Social communication concept and essence. The concept of social communication

social communication

1. Basic definitions and models of the communication process

Social communication is:

transmission of information, ideas, emotions through signs, symbols

process that links the individual parts of the social. systems with each other.

the mechanism through which power is exercised (power as an attempt to determine the behavior of another person).

Model according to G. Lasswell:

There are 5 elements in the communication process:

Who is a communicator (one who transmits and forms a message)

What's the message

How - a way of transmitting a message, a channel

To - the audience to which the message is addressed

Why - with what effect, efficiency

What are the effects:

behavioral effect

evaluative (axiological) effects

emotional effect - influence on a person's passions

cognitive (cognitive) effect

2. Types of social communication

By the nature of the audience

interpersonal (individualized)

specialized (group)

mass

By message source

official (formal)

informal

By transmission channel

verbal

non-verbal

Types of communication differ in almost every element of the communication process.

3. Public opinion and social stereotypes as the results of mass communication.

social stereotype

This is a simplified image of social objects or events, which has significant stability. The persistence of stereotypes may be related to the reproduction of traditional ways of perceiving and thinking. In turn, such ways of perceiving and thinking can reproduce the dominance of some social groups over others.

The existence of stereotypes may be part of the emerging "image of the enemy." In this case, they can be imposed artificially.

The positive value of stereotypes is to help you navigate in circumstances that do not require analytical thinking.

The negative value is associated with the possible emergence of hostility, enmity between national groups; and also with the fact that they replace the analysis of information with the reproduction of standards of behavior and evaluation.

The existence of stereotypes can influence the formation of public opinion.

Public opinion

These are value judgments of groups of people regarding the problems and events of reality. The existence of public opinion implies the presence of a problematic situation, regarding which a discussion is possible, and a collective subject capable of realizing its own interests and discussing their implementation. Public opinion acts in expressive (i.e., associated with the expression of emotions), control and directive functions.

Information barriers

These are obstacles that arise during the transmission and perception of messages.

Possible information barriers:

technical

psychophysiological (associated with a person's ability to concentrate, the ability to cursive)

sign and semantic (implies the ability to recognize signs, know the words and terms of special languages; the ability to restore the meaning of a sign in a certain context)

situational (occurs when a message is irrelevant to a person in a given situation)

4. Rumors as an example of informal communication

Rumors - information, the reliability of which is not established and which is transmitted from person to person through oral speech.

Rumors are distinguished by content, by information content, by needs.

rumor-dream

rumor-scarecrow

hearing-separator

Rumor spreading factors

problematic situation that creates information need

insufficiency or lack of information; information uncertainty

the level of anxiety of individuals

Disseminators and users of rumors are high-status groups.

Rumor Impact Results (By Levels of Interaction)

a) individual level

environmental adaptation

disintegration of the individual

b) group level

rallying

disunity

c) mass level

changes in public opinion and collective behavior

The ambiguity of the results of the impact of rumors makes them almost uncontrollable. Rumor prevention can be reduced to the dissemination of timely, extensive and persuasive information.

Bibliography

For the preparation of this work, materials from the site http://www.people.nnov.ru/ were used.

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The ability of a person to communicate, including through language, is unique. Over the past 200 years, the ability to exchange information across time and space has expanded enormously. For modern man, distances have "shrunk", and he can send messages over long distances at high speed. Today, the communicative process is a necessary prerequisite for the formation and functioning of all social systems. In the life of modern society and every person, social communication occupies a special place. Almost all spheres of life of a modern person are directly or indirectly connected with it. Social communication makes possible the connection between generations, ensures the accumulation and transfer of social experience, its enrichment, and the transmission of culture. With the help of social communication, joint activities are built. It is through social communication that management is carried out, therefore it is a social mechanism through which power arises and is implemented in society.

Modern science offers an understanding of communication, formed on a social basis, on a linguistic basis and on a communicative basis itself. The concept of "social communication" covers all these three approaches. The first approach is focused on the study of communicative means for the sake of their application (implementation of the social functions of communication); the second approach is related to the problems of interpersonal communication; the third - with the problems of the impact of mass communication on social relations.

The term "communication" is used by many social, natural and technical sciences. Usually, this refers to an elementary communication scheme, which implies the presence of at least three components - a communicant (transmitting subject), a message (transmitted object), and a recipient (receiving subject). We can say that communication is the interaction between subjects through some object. Social communication is distinguished from other processes by:

About the presence of two subjects, which can be two people, a group of people or society as a whole;

About the presence of a transmitted object, which in turn can have a material form - a gift, a book, a speech, or be of a psycho-emotional nature, for example, a communicant can inspire sympathy, trust, antipathy in the recipient;

About expediency, when the result of the interaction of subjects is the exchange of not only and not so much material objects, but the transfer and understanding of information transmitted through signs, symbols, texts that have both a sensory form of perception and internal speculative content.

So, social communication is a mediated and expedient interaction of two subjects.

With appropriate social communication, the participants in the process pursue three goals:

О cognitive - dissemination or acquisition of new knowledge;

О incentive - stimulating others to any action;

O expressive - the expression of emotions or their receipt.

Social communication is a very complex process, as a result of which the assimilation of the meanings transmitted by the communicant occurs. They can be expressed in two ways - in the form of either communicative messages (speech, writing, drawing), or utilitarian products (weapons, clothes, utensils), which also embody the knowledge and skills of a person. It seems that in order to achieve meanings, the recipient may well use both types of messages, but in both cases there are "pitfalls". The meaning embedded in the product must be able to extract, “decode” and only then comprehend, and this process is undoubtedly more difficult than understanding the text written in the native language. Ignorance by the recipient of the codes, symbols, signs used by the communicant in transmitting information reduces the communication process to almost nothing.

But the understanding of the text is associated with many problems. We single out three forms of communicative understanding: communicative cognition, when the recipient receives new knowledge for him; communicative perception, when the recipient received the message, but could not understand its full depth (he read the poem, but did not understand its meaning); pseudo-communication, when the recipient remembers and repeats the message, but does not even superficially understand the meaning (this is called "cramming"); often pseudo-communication becomes the cause of many misunderstandings leading to conflicts.

Any communication is a creative process, since the recipient not only realizes the superficial and deep meaning of the transmitted message, but also gives him his own assessment, guided by personal ethical principles and an understanding of practical benefits.

Social meanings are subject to aging, i.e. over time they lose their value. So, some meanings, for example, the laws of physics, remain relevant for centuries, while others, for example, the names of clothing elements of the last century, are of no interest to anyone, and a rare person will remember them now. The study of social communication is reduced to the study of how knowledge, skills, abilities, emotions, incentives are transferred to recipients, as understood by them, how long they retain their value for society.

The functions of social communication are determined both for the process as a whole and for individual communicative acts, and even in one separate communication process several functions can be combined.

For example, R.O. Yakobson, a Russian and American linguist and literary critic, considers the functions associated with a participant or element of communication and identified on the basis of an analysis of the communicative model he developed:

• 0 emotive, associated with the addresser and aimed at expressing his attitude to what he says;
• 0 connative, directly affecting the interlocutor;
• 0 referential, context-oriented and representing a reference to the object referred to in the message;
• 0 poetic, aimed at the message. This is a central function for verbal art, which is characterized by more attention to the form of the message than to its content;
• 0 phatic, contact-oriented, for her it is important not to transfer information, but to maintain contact; these are, for example, talking about the weather;
• 0 metalinguistic, related to the code: without knowing the word, we can ask about its meaning and get an answer. The answer can be given descriptively, using other words, or simply by showing the subject.

Other scientists minimize the number of functions, highlighting the main ones. Thus, the psychologist and linguist Karl Buhler formulates three functions of language that are manifested in any speech act:

• 0 expressive (expression);
• 0 appellative (appeal), which relates to the listener;
• 0 representative (message), which correlates with the subject of speech.

In other words, the communicant expresses himself, appeals to the recipient and represents the subject of communication.

In social communication, it is customary to distinguish three more functions of language:

• 0 cognitive (cognitive) or informational function, which serves to convey ideas, concepts, messages to participants in a communicative act;
• 0 evaluative, which expresses personal relationships and assessments;
• 0 affective, which conveys feelings and emotions.

The American sociolinguist Roger T. Bell correlates three areas of the humanities with these functions of language - linguistics and philosophy (cognitive function), sociology and social psychology (evaluative function), psychology and literary criticism (affective function).

In modern science, social communication is studied from different angles; the approach to it depends on the scientist's belonging to a certain scientific tradition, school or some direction. The corresponding understandings of communication can be roughly divided into three groups. These are understandings formed on 1) social, 2) linguistic and 3) proper communicative basis. The concept of "social communication" covers all three of these interpretations. The first approach is focused on the study of communicative means for the sake of their application (implementation of the social functions of communication); the second approach is related to the problems of interpersonal communication; the third - with the problems of the impact of mass communication on the development of social relations.

A.V. Sokolov offers the following scientific definition of social communication: social communication is the movement of meanings in social time and space. This movement is possible only between subjects, one way or another involved in the social sphere, so the obligatory presence of communicants and recipients is implied. Sokolov A.V. General theory of social communication. pp.17-18.

In expedient social communication, communicants and recipients consciously pursue three goals:

1. cognitive- dissemination (communicator) or acquisition (recipient) of new knowledge or skills;

2. incentive- encourage other people to do something or get the right incentives;

3. expressive- the expression or acquisition of certain experiences, emotions.

Depending on the material and technical equipment, that is, on the channels used, Sokolov proposes to distinguish three types of social communication (Fig. 1.2) Sokolov A.V. General theory of social communication. P.101-102.:

Rice. 1.2. The ratio of different types of communication

1. Oral communication, which, as a rule, uses, simultaneously and in an inseparable unity, natural non-verbal and verbal channels; its emotional and aesthetic impact can be enhanced through the use of such artistic channels as music, dance, poetry, rhetoric. Oral communication includes travel with educational purposes - expeditions, tourism.

2. Document communication, which uses artificially created documents, initially iconic and symbolic, and later writing, printing and various technical means to convey meanings in time and space.

3. Electronic communication, based on space radio communications, microelectronic and computer technology, optical recording devices.

One of the most important phenomena generated by the communication revolution of the twentieth century is the Global Information Network - the Internet (World Wide Web = WWW). The Internet, by all accounts, is turning into a virtual state with its own "cyber culture", territory and population, independent of national or political boundaries.

The widely used term "information society" is used to refer to a special type of social formation, late varieties of post-industrial society and a new stage in the development of human civilization. The most prominent representatives of this trend are A. Touraine, P. Servan-Schreiber, M. Poniatowski (France), M. Horkheimer, J. Habermas, N. Luhmann (Germany), M. McLuhan, D. Bell. A. Toffler (USA), D. Masuda (Japan) and others. High-tech information networks operating on a global scale are considered as the main condition for the formation of the information society. Information as the main social value of society is also a specific commodity.

The basis of the theory of the information society is the concept of post-industrial society, developed by D. Bell. In the form of the theory of the information society, the doctrine was widely developed during the computer boom of the 1970-1980s. Culturologist O. Toffler in his book "The Third Wave" made a statement that the world is entering a new, third stage of civilization, in the fate of which information demassed means of communication will play a decisive role, the basis of which will be computer systems connecting private houses with all interested parties. subjects of communication.

The end of the 20th - the beginning of the 21st century was generally marked by the growing interest of the scientific community in the issues of informatization of society. See: Burdukovskaya L.P. On the influence of information on a person, society, culture // Russian culture through the eyes of young scientists. - SPb., 2003. - Issue. 14. - S. 10-29; Kalandia I.D. The concept of the information society and man: new perspectives and dangers. // Man of the post-Soviet space: Sat. materials conf. - St. Petersburg. : St. Petersburg. Philosophical Society, 2005. - Issue. 3. - S.256-266 and others - the most important of the manifestations of scientific and technological progress. Club of Rome (A. Peccei, A. King, D. Meadows, E. Pestel, M. Mesarovic, E. Laszlo, J. Botkin, M. Elmanjra, M. Malica, B. Hawrylyshyn, G. Friedrich, A. Schaff , J. Forrester, J. Tinbergen and others) - one of the organizations engaged in large-scale research of modern processes of social development and forecasting the future, initiated a computer global modeling of the prospects for the development of mankind and the "limits to growth" of technological civilization. Many forecasts of the Club of Rome are rather bleak. Today we can safely say that humanity at the beginning of the new millennium entered the fourth stage of development, and the “fourth wave” is able to overwhelm the whole world not only with uncontrolled communications, but also completely tear a person away from his natural essence and interpersonal communication, transferring him to the virtual sphere .

The information process has an attributive and universal character, and it is determined by "one's own-other" - social communication. Communication is a conditio sine qua non (an indispensable, indispensable condition) of human life and order in society. It is appropriate to initially emphasize that if information precedes society indefinitely and is transformed in it due to its comprehension, that is, endowing it with anthropomorphic values ​​and meanings, then communication initially arises only with the formation of society and permanently characterizes the whole variety of human relationships. This is evidenced by the etymology of the concept "communication"(from lat. communication, which means message, transmission, and from "communicare" - to communicate, to communicate, to communicate, to communicate, to convey).

Social communications can be defined as a set of spatial and temporal conditions, goals and technologies for the formation and development of processes of interaction between subjects. Any social activity has its own spatial, territorial and temporal extent, and the nature of its course is influenced by specific factors of the economic, political, spiritual, cultural and other conditions of society.

The most characteristic features of the unusual space-time continuum of modern social communication are:

a significant increase in the diversity and intensity of spatial and temporal configurations of the interaction process;

weakening or even elimination of border barriers;

possibility of virtualization;

democracy (“flexibility” of the social structure, economic models, politics, ideology, national-state relations, etc.);

the effect of the "global village" or "global community", etc.

In their integral expression, these characteristics determine the situation of explosive interaction of space, time and information, which cannot but affect the structural and content features of the formation and development of the modern communication process.

In the XX century. the scientific discipline known as communication theory, the science of communications, communication science, and even - communicology, communicativistics or communication, and in Western European and American names - communication studies, or simply - communications, as well as metadiscourse (R. Craig) as a process of "communication / interaction / interaction", understood in as the fundamental basis for the diverse processes of human life and society, as well as its results. According to N. Luhmann, communication should be understood as a certain historically specific, ongoing, context-dependent event, a specific operation that characterizes exclusively social systems of the redistribution of knowledge and ignorance.

Based on the peculiar milestones in the development of means of communication, when the methods of transmitting information, its volume and qualitative characteristics radically changed, we can distinguish different milestones or stages in the development of social communication. There were several such milestones: pre-literate primitive culture, sign-symbolic culture, written culture, written and printed culture, the culture of electronic means of social communication. Let us briefly dwell on each of the listed stages in order to determine the features of their formation and influence on the technology of social communication.

The first stage - primitive pre-literate culture - is characterized, first of all, by a certain oral way of transmitting information. Initially, the volume of transmitted information was minimal, and the means of transmitting information were signs directly at hand to a person (fire, household items, one's own body, etc.), which helped to indicate one's attitude to a particular situation, to perform joint (communication) actions. The need to transmit more and more complex (informative) messages, due to the complication of human life conditions, led to the formation of a speech and further - a written culture.

It should be noted that, despite the existence of writing, first hieroglyphic, and then alphabetical, all ancient traditional cultures were predominantly oral. Many researchers associate the flourishing of oral culture with the transmission of large oral texts, mostly of an epic nature. At this stage, in general, the sacralization of the transmitted oral text is characteristic. For example, in ancient India, huge texts that were considered given by the gods were memorized, and thus the continuity of culture was preserved for many thousands of years. Ancient Greece can serve as a model for the development of oral culture, in which, given the existence of writing, oral means of social communication still played a dominant role. The peak of their development is rhetoric as the art of perfect oral communication based on persuasion. Gradually, the role of oral communication is changing, and writing comes to the fore as an opportunity not only to directly exchange information, but also to record it, storing and transmitting information in time and space.

Letter It was landmark breakthrough in the development of communication. In the history of the development of writing, two stages can be distinguished. The first is the development of hieroglyphic writing, the second is the emergence of the alphabet. Hieroglyphic writing appeared in ancient times, around the 4th millennium BC. e. in Mesopotamia. Initially, it was figurative in nature, directly designating the subject with a drawing. Such a letter made it possible to express the direct meaning of the transmitted information, for example, a drawing of a bird meant a bird, etc. Already in Ancient Egypt, hieroglyphic writing became more complicated, allowing some abstract statements to be transmitted, although, it should be noted, it retains the predominantly figurative nature of the written language. Such a language was overloaded with symbols and was extremely difficult to remember and use.

In this sense, the invention of the alphabet by the Sumerians greatly simplified the way information was transmitted and recorded. The ancient Sumerians began to use signs not to convey individual concepts, but to denote the sounds of the language, that is, there is a process of convergence between oral and written languages. The study of the alphabet did not require colossal efforts compared to hieroglyphic writing, the letter began to be more actively used in public life. Of course, the development of writing would have been impossible if such material means of transmitting information as papyrus, paper, etc., had not developed, which, unlike clay tablets, were more convenient in everyday use. Written texts become the so-called social memory, allowing you to save and transfer knowledge, expanding the scope of their application. Compared with Ancient Greece, the culture of Ancient Rome was already predominantly written, since writing played one of the main roles in social communication there: the relationship between people in society was determined by written sources, texts, and laws. A written text is more trustworthy as a carrier of "true knowledge", in contrast to oral speech, which becomes a field of dominance of opinions, often false ones. In written culture, for the first time, the process of depersonalization of knowledge takes place, knowledge about the world and man receives an objectified expression. According to the English sociologist E. Gellner, the invention of writing is comparable in its significance to the origin of the state. “Apparently,” he writes, “the written word enters history together with the treasurer and tax collector: the oldest written signs testify, first of all, to the need to keep records.” V. M. Mezhuev defines writing as the language of a civilized person, in contrast to the oral language of peoples at the pre-civilizational stage of development.

The spread of written culture was facilitated by the development of technical means of information transmission, the revolutionary achievement of which was the invention of the printing press. From this time begins the so-called era of Gutenberg. It is characterized by a fundamentally new level of development of social communication technologies, when various means of communication begin to be used together to obtain the optimal result in ensuring the communication process. Printing brings with it the possibility of a wide circulation of written texts, the process of written communication becomes available to a large number of people. Printed knowledge is potentially publicly available, which makes the process of social communication qualitatively completely different. “A big leap,” writes E. Toffler, “was made with the invention of writing, but it took place over the centuries. The next great leap towards the acquisition of knowledge is the fifteenth century invention of printing by Gutenberg and others. Until 1500, according to the most optimistic estimates, about 1000 books were published in Europe per year. This meant that it would take a century to complete a library of 100,000 volumes. Four and a half centuries later, by 1950, this level had increased so much that Europe published 120,000 books a year. The amount of time has been reduced from a century to ten months. By 1960, ten years later, another breakthrough was made, and the century-long work required only seven and a half months. By the mid-1960s, world book production, including Europe, had reached the level of 1,000 books a day.

According to G. M. McLuhan, describing this era in his book The Gutenberg Galaxy, it was the appearance of the printing press that provoked the emergence of a new type of person - an “industrial” person with his focus on technical progress. The publication of books, in addition to obtaining direct economic profit, led to the fact that the latest ideas and scientific research were widely disseminated, contributing to the secularization of public life, the formation of rationalism and secular education, and a more dynamic development of culture.

With the onset era of electronic communication the development of communication tools and technologies has followed the path of diversification and intensification. At the same time, various technical branches are developing, leading to completely new technical inventions that can significantly enrich human communication capabilities and make communication more efficient. In 1839, a photograph appears, the so-called daguerreotype, which allows you to "grasp" and transmit visual information. The advent of the telegraph made it possible to reduce the time for transmitting information from one point to another many times over. In 1877, T. Edison for the first time made a sound recording, contributing to the direct fixation of a speech act, and the telephone created and patented in 1876 by A. Bell allowed a person to forget about the spatial limitations of the communication process. This era is rightly called the era of the first technical revolution in the field of mass communication: technical inventions almost completely changed the face of culture, being still the core of modern civilization, passing along the path of ever greater improvement.

In 1895, the Russian physicist A. S. Popov invented a device that now bears the familiar name "radio", which made it possible to make the channel for the transmission of verbal information at that time extremely massive. Many aspects of life have become fundamentally open, it has become possible to broadcast artifacts of musical and literary art, making them products of mass replication. It was on the radio that people received a large amount of relevant, “fresh” information. Most politicians of that time used this channel to get the effect of a large-scale impact on the masses and spread their ideas.

A separate stage in the development of both means of communication and a new type of art was cinema, which gradually began to oust the theater from the cultural life, as it was not just a fascinating technical miracle, but also an accessible mass entertainment.

Communication, as a relatively independent object of the social sciences, stood out in connection with the development of technical and technological means of transmitting information, especially radio in the 1920s. XX century, later - with the development of technology and technology in general and television and computerization in particular, and in modern conditions - with the development of globalization and regional integration processes.

The first department of communication was opened in the 1950s. in the USA. Comprehension of communication has developed in at least three directions:

Anglo-American, aimed at linguistic analysis and "clarification of linguistic experience" (L. Wittgenstein);

French, which is not limited to linguistic communication and includes such various social problems of communication in modern society as understanding ideology and power, criticism of capitalism, and understanding of discourse;

multinational "philosophy of dialogue" (M. Buber, E. Levinas, M. Bakhtin, F. Rosenzweig, F. Ebner, O. Rosenstock-Hussy, V. S. Bibler, etc.).

The theory of communication is being developed by a number of sciences. Among them:

ethnography studies everyday and cultural features of communication as communication in ethnic areas;

psychology and psycholinguistics consider factors that contribute to the transmission and perception of information, the process of interpersonal and mass communication, as well as various aspects of communicating subjects - communicants;

linguistics verbal communication - normative and non-normative use of words and phrases in speech - oral and written, dialogic and monologue and its other types;

paralinguistics considers ways of non-verbal communication - gestures, facial expressions and other non-verbal communication means;

sociolinguistics focuses on the social nature of the language and the features of its functioning in various communities, the mechanisms of interaction of social and linguistic factors that determine contacts between representatives of different groups;

sociology of communication studies its social structure and, in particular, the functional features of communication between representatives of various social groups in the process of their interaction and as a result of influencing their attitude to the social values ​​of a given society and society as a whole.

From the point of view of D. P. Gavra, two main approaches to its understanding can be distinguished in the theories of communication:

procedural and informational an approach in which such theoretical constructs of communication as the model of G. Lasswell, the mathematical model of communication of C. Shannon and W. Weaver, the socio-psychological model of communication of T. Newcomb, the model of J. Gerbner, the integral (generalized) model of communication B. Westley and M. McLean, the transactional model of communication of the representative of the Texas school of communication A. Tan;

semiotic an approach that focuses on signs and sign systems is represented by the structural-linguistic direction and the concept of the sign by F. de Saussure, the logical-philosophical direction and the model of signs by C. Peirce, the logical model of signs by H. Frege, as well as the works of C. Morris, C. Ogden and I. A. Richards.

Significantly growing influence system-cybernetic methodology. Within its framework, a significant contribution was made to the science of communications, in particular, by such sociologists as T. Parsons and N. Luhmann, cybernetics N. Wiener (including the understanding of direct and feedback), H. von Förster (distinguishing cybernetics of the first and second order). It is also important to take into account cognitive theories of communication (Ch. Osgood), the influence of structuralism on the understanding of communication (K. Levi-Strauss), a critical approach to communication (Marxism, the Frankfurt School), a cultural direction (R. Hoggart, R. Williams, S. Hall ). Within their framework, by analyzing discourses, actions and texts, as carrying certain ideologies, supporting and strengthening the power of some social classes and groups over others, the role of power and violence in communication processes is considered.

In the theories of communication, various authors define the concept in different ways. communicative personality. At the philosophical level, the essence of the concepts of "personality" and "communicative personality" coincide. Personality, as a socio-cultural subject, a socialized individual, cannot exist otherwise than as a communicative personality, "a person who communicates."

A communicative personality is at the same time a person who communicated in the past, the subject and product of previous communication, a person communicating really, in the present, and a person communicating potentially, ready to communicate in the future. In any communicative personality, all these three temporal sections are always present and inextricably linked - past, present and future/potential communication.

In communications by means of their implementation the following main types are distinguished: verbal communication; non-verbal communication or communication carried out in paralinguistic discourse: communication with the help of signs; communication using gestures; communication through symbols; communication using other paralinguistic means (for example, facial expressions, postures, etc.).

By the subjects of communication and the type of relationship between them It is customary to distinguish the following types:

interpersonal communication - a type of personality-oriented communication associated with the exchange of messages and their interpretation by two or more individuals who have entered into certain relationships with each other; type of communication in a situation of interpersonal interactions and/or relationships;

intergroup communication - a type of interaction between people, determined by their belonging to various social groups and categories of the population, independent of their interpersonal relationships and individual preferences;

public communication - a type of institutional (status-oriented) communication with the public (a significant number of listeners); the message in such communication affects public interests and acquires a public character;

mass communication - the process of systematic dissemination of information, which is of an institutional nature, as well as the transmission of specially prepared messages using various technical means to numerically large, anonymous, dispersed audiences; is a regulator of the dynamic processes of social consciousness, an integrator of mass moods, as well as a powerful means of influencing the individual and groups.

Understanding the choice of a certain combination of methods, forms and means of the communication process underlies the concept communication technology, which has undergone significant transformation.

Problem typologies social communication is also not deprived of the attention of specialists from various scientific disciplines. In the most general form, types of communications are distinguished: according to the form of language use - verbal and non-verbal; according to the degree of audience coverage - communication in small groups, communication within the organization, mass; by the nature of the interaction - monologue, dialogue, polylogue; by area of ​​implementation - religious, political, musical communications, etc.; according to the condition of circulation - direct and indirect; by the nature of the speech situation - official, everyday, etc. Within the framework of this study, it seems most appropriate to consider the first two types.

As already noted, according to the form of language use, verbal (linguistic) and non-verbal communications can be distinguished, which are natural channels for transmitting information.

Verbal communication is realized when using words, verbal expressions, the use of which is ordered by the rules that exist in the given language. When we talk about verbal communication, we mean, first of all, verbal communication. Speech ability is one of the defining characteristics of a person as a rational being. Language serves as a tool for conveying the meaning and immediate content of social communication. It should be noted that we can talk about a language only if it is possible to single out the minimum significant unit in the structure of the language, provided that there is a set of these units and rules that determine their systemic organization and the conditions for translation into any other language.

Non-verbal communication is a type of communication in which a communicative message is associated with the transfer of information about the character, primarily about the emotional state of the interaction of the communicants. This type of communication usually complements verbal communication, often significantly influencing the understanding of the content of the message, its meaning by another person. In the process of non-verbal communication, a person receives information about the identity of the communicator, about the attitude of communicators to each other, as well as about the attitude to the communication situation itself. It should be noted that the forms of non-verbal communication are the initial stage in the development of a communication act, both in ontogenesis and in phylogenesis. First, this is expressed in the involuntary expression of one's emotional state (cry, smile, etc.), attitude to the nature of the communicative situation, and then there is their conscious use and the possibility of manipulating non-verbal forms of communication when transmitting messages. Through non-verbal communication, a person receives about 90% of information, which is often perceived unconsciously.

There are various forms of non-verbal communication, among which are paralinguistic communication, visual communication, communication through facial expressions and pantomimics (kinesthetic communication), tactile communication, proxemic communication.

Paralinguistic Communication is an additional means for making verbal communication more expressive and emotional sound coloring. This type of communication includes a complex of non-linguistic sounds (groaning, screaming, laughing, hoarseness, etc.) and such various signs of communication as pitch and intensity of sound, timbre of speech, intonation, as well as pauses, tempo of speech.

Speaking of visual communication, it should be noted that it is often the determining factor in our perception. Through vision, we establish primary contact with the interlocutor in direct communication and then we can influence the nature of the communication process. In this form of communication, expressions are fixed that are not directly related to the properties of the human gaze, but figuratively express the emotional or evaluative attitude of the communicator, his emotional states, for example, a cold look, angry, piercing, absent, etc. Features of the manifestation of visual communication indicate the nature of the relationship between people, for example, in a situation of close confidential communication, communicators constantly maintain eye contact, while in the case of communication with an unfamiliar person, visual contact is less intense.

Mimic Communication often complements other types of communication, acting as a "universal language", generally understandable to all people without exception. Mimic communication is revealed through various facial expressions, which are a kind of illustrators of our inner emotional state. Often, many facial expressions occur unconsciously in a person, being a reaction to a communicative situation.

Pantomimic or kinesthetic communication has a more complex semantic character than mimic communication. Supplementing verbal communication through gestures, movements, body positions, kinesthetic communication can completely replace it, in particular, in the situation of communication of the deaf and dumb. Moreover, kinesthetic communication is more dependent on the cultural context in which the communicative act is performed, for example, in some cultures a nod of the head has the character of an affirmation, in others it has the character of a denial.

To a kind of "biological" types of communication can be attributed tactile communication(involuntary paralinguistic is also fundamental in the processes of phylogenesis and ontogenesis). Tactile communication plays an important role in childhood, since it is through touch that the attitude of the mother to the child is transmitted and, accordingly, the attitude of the world to the child. In the later period, tactile communication rather indicates the degree of interpersonal relationships or performs a symbolic function in social interaction, for example, a handshake, which is a sign of trust, a pat on the shoulder as an expression of support, etc.

Proxemic Communication speaks about the features of the communication act based on interpersonal distance. The nature of interpersonal distance is determined by the personal qualities of communicators, the relationship between them, the cultural characteristics of the community in which they are located. There are four zones that determine the nature of interpersonal communication - intimate, personal, social and public. Violation of the border of a particular zone by communicators can make significant changes in the communication process or completely destroy it.

Thus, non-verbal communication is an additional source of information, which in most cases actively influences the nature and the entire course of verbal communication.

The implementation of verbal and non-verbal types of communication often depends on the extent to which it is covered by the communication process. Obviously, non-verbal forms can manifest themselves more clearly in direct interpersonal communication than, for example, in mass communication.

Depending on the degree of coverage of the audience, communication can be divided into interpersonal, communication in small groups, communication within the organization, and mass communication.

Interpersonal communication implies a situation of direct communication between communicators and, in turn, is divided into personal or impersonal. Personal communication based on the uniqueness of each person in a communication situation. It usually takes place between acquaintances who exchange personal opinions, views, private problems, etc. Impersonal communication - it is a situation of direct communication between most often unfamiliar individuals in order to achieve a specific practical goal. Such a character is, for example, business communication.

Communication in small groups occurs in specific reference groups to which the person belongs. An example of such groups is a class, a team, a group united by a common interest. In most cases, the communication process is born in the process of joint activity, in this case, successful group communication affects the nature of the joint activity process, as it implements the functions of mutual understanding and mutual support.

Communication within the organization is a more general form of group communication and is characterized by a common strategic goal that it implements in the community. This type of communication can take place both at the level of social institutions and at the level of specific organizations engaged in a particular activity. The process of communication of this type is, as a rule, more mediated and formalized.

mass communication aimed at reaching an audience of a large number of people. In most cases, mass communication is indirect. It became possible only with the advent of the phenomenon of mass society, the “man-mass” (X. Ortega y Gasset), as well as the development of such means of mass communication as radio, television, etc. As one of the subtypes of mass communication, one can single out public communication, for the public is a mass gathering of people united by some purpose. Mass communication is predominantly unidirectional, although in the case of public communication we can observe feedback, which is expressed, for example, in the reaction of the audience. Mass communication is aimed at an anonymous recipient and addresses all possible communicators at once. With the development of civilization, the role of mass communication is increasingly increasing, since modern electronic means of communication can significantly expand the boundaries of the communication process.

These means have been formed relatively recently and characterize a completely new stage of social evolution, as well as new opportunities, types and forms of social communication. The history of the latter in the context of the formation of means of communication goes back to the depths of centuries of human civilization. The means of communication significantly expand those communicative possibilities of a person, which were originally laid down in his natural essence. The history of their emergence is in fact inseparable from the emergence of elementary needs for communication. The first means of communication bore little resemblance to modern ones. Gradually developing and becoming more technically advanced, new means of communication led to qualitative transformations of human culture and ways of social organization.

The noted fundamental shifts in the practice and theory of social communication processes have increased the integrative role by an order of magnitude. semiotics or semiology(from ancient Greek - a sign, a sign), - a science that studies the state of natural and artificial languages, the properties of signs and sign systems. According to Yu. M. Lotman, semiotics is understood as the science of communication systems and signs used in the process of communication.

In semiotics, there are three main aspects of the study of the sign and the sign system:

syntax (syntactics) studies the internal properties of systems of signs, regardless of interpretation;

semantics considers the relationship of signs to the signified;

pragmatics explores the connection of signs with the "addressee", that is, the problems of interpreting signs by those who use them, their usefulness and value for the interpreter.

The most significant results in the interdisciplinary field have been achieved in semantics. The subject of her research is the semantic content of information. A sign system is a system of concrete or abstract objects (signs, words), with each of which a certain value is associated in a certain way. There can be at least two such comparisons. The first type of correspondence is determined directly by the material object that denotes the word, and it is called "denotation" (or in some works - "nomination"). The second kind of correspondence defines the meaning of the sign (word), and it's called a concept. At the same time, such properties of comparisons as “meaning”, “truth”, “definability”, “interpretation”, etc. are studied. The apparatus of mathematical logic and mathematical linguistics is often used for research.

The ideas of semantics, outlined by G. Leibniz and F. de Saussure, were formulated and developed by C. Pierce, C. Morris, R. Carnap and others. in some formalized semantic (semantic) language. Semantic analysis is the basis for creating devices (programs) for machine translation from one natural language to another.

The word is character symbol, connecting the thinking person with reality. It is not given immediately in direct sensory experience, but is gradually and indirectly extracted from it and appears in the form of artificial signs - the meanings of the essences of things. F. Nietzsche wrote about the persistent illusion of taking the word for granted, "the most correct, the simplest expression", in which "being wants to become a word." In reality - “first images ... Then the words attributed to the images. Finally, concepts that are possible only when words exist are the combination of many images into something invisible, but audible (word). And only in the final analysis "we think ... in the form of speech".

The polysemantic role of language is studied by a number of sciences. In semiotics, not only nature and essence are clarified, but also functions language.

Informational function means a method developed by mankind for mastering, storing, transmitting and transforming a set of sign-symbolic images of generic and specific properties of things and processes involved in the human world, various manifestations of his sensory and intellectual experience.

Communicative the function of language, especially writing, provides active and universal - direct and indirect - communication between people. “In order to understand each other…,” wrote F. Nietzsche, “we must also designate with the same words the same type of inner experiences, we must have with the interlocutor general an experience" . The role of language in communication between peoples is growing even more. In this perspective, for example, according to the famous cultural philosopher N. I. Konrad, the Japanese are “greedy readers and diligent translators.” In the context of the aggravation of the problem of the state language in a number of post-Soviet countries, the experience of the functioning of the state languages ​​in Belgium, Switzerland, and Finland is instructive. A good example is Russian-Belarusian bilingualism.

Cumulative the function of language lies in its ability to be not only a custodian, but also an accumulator of information about human experience. The dynamic plasticity of the language almost completely replaces the genetic memory, but most importantly, it ensures its ability to rely on the total social experience and be a tool for its enrichment. “Language is a legacy received from ancestors, and a legacy left to descendants, which must be treated ... with respect, as something sacred,” noted F. Nietzsche.

The role of writing as a connecting thread between past, present and future generations was convincingly demonstrated by P. Sorokin in his mental experience. “Imagine for a moment,” he wrote, “that in all civilized countries all pictorial symbols—books, and so on—were suddenly destroyed… Such a destruction would crush our civilization, turning it into a relic, like the clocks of old cathedrals, which no one can start because the keys are lost.

But history knows the opposite - and stunning - effect: the peoples - the creators of the ancient Greek and Latin languages ​​\u200b\u200bhave sunk into oblivion, and their languages ​​​​not only live, but also remain the root system of modern European languages.

The communicative functions of the language are manifested in two forms - along the "horizontal" and "vertical". In the first perspective, language serves as a means of coordinating the joint actions of people on the basis of mutual understanding regarding phenomena and their symbols that are significant to them. Another, “vertical” perspective is the constant designation of the process of leading people by the word. According to the American historian A. Schlesinger, “attracting the broad masses to one's side requires the leader not only to be able to set goals, but also to bring them to contemporaries. Language connects politics with reality.

The ability of a person to perform vital functions with the help of a symbolic-sign system, primarily language, has a universal character. The symbolism of gestures, dance, music, architecture also initially and permanently has a communicative meaning and potential. Verbal language is not always great, but often powerful in its dysfunctional manifestations: concepts and judgments - "shifters", that is, unconscious errors or conscious "substitution of the foundation", the expression of a person's illusory ideas about the world and about himself. A natural consequence is deformation or even a break in communication.

Language dysfunctions are the result of heterogeneous factors. Their common source is the predominance of processes differentiation, isolation of human communities over their integration. This phenomenon is succinctly expressed in the biblical parable of the Tower of Babel. In essence, language is a means not only of integration, but also of the disintegration of peoples.

The role remains problematic immaturity socio-historical, including spiritual, practice in the deformation of the language. For example, the version of the Earth "on three pillars", the search for the "philosopher's stone" or "phlogiston". The conservatism of the written word, which captures this immaturity, also contributes. Socrates treated the written word as defenseless, open to speculation and abuse. Unlike spoken language, written text cannot stand up for itself. But it is far from always that other oral speech can stand up for itself.

Violence against the language is a bitter fruit of socio-political passions. This applies in particular to euphemisms - consciously constructed ghost words, a veritable curse of the purity of language. They manifest themselves in deformations of the functions of language as a form of social magic designed to hide self-centered interests. For example, "welfare society", "liberalism", "world chessboard", "humanitarian intervention", etc.

Both the multifunctional “brilliance” of language and the “poverty” of its many-faced dysfunctions often lead to ideas about language not as a tool for comprehending or distorting reality, but as its creator. Even Cicero noted that the spiritual life of the ancient world "has long been tormented by disputes about words." These are disputes about the Word as the beginning of the world, its co-creation, the semantic and system-forming center of ordering chaos, the symbolic-sign expression of its logos. nomen est petep(to name is to know) - said the Romans. The result was the phenomenon of the “crazy piano”, about which the French educator D. Diderot wrote: it imagined that it was composing music itself. Such, in fact, was the madness of the official greeting of the last Roman emperors “Your eternity!”, And this at a time when the so-called “barbarians” were already destroying the empire. And what about N. Khrushchev's statement from the UN rostrum addressed to the West: "We will bury you" or the words "The Union is indestructible ..." from the anthem of the late, already leaving the historical stage of the Soviet Union?

All this and much like it - the Oedipal rebellion of the son against the father, the son-language's attempt to bring the father to his knees - the language-creating, practical-transforming human activity. Numen est potep(to know is to name). Therefore, calling modernity such “names” as the transition to a “post-industrial”, “information”, “network”, etc. society, it is appropriate to put and offer an adequate interpretation of the cultural and civilizational foundations of these objective trends, to identify their root system.

An excerpt from the book "The Formation of the Information Society. Communication-epistemological and cultural-civilized foundations" by A.A. Lazarevich

There are several types: interpersonal, public,; a special type of social communication is the non-verbal communication of ritual actions.

Human communication can take place between units of varying size and complexity.

The individual must master the art of interpersonal communication, learn to communicate with himself - intrapersonal communication and self-reflection. He must be able not only to think and feel, but also to think and feel about his own thoughts and feelings.

Groups can be defined as a series of individuals between whom there is mutual communication. If the structure of group communication is formalized and clearly hierarchically built, then such a group is called a formal organization.

At the level of society, communication is carried out within the framework of accepted laws of communication, more or less formalized rules, conventions, mores and habits, as well as within the framework of the national language and traditions.

States communicate with their citizens usually in a formalized way: through announcements, acts of parliament, government decrees, and so on. Within their territorial boundaries, states also have a monopoly on a crude form of communication—organized physical violence.

Thus, communication can be considered as a factor that determines the level and type of organization of social groups.

In order for communication to take place, it is necessary to have a common language in which the subjects of communication could communicate, the presence of channels through which communication can be realized, the rules for its implementation.

Communication as a process is a kind of social action aimed at communicating people with each other and exchanging information. Communicative action differs from other types of social actions in that it is focused on the norms of communication that are in force in society. In sociology, there are two approaches to communicative action:

• rational-technological, considering communication as a simple set of means and methods of information transfer that society has;
• phenomenological understanding, represented by the concepts of A. Schutz and J. Habermas and focusing on the mutual understanding of the subjects of communication as the goal and basis of the entire process.

• innovative - reporting new information;
• orientational - helping to navigate in life, values ​​and information;
• stimulating - actualizing motivations.

In the 1920s the study of social communication has become a separate discipline.

Symbolic interactionism has shown the greatest interest in the problems of social communication. In particular, J. Mead tried to explain the mechanism of interaction, revealing the specifics of human communication in comparison with communication in the animal world.

Analyzing the sign language, he found out that the gesture of one of the participants in communication is understandable to another participant if he understands it as the beginning of a specific action. For example, when a dog bares its teeth, the other dog understands this as a signal to attack and, in turn, bares its teeth or runs away. Thus, the initial gesture is a sign that symbolizes the entire action that may follow it.

The condition for such anticipatory understanding is the ability of the second partner to the same reaction. It is thanks to her that he can have specific expectations regarding the behavior of another. The action is guided by these behavioral expectations, and the ability of both partners to similar reactions determines the possibility of mutual understanding and interaction.

Mead calls these behavioral expectations role expectations. Estimating the role of another allows you to foresee his behavior in a given situation. Such foresight as an internal act of consciousness presupposes that consciousness itself splits into I and the Other. This means the ability to put oneself in the place of another and, conversely, to look through the eyes of another at oneself. “Coming into communication with other people, I get from each of them some idea of ​​myself, as each of them sees me. From such representations, I develop a single image of myself.

Thus, the basis of social communication lies in the ability, putting oneself in the place of another, to anticipate his role behavior and orient his own accordingly. Communication skills develop from innate biopsychic inclinations in the game. The child, playing with imaginary partners, simultaneously plays several roles, alternately putting himself in the place of one of them, then another, then himself. The next stage is a group game with real partners, in which the skills of anticipating the behavior of others are honed.

C. Cooley considers social communication as a tool for the socialization of the individual. According to Cooley, socialization and the formation of an active personality occur in primary groups in which individuals are connected by direct relationships. A person acquires his Self in communication with other people. In the process of communication, an exchange of ideas about each other, knowledge of oneself and one's capabilities are carried out. The social in a person is his irresistible desire for communication with others and the product of this communication. Communication intersects the individual and the social, it is the focus of interaction. This is explained by the fact that in the course of communication, people's ideas about each other and about the society in which they live are developed and polished. Such representations constitute the "social consciousness" of the individual, linking him to society.

We can say that in symbolic interactionism, communication acts as a matrix of social life. Other approaches to the phenomenon of social communication are more specific and are aimed at studying its historical dynamics.

In 1960, the Canadian scientist M. McLuhan put forward the thesis according to which modern society is on the way from the “culture of the printed word” to the “visual culture”. This means that among young people, television, sound recording, and, later on, the computer and the Internet, are increasingly becoming the preferred channels of communication. At the end of the XX century. the center of research interest in communication has shifted towards the mass communication industry, its impact on the audience, the influence of information technology, the dynamics of verbal, non-verbal and extrasensory communication, the characteristics of individual perception of various types of communication, etc.