What changes are taking place in society. Knowledge of the world

Social change as a sociological definition. – Innovation. – Social process and its main types. - Social movements. - Social progress. – Concepts of social modernization.

Society is never static. There are no immutable objects and subjects in the social sphere. Cultural complexes, composition of groups, relationships between people are changing. This, in turn, affects changes in society, its policies, and the way people live. Even the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (end of the 6th century - beginning of the 5th century BC) expressed the idea of ​​continuous change: “Everything flows, everything changes”, “You cannot enter the same river twice”. Changes happen every hour, every minute. A person grows or ages, is born or dies. New organizations and global social systems are emerging and old ones are falling apart.

When studying the changes taking place in society, they are usually divided into social - changes in the social structure and social relationships in society and cultural - changes in the culture of society.

Social change may include population growth, rising educational levels, a decrease in awareness, a change in the environment of an individual when moving from a village to a city, a change in the relationship between workers and management when a company is reorganized, etc.

Cultural change may include technical inventions, changes in social norms, the formation of new social values, cultural patterns, standards of behavior, etc. Often, cultural change is social at the same time. For example, a change in moral norms can lead to a change in the relationship between social communities, and vice versa. Almost all important changes have both cultural and social aspects, and therefore the term “sociocultural” or, for short, “social change” is applied to them.

In sociology, social change refers to the transformations that occur over time in the organization, structure of society, patterns of thought, culture and social behavior. Changes are the transition of a social object from one state to another, a significant transformation of social organization, social institutions, the growth of a variety of social forms. Or: change is the difference between what the system represented in the past and what became of it after a certain period of time. The types of social change are very diverse. They can cover the entire social system, or they can give “priority” to some aspect (element), they can be short-term or long-term, they can lead the system to development or decline. Social changes must be considered as a multifactorial process, which is influenced by the "challenges" of the external environment, changes in the economy, ideology, etc.

"Social change" as a definition is not identical to such a concept as "development". The latter denote directed changes in material and spiritual objects from simple to complex, from lower to higher, etc. Social changes can be regressive in nature or take place within the framework of maintaining a certain social system and its basic structures - the so-called "balance changes".

What is the mechanism of social change, how do they proceed? The basis of social change is always the result of authorial or anonymous, random or spontaneous inventions and discoveries offered to society - the so-called innovation. In our case, social innovation. Material innovations can also have a social component.

Innovation, penetrating into society, causes social change (s). However, not all proposed innovations are accepted by society. Others may be taken immediately or after a long time. One of the factors influencing resistance to innovation can be considered the presence in society of subjective attitudes that can hinder the adoption of change and even block it. For example, using their power, leaders may simply not comply with the requirements of the innovation law under many pretexts and thus block it. Social change must always overcome the resistance of subjective attitudes, for the reason that there is never such a favorable situation when everyone unanimously supports social change.

A factor influencing the speed of adoption of innovations is the demonstration of their capabilities to a wide audience. Experience shows that an innovation is more quickly adopted if its usefulness can be easily demonstrated, and vice versa. The specificity of social innovations is that it is difficult to demonstrate to society their positive effect immediately. Therefore, practically all social changes (for example, new laws) are introduced into life by overcoming distrust, resistance, and often through severe coercion. However, having taken root in everyday life, innovations seem already familiar and necessary.

Cultural compatibility plays an important role in the acceptance of innovations. Often they come into conflict with existing cultural patterns. When this happens, the innovation is simply rejected by society or accepted along with its conflicting traits, but these traits are occasionally protested, making its acceptance unsustainable. Innovations then successfully converge, i.e. merge with the established elements of culture when they have a positive social effect for society. Modern society, which is an extremely dynamic entity, must respond to innovations, accept and master them in social, cultural and other areas of human activity. Non-acceptance of innovations immediately generates the stagnation of social life and social effects with signs of regression. A non-dynamic society lags behind other societies striving for innovation and cannot claim well-being in social life.

Social changes that occur through the mechanism of introducing innovations into a particular social system require a mandatory process, possibly short or extended in time.

The social process is the unidirectional actions of people, leading to a change in the state of the elements in the social system. Without processes leading to certain changes, a social system cannot exist.

From the whole variety of social processes, sociology has identified the main ones: cooperation, competition (rivalry), adaptation, conflict, assimilation, amalgamation. Cooperation as a set of joint actions and interactions is known to all societies and in all historical periods. Cooperation from the Latin language means "to work together." Cooperation is based on the conscious desire of people to achieve the greatest effect from joint activities. A person who cannot easily and freely cooperate, i.e. enter into joint actions with other people, ultimately will not be successful in life.

Cooperation as a social process is not only joint productive work. Cooperation appears in the form of many people working in large-scale organizations. The desire of people to cooperate to achieve common goals is expressed through government agencies, private firms, etc. Such cooperation not only includes many people in a given society, but also leads to the creation of a network of organizations that cooperate activities at the level of state, regional, national and international relationships.

Cooperation implies the simultaneous presence next to it of such a manifestation of the social process as competition. Competition is understood as the desire to achieve rewards by eliminating or outperforming rivals striving for identical goals. It can be money, power, status, love, etc. Competition is based on the fact that people can never satisfy all their desires. Therefore, competitive relations flourish both in conditions of abundance and in conditions of scarcity of goods, services, positions, freedoms, etc. Competition can be personal or impersonal. For example, an entrepreneur fights for sales markets without personally knowing his competitors. In this case, competitors may not identify their partners as rivals.

Although competition and rivalry are inherent in all societies, the severity and forms of their manifestation are very different. In societies where there are mostly prescribed statuses, competition tends to be less visible. At the same time, in societies with mainly attainable statuses, competition permeates all spheres of social life. For a person living in such a society, competitive relations begin in childhood and continue virtually throughout life.

The significance of competition in the life of society, in the implementation of social processes in it, lies in the fact that it stimulates the elements of society, individuals to achieve victory through creation. At the same time, competition is not a panacea for all ills and is not the only (let alone universal) type of social process that leads to social change. People, as participants in the competitive struggle and its initiators, under certain circumstances, may strive to weaken competition. If the conditions of the struggle are associated with excessive anxiety, risk and loss of a sense of certainty, security, people begin to protect themselves from competition. Businessmen go to secret deals and collusion to avoid competition, some sectors of the economy require the protection of their interests by the state, and these preferences are not always justified. Almost every social group seeks to protect itself from harsh competitive conditions. Thus, people may move away from competition simply because they are afraid of losing everything they have.

In addition, competition under certain circumstances can turn into a conflict (the conflict will be discussed in more detail in the next topic). Consent to a peaceful struggle for certain values, rewards through rivalry is often violated. A competitor who is inferior in skill, intellect, or ability may be tempted to seize value through violence, intrigue, or by violating the existing laws of competition. His actions can generate a backlash: competition turns into conflict with unpredictable results.

Adaptation (adaptation) is the adoption by an individual or a social group of cultural norms, values, samples, standards of a new environment. Adaptation begins when the norms and values ​​learned in the previous environment do not lead to the satisfaction of needs, do not create acceptable behavior. For example, emigrants in a foreign country are trying to adapt to a new culture, schoolchildren go to college and must adapt to new requirements, to a new environment. In other words, adaptation is the formation of a type of behavior suitable for life in changing environmental conditions. To one degree or another, adaptation processes proceed continuously, since environmental conditions are constantly changing. Depending on the individual's assessment of changes in the external environment and the significance of these changes, adaptation processes can be short-term or long-term, take the form of submission, compromise, tolerance.

Assimilation - it is a social process of mutual cultural penetration, through which individuals and groups come to a common culture shared by all participants in the process. It is always a two-way process in which each group has the opportunity to infiltrate its culture into other groups in proportion to its size, prestige and other factors. Assimilation can significantly weaken and extinguish group conflicts, mixing individual groups into one large group with a homogeneous culture. This is because social conflict involves the separation of groups, but when the cultures of the groups are assimilated, the very cause of the conflict is eliminated.

Amalgamation - biological mixing of two or more ethnic groups or peoples, after which they become one group or people. Racial and national prejudice, caste isolation or deep conflict between groups can form a barrier to amalgamation. If it is incomplete, then status systems may appear in society, in which status will be measured by “purity of blood”. But once the process of amalgamation is complete, the boundaries between groups are blurred and the social structure no longer depends on "purity of blood".

Assimilation and amalgamation are objectively determined processes that ultimately have undeniable positive social changes. These processes have taken place and will continue to take place, as society constantly produces social boundaries, barriers between newly emerging communities.

The main types of social processes noted above are the result of the efforts of individuals or groups of individuals organized into one or another community, organization: under certain circumstances, these efforts become massive, uniting collective actions, shared values, ideas of individuals belonging to different strata. This form of social process is usually defined as a social movement.

A social movement is a set of collective actions aimed at supporting social change or supporting resistance to social change in society, in a social group. This definition unites a wide range of social movements: religious, economic, youth, feminist, political, revolutionary, etc. Social movements are less stable and more dynamic, changeable in their patterns of behavior, usually relatively poorly organized and formalized compared to parties and other social political institutions and organizations. But in the course of their development, social movements can reach such a level of organization, formalization, that they turn into one or more socio-political organizations.

Social movements are an important object of study by political science. However, sociological analysis differs significantly from political science. The study of the nature of social movements made it possible to better understand their inner content, their essence. Based on this, sociology distinguishes the so-called expressive movements. The nature of their occurrence is as follows. When a certain group of people feel uncomfortable within a certain social system, recognizes its imperfection for itself, but does not seek to change it, but finds a way out for itself through various expressive, emotionally vivid actions, which is where the participation of individuals in this type of social movement is manifested. Such actions can be ritual dances (ancient world), mysteries (Middle Ages), youth subcultures (modern times).

Expressive social movements allow those who feel antagonistic to the reality around them and are included in these movements to receive some relief through emotional release, make their life tolerable.

Often expressive movements refer to the glorious past and the exploits of the ancestors. These movements revive bygone rituals, symbolism and find emotional satisfaction in wearing old military uniforms or returning to old customs and behaviors. Such movements are most often associated with passive behavior, escape from reality through memories or dreams. At the same time, such expressive movements can pave the way for reforms or lead to revolutions, since they revive traditions and can function as a force to arouse a passive population. This is also facilitated by the desire of most people to idealize the past, to oppose the "heroic" times to the present. This property of expressive movements can make them an intermediate link between non-political and active political movements.

One form of social movement is the so-called utopian. Utopian (i.e. invented, fantasized) ideas, theories that develop some perfect models of building a society have existed in all ages of human history and served as the basis for both local (experimental) and mass social movements of a utopian type.

These perfect utopian societies have tried to describe many prominent writers and thinkers. Especially many attempts to theoretically substantiate a perfect human society were made in the 18th and 19th centuries, when utopian ideas were especially popular. Initially, the authors or (and) implementers of utopian ideas, who almost always possessed significant internal energy and activity, embodied their model of utopia within the boundaries of small communities, circles: for example, the communities of the first Christians, the religious sects of the East, the communes of R. Owen, the phalanxes of C. Fourier and etc. However, all of them disintegrated or were reborn in a relatively short time as soon as they collided with the outside world or when the number of members of the commune, etc. of ideal communities exceeded the limits of their charismatic leader's physical control over them.

Of course, utopian ideals are viable and enduring. Therefore, they can be forgotten after the collapse of the movement and after some time be reborn in other movements. This is due to the fact that people will never stop imagining (without sufficient reason) the most perfect models of society.

Utopian social movements are valuable for social change with their ideas that awaken scientific thought and activate the actions of the authorities aimed at harmonizing social relations. Attempts to concretely implement utopian ideas meet with resistance from law-abiding members of society, who are afraid of new cultural patterns of behavior, role reversal, and so on.

Sociology considers reform movements as social movements as an attempt to change certain aspects of social life and the structure of society without its complete transformation (or this is not set as a goal, but is a consequence of reforms). The reforms are called social if they relate to transformations in those areas of society or those aspects of public life that are directly related to people, are reflected in their level or lifestyle, health, participation in public life, access to social benefits. Changes in the rules for using international telephones, rail transport or the metro affect the interests of citizens. But it is unlikely that such reforms are called social. On the contrary, the introduction of universal secondary education, health insurance, unemployment benefits or a new form of social protection for the population does not just affect our interests. Such reforms concern social position numerous segments of the population, restrict or expand millions of people's access to social benefits - education, health care, employment, guarantees.

In order for individuals to unite to fight for reforms, two conditions are necessary: ​​the participants in such movements must have a positive attitude towards the order in a given society, focusing only on certain negative aspects of the social order, and also have the opportunity to express their opinion and actively act in support of any reforms. In this regard, it can be said that reform movements in their final form arise only in democratic societies, when people have considerable freedom and can criticize existing social institutions and change them at the request of the majority. Numerous types of reform movements, such as abolitionist (movements to repeal any law), feminist (movements for equal rights for women), prohibition (pornography, construction of nuclear power plants, etc.), cannot develop under totalitarian regimes. in which an attempt at any social change is regarded as a threat to the existing system of power.

One form of social movement is revolution. Revolution - a complete or complex change in all or most aspects of public life, affecting the foundations of the existing social order. The revolution is of a spasmodic nature and represents the transition of society from one qualitative state to another.

Revolutions should be distinguished from state or palace coups, which are carried out by people who are at the helm of government and leave the institutions and system of power in society unchanged. The term "revolution" is sometimes applied to gradual, peaceful, large-scale changes, such as the technological revolution. But in this case we are dealing with a completely different meaning of the term. For example, the longest process in the history of mankind was the so-called neolithic revolution, which represented a qualitative change in the sphere of production - a transition, a leap from gathering to farming. The Neolithic revolution began 10 thousand years ago and lasted 3 thousand years in some regions of the world, and 8 thousand years in others. During this time, developed agricultural civilizations arose in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, Greece, etc.

Industrial Revolution XVIII - XIX centuries. led European states, the United States and a number of other states to the dominance of industry in the sphere of productive forces and radically changed the social structure of society, but this did not happen abruptly, but through reforms. Not a technological, but a social revolution is changing the foundations of the social system, destroying the existing social order and establishing a new one, significantly different from the previous one, in the shortest possible time.

But is social revolution an indispensable or necessary part of social change? Most sociologists think not. The very existence of other variants of social movements alternative to the revolution testifies to this. A number of researchers have identified the main thing that leads to revolutionary movements with their inevitable negative social consequences for people. In particular, it is the accumulation of deep social unrest and dissatisfaction over a number of years; the inability of intellectuals to successfully criticize the status quo in a way that the general population understands them; the emergence of an impulse to action, the uprising of a social myth or belief system that justifies this impulse; a revolutionary explosion caused by the vacillation and weakness of the ruling elite; the period of moderate rule, which soon amounts to attempts to control various groups of revolutionaries or to concessions in order to extinguish the explosion of passions among the people; access to the active positions of extremists and radicals who seize power and destroy any opposition, etc.

Historical experience shows that democracy, contrary to popular belief, does not serve as a breeding ground for revolutionary movements. This is explained by the fact that democracy is the basis of social reforms, and reforms inevitably push back the revolution. Revolutionary movements flourish where reforms are blocked to such an extent that the only way to remedy the shortcomings of the social system is through a revolutionary movement. It is no coincidence that they have not gained popularity in such traditionally democratic countries as Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium or Denmark, and are highly developed in those countries where the government is only considered democratic and its activities are ineffective in carrying out social reforms. Under these conditions, even some reformers become revolutionaries.

There are many scientific theories that contain different, including opposite, assessments of the social movements noted above and which underlie social processes that, in turn, lead to social changes. We believe it would be right to recognize as justified the most significant theories that explain the nature, content, stages of development of the main social movements. All of them are possible and even necessary if society does not find other ways for its renewal through socio-cultural changes. At the subjective level, one can give preference to one or another social movement - for example, a revolution. However, in real life, a special process will follow the path that will determine the dominant social movement in a particular society.

The result of any social change is ultimately the social progress of society. Sociology understands social progress as the direction of social development, in which there is a progressive movement of society from simple and lower forms of social life to more complex and higher ones, from one standard of quality of life to another, perceived as more perfect. Sociologists see social progress differently. Both in the sense of the content of this concept, and in the sense - and this is the main thing - of the ways of its development. So, O. Comte saw it primarily in the growth of the level of knowledge, and G. Spencer - in the growth of social heterogeneity. Marxism considers social progress as a natural transition from one socio-economic formation to another, higher, more and more freeing the individual from dependence on the action of the elemental forces of nature and society.

In modern sociology and political science, social progress is most often associated with the movement from an agrarian, pre-industrial society to an industrial one and from it to a post-industrial one. The question of its criteria and the relationship between the objective and the subjective in them is difficult, which is solved in different ways by many researchers. Some scientists generally denied social progress (N.Ya. Danilevsky, O. Spengler, A. Toynbee, etc.), considering historical development not as unilinear and unidirectional (progressive), but as multilinear, independent of each other, parallel movement of special "cultural-historical types" of societies. Some have portrayed history as a cyclic movement in a circle, as a chaotic or fluctuating, pendulum movement.

Obviously, social progress reflects the general line of development of society, which does not exclude the possibility of temporary and partial historical turns, kinks and zigzags, stagnation, deadlocks and even backward movements, the death of individual civilizations, etc. Only traditional, flat evolutionism could represent the course of history smooth, even, continuously ascending line of development.

Social progress is a generalized concept that includes economic, technical and cultural progress as its components. The foundation of social progress is technical. In relation to politics and religion, the term "progress" is inapplicable, therefore one does not speak of political or religious progress.

In cases where the acceleration of history leads to negative consequences, it is more correct to speak of regression. It is called the process opposite to progress. It marks the backward movement of society, the retreat from the conquered positions, the return to the previous level. Between progress and regress, the difference is not only in the vector of movement, but also in scale. If progress is a global process that characterizes the movement of human society throughout historical time, then regression is a local process covering individual societies and short periods of time. Humanity as a whole has never regressed, although its forward movement could be delayed, stopped.

The real threat to social progress today is the danger of a world thermonuclear war, the unresolved and aggravated other global problems of our time. Their solution is possible only within the framework of an actively emerging world system. It is a product of the development of individual territories and states, which, while maintaining their sovereignty, become increasingly dependent on each other on the basis of technological progress and the globalization of their economies. At the same time, the continuing huge difference between states and societies in terms of their level of economic and social development confronts those who are on the periphery of the world system, as well as those who are behind the leaders, but want to reach their level, the problem of accelerating their upward movement. lines. Concept of social progress made it possible to determine the mechanism of this movement through modernization. It refers to the transition from pre-industrial to industrial and post-industrial societies, carried out through complex reforms stretched over time. Modernization implies a fundamental change in social institutions, economic business, people's living standards, etc.

The concept of social progress based on comprehensive modernization is based on the proposition that all societies are ultimately involved in a single, universal process of human society's ascent to the endless heights of civilization, to a single system of universal human values. Social progress through modernization shows how societies that are in the status of outsiders can change it in a much shorter time.

Many societies, responding to the challenges of more developed countries, have taken the path of the so-called inorganic modernization, that is, passing not as a natural process of reform, but as organized, planned and led by certain social movements. Inorganic modernization does not begin with culture, but with economics and politics. In other words, organic modernization goes "from below", and inorganic - "from above".

Usually, the principles of modernization do not have time to cover the vast majority of the population, and therefore do not receive strong social support. They take possession only of the minds of the most prepared part of society. And this creates certain difficulties for the modernization of processes. Russia has repeatedly tried to overcome its historical lag, to catch up with the advanced countries. It was precisely this goal that was pursued by the Peter the Great reforms of the 18th century, the Stalinist industrialization of the 1930s. XX century, perestroika 1985 and economic reforms 1991-1993.

Inorganic modernization is carried out by purchasing foreign equipment and patents, borrowing foreign technology, inviting specialists, studying abroad, and attracting investments. Corresponding changes are taking place in the social and political spheres: the management system is changing, new power structures are being introduced, the country's constitution is being rebuilt to suit foreign counterparts. In many ways, this is exactly what happened in Russia in the 18th and 20th centuries, and in Japan in the 19th and 20th centuries. It took the latter 20 post-war years to catch up and in many ways overtake the United States. In a short period, inorganic modernization in Japan was replaced by organic. Japan develops on its own basis and, in turn, serves as a role model.

Modern Russia, which has a huge natural, human, intellectual, cultural potential, must take its appropriate place in the world economic and political system by modernizing all aspects of society in a short time and at the lowest cost for the citizens of its country.

Questions for self-control of knowledge

Never before have changes in the life of society, and of a single individual, occurred so rapidly! Moral norms, relationships between people, family traditions, educational standards are changing. New professions, social institutions, political parties appear. Every day a person is exposed to a huge flow of information. Not everyone can handle the hectic pace of life. Many are in a constant state of stress and experience fear or confusion about the future.

But life cannot be stopped. Development and transformation are integral characteristics of any society.

Concept and main reasons

There is no single definition of this concept in science due to its abstract nature. In a general sense, social changes are understood as changes that occur over a short or long period of time with social structures and society as a whole.

The following reasons for the transformations in modern times are distinguished:

Changes in the political, cultural, social life of society can be implemented gradually, smoothly, sometimes even imperceptibly for a simple layman, which makes it possible to characterize the ongoing changes as evolutionary.

Rapid transformation, leading to qualitative changes in one or more areas of society, are called revolutionary.

Modern science, in addition to evolutionary and revolutionary ones, singles out cyclical changes in society, in which social phenomena (processes) are repeated at different times and under different conditions.

Views of scientists

The main reason for the changes taking place in society, scientists represented in different ways.

O. Comte I saw it in the progress of the human mind, in the transition from a military society to an industrial one.

G. Spencer considered the complication of the structure of society, the growth of self-awareness and freedom of the individual as a fundamental condition for transformation.

K. Marx He assigned the main role in the transformation of society to the productive forces.

The main reason for social change M. Weber- social structures necessary for social development. When creating these structures, each person relies on his own moral and political attitudes, as well as on religious views.

It was religion that Weber assigned a key role in the progress of mankind, recognized it as the driving force in the development of society.

Having subjected to a deep analysis of the main world religions (Confucianism, Buddhism, Judaism), Weber came to the conclusion that it is beliefs that leave an imprint on the ways of doing business, the structure of society, and the development of civilization as a whole. For example, immersion in one's own feelings, the desire to acquire spiritual experience, characteristic of Confucianism and Buddhism, hinder the advancement of capitalism in the East.

The sociologist also sees the reasons for the rapid development of Western society in the religious views and personal characteristics characteristic of Europeans: rationality of thinking, a tendency to bureaucracy.

Changing the structure of society and the emergence of new social institutions in Weber's sociology is associated with the concept of charisma. It is this quality, inherent in some public leaders and commanders, that distinguishes an outstanding personality from ordinary people. The possessor of charisma is credited with exceptional, superhuman abilities (Buddha, Christ). A charismatic leader, according to the scientist, can make changes even in a stable social structure, devoid of dynamism.

Factors contributing to social change

For all their diversity, the main factors of social change can be grouped into the following groups: social, economic, political, technological.

The characteristics of each group are presented in the table.

Table. Factors of social change

What social changes are taking place in modern society

Transformation in one area of ​​social life entails changes in other areas. Transformations take place in the political (election of new state leaders, change of forms of government), cultural (revival of customs, rethinking of history), social sphere (emergence of new social groups, professions).

In modern society, there is an establishment of close political and economic ties between states, the creation of a single information field. World powers are becoming interconnected and interdependent. This process is called globalization.. It has both positive (technological growth, creation of new jobs, free access to information) and negative (environmental problems, unprecedented increase in migration flows, uneven economic development of states) sides.

In modern Russia

Considering the transformations taking place in our country, we must not forget that the Russian Federation is not an isolated state. All processes characteristic of the world community also affect Russia.

Over the past few decades, serious changes have taken place both in the structure of society and in the worldview of Russians.

Many sociologists, characterizing the trends of change in the life of Russians, attach particular importance to the process of computerization and the use of the Internet. There are the following main aspects:

1. automation of some stages of the labor process, i.e., part of the functions previously performed by people are now performed by mechanisms;
2. the ability to quickly obtain diverse information. Optimistic researchers believe that access to the Internet will lead to an increase in the literacy of the population. Unfortunately, the presence of knowledge does not always mean its correct application;
3. changing the forms and ways of communication between people. Friendly conversations are increasingly taking place through messaging via mobile apps or via email. To convey emotions, interlocutors use the language of ideograms and emoticons;
4. creation of information computer databases. Personal information provided by a person for one purpose (purchase via the Internet, payment for goods with a bank card, etc.) can potentially be misused. Some researchers see this as a danger of unauthorized surveillance of the private lives of citizens.

A person living in constantly changing circumstances is forced to develop new qualities that help to adapt to the world around him. To feel comfortable and successfully adapt to any situation without being subjected to constant stress, it is necessary to have not only knowledge and skills, but also flexibility of thinking, mobility and the ability to critically evaluate incoming information.

Revolutions and reforms are the first thing we have to get acquainted with. Forward!

reforms

To begin with, it is worth saying that the multivariance of social development is all the ways in which different societies develop. It is no secret that the development of society cannot be linear, which is why there is a sufficient number of different groups that are very different from each other. Character can take two main forms: reform and revolution. Let's take a closer look at the first one.

So what is reform? From Latin, this word is translated as "transform". Reform is a method of social transformation, which is implemented gradually, through a consistent change in individual elements. A characteristic feature is that they do not violate any basic norms. Reforms can be progressive or regressive. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to predict this in advance. It is obvious that the first type of changes brings good to society now or in the future (for example, the great reforms of Alexander II), and the second - harm (for example, the counter-reforms of Alexander III). It should be understood that progressive reforms allow society to take a step forward in its development, while regressive or reactionary reforms return society to the previous stage of development.

Direction of reforms

There are three main areas in which reforms are being implemented. Of course, there are many more of them, but the basic ones are only these three: political, economic and social. The former are aimed at some transformations in the political life of society (changing laws, expanding rights, modernizing the electoral system, etc.). The second aims to transform the economic aspect, that is, everything related to the management of the economy (antimonopoly law, excise taxes, private business, etc.). Social reforms are aimed at society itself. They make it possible to improve or complicate people's lives (changing the retirement age, social protection, providing jobs, etc.).

Reforms can be carried out in all spheres of society, because there is nothing that would not yield to change. They may have minor consequences, or they may entail a change in the social system or a change of power: the reforms of Peter I, the reforms of the 90s of the last century in Russia, etc.

revolutions

The multivariance of social development means not only reforms, but also revolutions. From Latin this word is translated as "coup". It can be said that revolution is a process opposite to reforms. It involves a qualitative and quantitative change in many or even all spheres of the life of society, which is achieved by decisive action. Most often, these are coups and riots that have long-term consequences. Revolutions can be long-term and short-term. The former can last a very long time: for example, the Neolithic revolution. The second last up to a year.

Innovation and modernization

The multivariance of social development is impossible without innovation. At present, concepts such as revolution or reform are being replaced by the word "innovation". What it is? It's a small, one-time improvement that maximizes something to its limits under the given conditions. You can also often find such a thing as "modernization". Sociologists closely associate the development of societies with this term, because it means the transition from something traditional to something newer, more developed and more perfect. There are two theories of modernization:

• Primary, which is based on the type of development of Western capitalism.
• Secondary, which means the displacement of originality and the introduction of Western-style uniqueness. Sometimes this theory is called the theory of direct borrowing, or Westernization.

Multivariance of social development: typology of societies

Most often, societies are classified according to four basic criteria: writing, the number of management levels, the level of development, formational features. According to the first criterion, written and pre-literate types of society are distinguished. According to the second (the number of levels of management, differentiation of society) - simple (in which there is no distinction between ordinary people and power, between rich and poor) and complex (multi-level management system, there is a stratification of society) societies. According to the level of development, any of them can be developed, developing or backward. The formational sign classifies societies as follows:

• A classless society that includes primitive communities and a communist society.
• which includes slave, feudal and capitalist societies.

Marx's Formative Approach

What can be the multivariance of social development? We already know what it is, but it is possible to answer the question of what it can be with the help of special approaches. There are several of them, but we will consider two - civilizational and formational. The latter was developed by Karl Marx and

The key concept in their approach is the socio-economic formation. To summarize, it turns out that this is the same as society - a society that is at a certain stage of development and is considered in the unity of its production and economic forces, over which there must be a superstructure. It is a kind of ideology or belief system inherent in the whole society, and plays a crucial role in shaping public opinion, and is also closely intertwined with economic postulates. There must also be a certain basis, which is a certain economic system, independent of the entities that enter into economic relations.

In Marx's theory, an important place is occupied by productive forces - people and means of production that have the necessary knowledge or skills. The superstructure is selected depending on which basis was chosen. The latter determines the basis of the formation and decides whether the society belongs to one type or another.

Civilization approach

What is the multivariance of social development? This definition in the civilizational approach has a number of differences from the first considered approach:

• The object of research is not a type of economic system, but a society of individuals that develops depending on their needs and interests.
• A person is considered not only as a productive resource, but also as a person with his own moral, moral and social principles.
• Different spheres of society are equal to each other (politics, culture, law, economics). Economic development does not play a dominant role.

Multivariance of social development: types of societies

There are three main types of societies:

1. Traditional, in which the main factor of production is land. It itself is aimed at obtaining food and is carried out through manual individual labor. Agriculture in such a society takes about 80%. A person lives 40-50 years. Characteristic features: closed social systems, no contact with other countries, low social mobility.
2. Industrial, in which industry and the accumulation of capital come first. Society becomes controlled, relations with other states are established, the rule of law is proclaimed.
3. Post-industrial, in which knowledge and services have value. The level of automation of labor is sharply increasing, and life expectancy is increasing (more than 70 years). Society remains controlled, political pluralism emerges, and democracy develops.

As we can see, the multivariance of social development (we discussed the types of societies above) has many differences. Not all countries today have moved to a post-industrial form. What can the states that remain at the industrial level do? To make a plan. The multivariance of social development will make it possible to choose the necessary development strategy for the coming years in order to move to the post-industrial type.

Development impulses can come both from the society itself, its internal contradictions, and from outside.

External impulses can, in particular, be generated by the natural environment, space. For example, the climate change of our planet, the so-called "global" warming, poses serious problems for modern society. And the answer to this "challenge" was the adoption by a number of countries of the world of the Kyoto Protocol, which requires countries to reduce emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. In 2004, Russia also ratified this protocol, taking on obligations to protect the environment.

If changes in society occur gradually, the new accumulates in the system quite slowly and sometimes imperceptibly to the observer. The old, the previous is the basis on which the new is grown, organically combining the traces of the previous. We do not feel conflict and negation by the new of the old. And only after some long time has passed, we exclaim with surprise: “How everything has changed around!”. Such gradual progressive changes we call evolution. The evolutionary path of development does not imply a breakdown, destruction of previous social relations.

The external manifestation of evolution, the main way of its implementation is reform. By reform, we mean an imperious action aimed at changing certain areas, aspects of public life, in order to give society greater stability and stability.

The evolutionary path of development is not the only one. Not all societies and not always could solve problems through organic gradual transformations. In conditions of an acute crisis affecting all spheres of society, when the accumulated contradictions literally blow up the established order, revolutions begin. Any revolution taking place in a society presupposes a qualitative transformation of social structures, the destruction of the old order, and rapid rapid innovations. The revolution releases significant social energy, which is not always possible to control the forces that initiated the revolutionary change. The ideologists and practitioners of the revolution seem to release the "genie from the bottle" in the form of the people's element. Subsequently, they try to put this genie back, but this usually fails. The revolutionary element begins to develop according to its own laws, confounding its creators.

Types of reforms:

• 1. Progressive - these changes entail improvement, improvement of any sphere of life or the whole system. For example, the abolition of serfdom led to a significant improvement in the lives of the broad masses of the population. Progressive reforms have a positive impact on the development of the economy, living standards or social security, as well as other indicators, depending on the scope of their implementation.
• 2. Regressive - transformations that entail a deterioration in the functioning of systems and structures, a decrease in the standard of living or other negative consequences in society. For example, the introduction of a high tax rate can lead to a reduction in production, the transition of the economy to the so-called "shadow activity", and a deterioration in the standard of living of the population. Regressive reforms can develop into popular unrest, riots, strikes. But, despite all their negative consequences, such measures are sometimes forced and subsequently give a positive result. For example, an increase in fees or taxes in order to strengthen the social protection of the population will initially cause a lot of popular indignation, but when the system is fully operational and the people feel the positive aspects of the transformations, the unrest will stop and the upgrades will positively affect the standard of living of citizens.

Directions of reforms:

• 1. Social - transformations, changes, reorganization of any aspects of public life that do not destroy the foundations of the social system (these reforms are directly related to people). For example:
  • - support for motherhood and childhood - granting women who have given birth (adopted) a second or subsequent child the right to additional measures of state support in the form of the possibility of providing maternity (family) capital in the amount established by law and indexed taking into account the level of inflation when the child reaches three years old, to receive medical services for mother and child, to purchase housing, to receive education.
  • - pension reform - Pension reform is aimed at changing the existing pay-as-you-go system of calculating pensions, supplementing it with a funded part and personalized accounting for the state's insurance obligations to each citizen. The main objective of the reform is to achieve a long-term financial balance of the pension system, increase the level of pension provision for citizens and form a stable source of additional income for the social system. The essence of the reform lies in a fundamental change in the relationship between the employee and the employer: in increasing the responsibility of employees for ensuring their old age, as well as in increasing the responsibility of the employer for paying insurance premiums for each employee. The previous system of assigning pensions did not give the employee the opportunity to earn a normal pension, it only redistributed funds between groups with different income levels and from one region to another. Whereas the new pension model is to a much greater extent insurance and takes into account the pension rights of citizens, depending on the size of their salaries and paid pension contributions. According to the new pension model, contributions to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, which together amount to 28%, are divided into three parts:
  • · 14% goes to the federal budget and is used to pay the basic state pension; at the same time, a guaranteed minimum of the basic pension has been established;
  • · 8-12% of wages are the insurance part of the labor pension and are transferred to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation;
  • · from 2 to 6% are sent to the fund for the formation

The size of the pension in the new pension model is determined, first of all, not by the length of service of the employee, but by his real earnings and the amount of contributions to the Pension Fund made by the employer. This should encourage employees, and after them, employers, to abandon all kinds of<серых>payroll schemes and bring the hidden parts of wages out of the shadows, thereby increasing the flow of funds to pay pensions to today's pensioners. The size of the basic and insurance parts of the pension is expected to be indexed annually, taking into account inflation rates. According to the law "On Mandatory Pension Insurance", the state bears full responsibility for the payment of pensions to citizens, including subsidiary responsibility for the activities of the Pension Fund of Russia and is liable for its obligations to insured persons.

• - education reforms: - introduction of the USE.
• - division of higher education into 2 levels - undergraduate and graduate. 2. Political - changes in the political sphere of public life (changes in the Constitution, the electoral system, the expansion of civil rights, etc.). For example:
• - 1860 - The abolition of serfdom in 1860 under Alexander III.
• - December 12, 1993 - Constitutional reform (the adoption of the new Constitution of the Russian Federation, which gave the President significant powers, while the powers of the Parliament were significantly reduced).
• - 2000 - Decree "On the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Federal District", according to which federal districts were created in Russia.
• 3. Economic - transformation of the economic mechanism: forms, methods, levers and organization of the country's economic management (privatization, bankruptcy law, antimonopoly laws, etc.). For example:
  • - 1993 - Monetary reforms in Russia.
  • - 1998 - Denomination of the ruble - early 1990s -

Privatization. A significant part of the state property passed into private ownership.

2002 - Adoption of the Federal Law "On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)". Allowed to establish a stable, reliable system of legal relations, rights and obligations of subjects in a situation of insolvency.

Reforms can take place in all spheres of public life.

The degree of reformist transformations can be very significant, up to changes in the social system or the type of economic system: the reforms of Peter I, the reforms in Russia in the early 90s. 20th century