes, manner of speaking, walking, etc.
Each stratum is characterized by a certain way of life, established typical forms of life of the individual and communities, in other words, habits, traditions, stereotypes of behavior.
There are different types of lifestyle:
Healthy, which involves proper nutrition, compliance with hygiene standards, the presence of psychologically comfortable conditions at work and at home, playing sports, orderly rest, avoiding stress, sound sleep, minimal alcohol consumption;
Morally healthy, corresponding to the content of the basic values of life and culture;
Closed, ascetic, suggesting constant concern for the salvation of the soul and Spartan modesty;
Bohemian, associated with lax observance of everyday norms of communication;
- “student”, associated with carelessness and easy attitude to life.
The list of these species can be continued for completely different reasons. The fact is that how many varieties of communities, so many types of lifestyle. In accordance with this, army, urban, rural, monastic, sectarian, resort lifestyles are distinguished, as well as the lifestyle of vagrants, the disabled, “golden youth”, the nomenklatura, “white collars”, trade workers, criminals, etc.
The structure of the way of life includes the following components: - axiological (value, normative), meaning orientation towards the observance of certain rules of behavior. For example, the Soviet way of life was maintained through blind faith in the correctness of the policy pursued, the superiority of the system, and the empowerment of the authorities with the right to decide the fate of the country and every person. Based on these principles, national consent was ensured. A sharp rejection of them led to a spiritual crisis of entire generations. In this regard, it should be emphasized once again that only a convergence of values, a compromise are possible here;
Behavioral, expressed in habits, sustainable ways of responding to various social situations;
Cognitive* associated with the content of worldviews, cognitive stereotypes;
Communicative, due to the inclusion of a person in the system of social relations, as well as the state of the active vocabulary of various social groups, their thesaurus, vocabulary, style, jargon, professionalism, special terminology, pronunciation.
So, a certain system of socio-cultural values, priorities, preferences underlies this or that way of life; pictures of the world, understanding of the norm; social circle, interests, needs and ways to meet them; social stereotypes, habits.
The problem of the social way of life is closely connected with the socio-psychological typology of people. They try to classify people for different reasons. The socio-psychological approach to the typology of people differs from the typology, based on taking into account individual differences. From the position of the socio-psychological approach, the normative side of the way of life and the expectations that are formed in connection with this matter; the status occupied by the person and her role behavior. As you know, a person can take a certain status only if his behavior meets expectations. The most striking examples are the heroes of M. Bulgakov Sharikov and Shvonder. These types corresponded to the expectations of the class ideology of the so-called proletarian culture.
Lifestyle is an essential characteristic not only of individual social groups, but of entire generations. This is a temporary, concrete historical characteristic. It is no coincidence that they speak of representatives of various groups who lived at the same time as a single community, for example, about the “sixties”. Behind this is a segment of the life of the nation.
From a moral point of view, the way of life, called "house building", is of interest. It is dissonant with the modern, urbanized way of life, but it is very instructive and useful. The conservative way of life is not the worst, as evidenced by the history of England.
There was an attempt to justify the existence of the Soviet way of life, which is based on collectivism, etc. There are opinions that the Soviet way of life is just another myth. You can criticize it, disagree with those aspects of it that were formed in the conditions of communal apartments, dormitories, villages cut off from the whole world by impassability, but you can argue that the Soviet way of life did not exist at all, or it is impossible to endow it with only negative characteristics.
The way of life of specific social groups is always influenced by ethnopsychological characteristics. From this point of view, Russia is characterized not by an individual, but by a communal way of life. This cannot be ignored. P.A. Stolypin was the first to attempt to destroy this way of life, which is not always economically efficient.
The reforms that began in 1991 in the country changed the content of the way of life of an entire generation. They gave it dynamism, a new meaning. A way of life of entrepreneurial circles has formed, often not much resembling the way of life of Russian merchants, the charitable activities of Savva Morozov, or the cultural and educational activities of S. Mamontov and P. Tretyakov. In many ways, it turned out to be criminalized, based on a criminal ethics.
A criminal way of life is a way of life of criminal communities based on a subculture. It is not universal. Each criminal group, category of offenders has its own way of life. Its distinguishing features in some cases are secrecy, hierarchical relations, in others - demonstrative luxury, the cult of power.
A lifestyle cannot be imagined without its quality. In domestic literature, instead of this concept, the concept of "standard of living" is used. The quality of life is characterized by the content of nutrition, provision of health, education, housing conditions, means of satisfying spiritual needs, durable goods, transport services, criminal security, etc. As you can see, the level and quality of life are far from the same. The standard of living fixes only the ratio of income and expenses, the quality of life is a subtle and sensitive integral indicator that takes into account, for example, such signs: whether a person lives in a prestigious area or not, uses public transport or personal, eats environmentally friendly food or toxic, has access to cultural values or not, etc.
Lifestyle is no less significant socio-psychological characteristic. Usually, it means the dominant type of activity and its main features, and therefore they talk about a business, creative lifestyle, etc. At the same time, a lifestyle is formed from such actions and objects of property, which are interpreted as symbols of the position occupied by a person in one or another stratification structure. In other words, it is "noticeable consumption". Such an understanding of the lifestyle is evidenced by the facts characterizing the numerous presentations of emerging Russian entrepreneurs, and the behavior of some representatives of the underworld.
At the same time, the style of life is largely associated with the cognitive sphere of a person, the formed pictures of the world, stereotypes, and individual differences.
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