Society, or society, like any other phenomenon, needs observation and research. For this, in 1832. Auguste Comte introduced the term - "". , first of all, which deals with the consideration and study of its systems.

Comte should not be considered insane. His mental disorder is associated solely with the amount of information. In 1829 he recovered from his illness and continued to work.

The Frenchman Comte was actually very far from science. He graduated from a technical university, and his interest in the “mechanism” of society was based precisely on identifying connections and principles, as it would be or mechanics. The idea of ​​analyzing social connections captured Comte so strongly that he literally lived by it, clinging to every logical and illogical chain of connections in the life of groups of people. He terrorized drunkards and easily accessible women. I tried to draw patterns.
As a result, the young Comte became insane and was placed in a psychiatric clinic, which, however, did not prevent him from writing two works that formed the basis of the science of sociology: The Course of Positive Philosophy and The System of Positive Politics.

According to Comte, sociology is the functioning of society: a system of relationships between people, their interaction, interdependence and the influence of certain factors on a person, group, mass. Sociology also considers patterns of various social actions and relationships between individuals. The main goal of this science is to analyze the component of the structure of social relations.

Although the term has a specific one that gave it an interpretation and first introduced it into circulation, there are other definitions and approaches to the meaning of the concept, and therefore in the educational one can find a variety of descriptions of "society", "sociology", "sociality", etc. related concepts.

Basics of sociology

Speaking about the specifics of science, it should be noted that it consists of areas where society is considered as an ordered system. Secondly, science is interested in the individual as part of a group. An individual cannot be a separate object in the system, he expresses a specific belonging to a particular social group.

The consciousness of society is constantly changing, so there is no single theory in sociology. A huge number of views and approaches are constantly being formed here, which often open up new areas of this science.

If we compare sociology, for example, with philosophy, then the former is based on reality. It shows life, human essence precisely at the moment of reality. The second, in turn, considers society in the abstract.

First of all, sociology studies social practice: how a system is formed, how it is fixed and assimilated by individuals. Considering the structure of science, it should be noted that it is quite complex. There is a whole system of its classifications.

Most often distinguished:
- theoretical sociology,
- empirical,
- applied.

Theoretical, more focused on scientific research. Empirical is based on methodological techniques, and is closer to practice. The areas of sociology are also diverse. It can be gender, fiscal. There is a sociology of culture, medicine, law, economics, labor and others.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

"VITEBSK STATE TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY"

FACULTY OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND RETRAINING OF STAFF

Test

in the discipline “Sociology. Economic sociology»

VITEBSK 2007

Exercise 1

CULTURE

The concept of culture

Elements of culture

Functions of culture

SOCIAL VALUES AND NORMS

The essence of social values ​​and norms

Social broadcast of norms

Changing social norms

IDEOLOGY

Concept of ideology

Social functions of ideology

Types of ideology

Task 2

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

Task 1 Society and culture

CULTURE

The concept of culture

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

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

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

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

Elements of culture

There are several components in culture:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Functions of culture

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

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

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

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

SOCIAL VALUES AND NORMS

The essence of social values ​​and norms

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Social broadcast of norms

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

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

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

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

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

Changing social norms

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

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

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

IDEOLOGY

Concept of ideology

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

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

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

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

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

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

Social functions of ideology

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Types of ideology

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Task 2

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

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

Research Methodology

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

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

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

Population distributions by economic strata

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

Outlines of economic stratification

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

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

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

Differentiation between economic strata and economic strata of a stratum

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

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

Consumer Behavior and Economic Layers

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

Social profiles of economic strata

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

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

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

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

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

Mobility of the population by income

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

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

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

EE BELARUSIAN STATE UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMY

Department of Economics and Sociology of Labor

abstract
on the topic: Personality from the point of view of sociology: concept, structure, types

Completed by student A.N. Wort
4 course, UEF, ZEP

checked
teacher A.A. Pervachuk

Minsk, 2010

Content
Introduction 3
1. The concept of personality in sociology 4
2. Macrosociological level of personality analysis 7
3. Interaction of the individual and society 8
4. Conclusion 9

Introduction
Man acts as the initial cell of the social structure. Therefore, its study and definition of its nature, needs and desires is of great interest to sociology.
As you know, the object of sociology is society, consisting of social institutions, organizations, groups. People are also the object of sociological research. Sociologists are interested in opinions, motives for actions, life plans, value orientations, goals of activity, and much more that expresses the personality of a modern person. There is no socialization in animal communities. It is possible only in human society. Socialization is the process of transforming a person from an individual into a person.
The life of people takes place in communication with each other, so they need to unite and coordinate their actions. Undoubtedly, the world exists solely because the actions of a huge number of people are in agreement, but for this they need to understand who is supposed to do what and when. The first condition for organized social life is the existence of certain agreements between people, which take the form of social expectations expressed in norms. In modern society, the state plays the role of a mechanism for the implementation of a large number of norms - laws.

1. The concept of personality in sociology

The concept of "personality" should be distinguished from the concepts of "man" and "individual" that are close in content. When we say "man", we mean a specific biological species - homo sapiens (reasonable man). The word "individual" is used to refer to a particular member of that species. The individual is the unit of the human race.
Personality- social characteristics of the individual. In sociology, the concept of personality is considered, firstly, in connection with the interaction of individuals with specific small or large social communities (class, nation, work collective, etc.), and, secondly, from the standpoint of the social characteristics of the individual, determined by his interests, needs and values.
The formation of the personality, its development can be imagined only in constant contact and close interaction with the surrounding social environment. In other words, a person can act both as an object and as a subject of social relations. On the one hand, social relationships shape personality. Here it appears as the object of these relations. On the other hand, each person is capable, one way or another, of influencing social relations, modifying them, i.e. acts as the subject of these relations. The process of interaction of a person with the social environment is characterized by its two typical forms:
1) adaptation, i.e. passive adaptation of the individual to the surrounding reality;
2) integration- active interaction of the individual with the environment, when not only the environment affects the individual, but also the individual participates in its formation /3, p. 89/.
Each person is unique, not like the others. This uniqueness stems from the conditions in which the social "I" of the individual was formed throughout his life, as well as personal qualities associated with physical characteristics, abilities, inclinations, which are largely determined by genetic, hereditary factors.
However, the sociology of personality studies personality not as a unique, unrepeatable phenomenon. This is done by pedagogy, psychology and other sciences focused on the behavior of specific individuals.
Sociologists are interested in personality as a social community: the personality of a student, teacher, worker, i.e. a typologized personality that reflects the common features that distinguish specific social groups of people from the point of view of their personal characteristics. For example, students of the faculty of physical education differ from students of other faculties in terms of the level of physical development, inclination to active forms of pastime and other characteristic features. The development of the individual qualities of a person as a subject of social relations is denoted in sociology by the concept of “individualization.” Personal education can be defined:
firstly, as a complex and lengthy process of introducing it to the social norms and values ​​inherent in a particular society in specific historical conditions (ie, socialization);
secondly, as the development of the individual abilities and capabilities of each individual in the interests of a given society, individual social groups, and the individual himself (individualization).
If individualization prevails in the upbringing of the child's personality, an individualist will be formed, focused on rigid egocentrism, disregard for collective interests. The dominance of the elements of socialization over individualization in the process of education is also not desirable: it will turn out to be a conformist who is overly dependent on the people around him, unable to make decisions on his own. In other words, the two sides in the education of a personality (individualization and socialization) must be harmoniously balanced. And this is difficult to do without relying on sociological science, without using the methods of specific sociological research.
The nature of the relationship of the individual with the environment to a large extent determines its social status and social roles performed.
Social status (from Latin status: state of affairs, position) is a characteristic of the position of an individual in the social hierarchy. It fixes the differences between people according to their social prestige in society, determines the place of the individual in the system of social relations.
Social prestige (from the French prestige: charm, charm) is an assessment by society of the social significance of things (their properties) and people (their behavior) in terms of the norms and values ​​accepted in a given system of social relations.
The status of a person depends on objective factors (wages, availability of material goods, quality of life, nature and content of work) and subjective indicators (personal characteristics, behavior style, level of education and qualifications). The status happens:
¦ hereditary (or prescribed), when an individual acquires a position in society, regardless of his personal efforts (the status of a millionaire, a black man, a woman);
¦ acquired, achieved by a person in accordance with his choice, efforts, merits.
The statuses are also divided according to other criteria. For example:
¦ natural status - associated with biological characteristics (the status of a man and a woman, a child and an adult is not the same);
¦ professional legal status - has social criteria for its measurement, officially agreed or informal.
Usually a person has several statuses. He can simultaneously have the status of an engineer, a father of his children, a driver of a personal car, an amateur mushroom picker. However, only one integral status determines his position in society, associated, as a rule, with a profession, position, and income. Owning property usually increases social status, but not always. Titled but poor nobles always had a higher status than wealthy merchants. The president of a country is a more prestigious social role than a millionaire. Ethnic affiliation of a person can also be the basis of the status.
Social role (from the French role: social function) is a model of behavior determined by the position of the individual in the system of interpersonal relations. It is adequate to the set of expectations associated with the behavior of a particular person in a social group. For example, the role of a teacher involves answering the questions: what should a teacher be like, what do you expect him to see? There are roles of a student, a groom, a father, an athlete. Raising a boy, we teach him male roles. A person acquires new roles throughout life. Roles are permanent, i.e. exist for a long time (for example, the role of a mother), and temporary, performed for a short period (for example, the role of a hospitable host). However, this division is often conditional: a mother can be deprived of parental rights, and hospitality towards loved ones is not excluded throughout life..
Two different assessments of their content can be simultaneously applied to social roles: role expectations, i.e. a point of view on a particular role on the part of the surrounding people, and role behavior, consisting of specific actions of a particular individual, from the standpoint of his beliefs. Sometimes the roles can be incompatible (say, the role of a student and the role of a young mother). A role conflict arises, which is resolved, for example, through a student's academic leave. Sociology also uses such a concept as role tension - the incompatibility of role expectations (a priest in the army, despite religious precepts, blesses soldiers to kill).

2. Macrosociological level of personality analysis (types of personalities)

In sociology, a number of theories of personality have been formulated. And it is characteristic that all theories recognize the human personality as a specific formation, directly derived from social factors (the ratio of biological and social in personality). Some doctrines are based on the belief that self-realization of a person is possible only through the state. Naturally, a strong state is good for citizens. And everything that contributes to the strengthening of the state, but meets the interests of society, is a real guarantor of freedom. Such a view of the relationship between the individual and the state originates from Democritus, who proclaimed that the common good and justice are represented in the state. The interests of the state are above all. But the most expressive was Georg Hegel, who believed that a person is free because the state is the highest form and embodiment of freedom. The views of Niccolo Machiavelli, who considered the strengthening of the state and its power to be the embodiment of the rational in the human, have the same philosophical basis.

3. Interaction between the individual and society
The conditions of the environment, position in the system of social relations and internal peculiarities determine the personality, its behavior, attitudes and preferences, emotions and choices. Communication and interaction between people is established because people in the process of satisfying their individual needs depend on something specific from each other. In other words, each person performs certain social functions as a kind of assignment to perform a specialized occupation in social interaction: a doctor heals, a teacher teaches, educates, a driver drives a car, an entrepreneur manages and organizes production, etc. In sociology, motives personalities are determined by its psychological state and the nature of the influence of the external environment (conscious or unconscious motives).
Political behavior- a kind of social activity of a person, whose actions are motivated and express the realization of her political statuses. Interest is one of the most important driving forces behind the behavior and activities of any social subject, be it an individual, nation, class, society, etc. Interest is organically linked to the needs of an individual or social communities. But if the needs are focused primarily on satisfaction, on a certain set of means of life, then the interest is directed to social institutions, institutions, norms of relationships in society, on which the distribution of values ​​and benefits that ensure the satisfaction of needs depends. The subjective attitude to such social conditions, institutions, norms, situations, their approval or condemnation, the desire to preserve or destroy them, is nothing more than the interest of the individual (hence it is clear why the movement of the individual from one social community to another changes its social interests) .At the heart of the value attitude to the world around, the system of values ​​and value orientations of the individual is based on needs and interests. Value is a special social relation, as a result of which the needs and interests of a person or a social community, layer, group are transferred to the face of things, objects, spiritual phenomena, giving them certain social properties. Personal values ​​are objects of human aspirations, inclinations, desires, phenomena, processes, facts of reality that do not leave a person indifferent, are able to make him act definitely. Value orientations are social values ​​shared by the individual, which serve as the goals of life and the main means of achieving them, and therefore acquire the function of the most important regulators of the social behavior of individuals. Installation is the general orientation of the individual to certain objects that precede the action and express the predisposition to act in a certain way.
Conclusion
As a result of the presented material, the following conclusions can be drawn.
1. The formation of a personality, its development can only be imagined in constant contact and close interaction with the surrounding social environment. In other words, a person can act both as an object and as a subject of social relations. On the one hand, social relationships shape personality. Here it appears as the object of these relations. On the other hand, each person is capable, one way or another, of influencing social relations, modifying them, i.e. acts as the subject of these relations.
etc.................

Sociology is the science of society, the systems that make it up, the patterns of its functioning and development, social institutions, relationships and communities. Sociology studies society, revealing the internal mechanisms of its structure and the development of its structures (structural elements: social communities, institutions, organizations and groups); laws of social actions and mass behavior of people, as well as the relationship between the individual and society.

The term "sociology" was introduced into scientific circulation by O. Comte in 1832 in the 47th lecture of the "Course of Positive Philosophy". According to a number of researchers, O. Comte was not the first to introduce and apply this term - the famous French politician and publicist of the era of the Great French Revolution and the First Empire, Abbé E.-J. Sieyes, half a century earlier than O. Comte, used it, putting a slightly different meaning into the term "sociology". In the "Course of Positive Philosophy" O. Comte substantiates a new science - sociology. Comte believed that sociology is a science that, like other sciences (forms of "positive knowledge"), observes, experiences and compares, which are adequate to the new social order of industrial society. According to G. Spencer, the main task of sociology is the study of evolutionary changes in social structures and institutions. V. I. Lenin believed that only with the discovery of the materialistic understanding of history was sociology for the first time elevated to the level of science. He noted that Marx "for the first time put sociology on a scientific basis, establishing the concept of a socio-economic formation as a set of data of production relations, establishing that the development of such formations is a natural-historical process." Despite the political and ideological orientation of the Marxist theory of society, it must be admitted that it certainly contained many valuable ideas that enriched sociological thought.

According to Anthony Giddens, sociology is "the study of the social life of man, the study of groups and societies." According to the definition of Yadov V.A., sociology is the science of the functioning of society, of the relationship of people. The main goal of sociology is "the analysis of the structure of social relations in the form in which they develop in the course of social interaction."

Due to the diversity of approaches (see multiparadigmatism) characteristic of the current state of the discipline, "no single definition of sociology is entirely satisfactory."

Like any scientific discipline, sociology has its own object and subject of study. The object is understood as the sphere of reality that is to be studied, and it is on it that the research search is directed. Therefore, the object of sociology, as the name suggests, is society. But society is studied by many disciplines, such as history, philosophy, economics, political science, and so on. At the same time, each of these social sciences highlights its specific aspects, the properties of the object, which become the subject of its study. It is quite difficult to determine the subject of sociology, since throughout the history of its development, representatives of various schools and trends have expressed and continue to express different views regarding the understanding of the subject of their science.

So, Auguste Comte believed that the subject of sociology research are the laws of social development, which, like natural laws in nature, should extend their influence to human society. sociology research public fact

The French sociologist Emile Durkheim singled out social facts as the subject of sociology, by which he understood collective habits, traditions, norms, laws, values, etc.

The German sociologist Max Weber saw the subject of sociology in the so-called social actions, i.e. actions that are oriented to the actions (expectations) of other people.

Summarizing the various approaches to the consideration of the subject area of ​​sociology, we can conclude that in the broadest sense, the subject of sociology is the social life of society, i.e. a complex of social phenomena arising from the interaction of people and communities, their social connections and social relations, ensuring the satisfaction of all basic needs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Moral norms and principles that guide a person;

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

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

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

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

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

extraversion - introversion

Abstractness - concreteness (intuition - sensorics),

Endogeneity - exogeneity (ethics - logic).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Homosoveticus - a person dependent on the state.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hedonistic materialists - focused on satisfying consumer desires.

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

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

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

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