Modern sociology is a branched system of knowledge at different levels and includes:

General sociological theories;

Special (private) sociological theories (or theories of the middle level);

Branch sociological theories (such as economic, political, legal, etc. sociology) are aimed at sociological understanding of the corresponding manifestations of the existence of society. They apply the conceptual, categorical and methodological apparatus of sociological science, directing it into an interdisciplinary channel. Thus, not only interaction with related socio-humanitarian disciplines is carried out, but also a multidimensional vision of society as an integral phenomenon is created. Acting as a specialized use of the "optics" of sociological science, sectoral sociologists mediate the relationship of general and social theories with empirical sociology;

empirical sociology.

First level includes theories of the highest level of generalization, explaining the phenomena and processes that are important for all areas of social relations. Second level special (private) sociological theories (or theories of the middle level) generalize and structure empirical data within certain areas of society (family, education, politics, economics, the army, etc.).

Special sociological theories can be divided into various groups:

1) theories of social institutions (sociology of religion, education, family);
2) theories of social communities (ethnosociology, sociology of the electorate, sociology of youth);
3) the theory of specialized areas of activity (labor, sports, leisure, management);
4) theories of social processes (the theory of social exchange, interactions, sociology of social changes);
5) theories of social phenomena (sociology of public opinion, gender sociology).
6) J. Ritzer distinguishes four levels in sociological analysis: macro-objective, macro-subjective, micro-objective and micro-subjective.

The sectoral structure of sociology is determined by the thematic areas and areas of research that emerged in the process of differentiation of sociological knowledge. Branches of sociology are formed in the presence of: a) close topics, b) common theoretical guidelines, c) unity of methodology and similarity of methodological tools. To date, sociology is represented by dozens of branches, such as economic, political sociology, sociology of labor, cities, culture, religion, education, etc. At the same time, individual branches of sociology are also divided into subdisciplines. So, within the framework of the sociology of culture, the sociology of cinema, theater, reading, and mass culture stands out. Economic sociology includes the sociology of labor, the sociology of employment, the sociology of banks, management, etc.

Along with the four levels distinguish macro- and microsociology. Researchers working in the field macrosociology, focus on the relationship between the main elements of the social system. They work with the concepts of culture, social institutions, social systems, structures, society. Microsociological concepts focus on individuals, behavioral acts. Microsociologists use the concepts of social behavior, interactions, motives, etc.

5. Structure of sociological knowledge

Sociology, developing, became more complicated; at present, three levels of knowledge are distinguished in it.

1. Macro level. Within the framework of this level, society is studied as an integral system, as a single organism, complex self-governing, self-regulating, consisting of many parts, elements. Macrosociology primarily studies: the structure of society (which elements make up the structure of early society and which are modern), the nature of changes in society. They single out, for example, a linear character, which, according to its authors, consists in the constancy of development from lower to higher forms, from simple to complex societies. This is the path of progress. Another point of view is that society developed, though from lower to higher forms, but not evenly, but in leaps, with long delays, retreats and other uneven movements. The third point of view is that society developed in cycles - in one place a civilization is born, develops and dies, then the same thing was repeated in another part of the Earth.

2. Meso-sociology, or sociology of the middle level, within which it is considered the most important goal to study the groups of people existing in society, such as classes, nations, generations, as well as stable forms of life organization created by people, called institutions: the institution of marriage, family, churches, educations, states, etc. More than 100 institutes.

3. Microsociology - the third level of the study of society. Adherents of microsociology believe that the most important thing is to understand, to know the activity of an individual, motives, nature of actions, incentives and obstacles.

So in sociology there are three levels of knowledge, understanding of society. But over the past time, sociology has turned into a very complex structure that resembles a large branched tree, where many applied or branch branches of sociological knowledge have developed. There are three independent levels in the organizational structure of sociology as a science:

1. the level of fundamental research, the task of which is to increase scientific knowledge by constructing theories that reveal universal patterns and principles;

2. the level of applied research, which sets the task of studying actual problems on the basis of existing fundamental knowledge of practical value;

3. social engineering - the level of practical implementation of scientific knowledge.

Sociology has grown in complexity. There was a division into theoretical and empirical. The specificity of theoretical sociology is that it is based on empirical research, but theoretical knowledge prevails over empirical, because.

6. SPECIFICITY OF SOCIOLOGICAL METHODS OF KNOWLEDGE

A method in sociology is a way of constructing and substantiating sociological knowledge, a set of techniques, procedures and operations for empirical and theoretical knowledge of social reality. The method includes certain rules that ensure the reliability and reliability of knowledge. As for the specific methods of cognition, it is believed that they are similar to the methods of social psychology, statistics, history, ethnography, cybernetics, and other sciences.

In all these studies, sociology acts as a scientific system, since the main goal is to obtain scientific knowledge about society as a whole or about its individual fragments. Therefore, it solves the problems of studying society on the basis of scientific methods of cognition of reality. If philosophy solves social problems speculatively, on the basis of a chain of logical reflections, then theoretical sociology relies on empirical research. According to sociologists, social life should be studied not speculatively, but on the basis of the methods of empirical (experimental) science. The scientific (or positivist) method means the reliance of theoretical sociology on a body of empirical data collected through observation, experiment and comparative study, data that are reliable, verified, beyond doubt.

Comte created the methodological basis of sociology. According to Comte, the main methods were: observation of social facts, experiment, comparative method (he meant comparing the lives of various groups, nations, etc.). Comte's main thesis is the need for rigorous verification of those provisions that sociology considered. He considered true knowledge to be those obtained not theoretically, but through social experimentation.

The specificity of sociological methods of cognition is due to the specificity of the object of research - society. On the issue of the specifics of society as an object of cognition, there are two main theoretical directions: positivist orientation and antipositivist orientation with multiple ramifications in each direction.

1. Representatives of the first direction (from O. Comte to modern positivists) sought to bring society under the general scientific denominator, i.e. sought to present it as part of the objective (natural) reality, studied on the basis of general scientific methods. And sociology seemed to them one of the scientific disciplines, which, like all natural sciences, should reveal the laws that explain the structure and change of society.

2. Representatives of the second direction (from Dilthey to modern anti-positivists) sought to take society out of the framework of natural reality, endowing it with purely specific features that require some special methods of cognition when studying.

The material unity of the world, the dialectical connection of all forms of motion of matter determine the principles

7. Functions of sociology

Sociology, as an independent branch of knowledge, implements all the functions inherent in social science: epistemological, critical, descriptive, prognostic, transformative, informational, worldview. In general, the functions of the humanities are usually divided into two groups: epistemological, that is, cognitive, and actually social. The epistemological functions of sociology are manifested in the most complete and concrete knowledge of various aspects of social life. Social features reveal ways and means of optimizing them. Functions exist and operate only in interconnection and interaction.

The main epistemological function of sociology is epistemological, critical. Its essence lies in the fact that sociology accumulates knowledge, systematizes it, seeks to compose the most complete picture of social relations and processes in the modern world. The theoretical-cognitive function of sociology includes objective knowledge about the main social problems of the development of modern society. As for applied sociology, it is designed to provide reliable information about the various processes taking place in different social spheres of society, namely, about changes in the social structure, family, national relations, etc. Obviously, without specific knowledge about the processes taking place within individual social communities or associations of people, it is impossible to ensure effective social management. The degree of consistency and specificity of knowledge of sociology determines the effectiveness of the implementation of its social function.

The descriptive function of sociology is systematization, description of research in the form of analytical notes, various kinds of scientific reports, articles, books, etc. They attempt to recreate an ideal picture of a social object, its action, relationships, etc. When studying a social object, it is required high moral purity and decency of a scientist, because on the basis of data, facts and documents, practical conclusions are drawn and managerial decisions are made. These materials are a starting point, a source of comparison for future generations of mankind. Sociology not only cognizes the world, it allows a person to make his own adjustments to it. But a person must always remember that the transformation of society is not an end in itself. And transformations are needed only when they correspond to the needs and values ​​of people, lead to an improvement in the well-being of both society and people. No matter how good the social information received by sociologists is, it does not automatically turn into decisions, recommendations, and forecasts. The cognitive function of sociology is continued in forecasts and transformative functions.

The prognostic function of sociology is the issuance of social forecasts. Usually, sociological research ends with the formation of a short-term or long-term forecast of the object under study. A short-term forecast is based on a revealed trend in the development of a social phenomenon, as well as on a fixed pattern in the discovery of a factor that decisively affects the predicted object. The discovery of such a factor is a complex type of scientific research. Therefore, in sociological practice, short-term forecasts are most often used. In modern conditions of Ukraine's development, when the scientific substantiation of social problems is of great importance, social forecast occupies an important place in research on the development of a social object. When a sociologist studies a real problem and seeks to identify the best ways to solve it, it is natural

1. Object and subject of sociology

Sociology as an independent science arose in the first half of the 19th century, and its founder was the French philosopher Auguste Comte. . The term "sociology" was introduced in 1839 and literally means "science of society".

Like any science, sociology has its own object and subject of study. Under object understand the area of ​​reality that is to be studied.

Hence, object sociology is society. The subject of research is usually understood as a set of characteristics, qualities, properties of an object that are of particular interest to a given science. The subject of sociology is the social life of society, that is, a complex of social phenomena arising from the interaction of people and communities.

Summarizing, we can conclude that thing sociology- This social life, those. a complex of social phenomena arising from the interaction of people and communities, their social connections and social relations, ensuring the satisfaction of all basic needs.

The categories of sociology can be divided into four groups:
1. General sociological categories describe the whole variety of social life phenomena, reflect all possible states of social processes at the macrolevel.
2. Categories of the middle level are applied to the phenomena and processes of individual spheres of society.
3. Micro-level categories used to describe the corresponding standard of living in society.
4. Categories of specific sociological research (applied sociology) are used to describe the process of conducting specific sociological research.

social patterns- objectively existing, systematically manifesting significant connections of social phenomena and processes. Through the identification and systematization of social patterns, sociologists build sociological theories- systems of sociological generalizations based on verifiable empirical data.

3. Structure and levels of sociological knowledge

In modern sociology, there are three approaches to the structure of this science.

First requires the presence of 3 interrelated components:

1) empiricism, i.e. a complex of sociological studies focused on the collection and analysis of real facts of social life using a special methodology;

2) theories - a set of judgments, views, models, hypotheses that explain the processes of development of the social system as a whole and its elements;

3) methodology - a system of principles underlying the accumulation, construction and application of sociological knowledge.

Second approach- target. Fundamental sociology solves scientific problems related to the formation of knowledge about social reality, description, explanation and understanding of the processes of social development.

Applied sociology is focused on practical use. This is a set of methods, specific programs and recommendations aimed at achieving a real social effect.

Third Approach divides science into macro- and microsociology. The first studies large-scale social phenomena; the second is the spheres of direct social interaction.

Levels: (theoretical, empirical, intermediate level)

Theories of the middle level(Robert Merton) occupy an intermediate position between the theoretical and empirical levels.

All middle-level theories are grouped into 3 groups.

theory of social institutions (family, science, education, politics, etc.);

theory of social communities (sociology of small groups, strata, layers, classes);

theory of social change and processes (sociology of conflicts, sociology of urbanization, etc.).

4. Functions of sociological science

cognitive function.
Sociology studies and explains the patterns of social development at various levels of the social system. The implementation of the cognitive function also includes the development of the theory and methods of sociological research, techniques for collecting and processing sociological information.
predictive function.
Based on the knowledge of the laws of social development, sociology is able to build short-, medium- and long-term forecasts in the field of demography, social structures, urbanization, living standards, election campaigns, etc.
Social design function.
The task of social design includes the development of optimal models of not only the organization of various social communities, but also management to achieve the goals.

Socio-technological function.
A typical example is the creation of social development services at enterprises, in large organizations where professional sociologists work. They are engaged, for example, in identifying potential staff turnover, studying the socio-psychological situation in teams, and managing social conflicts.

managerial function.
Without sociological training and sociological knowledge, it is practically impossible to engage in management in modern conditions. For example, it makes no sense to start any change in the mode of work of the work collective without analyzing undesirable social consequences, otherwise the scheme works: they wanted the best, but it turned out as always.

Ideological function.
Sociology carries a certain ideological burden, if only because it explains the state of society, social processes, studies public opinion, lifestyle, the rating of political figures, and so on.

5 Sociology in the system of social sciences and humanities

Sociology occupies a special place in the system of the humanities. This is due to the following reasons:
1) it is a science about society, its phenomena and processes;
2) it includes the general sociological theory, or the theory of society, which acts as the theory of all other human sciences;
3) all the humanities that study various aspects of the life of society and man always include the social aspect, i.e. those laws that are studied in a particular area of ​​public life and are implemented through the activities of people;
4) the technique and methods of studying a person and his activity, which are developed by sociology, are necessary for all social and human sciences, since they are used by them for their research;
5) a whole system of research has developed, which is carried out at the intersection of sociology and other sciences. These studies are called social studies (socio-economic, socio-political, socio-demographic).
Sociology is connected with history. Sociology makes extensive use of historical data.
Sociology closely interacts with psychology.
Sociology is connected with all social sciences. From this came various socio-economic, socio-demographic and other studies.

6 Reasons (prerequisites) for the emergence of sociology:

1. Antiquity: the appearance of the first problems related to interaction in groups, associations, etc.

2. Renaissance, Enlightenment: the ability to scientifically predict the behavior of people and the ability to stimulate the development of production.

3. History: settlement of social conflicts.

7. AUGUST COMTE - THE FOUNDER OF SOCIOLOGY

Auguste Comte(1798-1857) - French philosopher, sociologist, popularizer of science, founder of the school of positivism, social reformer, who left a great literary legacy, including the six-volume Course in Positive Philosophy (1830-1842).

The main merit of the French scientist Auguste Comte is that he first introduced the concept of sociology as a science into scientific use. However, Comte was never able to determine the subject of study of sociology, to outline the main theoretical directions of research. This was prevented by two main factors.

First of all Comte was greatly influenced by the natural sciences, especially physics and biology. He called sociology social physics, and identified society with a biological organism.

Secondly, Comte recognized only the so-called positive aspects of sociology. In his opinion, sociology should study only the facts of the manifestation of social reality. Such an approach can make sociology a positive science, which is inherent in reality, usefulness, reliability and accuracy. This view is called scientific positivism.

As conceived by Comte, sociology should be divided into social statics, which include the study of the individual, family, society, and social dynamics, which includes social processes occurring in human society.

According to Comte's theory, social dynamics is a theory of progress. According to this theory, society has gone through three main stages or eras.

AT theological era people believed in one god. A distinctive feature of this era is the wars of conquest as the main occupation of the population.

AT metaphysical age there is a change in the system of values, objects of spiritual culture begin to have priority. A civil society with a developed legislative system is emerging.

AT positive era the spiritual management of society is carried out by scientists. In other words, at the highest stage of the development of society, all processes are managed by sages and high professionals.

8. The main directions of Western sociological thought of the 19th - early 20th centuries

1. Positivist. The founder of positivism was Auguste Comte, whose main work is the Course in Positive Philosophy (1830-1842). Supporters of positivism believed that all genuine, positive (positive) knowledge is the result of the natural sciences and preached the rejection of speculative and abstract reasoning about society.

2. Economic. The founder - Karl Marx (1818-1883), who created the doctrine of the socio-economic formation, singled out economic relations as the main engine of social processes.

3. Biological. The ancestor is considered to be the English philosopher and sociologist Herbert Spencer (1820-1903). Spencer's sociological theory is based on two principles: a) the understanding of society as a living organism that copies biological organisms; b) the idea of ​​social evolution, based on the notion of competition in society, adequate to the struggle for existence in the biological environment (social Darwinism).

4. Objectivist. Its main representative was Émile Durkheim (1858-1917). In his theory of society, he recognized the primacy of social reality and the secondary nature of individuals subordinate to it. Consequently, sociology should study social phenomena, processes and facts, and not ideas about them.

5. Understanding sociology. The founder is the German sociologist, lawyer, historian Max Weber (1864-1920). At the heart of Weber's sociology is the concept of "ideal type" - this is not an objective reality, but a theoretical construction, an image-scheme. Weber's doctrine of ideal types formed the basis of "understanding sociology", i.e. sociology, which comprehends both the actual actions themselves and what individuals put into them.

6. Psychological direction in sociology (G. Tarde, G. Le Bon) Psychological factors were given paramount importance in social development - the behavior of the crowd, imitation, social instincts, etc.

7. Mechanistic direction (founder G.K. Kerry). It is characterized by the transfer of the laws of mechanics of I. Newton to public life.

8. Demographic trend, influenced by the ideas of the English political economist T. Malthus. The decisive role in the development of society was played by the size and density of the population.

9. The geographical direction (founder G. Bockl) exaggerated the role of the geographical factor in the social development (location of the country, climate, the role of rivers and seas, etc.)

9. Stages of formation and development of sociology as a science

4 stages of development of sociology:

1. 60s - 90s of the 19th century.

The development of classical sociology. The emergence of sociology is associated with the name of the French philosopher Auguste Comte(1798-1857), who coined the term "sociology" itself. Comte, in the general classification of sciences, placed sociology at the very top. Sociology must discover the universal laws of the development and functioning of society. She makes her discoveries using four methods: observation, experiment, comparison and historical method.

2. 90s of the 19th century - 30s of the 20th century.

Pitirim Sorokin (Russian-American sociologist), Talcott Parsons (American).

The main efforts of scientists have always been focused on solving practical problems:

What are the motives (what motivates human activity) of people's behavior;

How best to exercise social control and management;

· How to overcome conflicts and maintain stability in society;

· How to ensure the spirit of cooperation of people in production.

3. 30s - 60s of the 20th century.

4. The 60s of the 20th century are our time.

Modern stage. Service delivery comes first.

ten . The development of sociology as a science in Belarus fell on the 20s. XX century.

In 1921, the Department of Sociology and Primitive Culture was opened at BSU. In 1923, the first course of lectures on sociology in the republic was published at the Belarusian State University. The Institute of Belarusian Culture, established in January 1922, began to engage in social research. Quite serious works on sociology were published: S. Ya. Wolfson "Sociology of Marriage and Family" (1929); S. Z. Kanzenbogen "Marxism and Sociology" (1925). The works of Belarusian sociologists were not particularly original; they either reproduced the ideas of Western sociology or continued the Marxist tradition. The exception was the work of S. M. Vasileisky, devoted to the analysis of methods for collecting and processing social information.

In the mid 1930s. sociological research in Belarus, as well as in the USSR as a whole, was discontinued, and until the mid-1950s.

The development of Belarusian sociology has continued only since the mid-1960s. Problematic sociological laboratories are being created at BSU and the Institute of National Economy.

In 1968, within the Institute of Philosophy and Law of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, a sector of specific social research was created, headed by Professor G.P. Davidyuk. In 1970, the sector was transformed into a department of social research.

In early 1978, a sector of methodological problems of sociological research was created at the Institute of Philosophy and Law of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, in January 1989 it was transformed into the Center for Sociological Research. In 1989, a department of sociology was opened at the Faculty of Philosophy and Economics of the Belarusian State University, a department of sociology was created under the guidance of Professor A. N. Elsukov.

In 1990, an independent Institute of Sociology emerged within the structure of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus, the creation of which contributed to strengthening the base of sociological research. In 1991, the sociological laboratory of BSU was transformed into a sociological center.

The history of sociology in Belarus has begun a new stage in its development. Such leading sociologists as A.N. Danilov, D.G. Rotman, I.V. Kotlyarov, S.V. sociology of religion, significant achievements have been made in the field of sociology of science.

11. The concept of "society" in the history of social thought

Today, there are two approaches to understanding society. In the broad sense of the word society- This a set of historically established forms of joint life and activity of people on earth. In the narrow sense of the word society- This is a specific type of social and state system.

E. Durkheim defined society as supra-individual spiritual reality based on collective ideas. From the point of view of M. Weber, society is the interaction of people who are the product of social actions. K. Marx presents society as a historically developing set of relations between people that develop in the process of their joint actions. Another theorist of sociological thought, T. Parsons, believed that society is a system of relations between people based on norms and values ​​that form culture.

Thus, it is easy to see that society is a complex category characterized by a combination of various features. The most complete list of characteristic features of society was singled out by an American sociologist E. Shiels. He developed the following features characteristic of any society:

1) it is not an organic part of any larger system;

2) marriages are concluded between representatives of this community;

3) it is replenished at the expense of the children of those people who are members of this community;

4) it has its own territory;

5) it has a self-name and its own history;

6) it has its own control system;

7) it exists longer than the average life span of an individual;

8) it is united by a common system of values, norms, laws, rules.

Considering all these features, we can give the following definition of society: it is a historically formed and self-reproducing community of people.

This definition allows us to distinguish the concept of society from the concept of "state"

12. Society as an integral social system

Society is a complex system.
A system is an ordered set of elements interconnected and forming a certain integral unity. Undoubtedly, society is a social system, which is characterized as a holistic formation, the elements of which are people, their interaction and relationships, which are stable and reproduced in the historical process, passing from generation to generation.
Thus, the following can be distinguished as the main elements of society as a social system:
1) people;
2) social connections and interactions;
3) social institutions, social strata;
4) social norms and values.
As with any system, society is characterized by close interaction of its elements.

13. Signs of society

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

1) is not part of any other larger system;

2) its replenishment is mainly due to childbearing;

3) has its own territory;

4) has its own name and history;

5) exists longer than the average life expectancy of an individual;

6) has a developed own culture.

Thus, we can say that society is people interacting in a certain territory and having a common culture. Culture is understood as a certain set of symbols, norms, attitudes, values ​​inherent in a given social group and transmitted from generation to generation.

14. Typology of societies

The very first typology of societies was proposed by the ancient Greek thinkers Plato and Aristotle. According to their views, all societies can be divided according to the forms of government into monarchies, tyrannies, aristocracies, oligarchies, and democracies.
In modern sociology, within the framework of this approach, totalitarian, democratic and authoritarian societies are distinguished.
Within the framework of Marxism, the basis for the classification of societies is the mode of production of material goods. On this basis, six types of societies are distinguished:
1) a primitive communal society, which is characterized by a primitive appropriating mode of production;
2) Asian society, which is distinguished by a special type of collective ownership of land;
3) a slave-owning society, a specific feature of which is the ownership of people - slaves and the products of their labor;
4) a feudal society based on the exploitation of peasants attached to the land;
5) bourgeois society, in which there is a transition to the economic dependence of formally free wage workers;
6) communist society, which arises as a result of the establishment of an equal attitude of all to ownership of the means of production through the elimination of private property relations.
According to another typology, which today occupies a leading place in sociology, one can distinguish between traditional, industrial and post-industrial societies. A traditional society is a society with an agrarian way of life, sedentary structures and a method of socio-cultural regulation based on traditions.
A feature of this type of society is the low level of production rates.

The term "industrial society" was first coined by Henri Saint-Simon (1760-1825).
The theory of industrial society is based on the idea that as a result of the industrial revolution, a transformation of a traditional society into an industrial one takes place. An industrial society is characterized by the following features:
1) a developed and complex system of division of labor and professional specialization;
2) mechanization and automation of production and management;
3) mass production of goods for a wide market;
4) high development of means of communication and transport;
5) growth of urbanization and social mobility;
6) an increase in income per capita and qualitative changes in the structure of consumption;
7) formation of civil society.
In the 60s. 20th century in sociology, the theory of post-industrial society is being formed. The development of computing and information technology is considered to be the basis for the transformation of an industrial society and its transformation into a post-industrial one.
Another common approach in modern sociology is the civilizational approach.
At the heart of the civilized approach lies the idea of ​​the originality of the path traveled by peoples. Within the framework of this theory, different researchers single out different civilizations, but all of them are characterized by the allocation of Egyptian, Chinese, Babylonian, European, Russian, Muslim, Greek and other civilizations.
The uniqueness of each civilization is determined not only by the material base and method of production, but also by the culture corresponding to them.

15. Theory of social change

Social change is understood as the transition of a social object from one state to another, a significant modification in the social organization of society, its institutions and social structure, a change in established social patterns of behavior.

In sociology, since its inception, two types of social change have been singled out and studied, as a rule:

1) evolutionary- done without violence

2) revolutionary- in which social actors reorganize the social order

The evolutionary approach originates and methodological support in the studies of Charles Darwin. The main problem of evolutionism in sociology was the identification of the determining factor of social change. O. Comte he saw the progress of knowledge as such a decisive link.

E. Durkheim considered the process of social change as a transition from mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity arising on the basis of the division of labor.

K. Marx considered the determining factor to be the productive forces of society, the growth of which leads to a change in the mode of production, which, being the basis for the development of the whole society.

M. Weber I saw the driving force of social change in the fact that a person, relying on various religious, political, moral values, creates certain social structures that facilitate social development or hinder it.

16. Culture as a social phenomenon

17. Sociological analysis of culture

Culture - this scientific term appeared in ancient Rome, where it meant "tillage", "education", "education".

Culture is phenomena, properties, elements of human life that qualitatively distinguish a person from nature. This qualitative difference is connected with the conscious transforming activity of man.

Culture can be divided into the following kinds:

1) according to the bearer of culture - into public, national, class, group, personal;

2) by functional role - into general and special;

3) by genesis - into folk and elite;

4) by type - into material and spiritual;

5) by nature - into religious and secular.

culture is a set of values, norms, ideas and patterns of behavior that mediate social interaction, determine the thinking and behavior of members of a particular group or community .

18. Basic forms of culture

By the nature of the creations, one can single out the culture represented in single samples (folk and elite) and popular culture.

folk culture is a single work of most often anonymous authors who do not have professional training. The authors of folk creations are unknown. It includes myths, legends, tales, epics, fairy tales, songs and dances. Modern manifestations of folk culture include anecdotes, urban legends.

Elite culture- a set of individual creations that are created by well-known representatives of society or by its order by professional creators. The circle of its consumers is a highly educated part of society: critics, literary critics, frequenters of museums and exhibitions, theater-goers, artists, writers, musicians. When the level of education of the population grows, the circle of consumers of high culture expands.

Elite culture intended for a narrow circle of highly educated public.

Mass (public) culture represents products of spiritual production in the field of art, created in large editions, counting on the general public. The main thing for her is the entertainment of the broadest masses of the population. It is understandable and accessible to all ages, all segments of the population, regardless of the level of education. Its main feature is the simplicity of ideas and images.

Popular culture is usually , less artistic value than elitist or popular culture. But it has the widest audience.

Subculture- this is the culture of any social group: confessional, professional, corporate, etc. It, as a rule, does not deny the universal culture, but has specific features. Signs of a subculture are special rules of behavior, language, symbols.

Dominant culture- values, traditions, views, etc., shared only by a part of society. But this part has the ability to impose them on the whole society by virtue of the fact that it constitutes the ethnic majority, or because it has a mechanism of coercion.

19. Cultural universals

Cultural universals are such norms, values, rules, traditions and properties that are inherent in all cultures, regardless of geographical location, historical time and social structure of society.

In 1959, the American sociologist and ethnographer George Murdoch identified more than 70 universals - elements common to all cultures: age gradation, sports, body jewelry, calendar, cleanliness, community organization, cooking, labor cooperation, cosmology, courtship, dancing, decorative arts , divination, interpretation of dreams, division of labor, education, etc.

Cultural universals arise because all people in whatever part of the world they live are physically the same, they have the same biological needs and face common problems that the environment poses to mankind. People are born and die, so all nations have customs associated with birth and death. As they live together, they have a division of labor, dancing, and so on.

20. Sociological approach to the study of personality

Sociological approach highlights the socio-typical personality. The main problems of the sociological theory of personality are associated with the process of personality formation and development in close connection with the functioning and development of social communities, the study of the natural connection between the individual and society, the regulation and self-regulation of the social behavior of the individual.

“Personality” is a capacious, multidimensional, elusive concept. In order to determine it, it is necessary first of all to distinguish between the categories “man”, “individual”, “personality”.

concept "Human" is used when it is possible to single out the belonging of a person to the human race, the possession of common features for all people.

When it is necessary to emphasize that we are not talking about all of humanity, not about all people, but about a specific person, then the concept of “individual” is used.

Personality- this is also a single person, but here we are talking about a system of stable qualities, properties that are realized in social life. Since sociology is interested in man primarily as a product of society, and not as a product of nature, the category of personality is more important for it.

21. Social personality types

Sociology distinguishes the following personality types:

Ideal - embodies the features of the social ideal of a particular society;

Normative - represents a set of personality traits necessary for the development of a given society;

Really existing or Modal - the predominant type of personality at a certain stage of the development of society, which may differ significantly from the normative, and even more so ideal types.

The most important components of the personality structure are memory, culture and activity.

Memory- The system of knowledge acquired by a person in the course of his life.

culture of personality- The totality of social norms and values ​​by which it is guided in the process of practical activity.

Activity- purposeful influence of the subject on the object.

Sociologists distinguish the following types of personality:

1. Traditionalists - focused on the values ​​of duty, order, discipline, such qualities as creativity, independence, the desire for self-realization are undeveloped.

2. Idealists - a critical attitude towards traditional norms, independence, disregard for authorities, a focus on self-development.

3. Frustrated personality type - characterized by low self-esteem, oppression, depression, a feeling of being thrown out of the stream of life.

4. Realists - combine the desire for self-realization with a developed sense of duty and responsibility, skepticism with self-discipline.

5. Hedonists - focused on satisfying all consumer desires, this is the pursuit of the "pleasures of life."

social status is the position of the individual in the social community. It captures the differences between people according to their social prestige in society, determines the place of the individual in the system of social relations.

social prestige- assessment by society of the social significance of things (their properties) and people (their behavior) in terms of norms and values ​​accepted in a given society.

The social status of an individual depends on objective factors and subjective indicators. Status can be:

1) hereditary(or prescribed), when an individual acquires a position in society regardless of his personal efforts (the status of a millionaire, a black man, a woman);

2) acquired, achieved by a person, thanks to his choice, efforts, merits.

Statuses are classified according to other criteria.

1) natural status - associated with biological characteristics, for example, the status of a man or woman can be different;

2) professional legal status - has social criteria for its measurement, officially agreed or informal.

Much in assessing the status of a person depends on the specific social roles performed by each individual.

social role- a model of behavior due to the position of the individual in the system of interpersonal relations.

23. Socialization of the individual: essence, stages, institutions

Personality socialization- this is the process of entry of each individual into the social structure, as a result of which changes occur with the very structure of society and in the structure of each individual.

As a result of this process, all the norms of each group are assimilated, the uniqueness of each group is manifested, the individual learns patterns of behavior, values ​​and social norms.

The process of socialization of the individual goes through three main phases in its development.

· The first phase consists in the development of social values ​​and norms, as a result of which the individual learns to conform to the whole society.

· The second phase consists in the desire of the individual for his own personalization, self-actualization and a certain impact on other members of society.

· The third phase consists in the integration of each person into a certain social group, where he reveals his own properties and capabilities.

Only the consistent flow of the entire process can lead to the successful completion of the entire process.
The process of socialization itself includes the main stages of personality socialization:

Primary socialization - the process proceeds from birth to the formation of the personality itself;

Secondary socialization - at this stage, the personality is restructured during the period of maturity and stay in society.

Consider this process depending on age in more detail at each stage.

Childhood - socialization begins at birth and develops from the earliest stage of development.

· Adolescence is an equally important social stage, since during this stage the greatest number of physiological changes occur, puberty and personality development begin.

Youth (early maturity) - the age of 16 years is considered the most dangerous and stressful, since now each individual independently and consciously decides for himself which society to join and choose for himself the most suitable social society in which he will be for quite a long time, stay .

· In the older years (approximately between the ages of 18 and 30) the basic instincts and the formation of socialization are redirected to work and one's own love. The first ideas about oneself come to every boy or girl through work experience, sexual relations and friendship.

24. Institutions and agents of personality socialization

Personality socialization- this is the process of entry of each individual into the social structure, as a result of which changes occur with the very structure of society and in the structure of each individual

Primary socialization covers the period of childhood. In it, the family plays a decisive role, ensuring the entry of the individual into social communities.

Secondary socialization covers the entire life path of a person and is superimposed on the results of primary socialization.

Resocialization- the process of assimilation of new ways of action, attitudes, skills, rules instead of the previous ones.

Desocialization- a process that takes place from the moment of termination of employment and the acquisition of retirement status.

Socialization agents- social groups and social environment that have a significant impact on the entry of a person into society. They are all subjects and groups with which the individual interacts closely in a certain period of his life. In infancy, the main agents of socialization are parents. In the period from 3 to 8 years, friends, educators and other people become agents of socialization in addition to parents. In the period from 13 to 19 years old, attitudes towards the opposite sex begin to form and, as a result, the role of socialization agents changes, the role of parents decreases and the influence of friends increases. In the period from 14 to 18 years old, new agents of socialization appear - the educational and labor collective.

Institutes of socialization- social groups that contribute to the assimilation of social norms and rules of behavior by the individual. These include family, school, work collective, culture. Family- the primary group, characterized by close, direct ties and cooperation. It is the experience of empathy and mutual identification. School- an institution of socialization that transfers knowledge, skills and abilities beyond the initial contact of parents and children. The agents of socialization are teachers, through whose efforts the training of students is carried out. Labor collective- an institution of socialization that specializes and makes the professional socialization of the individual. culture- an institution of socialization that contributes to the creative development of the individual and is a product of its activity in the form of norms, values, rules and patterns of behavior.

25. Social structure of society
The social structure of society is a set of its elements, as well as connections and relationships that groups and communities of people enter into regarding the conditions of their life.

The social structure is based on the social division of labor, property relations, as well as other factors of social inequality.

The advantages of social inequality lie in the opportunities for professional specialization and the prerequisites for the growth of labor productivity.

The disadvantages of social inequality are related to the social conflicts it generates.
Class-forming features: the level of income, the level of education and qualifications, the prestige of the profession, access to power.
Top class (usually 1-2% of the population) - these are the owners of big capital, the industrial and financial elite, the highest political elite, the highest bureaucracy, the generals, the most successful representatives of the creative elite. They usually own a significant part of the property and have a serious influence on politics, the economy, culture, education and other areas of public life.
lower class - low-skilled and unskilled workers with a low level of education and income, many of whom are characterized by significant discrepancies between relatively high expectations and personal results achieved in society.
Middle class - a set of groups of self-employed and wage labor, occupying a "middle", intermediate position between the highest and lowest strata in most status hierarchies (property, income, power) and having a common identity.

26. The concept and typology of social communities and groups

A social group is any set of people considered from the point of view of their commonality.
Family, school class, friends and professional team are the most significant social groups for the individual.
The main features of a social group:
1) the presence of psychological characteristics, such as public opinion, psychological climate, etc.;
2) the existence of parameters of the group as a whole: composition and structure, group processes, group norms and sanctions.
3) the ability of individuals to coordinate actions;
4) the action of group pressure that encourages a person to behave in a certain way and in accordance with the expectations of others.
By public status groups are divided into formal and informal,

on immediacy of relationships- for real and nominal,

By number of members distinguish large, small groups and microgroups.

The composition of microgroups includes two or three people. Large groups are studied from the point of view of mass phenomena of the psyche (crowd, audience, public).
By level of development there are groups that are unorganized or poorly organized, with a low cohesion index, and groups of a high level of development (collectives).
Relative toyu to society: positive attitude - prosocial, negative - asocial.

Any collective is a well-organized pro-social group, since it is focused on the benefit of society. A well-organized asocial group is called a corporation. The corporation is usually characterized by isolation, rigid centralization and authoritarian management.

27. Social stratification: concept, criteria, types

To describe the system of inequality between groups (communities) of people in sociology, the concept is widely used "social stratification"-division into social strata("layers").

Stratification implies that certain social differences between people acquire the character of a hierarchical ranking. In its most general form, inequality means that people live in conditions in which they have unequal access to limited resources of material and spiritual consumption.

In sociology, four main types of social stratification are known - slavery, castes, estates and classes.

The first three characterize closed societies and the last type open.

Closed is a society where social movements from the lower strata to the higher or completely prohibited either significantly limited.

open called a society where movement from one stratum to another is officially not limited in any way.

Slavery - an economic, social and legal form of enslavement of people, bordering on complete lack of rights and an extreme degree of inequality.

caste system not as ancient as the slave, and less common. If almost all countries went through slavery, then castes are found only in India and partly in Africa.

Castoy called a social group, membership in which a person owes solely to his birth.

Estates precede classes and characterize the feudal societies that existed in Europe from the 4th to the 14th centuries.

estate - a social group that has fixed customs or legal law and inherited rights and obligations

Class- any social stratum in modern society that differs from others in income, education, power and prestige.

28. Historical types of social stratification

There are 4 main historical types of social stratification.

1. Slavery is an extreme form of inequality, when some individuals are the property of others.

2. Caste - a group whose members are related by origin or legal status, belonging to which is hereditary, the transition from one caste to another is practically impossible.

3. Estate - a group that has fixed custom or law and inherited rights and obligations. Estates were based on landed property. A characteristic feature of the estate is the presence of social symbols and signs: titles, uniforms, orders, titles.

The estate system reached its perfection in medieval Western Europe. As a rule, two privileged classes are distinguished - the clergy and the nobility - and the third, which included all other strata of society.

4. Classes have a number of features that distinguish them from the other three stratification systems:

1) Classes are not based on law and religious traditions.

2) An individual can become a member of a class through his efforts, and not just "receive" it at birth.

3) Classes arise depending on the difference in the economic situation of groups of individuals.

29. Social stratification in modern society

The Stalin-Brezhnev model of stratification was reduced only to forms of ownership and, on this basis, to two classes (workers and collective farm peasantry) and a stratum (intelligentsia).

A. Inkels - analyzed the 1940-1950s. and gave a conical model of the hierarchical division of society in the USSR. Using the material level, privileges and 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).

Western sociologists in the twentieth century. use different approaches to social stratification:

1) subjective - self-evaluative, when the respondents themselves determine their social affiliation;

2) subjective reputational, when the respondents determine the social affiliation of each other;

3) 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.

30. Social problems of youth

State youth policy is a special direction in
activities of the state, the purpose of which is the creation of legal,
economic and organizational conditions and guarantees for self-realization
personality of a young person and the development of youth associations, movements and
initiatives.
Analysis of the state youth policy in the Republic of Belarus
makes it possible to identify some characteristic trends:
1. Reforming the system of education and retraining of youth,
aimed at the formation of a new style of thinking, the foundations of economic
behavior for the successful fulfillment of new social roles in the conditions
market economy.
2. Creation of the necessary material and economic conditions for
maintaining continuity in the work of the main state and
non-state structures that ensure the life of society, with
taking into account the further development of scientific and technological progress, the introduction of a new
technology, changes in working conditions and content.
3. Use of appropriate economic and moral incentives
in order to create motivational bases for switching migratory
flows of youth to socially significant industries and regions of the republic.
4. Creation of necessary legal and financial opportunities for
independent solution of their problems by young people, development of initiative and
entrepreneurial spirit: starting a business, building a house, etc.
5. Expanding opportunities for sharing experience and knowledge with young people
people from near and far abroad: simplification of entry and exit
citizens, foreign internships, study in other countries, etc.
6. Creation of a system of incentives, material and moral
encouragement of talented and creative youth, development of national
arts and culture.
Thus, studying the problems of the formation of youth as a group
the population that plays the most active role in the further development
society, generating new scientific ideas that make it possible to understand and explain
ambiguous processes taking place today in the youth environment,
sociological science contributes to the development of the state
youth policy.

31. Social mobility: concepts and types

Social mobility is a change by an individual or group of their social position in social space.

The concept was introduced into scientific circulation by P. Sorokin in 1927. He singled out two main types of mobility: horizontal and vertical.

Vertical mobility implies a set of social movements, which is accompanied by an increase or decrease in the social status of an individual. Depending on the direction of movement, there are upward vertical mobility(social uplift) and downward mobility(social decline).

Horizontal mobility- this is the transition of an individual from one social position to another, located at the same level. An example is the movement from one citizenship to another, from one profession to another, which has a similar status in society.

Mobility is often referred to as horizontal mobility. geographical, which implies moving from one place to another while maintaining the existing status (moving to another place of residence, tourism, etc.). If social status changes when moving, then geographic mobility turns into migration.

There are the following types of migration on:

§ character - labor and political reasons:

§ duration - temporary (seasonal) and permanent;

§ territories - internal and international:

§ status - legal and illegal.

By types of mobility sociologists distinguish between intergenerational and intragenerational.

Intergenerational mobility suggests the nature of changes in social status between generations and allows you to determine how much children rise or, conversely, fall on the social ladder compared to their parents.

Intragenerational mobility connected with social career, meaning a change in status within one generation.

32. Social institutions: concept and typology

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. Consequently, social institutions are classified according to public spheres: 1) economic, which serve the production and distribution of values ​​and services. 2) political regulate the use of these values ​​and services and are associated with power. Political institutions express the political interests and relations existing in a given society; 3) Family and marriage institutions are associated with the regulation of childbearing, relations between spouses and children, the socialization of young people; 4) institutions of education and culture are associated with science, education, etc. Their task is to strengthen, create and develop the culture of society, to pass it on to the next generations. 5) religious institutions, i.e. those that organize a person's attitude to supersensitive forces, acting outside the empirical control of a person, and the attitude to sacred objects and forces.

33. Education in the system of social institutions

Education is considered as a system that includes various levels:

Preschool, primary, secondary, higher, postgraduate study.

The education system also includes various types:

Mass and elite;

General and technical.

Education in its modern form originated in Ancient Greece. XIX century, when there is a mass school. In the 20th century, the role of education is constantly increasing, the formal level of education of the population is growing.

Functions of education:

Socio-economic function. Preparation for labor activity of the workforce of different skill levels.

Cultural. It ensures the transmission of cultural heritage from one generation to another.

socializing function. Familiarization of the individual with social norms and values ​​of society

Integration function. By introducing common values, teaching certain norms, education stimulates common actions, unites people.

selection function. There is a selection of children in elite schools, their further promotion.

Humanistic function. Comprehensive development of the personality of the student.

Among the various goals of education, three are the most stable: intensive, extensive, productive.

Extensive goal education involves the transfer of accumulated knowledge, cultural achievements, the use of existing potential.

Intense Purpose education consists in the broad and complete development of the qualities of students to form their readiness not only to acquire certain knowledge, but also to constantly deepen knowledge, develop creative potential.

productive goal education involves preparing students for the types of activities that he will be engaged in and the structure of employment that has developed.

34. Social institutions of the family and marriage

A family is an association of people based on consanguinity, marriage or adoption, connected by a common life and mutual responsibility for raising children. It includes such phenomena as the institution of marriage, the institution of kinship, the institution of motherhood and fatherhood,

The institution of marriage implies a set of norms and sanctions that regulate the relationship of spouses.

Sociologists distinguish between marriage and family in the following way. Marriage is an institution that regulates relations between the sexes, and the family is an institution that regulates relations between spouses, between parents and children.

The institution of the family differs in each society in terms of its tasks, structure, and social role. The family arose because human babies, unlike all other animal species, have the longest childhood. Dependence of a child on parents lasts up to 15-18 years. During this period, he needs material and social support from adults.

In the typology of families, there are

consanguine families (based on kinship)

conjugal families (based on marriage)

family of origin (family of origin)

procreation family (created by adult children)

extended (multi-generational)

nuclear (two-generation) family

There are the following types of marriage.

Monogamy is the marriage of one man and one woman.

Polygamy means many wives or many husbands.

Family Functions

1. Regulation of sexual relations. Marriage and the family regulate sexual relations because laws or customs prescribe who should have sex with whom and under what conditions.

2. Reproduction of the population. Society cannot exist if there is no well-established system of replacing one generation with another. The family is a guaranteed and institutionalized means of replenishing the population.

3. Socialization. The new generation that replaces the old one is able to learn social roles only in the process of socialization. Parents pass on their life experience to their children, instill good manners, teach crafts and theoretical knowledge, lay the foundations for speaking and writing, and control their actions.

4. Care and protection. The family provides its members with guardianship, protection, social security.

5. Social self-determination. Legitimizing the birth of a person means its legal and social definition. Thanks to the family, a person receives a surname, name and patronymic, the right to dispose of inheritance and housing. He belongs to the same class, race, ethnicity, and religious group as the family of origin.

35. Types of sociological research

The type of sociological research is predetermined by the nature of the goals and objectives set, as well as by the depth of analysis of sociological processes.

There are three main types of sociological research:

1.reconnaissance- allows for such a study to solve limited problems. In this study, twenty to one hundred people are interviewed. The purpose of this study is to obtain operational sociological information.

2.Descriptive research- with its help, they receive information that already gives a relatively holistic view of the studied social phenomenon. The object of analysis is relatively large populations with different characteristics. This allows you to get reliable, complete information and draw deeper conclusions and sound recommendations.

3.Analytical study- in this type of sociological research, the reason underlying the phenomenon or process under study is clarified.

According to the nature of the study, sociological studies are divided into:

1. Fundamental;

2. Applied (consideration of individual problems);

3.Complex.

By types of research objects:

1.Research of social communities;

2. The study of the collective behavior of public opinion of people in any area of ​​public life.

By types of research customers:

1. State budget orders (Government bodies);

2. Contractual agreements (legal entities, individuals).

According to the timing of sociological research, they are divided into:

1.Long-term (from 3 to 5 years);

2. Medium-term (from 6 months to 2 years);

3. Short-term (from 2 to 6 months);

4. Express (up to 1 month).

36. Stages of sociological research

1. Preparatory stage. The main purpose of this stage is to indicate what the research is being conducted for. A program is being drawn up. The means, terms of the study and ways of processing information are determined.

2. The second stage is the collection of primary sociological information. More specifically, this is still ungeneralized information, extracts from documents, individual answers of respondents.

3. The third stage is the preparation of the collected information for processing on a computer. The main task of this stage is the compilation of the processing program and the processing itself on a computer.

4. And the last final stage is the analysis of the processed information, the preparation of a scientific report, the formulation of conclusions and recommendations.

37. Sociological Research Program

Sociological research begins with the development of its program. The results of the study largely depend on the scientific validity of this document. The program is a theoretical and methodological basis for the research procedures carried out by a sociologist (collection, processing and analysis of information) and includes:

- definition of the problem, object and subject of research;

- preliminary system analysis of the object of study;

- description of the purpose and objectives of the study;

– interpretation and operationalization of basic concepts;

– formulation of working hypotheses;

– definition of a strategic research plan;

- drawing up a sampling plan;

– description of data collection methods;

– description of the data analysis scheme.

Sometimes there are theoretical and methodological sections in the program.

The first includes the components of the program, which begin with the formulation of the problem and end with the compilation of a sample plan, the second - a description of the methods of collecting, processing and analyzing data.

The program must answer two basic questions:

- firstly, how to move from the initial theoretical provisions of sociology to research, how to "translate" them into research tools, methods of collecting, processing and analyzing material;

- secondly, how to rise again from the facts obtained, from the accumulated empirical material to theoretical generalizations, so that the study not only gives practical recommendations, but also serves as the basis for the further development of the theory itself.

38. Methods for collecting sociological information

Methods of collecting sociological data, with the help of which the process of obtaining scientific information is organized:

§ document analysis;

§ sociological observation;

§ poll(questionnaire, interviewing, expert survey);

§ social experiment;

Document analysis method is a systematic study of documents aimed at obtaining information relevant for the purposes of the study.

Main purpose method - extract contained in the document information about the object under study fix it in the form of signs, to determine its reliability, reliability, significance for the purposes of the study.

Method of sociological observation- method collection of primary sociological information, carried out by direct perception and direct registration of events that are significant from the point of view of the objectives of the study. The key feature of the method is that what happens direct recording of events by an eyewitness rather than interviewing witnesses to the event.

Method survey represents method of collecting social information about the object under study in the course of direct (in the case of an interview) or indirect (in a survey) socio-psychological communication between the sociologist and the respondent by registering responses respondent to the questions asked by the sociologist.

The main purpose of the method– getting information about state of public, group, individual opinion.

Questionnaire

When questionnaire questionnaire. Its function is that, having received an instruction from a sociologist-researcher, he behaves in accordance with it, creating a positive motivation of the respondent in relation to the survey.

Interview

The role of the interviewer is not just distributing questionnaires and ensuring that respondents fill them out, but at least voicing the questions of the questionnaire. The functions of the interviewer depend on the type of interview. The higher role of the interviewer in the study places higher demands on him.

Expert survey. Its distinguishing feature is that the respondents are experts - specialists in a particular field of activity. The procedure for obtaining information from experts is called expertise.

39. Survey in sociological research and its types

The sociological survey is different:

The first distinguishing feature is the number of respondents. A sociologist interviews hundreds and thousands of people and only then, summarizing the information received, draws conclusions. Why is he doing this? When interviewing one person, they get a personal opinion.

The second distinguishing feature is reliability and objectivity. It is closely related to the first: by interviewing hundreds and thousands of people, the sociologist gets the opportunity to process the data mathematically.

The third distinguishing feature is the purpose of the survey. A doctor, journalist or investigator does not strive for the truth at all, seeking the truth from the interviewee: the investigator to a greater extent, the journalist to a lesser extent.

The specifics of the social survey:

1) information is given directly by the carrier of the problem under study or a participant in the events under study;

2) the survey is aimed at identifying those aspects of the problem that are not always reflected in documentary sources

3) the survey is a kind of social, psychologist. communication of the interviewer with the respondent;

4) the survey can be used in the study of various spheres of society;

5) the survey allows you to quickly interview large groups of people.

Poll types:

1) by contact forms:

a) personal or indirect; b) individual. or group;

c) oral or written; d) continuous or selective;

2) in general terms:

a) questioning; b) an interview.

40. Sociological observation

It is believed that the ancestral home and area where it is still used most often is anthropology. Anthropologists observe the way of life, social relations and interaction, customs, mores, traditions of forgotten and small peoples, tribes and communities.

There are two main types: included and non-included observation.

If a sociologist studies the conduct of strikers, a street crowd, a group of teenagers or a team of workers from outside (registers all types of actions, reactions, forms of communication, etc. on a special form), then he conducts non-participant observation. If he joined the ranks of the strikers, joined the crowd, participates in a teenage group, or if he got a job at an enterprise, then he conducts an included observation.

41. The study of documents in a sociological study

Document analysis is a method of collecting primary data in which documents are used as the main source of information.

According to the form of fixation, information is divided into:

Written documents (information is presented in the form of a text);

Statistical data (digital presentation);

Iconographic documentation (film, photo documentation);

phonetic documents.

The most common, firmly established in the practice of sociological research is traditional (classical) and formalized (quantitative).

Traditional, classical analysis is the whole variety of mental operations aimed at integrating the information contained in a document from a certain point of view adopted by the researcher in each specific case. The weakness of traditional document analysis is subjectivism.

Content analysis is a research method used in various disciplines, fields of humanitarian knowledge.

One of the features of content analysis is that it finds the greatest application in the study of the media. It is also used in the analysis of documents: minutes of meetings, conferences, intergovernmental agreements, etc. This method is often used by special services.

42. Processing and analysis of sociological information

In sociology, methods of analysis and processing of sociological information are understood as methods for transforming empirical data obtained in the course of sociological research. The transformation is carried out in order to make the data visible, compact and suitable for meaningful analysis.

Information processing methods can be divided into primary and secondary. For the primary processing methods, the initial information is the data obtained in the course of an empirical study, i.e., the so-called "primary information": respondents' answers, expert assessments, observational data, etc.

Secondary processing methods are used, as a rule, for primary processing data, i.e. these are methods for obtaining indicators calculated from frequencies, grouped data and clusters (averages, scatter measures, relationships, significance indicators, etc.). The methods of secondary processing can also include methods of graphical presentation of data, the initial information for which are percentages, tables, indices.

From the point of view of the use of technical means, two types of processing of sociological information are distinguished: manual and machine (using computer technology). Manual processing is mainly used as a primary one with small amounts of information (from several tens to hundreds of questionnaires), as well as with relatively simple algorithms for its analysis. The secondary processing of information is carried out using a microcalculator or other computer technology.

However, the main means of data analysis and processing at the present time are computers, on which the primary and most types of secondary processing and analysis of sociological information are carried out. At the same time, the analysis and processing of sociological information on a computer is carried out, as a rule, by means of specially developed computer programs that implement methods for analyzing and processing sociological data. These programs are usually issued in the form of special sets of programs or so-called packages of applied programs for the analysis of sociological information.

43. Interview method in sociological research

Interview as a method of sociological research- one of the main qualitative methods of obtaining information, is a purposeful conversation between the interviewer and the respondent, which is carried out according to a certain plan and requires mandatory fixation.

The use of the interview method in sociological research involves a lot of preliminary preparatory work. Sequential questions are formulated to be asked to the respondent.

The interviewer must have the following professional qualities: communication skills, the ability to conduct an attentive and unbiased conversation, sensitivity to details that require additional questions; master the techniques of recording (audio, video), transcription and processing of interview results.

Special conditions are created for the interview. These include obtaining the respondent's consent to cooperate, informing the respondent that the conversation is being recorded, etc.

The interview method, as well as the questionnaire, is one of the methods for collecting information. Unlike the questionnaire survey , interview involves communication between the interviewer and the respondent "face to face", which provides a higher response rate. When conducting an interview, the likelihood that the respondent will answer all questions of the questionnaire is higher than in the case when the respondent fills out the questionnaire himself and may skip some of the questions. According to the form of conducting, it can be direct, as they say, “face to face”, and indirect, for example, by telephone.

Thus, a survey is one of the main methods for obtaining data on the state of public and group consciousness, on people's opinions and their assessments of various social phenomena and processes. The survey method is a fairly flexible tool for collecting information and can be implemented in various forms - oral and written, full-time and part-time, etc. Surveys are indispensable in situations where the object of study is not available for direct observation; in such cases, the survey becomes the main method of collecting information. As a rule, in specific studies, surveys are supplemented by methods of content analysis, observation and experiment.

44. Questioning as a method of collecting sociological information

When questionnaire the process of communication between the researcher and the respondent is mediated by a questionnaire. Conducts a survey questionnaire. Its function is that, having received an instruction from a sociologist-researcher, he behaves in accordance with it, creating a positive motivation of the respondent in relation to the survey. The questionnaire also explains the rules for completing the questionnaire and returning it.

There are various types questioning.

By number of respondents allocate group and individual questioning.

Depending on the situation and audience Distinguish between questioning at the place of work, in the target audience (for example, in the library) or on the street.

It is important delivery method questionnaires. Here are the following varieties:

§ distributing (courier) questioning. Allows one questionnaire to interview many people at the same time by distributing questionnaires in the audience;

§ postal survey, in which the questionnaire is delivered to the respondent by mail;

§ Press poll. In this case, the questionnaire is published in the media. This method has limited possibilities, since the sociologist does not form a sample, is not able to predict who will answer the questionnaire. Used in journalism.

Each of these methods has both advantages and disadvantages. For example, in the case of mail surveys, the problem of returning questionnaires arises, and in the case of a press survey, it is impossible to extend the results of the study to the entire study population (newspaper subscribers), since here only the respondent decides whether to take part in the survey or not.

The main survey tool is questionnaire. The quality of the questionnaire largely determines the reliability and reliability of the results of the study. A sociological questionnaire is a system of questions united by a single research plan aimed at identifying the characteristics of the object and subject of analysis. There are certain rules and principles for constructing a questionnaire.

Sociology as a science currently has a very complex structure. This structure includes general sociological theory, which studies the most general issues of the functioning and development of society, the place in it of the human person. It is within the framework of the general sociological theory that the theoretical comprehension and generalization of many empirical facts accumulated and comprehended in particular sociological theories, their systematization according to one or another feature, the development of a sociological categorical apparatus, the establishment of patterns and the formulation of laws take place (Fig. 2).

Rice. 2. Structure of sociological knowledge

Fundamental sociological theories emerged from social philosophy and psychology; they were based on observations, conclusions and generalizations of various aspects of social life, which provided information about the laws of human behavior common to all social structures.

Another level of sociological research - empirical sociology(from Greek. empeiria- experience) - a complex of sociological research focused on the collection and analysis of social data using methods, techniques, techniques of sociological research, the purpose of which is to collect and systematize information about the state of public life. This is a fairly independent scientific discipline, which has other names. The corresponding academic discipline is called "Methods and Techniques of Concrete Sociological Research". Empirical sociology is also called sociography, which emphasizes the descriptive nature of this discipline. This direction of sociology is considered closer to life than "high" theories.

And, finally, the level of private (branch) sociological theories. These theories are usually referred to as middle level theories. This term was introduced into scientific circulation by the famous American sociologist Robert Merton. Each of the "theories of the middle level" poses and solves sociological problems in relation to a certain element of the structure of society, a separate, relatively independent social phenomenon. Middle-range theories include:

· sociological concepts that are developed at the intersection of sciences,- sociology of law, medical sociology, economic sociology, sociology of management, etc.;

· sociological theories related to the study of certain areas of social life: agrarian sociology, urban sociology, sociology of reading, etc.

· various branches of institutional sociology- a special direction related to the study of sustainable forms of organization and regulation of public life: the sociology of religion, the sociology of education, the sociology of marriage and the family.

Any scientific knowledge, including sociological, acts as a unity of two interrelated levels of knowledge - theory and empiricism, two types of research - theoretical and empirical.

Lecture II. METHODS OF SOCIOLOGY.
BASES OF SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

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All topics in this section:

Sociological view of society
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Levels of sociological analysis
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Quantitative methods for collecting sociological information
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Term "function" in sociology means:

The value of an element of the system in relation to it as to integrity;

Dependence, in which changes in one part of the system depend on changes in another part or on changes in the whole system.

Functions of sociology: 1) cognitive; 2) prognostic; 3) managerial; 4) worldview; 5) instrumental.

cognitive function is aimed at the theoretical and empirical study of interrelated social facts. The cognitive function includes a number of others, which together represent a complex of knowledge about the problem.

The last function determines the role of sociology in the system of sciences.

predictive function associated with social modeling and social planning. Worldview function associated with the evaluative activity of a person, helps to develop his orientation in society, to form an attitude towards others. instrumental function- a separate and independent function aimed at developing methods for searching, processing, analyzing, generalizing primary sociological information.

social modeling allows you to create a model of the flow of social processes, group and generalize social material. social planning provides not just a forecast, but a targeted policy to achieve the goal. Thus, sociology begins to fulfill organizational and managerial function.

Another of the most important features is development of ways and methods of studying and analysis of the accumulated material, which are actively used by other social sciences. Sociology not only develops, but also supplements the already existing ways and methods of information processing.

4. Structure of sociological knowledge, levels of knowledge and branches of sociology

Sociology as a science has a multifaceted and multipurpose purpose. One can imagine the structure and levels of social knowledge in different ways. The most common way is to divide sociology into fundamental and applied. At a fundamental level there is a development of the theoretical base of sociology, the relationship with other sciences is carried out. Main methods: modeling; abstraction. Fundamental theories create a general sociological level of social knowledge.

Applied sociology aimed at the study of specific social facts. In the course of the study, a set of information is formed that is subjected to primary processing. The main methods are: observation; survey methods; ascending from the concrete to the abstract. The material and the primary results of its processing form the applied level of knowledge in sociology. Contradictions arise between the fundamental and applied levels of knowledge.

By level of research distinguish macrosociology(reveals patterns of global social development changes) and microsociology(explores specific social phenomena)

The structure of sociological knowledge can also be represented as a ratio of the general and sectoral in sociology. Then the structure of sociology is determined by branch areas of knowledge (sociology of labor, economic sociology, history of sociology, etc.).

The structure of sociology can be represented as a system of knowledge. The first level is all theories and theoretical foundations of knowledge; the second level is the way of acquiring knowledge, the methodological basis of sociology. Separate level social knowledge - metasociology. Metasociology, unlike sociology, does not study society, but sociology itself as a science. Metasociology, thus, has sociology itself as a science, sociological knowledge, the theory of social structure as the subject of research.