How does social psychology differ from general psychology? The difference between sociology and social psychology

Sociology and social psychology: similarities and differences. Lazareva O.A., Saratov State University. N.G. Chernyshevsky, Saratov, Russia

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The article contains a comparative analysis of two closely related sciences: sociology and social psychology. In addition, the article shows how both sciences study the same problem (with concrete examples). Also, the contribution of sociology as a science to common system humanities.

Keywords: personality, social psychology, social institution, sociology.

“Sociology is the science of society” is the most common definition you could ever hear. If you disassemble the word "sociology", then from Latin it literally translates like this: "socio" - society, "logos" - science. But in fact, sociology is not just a science, but one of the most important disciplines about a person. Sociology is closely related to psychology as well as social psychology.

Sociologists are interested not just in a person, but in an individual as an emerging personality, included from birth in any group or institution. Individuals influence each other, interact with each other. The reasons for this interaction can be explained with the help of sociology, biology, psychology, and even philosophy.

So, sociologists and social psychologists share a common interest in the behavior of people in groups. However, while most sociologists study groups of various sizes, from small to very large (for example, societies and their inherent tendencies), social psychologists study average people - how an individual simultaneously thinks about others, is influenced by them and relates to them. (i.e., more special cases).

Let's look at a few examples to see the difference between the object of study of a sociologist and a social psychologist. In the study of close relationships, a sociologist might be interested in the number and trends in formal and civil marriages and divorces, and a social psychologist would try to understand how people become attractive to each other and why they marry. The same can be said about the study of such a category as happiness: a sociologist would begin to find out how much happy people among students and what indicators are most often found in the concept of happiness, and a social psychologist would study the psychological signs of a manifestation of a state of happiness and find out what happiness is after all - an emotion or a feeling.

Although sociologists and social psychologists sometimes use the same research methods, social psychologists rely more on experiments in which they can manipulate some factor. For example, in order to understand whether an individual of the same sex, age, etc. has an influence on a person, a social psychologist can create such experimental conditions under which it will be present or absent. And a sociologist is likely to conduct an interview, focus group, or survey using a questionnaire, where he will use methods such as correlation. A sociologist cannot examine each individual and suggest a model of his behavior, but he can say or suggest how this or that group or majority (the bulk of people) will behave.

Sociologists' research is very important for marketing, management and advertising, as it makes it possible to identify the preferences of their main target audiences. But you can always go deeper and turn to psychologists in order, for example, to identify the taste characteristics of the buyer or the motives for making purchases, while it will be difficult to call the data of psychologists representative, corresponding to the law of large numbers (i.e., extrapolate data to the bulk of buyers) .

Anyone who has ever studied at least the basics of sociology or psychology knows that we are shaped by nature and nurture. As evolutionary psychologists remind us, our inherited human nature predisposes us to behave the way our ancestors did when they managed to survive and reproduce. We carry the genes of those who possessed the traits that enabled them to survive and reproduce, and whose children were able to do the same. Nature has also endowed us with a tremendous capacity for learning. We are sensitive to our social factors and react to them. Sociology is precisely concerned with management, prevention and the influence of factors on the life of society, a group of an individual.

It should be noted that sociology studies categories that are not studied in any other science (social memory, small group, social mobility, social institution, etc.). All the classics of sociology have spent years of their labors to get to the bottom of the truth of each concept. For example, M. Weber and his types of actions. After all, it is thanks to him that we can now distinguish between a mere action performed as a reflex or habit, and an action directed at something or someone. And it is sociology that studies the motives, goals, and results of such interactions. And in the modern world, it is already impossible to do without social interaction, because we are daily influenced by the media, friends, etc. .

Thus, I would like to note the important role of sociology in the study of the individual personality, its formation, interaction with other individuals, with groups, with institutions, as well as in studying the influence of individuals, groups and institutions on each other. Any statistics can be useful in any of the four existing areas of society. And, of course, we should not forget about psychology and biology, which help sociology to study all these processes. Also, Special attention should be given to such a science as social psychology, which is now becoming popular due to the combination of the methodology of two related sciences. It is useful in marketing, and in the field of advertising, and in psychology and pedagogy, as well as in everyday life.

Links to sources

1. Zborovsky G. E. General sociology. 3rd ed. M.: Gardariki. 2004. 3 p.
2. Zborovsky G.E. Introduction to sociology. Moscow: Progress-Univers. 1993. 71 p.
3. Myers D. Social psychology. Spb.: Peter. 2007. 12 – 13 p.

Sociology and social psychology: similarities and differences

Understanding the essence of the relationship between sociological disciplines and social psychology

The theoretical boundaries between sociology, microsociology, psychology and social psychology are very arbitrary. And they become more concrete if we consider historical sociology and historical psychology. Historical science itself contributed to this. Its influence on sociology and psychology in the 19th century gave an empirical basis to both sociology, with the help of history, can study the changes and development of social reality, and psychology, explores the changes and evolution of the psyche of individuals.

In his social theory, N. Elias placed emphasis on the empirical study of historical and sociological issues. And upon closer examination, one can see that the development of the idea of ​​the historical development of mankind is based on changes not only in social, but also in individual structures, and is also studied by psychological science.

Social psychology has been and is engaged in the study of the development and changes of the psyche in a socio-historical context. It is very difficult to detect these changes if we consider a single individual. The socio-psychological context makes it possible not to separate the individual from his social nature and to study changes in the psyche directly in the social environment.

The well-known psychologist Belyavsky I. in his works revealed the social essence of the psyche, while his colleague V. Shkuratov saw the goal of social psychology in studying the stages of development of civilization. Both psychologists, having formed a successful tandem, in their work described the idea of ​​the development of the human psyche, from mythological ideas to the present. It is worth noting another psychologist, V. Druzhinin, who, referring to I. Bilyavsky, comes to the conclusion that social psychology studies not a static, but a dynamic subject. He's writing:

"Considering the individual in the context of history as a process that changes, historical psychology deals with the dynamic aspects of the mental world and studies the historiogenesis of humanity and man."

Remark 1

Since its formation in the 19th century, sociology has focused its attention on the study of macro-objects - society, nation, civilization. However, the development of sociology was accompanied by its theoretical division into macro and micro theories. Macrosociological theories consider society in the context of large-scale social structures and processes, and microsociological theories - in the context of interpersonal interactions. According to sociology, it has the status of a multi-paradigm science. Moreover, unlike psychology, where multi-paradigmality is identified with a variety of theories, each of which performs an incomplete set of paradigmatic functions, in sociology there is a real paradigmatic split that runs along the object-subject line. At the same time, within both paradigms, the principle of the historical study of social reality is actively applied.

Macro sociological theories are focused on the study of structural transformations, on the continuous process of development of society, using historical data. Sociologists have repeatedly addressed the consideration of social transformations in the historical context. The first attempt to combine social psychology and sociology belongs to the classics of sociology - K. Marx, M. Weber, F. Tjonnies and others. As C. Tilly notes:

"The sociology of the 19th century consisted of historical and psychological criticism - attempts to find the best solution to the dilemmas of the time and the general direction of human development by setting the present in the framework of long-term large-scale social processes".

The vast majority of sociologists have studied the problems of social development precisely at the macroobjective level. For example, Marx studied civilization as a historical synthesis of many centuries, which began in primitive times and will end when humanity reaches communism.

But not all scientists are focused on the study of only macro objects. There were also those who tried to correct the mono-straightness of sociology in the study of social reality. At first it was the activity approach in Weber's understanding sociology, which introduced the acting individual into sociology and brought his importance and necessity to sociology. In his theoretical views, he explained the actions of people taking into account their motives, meanings and orientation towards another individual. Subsequently, at the intersection of micro-macro approaches in sociology, synthetic theories. The most prominent representative of this synthetic approach in historical sociology is N. Elias.

Theoretical activity and methodology in the works of famous psychologists and sociologists

In his theoretical work, Elias identified two main lines of research - psychogenesis and sociogenesis. In the first case, we are talking about changes in the structure of the personality, in the second - about changes in social structures. For a scientist, the development of psychogenetic and sociogenetic (development of the individual and social structures) are interdependent things. Using the example of a child's behavior, Elias proves that he is given civilizational skills in a shortened time form, while humanity has been producing them for centuries. At first she learns them under the guidance of adults, and then without the control of others; it fulfills most of the rules already automatically.

"The social standard to which the individual first adapts from without, under external coercion, is finally restored in him more or less unimpeded by internal coercion, which works up to a certain point even when the individual consciously does not want it."

The attention of the German researcher was attracted not by situational changes in the psyche of individuals, but by those changes that are long-term in nature, that is, they are formed and transmitted over generations. On the formation of such a point of view, the influence of Elias' friend - K. Mannheim. The latter wrote:

"Even gradual modifications in the ways of thinking are not recognized by the members of the group, who are in a stable situation, as long as the process of adapting thinking to new problems is so slow that it stretches over several generations. In such cases, representatives of one generation during their lives almost don't notice the change.

In the psychogenesis of Elias, the affective states that are inherent in "it" are studied. Elias's research proves that the more civilized a person is, the more subject to her emotional states, the more it controls the state of affect. By "civilized" is meant the individual who learns the existing social standards and norms that exist and are supported by the social structure and of which he becomes a part from birth. The process of transferring knowledge, the socialization of the individual, the "imposition" of social responsibility on him is sociogenesis. In this area of ​​research, the psychological instance of the "Super-I" is described.

The sociological and socio-psychological ideas of Elias consist in his study of the long-term development of society and the change of individuals in it, without being limited to short periods of the present. Sociology and society, in the understanding of Elias, is continuous, endless, as long as objects and subjects are engaged in it, between which there are social interconnections and interdependence. Such interactions create more and more connections, a network of interdependencies. Social psychology does not always "go forward", development does not mean that there cannot be returns to the past in history (fashion is a vivid example of this). Elias notes that "the peculiarity of history is its recurrence and cyclicity." For him, society is a holistic, long-term process.

Norbert Elias, unlike other psychologists and sociologists, considered the individual and society as equal in importance, for this he used the concept of "figuration". Elias writes:

"That which is signified by two different concepts"individual" and "society" - as it is presented in modern usage, - are not two separate existing objects, but different, but inseparable levels of the human universe.

Remark 2

Thus, Elias considered both the individual and society in civilizational development, in a transformation that changes both the psyche and social figurations.

For Elias, an individual can act both as a subject and as an object when viewed in relation to other individuals. He becomes an object when he becomes the cause of changes in another subject, when he is identified as a representative of another social group, institution. Being an object, the individual changes another object and changes himself.

The manifestation of external factors is the rationalization of behavior by the individual, and internal factors are an increase in the threshold of shame (when a person violates his own prohibitions) and a feeling of grief. The rationalization of behavior is understood as the orientation of individuals towards long-term strategic planning, the calculation of risks and possible prospects, the attempts of individuals to act in a balanced manner, not succumbing to short emotional states. The more civilized an individual's behavior becomes, the more diverse the feelings of shame and grief become.

Elias comes to the conclusion that the development of society leads to functional dependence between individuals, and therefore to greater control, to mutual supervision. A change in the way of being gives rise to new patterns, new ideas about the causes of shame and grief.

Rational behavior and restraint, according to Elias, starts from the elite and spreads to the rest of the population. A combination of objectivism and subjectivism is present in Elias's work. He argued that the socio-historical process continues for centuries, and it can be explored by studying the empirical material that has been collected over several generations. On an ordinary, and not scientific, level, the dynamics of changes in the culturological section can be seen in the upbringing of a child from the very first day of his birth.

Each individual person goes through a "course" for understanding others in the process of his development and maturation. As in history, development did not always mean an improvement in the existence of mankind, and in the process of an individual's life, development is not always identified with an improvement in her stay in social reality. Changes at the individual level, namely curbing the state of affect, increasing the level of shame, reducing emotionality are elements of historical and natural development, but this is not always a development for the better, a happy future for each individual. Elias defines the psychic apparatus of each person as the engine of change, which is endowed with its own natural laws.

Remark 3

Within the framework of these laws, the historical process is formed. natural and historical processes are inseparable. Although the beginning "leaves" from natural process, it becomes interdependent with the historical and forms a balance between mental and social (civilizational) laws.

Elias writes that "there is no zero point in the history of human development, just as there is no zero point in the history of his social existence, public interconnection between people". The process of forming feelings of shame and grief, changing their boundaries - "represent human nature in social conditions of a certain form, and in the historical social process, they are reflected, for their part, as one element. "Describing court society, Elias shows that the desire for power, the assignment to material resources, leads to a change in the behavior of individuals, the use of strategic actions and curbing emotions.

The process of adaptation to external circumstances and the regulation of one's own behavior, in accordance with these circumstances, belongs to the theory of social change, which focuses not on a static consideration of the existence of social reality, but on a dynamic, constantly changing process that can be observed if we take into account the long development of its for centuries. Elias, in contrast to Marx, who also considered development as a long process and was a supporter of the objectivist line of development of society, believed that development cannot be explained by considering only the economic component. In order to obtain the integrity of the picture, it is necessary to involve various sciences in the process of cognition, such as history, political science, psychology, philosophy, cultural studies, economics and others.

Conclusion on the topic

In the theoretical works of Elias, one can observe a combination of the doctrines of sociogenesis and psychogenesis, that is, of social and mental life, its formation and changes in it. Civilizational changes at the level of structures, an increase in population, differentiation of the functions of individuals, lead to interdependence between individuals and a faster circulation of behavior patterns. Social constraints model the behavior of individuals. Therefore, Elias tried to synthesize social and individual processes in his theoretical achievements.

Individual structures can only be understood when they are related to social context and changes in social networks. Consideration of Elias' ideas regarding the complication and interweaving of interactions between individuals, the procedural nature of changes in the psyche, the suppression of affective manifestations in behavior, social interdependence between individuals, the rationalization of individual structures - will enrich the psychological discourse.

social psychology is a science that studies the patterns of behavior and activity due to their inclusion in social groups, as well as the psychological characteristics of groups.

Aspects of this subject:

— social aspect- sociality, appeal to society;

— psychological aspect- appeal to the inner, hidden from society, individual.

Hence the problem: what should be investigated - internal or external? Internal: the psyche as a special mechanism is studied by general psychology. And the social (external) is studied by sociology.

Why is a separate science, social psychology, also needed? What is the difference between the subject of social psychology and the subject of general psychology and sociology?

Differences from the subject of general psychology

1. AT are considered in themselves as operations, forms of reflection in their internal structure and as mechanisms. In social psychology, mental processes, states, mental formations are filled with a concrete social content, when we consider them not only as forms of reflection, as mental operations, but also as a world of human relations (inclusion in the sphere of interaction with people)
2. AT such a phenomenon as communication and interaction is not considered. But a person always interacts with someone, communicates. The laws of interaction must be studied separately. And this is the need for another science, but not in general psychology.

Differences between general and social psychology in the objects and subjects of research:

An object- individual behavior and human activity.

Thing- mental mechanisms that ensure behavior and activity.

Social Psychology

An object- human interaction and communication.

Thing- mental mechanisms of behavior and activity, due to the situation of communication and interaction.

Social psychologists concentrate on how people generally evaluate each other, how social situations can cause most people to act humanely or cruelly, to be conformable or independent, and so on.

The difference between sociological and socio-psychological approaches to the study of phenomena

The sociologist explains any phenomena by objective public laws, public and general categories, the influence of relations between social groups.

For a sociologist, a person is a society turned inside out. This is a personified representative of some social group, a personified social unit. And all relations between people are considered as relations of social groups through relations of social units.

A social psychologist sees a person not only as a society, but also as something more concrete. His relations with other people are not only relations of social positions, roles, but also an individualized psychological attitude (sympathy, perception of another, understanding, sympathy, etc.). Another level of generalization is important here.

Of course, the social psychologist takes into account that social relations act as macro conditions and influence changes in the psyche through micro conditions. But for a sociologist, this is an impersonal-typological approach. And for a social psychologist, this is a concrete-personal approach.

The problem of the subject of social psychology has been a topic of discussion in science throughout the 20th century. In the history of Russian social psychology, two stages of this discussion can be distinguished:

— 20s. and

- late 50s - early 60s.

As a result of the discussions, three approaches to understanding the subject of social psychology.

First approach, which became widespread among sociologists, understood social psychology as the science of mass phenomena psyche." Within the framework of this approach, various accents were put: the study of the psychology of classes, individual elements of the social psychology of groups such as traditions, mores, customs, etc.; formation of public opinion; team study.

Second approach sees personality as the main subject of research in social psychology. Here attention is paid, on the one hand, to psychological traits, personality traits, personality typology. On the other hand, the positions of the individual in the group were distinguished, interpersonal relationships, the whole communication system. This approach is popular among psychologists.

Third Approach synthesizes the previous two. Social psychology is considered here as a science that studies both mass mental processes and the position of the individual in the group. Here the problems of social psychology are presented quite broadly.

Within the last approach. consider the scheme of problems to which social psychology addresses:

The scheme proposed by B.D. Parygin: 1) social psychology of personality; 2) social psychology of communities and communication; 3) social relations; 4) forms of spiritual activity.

1. Conduct a comparative analysis of the subjects of sociology and psychology.

Each of the branches of science has a subject disclosed in the content, system of theories, laws, categories, principles, etc. and performs special functions in relation to practice, explores a certain area of ​​social relations, certain phenomena, processes, in general, the whole society. There is a certain interdependence between the subject, content and functions of science. If, abstracting from other sciences and from the needs of practice understood in a broad sense, then it is impossible not to understand the functions of a separate science. It is the needs of practice that at each stage of the life of society put forward new requirements for humanitarian knowledge in general and its individual branches. But modern society is not a mechanical combination of various management mechanisms, government institutions and structures, social spheres of politics, economics, but something whole. There is a need for a branch of knowledge that studies society in all its aspects. Such a science is sociology - the science of society.

Sociology (French sociologie, Latin Societas - society and Greek - Logos - the science of society) - the science of society, individual social institutions (state, law, morality, etc.), processes and public social communities of people. For the first time, the concept of sociology was introduced into scientific circulation in the middle of the 19th century. the founder of positivism, the French scientist Auguste Comte.

Initially, sociology meant social science, but over time, the subject of sociology has continuously changed and refined, accompanied by a gradual separation of sociology from philosophy. The fact is that by the middle of the XIX century. the needs of social development and the internal logic of the evolution of the science of society required new approaches, the formation of a type of social phenomena.

And in response to the needs of the formation civil society sociology emerges. After all, there was a process of formation of a society that affirmed the triumph of human rights and freedoms, spiritual, economic independence and autonomy of a citizen instead of the usual normative order of the feudal-absolutist structure of society with its most severe total regulation of the socio-political, economic and spiritual life of people. The expansion of the limits of freedoms and human rights, a significant increase in the possibilities of choice aroused a person's interest in knowing the foundations of the life of a social community of people, social processes and phenomena in order to rationally, effectively use the acquired rights and freedoms. But free competition in the economy, politics, and the spiritual sphere has made the effectiveness of entrepreneurial activity directly dependent on the ability and use of knowledge about specific social mechanisms, moods and expectations of people, etc. social interaction of people with the aim of rational use of freedom of self-organization has become sociology.

After all, sociology has studied society, social relations and social communities, their activities, while philosophy, although it studies the individual and social communities as objects and subjects of activity, does so at a high level of generalization - at the level of revealing their essence, and not in deploying the essence in reality. revealing life in all its contradictory existence as sociology does. Gradually, with the accumulation of social knowledge, there was an increase in theoretical sociological concepts, each of which substantiated a certain aspect of social relations, gave the integration of the social, which is the dominant category of sociology. Using a variety of methods of scientific knowledge, sociology comprehends society, social life, not as an extremely general abstraction, but as a reality, trying to capture and express in provisions and theories its multicolor and internal heterogeneity with sufficient completeness. Sociology as certain type knowledge about society coming out of the depths social philosophy, adopts philosophical culture, recognizing the special importance of theoretical generalization, a holistic conceptual understanding of social phenomena. At the same time, sociology seeks to overcome the limitations that philosophy reveals in the analysis of real social problems. Currents are emerging within sociology: positivism - reducing the social to the natural, antipositivism - insisting on the specifics of the social.

An analysis of foreign sources shows that most often sociology is defined as the science of various social communities, social groups, their behavior, relations between them and within them. Some American sociologists define sociology as the science of society, social groups and social behavior. Others believe that sociology does not study isolated individuals, but people in communities or in social conditions. The purpose of such a study is to understand and explain the causes of social behavior or the interaction of social communities and groups and their results. According to the Belgian sociologist Micha de Costra, sociology studies the relationships between people that develop in the course of their activities. Yes, sociology aims to provide answers to people's vital questions. After all, in modern conditions many people experience a sense of fear. They are afraid of the opportunity nuclear war, the prospect of unemployment, the fragility of human relationships. And what makes their fear especially terrible is that they don't know anything about it. Sociology aims to help people understand the complex problems of life themselves. After all, sociology is an understanding of society. People who create the society in which they live, undoubtedly, have the opportunity to change it, transform it, but first they know it.

Modern sociology is a set of currents and scientific schools that explain its subject and role in different ways, and give different answers to the question of what sociology is. Exist various definitions sociology as a science of society. " Concise Dictionary in sociology" defines sociology as a science about the laws of formation, functioning, development of society, social relations and social communities. The Sociological Dictionary defines sociology as the science of the laws of development and functioning of social communities and social processes, of social relations as a mechanism of interconnection and interaction between society and people, between communities, between communities and the individual. The book "Introduction to Sociology" notes that sociology is a science that focuses on social communities, their genesis, interaction and development trend. Each of the definitions has a rational grain. Most scientists tend to believe that the subject of sociology is society or certain social phenomena. However, one can argue here.

Social phenomena are studied not only by sociology, but also by a number of other sciences - the theory of law, political economy, history, psychology, philosophy, etc. Sociology, in contrast special sciences, studies not one or another social phenomenon, separate special aspects or series of social phenomena, but studies their most general generic properties that are not studied by any of them. Political economy studies only the economic activity of society. Legal branches of knowledge explore only law. The theory of art is only art, and so on. None of the sciences studies those general properties, which are present in economic, legal, artistic and religious phenomena, etc. And in view of the fact that they are private species social activities, then everyone should have common generic features and in life there should be common to all social phenomena patterns. It is these very general properties and regularities, characteristic of all social phenomena and not studied by any social science, that are the closest object of sociology.

Consequently, sociology is the science of generic properties and the basic laws of social phenomena. Sociology does not simply choose empirical experience, that is, sensory perception as the only means of reliable knowledge, social change, but also theoretically generalizes it. With the advent of sociology, "new opportunities for penetrating the inner world of the individual, understanding her life goals, interests, needs" opened up. However, sociology does not study a person in general, but his specific world - the social environment, communities in which he is included, lifestyle, social ties , social actions. Without diminishing the importance of numerous branches of social science, nevertheless, sociology is unique in its ability to see the world as an integral system. Moreover, the system is considered by sociology not only as functioning and developing, but also as experiencing a state of deep crisis. Modern sociology is trying to study the causes of the crisis and find ways out of the crisis of society.Main problems modern sociology- the survival of mankind and the renewal of civilization, raising it to a higher stage of development. Sociology seeks solutions to problems not only at the global level, but also at the level of social communities, specific social institutions and associations, social behavior of an individual. Sociology is a multilevel science representing the unity of abstract and concrete forms, macro- and micro-theoretical approaches, theoretical and empirical knowledge.

What are the macro and micro levels of sociology? The macro-sociological level means an orientation towards the analysis of social structures, communities, large social groups, layers, systems and processes taking place in them. The social community that is the object of macrosociological analysis is civilization and its largest formations. The macrosociological approach does not require a detailed consideration of specific problems and situations, but is aimed at their comprehensive coverage. The macrosociological approach to phenomena is connected with social world systems and their interaction, with different types of cultures, with social institutions and social structures, with global processes. The macrosociological approach to phenomena is of interest to society as an integral social organism. Unlike macro-microsociology, it analyzes social processes in certain spheres of public life and social communities. Microsociology addresses social behavior, interpersonal communication, motivation of actions, incentives for group, community actions, etc.

Sociology is the science of the formation, development and functioning of social communities, of social processes and social relations between communities, between communities and the individual, the science of society and public relations.

Psychology as a science has special qualities that distinguish it from other disciplines. As a system of proven knowledge, few people know psychology, mainly only those who are specially engaged in it, solving scientific and practical problems. At the same time, as a system of life phenomena, psychology is familiar to every person. It is presented to him in the form own feelings, images, ideas, phenomena of memory, thinking, speech, will, imagination, interests, motives, needs, emotions, feelings and much more. We can directly detect the basic mental phenomena in ourselves and indirectly observe in other people.

The term "psychology" first appeared in scientific use in the 16th century. Initially, it belonged to a special science that dealt with the study of the so-called mental, or mental, phenomena, i.e. such that each person easily discovers in his own mind as a result of self-observation. Later, in the 17th-19th centuries, the scope of research by psychologists expanded significantly, including unconscious mental processes (the unconscious) and human activity.

In the 20th century, psychological research went beyond the phenomena around which it had been concentrated for centuries. In this regard, the name "psychology" has partly lost its original, rather narrow meaning, when it referred only to subjective phenomena of consciousness directly perceived and experienced by a person. However, until now, according to the tradition that has developed over the centuries, this science retains its former name.

Since the 19th century psychology becomes an independent and experimental field of scientific knowledge.

What is the subject matter of psychology? First of all, the psyche of man and animals, which includes many subjective phenomena. With the help of some, such as, for example, sensations and perception, attention and memory, imagination, thinking and speech, a person cognizes the world. Therefore, they are often called cognitive processes. Other phenomena regulate his communication with people, directly control his actions and deeds. They are called mental properties and states of the personality, they include needs, motives, goals, interests, will, feelings and emotions, inclinations and abilities, knowledge and consciousness. In addition, psychology studies human communication and behavior, their dependence on mental phenomena and, in turn, the dependence of the formation and development of mental phenomena on them.

A person does not just penetrate the world with the help of his cognitive processes. He lives and acts in this world, creating it for himself in order to satisfy his material, spiritual and other needs, performs certain actions. In order to understand and explain human actions, we turn to such a concept as personality.

In turn, the mental processes, states and properties of a person, especially in their highest manifestations, can hardly be comprehended to the end, if they are not considered depending on the conditions of a person’s life, on how his interaction with nature and society is organized (activity and communication). Communication and activity are also therefore the subject of modern psychological research.

Mental processes, properties and states of a person, his communication and activity are separated and studied separately, although in reality they are closely related to each other and form a single whole, called human life.

Studying the psychology and behavior of people, scientists are looking for their explanation, on the one hand, in the biological nature of man, on the other, in his individual experience, and on the third, in the laws on the basis of which society is built and operates. AT last case the dependence of the psyche and behavior of a person on the place he occupies in society, on the existing social system, system, methods of training and education, specific relationships that develop in this person with people around him, on the social role that he plays in society, on the types of activities in which he is directly involved.

In addition to the individual psychology of behavior, the range of phenomena studied by psychology also includes relations between people in various human associations - large and small groups, collectives.

The subject of psychology is the facts of mental life, the mechanisms and laws of the human psyche and the formation of the psychological characteristics of his personality as a conscious subject of activity and an active figure in the socio-historical development of society.

The history of mankind consists of periods characterized by a qualitative change in the conditions of life, existence, alternation of events. At the same time, it is a process of successive qualitative changes in the state of consciousness included in the public life of people and represented by religion and theology, the dominant worldview and philosophy, discoveries and science. Psychology has recently emerged as an independent branch of scientific knowledge.

This was facilitated by a colossal discrepancy between knowledge about oneself and about the world around, the need to understand the mechanism of reflection of the external into the internal, to establish the patterns of the relationship between the ideal and the real, the relationship between the subjective and the objective, the harmony of the soul, Spirit and body.

Significant momentum for spin-off scientific discipline psychology also received from the prevailing understanding of the physical health of the individual and the accumulated observations about the influence of the state of the soul on the state of the body.

The study of states, changes, manifestations of consciousness in actions, behavior, activities, their explanation and forecasting remains relevant today and determines the search for systemic approaches, backbone, methods for structuring the accumulated knowledge. For many years, with varying degrees of exacerbation, there were philosophical discussions about the primary-secondary nature of being-consciousness. The philosophy of materialism assigned to consciousness the function of reflecting being, asserting the priorities of the material, which determines the processes in consciousness, which determines them. The philosophy of idealism asserted the opposite determination - the conditionality of events by consciousness. These philosophical concepts expressed opposing positions, which reached extremes, and gave rise to many psychological theories that are not amenable to reconciliation with each other. At the beginning of the 20th century, philosophical battles were put to an end. Discovered by N. Bohr (1927), the principle of complementarity (complementarity) crossed out once again the "basic question" of philosophy.

The universal rule formulated by N. Bohr - "Opposites are not contradictions, they are additions" - served as a new methodology not only for the natural sciences, but also for the humanities. It formed a new methodology for the development of psychological theories, a new logic for considering the structure of systems, new thinking, new technology communications and behaviour. The complementarity principle serves methodological basis theories of self-organizing systems (synergetics), the most complex of which is a person with his own consciousness, the dynamism of the state of which can be described on a scale: "chaos - order". Self-organization involves instead of the struggle of opposites, which inevitably leads to destruction, the transition to their mutual complement, creation, cooperation, co-creation. The new philosophy presupposes independence, self-determination - the freedom to choose decisions, rules, ways of behavior and activity, understanding everything internal (oneself) and external (specific situations), their addition and interpenetration. All these are processes of self-organization of consciousness.

A new psychological paradigm based on synergistic approaches, requires, first of all, a systematic approach in understanding the essence of consciousness, which cannot be considered regardless of the surrounding world, its structure and content.

1. Each of us is a part of nature, its kind, and a special one, called an individual. The consciousness of an individual is conditioned by nature, birth, kind, i.e. has inherited properties. The consciousness of a woman and a man is specific (it’s not for nothing that we say “female logic”, “male act”), distinctive features brings age into consciousness (remember the proverb: “If youth knew, if old age could”), temperament and individual character traits are manifested as a hereditary trait. It has been proven that interaction with nature determines the state of health, mental (soul) and physical (body), just as their relationship and mutual influence has been proven.

All this determines the individuality of each of us, both in appearance and in the inner image, which complement each other, are interconnected, interdependent, interdependent.

An inanimate face cannot be beautiful, and if such beauty is recognized, it is called cold.

2. Individuals, entering into interaction, acquire a certain significance for their own kind, acquire a social face. Communication, interaction with other people fills consciousness with a certain content, forming its social essence. In society, everyone appears as a person who brings a certain benefit to others, the size of which is determined by personality and accompanied by commensurate respect (note the closeness with the concept of importance). Some pay more respect, some less. Someone achieves it purposefully by various means, to someone it comes by itself, but in proportion to the merits to society (individual - family - group - community - society - world community). In this process of becoming a personality, acquiring personality by an individual, the characteristics of an individual who selects “social uniforms” for himself, which can be neither large nor small, but must be just right, are of considerable importance. Personal position manifests itself in a variety of social roles (passenger, buyer, student, teacher, etc.), which are either short-term or long-term and require the ability of the individual to master this role, learn how to perform it. Bad performance is perceived by others as bad behavior. It is the social component of our life that is characterized by the wise saying of W. Shakespeare: "All life is a theater, all women, men in it are actors." The burden of fulfilling social roles strains, affects the state mental health, and through it the physical. It is important to understand and monitor the compliance of the social burden with one's own abilities, regulate them, and balance them.

3. The peculiarity of the individual is that he is born with a predisposition to thinking, producing his own thoughts, creativity, rationality, spirituality, which constitutes a human, spiritual essence in the mind, which gives the individual a special status of "homo sapiens" - a rational person. This is another determination of consciousness - participation in the spiritual space. Just as many different sciences study nature and society, spirituality is an object of study for philosophy and religion, psychology and pedagogy, human studies, cultural studies and other sciences, each of which tries to explain its own special aspect corresponding to its subject. We will also limit ourselves in our academic discipline consideration of concepts in accordance with the subject of psychology, which studies the spirit, soul, consciousness, its statics and dynamics, processes and phenomena, rules and patterns. Let us consider the place, role and influence of the spirit on the entire space of consciousness in the internal and external, on its manifestation in actions, behavior, activities. The manifestation of the spiritual component in the position, goals, content, methods, the result of awareness distinguishes the activity of one from the activity of another, characterizes the degree of humanization of social processes, the democratization of social relations. And the state of mind of a particular person determines the degree of his confidence, humanity and other manifestations of the state of consciousness. Some identify "spirit" with the transcendent, transcendent, divine, and therefore do not approve of its mention in vain. They are probably right, just as those who do not represent our everyday life without spirituality, understands its daily impact on specific events and stands up for bringing it back into our lives, spreading and strengthening it. Probably, everyone has their own subjective idea of ​​the spirit in our consciousness and being, and this is good, because it indicates a certain interest in this issue and, therefore, in what others think about this matter. For example, L.N. Tolstoy defined the spirit as the core of consciousness. A completely acceptable image, because when we lack faith and strength, we say “fell in spirit”, “spirit was not enough”, and vice versa, the words “strong in spirit”, “perked up” speak of gaining firmness, confidence, ability to act . It is in the spirit that faith, hope, love exist, and it manifests itself, according to N.A. Berdyaev, "in freedom, creativity, love". The question of spirit and spirituality is devoted to a huge number of reflections in the culture of Eastern and Western, and the Russian culture that connects them. Everyone agrees, for example, that the spirit raises above the ordinary, above life, events, it is he who singles out a person from nature, allows him to “not go astray”.

The entire space of consciousness can be conditionally represented in the form of three components: the space of the unconscious (subconscious, soul), consciousness itself, where the processes of awareness take place, and superconsciousness - the space where the “soul is spiritualized” (F.M. Dostoevsky). Psychology can also be divided into the psychology of the unconscious, the psychology of awareness, the psychology of the spirit. Our course linking psychology with pedagogy will focus on more the study of processes of awareness that change the internal image and therefore can be called educational processes.

In relations with the outside world, a person acts as a subject of his own actions and interactions. His subjectivity in understanding interactions with the world can be described along the chain:

Awareness of the state of one's consciousness (internal);

Awareness of the surrounding world (external);

Awareness of contact with the outside world (interaction of internal and external);

Awareness of the influence of interaction on the state of consciousness (internal).

In these relations there are complex connections between subjective and objective, ideal and real, internal and external, spiritual and material, consciousness and being.

Psychology studies consciousness as a cause and effect of the subject's interaction with the outside world, internal and external influences to the state of consciousness. Its living state implies constant change and, therefore, growth processes in which some information is born and transformed; being assimilated, it becomes inner knowledge, content.

In the process of processing information about the surrounding world and about oneself, New Product, new knowledge, new content. Satisfaction with the born, joy and pride from looking into oneself (insider), faith in truth give rise to the state of the creator, the divine, strengthen the spirit. This is a creative state of connection of feeling and thinking. These processes are often involuntary.

At the same time, not only natural, but also artificial, volitional processes take place. Will as a mental mechanism characterizes the processes that are called arbitrary: voluntary attention, i.e. accompanied by the setting “pay attention”, arbitrary perception - “perceive”, arbitrary memory - “remember”. These mental processes take place under control, under control, the result is monitored in them. Processes of this type are characterized by involvement in activities. The psyche in activity is characterized not only by the state, but also by processes, the main among which is awareness, which includes awareness of motives (“why?”), content (“what?”) and methods of activity (“how?”). This process can be impulsive, unorganized, when one or another of the listed questions arises during the activity, at different moments, in different sequences. Or it can be clearly organized by a cycle of awareness of actions “before” and “after” their accomplishment, by consistent answers to the questions: “for what?”, “What?”, “How?”.

Humanity, which has entered the new millennium, has accumulated a huge amount of information. Its systematization was reflected in the branches of scientific knowledge about the surrounding world. What does a person know about himself? This knowledge is focused in the system of psychological science, which in the XX century. received the status of an independent branch of scientific knowledge, embarked on the path of systematization of existing knowledge about the human soul, consciousness, about the relationship of a person with the outside world. The subject of psychology, i.e. what is a field of study for psychology is rapidly expanding.

The semantics of the word "psychology" defines its subject as the doctrine of the soul ("psycho" - the soul, "logos" - the doctrine).

Then psychology expanded its subject and studies consciousness, the semantic meaning of which is the conjugated continuous transition of information into knowledge (consciousness).

At the next stage, psychology again expanded its subject and, having opened the circle of consciousness, raised the question of mental processes and phenomena due to the mutual influence of internal and external.

Further expansion of the subject of research occurred in the process of considering the psychology of the collective subject (family, group, team, society) and activity. The expansion of the subject of psychology in the study of the concept of "activity" was a new stage in which considerable merit belongs to Soviet psychology. Today we can say that psychology studies not only a closed system of consciousness, its structure and functions, but also its relationship with the external, objective, objective world. Methods of studying the external world, aimed at studying the inner world, have become methods of psychological research. The accumulation of knowledge about the soul, which occurred in the process of man's awareness of himself, served as the first stage in the emergence of psychological science as part of philosophical knowledge. Realizing the a priori nature of the category "soul", given by nature, science gave rise to the category "consciousness", which, due to its complexity, has a variety of interpretations: in the semantic sense, it is the accumulation of knowledge (consciousness: knowledge + knowledge + ...), their subjective combination in the internal the world; in a philosophical sense, according to the theory of reflection, “consciousness is the highest, human a form of generalized reflection of objective stable properties and patterns of the surrounding world”; in the technological sense, consciousness is the formation of a subjective model of the objective world; in the epistemological - consciousness determines the attitude to the world, it contains components: natural - genetic information; social - information absorbed in social communication; spiritual - information produced by one's own mind - understanding, insight.

The second stage in the formation of psychological science is the accumulation of information about human consciousness. Numerous efforts to make the consciousness transparent and easy to understand turned out to be inadequate to the result. The sphere of consciousness continued to remain a mysterious, “thing in itself” and gave rise to a psychological direction - behaviorism, which, from the hopelessness of attempts to penetrate into the essence of consciousness, set up an experiment, make measurements, i.e. organize scientific research by known methods, declared the subject of psychology - behavior as an external manifestation of consciousness, as a set of actions. This approach made it possible to set up experiments and make observations, i.e. rely on the facts of the manifestation of the features of consciousness. The study of behavior overcame the narrowness of the subject of psychology, expanded its boundaries, provided the possibility of connecting the internal and the external, studying the relationship between the subjective and the objective. However, dignity, having violated the measure, turned into a disadvantage. Excessive materialization of the explanation of spiritual processes gave rise to a discrepancy, a problem, a conflict. Behaviorism has been criticized for being too mechanistic in explaining behavior, and the question of the subject matter of psychology has been raised again. And here again the philosophical paradigm of the relationship between being and consciousness turned out to be in demand. The unity of essence and phenomenon, expressed in the relationship between the ideal and the real, was reflected in the understanding of the awareness of action.

The function of understanding goals manifests itself in real activity as self-determination based on the correspondence of internal and external, needs and conditions. These processes are called motivation (activation of internal needs), adaptation (adaptation to external conditions).

The function of understanding the criteria of activity, their choice in their own internal content and correlation with external norms, rules of activity - also involves a philosophical understanding of the relationship between consciousness and being as a relationship between theory and practice in their state of the art.

The function of awareness of the ways of activity is manifested in the awareness of the method, correlated with the awareness of one's own abilities.

Thus, the connection between internal and external consists of "direct" and "reverse". Primary awareness - designing an action, secondary awareness - reflection, awareness after the action. The interpenetration of these processes presupposes awareness of one's own consciousness, which philosophy calls self-consciousness. If we talk about the current state of the subject of psychology, then probably this is self-consciousness. Self-awareness involves awareness natural component(“to remain oneself”), awareness of oneself as a person (“to have one’s own face”), awareness of one’s own spirit (to be able to maintain “the core of consciousness is the spirit”, the strength of the spirit).

2. Expand the content of the concept of "social institution". What is the relationship between the types and functions of social institutions?

A social institution (from Latin Institutum - device, establishment) is a stable set of rules, norms, and guidelines that regulate various areas of human activity and organize them into a system of social roles and statuses.

The concept of "institution" was borrowed by sociology from jurisprudence, where it was used to characterize a certain set of legal norms. Institutions in legal science were considered, for example, inheritance, marriage, property, etc. In sociology, the term "institution" has retained its semantic connotation associated with the normative regulation of activity, but has acquired a much broader interpretation as a designation of a certain special type of stable regulation of social ties and various, more or less organized, forms. social regulation behavior of subjects.

The existence of institutions is associated with the activities of people organized into groups in which a division into appropriate statuses is made that meets the needs of society or a given group. The institutional analysis of social life involves the study of repetitive and most stable patterns of behavior, habits, traditions that are passed down from generation to generation.

Diversity of Institutions Corresponds to Diversity human needs, such as the need for the production of products and services, the need for the distribution of benefits and privileges, the need for security, the protection of life and well-being, the need for social control over the behavior of members of society, the need for communication.

The main institutions include: economic (division of labor, property, taxes, etc.); political (state, army, parties, etc.); educational and cultural, created for the development of culture, the socialization of children, the transfer of cultural values ​​of society to them (marriage and family institutions; schools, art institutions); social or public in the narrow sense, regulating everyday contacts (local societies, partnerships, associations); religious.

How harder society the more developed the system of institutions. The history of the evolution of institutions obeys the following pattern: from institutions traditional society, based on ritually and customarily prescribed rules of conduct and kinship, to modern institutions based on such values ​​as competence, independence, personal responsibility, rationality, relatively independent of moral prescriptions.

The main features of social institutions are:

Symbols - images, ideas about the institution, reflecting in a concentrated form its specific features;

The main roles are patterns of behavior;

Physical traits - the material embodiment of a social institution (buildings, things, objects);

Codes of Conduct – Way of Roles and Implementation social control.

These signs are not strictly normatively fixed. They rather follow from the generalization analytical materials about the various institutions of modern society. In some of them (primarily formal ones, such as the army, the court, etc.), signs can be fixed clearly and in full, in others, informal or just emerging, less clearly.

The whole variety of social institutions can be divided into two types:

institutions-subjects are organizations of various types and scales (state, parties, associations, firms, church, etc.);

institutions-mechanisms are stable value-normative complexes that regulate various spheres of people's lives (marriage, family, property, religion).

The elementary unit of a social institution of any type is an act of social interaction. In its ideal form, it exists as a normative prescription of a law, job description, decree, etc.

Very close are the categories of social institution-subject and group. However social group- this is a set of homogeneous status positions that are united due to this homogeneity in the social field. An institution differs from a group in a much higher level of integration. There is no clear boundary between a group and an institution - any group tends to institutionalize.

The concepts of institute and collective are much closer. However, a collective is a collection of individuals uniting for joint actions in order to realize their conscious interests. The team is created by the interaction of specific people and may cease to exist if the composition of people changes. The Institute is a supra-individual formation, in general, little susceptible to change. personal characteristics.

Institutions are divided into formal (for example, the US Constitution) and informal (for example, the Soviet "telephone law").

Informal is usually understood as generally accepted conventions and ethical codes behavior. These are customs, laws, habits or regulations that are the result of the close coexistence of people. Thanks to them, people easily find out what others want from them, and understand each other well. These codes of conduct are shaped by culture.

Formal institutions are understood as rules created and maintained by specially authorized people (government officials).

Rules of conduct are divided into inherited, naturally given and acquired, transmitted through culture. The latter, in turn, are divided into personal and social, and social rules- into informal (fixed by traditions and customs, etc.) and formal (fixed in legal norms). Finally, formal social rules include private and public (public law). Private law regulates the behavior not only of individuals, but also of non-state organizations; within the framework of public law, rules are distinguished that restrict the activities of the government and the state.

In sociology, there are four types of explanation and justification of social institutions. According to the theory of J. Homans, this is, firstly, a psychological type of explanation, proceeding from the fact that any social institution is a psychological formation in its origin, a stable product of the exchange of activities. Secondly, it is historical, considering institutions as the final product of the historical development of a certain field of activity. Homans calls two more types of explanations for the existence of institutions, which are mainly used in structural-functional analysis, unconvincing. This is a structural type, when it is proved that "each institution exists as a result of its relations with other institutions in the social system", and a functional one, according to which institutions exist because they perform certain functions in society.

The process of formation of institutions - institutionalization - implies the replacement of spontaneous and experimental behavior with a regulated, expected, predictable one. This is a process, the stages of which are:

the emergence of a need, the satisfaction of which requires joint organized action;

formation of common ideas;

the emergence of social norms and rules in the course of spontaneous social interaction carried out by trial and error;

the emergence of procedures related to rules and regulations;

institutionalization of norms and rules, procedures, i.e. their acceptance, practical use;

establishment of a system of sanctions to maintain norms and rules, differentiation of their application in individual cases;

material and symbolic design of the emerging institutional structure.

G. Spencer was one of the first who drew attention to the problem of the institutionalization of society and stimulated interest in institutions in sociological thought. Within his "organismic theory" of human society, based on the structural analogy between society and the organism, he distinguishes three main types of institutions:

1) continuing the race (marriage and family) (Kinship);

2) distribution (or economic);

3) regulating (religion, political systems).

This classification is based on the allocation of the main functions inherent in all institutions.

The Western sociologist-structuralist P. Blau based his classification of existing institutions on the values ​​that they embody in their normative structure:

1) integrative institutions that “perpetuate particularistic (private. - N.S.) values, support social solidarity and preserve a clear character and identity of the social structure”, i.e. their activities are aimed at supporting solidarity and existing particular values ​​in society.

2) Disruptive institutions embody and implement universal values ​​that act as a means of "preserving social agreements developed for the production and distribution of the necessary social benefits, investments and various kinds of rewards."

3) organizational institutions use values ​​to achieve a goal, they serve "to perpetuate the authority and organization necessary to mobilize resources and coordinate collective efforts aimed at achieving social goals."

At the same time, J. Turner notes that P. Blau unconditionally makes social institutions dependent on the performance of their functions for society as a whole, integrative institutions must satisfy the needs for “hiddenness”, disstrubutive ones for “adaptation”, and organizational ones for “integration” and "goal achievement".

Depending on the scope and functions performed, social institutions, as noted by L.A. Sedov, are divided by Western sociologists into three types; relational, regulatory and integrative. Relational institutions determine the role structure of society according to a variety of criteria: from age and gender to the type of occupation and abilities. Regulatory institutions determine the acceptable framework individual behavior in relation to the norms of action existing in society, as well as sanctions punishing for going beyond these limits (this includes all types of social control mechanisms). Integrative institutions are associated with social roles responsible for ensuring the interests of the social community as a whole.

The Sociological Dictionary (translated from English) lists five main sets of social institutions: “(1) economic institutions, serving for the production and distribution of goods and services; (2) political institutions that regulate the exercise of and access to power; (3) institutions of stratification that determine the placement of positions and resources; (4) kinship institutions related to marriage, family and youth socialization; (5) cultural institutions associated with religious, scientific and artistic activities.”

3. Social stratification is:

a) social inequality

b) social activity

c) social mobility

d) social interaction

4. Why is sociology becoming one of the leading social sciences in the modern world? Analyze this problem.

Sociology is a relatively young, continuously developing science. This explains the multiplicity of approaches to the definition of its subject and essence as an independent branch of scientific knowledge.

Initially, sociology meant social science, but over time, its object and subject changed and became more precise, gradually separating sociology from philosophy. The fact is that by the middle of the XIX century. social development and the internal logic of the evolution of the science of society required new approaches to its definition.

The place of sociology in the system of social and human sciences is determined, first of all, by the fact that sociology is a science about society, and, therefore, includes a general sociological theory that can serve as a theory and methodology for all other social and human sciences.

Sociology in its area of ​​research is one of the most "general" among the social sciences. Looking for common features and patterns manifested in various social connections, sociology should also act in such areas and objects, for the study of which there is its own field of science. For example, pedagogy explores the phenomena associated with upbringing and teaching; economics studies economic mechanisms; the doctrine of the state - political events and patterns; psychology - psychological phenomena. But behind all this there are also social relations, which sociology is concerned with.

Sociology is by no means the only science whose field of study covers the entire sphere of human behavior. These sciences also include philosophy, history and anthropology. Sociology has close relations with these sciences and uses the knowledge accumulated by them for their own purposes.

Sociology has become independent science, separated from philosophy or history, so that it still has a natural connection with its origins.

The methodology and technique of studying a person and his activities, the methods of social measurement developed by sociology are used by all other humanities. In addition, in modern conditions, a system of research conducted at the intersection of sociology and other branches of knowledge has developed. They are called social. Sociology as a system of knowledge cannot develop and perform its functions without interacting with other sciences. With respect to special social sciences sociology is in the position in which general biology is in relation to special biological branches of knowledge: zoology, botany, etc. Just as general biology serves as the basis for botany and other branches of knowledge about nature, so sociology serves as the foundation for special social sciences.

Historically, the question has been the opposite: "how does a sociologist differ from a psychologist?" In the 1890s and 1900s, when sociologists had already decided that they should become a separate science, but still did not really understand what it would consist of, the question "how are we different from psychologists" was literally a matter of survival. Thanks to Wundt, psychologists at that time already had an idea of ​​who they were and what they were doing; for them, as "elder brothers", the question of differences was not so important.

In sociology, depending on the then answer "why are we not psychologists", completely different versions of social theory were obtained, which still lead in different directions.

Durkheim in France replied that sociology deals with collective representations, in contrast to the individual representations dealt with by psychology. Individual ideas are formed in a person during his life, and collective ideas were created by the work of previous generations, and for each person they constitute an objective external environment that forces everyone to obey their own rules. My memories are psychology, the history in the school textbook is sociology, my laughter is psychology, the city holiday is sociology.

For Durkheim, the difference was not just quantitative. He believed that social reality relates to the psychological in much the same way as the biological relates to the chemical, as the chemical relates to the physical. From a combination simple elements there emerges, he said, a new, more complex reality of a special kind. Whoever believes what arises is now the typical sociologist.

Plus other answers, also important.

Tarde, Durkheim's main rival in those years, saw the difference in the fact that psychologists deal with people's inner experiences and their perception. inanimate objects, and sociologists should be engaged in "intermental psychology", mutual influence human consciousness Each other. Crying from resentment is psychology, and singing a song that you heard and liked is sociology.

Tarde, however, believed that sociology should not so much be separated from other sciences (psychology, economics, linguistics, etc.), as unite them with their own ideas, and other sociologists, who needed precisely the border and their own separate area, did not support him and forgotten for about a century, and only recently began to be seriously re-read.

In Germany, Weber, the second recognized classic along with Durkheim, found a difference in the fact that sociology is concerned with meaning. human action, different from emotions, instincts, perceptions and other things that psychologists are busy with. Taking your hand away from a hot stove is psychology, because instinct; frying eggs is sociology, because there is a goal that we consciously pursue.

Simmel, his contemporary, drew the line quite perpendicularly: psychology, together with, for example, economics, deals with the "content", the "material" of human actions, that is, the impulses, needs, goals that make people do something, including in common with each other. with friend; sociology, by contrast, is concerned with the "forms" that human interactions take, regardless of their content: friendship, dispute, contract, struggle, conspiracy etc. Why two guys are vying for a girl is psychology, why two traders are vying for market power is economics. How rivalry works in general, according to what logic it develops - this is sociology.

Simmel was a little more fortunate than Tarde, his ideas were forgotten not for a whole century, but "only" for half a century, now they are also a recognized part of the discipline.

By the middle of the 20th century, the question "what is the difference" ceased to be acute. Everyone just got used to the fact that there are two different disciplines that have diverged a long time ago and now do without the "different or die" marketing drama. The Americans Cooley, Thomas and Mead were retroactively included in the list of authors significant for sociology, and then their successor the Canadian Hoffmann - psychologists also consider them all, and in fact, "their own". In psychology, a direction of social psychology has developed, which freely takes on sociological, as sociologists would say, problems. In the writings of sociologists, one can now freely refer to psychologists (eg James or Erik Erickson) or psychoanalysts (Freud, Lacan), this is no longer shocking to anyone. Everyone has long forgotten (actually not) that the classics answered there a hundred years ago, and they simply deal with their own topics, which are already assigned to sociology or psychology more on the principle of "it happened."