Very often we use the words "man", "individual", "personality", "individuality", using them as synonyms. However, these terms mean different things. The concept of "man" acts as a philosophical category, since it has the most general, generic meaning that distinguishes a rational being from all other objects of nature. The individual is understood as a separate, concrete person, as a single representative of the human race. Individuality can be defined as a set of features that distinguish one individual from another at the biological, psychological, social, and other levels. The concept of personality is introduced to highlight the social essence of a person as a carrier of social qualities and properties, a certain combination of which defines him as a personality. Since in this concept the emphasis is on the social principle, the personality acts as a special sociological category.

At the time of birth, the child is not yet a person. He is just an individual. To become a personality, a child must go through a certain path of development, where biological, genetically predetermined prerequisites and the presence of a social environment with which he interacts are indispensable conditions. Therefore, a person is understood as a normative type of person that meets the requirements of society, its values ​​and norms.

Personality can be characterized either from the point of view of its structure, or from the point of view of interaction with other people, the environment.

Structural analysis of personality is one of the most difficult problems of sociology. Since the personality is considered as a structural integrity of biological, psychological and sociogenic components, the biological, psychological and social structures of the personality are usually distinguished, which are studied by biology, psychology and sociology. The biological structure of the personality is taken into account by sociology when normal interactions between people are violated. A sick person or a disabled person cannot perform all the social functions inherent in a healthy person. The psychological structure of the personality, which includes a set of emotions, experiences, memory, abilities, etc., is more associated with sociology. Here, not only various kinds of deviations are important, but also the normal reactions of others to the activity of the individual. The qualities of this personality structure are subjective. But when determining the social structure of a personality, one cannot limit oneself to its subjective side, since the main thing in a personality is its social quality. Therefore, the social structure of the individual includes a set of objective and subjective social properties of the individual that arise and function in the process of his various activities. From this it logically follows that the most important characteristic of the social structure of the individual is its activity as an independent action and as interaction with other people.

In the social structure of the individual, the following elements can be distinguished:

A way of implementing special qualities in activity, manifested in the way of life, its level and quality, in various types of activity: labor, family, socio-political, cultural, etc. At the same time, the activity of the individual in the production of material and spiritual values ​​should be considered as the central link in the structure of the personality, which determines all its elements;

Objective social needs of the individual: since the individual is an organic part of society, its structure is based on social needs that determine the development of a person as a social being. A person may or may not be aware of these needs, but from this they do not cease to exist and determine her behavior;

Abilities for creative activity, knowledge, skills: heredity sets the abilities of a person that determine the effectiveness of his activity, but what abilities will be realized depends on the interests of the individual and his desire to realize these inclinations. Indeed, natural abilities affect such parameters of human activity as pace, rhythm, speed, endurance, fatigue, but the content of activity is determined not by biological inclinations, but by the social environment;

The degree of mastery of the cultural values ​​of society, i.e. the spiritual world of the individual;

Moral norms and principles that guide a person;

Beliefs are deep principles that determine the main line of human behavior.

All these structural elements are found in every personality, albeit to varying degrees. Each person somehow participates in the life of society, has knowledge, is guided by something. Therefore, the social structure of the individual is constantly changing.

Personality can also be characterized in terms of social type. The need for typification of individuals is universal. Each historical era has formed its types, for example, in accordance with the dominant values, the cultural types of the English gentleman, the Sicilian mafia, the Arab sheikh, etc.

The well-known psychological typology is based on the character and temperament of a person; it includes 4 types - choleric, sanguine, melancholic and phlegmatic.

The famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875-1961) proposed his own typology, which is based on three axes of human thinking, and each of them divides the world and the idea of ​​the world into two poles:

extraversion - introversion

Abstractness - concreteness (intuition - sensorics),

Endogeneity - exogeneity (ethics - logic).

Extraversion and introversion is the division of the world into the world of objects and the world of interactions between them. In accordance with this division, the extravert is focused on objects, the introvert - on the interactions between them. An extrovert is a person whose psychological characteristics are expressed in the concentration of his interests on the outside world, external objects. Extroverts are characterized by impulsive behavior, initiative, sociability, social adaptation and openness of the inner world. An introvert is a person whose socio-psychological warehouse is characterized by a focus on his inner world, isolation. Introverts consider their interests the most important, give them the highest value; they are characterized by social passivity and a tendency to introspection. An introvert is happy to fulfill the duties assigned to him, but does not like responsibility for the final results.

The world is concrete and the world is regular. On the one hand, the world is formed from specific objects and interactions between them: for example, the boy Vanya goes to school. On the other hand, along with concrete truths, there are abstract truths, such as "all children go to school." A person with abstract or intuitive thinking (the terms "intuitive" and "abstract thinking" are identical) tends to think about all children. A person with concrete (sensory) thinking will think about his child.

The world is endogenous and exogenous, i.e. it is formed from internal and external phenomena. Jung himself called this axis "emotions - thinking", and some social psychologists call "ethics - logic".

If in social psychology the main attention is paid to the development of psychological types, then in sociology - to the development of social types. Personality type as an abstract model of personal characteristics inherent in a certain set of people ensures the relative constancy of a person's responses to the environment. The social type of personality is a product of the interaction of historical, cultural and socio-economic conditions of people's life. According to L. Wirth, a social type is a person endowed with some characteristic properties that meet the requirements of society, its values ​​and norms and determine its role behavior in a social environment. This means that an individual must be a typical representative of any group of people (class, estate, nation, era, etc.) in terms of behavior, lifestyle, habits and value orientations. For example, a typical intellectual, a new Russian of the 1990s, an oligarch.

Personality typologies were developed by many sociologists, in particular, K. Marx, M. Weber, E. Fromm, R. Dahrendorf and others, who used different criteria. Thus, R. Dahrendorf believed that personality is a product of the development of culture and social conditions. He put this criterion as the basis of his typology, in which the identification of personality types goes through the concept of homosociologicus:

Homofaber - in a traditional society, a "working person": a peasant, a warrior, a politician, i.e. a person endowed with an important social function;

Homoconsumer is a modern consumer, i.e. personality formed by mass society;

Homouniversalis - a person capable of engaging in various activities, in the concept of K. Marx - changing all kinds of activities;

Homosoveticus - a person dependent on the state.

Another typology includes social personality types that are distinguished on the basis of value orientations that individuals adhere to:

Personality types can be distinguished depending on the value orientations of individuals:

Traditionalists - focused on the values ​​of duty, discipline, law-abiding, the level of their independence, self-realization, creativity is low;

Idealists are critical of traditional norms, have a firm focus on self-development;

Frustrated personality type - characterized by low self-esteem, depressed well-being;

Realists - combine the desire for self-realization with a developed sense of duty, skepticism with self-control;

Hedonistic materialists - focused on satisfying consumer desires.

Since there are two components in the personality structure, such as a set of relations with the outside world and internal, ideal relations, the following types of personality are also distinguished:

Ideal - a type of personality that society proclaims as a kind of standard; the ideal type of personality in the era of the USSR was a real communist (pioneer, Komsomol member);

Basic - a type of personality that meets the needs of society as much as possible, i.e. it is a set of typical personality traits most common in a given society; they are characteristic of people who grew up in the same culture, went through the same socialization processes, for example, the type of workaholic in post-war Japan. As a rule, it is the basic type that prevails within a certain society.

All these typologies only confirm the belief of sociologists that social types are a product of society. And since we live in an era of rapid change, an era of globalization, when national cultures are gradually melted into one global one, we can witness the emergence of new types of personality.

Introduction

Topic 1. Sociology as a science

Topic 5. Social structure

Topic 8. Ethnosociology

Topic 9. Sociology of personality

Literature

Sociology

Introduction

The training course "Sociology" provides an opportunity to get acquainted with the main patterns and forms of regulation of social behavior, learn to identify and analyze the characteristics of social groups and communities, master the basics of sociological research, acquire the skills of sociological thinking. The study of sociology allows a person to analyze his life in the context of social phenomena and events, to see individual problems as part of general social processes.

Course program

Topic 1. Sociology as a science

Society is an object of sociological knowledge. The specifics of the subject of sociology. Social life. The place of sociology in the system of scientific knowledge. Structure of sociology. sociological point of view. Functions of sociology.

Topic 2. The evolution of sociological thought

Stages of development of sociology. The specificity of the study of society before the nineteenth century. The emergence of sociology. O.Kont is the founder of sociology. Classical period in the development of sociology. Sociology of K. Marx, E. Durkheim, M. Weber. Positivism and humanitarianism are research approaches to the study of society. Paradigms of modern sociology: structural functionalism, radical conflict paradigm, symbolic interactionism.

Topic 3. Features of the development of domestic sociology

Sociological thought in Russia at the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries. The development of sociology in the twentieth century. pre-revolutionary period. Sociology in Russia after October 1917

Topic 4. Society as an object of study in sociology

The essence of the concept of society in the history of social cognition. Interpretations of the category "society" in sociology. Society in the broad and narrow sense. Classification of social theories.

Topic 5. Social structure

The concept of social structure. social group. primary and secondary groups. Social community, its signs. social institutions. Types of social organizations.

Topic 6. Social stratification

The essence of the concept of "Social stratification". Location of strata in society. Stratification and system of values. Social mobility, its types and channels.

Topic 7. Types of social stratification

Stratification in the history of human society. Caste and class stratification. Closed society. Differences in class stratification. The concept of a class. The class theory of K. Marx. M. Weber. Class division of modern societies. Trends in the class system of modern Russia.

Topic 8. Ethnosociology

The subject of ethnosociology. Directions of its development. Definition of the concept of "ethnos". Ethnic features. Ethnos and nation - correlation of concepts: different approaches. Nation as fellowship. ethnic processes.

Topic 9. Sociology of personality

Man - individual - personality - correlation of concepts. Sociological concepts of personality. Essence and stages of socialization. Deviation as a deviation from the group norm. Types of social control.

Topic 10. Fundamentals of applied sociology

Goals and objectives of applied sociology. Opportunities for sociological research. Types of specific sociological research. Research program. Methods of collecting sociological information.

Basic educational literaturefor the course "Sociology":

Belyaev V.A., Filatov A.N. Sociology: Textbook. university course. Part 1. – Kazan, 1997.

Radugin A.A., Radugin K.A. Sociology: a course of lectures. M.., 1996.

Short course of lectures

Topic 1. Sociology as a science

Questions:

1. Object and subject of sociology.
2. Structure and functions of sociology.

Object and subject of sociology

The object of sociological knowledge is society. The term "sociology" comes from the Latin "societas" - society and the Greek "logos" - doctrine, meaning in literal translation "the doctrine of society". Human society is a unique phenomenon. It is directly or indirectly the object of many sciences (history, philosophy, economics, psychology, jurisprudence, etc.), each of which has its own perspective of studying society, i.e. your subject.

The subject of sociology is social life of society, i.e. a complex of social phenomena arising from the interaction of people and communities. The concept of "social" is deciphered as referring to the life of people in the process of their relationships. The vital activity of people is realized in society in three traditional spheres (economic, political, spiritual) and one non-traditional - social. The first three give a horizontal section of society, the fourth - a vertical one, implying a division according to the subjects of social relations (ethnic groups, families, etc.). These elements of the social structure in the process of their interaction in traditional spheres form the basis of social life, which in all its diversity exists, is recreated and changes only in the activities of people.

People interact, uniting in various communities, social groups. Their activities are predominantly organized. Society can be represented as a system of interacting and interconnected communities and institutions, forms and methods of social control. The personality manifests itself through a set of social roles and statuses that it plays or occupies in these social communities and institutions. At the same time, the status is understood as the position of a person in society, which determines access to education, wealth, power, and so on. A role can be defined as the behavior expected of a person due to his status. Thus, sociology studies social life, that is, the interaction of social actors on issues related to their social status.

The definition of sociology as a science is formed from the designation of the object and subject. Its numerous variants with different formulations have a substantial identity or similarity. Sociology is defined in a variety of ways:

• as a scientific study of society and social relations (Neil Smelser, USA);
• as a science that studies almost all social processes and phenomena (Anthony Giddens, USA);
• as the study of the phenomena of human interaction and the phenomena arising from this interaction (Pitirim Sorokin, Russia - USA);
• as a science of social communities, the mechanisms of their formation, functioning and development, etc. The variety of definitions of sociology reflects the complexity and versatility of its object and subject.

Structure and functions of sociology

The specificity of sociology lies in its borderline position between natural science and socio-humanitarian knowledge. It simultaneously uses the methods of philosophical and socio-historical generalizations and the specific methods of the natural sciences - experiment and observation. Sociology has strong links with applied mathematics, statistics, logic, and linguistics. Applied sociology has points of contact with ethics, aesthetics, medicine, pedagogy, planning and management theory.

In the system of socio-humanitarian knowledge, sociology plays a special role, as it gives other sciences about society a scientifically based theory of society through its structural elements and their interaction; methods and techniques of human study.

Sociology has the closest connection with history. With all the sciences of society, sociology is connected by the social aspect of his life; hence, socio-economic, socio-demographic and other studies, on the basis of which new “frontier” sciences are born: social psychology, sociobiology, social ecology, etc.

Structure of sociology. Three approaches to the structure of this science coexist in modern sociology.

First (content) implies the mandatory presence of three main interrelated components: a) empiricism, i.e. a complex of sociological research focused on the collection and analysis of real facts of social life using a special methodology; b) theories- a set of judgments, views, models, hypotheses that explain the processes of development of the social system as a whole and its elements; in) methodology- systems of principles underlying the accumulation, construction and application of sociological knowledge.

The second approach (target). Fundamental sociology(basic, academic) is focused on the growth of knowledge and scientific contribution to fundamental discoveries. It solves scientific problems related to the formation of knowledge about social reality, description, explanation and understanding of the processes of social development. Applied sociology focused on practical use. This is a set of theoretical models, methods, research procedures, social technologies, specific programs and recommendations aimed at achieving a real social effect. As a rule, fundamental and applied sociology incorporate both empiricism, theory, and methodology.

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

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

Sociology studies the life of society, learns the trends of its development, predicts the future and corrects the present both at the macro and micro levels. Studying almost all spheres of society, it aims at the coordination of their development.

Sociology can and must play the role of a social controller in society, intervening in the development of technology, the natural and social sciences. It can show the way out of impasses in social development, out of crisis situations, and can choose the most optimal model for further development.

Sociology is directly related to production through the problems of its social development, the improvement of personnel, the improvement of planning and the socio-psychological climate. It can serve as a powerful tool in the hands of political forces, influencing the mass consciousness and shaping it.

Sociology builds bridges between personal and social problems, allows each person to understand his life from the point of view of the general historical process, on the one hand, and on the other, to see the general in the particular, individual. This is the specificity of the sociological point of view.

Sociology performs many different functions in society. The main ones are:

epistemological- gives new knowledge about society, about social groups, about individuals and the patterns of their behavior;

applied- provides specific sociological information for solving practical scientific and social problems;

social forecasting and control - warns about deviations in the development of society, predicts and models trends in social development;

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

Literature

Belyaev V.A., Filatov A.N. Sociology: Textbook. university course. Part 1. - Kazan, 1997. - Ch. one.

Radugin A.A., Radugin K.A. Sociology: a course of lectures. M., 1996. - Topic 1.

Smelzer N. Sociology. M., 1994. - Ch.1.

Frolov S.S. Sociology: Textbook for universities. 2nd ed. M., 1997. - Sec. one.

Topic 2. The evolution of sociological thought

1. The emergence and development of sociology (the beginning of the 19th - the end of the 20th centuries).
2. Research approaches to the study of society and the main paradigms of modern sociology.

The emergence and development of sociology (the beginning of the 19th - the end of the 20th centuries)

Since ancient times, people have been concerned not only with natural, but also with social mysteries and problems. Philosophers of Ancient Greece, thinkers of the Middle Ages and Modern times tried to solve them. Their judgments about society and man had a significant impact on the development of socio-humanitarian knowledge and contributed to the separation of sociology from it as an independent science.

The birth of sociology is usually associated with the name of the French naturalist Auguste Comte (1798 - 1857). He was the first to raise the question of creating a science of society that would model itself on the model of the natural sciences. It is no coincidence that this science was called by him "social physics". In the 30s of the 19th century, O. Kont created his main scientific work “Course of Positive Philosophy”, where a new name was given to the science of society - sociology. In the teachings of O. Comte, the most important were his ideas about the application of scientific methods in the study of society and the practical use of science in the field of social reforms.

The fathers of sociology, its classics, besides O. Comte, can rightfully be called the English philosopher and naturalist Herbert Spencer (1820 -1903) and the German scientist publicist Karl Marx (1818 - 1883). Spencer (the main work "The Foundation of Sociology") was the author of the organic theory, which was based on the assimilation of society to biological organisms, and the theory of social Darwinism, transferring the natural principle of natural selection to society. K. Marx (the main work "Capital") is an outstanding theorist of capitalism, who explained social development as the result of a change in formations occurring under the influence of economic and socio-political factors (mode of production, classes, class struggle).

The 19th century is called the golden age of classical sociology: new approaches to the study of society were being formed - positivism (Comte, Spencer) and Marxism (Marx, Engels); theoretical science was developed, the first scientific schools and directions were created, branch sociological knowledge was born. Conventionally, this time is called the first stage in the development of sociology and is dated to the 40-80s of the 19th century.

The evolution of sociology from the 90s of the 19th century to the 20s of the 20th century at the so-called second stage was associated with the development of methods of sociological thinking and the formation of a categorical apparatus. The professionalization and institutionalization of sociology, the creation of specialized periodicals, the growth in the number of new scientific schools testified to the entry of science into its heyday. But sociology became more complex in content and more and more acquiring a pluralistic character. The positivist doctrine of O. Comte and G. Spencer found its development in the works of the French scientist Emile Durkheim (1858 - 1917) - the author of the functional theory based on the analysis of the functions of social institutions. In the same years, representatives of the anti-positivist approach to the study of society - humanitarianism - also declared themselves. A school of social action was formed by the German sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920), who was the founder of "understanding" sociology, which, according to him, understands social action and tries to causally explain its course and results. In the development of sociology, this was a period of crisis of classical science and the search for a new worldview.

Despite the active revision of the ideas of the "fathers" of sociology, in the 20-60s of the twentieth century, stabilization increased in science. The rapid development of empirical sociology began, with the widespread use and improvement of the methods and techniques of concrete sociological research. US sociology came to the fore, trying to correct the "imperfections" of society with the help of empirical research. The most significant theoretical concept of this stage was the structural functionalism of the sociologist Talcott Parsons (1902 - 1979), which made it possible to present society as a system in all its integrity and inconsistency. Parsons enriched the theoretical developments of Comte - Spencer - Durkheim. The sociology of the United States was also represented by new theories of the humanist persuasion. A follower of Weber, Professor Charles Wright Mills (1916 - 1962), created the "new sociology", which laid the foundation for critical sociology and the sociology of action in the States.

The current stage in the development of sociology, which began in the mid-1960s, is characterized by both the expansion of the range of applied research and the revival of interest in theoretical sociology. The main question was about the theoretical basis of empiricism, which caused a "theoretical explosion" in the 1970s. He determined the process of differentiation of sociological knowledge without the authoritarian influence of any one theoretical concept. Therefore, the stage is represented by a variety of approaches, concepts and their authors: R. Merton - "the average value of the theory", J. Homans - the theory of social exchange, G. Garfinkel - ethnomethodology, G. Mead and G. Bloomer - the theory of symbolic interactionism, Koder - the theory conflict, etc. One of the directions of modern sociology is the study of the future, covering the general long-term prospects for the future of the Earth and humanity.

Research approaches to the study of society and the main paradigms of modern sociology

Theoretical sociology consists of many scientific schools, but all of them are based on two main approaches to the study and explanation of society - positivism and humanitarianism.

Positivism arose and began to dominate in the sociology of the nineteenth century, as opposed to speculative reasoning about society. This is a rational approach based on observation, comparison, experiment. His initial positions boil down to the following: a) nature and society are united and develop according to the same laws; b) a social organism is similar to a biological one; c) society should be studied by the same methods as nature.

The positivism of the 20th century is neopositivism. Its initial principles are much more complicated: it is naturalism (the generality of the laws of development of nature and society), scientism (accuracy, rigor and objectivity of social research methods), behaviorism (the study of a person only through open behavior), verification (the obligatory presence of an empirical basis for scientific knowledge), quantification (quantitative expression of social facts) and objectivism (freedom of sociology as a science from value judgments and connection with ideology).

On the basis of positivism and its second wave - neopositivism, the following areas of sociological thought were born, functioned and exist: naturalism(biologism and mechanism), classical marxism, structural functionalism. Positivists and their followers of the twentieth century consider the world as an objective reality, believing that it should be studied, discarding their values. They recognize only two forms of knowledge - empirical and logical (only through experience and the possibility of verification) and consider it necessary only to study facts, not ideas.

Humanitarianism or phenomenology is an approach to studying society through understanding. His initial positions are as follows: a) society is not an analogue of nature, it develops according to its own laws; b) society is not an objective structure that stands above people and is independent of them, but the sum of relationships between two or more individuals; c) the main thing is the decoding, interpretation of the meaning, the content of this interaction; d) the main methods of this approach: the ideographic method (the study of individuals, events or objects), the method of qualitative analysis (understanding the phenomenon, not its calculation), the methods of phenomenology, i.e. knowledge of the causes and essence of social phenomena, for example, the linguistic method (the study of what is available to the language), the method of understanding (the knowledge of society through self-knowledge), the method of hermeneutics (the interpretation of meaningful human actions), the method of feeling, etc.

Most representatives of humanitarianism are subjectivist, rejecting "freedom from values" as impossible in sociology - a science that affects the interests of people.

Modern sociology is a multi-paradigm science. A paradigm is a method recognized and accepted by the scientific community for solving a certain range of scientific problems. There are three main paradigms of modern sociology:

structural and functional, which sees society as a relatively stable system of interrelated parts based on widespread agreement on what is morally desirable, where each part of society has functional implications for society as a whole;

conflict-radical, which comes from the fact that society is a system that is characterized by social inequality, when some categories of people benefit more from the organization of society than others, this inequality is based on a conflict that contributes to social change;

symbolic interactionism - in contrast to the first two paradigms, society is presented as a constant process of social interaction in specific conditions, which is based on communication through symbols, while individual perceptions of social reality are unique and changeable.

Literature

Belyaev V.A., Filatov A.N. Sociology: Textbook. university course. Part 1. Kazan, 1997. - Ch. 2 - 5.

Zborovsky G.E., Orlov G.P. Sociology. Textbook for students of liberal arts universities. M., Interpraks, 1995. - 3, 4.

Kapitonov E.A. Sociology of the twentieth century. Rostov n / D., 1996. - Ch. fourteen.

Radugin A.A., Radugin K.A. Sociology: a course of lectures. M., 1996. - Ch. 2.

Topic 3. Features of the development of domestic sociology

1. The originality of the formation of sociological thought in Russia.
2. Periodization of the development of domestic sociology.

The peculiarity of the formation of sociological thought in Russia

Sociology is an international science in character, goals and objectives. But its development in different countries is largely determined by their originality. According to the specifics of research, one can speak in a broad sense about American, French, German and other sociological schools (or, conditionally, sociology).

Domestic sociology is also specific. Its formation and evolution were due to the peculiarities of Russia itself, generated by the uniqueness of its geographical position between the West and the East, territorial scale, customs, traditions, psychology, morality, etc.

The sociological thought of Russia has been formed for centuries on its own soil, growing on the basis of Russian culture and the liberation movement. Interest in a person in society, in their joint fate, their future was manifested at two levels: mass-everyday (in folk tales and legends, for example, in The Tale of the City of Kitezh; in the works of writers and poets, in the judgments of public figures) and professional (in the theories of specialist researchers - philosophers, historians). Russian sociological thought was made up of both frankly ideologized and academic developments. The first were associated with the liberation movement and the revolutionary tradition of Russia, the second - directly with science. Domestic thought has absorbed many social utopias that are close to the forecast of judgments about the future of society and man. Until the 19th century, social utopias were vague and primitive. But in the XIX - early XX centuries. Utopias were presented both by representatives of the democratic trend in the revolutionary tradition of Russia (A. Radishchev, A. Herzen, N. Chernyshevsky, M. Bakunin, G. Plekhanov, V. Ulyanov-Lenin, etc.), and by the bearers of the autocratic trend (P. Pestel, S. Nechaev, I. Stalin).

Having Russian roots, domestic sociological thought, at the same time, experienced the powerful influence of the West. She was closely associated with the French Enlightenment, the English School of Economics and German Romanticism. The duality of the origins determined the inconsistency of the sociological thought of Russia, which manifested itself in the confrontation of orientations towards the West (Westerners) and towards their own identity (Russophiles). This confrontation also characterizes modern sociology.

Russian sociological thought has become part of European culture.

Periodization of the development of domestic sociology

Sociology as a science was formed in Russia in the second half of the 19th century. Its subsequent development has not been a continuous process of quality acquisition. Sociology directly depended on the conditions in the country, on the level of its democracy, therefore it went through periods of rise and fall, prohibition, persecution and underground existence.

In the development of domestic sociology, two stages are distinguished: pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary (the milestone is 1917). The second stage, as a rule, is divided into two periods: 20-60 and 70-80, although almost every decade of the twentieth century had its own characteristics.

First stage characterized by a wealth of sociological thought, a variety of theories and concepts of the development of society, social communities and man. The most famous were: the theory of the publicist and sociologist N. Danilevsky about "cultural-historical types" (civilizations), developing, in his opinion, like biological organisms; the subjectivist concept of the comprehensive development of the individual as a measure of progress by the sociologist and literary critic N. Mikhailovsky, who denounced Marxism from the standpoint of peasant socialism; the geographical theory of Mechnikov, who explained the unevenness of social development by changing geographical conditions and considered social solidarity as a criterion of social progress; the doctrine of social progress by M. Kovalevsky, a historian, lawyer, sociologist-evolutionist, engaged in empirical research; the theory of social stratification and social mobility of the sociologist P. Sorokin; positivist views of the follower of O. Comte, the Russian sociologist E. Roberti and others. These developments brought their authors world fame. The practical deeds of Russian sociologists, for example, compiling zemstvo statistics, benefited the fatherland. In pre-revolutionary sociology, five main directions coexisted: politically oriented sociology, general and historical sociology, legal, psychological and systematic sociology. The theoretical sociology of the end of the 19th century was influenced by the ideas of K. Marx, but it was not comprehensive. Sociology in Russia developed both as a science and as an academic discipline. In terms of its level at that time, it was not inferior to the western one.

Second phase development of domestic sociology is complex and heterogeneous.

Its first decade (1918 - 1928) was a period of recognition of sociology by the new government and its certain rise: the institutionalization of science was carried out, departments of sociology were created at the Petrograd and Yaroslavl universities, the Sociological Institute was opened (1919) and the first faculty of social sciences in Russia with a sociological department at the University of Petrograd (1920); a scientific degree in sociology was introduced, an extensive sociological literature (both scientific and educational) began to be published. The peculiarity of the sociology of these years consisted in the still remaining authority of non-Marxist sociology and, at the same time, in the strengthening of the Marxist trend and fierce discussions in it about the relationship between sociology and historical materialism. During these years, the problems of the working class and the peasantry, the city and the countryside, population and migration are being studied, empirical research is being carried out that has received international recognition.

In the 1930s, sociology was declared a bourgeois pseudoscience and banned. Fundamental and applied research was discontinued (until the early 60s). Sociology was one of the first sciences to fall victim to the Stalinist regime. The totalitarian nature of political power, the harsh suppression of all forms of dissent outside the party, and the prevention of diversity of opinions within the party halted the development of the science of society.

Its revival began only at the end of the 50s, after the 20th Congress of the CPSU, and even then under the guise of economic and philosophical sciences. A paradoxical situation has arisen: sociological empirical research has received the right of citizenship, while sociology as a science has not. Materials were published on the positive aspects of the country's social development. The alarming signals of sociologists about the destruction of the natural environment, about the growing alienation of power from the people, about nationalist tendencies were ignored and even condemned. But even in these years, science moved forward: there appeared works on general theory and on specific sociological analysis, summarizing the works of Soviet sociologists; the first steps were taken to participate in international comparative studies. In the 1960s, sociological institutions were created, and the Soviet Sociological Association was founded.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the attitude towards Russian sociology was contradictory. On the one hand, it received semi-recognition, on the other hand, it was hampered in every possible way, being directly dependent on party decisions. Sociological research was ideologically oriented. But the organizational formation of sociology continued: in 1968 the Institute for Social Research was established (since 1988 - the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences). Departments of social research appeared in the institutes of Moscow, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk and other cities; textbooks for universities began to be published; Since 1974, the journal Sociological Research (later Socis) began to appear. By the end of this period, administrative-bureaucratic interference in sociology began to intensify, and the mechanisms were almost the same as in the 1930s. Theoretical sociology was again denied, the quantity and quality of research decreased.

The consequences of this second "invasion" in sociology could have been the most tragic for science, if not for the new situation in the country. Sociology was restored to civil rights in 1986. The issue of its development was decided at the state level - the task was set to develop fundamental and applied research in the country. The sociology of modern Russia is being strengthened in terms of content and organization, it has been revived as an academic discipline, but there are still many difficulties in its path. Sociology today is accumulating material about society at a turning point and forecasting its further development.

Literature

Aron R. Stages of development of sociological thought. M., 1992.

Belyaev V.A., Filatov A.N. Sociology: Textbook. university course. Part 1. Kazan, 1997. - Ch. 5, 6.

Zborovsky G.E., Orlov G.P. Sociology. Textbook for students of liberal arts universities. M., Interpraks, 1995. - 3.

Kapitonov E.A. Sociology of the twentieth century. Rostov n / D., 1996. - Ch. 3 - 4.

Radugin A.A., Radugin K.A. Sociology: a course of lectures. M., 1996. - Topic 2.

Topic 4. Society as an object of study in sociology

1. The concept of "society" and its research interpretations.
2. The main problems of megasociology.

The concept of "society" and its research interpretations

"Society" is the fundamental category of modern sociology, which interprets it in a broad sense as a part of the material world isolated from nature, which is a historically developing set of all ways of interaction and forms of unification of people, in which their comprehensive dependence on each other is expressed, and in a narrow sense - as a structurally or genetically defined genus, species, subspecies of communication.

The sociological thought of the past explained the category "society" in different ways. In ancient times, it was identified with the concept of "state". This can be traced, for example, in the judgments of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. The only exception was Aristotle, who believed that the family and the village as special types of communication are different from the state, and that there is a different structure of social ties, in which friendship relations as the highest form of mutual communication come to the fore.

In the Middle Ages, the idea of ​​identifying society and the state again reigned. Only in modern times in the 19th century, in the works of the Italian thinker N. Machiavelli, the idea of ​​the state as one of the states of society was expressed. In the 17th century, the English philosopher T. Hobbes formed the theory of the “social contract”, the essence of which was the transfer of part of their freedoms by the members of the society to the state, which is the guarantor of compliance with the contract; The 18th century was characterized by a clash of two approaches to the definition of society: one approach interpreted society as an artificial formation that contradicted the natural inclinations of people, the other - as the development and expression of natural inclinations and feelings of a person. At the same time, economists Smith and Hume defined society as a labor exchange union of people connected by the division of labor, and the philosopher I. Kant - as Humanity, taken in historical development. The beginning of the 19th century was marked by the emergence of the idea of ​​civil society. It was expressed by G. Hegel, who called civil society the sphere of private interests, different from state ones.

The founder of sociology, O. Comte, considered society as a natural phenomenon, and its evolution as a natural process of growth and differentiation of parts and functions.

According to E. Durkheim, society is a supra-individual spiritual reality based on collective ideas. M. Weber defined society as the interaction of people, which is a product of social, i.e. other people-oriented actions. According to K. Marx, society is a historically developing set of relations between people that develop in the process of their joint activities.

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

• it is not part of any other larger system;
• replenishment is mainly due to childbearing;
• has its own territory;
• has its own name and history;
• exists longer than the average life span of an individual;
• has a developed culture.

Thus, we can say that society is people interacting in a certain territory and having a common culture. Under culture is understood as a certain set or complex of symbols, norms, attitudes, values ​​inherent in a given social group and transmitted from generation to generation. To maintain the integrity of society, some sociologists name such necessary properties as communication between its members, the production and distribution of goods and services, the protection of members of society, and the control of behavior.

The main problems of megasociology

Sociological theories differ in the level of generalization to a general theory (megasociology), middle-level theory (macro-sociology, studying large social communities) and micro-level theory (microsociology, studying interpersonal relationships in everyday life). Society as a whole is the object of study of general sociological theory. It is considered in science according to the following main problem blocks in their logical sequence: What is society? -- Does it change? -- How does it change? -- What are the sources of change? Who determines these changes? -- What are the types and patterns of changing societies? In other words, megasociology is dedicated to explaining social change.

Problem block - What is a society? - includes a set of questions about the structure of society, its components, about the factors that ensure its integrity, about the processes taking place in it. They find their coverage in numerous versions of scientists: in the theories (Spencer, Marx, Weber, Dahrendorf and many other researchers) of the socio-demographic and social class structure of society, social stratification, ethnic structure, etc. The problem of changes in society implies two questions: Is society evolving? Is its development reversible or irreversible? The answer to them divides the existing general sociological concepts into two classes: development theory and theories of historical circulation. The former were developed by the Enlighteners of the New Age, the theorists of positivism, Marxism and others, who proved the irreversibility of the development of society. The latter are permeated with the idea of ​​cyclicality, i.e. the movement of society as a whole or its subsystems in a vicious circle with a constant return to its original state and subsequent cycles of revival and decline. This idea was reflected in the judgments of Plato and Aristotle on the forms of the state, in the concept of "cultural-historical types" by N. Danilevsky, in the theory of "morphology of cultures" by O. Spengler, in A. Toynbee's version of closed civilizations, in the social philosophy of P. Sorokin, etc.

The next problematic block reveals the direction of development of society by posing questions about whether society, a person, relations between people, relations with the natural environment are improving, or the opposite process is taking place, i.e. degradation of society, man and relations with the environment. The content of the answers to these questions divides the available questions into two groups: theories of progress(optimistic) and regression theories(pessimistic). The former include positivism, Marxism, theories of technological determinism, social Darwinism, the latter - a number of theories of bureaucracy, elites, pessimistic versions of technological determinism, partly the concept of L. Gumilyov, J. Gobineau, etc. The problem of the mechanism of progress, its conditionality, its sources and driving forces is revealed in megasociology by single-factor and multi-factor theories, theories of evolution and revolution.

One factor theories narrow the sources and causes of progress to any one force, absolutizing it, for example, the biological factor (biologism, organicism, social Darwinism), the ideal factor (Weber's theories).

Multifactorial theories, highlighting one determinant, they strive to take into account the impact of all other factors (the theories of Marx, neo-Marxists, etc.).

The problem of the relationship between the importance of the individual and the role of social communities in the process of social change is associated with those theories that either give preference to communities as the main driving force (statism, fascism, leftist pseudo-Marxism, ethno-nationalism), or emphasize the priority of the individual over any communities (positivism, socialism of Marx, neo-Marxism). The problems of the type and model of the development of society are revealed in the theories of their absolutization (reductionism) and synthesis (complex theories). On the issue of periodization of the development of society, two approaches are most widely used in megasociology: formational(Marx), according to which society in its development goes through a number of socio-economic formations - primitive communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist, and civilizational(Morgan, Engels, Tennis, Aron, Bell, etc.). The typology of societies according to K. Marx is based on the criterion of the mode of production. The civilizational approach is more heterogeneous, since the very category of "civilization" is very multifaceted. In practice, this criterion is most often reduced to either territorial (eg, European society or civilization) or religious (eg, Islamic society).

Literature

Belyaev V.A., Filatov A.N. Sociology: Textbook. university course. Part 1. Kazan, 1997. - Ch. 7, 8.

Zborovsky G.E., Orlov G.P. Sociology. Textbook for students of liberal arts universities. M., Interpraks, 1995. - Ch. 7.

Radugin A.A., Radugin K.A. Sociology: a course of lectures. M., 1996. - Topic 3, 4.

1. The concept of the social structure of society. Social groups and communities.
2. Social institutions and organizations.

The concept of the social structure of society. Social groups and communities

Society is a system, since it is a set of elements that are in interconnection and relationships and form a single whole, capable of changing its structure in interaction with external conditions. it social system, i.e. associated with people's lives and their relationships. Society has an internal form of organization, i.e. its structure. It is complex and identifying its components requires an analytical approach using different criteria. The structure of society is understood as its internal structure.

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

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

During the formation of social groups, norms and roles are developed, on the basis of which a certain order of interaction is established. The size of the group can be very diverse, starting from 2 people.

Social communities include mass social groups that are characterized by the following features: statistical nature, probabilistic nature, situational nature of communication, heterogeneity, amorphousness (for example, demographic, racial, gender, ethnic, and other communities).

Social institutions and organizations

Social institutions- sustainable forms of organization and regulation of public life. They can be defined as a set of roles and statuses designed to meet certain social needs. They are classified according to public spheres:

economic(property, wages, division of labor) that serve the production and distribution of values ​​and services;

political(parliament, army, police, party) regulate the use of these values ​​and services and are associated with power;

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

cultural institutions(museums, clubs) associated with religion, science, education, etc.;

stratification institutions(castes, estates, classes), which determine the distribution of resources and positions.

social organization- this is an association of people who jointly implement a certain program or goal and act on the basis of certain procedures and rules. Social organizations vary in complexity, specialization of tasks, and formalization of roles and procedures. There are several types of classification of social organizations. The most common classification is based on the type of membership people have in an organization. In accordance with this criterion, three types of organizations are distinguished: voluntary, coercive or totalitarian and utilitarian.

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

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

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

In real life, it is difficult to single out the pure types of organizations considered; as a rule, there is a combination of features of different types.

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

Literature

Zborovsky G.E., Orlov G.P. Sociology. M., Interpraks, 1995. -8, 9.

Radugin A.A., Radugin K.A. Sociology: a course of lectures. M., 1996. - Topic 6, 10, 11.

Smelzer N. Sociology. M., 1994. - Ch. 3.

Topic 6. Social stratification

1. The concept of social stratification.
2. Social mobility and its types.

The concept, content, foundations of social stratification

People differ from each other in many ways: gender, age, skin color, religion, ethnicity, etc. But these differences become social only when they affect the position of a person, a social group on the ladder of the social hierarchy. Social differences determine social inequality, which implies the existence of discrimination on various grounds: skin color - racism, gender - sexism, ethnicity - ethno-nationalism, age - ageism. Social inequality in sociology is usually understood as the inequality of the social strata of society. It is the basis of social stratification. Literally translated, stratification means “making layers”, i.e. divide society into layers (stratum - layer, facere - to do). Stratification can be defined as structured inequalities between different groups of people. Societies can be seen as consisting of strata located hierarchically- with the most privileged layers at the top and the least - at the bottom.

The foundations of the theory of stratification were laid by M. Weber, T. Parsons, P. Sorokin and others. T. Parsons identified three groups of differentiating features. These include:

1) characteristics that people have from birth - gender, age, ethnicity, physical and intellectual characteristics, family ties, etc.;

2) signs associated with the performance of the role, i.e. with various types of professional and labor activity;

3) elements of "possession", which include property, privileges, material and spiritual values, etc.

These features are the initial theoretical basis of a multidimensional approach to the study of social stratification. Sociologists identify various cuts or dimensions in determining the number and distribution of social strata. This diversity does not exclude the essential features of stratification. First, it is related to the distribution of the population into hierarchically organized groups, i.e. upper and lower layers; secondly, stratification consists in the unequal distribution of sociocultural benefits and values. According to P. Sorokin, the object of social inequality is 4 groups of factors:

Rights and privileges

Duties and responsibilities

Social Wealth and Need

Power and influence

Stratification is closely connected with the dominant system of values ​​in society. It forms a normative scale for evaluating various types of human activity, on the basis of which people are ranked according to the degree of social prestige. In empirical research in contemporary Western sociology, prestige is often summarized in terms of three measurable features − the prestige of the profession, the level of income, the level of education. This indicator is called the index of socio-economic position.

Social stratification performs a dual function: it acts as a method of identifying the strata of a given society and at the same time represents its social portrait. Social stratification is distinguished by a certain stability within a particular historical stage.

Social mobility and its types

The concept of "social mobility" was introduced by P. Sorokin. social mobility means the movement of individuals and groups from one social strata, communities to others, which is associated with a change in the position of an individual or group in the system of social stratification. The possibilities and dynamics of social mobility differ in different historical settings.

The options for social mobility are diverse:

• individual and collective;
• vertical and horizontal;
• intragenerational and intergenerational.

Vertical mobility is a change in the position of an individual, which causes an increase or decrease in his social status, a transition to a higher or lower class position. It distinguishes between ascending and descending branches (eg, career and lumpenization). Horizontal mobility is a change in position that does not lead to an increase or decrease in social status.

Intragenerational (intergenerational) mobility means that a person changes his position in the stratification system throughout his life. Intergenerational or intergenerational - implies that children occupy a higher position than their parents.

P. Sorokin considers the following social institutions to be channels or "elevators" of social mobility: the army, church, educational institutions, family, political and professional organizations, mass media, etc.

Literature

Radugin A. A., Radugin K. A. Sociology: a course of lectures. M., 1996. - Topic 8.

Topic 7. Types of social stratification

1. Historical types of stratification.
2. Social stratification of modern societies.

Historical types of stratification

Social stratification is a certain orderliness of society. At the stages of human existence, its three main types can be traced: caste, estate and class. The primitive state is characterized by a natural structuring by age and gender.

The first type of social stratification is the division of society into castes. The caste system is a closed type of society, i.e. status is given from birth, and mobility is almost impossible. Caste was a hereditary association of people connected by traditional occupations and limited in communication with each other. Caste system took place in Ancient Egypt, Peru, Iran, Japan, in the southern states of the USA. Its classic example was India, where the caste organization turned into a comprehensive social system. The hierarchical ladder of access to wealth and prestige in India had the following steps: 1) brahmins - priests; 2) kshatriyas - military aristocracy; 3) vaishyas - farmers, artisans, merchants, free community members; 4) Shudras - not free community members, servants, slaves; 5) "untouchables", whose contacts with other castes were excluded. This system was banned in India in the 1950s, but caste prejudices and inequality still make themselves felt today.

The second type of social stratification - class - also characterizes a closed society, where mobility is strictly limited, although it is allowed. estate, like caste, was associated with the inheritance of rights and obligations enshrined in custom and law. But unlike caste, the principle of inheritance in estates is not so absolute, and membership can be bought, bestowed, recruited. Class stratification is characteristic of European feudalism, but was also present in other traditional civilizations. Its model is medieval France, where society was divided into four classes: 1) the clergy; 2) nobility; 3) artisans, merchants, servants (city dwellers); 4) peasants. In Russia, from Ivan the Terrible (mid-XNUMXth century) to Catherine II, a hierarchy of estates was formed, officially approved by her decrees (1762 - 1785) in the following form: the nobility, the clergy, the merchants, the bourgeoisie, the peasantry. The decrees stipulated the paramilitary class (sub-ethnos), the Cossacks and the raznochintsy.

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

Classes are not created on the basis of legal and religious norms, membership in them is not based on hereditary position;

Class systems are more fluid, and the boundaries between classes are not rigidly delineated;

Classes depend on economic differences between groups of people associated with inequalities in the ownership and control of material resources;

Class systems mainly carry out connections of an impersonal nature. The main basis of class differences - the inequality between conditions and wages - operates in relation to all occupational groups as a result of economic circumstances belonging to the economy as a whole;

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

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

The most influential theoretical approaches in the definition of classes and class stratification belong to K. Marx and M. Weber.

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

M. Weber defined classes as groups of people who have a similar position in a market economy, receive similar economic rewards and have similar life chances. Class divisions stem not only from control of the means of production, but also from economic differences not related to property. Such sources include professional excellence, rare specialty, high qualifications, intellectual property ownership, and so on. Weber gave not only class stratification, considering it only a part of the structuring necessary for a complex capitalist society. He proposed a three-dimensional division: if economic differences (by wealth) give rise to class stratification, then spiritual (by prestige) - status, and political (by access to power) - party. In the first case, we are talking about the life chances of social strata, in the second - about the image and style of their life, in the third - about the possession of power and influence on it. Most sociologists consider the Weberian scheme to be more flexible and appropriate for modern society.

Social stratification of modern societies

The 20th century is represented by various domestic and foreign models of stratification. Domestic models of the Soviet period are Leninist and Stalinist-Brezhnevist class stratifications. V. Lenin considered the main criteria for classes to be property relations, functions performed, incomes, and according to them, he saw such classes in contemporary society as the bourgeoisie, petty bourgeoisie, working class, the class of cooperators and the social stratum of the intelligentsia and employees. The Stalin-Brezhnev model was reduced only to forms of ownership and, on this basis, to two classes (workers and collective farm peasantry) and a stratum (intelligentsia). The social inequality that took place, the alienation of classes from property and from power in Soviet science did not undergo open structuring until the mid-1980s. However, foreign researchers were engaged in the stratification of social inequality in Soviet society. One of them - A. Inkels - analyzed the 40-50s and gave a conical model of the hierarchical division of society in the USSR. Using the material level, privilege, power as bases, he outlined nine social strata: the ruling elite, the upper intelligentsia, the labor aristocracy, the mainstream intelligentsia, the middle workers, the wealthy peasants, the white collar workers, the middle peasants, the underprivileged workers, and the forced labor group (prisoners) .

The inertia of a society closed to study turned out to be so great that at the present time the domestic stratification analysis is just unfolding. Researchers turn to both the Soviet past and the current Russian society. Variations of three layers are already known (business layer, middle layer, lumpen layer) and a model of 11 hierarchical steps (apparatus, "compradors", "national bourgeoisie", directorate, "merchants", farmers, collective farmers, members of new agricultural enterprises, lumpen - intelligentsia, working class, unemployed). The most developed model belongs to Academician T. Zaslavskaya, who identified 78 social strata in modern Russia.

Western sociologists in the 20th century use different approaches to social stratification: a) subjective self-assessment, when the respondents themselves determine their social affiliation; b) subjective reputational, when the respondents determine the social affiliation of each other; c) objective (the most common), as a rule, with a status criterion. Most Western sociologists, structuring the societies of developed countries, divide them into the upper, middle and working classes, in some countries also the peasantry (for example, France, Japan, third world countries).

The upper class stands out for its wealth, corporatism and power. It makes up about 2% of modern societies, but controls up to 85-90% of the capital. It is made up of bankers, owners, presidents, party leaders, movie stars, outstanding athletes.

The middle class includes non-manual workers and is divided into three groups: the upper middle class (professionals - doctors, scientists, lawyers, engineers, etc.); intermediate middle class (teachers, nurses, actors, journalists, technicians); the lower middle class (cashiers, salespeople, photographers, policemen, etc.). The middle class makes up 30-35% in the structure of Western societies.

The working class - the class of manual labor workers, which makes up about 50-65% in different countries, is also divided into three layers: 1) skilled manual labor workers (locksmiths, turners, cooks, hairdressers, etc.); 2) workers of semi-skilled manual labor (seamstresses, agricultural workers, telephone operators, bartenders, orderlies, etc.); 3) workers of unskilled labor (loaders, cleaners, kitchen workers, servants, etc.).

Literature

Belyaev V.A., Filatov A.N. Sociology: Textbook. university course. Part 1. - Kazan, 1997. - Ch. 9.

Raduev V.V., Shkaratan O.I. Social stratification: textbook. allowance. M., 1996.

Radugin A.A., Radugin K.A. Sociology: a course of lectures. M., 1996. - Topic 8.

Smelzer N. Sociology. M., 1994. - Ch. 9.

Topic 8. Ethnosociology

1. The subject and content of ethnosociology.
2. Ethnos: definition and typology. ethnic processes.

The subject and content of ethnosociology

One of the structural subsystems of society is ethnic. In relation to its constituent elements - ethnic groups, it is a system, but each ethnic group is also a system, and, according to the unanimous opinion of scientists, the system is basic.

The ethnic composition of the Earth's population has developed in the course of a long historical development as a result of complex ethnic and migration processes. Currently, about four thousand ethnic groups live on the planet - from small in number (Todo - India, Botokuds - Brazil, Alakalufs and Yamans - Argentina, etc.) to multi-million people (Americans, Japanese, Russians, etc.).

Ethnic groups are the object of direct and indirect interest of several sciences: social anthropology, which studies primitive communities; ethnography, describing the similarities and differences between peoples; ethnology - exploring ethnogenesis (the origin of ethnic groups), their basic characteristics and properties; ethnoconflictology, which studies the psychological aspects of interethnic conflicts. In political science as a science, there is a branch of knowledge that studies the political aspirations of ethnic groups, called ethno-political science.

Ethnosociology- a frontier branch of knowledge that arose at the junction of two sciences: ethnology and sociology. Ethnosociology studies the ethnic through the prism of the social, which means it examines the social problems of ethnic groups, the social processes taking place in them, and interethnic relations. This scientific discipline is engaged in comparative studies of various ethnic groups, the specifics of the manifestation of social phenomena in them. Ethnosociology is a domestic invention of the second half of the 1960s. In the West, studies of an ethno-sociological nature have been conducted for a long time, but they were not formalized as a special branch of knowledge and were carried out under the auspices of cultural and social anthropology. But in the 60-70s in Europe (in particular, in Holland) a direction arose that was close to domestic ethnosociology (A. Inkels, M. Hechter, Van den Berghe, etc.).

The ideological dogmas of the Soviet era, the varnishing of emerging problems, the interpretation of intra- and inter-ethnic relations only as internationalist for a long time held back ethno-sociological studies and determined their nature. Emancipated during the period of transformations of the 80-90s, ethnosociology is currently developing in four main directions: 1) a comprehensive study of the life of ethnic groups in its socio-economic, socio-political and spiritual incarnation; 2) analysis of modern intra-ethnic processes; 3) study of topical issues of interethnic relations; 4) understanding the mistakes of past years in the field of ethnic policy. From the end of the 1980s, empirical research began to be widely used in ethnosociology.

Ethnos: definition and typology. ethnic processes

Ethnos- the fundamental category of ethnosociology, literally translated from Greek meaning "tribe, people". In a broad sense, ethnos can be defined as the main unit of classification of all the peoples of the world, denoting a specific people with its own history, its own original culture, its own identity and self-name. In the most popular scientific interpretation, an ethnos is a stable set of people historically established in a certain territory, who have common features and characteristics of culture and psychological make-up, as well as a consciousness of their unity and difference from other similar entities (self-awareness).

The unity of the territory and the community of economic life derived from it are material factors in the formation of an ethnos, which may be lost in the process of further development of the ethnos. And the main features of an ethnos, its systemic properties, which can disappear only with itself, are ethnic self-consciousness, psychological make-up and ethnic culture.

ethnic identity there is a sense of belonging to this ethnic group. Its important component is the idea of ​​the common origin of its members, i.e. joint historical practice of ancestors.

Psychological warehouse- this is the so-called ethnic character, understood broadly up to the inclusion of ethnic temperament in it.

ethnic culture includes language, folk art, customs, rituals, traditions, norms of behavior, habits passed down from generation to generation. But ethnic systems are not reduced to only one, albeit basic, element - the ethnos. There is, according to researchers (L. Gumilyov, V. Belyaev and others), an ethnic hierarchy that can be represented in the following sequence: superethnos, ethnos, subethnos, consortia, conviction. Superethnos- an integral group of ethnic groups that arose simultaneously in one region, as a rule, with a common origin, culture, psychology (Slavs, Turks, etc.). sub-ethnos- a subsystem of an ethnos with specifics in religion, language, culture, history, self-consciousness and self-name (in the ethnos "Russians" - Kamchadals, Pomors, Siberians, etc.; in the ethnos "Tatars" - Kryashens, Mishars, Kazan, Kasimov, Astrakhan Tatars and etc.). Consortia - a group of people with a common historical destiny (guilds, sects, etc.). Conviction - a group with a common life, a single-character way of life and family ties (suburbs, settlements, etc.).

Domestic ethnosociology singles out historically significant types of ethnos. In science, there are two approaches to its typology: the first singles out the genus, tribe, nationality, nation as the main types of ethnos; the second considers three types - clan, tribe, people.

First approach gives the evolution of the ethnos in historical sequence: first - the clan and tribe as a consanguineous production team with territorial instability, with an oral language, tribal culture and the psychology of blood ties; then - nationality as a patriarchal small-scale community of the state type with customs borders, with a written (but not always) language, with a petty-bourgeois ideology and culture; finally - a nation as an economic community of an industrial type, not separated by customs borders, with a literary language, culture associated with widespread ideologies.

Second approach replaces "people" and "nation" as types of ethnos with a single type called "people", gradually taking shape on the basis of the unification of tribes. This type in science is defined in different ways: as a cultural union of people who speak the same way; as a collection of people with a common destiny, character and psychology; as a community of people connected by origin and self-consciousness, etc. The two approaches diverged on a number of parameters, but the main one is the definition of a nation. In the first case, it was considered as an ethnic community; in the second - as a political phenomenon, meaning co-citizenship. The understanding of the nation as co-citizenship comes from the concept of popular sovereignty of Rousseau, now accepted by the whole world, according to which the population becomes a nation only when the subjects recognize themselves as citizens. Since the Great French Revolution of 1789, first in French and English, and then in other languages, and in international law, the statist interpretation of the nation as the totality of all citizens of the state has been affirmed. Only in the languages ​​that lagged behind the bourgeois transformations of the peoples of Germany, Russia, and the countries of Eastern Europe, both of its meanings, etatist and ethnic, were preserved. Hence, there are two approaches to the typology of the ethnos in Russian science.

In the course of the development of an ethnos and its interaction with others, significant changes occur in the ethnos as a whole or its individual parts, i.e. ethnic processes. According to their influence on the fate of the ethnos, they are divided into evolutionary and transformational. The former imply significant changes in the language, culture, social and demographic structure of the ethnic group. The latter lead to a change in ethnicity and ethnic identity.

According to their orientation, ethnic processes are divided into the processes of ethnic unification prevailing in the modern world and the processes of ethnic division. Unification is carried out through the mutual influence of cultures, bilingualism, integration, consolidation, ethnic assimilation, and separation - through separation through differentiation, segregation, disintegration, separatism, Balkanization. Ethnic contacts and ethnic adaptation contribute to unification and rapprochement. Separation is usually associated with conflicts. The division and unification of ethnic groups can be the result of not only natural-historical processes, but also a purposeful policy, ideological dogmas. People's commitment to the interests of their ethnic group (ethno-nationalism) can play both a positive and a negative role. Its variety (ethnophilia) involves concern for the preservation and development of the ethnic group, its language and culture, and the other (ethnophobia) - recognition of the exclusivity of one's ethnic group and hostility to other peoples. In a polyethnic society, the state cannot be ethnic. The main spheres of activity of the ethnos are language and culture, and the state only renders its assistance to these spheres.

Literature

Arutyunyan Yu.V., Drobizheva L.M., Susokolov A.A. Ethnosociology: Textbook. allowance. M., 1998.

Belyaev V.A., Filatov A.N. Sociology: Textbook. university course. Part 1. - Kazan, 1997. - Ch. 11, 12.

Radugin A.A., Radugin K.A. Sociology: a course of lectures. M., 1996. - Topic 6.

Smelzer N. Sociology. M., 1994. - Ch. ten.

Topic 9. Sociology of personality

1. Sociological theories of personality.
2. Socialization of the individual.
3. Deviant behavior and social control.

Sociological theories of personality

The primary agent of social interaction and relationships is the individual. In order to understand what a person is, it is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of “person”, “individual”, “personality”.

concept human used to characterize the qualities and abilities inherent in all people. This concept indicates the presence of such a special historically developing community as the human race. A single representative of the human race, a specific carrier of human traits is individual. He is unique, unrepeatable. At the same time, it is universal - after all, each person depends on social conditions, the environment in which he lives, the people with whom he communicates. An individual is a person insofar as, in relations with others (within specific social communities), he performs certain functions, implements socially significant properties and qualities in his activities. It can be said that personality- this is a social modification of a person: after all, the sociological approach singles out the socially typical in the personality.

Sociological theories of personality are aimed at studying the inseparable connection between the process of personality formation and the functioning and development of social communities, at studying the interaction of the individual and society, between the individual and the group, at the problems of regulation and self-regulation of the individual's social behavior. In sociology, the following theories of personality are best known:

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

2. Psychoanalytic theories(Z.Freud) are aimed at revealing the inconsistency of the inner world of a person, at studying the psychological aspects of the relationship between the individual and society. The scope of the human psyche includes: 1) the unconscious (natural instincts); 2) the consciousness of the individual, which is the regulator of instinctive reactions; 3) collective consciousness, i.e. culture, laws, prohibitions learned in the process of education. Such a three-layered nature makes the personality extremely contradictory, as there is a struggle between natural instincts, inclinations, desires and the requirements and standards of society, aimed at subordinating social norms.

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

Each status usually includes a number of roles. A social role is understood as a set of actions that a person with a given status in the social system must perform. Therefore, a person is a derivative of the social statuses that an individual occupies, and of the social roles that he performs in society.

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

Despite the difference in approaches, all sociological theories recognize the personality as a specific formation, directly derived from certain social factors.

Thus, we can say that a person is not born as a person, but becomes in the process of socialization and individualization.

Personality socialization

Socialization is understood as the process of assimilation by a person of patterns of behavior of society and groups, their values, norms, attitudes. In the process of socialization, the most common stable personality traits are formed, which are manifested in socially organized activities, regulated by the role structure of society. The main agents of socialization are: family, school, peer groups, mass media, literature and art, social environment, etc. The following goals are realized in the course of socialization:

• interaction of people based on the development of social roles;
• the preservation of society through the assimilation by its new members of the values ​​and patterns of behavior that have developed in it.

The process of personality formation goes through different phases. First, the individual adapts to socio-economic conditions, role functions, social groups, organizations and institutions - this is the phase of social adaptation. At the phase of internalization, the internal structures of a person's consciousness are formed due to the assimilation of the structures of external social activity, social norms and values ​​become an element of the person's inner world.

The life path of an individual is an ongoing process of socialization, the success of which depends on its interaction with individualization. Individualization is understood as a personified form of implementation of social requirements.

Deviant behavior and social control

Socialization is aimed at the development of a conforming person, i.e. one that would fulfill social standards, correspond to social standards. Deviation from them is called deviation. Thus, deviant behavior is determined by conformity to social norms. The norms are understood as: 1) a model, a standard of required behavior; 2) framework, boundaries of acceptable behavior. In society, there are many different norms - from criminal law to the requirements of fashion or professional ethics. In addition, the main feature of the norms is their variability: they are different in different regions, in different social communities, etc. This their relativity (relativism) gives rise to difficulties in determining the deviation. Moreover, deviant behavior is not always negative, it can be associated with the individual's desire for a new, progressive one. Therefore, sociology does not study any deviations from the norms, but those that cause public concern. Under deviation refers to a deviation from a group norm that entails isolation, treatment, imprisonment, or other punishment for the offender. It traditionally includes: crime, alcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution, suicide, and so on.

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

There are two forms of social control: 1) formal, which includes criminal and civil law, internal affairs bodies, courts, etc.; 2) informal, providing for social reward, punishment, persuasion, reassessment of norms.

Literature

Zborovsky G.E., Orlov G.P. Sociology. M., Interpraks, 1995. - Ch. ten.

Radugin A.A., Radugin K.A. Sociology: a course of lectures. M., 1996. - Topic 7.

Smelzer N. Sociology. M., 1994.

Topic 10. Fundamentals of applied sociology

1. The purpose of applied sociology and its social significance.
2. General characteristics of specific sociological research (CSI). Preparatory stage. Collection of sociological information, its analysis and use.

The purpose of applied sociology and its social significance

Applied sociology is an integral part of sociology as a science. It is aimed at understanding social phenomena and processes by studying the causes of their origin, the mechanism of functioning and the direction of development. Applied sociology relies on the theoretical achievements of fundamental science using methods of empirical verification and formalized procedures. Domestic applied sociology in the form of specific empirical research occupied a prominent place in scientific life even in pre-revolutionary Russia, especially in the early 1920s. The next three decades were a time of silence for applied scientists, caused by the prohibition of sociology. Applied sociology's right to exist was recognized only in the early 1960s, when the "Soviet school" of applied sociologists revived, largely borrowing the methodological experience of Western (more often American) sociological schools.

The main reason for turning to sociological research is the need for extensive and up-to-date information that reflects those aspects of the life of society that are hidden from the "outside eye", but which must be taken into account in the practice of sociological management. Sociological research has great potential: it reveals the leading trends in the development of social relations; determine the best ways and means of improving relations in society; substantiate plans and management decisions; analyze and predict social situations, etc. But sociological research is not a panacea for all ills - they act as one of the means of obtaining information. The decision to conduct a sociological study must be substantiated by practical or scientific expediency.

General characteristics of a specific sociological research (CSI).

Preparatory stage

Case Study(CSI) is a system of theoretical and empirical procedures that allows you to gain new knowledge about a social object (process, phenomenon) for solving fundamental and applied problems. Sociological research consists of four interrelated stages: 1) research preparation; 2) collection of primary sociological information; 3) preparation of the collected information for processing and its processing on a computer; 4) analysis of the processed information, preparation of a report on the results of the study, formulation of conclusions and recommendations.

There are three main types of sociological research: exploratory, descriptive and analytical.

Intelligence- the simplest type that solves limited problems and studies small surveyed populations. It has a simplified program and is used in the case of unexplored problems, to obtain additional information about the object, to clarify hypotheses and tasks, to obtain operational data.

descriptive study- a more complex type, which involves obtaining empirical information for a holistic view of the phenomenon under study, which has a complete program and is applied to a large community with diverse characteristics.

Analytical study- the most complex type, pursuing the goal not only to describe the phenomenon under study, but also to find out the reasons that underlie it and determine the nature, prevalence, severity and other features inherent in it. It represents the greatest value, requires considerable time and a carefully crafted program.

According to the dynamics of the object, a point (one-time) study and a repeated study (several studies of the same object at certain intervals according to a single program) are distinguished. A specific sociological study can be large-scale or local. Mostly it is social work to order.

Direct preparation of the study involves the development of its program, work plan and supporting documents. Program- this is the language of communication between a sociologist and a customer, this is a strategic research document. It is a thesis presentation of the concept of the organizers of the work, their ideas and intentions. It is also considered a comprehensive theoretical substantiation of methodological approaches and methodological techniques for studying social facts.

The program consists of two parts - methodological and methodical. The first includes the formulation and justification of the problem, the indication of the goal, the definition of the object and subject of research, the logical analysis of the basic concepts, the formulation of hypotheses and tasks; the second - the definition of the surveyed population, the characteristics of the methods used to collect primary sociological information, the logical structure of the tools for collecting this information and the logical schemes for its processing on a computer.

A brief commentary on the structural elements of the CSI program.

A social problem is a contradictory situation created by life itself. Problems are classified according to the purpose, the carrier, the extent of prevalence, the duration of the contradiction and its depth.

The goal should always be result-oriented, should help to identify ways and means of solving the problem through implementation.

The object of the CSI is a social fact, i.e. any social phenomenon or process. The subject of the CSI is the sides or properties of the object that most fully express the problem.

The logical analysis of the basic concepts implies the selection of concepts that define the subject, an accurate and comprehensive explanation of their content and structure.

A hypothesis is a preliminary assumption that explains a social fact for the purpose of its subsequent confirmation or refutation.

Tasks are formulated in accordance with the goal and hypotheses.

The general population (N) is all the people who are territorially and temporally involved in the object under study. The sampling set (n) is a micromodel of the general population. It consists of respondents selected for the survey using one or another sampling method. Respondents are selected according to social formulas, using a table of random numbers, mechanical, serial, nested, spontaneous sampling, snowball and main array methods. The quota sampling method is the most accurate.

The program substantiates the need to use specific methods for collecting sociological information (questionnaires, interviews, document analysis, observation, etc.).

The logical structure of the toolkit reveals the focus of a particular block of questions on certain characteristics and properties of the object, as well as the order in which the questions are arranged.

The logical schemes for processing the collected information show the expected range and depth of the analysis of sociological data.

Collection of sociological information, its analysis and use

The second stage of the study is called the "field stage", since the zone of practical actions of sociologists is a field from which the harvest is harvested in the form of reliable and representative information. During the collection of information, various methods are used, each of which has its own characteristics. The main methods are survey, observation, analysis of documents, peer review, experiment, sociometry, measurement of social attitudes. The most common of them is a survey, with its help 90% of sociological information is collected.

The survey method was not invented by sociologists, it is actively used by doctors, lawyers, journalists, teachers, etc. It has a long tradition in sociology. The specificity of the survey lies primarily in the fact that when it is used, the source of primary sociological information is a person (respondent) - a direct participant in the studied social phenomena. There are two types of surveys - questionnaires and interviews. The advantages of the survey are: a) in the shortest possible time for collecting information; b) in the possibility of obtaining a variety of information; c) in the possibility of reaching large populations of people; d) in the breadth of coverage of various areas of social practice. And the imperfection lies in the possibility of information distortion due to the subjective perception and assessment of the social fact by the respondents.

The most common type of survey in the practice of applied sociology is questioning. It can be group or individual. The group one assumes the presence of a sociologist and a group of 15-20 people, provides one hundred percent return of questionnaires, the possibility of consultations on the technique of filling out the questionnaire and control by the sociologist. Individual questioning involves the distribution of questionnaires to respondents for a certain period of time to fill out without the presence of the questionnaire. Checking the quality of filling is carried out in the course of returning the questionnaires.

Questionnaire- this is a system of questions united by a single research plan aimed at identifying the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of an object. Compositionally, this is a scenario of a conversation with a respondent, including: 1) an introduction with the designation of the research topic, the purpose of the survey, the name of the organization conducting it and an explanation of the technique for filling out the questionnaire; 2) the plot - a psychological setting for cooperation, i.e. a block of simple questions aimed at interest of the interlocutor; 3) the main content part - a block of main questions that meet the purpose of the study; 4) a passport - a socio-demographic block of questions.

Questionnaire questions are classified according to content, form and function. By content, they are divided into questions about the facts of consciousness (identification of opinions, wishes, plans for the future); questions about the facts of behavior (identification of actions, results of activities); questions about the identity of the respondent.

Classification by form is a division: a) into open questions, designed for individual answers in writing without the variations proposed by sociologists, and closed questions (with a set of answer options), in turn, subdivided into alternative (with a possible choice of one option) and non-alternative (with the allowance of the choice of several answers); b) to direct questions that require the respondent to have a critical attitude towards himself, to others, or to assess negative phenomena, and indirect questions that check the information of direct questions that supplement it.

By function, the questionnaire questions are divided into the main ones, aimed at the content of the phenomenon under study; not basic, identifying the addressee of questions, checking the sincerity of answers; contact (starting questions) and filtering, cutting off the circle of respondents from answers to a number of questions.

In order for the received primary sociological information to begin to actively serve, it must be processed, generalized, analyzed and scientifically interpreted. Only after these procedures will there be a real opportunity to formulate conclusions and practical recommendations, which will open sociological information to practice.

A brief commentary on this stage of the study:

Information processing is carried out manually or with the help of a computer, its result is sociological data, i.e. indicators of answers to questions in numerical and percentage terms.

The information is summarized by grouping those who answered the questions and through a series of distributions (including with the help of tables).

The analysis and interpretation of data is carried out within the framework of the theoretical processing of the information received and directly depends on the professionalism of sociologists, their hypotheses, the verification of which is carried out first of all.

The results of the work are poured into official documents: a report, an appendix to the report and an analytical report containing conclusions and recommendations.

The use of the results of sociological research depends on the relevance of the social problem under study, the analysis of the reliability of the information collected and the interest of society in it.

Literature

Zborovsky G.E., Orlov G.P. Sociology. M., Interpraks, 1995. - Ch. 6.

Radugin A.A., Radugin K.A. Sociology: a course of lectures. M., 1996. - Topic 14.

Sheregi F.A., Gorshkov M.K. Fundamentals of applied sociology. Textbook for high schools. M., 1995.

Test tasks on the topics of the course "Sociology"

Topic 1. Sociology as a science

1. What is the object of sociology?

1. society
2. human
3. state

2. What does the word sociology mean?

1. humanitarian knowledge
2. the doctrine of society

3. What is the subject of sociology?

1. political relations
2. laws of development of the human community
3. social life

4. What word defines the position of a person in society, providing access to education, wealth, power, etc.?

1. status
2. job title

5. What is the name of the behavior expected from a person, due to his status?

1. status
2. profession

6. What approach allows dividing sociology into fundamental and applied sciences?

1. large-scale
2. meaningful
3. target

7. What is the applied function of sociology?

1. enrichment of sociological theory
2. providing specific sociological information for solving practical scientific and social problems
3. creation of a methodological base for other sciences

8. How is the concept of "social" deciphered?

1. as relating to the lives of people in the course of their relationships
2. as the activity of people outside of production
3. as the relationship of people with nature

9. What is empiricism in sociology?

1. a complex of sociological research focused on the collection and analysis of real facts of social life using a special methodology
2. set of concepts about social development

10. What is the name of a sociology focused on practical use?

1. applied
2. theoretical
3. macrosociology

Topic 2. The evolution of sociological thought

1. When did sociology as a science emerge?

1. in the first third of the nineteenth century
2. during antiquity
3. in modern times

2. Who introduced the word "sociology" into scientific circulation?

1. K. Marx
2. O.Kont
3. M. Weber

1. G. Spencer
2. K. Marx
3. T. Parsons

4. Which of the sociologists of the 19th century explained social development as a change in socio-economic formations?

1. M. Weber
2. K. Marx
3. E. Durkheim

5. What is the name of a rational approach in the study of society, based on observation, comparison, experiment?

1. methodology
2. positivism
3. phenomenology

6. Followers of which direction recognize only two forms of knowledge - empirical and logical?

1. positivism
2. phenomenology

7. Humanitarianism approaches society through

1. experiment
2. understanding
3. logical analysis

8. Ideography is

1. study of individual phenomena and events
2. knowledge of the general laws of the development of society

9. Which paradigm sees society as a relatively stable system of interconnected parts?

1. structural-functional
2. conflict-radical
3. symbolic interactionism

10. What paradigm considers society at the micro level?

1. symbolic interactionism
2. structural functionalism

Topic 3. Features of the development of domestic sociology

1. What determined the inconsistency of sociological thought in Russia?

1. identity of the country
2. duality of origins

2. What direction did the views of N. Danilevsky represent?

1. positivism
2. humanitarianism

3. In the study of what problems did P. Sorokin make a huge contribution?

1. social anomie
2. social darwinism
3. theory of social stratification and social mobility

4. In pre-revolutionary Russia coexisted

1. three main directions
2. five main directions
3. many scientific fields

5. The institutionalization of sociology takes place in Russia in

1. 1920s
2. in the beginning of the century
3. in the 40s of the twentieth century

6. The declaration of sociology as a bourgeois pseudoscience was connected

1. with the emergence of a new science of society
2. with the mistakes of science itself
3. with the advent of totalitarianism

7. In the 60s of the twentieth century, science develops:

1. empirical research
2. theoretical developments

8. When was the recognition of sociology in the USSR?

1. during the years of stagnation
2. during the years of perestroika
3. after the collapse of the USSR

Topic 4. Society as an object of study in sociology

1. The concept of society in sociology

1. varies depending on the approach of the researcher
2. is an unchanging universally recognized category

2. The identification of society and the state was characteristic of the views:

1. Aristotle
2. Plato

3. Who owns the development of the theory of "social contract"?

1. Confucius
2. I.Kantu
3. T. Hobbes

4. What is the specificity of A. Smith's definition of society?

1. humanitarian approach
2. economic approach
3. philosophical approach

5. The idea of ​​civil society belongs to

1. G. Hegel
2. O.Kontu
3. G. Spencer

6. In modern sociology, society means:

1. all sentient beings on the planet
2. people interacting in a certain territory and having a common culture

7. Culture is

1. a set of symbols, norms, attitudes, values ​​inherent in a given social group and passed down from generation to generation
2. a collection of works of literature, music, painting, etc.

8. What type of theories are positivism, Marxism, technological determinism theories?

1. regression theories
2. theories of progress

9. What approach to the periodization of the development of society is characteristic of Marxist sociology?

1. civilizational
2. formational

10. What underlies the typology of societies according to Karl Marx?

1. mode of production
2. level of development of engineering and technology
3. level of cultural development

Topic 5. The social structure of society

1. Society is a system

1. natural
2. social

2. What is the main characteristic of primary social groups?

1. close emotional connection
2. having a leader
3. distribution of statuses and roles

3. Family refers to

1. secondary groups
2. primary groups

4. A set of roles and statuses designed to meet certain social needs is:

1. social institution
2. social group
3. social community

5. What type of institutions does the higher education system belong to?

1. policy institutions
2. to economic institutions
3. to spiritual institutions

6. Why do people join voluntary organizations?

1. to receive financial reward
2. for moral satisfaction

7. What type of organization do hospitals predominantly belong to?

1. forced
2. voluntary

8. Rational organizations are:

1. non-bureaucratic organizations
2. bureaucratic organizations

Topic 6. Social stratification

1. Social stratification is -

1. differences between people
2. division of people by country
3. structured inequalities between different groups of people

2. What is the main characteristic of the location of strata in society?

1. equality
2. hierarchy

3. What does the word "strata" mean?

1. Group
2. Class

4. Groups of signs that differentiate people, singled out

1. O.Kont
2. T. Parsons
3. E. Durkheim

5. Social inequality based on ethnicity is called

1. nationalism
2. racism

6. In empirical research, prestige is defined as:

1. the role of man in society
2. degree of wealth
3. index of socio-economic position

7. In what case do biological differences acquire the character of social inequality?

1. if they interfere with communication
2. if they divide people into capable and incapable
3. if they become the basis of discrimination against groups of people

8. Changing the position of an individual or group in the system of social stratification is called:

1. professional growth
2. social mobility
3. age-related changes

9. What type of mobility can be attributed to the situation when the parents are peasants, and the son is an academician?

1. to intergenerational mobility
2. upward mobility
3. horizontal mobility

10. The essence of stratification is

1. division of society into classes
2. unequal distribution of sociocultural benefits and values
3. in the distribution of power

Topic 7. Types of social stratification

1. What does a closed society mean, from the point of view of the theory of stratification?

1. in this society status is given from birth
2. this society is difficult to penetrate
3. This society has strict rules of conduct.

2. An example of caste division is:

1. India
2. Japan

3. Class stratification characterizes:

1. open society
2. closed society

4. What is the main difference between estate and caste stratification?

1. mobility limited but possible
2. the estate system was in Europe
3. class stratification is not related to religion

5. Classes depend on:

1. socio-political beliefs
2. class position of the family
3. economic differences between groups of people

6. Class stratification characterizes:

1. closed society
2. open society

7. What is the main class-forming feature according to K. Marx?

1. relation to the means of production
2. degree of wealth
3. nature of work

8. What is the specificity of M. Weber's stratification approach?

1. class denial
2. three-dimensional stratification

9. In modern civilized countries, there are:

1. three main classes
2. more than three classes
3. many classes

10. The working class includes:

1. people doing manual labor
2. poor, disadvantaged people

Topic 8. Ethnosociology

1. Today on Earth lives:

1. about four thousand ethnic groups
2. about ten thousand ethnic groups
3. about three thousand ethnic groups

2. The main unit of classification of all the peoples of the world:

1. ethnos
2. nationality
3. country

3. The unity of the territory for the existence of an ethnic group is:

1. optional
2. mandatory

4. Is religion a self-sufficient sign of an ethnic group?

5. The word "ethnos" means

1. people
2. a family
3. nationality

6. Modern sociology understands the nation

1. fellow citizenship
2. people of the same nationality

7. The process of the emergence of individual peoples is called

1. consortium
2. ethnogenesis
3. adaptation

8. The process of interaction of ethnic cultures, involving the assimilation of the language, culture, ethnic identity of another ethnic group is called

1. association
2. assimilation
3. merger

9. The desire for isolation, separation of a part of the state or a separate ethnic group is defined by the concept

1. segregation
2. apartheid
3. separatism

10. Ethnic identity is:

1. knowledge of ethnic history
2. knowledge of the ethnic language
3. feeling of belonging to a given ethnic group

Topic 9. Sociology of personality

1. In sociology, the concepts of a person, an individual, a person are identical?

2. Personality is:

1. every single individual
2. outstanding person
3. human social modification

3. Sociological approach highlights in personality

1. social-typical
2. individual characteristics

4. From the point of view of what concept is self-consciousness the core of personality?

1. concept of "mirror self"
2. role concept

5. Person by personality

1. is born
2. becomes

6. The process of forming common stable personality traits is called

1. education
2. upbringing
3. socialization

7. Social norms and values ​​become an element of a person's inner world at the phase

1. adaptation
2. interiorization

8. What is deviant behavior?

1. deviation from the group norm
2. criminal behavior
3. obedience to general rules

9. What is the main characteristic of social norms?

1. relativity
2. sustainability
3. impermanence

10. Social control is:

1. activities of internal affairs bodies
2. society's efforts to prevent deviation
3. education of members of society

Topic 10. Fundamentals of applied sociology

1. The Soviet school of applied sociology was born:

1. in the 80s.
2. in the 30s.
3. in the 60s.

2. Specific sociological research is:

1. way of solving urgent social problems
2. means of obtaining information

3. What is the name of a person participating in a sociological study as a carrier of information?

1. respondent
2. interviewer
3. sociologist

4. Sample is:

1. population micromodel selection method
2. identification of all carriers of sociological information

5. What is the most common method of collecting sociological information

1. questioning
2. interview
3. observation

6. Questionnaire is used for:

1. gathering information about specific individuals
2. collecting information about mass social phenomena

7. What is the name of the property of a sample to represent the characteristics of the general population?

1. representativeness
2. validity
3. modeling

8. If the questionnaire offers answers to the question posed, then the question is called:

1. open
2. closed

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

"VITEBSK STATE TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY"

FACULTY OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND RETRAINING OF STAFF

Test

in the discipline “Sociology. Economic sociology»

VITEBSK 2007

Exercise 1

CULTURE

The concept of culture

Elements of culture

Functions of culture

SOCIAL VALUES AND NORMS

The essence of social values ​​and norms

Social broadcast of norms

Changing social norms

IDEOLOGY

Concept of ideology

Social functions of ideology

Types of ideology

Task 2

Bogomolova T.Yu., Tapilina E.S. Economic stratification of the population of Russia in the 90s//Sotsis. 2001. No. 6.

Task 1 Society and culture

CULTURE

The concept of culture

In the 18th century, the meaning of the word "culture" expanded so much that it spread to the spiritual sphere, and this word gradually acquired a whole range of different meanings. The specificity of each field of knowledge leaves its mark on which particular aspect of culture is considered as the main one. Since sociology studies society at different levels, up to the most concrete ones, culture is considered here as a system of generally valid behavior patterns operating in society or within a certain social class. In culture, two levels are distinguished: primary, or spontaneous, - direct and usually not subject to theoretical understanding of the mass skills of people in everyday life; secondary - literature, cinema, painting.

From the point of view of sociology, spontaneous culture as an object of study is more productive, since it provides more information about immediate social life, including the life of those social groups and individuals who largely fall outside the range of secondary culture. Spontaneous culture is a million big and small details about the way of thinking, attitudes and behaviors inherent in all members of a given society. It is these features of culture that make people from the same social environment similar and dissimilar - people from different societies and eras.

Different cultures can coexist within the same society. Thus, the behavior of a Russian nobleman of the 18th century was strikingly different from the behavior of a serf or merchant. They differed in clothing, manners, knowledge and skills, even the language they spoke in their environment.

The influence of culture on the individual is stronger than it might seem. Contrary to the fact that we usually consider culture as something secondary and ephemeral in relation to our physical nature, natural and bred are so closely intertwined in individual perception that culture can even influence sensations. For example, R. Melzak investigated the role of culture in how a person feels physical pain.

Elements of culture

There are several components in culture:

1. Value is what is desirable and preferred within a given culture. They are passed down from generation to generation through family and non-family upbringing.

2. Ideology is understood as a system of views, beliefs, values ​​and attitudes, in which people's attitudes to reality and to each other, social problems and conflicts are realized, and also contains the goals of social activity aimed at consolidating or changing existing social relations. It has internal unity and integrity and does not contain mutually exclusive or contradictory provisions. Ideology is the real force that organizes and mobilizes social action.

3. Language is a system of verbal codes and symbols, transmitted from generation to generation and serving as the basis for verbal interaction. This is the most important criterion for distinguishing “us” from “them”. Moreover, language is a tool of social differentiation, since it conveys the worldview along with the social attitudes present in it.

4. Symbols are the most important element of culture. Along with language, they form a system of social communication codes within one cultural system. Like words, they reflect a certain worldview inherent in a given culture.

5. Traditions are a set of ideas and behaviors that are characteristic of a given culture and are passed down from generation to generation. This is the social and cultural heritage that parents leave to their children not as individuals, but as members of a particular social group, national and religious community, class, etc. Every person is born into some tradition. Traditions govern life. Customs are a concrete expression of tradition - these are more private “fragments” of tradition tied to certain situations.

6. A ritual is a fixed sequence of actions, gestures and words performed and spoken at a strictly defined time, in a strictly defined place and in strictly defined circumstances. The content of the ritual is strictly connected with tradition. The rituals are very diverse, from the primitive rituals of primitive societies aimed at ensuring a successful hunt, to the complex rites and mysteries of world religions.

7. A behavior model is an ideal idea of ​​how one should behave in a given situation. The models of behavior offered by a particular culture are based on its specific vision of the world with specific values, symbols and traditions. Under such models, we adjust our own behavior in various situations and on the basis of them we evaluate the actions of others and our own. Behavior patterns are stable and little subject to changes in everyday life: in order for them to change, a long historical interval is needed, since they cannot change without changing the entire system of values.

Functions of culture

As a complex of all the considered elements, it performs a number of important functions in society. One of the most important functions of culture is communication. Culture is a universal system of communication between people at all levels, from interindividual to generational level.

Another function of culture is predictive. Since culture presupposes certain patterns of behavior and values, then, based on the requirements of culture, it is possible to predict how the average carrier of this culture will behave in a given life situation.

The third function of culture is identification. Culture enables an individual to feel his belonging to a group through values, symbols, behavior patterns, etc., common with the group. Based on common values, an emotional bond arises that unites members of a single group.

Finally, the fourth function is adaptive. Culture allows the individual to adapt to his geographic environment, helping him to solve the problems of survival.

SOCIAL VALUES AND NORMS

The essence of social values ​​and norms

All of us, since we live in a society of our own kind, are doomed to choose a line of behavior in their environment. From behavioral responses, both our own and those of others, we learn whether we are accepted by this or that social group, whether we are leaders or outsiders, whether in some way we determine the behavior of others, or whether it is others who predominantly determine our own behavior.

In different situations - in different social contexts - the same people behave differently. People's behavior is determined by values. In essence, the values ​​of all people are similar, people differ only in the scale of their values ​​- in which of the values ​​dominate for them, and which ones can always or situationally be sacrificed.

Social values ​​are the value ideas adopted by a given social group. Such representations are more diverse than individual values. They are determined by ethnic psychology, the peculiarities of the way of life, religion, economy and culture, if we are talking about the people, and the specifics of the occupation and social status of the group, if we are talking about more fractional groups.

Since each person is included not in one, but in several social groups, the values ​​of these groups intersect in his mind, sometimes very contradictory. Group values ​​are classified into social, stratification, political, ethnic, religious.

Those values ​​that really determine the behavioral strategies of people are obligatory for all members of a given social group, and for the neglect of which punishments sanctioned by the group are applied in the group, they are called social norms. Not all value ideas are reflected in the norms. Only those values ​​that are capable of actually regulating action become norms. Positive states of things that cannot be achieved by human effort do not become norms, no matter how good and desirable they may be.

There are also positive assessments of human actions and actions that never become a social norm because people are not able to follow them en masse. For example, in any society, heroes are revered as an ideal of courage and selflessness, and saints as carriers of the ideal of lofty morality and love for one's neighbor. But history does not know a society that would consist only of heroes or saints. Thus, some social values ​​always remain an exclusive unattainable model. The norm becomes what, in principle, can be demanded from the behavior of everyone.

The norm cannot be actions that a person cannot not perform in any way. In order for a norm to become a norm, there must be the possibility of the opposite choice.

The function of norms in society is not limited to the direct regulation of the social behavior of individuals; they make such behavior reasonably predictable. Norms prescribe to all members of a given group in such and such a situation to behave in a strictly defined way, and this normative prescription is reinforced by the threat of social sanctions in case of non-compliance and the expectation of encouragement in case of performance.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

"VITEBSK STATE TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY"

FACULTY OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND RETRAINING OF STAFF

Test

in the discipline “Sociology. Economic sociology»

VITEBSK 2007

Exercise 1

CULTURE

The concept of culture

Elements of culture

Functions of culture

SOCIAL VALUES AND NORMS

The essence of social values ​​and norms

Social broadcast of norms

Changing social norms

IDEOLOGY

Concept of ideology

Social functions of ideology

Types of ideology

Task 2

Bogomolova T.Yu., Tapilina E.S. Economic stratification of the population of Russia in the 90s//Sotsis. 2001. No. 6.

Task 1 Society and culture

CULTURE

The concept of culture

In the 18th century, the meaning of the word "culture" expanded so much that it spread to the spiritual sphere, and this word gradually acquired a whole range of different meanings. The specificity of each field of knowledge leaves its mark on which particular aspect of culture is considered as the main one. Since sociology studies society at different levels, up to the most concrete ones, culture is considered here as a system of generally valid behavior patterns operating in society or within a certain social class. In culture, two levels are distinguished: primary, or spontaneous, - direct and usually not subject to theoretical understanding of the mass skills of people in everyday life; secondary - literature, cinema, painting.

From the point of view of sociology, spontaneous culture as an object of study is more productive, since it provides more information about immediate social life, including the life of those social groups and individuals who largely fall outside the range of secondary culture. Spontaneous culture is a million big and small details about the way of thinking, attitudes and behaviors inherent in all members of a given society. It is these features of culture that make people from the same social environment similar and dissimilar - people from different societies and eras.

Different cultures can coexist within the same society. Thus, the behavior of a Russian nobleman of the 18th century was strikingly different from the behavior of a serf or merchant. They differed in clothing, manners, knowledge and skills, even the language they spoke in their environment.

The influence of culture on the individual is stronger than it might seem. Contrary to the fact that we usually consider culture as something secondary and ephemeral in relation to our physical nature, natural and bred are so closely intertwined in individual perception that culture can even influence sensations. For example, R. Melzak investigated the role of culture in how a person feels physical pain.

Elements of culture

There are several components in culture:

1. Value is what is desirable and preferred within a given culture. They are passed down from generation to generation through family and non-family upbringing.

2. Ideology is understood as a system of views, beliefs, values ​​and attitudes, in which people's attitudes to reality and to each other, social problems and conflicts are realized, and also contains the goals of social activity aimed at consolidating or changing existing social relations. It has internal unity and integrity and does not contain mutually exclusive or contradictory provisions. Ideology is the real force that organizes and mobilizes social action.

3. Language is a system of verbal codes and symbols, transmitted from generation to generation and serving as the basis for verbal interaction. This is the most important criterion for distinguishing “us” from “them”. Moreover, language is a tool of social differentiation, since it conveys the worldview along with the social attitudes present in it.

4. Symbols are the most important element of culture. Along with language, they form a system of social communication codes within one cultural system. Like words, they reflect a certain worldview inherent in a given culture.

5. Traditions are a set of ideas and behaviors that are characteristic of a given culture and are passed down from generation to generation. This is the social and cultural heritage that parents leave to their children not as individuals, but as members of a particular social group, national and religious community, class, etc. Every person is born into some tradition. Traditions govern life. Customs are a concrete expression of tradition - these are more private “fragments” of tradition tied to certain situations.

6. A ritual is a fixed sequence of actions, gestures and words performed and spoken at a strictly defined time, in a strictly defined place and in strictly defined circumstances. The content of the ritual is strictly connected with tradition. The rituals are very diverse, from the primitive rituals of primitive societies aimed at ensuring a successful hunt, to the complex rites and mysteries of world religions.

7. A behavior model is an ideal idea of ​​how one should behave in a given situation. The models of behavior offered by a particular culture are based on its specific vision of the world with specific values, symbols and traditions. Under such models, we adjust our own behavior in various situations and on the basis of them we evaluate the actions of others and our own. Behavior patterns are stable and little subject to changes in everyday life: in order for them to change, a long historical interval is needed, since they cannot change without changing the entire system of values.

Functions of culture

As a complex of all the considered elements, it performs a number of important functions in society. One of the most important functions of culture is communication. Culture is a universal system of communication between people at all levels, from interindividual to generational level.

Another function of culture is predictive. Since culture presupposes certain patterns of behavior and values, then, based on the requirements of culture, it is possible to predict how the average carrier of this culture will behave in a given life situation.

The third function of culture is identification. Culture enables an individual to feel his belonging to a group through values, symbols, behavior patterns, etc., common with the group. Based on common values, an emotional bond arises that unites members of a single group.

Finally, the fourth function is adaptive. Culture allows the individual to adapt to his geographic environment, helping him to solve the problems of survival.

SOCIAL VALUES AND NORMS

The essence of social values ​​and norms

All of us, since we live in a society of our own kind, are doomed to choose a line of behavior in their environment. From behavioral responses, both our own and those of others, we learn whether we are accepted by this or that social group, whether we are leaders or outsiders, whether in some way we determine the behavior of others, or whether it is others who predominantly determine our own behavior.

In different situations - in different social contexts - the same people behave differently. People's behavior is determined by values. In essence, the values ​​of all people are similar, people differ only in the scale of their values ​​- in which of the values ​​dominate for them, and which ones can always or situationally be sacrificed.

Social values ​​are the value ideas adopted by a given social group. Such representations are more diverse than individual values. They are determined by ethnic psychology, the peculiarities of the way of life, religion, economy and culture, if we are talking about the people, and the specifics of the occupation and social status of the group, if we are talking about more fractional groups.

Since each person is included not in one, but in several social groups, the values ​​of these groups intersect in his mind, sometimes very contradictory. Group values ​​are classified into social, stratification, political, ethnic, religious.

Those values ​​that really determine the behavioral strategies of people are obligatory for all members of a given social group, and for the neglect of which punishments sanctioned by the group are applied in the group, they are called social norms. Not all value ideas are reflected in the norms. Only those values ​​that are capable of actually regulating action become norms. Positive states of things that cannot be achieved by human effort do not become norms, no matter how good and desirable they may be.

There are also positive assessments of human actions and actions that never become a social norm because people are not able to follow them en masse. For example, in any society, heroes are revered as an ideal of courage and selflessness, and saints as carriers of the ideal of lofty morality and love for one's neighbor. But history does not know a society that would consist only of heroes or saints. Thus, some social values ​​always remain an exclusive unattainable model. The norm becomes what, in principle, can be demanded from the behavior of everyone.

The norm cannot be actions that a person cannot not perform in any way. In order for a norm to become a norm, there must be the possibility of the opposite choice.

The function of norms in society is not limited to the direct regulation of the social behavior of individuals; they make such behavior reasonably predictable. Norms prescribe to all members of a given group in such and such a situation to behave in a strictly defined way, and this normative prescription is reinforced by the threat of social sanctions in case of non-compliance and the expectation of encouragement in case of performance.

Social broadcast of norms

Norms become such only when they are accepted by everyone. The concept of "generally accepted norm" means that all members of society know this prescription, agree with it, recognize its positive nature and are guided by it in most cases, and also expect each other to behave in accordance with this norm. Mandatory prescriptions that have not received social recognition do not become norms. The universal significance of norms does not at all mean that all norms in force in society are obligatory for all.

Many norms are addressed only to people occupying a certain social position. These are the so-called "role norms".

The universal significance of the norms, therefore, is their distribution to the vast majority of adults and adult healthy and capable members of society. Society passes such norms from generation to generation by raising children in the family on their basis. In addition to this method, there are other and other ways of transmitting norms. We perceive and transmit social norms to our children and other people through codes of laws functioning in society, sets of private rules - for example, traffic rules, good manners, etc., thanks to the gradual accumulation of life experience - by the “trial and error” method, in a systematic learning process, through patterns set in tradition, fairy tales, myths. The form in which a particular society broadcasts its norms and values ​​depends on the type of culture. So, myth is the basic form of translation in archaic and traditional societies, law and law - in modern ones. Religion and ideology play an important role in the transmission of norms and values.

There are various levels of development and acceptance of norms. The lowest level of norm acceptance is the level of motivation by fear of negative social sanctions. A higher level is common sense motivation, when the norm is accepted and observed on the basis of an understanding of its necessity and social utility. At the same time, any norm does not function in isolation, but in a system of other norms accepted by society. In a developed society, the key way of recognizing norms remains internalization - “inside” a norm by a person, when it becomes an element of his inner world and is perceived as coming from within, as a kind of “voice of conscience”. In archaic societies, internalization also takes place, but in the form of tabooing - a deep non-rational assimilation of the norms of the group through a ban that has become a habit. In addition to taboos, there are the following types of social norms: 1) legal; 2) moral; 3) political; 4) aesthetic; 5) religious; 6) corporate; 7) family; 8) norms present in customs, traditions, habits; 9) business habits; 10) rules of etiquette, correctness, ceremonies, rituals.

Violation of taboos is most severely punished in traditional and archaic societies, and laws in modern ones. In traditional and theocratic societies, at the level of taboo and law violations, violation of religious precepts and insult to a deity is punished. Society punishes the violation of moral norms that are not formalized in the form of laws less severely. Customs and habits are the most non-obligatory norms, and violation of them entails very mild sanctions in the form of a simple social censure, and may not entail anything at all.

Changing social norms

The regulatory system, like other elements of society, is subject to change. These are the current historical changes associated with the evolution of society, the gradual transformation of the value system. These are also abrupt changes caused by the rule-making and legislative activities of the authorities, coup d'état and revolutions. Usually, changes of the first type occur slowly, over a long historical period, and begin with the gradual reduction of outgoing norms and sanctions to a mere formality. Regulatory changes of the second type are carried out deliberately by a volitional decision of a subject in authority. Usually this process is accompanied by accelerated voluntary or forced social acceptance of new norms.

It should be noted that there is a general global trend towards the liberalization and intellectualization of social norms and the easing of sanctions. This process is associated with the secularization and ecumenization of society, interethnic integration and the accompanying relativization of values. What was perceived by an isolated social group as a moral absolute, through the prism of a single diverse world, is already seen as one of the many variants of the normative system. Gradually, a single ethical space is emerging, in which norms and sanctions are increasingly bearing the imprint of humanization. Human existence is becoming less and less regulated in terms of customs and traditions, and social sanctioning in developed societies has a predominantly state-legal character. The system of criminal penalties is being humanized, which is manifested, in particular, in the absence of the death penalty as a punishment.

Thus, modern society is clearly developing in the direction of humanizing human relationships and softening the normative requirements for the individual. Accordingly, there is a tendency for the individual's behavioral autonomy to increase. Modern society is characterized by a much higher degree of individual freedom.

IDEOLOGY

Concept of ideology

Ideology is a coherent system of views and ideas in which people's attitudes to reality and to each other, social problems and conflicts are recognized and evaluated, and also contains the goals (programs) of social activities aimed at consolidating or changing these social relations.

In modern social science, ideology is understood as a spiritual formation, a kind of social worldview that provides answers to questions that arise in a person about social relations, social justice, the historical prospects of the society in which he lives, etc. The specific place of ideology in the system of the spiritual life of society is determined by the fact that, although it gives its own answers to all these questions, ideology is not a science, and its answers are not subject to scientific verification, that is, proof. Therefore, in ideology there is always room for possible errors, exaggerations, exaggerations. Despite this, ideology is a conceptually formed system, in other words, it has the form of scientific knowledge, and it is thanks to this form that it has persuasiveness and effectiveness. Another fundamental feature of ideology is that it does not arise spontaneously, but is developed consciously and purposefully by a special layer of people. However, at the same time, it really expresses the interests and mindsets of classes, nations, political parties and movements representing them.

Ideology has an ideological, holistic character. In this sense, it merges with myth, since only myth, like it, creates a holistic picture of the world, endowed with deep emotional meaning. However, ideology contains elements of scientific knowledge and is based on real social facts. But it presents these facts in the way that the social group whose interests it expresses sees them.

Being a kind of socio-political myth, ideology is a symbolic structure, where rational meanings are encoded in symbols, endowed with a special emotional meaning due to them. Because of this, ideology acquires a substantive embodiment.

Modern research in the field of ideology mainly focuses on the mechanisms of its social functioning. Indeed, in reality, ideology exists on a daily basis and influences not at the level of conceptual discussions, but at the level of unreflected social behavior. Masses of simple and not very educated people, at the level of specific use of language and non-verbal symbolism. In addition, ideologies have the possibility of a relatively autonomous and sometimes paradoxical development on a purely symbolic, rather than conceptual level.

The value nature of ideology also implies the possibility of its use by interested groups as a tool for manipulating mass consciousness.

Social functions of ideology

The study of ideology in the socio-practical aspect allows us to identify the following social functions:

1. Cognitive - manifested in the fact that ideology offers a person a certain model for interpreting the world around him, society and his place in it.

2. Evaluative - allows an individual to choose values ​​and norms that are adequate to his social interests in order to be guided by them in everyday life.

3. Program-target - consists in the fact that the ideology sets certain strategic and tactical goals for individuals, establishes their subordination and offers a program to achieve them.

4. Futurological and prognostic - offers society a model of a better future to which it is necessary to strive, and substantiates its possibility.

5. Integrative - manifested in the fact that the ideology contributes to the rallying of society or a social group on the basis of a single goal, common problems and the need for common actions.

6. Protective - provides interaction with other ideologies: struggle or coexistence.

7. Socially organizing - ideology determines the principles of organizing society and managing it.

Types of ideology

Modern society is poly-ideological. There are a number of ideological concepts that have occupied minds for a long time and have been implemented in social practice.

Conservatism is an ideology based on the principle of strict adherence to the traditions and customs that have developed in society. From the point of view of a conservative, any change is a social evil and is fraught with possible troubles and disasters. Conservative ideology is based on ideas about the sacredness of the past. In the field of economics, conservatism presupposes the absolutization of traditional for a given society, usually agrarian-patriarchal, relations, and opposes the idea of ​​a free market and industrial modernization. Conservatism gravitates toward the principles of national isolation, strong statehood in traditional forms for a given society.

Liberalism is an ideology that asserts the priority of individual freedom in relation to the existing society with its traditions. The freedom of the individual is the basic value of liberalism. Nothing in society, except for the free will of other individuals, limits individual freedom. Liberalism requires the liberation of society and individual consciousness from prejudices and prejudices, openness to everything new and progressive, based on the ideas of universal unity regardless of nationality, humanism, progress, democratic government. The economic embodiment of the principles of liberalism is the free market.

Socialism is an ideology that has its roots in the ancient universal dream of a society where the principles of social justice and equality of people would be put into practice. In contrast to liberalism, here equality is understood as a real and state-protected equality of social and economic opportunities for all members of society. Socialist ideology considers the collective good to be the highest value, for the sake of which any individual interests can be sacrificed. That is why the ideology of socialism considers it possible and correct to restrict individual freedom. Freedom is considered only as the necessity realized by the individual to submit to society.

Nationalism is an apology for the exclusivity and superiority of one's own nation, coupled with a hostile and distrustful attitude towards other nations. It can be viewed as a response of the ethnic community to the threat of foreign ethnic influence. The essence of the nationalist ideology lies in the elevation of national qualities of character and mentality to the rank of the highest value. Thus, the ethnic is subjected to sacralization, becomes the object of a kind of cult. The ideology of nationalism reduces ethnic differences to genetic ones, and the nation's gene pool and its external manifestations are defined as the only factor constituting national integrity. The ideological concepts of the nationalist orientation are based on the principle of the insignificance of the individual, personal principle and require its strict subordination to the collective interest of the nation.

Communitarism is an ideology whose essence is a critical approach to modern society; the main conceptual core is the idea of ​​universal human brotherhood. From the point of view of communitarianism, the personality and its social role are an indissoluble whole, a social figure, a stable image that imposes its features on culture and personifies an era. Democratic and liberal values ​​of the modern world from the point of view of communitarianism are ideological constructs that serve as a means of manipulating human behavior and thinking. None of the ideological systems of the past can offer anything new to solve the accumulated social problems. Therefore, such an ideological concept is needed that could lead society beyond the existing closed space where the social figures of our era operate. This is the concept of the brotherhood of man, opposed to the ideological concept of justice that underlies all modern ideologies. Brotherhood in the understanding of communitarianism is a completely independent phenomenon, not reducible to freedom and equality. The idea of ​​brotherhood eliminates the need to seek justice, as it requires an understanding of the interconnectedness and interdependence of people and their roles.

Humanism is an ideology that recognizes the highest value of the human personality, its freedom, happiness, unlimited development and manifestation of its creative abilities. Unlike other ideologies of our time, which make their axiological basis not the good of a person, but various things that are more important from their point of view (self-affirmation of a particular nation, class or social group, preservation of the traditional social order or its restoration, freedom of entrepreneurial initiative and the right to private property), the ideology of humanism upholds the absolute axiological priority of man as the highest value of society. The ideological core of the humanistic ideology is formed by the concept of planetary humanism, the main provisions of which are the strategic tasks of ensuring security and survival for all people on Earth.

Task 2

Bogomolova T.Yu., Tapilina E.S. Economic stratification of the population of Russia in the 90s // Sotsis.2001. No. 6

The essence of the economic stratification of the population lies in the unequal distribution of income and wealth. The purpose of this study is to identify the contours of economic stratification and the social trajectory of their change during the 1990s.

Research Methodology

The study was based on the analysis of one of the components of the material well-being of the population - cash income, which can be considered a completely acceptable indicator for measuring the economic stratification of the population.

The information base of the study was the materials of the Russian Monitoring of the Economic Situation and Health of the Population (RLMS). The study also relies on data from the second stage of the survey - the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth waves (December 1994, October 1995, October 1996, November 1998), during which about 11 thousand people in 4 thousand households were interviewed annually. We also used data on current cash income received by the household from all sources during the last 30 days prior to the time of the survey.

The main observable feature is the indicator of current money income per one consumer unit in the household. To eliminate differences between residents of different regions, money income was expressed not in rubles, but in the number of subsistence minimums per consumer unit.

Population distributions by economic strata

Economic stratification was built on the basis of an analytical scale grouping the population by income level. A scale with 10 strata was used: 1) up to 0.5 PM/PE; 2) 0.5-1.0; 3) 1.0-1.5; 4) 1.5-2.5; 5) 2.5-3.5; 6) 3.5-4.5; 7) 4.5-7.0; 8) 7.0-10.0; 9) 10.0-15.0; 10) more than 15 PM / PE. The data obtained showed a high proportion of poor and low-income strata (1, 2, 3), as well as a noticeable shift towards the poor and low-income strata of the population after 1994; the number of middle and upper strata by the end of the observed period was less than half of the initial level. Thus, the dominant process of changing the configuration of economic stratification was the massive impoverishment of the population. This trend is also reflected by the dynamics of the aggregate average prominimum income.

Outlines of economic stratification

Economic stratification is the steps on the path to wealth. The distribution of the population on these steps can be depicted as a flat geometric figure, the contours of which at any given moment depend on the number of people on one or another step of this ladder. Moving people up the stairs will change the shape of this figure.

The nature of the changes in the ratio of the number of economic strata shows that the transformation of economic stratification took place in the opposite direction to the declared goals of liberal economic reforms, such as the formation of a wide layer of new owners, an expansion in the number of middle strata, and an increase in the proportion of the rich in the population.

The most significant changes in the "figure" of economic stratification occurred in 1994-1996. During this period, serious socio-economic cataclysms occur in the life of society. Since 1995, economic stratification has acquired the features of stability and immutability. This can also be seen as a positive side, since from that moment there was no deformation of the “figure” for the worse. At the same time, this indicates the conservation of the consequences of the negative changes that occurred in the 1990s.

Differentiation between economic strata and economic strata of a stratum

The average income of the polar groups - the poorest (1) and the richest (10) - in the study period differed by more than 80 times. In total, the top 1% own more than 12% of all income received, which indicates a high concentration of monetary resources and a high level of socio-economic inequality in Russian society. The quantitative composition of the economic strata and its change during the observation period are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 - Distribution of the population by economic strata (%)

Consumer Behavior and Economic Layers

The purchase of expensive consumer goods, especially such as an apartment, a house, a car, is carried out at the expense of funds accumulated over a certain period of time, as a rule, in the mode of greater or lesser rigidity in reducing costs to meet other needs. The upper middle and upper layers have a high "purchasing" potential. As a result of the August crisis of 1998. this figure has been halved.

Social profiles of economic strata

An important aspect of economic stratification is its correlation with social. The results of the study showed the important role of several factors that determine the placement of social groups at different levels of the economic hierarchy. These include place of residence (urban-rural), level of education, profile of basic education, form of ownership of enterprises in which the population works. Residents of the city and the countryside, highly educated and with a minimum level of education, highly qualified specialists and unskilled workers, representatives of the most diverse professional groups, are part of all economic strata. Therefore, we can only talk about certain shifts in the number of these social groups in the composition of one or another stratum, as well as the stability of their stay in any stratum during the observation period. The considered social profiles of the strata are formed on the basis of the results of factor analysis and the ratio of risks (chances) for different socio-professional groups to be part of a particular stratum.

The stable part of the lower stratum is formed by the inhabitants of the village, as well as the least educated part of the population. The unchanging professional core is trade and service laborers. Due to the decline in living standards, by the end of the observation period, the layer was replenished with new social groups. In 1998 70.9% of healthcare workers with or without specialized secondary education fell into the lowest stratum; 56.5% of higher and secondary school teachers; 52.2% of science and scientific service workers.

Typical representatives of the lower middle stratum throughout the entire observation period were health care workers, trade and public catering workers, precision manual labor workers. By 1998 agents for trade, finance, sale and purchase, supply, administrators, petty government officials, etc. moved here.

A strong place in the upper middle stratum is occupied by workers with higher education in the field of exact and applied sciences, specialists in the field of law, economics and culture, teachers of higher and secondary schools. But the highest chances to take a place in this layer are among high-ranking officials and legislators, general directors and managers representing both the public and private sectors of the economy.

The small size and instability of the composition of the upper stratum does not allow us to capture its social profile at a statistically significant level. Recipients of the highest incomes are scattered across the entire spectrum of official positions, areas of employment, and professional groups.

Mobility of the population by income

Income mobility of the population is the process of movement of their recipients on the scale of income distribution. A characteristic feature of income mobility studies is the observation of the same objects, which makes it possible to track changes in their position in the economic space at different points in time. The mobility study makes it possible to determine whether the observed objects remained in the original class or moved to another; how many were those who moved to another class, and how many of those who remained in the original income class.

In the most general form, the results of measuring mobility show that by 1996, 71% of the population had incomes lower than in 1994. At the same time, among the 35% who have carried out downward mobility in terms of income, their value has decreased by at least half. After 1996, the scale of downward mobility decreased, and by 1998 in the observed population there were approximately 50% of those whose incomes were lower than in 1996. At the same time, the proportion of the population whose incomes increased quite significantly - more than twice.

A common feature of the reproduction of economic strata throughout the entire period of observation is a decrease in the number of their permanent composition as they move from the lower to the higher stratum. If the lower layer retained approximately 80% of its composition during this period of time, then the lower middle layer retained only 40%, the upper middle layer only 20%, and by 1998 the upper layer had completely renewed its composition.

On February 15, 2015, the famous French sociologist Frederic Lebaron held a series of lectures and a seminar for students and teachers of the Baltic State University. Immanuel Kant. Frederic Lebaron has long-standing friendly relations with the Baltic Federal University of Kaliningrad. Vice-President of the Sociological Association of France, a student and follower of Pierre Bourdieu, authoritatively states that sociology is inseparable from economics and is a unique tool for assessing the level of well-being of society.

Back in 2008, Nicolas Sarkozy, being the President of France, suggested that experts dissociate themselves from the previous system of criteria for assessing social development: industrial production and GDP, calling them irrelevant and incapable of giving an objective assessment of the quality of human life in society. Frederic LeBaron closely watched the work of the created commission, which, by the way, did not fulfill the task set by the French government.

Why can't we rely entirely on GDP as an indicator of a society's level of well-being? Traffic jams increase the statistics of gasoline consumption. Consequently, traffic congestion contributes to an increase in the share of production and consumption of petroleum products. However, traffic jams are rather a negative phenomenon, which also contributes to the deterioration of the environmental situation.

The share of domestic production is also not taken into account in GDP. Although the level of production of dacha and subsidiary farming is quite high. Six acres may well feed the average Russian family. The shadow economic sector cannot be discounted either, especially given the level of corruption in Russia.

What parameters did the French research group put into the concept of quality of life? First of all, the experts take into account material income, the level of education of the population, the quality of health care services. The state of the environment and indicators of the physical safety of the population must be taken into account. All statistical data should take into account indicators of social inequality. In addition, experts refused to consider only the volume of investments as an indicator of economic development. In the first place came indicators that determine the degree of return on investment. This indicator, which was introduced by the government commission, refers to the so-called sustainability criterion. The efficiency of the use of resources is important here: natural, intellectual and social. Not all of them are replenishable. Mineral resources and water resources require a more than responsible approach to their use.

Economics considers the concept of quality of life from a material point of view. But sociologists invest in the definition of a decent life indicators of happiness or unhappiness. Is it possible to be happy in a single country? Isn't this what humanity has been striving for throughout its history? If the government determined the level of quality of life in terms of not only economics, but also sociology, then it would be forced to consider such aspects of human existence as the institution of marriage and childhood, the living conditions of the disabled and elderly members of society. For example, children are not today a source of economic income, but they determine the future income of the state in terms of labor resources. French experts propose to consider the level of quality of life in terms of "culturally specific validity of contentment or dissatisfaction", which is most likely determined not by today, but by the prospects for the development of society. The situation in the countries of Latin America is closest to the “happy indicators”: they are experiencing a process of smoothing social differentiation, and sustainable economic growth is planned. People felt it and perked up. Consequently, in terms of "contentment" they feel no worse than the Germans and the French.

Unfortunately, the economic crisis does not add to the number of happy people in Russian society. But there is hope for a cyclical development of the economy, when a period of economic recovery will surely begin after the crisis. And after it, prospects and hopes for better conditions for the quality of life will appear.