What are the similarities and differences between sociology and other sciences?

Sociology is the science of the laws of formation, functioning, development of society as a whole, social relations and social communities, the mechanism of interconnection and interaction between these communities, as well as between communities and the individual.

At present, sociology occupies a special place in the system of social and humanities. At the same time, in the system of social sciences there are a number of disciplines with which sociology has the closest and even mutually necessary connection. Let us consider how sociology interacts with some sciences and what is their difference.

Philosophy. Sociology, like a number of other sciences, emerged from philosophy. For a long period of time, sociological knowledge accumulated in the depths of philosophy.

For philosophy, the starting point of research is man, and for sociology, society. If philosophy studies the essence of a person, personality, then sociology considers personality as a social type. Philosophy decides public problems speculatively, based on a chain of logical reflections, then sociology tries to solve social problems on the basis of scientific methods knowledge of reality.

That public life should be studied not speculatively, but on the basis of the methods of empirical (experimental) science, O. Comte once said.

Story. If history predominantly reproduces (describes and explains) the social process post factum, then sociology - in factum, i.e. it is able to better, more adequately reveal the laws of functioning of an already established social system. If historical science studies only what has happened and entered history, then sociology directs its main attention to the present, while engaging in social planning and forecasting.

Political science studies political reality, the political life of society (the state, its institutions and norms, the political behavior of people, power relations between them). Sociology analyzes society from the standpoint of its social structure, the social status of the individual, classes, and others. social groups, nations and nationalities, their interactions, etc. There is an interaction between sociology and political science, and it is not by chance that a new one has emerged at their junction. special discipline -sociology of politics.

Sociology interacts closely with economics. After all, the evolution of social activity is influenced by radical shifts in the economy. Many areas of sociological research (sociology of labor, sociology of the city, sociology of the countryside, etc.) are largely based on economic research and carried out within economic sociology.

Sociology as a science has much in common with psychology. The similarities of these sciences arise when the focus of scientific analysis is human personality. However, sociology and psychology also have significant methodological differences. If the main attention of psychology is focused on the study of the individual "I", then sociology is interested in the problems of interpersonal interaction "We". A new science is developing at the intersection of psychology and sociology social Psychology.

Sociology has much in common with such sciences as demography, statistics, anthropology and others. This commonality lies in the fact that they use common methods to obtain knowledge.

Interdisciplinary interactions of sociology with other sciences have led to the emergence of a number of branches in sociology - sociology of work, sociology of education, sociology of culture, sociology of sports and a number of others. It is on an interdisciplinary basis that the sociolinguistics and social pedagogy.

Thus, sociology can be compared to a wide window on the world. There is practically no sphere of public life that has not been subjected to sociological analysis and research, both in theoretical and applied aspects.

Among the sciences that study human behavior in all forms of manifestation of his mental, intellectual, social and spiritual activity, psychology and sociology have the most pronounced relationship. They pursue the goal of identifying the general patterns of human activity associated with its personal aspect. However, sociology and psychology use different methods. scientific analysis and specific methods of its implementation.

Definition

Sociology- a science that studies development processes public consciousness and revealing the role of personality in its formation. The subject of study of sociology is the functioning of social systems and institutions, the features of human social behavior and society as a socio-cultural whole.

Psychology- a science that studies human behavior as the realization of motives hidden from external observation, establishing patterns of personality development and formation interpersonal relationships.

Comparison

The focus of sociology is the entire mechanism of self-regulation and self-development of society, as well as social behavioral stereotypes that develop in local groups at the level of personal or business communication.

Theoretical sociology deals with the analysis and generalization of the results of global studies of social phenomena in the context of their historical development. The state of modern society and the formation of trends in its development in the future is the subject of research in empirical sociology. It uses methods of direct observation of the behavior of members of social groups and experimental analysis situational factors influencing public consciousness. At the same time, the character and characteristics of an individual are considered as a particular manifestation of common features social group.

In psychology, the main object of study is precisely the human personality and its inner world. Fundamental psychology study the content and general patterns mental processes that determine the traits and properties of personality.

AT applied psychology the mechanisms of mental, mental and social activities of a person, which are closely related to the type of his mental organization and are little dependent on the socio-cultural environment.

In specific living conditions, any human activity manifests itself in certain form social behavior, therefore the task of psychology is considered not only to analyze the states and personal properties of the individual, but also to determine the specific patterns of their development under the influence of social relations.

Along with the main direction in the field of research related to personality psychology, there are also scientific disciplines who study the psychology of small and large groups, psychology of communication, applied psychological technologies and methods psychological analysis.

Findings site

1. The subject of psychology is the personality of a person, his inner world and motives of behavior. Sociology studies not an individual, but society as a single socio-cultural system.
2. Psychology links personality traits with individual mental processes. Sociology regards man as a participant overall process social interaction.
3. In psychology, the relationship of an individual with society is analyzed from the point of view of personality psychology and communication psychology. In sociology - from the point of view of the influence of public consciousness on the formation of the type of behavior and worldview of the individual.
4. Psychology is closely related to pedagogy and medicine, sociology - to common history and cultural studies.

Let's compare the subjects of general psychology, including human psychology, and social psychology. According to D. Myers, the focus of general psychology and social psychology is the individual, the personality. The difference between them lies in the social nature of social psychology. Personality psychologists focus on individual internal mechanisms and on differences between individuals, asking questions such as why some individuals are more conforming, aggressive, etc. than others. Social psychologists focus on total mass people, on how people generally evaluate and influence each other. They wonder how social situations can cause most people to act humanely or cruelly, to be conformable or independent, etc. Thus, compared to human psychology social Psychology focuses less on differences between individuals and more on how people generally evaluate and influence each other.

D. Myers expressed his opinion about the differences in the subjects of study of human psychology and social psychology from the standpoint of "psychological social psychology". Representatives of "sociological social psychology", without denying the need to study interpersonal interactions, consider communities (social groups) to be the main object of attention of social psychology. Personality with its socio-psychological characteristics is of interest to social psychology only because social psychology (social) manifests itself in different levels social organization including at the individual level. The personality is the bearer, the spokesman of socio-psychological phenomena. It acts as the subject of social psychology in the sense that it is part of any social community. Therefore, the interaction social psychology and personality psychology, the mechanism of assimilation by the personality of the psychology of social communities and is one of the important problems of social psychology. Social psychology, from the point of view of "sociological social psychology" proceeds from the principle of the unity of the individual and the social. The essence of this principle is to single out the general, typical from the mass of individual manifestations, including individual mental formations. So if general psychology when studying mental phenomena, it fixes attention on the characteristics of the psyche of individual individuals, then social psychology, when studying mental phenomena, fixes attention on those that are inherent in social groups, and is distracted from the psyche of individual individuals that make up a particular social group. For example, she studies public opinion a certain large social group as a specific formation that arises in the course of the struggle of individual and group opinions. This formation is not the sum of the expressed judgments on the subject of public opinion, but fixes only what is acceptable to the majority or all participants in the discussion, that is, socially significant. All individual shades of opinion are not taken into account, they are eliminated. At the same time, social psychology not only singles out the socially significant in the studied phenomena of the spiritual life of society, but also considers the individual as a concrete manifestation, expression (perhaps incomplete, one-sided, contradictory) of the social.

Supporters of the sociological approach in modern psychology emphasize that the specificity of social psychology, its difference from general psychology, is that it studies not in general psychological phenomena, say, moods, opinions, social attitudes, stereotypes, traditions, and socio-psychological phenomena in relation to their subjects. Socio-psychological phenomena arise in the minds of social subjects (communities of people) on the basis of already existing ideas, views, ideas as a reflection of reality. They are a reflection of the reflection of reality or spiritual states of social subjects. Therefore, social psychology, having socio-psychological phenomena as its object, is called upon to study not just moods, opinions, attitudes, life orientations, etc., but social actors having a certain state of consciousness. Unlike general psychology, social psychology cannot be distracted from the subject of its spiritual formations being studied. She studies them in unity, because she is not interested in themselves, say, public moods, opinions, but in communities and groups of people experiencing value judgments.

As an illustration of the similarity, let us cite the fact that human psychology and social psychology choose a person as a unit of analysis (Shikhirev). This is explained by the fact that since the individual is the bearer of the psyche, it occurs in him mental processes, which is why science is called, although social, but still psychology (Sherif). Another argument is that social psychology as experimental science has grown out of general psychology and, being thus closely connected with it, should not change its methodological guidelines. The connection between social psychology and general psychology is also reflected in the fact that at present the overwhelming majority (from 2/3 to 4/5 - different estimates) social psychologists come from general psychology, and sociologically trained and oriented social psychologists are in the minority^. But even they generally agree that the psychic must be understood as the individual. It is easy to see that such a solution is a product common sense, and not the result of theoretical reflections on the complex problems of the interweaving of the individual, mental, subjective, etc.

Let's move on to comparing the approaches of sociology and social psychology.

From the position of "psychological social psychology" sociology and social psychology have a common interest in studying how people behave in groups. But if sociologists mostly study groups (from small to very large societies), then social psychology studies individuals (what a person thinks about others, how they influence him, how he treats them). The problematic of social psychology also includes the influence of the group on individual people, and individual per group. For example, a sociologist might investigate how the racial attitudes of middle-class people as a group differ from the racial attitudes of middle-class people. low level income. The social psychologist seeks to establish the development of the individual's racial attitudes.

For supporters of "sociological social psychology" it is more difficult to distinguish between sociology and social psychology, since from their point of view, social psychology is constituent part, a branch of sociology. However, the definition of the subject of social psychology requires here to designate its specifics. Based on the study of the positions of various scientists, the following scheme of reasoning emerges. Sociology is the science of society as a social system as a whole, the functioning and development of this system through its constituent elements: individuals, social communities, institutions. social system based on certain social relations. Content and structure public relations studied by sociology. Specificity sociological approach to the disclosure of social relations lies in the fact that for sociology they do not just “meet” an individual with an individual and “relate” to each other, but individuals as representatives of certain social groups that have developed in the field of division of labor or in the field of political life. Such relationships are built not on the basis of likes and dislikes, but on the basis of social interests and position in society. Therefore, such relations are objectively conditioned: they are relations between social groups or between individuals as representatives of social groups. This means that social relations are impersonal; their essence is not in the interaction of specific individuals, but rather in the interaction of specific social roles.

Social role as a normatively approved pattern of behavior expected from each individual with a certain social status, bears the stamp of social evaluation and is a social function of the given individual. However, the social role itself does not determine the activities and behavior of each specific bearer in detail. It all depends on how much the individual has learned, internalized the role. The act of internalization is determined by a whole range of individual psychological characteristics of each specific bearer of a given role. Therefore, social relations, although they are essentially role-playing, impersonal relations, in reality, in their concrete manifestation, acquire a certain “personal coloring”. Remaining individuals in the system of impersonal social relations, people inevitably enter into interaction, communication, but their individual characteristics inevitably manifest themselves. Therefore, each social role does not mean an absolute predetermination of behavior patterns, it always leaves a certain "range of possibilities", which can be conditionally called a certain "role performance style" for its performer. It is this range that is the basis for building within the system of impersonal relations of the second kind of relations - interpersonal or socio-psychological relations. Interpersonal relations do not exist outside social relations, but within each type of social relations. This is the realization of impersonal relations in the activities of specific individuals, in the acts of their communication and interaction.

The nature of interpersonal relations differs significantly from the nature of social relations: their most important specific feature is the emotional basis. The emotional basis of interpersonal relationships means that they arise and develop in people on the basis of ordinary feelings that people have in relation to each other. Thus, interpersonal relationships as subjectively experienced relationships between people, objectively manifested in the nature and ways mutual influences, rendered by people to each other in the process of joint life and communication, are the subject of social psychology.

We have presented various positions on the issue of delimiting the subjects of study of human psychology and social psychology, sociology and social psychology. However, the text shows that sometimes this distinction is difficult to make. A number of problem areas of these sciences intersect. For example, sociology of personality and psychology of personality, sociology of a small group and psychology of a small group, etc.

SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: SIMILARITIES AND DISTINCTIONS

Lazareva Oksana Aleksandrovna
Saratov State University of N.G. Chernyshevsky
Student of the 5th course of sociological faculty

“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.

Thus, sociologists and social psychologists are connected general interest to 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 studying close relationships, a sociologist might be interested in the number of formal and common-law marriages and divorces and trends in this area, and social psychologist I would try to understand how people become attractive to each other and why they get married. 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 psychological signs manifestations of the 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 the data of psychologists can hardly be called representative, in line with the law big 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, thanks to inherited human nature we are predisposed to behave the way our ancestors behaved, who 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 we 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. Without social interaction modern world there is no way we can do it anymore, because we are daily influenced by the media, friends, etc. .

Thus, I would like to point out important role sociology in the study of the individual-personality, its formation, interaction with other individuals, with groups, with institutions, as well as in the study of 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.

The study of the relationship between the individual and society is the responsibility of not only sociology, but also psychology. In this regard, it is important to understand the difference between these two disciplines. Psychology studies the main types mental activity person, as well as the basic elements of this activity, for example, emotions or sensations. Psychologists have previously argued that social phenomena can only be explained through psychological research. Today, both disciplines have their own separate subject areas.

Psychologists are interested in the behavior of the individual, his problems and personality problems(insanity, anxiety, depression, etc.). And sociologists look for certain patterns in these types of behavior and sometimes find that they are caused by social norms, as well as the structures and development of society.

Therefore, it was wrong to assume that human behavior is either individual or social. Psychology and sociology are just two different approaches to the study of the individual in society, the former focusing on the individual and his characteristics, while the latter focuses on the general that links the individual with other individuals.

The development of sociology and psychology leads to the emergence of a new discipline located at the intersection of these scientific directions- social psychology. If general psychology deals with the psyche individual person and studies it as if from within, then social psychology reveals the social conditioning of people's behavior. It operates with the facts of interpersonal behavior (" psychological facts”), integrates them and reveals general trends in the development of interpersonal behavior. It cannot get away from any kind of direct interaction, from any of the factors that influence sensations, perceptions and ideas. If so, then social psychology deals with personality (as social type), his mental functions, manifested in behavior in various social situations.

It is easy to understand that both sociology and psychology study a person and his behavior, but from different positions, which are determined by their subjects. It also becomes clear that they are ultimately oriented towards each other. Their type of communication can be called cooperation.

Psychology, studying human behavior, must start not only from knowledge of its biology and physiology (which is absolutely necessary), but also from a person as a “product of social relations”, knowledge of which is provided by sociological science. Without this, it is simply impossible to penetrate into the inner world of an individual, into the world of a social community, ethnic group or class. BUT general sociology, alas, even now there is not enough understanding of the psychological substratum of a person - his feelings, moods, experiences, emotions, will, temperament. On the path of connecting these "sides" of man lies the prospect of progress sociological knowledge. And not only in the field of small social groups, which is natural, but of humanity as a whole. Is it possible to understand it without looking into the psychology of peoples, ethnic groups, classes, states and countries?

But there is another angle as well. If social psychology studies loosely interconnected collections of people (crowds, theater audiences, random meetings, etc.) or random, not organized at all, not differentiated formations, then it will simply be the head of sociology as a science that studies all the basic forms of interaction between people.