Sociology. Subject and object of sociology
Having passed a rather long path of development, sociology has become a science whose task is to study a constantly changing society. Sociological research reveals patterns and patterns of various social ties and, relying on these general patterns and patterns, tries to show (and sometimes predict) why certain phenomena and events occur at this particular time and place.
Many sociological works are descriptive, descriptive, they show external properties social actions and events - verbally and through numbers. The result of such descriptive research is usually hypotheses concerning various social phenomena. These hypotheses are used in subsequent research to identify causal relationships and develop theories.
Thus, models of social values and social changes are described; deviant behavior and family life. The relationship between social class and educational goals, between the structure of the organization and the information system, the living environment and family forms, technology and leadership style has been revealed.
These dependencies are simple sociological objects, but in reality the sociologist is faced with very multifaceted interrelated social processes.
The primary objects of sociological research are communities of people and their social structures and processes, the development and change of these structures and processes. The sociologist is interested in the patterns and patterns of the social world (Baldridge, 1980).
Social facts (this term was used by Durkheim) are, as a rule, broader and more versatile than in the ordinary perception of the world. Social facts include, for example, bureaucracy, overpopulation, crime, unemployment, and many others. etc. Such facts can be studied only in the totality of all social phenomena associated with them and involved in their environment. (For example, the social fact "crime": economic, psychological, mental causes, educational qualifications, the presence-absence and quality of leisure places, alcoholism, genetics, etc.)
Already from these examples it is clear that sociology can be considered complex science, because: a) her subject matter is extremely diverse, b) she considers multivariable causal relationships in the sphere of society and culture, c) she encounters various patterns of changing social problems. ,
Sociology is based on facts and operates with theories, that is, sociology is empirical and theoretical. In this sense, it can be considered a "conservative" science. It is radical because it does not leave anything outside the field of study, not a single sphere of human activity is sacred or taboo for it. Public opinion is necessarily taken into account by sociology, but it approaches it critically.
Sociology has its own special approaches and methods, its main goal is the development of sociological theory. The sociological point of view reflects the world and human experience in a new way.
Sociology is objective in the sense that the knowledge gained in the research of sociologists can be tested by the life practice of other people. The objectivity of science is often understood as freedom from values. People are connected with different values, but researchers try to avoid such connection as far as possible, that is, to be objective, or at least to state their starting positions clearly and unbiasedly, so that the reader can see for himself the possible value connections. Weber is famous for his differentiation of empirical knowledge and evaluation. This question is debatable at the present time, and doubts are even expressed about the possibility of the existence of value-free statements in the social sciences in general.
4. 2. MATERIALS AND RESEARCH METHODS
The sociologist uses in his research information acquired in various ways. He must resort to his observations, conjecture or common sense, but he can only achieve proper scientific knowledge with the help of a sound methodology of research. Methodology is understood as a system of various rules, principles and measures that govern scientific research.
Along with its own methodology, sociology is also guided by the following general criteria scientific research.
Systematicity in conducting observations, processing the material and reviewing the results.
Comprehensiveness: the researcher seeks to identify general patterns, invariance, and is not content with describing single and isolated cases. The more comprehensive the explanation of a phenomenon, the more likely it is to predict its manifestation.
Accuracy in the measurement of features and in the use and definition of concepts. Measurement methods and results are required to be reliable and valid.
The requirement of simplicity, i.e. economics of scientific research. The desire to achieve goals with the smallest possible number of basic concepts and relationships. The results of the study should be clear and definite.
Objectivity. A detailed and precise statement of the question will provide an opportunity to check and control the study.
The methodology of sociology determines the ways and methods of collecting sociological material to obtain (generally speaking) answers to the questions why certain phenomena and events occur at a certain time and in a certain place. The methodology indicates which research methods can and are recommended to be applied in each case. Sociological questions are those that can be answered with observable or verifiable facts.
The most common method of collecting information for sociological research are experiment, survey and interview, observation, and the use of statistics and documents.
Experiment. The situation of the experiment allows, under specially controlled conditions, to study the effect of the variable under study in the experimental group. To determine the impact, measurements are taken before and after the experiment in certain situations in both the experimental and control groups. When compiling experimental and control groups, they strive, with the exception of the experimental variable, to the greatest possible similarity.
In sociological research, it is often difficult to create a controlled experimental situation, so it is necessary to resort to various situations similar to the experimental setting. Of these, perhaps the most common is the use of "ex post facto" data, i.e., on the basis of facts that have already occurred, experimental and control groups are formed, and conclusions are drawn only after events that are significant from the point of view of the issue under study.
Poll and interview. The survey and interview is called the "survey" method. This is a general coverage of the issue, after which the data are subjected to statistical generalizations. Polls are perhaps the most frequent methods of collecting information, especially since they began to spread, in addition to sociology, and in other areas of science. Mail surveys make it possible to reach a large number of respondents conveniently and at relatively low economic cost, but this method also has many disadvantages. Concise questionnaires are best suited for surveys.
The interview provides, due to its versatility, a good starting point for a very thorough study of social behavior, various public relations, opinions, etc. The success of the interview largely depends on the wording of the questions, on the interviewer, the interviewee and the situation of the interview, and, of course, also on the relevance of the problem under study for the interviewee. The interview is very productive, but methodologically complex method collection of information.
Survey and interview methods include many different options. These are, in particular, group surveys and telephone interviews, which are suitable in certain cases.
observation. A sociologist often has to resort to observation in his research to supplement and clarify information obtained using other methods. Moreover, observation itself is also a method of collecting information, since by participating (included) and non-participating (non-involved) observation, it is possible to systematically and reliably collect information about phenomena that other methods are not suitable for. An example of participating observation is the study of the prison community by I. Galtung, who himself was in prison as a pacifist; non-participating observation - a study by K. Bruun on the norms and customs of drinking alcoholic beverages (which did not make the author a fan of Bacchus).
statistics and documents. Different types statisticians provide many-sided opportunities for sociological research. Information about society and social phenomena is collected in official and unofficial statistics to such an extent that materials can be found in them for the consideration of a wide variety of problems.
Various newspapers and magazines, television and radio programs, films, books and written materials in general are excellent starting points for considering many social phenomena and problems by the method of analyzing the content. The currently widespread discourse analysis is also successfully used to interpret social relations and social phenomena. Statistics and documents largely ensure the objectivity and scientific nature of sociological research.
Sample. The object of sociological research is sometimes so broad that it is practically impossible to conduct research on this object as a whole, examining each unit of a certain general population. The only alternative is to draw conclusions on the basis of a sample population that represents the general population. With the help of various sampling methods developed by statistics, a certain part is selected from the general population optimal parameters(i.e. selection), which is subjected to research and study. The results obtained in this way allow us to draw conclusions about the general population as a whole.
The most common sampling methods are probability sampling using random numbers and systematic sampling using equal interval numbers. When the population is made up of different groups, it is perhaps most convenient to use a split sample, with a selection drawn from each group. In studies covering the whole country, it is possible to use group sampling, in which the objects of study are first divided into groups from which samples are taken. For example, when the population is students in grades 1-4 of rural communities, the communities being studied are selected first, then schools, classes, and finally students. This method is called four-stage cluster sampling.
Research model. The following is a summary of the course of the empirical study step by step. The general lines that (with some variations) guide researchers are given:
1. Statement of the problem. Naturally, the problem of research is its starting point and essence.
3. Putting forward a hypothesis. The research problem must be subjected to experimentation and verification. This requires a verifiable statement that first defines the relationship of the variables. So, a hypothesis is a scientifically based assumption on the essence of the problem under study.
4. Choosing a method for collecting information and analyzing data.
5. Collection of information.
6. Processing of the material, analysis of the results. Actually research work: connection, classification, comparison and statistical verification of information, compilation of tables according to the data received, etc. to test, refute or confirm the hypothesis put forward and to find answers to the questions posed.
7. Conclusions. Presentation of the results of the study, indication of findings and omissions, unexplained points, assessment of the fulfillment of the research task, substantiation of the theoretical and practical significance of the results obtained; first approximation definition advanced research arising from the results of this, etc. The above questions should be stated in the published report of the study.
Above, we have considered mainly quantitative methods, that is, methods based on various measurements. Along with them, sociological research also uses methods that can be called qualitative, using so-called "soft" materials (eg, documents, diaries, letters). It is possible to use complex statistical solutions, but above all, various methods of interpretation, inference and philosophical interpretation. All this is connected with the language expression.
Modern sociological research is polymethodical, that is, it uses simultaneously various methods and methods to solve problems and ensure the greatest possible reliability of the results.
Sociological research is, to put it simply, the search for answers to problems chosen by the researcher himself or given to him.
THEORY
The purpose of sociological research is to identify, describe and explain patterns social processes, relations, phenomena, as in any science to give a satisfactory explanation of everything that requires explanation. Such an explanation can be considered a sociological theory. According to E. Hahn (Erich Hahn, 1968), one can speak of a theory when there are: 1) a scientific level of knowledge or research, and 2) a systematically organized terminology.
In its broadest sense, "theory" refers to everything that is formal or abstract as opposed to empirical. With the help of correct sociological theory, it is possible to explain human behavior, primarily due to the influence of the environment, social expectations and social structure.
Although the theory reflects the essence of the object under consideration, it, as such, in its pure form, cannot be observed in reality. For example, the position that members of society are divided into social strata is not a theory, but an empirical fact or knowledge. However, the explanation of the underlying causes of this division is already a sociological theory.
Sociological theory is a theory about social phenomena or society. On the basis of scientific sociological theory, one can make certain predictions about the state of society and possible social events. A more particular component of the theory are "concepts".
Looking ahead, we note that theoretical concepts express something abstract and are at the same time the opposite of an empirical fact, which is concrete and observable. typical sociological concepts are, for example, group, norm, role and status (for details, see Chapter 5). There are several types of sociological theories.
An explanatory theory reveals and studies the social causes of phenomena existing in society.
Predictive theory seeks to predict the future based on knowledge of existing trends in society.
The classifying theory is more descriptive than explanatory or predictive; it represents the identification of the most abstract essential features of a phenomenon. For example, " ideal type» Weber can serve as an example of such a theory.
Functional theory refers to classifying theories. It classifies and interprets phenomena and their consequences. Functional theory shows cause and effect relationships various parts systems and the impact of each part on the whole.
Instead of functional theory, researchers may use the term "functional analysis", which can be considered a synonym for functional theory, or the term "systems theory", when the importance of the whole is emphasized. Many researchers noted that the social sciences do not yet have a systematic approach, there are only research methods and a number of generalizations, and those are relatively unresolved. high level. In relation to this, Robert Merton (1968) used the expression "theory of the middle level". Some researchers compare theory with a paradigm, which is understood as a way of thinking or direction of science (Wiswede, 1991).
Despite criticism directed at theory, it is possible to use the notion of theory, especially when it can provide useful information about social relationships. The theory has a close relationship with the reality under study. Theory is a paradigm or model of reality. Sociological theory is based on the relationship of factors, variables, concepts. A "competent", correct sociological theory should not be something divorced from reality, an end in itself, but should be a way to discover new relationships and patterns.
The following is a diagram of the scientific work process by Walter L. Wallace (1969), which discusses the development of theory and its application in research. Wallis considers sociology unconditionally scientific discipline and identifies in it, according to this scheme, five areas that correlate with each other.
Let's use Durkheim's analysis of suicide as an example. It comes from observations about people who commit suicide. These observations provide some empirical generalizations such as "there is a higher rate of suicide among Protestants than among Catholics."
The next level of knowledge depends on the answers to the questions:
1. What is the significance of belonging to a particular religion in that special case when we are talking about the frequency of suicide?
2. Can the frequency of suicides be considered a special case in general?
These questions, taken together, touch on a phenomenon that requires explanation (suicide) and a phenomenon that explains (religion). At the same time, it is possible, by induction, to "raise" the empirical generalization above the original form and, as a result, increase the scientific information used. Religious affiliation, i.e., an explanatory phenomenon, can be generalized through varying degrees of integration. Suicide, on the other hand, as an explainable phenomenon, is only one of the expressions of the so-called disorganization, that is, the functional disorder of society, or the weakening of predictability. With the help of these broader concepts, the above empirical generalization can be represented in the form next theory: "The state of personal disorganization varies inversely with the degree of social integration."
The above can be clearly shown using the diagram located on p. 85. It can be seen from it that in empirical generalizations we are talking about the relationship between two variables (a - 1), but at the level of theory, attention is drawn to the interconnection of theoretical concepts (A - B).
The next step is to test the theory. Based on the theory, hypotheses are put forward by logical deduction. According to this theory, unmarried women and unmarried men are less socially integrated than married and married women.
For this reason, the former have a higher suicide rate than the latter. This hypothesis is tested by collected observations, after which empirical generalizations are made, and finally the hypothesis is incorporated by logical induction into the theory.
The development of a theory, on the one hand, and its application, on the other, can be stated according to Wallis (1971) in the following way: at the stage of developing a theory, the observations obtained during the research are important, and at the stage of applying the theory, the objects of application are important. When observing and drawing conclusions, it is necessary to take into account the provisions of the theory. Theory helps to direct research towards substantive issues.
After testing the hypothesis, it is considered proven and serves as the basis for the logical conclusions leading to the theory.
As noted above, the development of sociological theory and empirical research are in a relationship of mutual influence. The validity and generalizability of research results directly depends on this interaction.
LITERATURE
Asplund Johan (red.). Sociologiska theorier. Studi-er i sociologins historia. (Sociological theories. Research in the history of sociology). Stockholm, 1967.
Baldridge Victor J. Sociology: A Critical Approach to Power, Conflict and Change. Johan Wiley and Sons, New York, 1980.
Bourdieu Pierre. Kultursociologiska texter. (Texts on the sociology of culture). Salamander, Stockholm, 1986.
Durkheim Emil. Method in sociology // Emil Durkheim. Sociology. M., 1995.
Eskola Antti. Sosiologian tutkimusmenetelmat 1 (Research Methods of Sociology, 1). WSOY, 1981.
Fichter Joseph H. Sociology. second edition. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1971.
Khan Erich. Historical materialism and Marxist sociology. M., 1971.
Jyrinki Erkki. Kysely ja haastattelu tutkimuk-sessa (Survey and interview in the study). Hame-enlinna, 1974.
Kloss Robert Marsh & Ron E. Roberts & Dean S. Dorn. Sociology with a Human Face. Sociology as if people mattered. The C. V. Mosby Company, Saint Louis, 1976.
Liedes Matti & Pentti Manninen. Otantame-netelmut (Sampling methods). Oh Gaudeamus Ab, Helsinki, 1974.
Merton Robert. Social Theory and Social Structure. New York, 1968.
Mills Wright C. Sosiologinen mielikuvitus (The Sociological Imagination). Gaudeamus, Helsinki, 1982.
Robertson lan. sociology. Worth Publishers Inc., New York, 1977.
Sariola Sakari. Sosiaalitutkimuksen menetelmat (Methods of social research). WSOY, Porvoo, 1956.
Stinchcombe Arthur L. Constructing Social Theories. New York, 1968.
Valkonen Tapani. Haastattelu, ja kyselyaineiston analyysi sosiaalitutkimuksessa (Analysis of survey materials and interviews in social research). Hameenlinna, 1974.
Wallace Walter L. Sociological Theory. An introduction. Chicago, 1969.
Wallace Walter L. The Logic of Science in Sociology. Aldine. Atherton. Chicago, 1971.
Warren Carol A. B. (ed.). Sociology, Change and Continuity. The Dorsey Press, Homewood, Illinois, 1977.
Wiswede Gunther. Soziologie. Verlag Moderne Industries. Landsberg am Lech, 1991.
developed a fundamentally different theory. Karl Marx(1818-1883) - an outstanding German political economist, philosopher and sociologist. Having put the principle of the material factor at the basis of his theory historical development, Marx understood the "material factor" as the development of the productive forces of society, which, in combination with the corresponding relations between people, create a socio-economic formation that dictates a specific mode of production and the corresponding forms of ownership.
The material forces that dominate society determine the "spiritual" superstructure, to which Marx attributed various kinds of political, moral, spiritual and other social institutions. Meanwhile, the dynamic picture community development is determined not only by the scientific, technical, economic and socio-political progress of society, but also by the specific "disposition" of social classes, that is large groups people who have their own special relationship with the means of production, property and political institutions.
Social development, which takes shape as a result of economic progress and the development of class forces corresponding to it, passes from one stage to another, as a rule, through a powerful totalitarian crisis embracing all the institutions of society. This crisis Marx called the social revolution, which, in his opinion, is the engine of history. At the same time, one of the social classes accelerates the coming of the revolution, while other classes resist it.
In the social production of their lives, people enter into certain, necessary, relations independent of their will - relations of production, which correspond to a certain stage in the development of their material productive forces. The totality of these production relations constitutes the economic structure of society, the real basis on which the legal and political superstructure rises and to which certain forms public consciousness. The mode of production of material life determines the social, political and spiritual processes of life in general. It is not the consciousness of people that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being determines their consciousness.
Marx introduces the concept of formations
Socio-economic formation, (or system) is a historically established type of society, which is based on a certain way of producing society, for procreation or offspring - that is, the creation of a new formation.
The mode of production underlying the socio-economic formation is the unity of the interaction of productive forces and production relations (relations of ownership of the means of production). On the basis of the mode of production, superstructural relations (political, legal and ideological institutions of society) are formed, which, as it were, consolidate the existing relations of production. The unity of the interaction of the superstructure and the mode of production constitutes the socio-economic formation.
According to Marx, humanity has gone through several socio-economic formations - primitive, slave-owning, feudal and capitalist, and the last - communist - must come in the future and is final.
At a certain stage of their development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production, or—which is only the legal expression of the latter—with the property relations within which they have hitherto developed. From the forms of development of the productive forces, these relations are transformed into their fetters. Then comes the era of social revolution. With a change in the economic basis, a revolution takes place more or less quickly in the entire vast superstructure. When considering such upheavals, it is always necessary to distinguish between a material upheaval, ascertained with natural-scientific accuracy, in economic conditions production from legal, political, religious, artistic or philosophical, in short - from the ideological forms in which people are aware of this conflict and fight for its resolution.
No social formation perishes before all the productive forces have been developed for which it gives sufficient scope, and new higher relations of production never appear before the material conditions for their existence have matured in the womb of the old society itself.
Marx viewed human history as the history of the struggle between large social groups.
The revolution of the proletariat, according to Marx, will be for the first time in history a revolution of the majority for everyone, and not minorities for their own sake. “When class distinctions disappear in the course of development and all production is concentrated in the hands of an association of individuals, then public power will lose its political character. Political power, in the proper sense of the word, is the organized violence of one class to suppress another. If the proletariat in the struggle against the bourgeoisie necessarily unites into a class, if by means of revolution it becomes the ruling class and, as the ruling class, by force abolishes the old relations of production, then together with these production relations it destroys the conditions for the existence of class opposition, destroys classes in general, and thereby also its own domination as a class. of the old bourgeois society with its classes and class antagonisms comes an association in which the free development of everyone is the main goal.
7. Subjective method and psychological direction
in the sociology of Russia at the end of the 19th century.
Subjectivist paradigm focuses research on what and how people do. Here, society is considered from the point of view of the interaction of social groups, each of which has special values, attitudes, habits and statuses.
It is based on the ideas of the understanding sociology of Max Weber, on psychological, with the exception of behaviorism, directions, as well as on phenomenological philosophy. This paradigm has the following in common:
1) social reality is understood as arising as a result of interactions mediated by the individual meanings and ideas of the actors;
2) therefore, the main task of sociology is to understand the inner meaning of certain actions, to describe the ideas on the basis of which social reality is constructed, and the process of this construction;
3) this task should be solved with the help of methods that are fundamentally different from those of the natural sciences.
Subjective sociology was formed in the youth of the 60s - early 70s. XIX century and set out in the works of P.L. Lavrov and N.K. Mikhailovsky, their positions were shared by S.N. Yuzhakov, not being a populist.
Subjective sociology fundamentally distinguished between natural science and sociological knowledge and, as a result, objective and subjective research methods. According to subjective sociology, a person, and not a group, a class, is the main “unit” of the social structure, as well as historical development. The subjective thoughts and goals of the individual determine his social activity. puts himself in the position of being observed." In addition, subjective sociology included an ethical aspect - the researcher's assessment of social facts from the point of view of his social ideal, moral positions.
Petr Lavrovich Lavrov(1823-1900) was the first to introduce into sociology such terms as "anthropologism", "subjective method", "subjective point of view". “In sociology and history,” wrote Lavrov, there are things that are unchanging and absolute, as in other sciences. They are objective, they may not be known about in a certain era, but they are discovered in another ... Sociology and history contain such truths that cannot be discovered until a certain moment, not because of an objective inconsistency with what is already known, but because of the subjective unsuitability of society to understand the question and give an answer to it"
The Russian sociologist explains this idea with the following example: as long as the working class did not have a desire to take part in public life, historians did not need to comprehend the past, which contained the origins of this desire, and although the annals and memoirs contained many interesting facts on the subject, they were not yet a scientific understanding of history.
Revealing the main content of his approach to the life of society and its processes, Lavrov noted that "social forms appear as products of social creativity of the individual changing in history in view of their good, and therefore the individual always has the right and duty to strive to change existing forms in accordance with his moral ideals, has the right and duty to fight for what it considers progress (constantly subjecting its ideas of progress to criticism on the basic requirements of ethics), developing a social force capable of triumphing in such a struggle.
Since the majority is guided only by the calculation of utility, interest is the most general social impulse, and in every historical epoch a progressive movement is stable only when the interests of the majority coincide in their social ideals with the convictions of the most developed minority. It is on this theoretical basis that Lavrov substantiates the organic connection between sociology and socialism. Socialism, according to Lavrov, fully meets the requirements outlined above: “It represents the interests of the working majority, it is so imbued with the consciousness of the class struggle; it realizes for the developed minority the ideal of the most just society, allowing the most conscious development of the individual with the greatest solidarity of all working people, an ideal capable of embracing all humanity, destroying all the delimitations of states, nationalities and races; it is for individuals who have thought the most about the course of history, and the inevitable result of the modern process economic life.
Another major Russian sociologist was also a subjectivist in sociology. Nikolai Konstantinovich Mikhailovsky(1842-1904). “The fundamental and indelible difference between the relationship of man to man and to the rest of nature lies primarily in the fact,” Mikhailovsky wrote, “that in the first case we are dealing not just with phenomena, but with phenomena that gravitate towards a certain goal, while in second - this goal does not exist. The difference is so important and essential that in itself hints at the need to apply different methods to two great areas of human knowledge ... We cannot evaluate social phenomena otherwise than subjectively ... the highest control should belong to here subjective method. Mikhailovsky believed that it was impossible to treat the facts of social life impartially. "Tell me," he said, "what are your social connections, and I'll tell you how you see the world." Mikhailovsky rejected the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin and G. Spencer and proceeded from the theory of the need to save the individual from the destructive effects of social control. In his opinion, there is an ongoing war between the individual and society, evidence of this is the history of Russia. Having paid attention to the influence of imitation, suggestion, prestige on social behavior, Mikhailovsky anticipated the psychoanalysis of Z. Freud and W. Adler.
The structural-functional method is an approach to describing and explaining systems, in which their elements and the dependencies between them are studied within the framework of a single whole; individual social phenomena perform a specific function in supporting and changing the social system.
Structural-functional analysis is based on the idea of a social order in which agreement (consensus) dominates conflict. The structural-functional theory is characterized by a conscious desire to build a complete system of social action as the most complete system explanations of empirical facts of reality.
Each element of this structure performs certain functions that satisfy the needs of the system. The essence of the method consists in dividing a complex object into its component parts, studying the relationships between them and determining their specific functions (roles) aimed at meeting the relevant needs of the personnel management system, taking into account the integrity of the latter and its interaction with the external environment.
In structural-functional analysis, “action” is taken as the unit of study, and society is presented as a set of complex social systems of action (the concept of T. Parsons, R. Merton). Each individual in his behavior is focused on "generally accepted" ways of behavior. The norms are combined into institutions that have a structure and have functions aimed at achieving the stability of society. The purpose of structural-functional analysis is to quantify the changes to which this system can adapt without detriment to their basic functional duties.
Structural-functional analysis includes the study of the functional dependencies of the elements of the system, the unity of the institutions of power, the correspondence of their action (functioning) to the needs of the subjects, the identification of how the need to adapt the system to an environment that is changing is realized.
INTRODUCTION 3
CHAPTER 1. ESSENCE, STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS OF SOCIETY 4
1.1. The concept of society, its structure and functions 4
1.2. Society as an integral socio-cultural system 10
CHAPTER 2. TYPOLOGY OF PUBLIC SYSTEMS 16
2.1. The concept of a social system 16
2.2. New phenomena in world social development 23
CONCLUSION 26
REFERENCES 27
Introduction
In sociology, the concept of society has a broader, universal content and essence. If the ordinary definition of society noted the interaction of individuals, the relationships and relationships that develop between them, then in the definition of sociology, society is the totality of all ways of interaction and forms of uniting people, in which their comprehensive dependence on each other is expressed.
Modern society is a system consisting of separate levels of social communities.
When studying any phenomenon, it is important not only to highlight it character traits that distinguish it from other social formations, but also show the diversity of its manifestation, development in real life. Even a superficial glance allows one to capture the multicolored picture of modern societies. Differences are manifested both explicitly (language of communication, culture, geographical location, political system, level of well-being), and not so openly (level of stability, degree of social integration, opportunities for self-realization of the individual).
The aim of the work is to study society from the point of view of sociology as a socio-cultural system.
The tasks of the work were:
To study the concept of society and the main approaches in sociology to this concept;
To study the structural organization of society;
Explore the typology of social systems.
CHAPTER 1. Essence, structure and functions of society
1.1. The concept of society, its structure and functions
Society - a set of people united by specific interests, needs, or mutual sympathy, or type of activity. This is a common definition.
Society is a structurally or genetically defined type (genus, species, subspecies, etc.) of communication, which appears as a historically defined integrity or a relatively independent element (aspect, moment, etc.) of a stable integrity.
The main important feature of society is the territory on which social ties are consolidated. The planet provided an opportunity for many communities of people to find their own ecological cell to ensure the satisfaction of people's vital needs and to give the life activity of individuals their own unique features, due to the variety of climatic conditions and the natural landscape.
Base territory social space in which relationships and interactions between individuals are formed and developed.
The ability to maintain and reproduce the high intensity of internal ties is the second sign, a distinctive feature of society. Collective consciousness, the presence of a common will that prevents the development of the destructive power of human egoism, Emile Durkheim considered the basis of the stability and unity of society. It is thanks to the fundamental values that are assimilated by the majority of the population and orienting each individual towards the observance of the norms of joint life that society is preserved, sociologist Robert Merton believes, and American sociologist Edward Shils is convinced that society exists only under the influence of "the general will, which ensures control over the entire territory and promoting a common culture."
At the beginning of the emergence of society, people were connected by ties of kinship and neighborhood, built on an emotional, semi-instinctive basis, on mutual attraction, on habit, on the fear of losing help and support. And Ferdinand Tennis calls a society based on kinship and neighborhood, on mutual attraction to each other, a community. But the system of interpersonal interaction could no longer maintain the stability of ties between people as the population grew. Social structures become the main stabilizing factor of society.
Structure in sociology is understood as stable social formations, connections, relationships: social communities, social institutions, etc. It is they who carry out the goals and tasks that are vital for society. Indeed, in society, permanently or for a long period, there exist and function: institutions of property or the state, social communities, layers of the intelligentsia or the professional role of a judge, etc., although specific people that ensure the functioning of social structures are replaced repeatedly.
In the process of the development of society, social structures were formed, acting as a result of the consolidation of stable interactions and relationships that arise on the basis of interpersonal contacts and relationships. It is the relative constancy and functional expediency of social structures that contribute to the stability of society. Each structure regulates and reproduces certain types of life activity and relationships. The institution of finance and funds regulates the exchange of goods, the institution of the family - marriage relations, social and professional communities support the division of labor. Together, they provide continuity, without which the reproduction of social ties is impossible.
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.
within the same society can coexist different cultures. 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. It is social and cultural heritage, which 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 different 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 essential functions culture is communicative. Culture is universal system communication of 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 carrier 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 a particular 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. lowest level acceptance of the norm is the level of motivation by the 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 - “internalization” by a person of a norm, 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 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 violation less severely moral standards not formalized in the form of laws. 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 has a predominantly state-legal character. 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 goals (programs) of social activity 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, they mainly focus 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 of manipulation. 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 the individual to choose adequate social interests values and norms to guide 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 need common action.
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 demands 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 gene pool of the nation and its external manifestations defined as the sole 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 modernity, 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 the liberal economic reforms- such as the formation of a wide layer of new owners, the expansion of the middle strata, the 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, indicating high concentration financial resources and the 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 the 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, CEOs 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.
The content of the article
SOCIOLOGY(from Greek socio - society, lat. logos - word, science) - the science of society. This general definition has several clarifying explanations: 1) the science of the social systems that make up society; 2) the science of the laws of development of society; 3) the science of social processes, social institutions, social relations; 4) the science of social structure and social communities; 5) the science of the driving forces of consciousness and behavior of people as members of civil society. The latter definition is relatively new and is increasingly shared by many sociologists. Based on this definition of sociology, its subject is the totality of social phenomena and processes that characterize the real social consciousness in all its contradictory development; activity, the actual behavior of people, and conditions(environment), which affect their development and functioning in the socio-economic, socio-political and spiritual spheres of society.
The emergence of sociology as a science.
The term "sociology" literally means "the science of society" or "the study of society". It was first used by the French philosopher Auguste Comte in the 1840s. However, many provisions future science were anticipated in the writings of Confucius, Indian, Assyrian and ancient Egyptian thinkers. Special place in the justification of social ideas belongs to the ancient Greek philosophers Plato, Aristotle. French enlighteners of the 18th century. - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Charles Louis Montesquieu, Voltaire, Denis Diderot, representatives of utopian thought - Thomas More, Tommaso Campanella, Claude Henri Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Robert Owen developed ideas about the possibilities of improving society in the realities of modern times. However all social ideas expressed and formulated before the 19th century were the forerunners of sociology, its sources, but not the science itself. The emergence of sociology as a science reflects a qualitatively new stage in the history of society, when it appeared in the human dimension - each person became the subject of the historical process. This radical turn in social practice and social science is connected with the great bourgeois revolutions, mainly with the French one at the end of the 18th century. It proclaimed freedom, equality, brotherhood of all people, regardless of social background, social status, religion, nationality. It is from this period that a new understanding of the role of man begins, the study of the consciousness and behavior of people as active participants in economic, social, political and cultural changes.
The main milestones in the development of sociology.
From the middle of the 19th century calculated First step in its development - the stage of formation of the scientific foundations of sociology. The search for fundamental ideas went on a broad front: if O. Comte spoke about the possibilities of knowing society with the help of “social physics” (he likened society to nature and therefore considered it possible to know social life with the help of natural laws or similar ones), then socio-biological school and its founder G. Spencer compared society with the development of a living organism, advocating the use of biological laws in their cognition. In the same century, the search for the essence of sociology was led by socio-psychological school: G.Tard, G.Lebon, F.Tennis, N.K.Mikhailovsky, N.I.Kareev, E.V.De Roberti focused on the problems of personality, which they considered as a unity of biological and social principle in man, and social life was presented as a special manifestation of world energy. In the second half of the 19th century was very popular geographical direction in sociology, whose ideas were most fully embodied in the works of E. Reclus, F. Ratzel, L.I. Mechnikov, who defended the notion of the decisive influence of the geographical environment on the development of society and the individual. In the same period, it gained strength and gained significant influence Marxist concept in sociology, prominent representatives of which were K. Marx, F. Engels, G. V. Plekhanov, V. I. Lenin and, until a certain time, P. B. Struve, A. A. Bogdanov and M. I. Tugan-Baranovsky. This concept is based on the decisive influence of socio-economic relations on the process of interaction between different classes and roles. revolutionary struggle in resolving all social conflicts. In addition, in Russia declared itself social and legal direction presented by N.M. Korkunov, L.I. Petrazhitsky, P.I. Novgorodtsev, B.A. Kistyakovsky and B.N. They analyzed the processes of domination and subordination, paying particular attention to the role of the state in solving social problems.
Second phase in the development of sociology, which is often called classical, is represented by the works of the French scientist E. Durkheim, German researchers M. Weber, G. Simmel. They claimed a different vision of sociology - not for "knowing all about" society, but for the study of the most important components of public life: social facts (E. Durkheim), political and economic phenomena(M. Weber), social patterns (G. Simmel). It was they who initiated the search for new approaches, incl. and empirical, to the definition of the object and subject of sociological science, which were also developed by V. Pareto, G. Mosca, W. Dilthey, P. A. Sorokin, Z. Znanetsky and other major representatives of sociological thought of the first half of the 20th century.
These searches continued throughout the 20th century. and led to the third, modern stage in the development of sociology, which is represented by the following major schools in sociology.
Structural functionalism.
The foundations of this concept are most fully stated by the American sociologist T. Parsons, who bases his search on the concepts of Spencer and Durkheim. The basic idea is the idea of "social order", which embodies the desire to maintain the balance of the system, to harmonize its various elements among themselves, to achieve agreement between them. These notions dominated the Western sociology, sometimes under a slightly modified name - structuralism. In France, it was developed by M. Foucault, K. Levi-Strauss and others. The main approach of this theory is to determine the parts of society, to identify their functions. At the same time, structural functionalism practically rejected the idea of development, calling for maintaining "balance" within the existing system, coordinating the interests of various structures and subsystems. This conclusion was made on the basis of an analysis of the public and state structure The United States, which T. Parsons considered the standard, and whose stability he regarded as a great achievement.
To improve structural functionalism was called upon neoevolutionism, who turned to the problem of man and tried to explain the process of complication of social systems through the ever-increasing differentiation of functions performed by individuals. R. Merton, trying to overcome the limitations of the structural-functional approach, created a theory of social change by introducing the concept of "dysfunction". He brought the idea of change into functionalism, but limited change to the “middle” level—the level of a particular social system. The idea of social change brought to life the need to search and study cause-and-effect relationships.
Theories of social conflict.
At the heart of development, argued the American scientist C. R. Mills, who was extremely critical of traditional social science, is conflict, and not conformism, harmony, integration. Society is always in a state of instability, because there is a constant struggle between various social groups that embody certain interests. Moreover, relying on the ideas of K. Marx, M. Weber, V. Pareto and G. Mosca, Mills argued that the highest manifestation of this conflict is the struggle for power. Another conflict theorist, German sociologist R. Dahrendorf, believes that all complex organizations are based on the redistribution of power. In his opinion, conflicts are based not on economic, but on political reasons. The source of conflicts is the so-called political man. Ranking conflicts (conflicts of opponents of the same level, the conflict of opponents who are in a relationship of subordination, the conflict of the whole and the part), he received 15 types and analyzed in detail the possibility of their "canalization" and regulation. Another supporter of this theory, the American sociologist L. Koser, defined social conflict as an ideological phenomenon that reflects the aspirations and feelings of social groups or individuals in the struggle for power, for changing social status, redistributing income, reassessing values, etc. Most representatives of this trend emphasize the value of conflicts that prevent the ossification of society, open the way for innovation, and become a source of development and improvement. At the same time, this position rejects the spontaneity of conflicts and advocates the possibility and necessity of their regulation.
Behaviorism.
The creative impulse of this theory lies in the fact that conscious human activity comes to the fore, the need to study interpersonal interaction instead of the reification of social relations implemented by the structural-functional approach. Another feature of this direction was the reliance on the study of the specific state of human relations within certain social organizations and social institutions, which allowed theoretical schemes to saturate the surrounding social reality with “blood and flesh”. ().
Theory of social exchange.
Its most prominent representatives, American sociologists J. Homans and P. Blau, proceeded from the primacy of the role of a person, not a system. They defended the great importance of the mental qualities of a person, because in order to explain the behavior of people, it is necessary to know them. state of mind. But the main thing in this theory, according to Blau, is that people are constantly striving to receive rewards (approval, respect, status, practical help) for their actions. And when they interact with other people, they get it, although the interaction will not always be equal and satisfying to all its participants.
symbolic interactionism.
In search of a way out of the contradictions of the behaviorist approach, representatives of this theory began to explain people's behavior in terms of the importance that a person or group attaches to certain aspects of a situation. The American sociologist J.G. Mead, as the creator of this theory, focused his attention on the study of the processes “within” behavior as a whole. Proponents of this approach attached great importance to linguistic symbolism. They are characterized by the idea of activity as a set social roles, which is personified in the form of linguistic and other symbols, which served as the basis for naming this direction as "role theory".
Phenomenological sociology.
It originates from the philosophical concept of the German scientist E. Husserl. Based on this theory, a “sociology of ordinary consciousness” arose, substantiated in the works of the Austrian philosopher and sociologist A. Schutz. The focus of the supporters of the phenomenological approach is not the world as a whole, as in the case of positivists, but a person in his specific dimension. Social reality, in their opinion, is not some objective given, which is initially outside the subject and only then through socialization, upbringing and education becomes its component. For phenomenologists, social reality is "constructed" by means of images and concepts expressed in communication. Social events, according to their ideas, only seem to be objective, while in reality they appear as the opinions of individuals about these events. Since it is opinions that form the social world, the concept of "meaning" is in the center of attention of this school.
Within the framework of the phenomenological concept, two major schools have developed - sociology of knowledge And ethnomethodology(the last term is constructed by analogy with the ethnographic term ethnoscience- rudimentary knowledge in primitive societies). Concerning sociology of knowledge, then it is presented by K. Mannheim, who focused on the study of those structures in which, one way or another, there are interconnections between thinking and society. It was from these positions that he approached the interpretation of ideology, truth, and the role of intellectual life in society. These ideas were developed by the American P. Berger and the German T. Lukman, who sought to justify the need to "legitimize" the symbolic universals of society, because internal instability human body requires "the creation by man himself of a stable living environment". American sociologist G. Garfinkel, being one of the brightest and most consistent representatives ethnomethodology, formulated its program position: "The features of the rationality of behavior must be revealed in the behavior itself." In accordance with this, the main task of sociology is to identify the rationality of everyday life, which is opposed to scientific rationality.
In the last quarter of the 20th century spread world-systems sociology, the founder of which is a German sociologist working in the USA, W. Wallerstein, considers the processes of development of society from the point of view of globalization processes, the intensity of which has become a tangible reality.
Modern sociology continues to generate new theories and concepts. According to the French sociologist A. Touraine, the peculiarity of modern sociology is the change in the subject of research and research orientations. If in the middle of the 20th century. all the problems were centered around the concept of a social system, now it is centered around the concept of action and an active agent (actor). In historical terms, we can say that Max Weber defeated Emile Durkheim. Classic approach to sociology, within which it is understood as the science of social systems, has almost disappeared. The influence of the most prominent representatives of this tradition - Parsons and Merton - weakened. Accordingly, the categorical apparatus has also changed: concepts of social institutions, socialization, integration are no longer central sociological concepts. Much greater value acquire crisis concept,risk and related categories disorganization, violence, chaos. In addition, within the framework of the Frankfurt School, the main content of the theories of which is to determine the role and significance political power, the content of ideologies, the reasons for the radicalization of behavior, the conditions for the formation of social movements and protests are studied. An increasingly popular variant of sociological thinking is becoming rational choice theory, which was proposed by the American sociologist N. Coleman. The concept of a system is also denied by him. The main focus is on the concepts of resources and mobilization. An original contribution to modern sociology is P. Bourdieu's concept of social field, O social capital And social space.
But especially attractive to the latest concepts of sociology are the ideas of the role of man as active social subject, under the influence of which transformations are carried out both in the macro-, and in the meso- and microenvironment. In this regard, such definitions of sociology are becoming the most common. “Sociology is the science of social behavior” (P.A. Sorokin). “Sociology is the scientific study of human behavior and the social environment of a person that influences this behavior” (K.Dub). “Sociology is the science of methods for studying human behavior” (St. Moore, B. Hendry). “Sociology is the systematic study of society and the social activity of human existence. As a specific discipline, it is considered in the form of knowledge about how a real person thinks and acts in the guise of a social creator ”(J. Meisionis). Thus, the face of modern sociology is increasingly determined by theories that go back to man, his consciousness, behavior in real socio-historical conditions. In other words, practically all sociologists in the late 20th and early 21st centuries in a direct or indirect form, they proceed from the problems of a person, an individual as a social being, considering consciousness and behavior as the main criterion for social change. It is the humanistic orientation, the human dimension of social science that is the most important characteristic state and development of sociology, which allows us to define its content as a concept sociology of life which in its essence takes into account the state and tendencies of social consciousness and behavior in close connection with the objective conditions of their existence.
subject of sociology.
If we analyze the main results of the search for the essence and content of sociology in the second half of the 20th century, then it can be argued that the object of all noteworthy research is social reality in all its contradictory development. All major works of modern sociologists, which have stood the test of time, were associated with the analysis of socio-economic, socio-political and socio-cultural problems. But what does it mean to study social reality? From which side to approach it? What should be taken as the initial base of analysis? As real sociological practice shows, in most studies (both theoretical and applied), regardless of the proclaimed goals, as a rule, social processes and phenomena are analyzed from the point of view of the state of a really functioning social consciousness. In this regard, the subject of sociology is a combination of three components of consciousness, behavior and environment (the conditions for their manifestation). Let's take a closer look at each of these components.
Public consciousness (from the standpoint of sociology) acts as a real consciousness, consisting of knowledge, opinions, value orientations, attitudes, needs and interests. Each of these structural elements grows out of direct practical activity, is not separated from social life. Moreover, they reflect not only random, spontaneous connections and relationships, but also stable patterns and trends in the development of society (albeit in imperfect form). A person develops as a generic, social being with the help of his consciousness and its implementation in all spheres of social life.
In general, real consciousness in its content is a combination of rational and emotional, the interweaving of worldview elements, established traditional connections and habits. And if the emotional component of real consciousness is more associated with direct impression, momentary impact, then its rational component integrates both past experience and the lessons of not only personal, but also social life, which makes it possible to capture the social impact of ongoing events. This reveals what unites individual elements of the practical perception of reality with scientific, theoretical consciousness. The predominance of the elemental, emotional in real consciousness and behavior in no way removes the significance of the rational, the possibility that it will ultimately determine its direction and maturity.
Besides, all these components of real consciousness are products of collective creativity, characteristic both for the whole society and for social groups, strata and communities. Arising as a reaction to the direct perception of reality, as a reflection of the prevailing conditions of existence, real consciousness acquires an independent role, expressed in public opinion, people's mindsets.
Real consciousness includes common sense, which does not deny the possibility of cognition of deep essential processes - it even implies its constant enrichment and use in the practical life of a person. Real consciousness is not the result of some specialized activity (in contrast to its specific forms - political, aesthetic, moral, etc.) and is reproduced by all types of human activity. Although real consciousness is formed under the influence of direct experience, in social incarnation it forms a peculiar phenomenon, the creator of which is a class, nation, social group or social stratum. Real consciousness is not a collection or mechanical generalization of ideas and views - it forms a new specific essence, in which stable tendencies are manifested, objectively reflecting both the state of consciousness and the depth of his understanding of social life.
And finally real consciousness reflects social contradictions, a wide range of everyday illusions, often very close in essence to everyday consciousness. “... Taken ... as a totality of everyday experiences, that is, all those sorrows and joys, hopes and disappointments that make up everyday life, this ordinary consciousness turns out to be continuous anxiety, in comparison with which scientific and philosophical consciousness seem to be something like the ataraxia [peace of mind] of the Hellenistic thinkers." (T.I.Oizerman, 1967)
When considering a really functioning social consciousness, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that it consists of (and, accordingly, is studied with the help of) such components as:
1)knowledge, beliefs, attitude(when the sociologist finds out that people know how informed they are, how “scientific” their understanding is);
2) value orientations(what aspirations, desires are considered as an important condition for the existence, evaluation and regulation of behavior);
3) motives(to realize what needs and interests people's efforts are directed);
4) installations(value attitudes towards a social object, expressed in readiness for a positive or negative reaction to it).
Particular attention should be paid to the phenomenon social mood, the main characteristic of public consciousness, which, as the results of sociological research show, is its stable characteristic with possible changes in people's attitudes to specific economic and social realities.
Second basic concept sociology is the activity, behavior of people who act as a stage in the implementation of all or individual components of a really functioning social consciousness.Consciousness and behavior are inextricably linked, determine each other, constantly interact, enrich each other and conflict with each other. Therefore, they need to be analyzed in inseparable unity, interconnection and interdependence. Components of Consciousness(knowledge, ideas, motives, values, attitudes)become a real force only when they are embodied in the activity, in the actions of people. It is no secret that public intentions, desires, orientations, for one reason or another, are not always realized in actions, in actions, in real deeds. Therefore, it is important for sociology to learn the forms and methods of "transforming social consciousness into a social force" (K. Marx). The process of realizing the prognostic function of sociology, living consciousness and behavior are specific states of social life that are much richer in content, in which both scientific knowledge, judgments and conclusions are intertwined, as well as spontaneous, dictated by practical experience, direct perception of reality and the corresponding action. In other words, a living, practical consciousness and behavior is a really functioning social life in all the complex interweaving of both regular connections and relationships, as well as random, individual, and sometimes views, ideas and ideas that are opposite to social progress. It is this approach that makes it possible to explain many processes in the language of sociology, to identify the common features inherent in them not only in all spheres of public life, but also in the conditions of various socio-economic systems. In this regard, it is appropriate to characterize sociology given by P.A. Sorokin as “a science that studies the behavior of people living in an environment of their own kind” (1928).
And finally, the third component of the subject of sociology is the environment or specific socio-economic,socio-political And socio-cultural conditions, embodying all types of social macro-, meso- and microenvironment. The sociologist is called upon to take into account the "special life circumstances" that determine the consciousness and behavior of people.
The study of consciousness and behavior in a specific socio-historical setting,transfers sociology from the plane of registering science into the plane of an active social force participating in solving all urgent problems of human development without exception. In this regard, it is appropriate to recall that public consciousness and behavior become the subject of study only in the conditions of civil society - a society born at a certain stage of the historical process, as a result of the era new history, leading its countdown from the period of the great bourgeois revolutions, from the time when society separated from the state.
Only in the conditions of civil society can a person demonstrate fundamentally new features of behavior and lifestyle, when he gets the opportunity to act as an independent social force, the influence of which largely depends on the level and degree of consciousness, creativity of participants in the real historical process. About the fact that the creator and driving force development of this society is the consciousness and behavior of people, says such a figurative expression attributed to the English historian and philosopher T. Carlyle: "Revolutions do not take place on the barricades - they take place in the minds and hearts of people."
Structure of sociology.
The structure of sociological knowledge is determined depending on those methodological principles that are used in the study of social reality. Sociology uses such types of its classification as macro- and microsociology, theoretical and empirical, fundamental and applied sociology, etc. There are proposals to define the structure of sociology taking into account all scientific knowledge, when the knowledge accumulated by all sciences is involved in the explanation of its content. When answering this question, one can proceed from two premises: to structure only that knowledge that claims to be called sociological, and secondly, to consider its division into theoretical and empirical sociology as its main initial characteristic.
1. The basic, initial - first - level of sociological knowledge forms theory And methodology who focus their attention on clarifying and defining the object and subject of sociological science, its conceptual (categorical) apparatus, patterns (trends) in the development of both social reality and sociology itself, its functions, and place among other sciences. As part of this analysis, historical material (the history of sociology) is also involved, which shows the genesis of ideas, the emergence, birth and extinction of searches (theories, concepts), as well as the clarification of the place of sociology in the system of social and humanitarian knowledge. In addition, at this level, theoretical knowledge of other sciences is involved (adapted, adapted) in the sense that it contributes to the clarification, enrichment and development of sociological knowledge. This structural level of sociological knowledge is called theoretical sociology.
2.empirical sociology, which is represented by special sociological theories that combine theoretical and methodological knowledge with empirical data obtained in the course of specific sociological research. Empirical sociology is the unity of theoretical knowledge (or theoretical ideas) and their empirical verification, as a result of which the initial provisions, effectiveness and efficiency are clarified methodology and techniques. But empirical sociology, consisting of special sociological theories has its own internal hierarchy. This hierarchy begins, first, with summarizing(systemic) special (sometimes called sectoral) sociological theories - economic and political sociology, sociology of social and spiritual spheres of society. The basis for such a structure of sociological knowledge is the substantiated by social philosophers and most sociologists, the division of the life of society into various spheres that are associated with certain types of activity - labor (industrial), social (in the narrow sense of the word), political and cultural (spiritual). Concerning economic sociology, then it explores the social problems of the economic life of society, by studying the consciousness of people and the corresponding type of behavior associated with the implementation of the goals and objectives of social production, with the process of meeting the needs and interests of people in the conditions of the functioning of socio-economic relations. Turning to another area of society, to social life, it should be noted that sociology in this area studies such important and fundamental problems as the social structure in all its diversity, social processes and institutions, and social communities. Within its framework, the prerequisites, conditions and factors for the transformation of classes, social strata and groups into subjects are studied. conscious activity. Political sociology studies a huge layer of transition from objective to subjective, conscious development. It studies political (class, group) interests, which are based and proceed from the will, knowledge and actions, i.e. methods and forms of expression of the political activity of a person, classes and social groups and is addressed to the whole spectrum of feelings, opinions, judgments and attitudes of people to the processes of functioning of power relations, which allows us to imagine the ways of functioning of statehood, to identify pain points in the development of political life. The fourth, but not least, generalizing special sociological theory is sociology. spiritual life society, investigating activities for the development of existing cultural property, the creation of new ones, the distribution and consumption of accumulated ones. This process is complex, multifaceted and ambiguous, which is why it is so important to determine its main components. Such structural elements include the process of socialization of the individual, education, mass information, cultural and educational activities, literature, art, and science. Finally, generalizing (systemic) special sociological theories include sociology of management. It is associated with the use of a special class of tasks - a mechanism for regulating social processes - and therefore can be considered independently, at the level of identifying certain general characteristics, regardless of specific circumstances, and can be applied within each of the spheres of public life and their constituent elements, which requires identification and analysis of the specific features of management in each specific area of consciousness and behavior of people
Secondly, along with generalizing (system) theories exist main special sociological theories, the subject of study of which are social processes and phenomena, their specific connections with other phenomena and processes, which in their integrity are an integral part of a particular sphere of social life. These theories do not consider common interactions, existing between all social phenomena, but only characteristic connections within a specific sphere of public life. Thus, economic sociology includes the study of such processes that form the totality of socio-economic phenomena: the sociology of labor, the sociology of the market, the sociology of urban and rural areas, demographic and migration processes, and so on. In this sense, the sociology of social life includes the study of socio-professional and age structure, ethnosociology, the sociology of youth, the family, and so on. In its turn, political sociology includes the sociology of power, political parties and social movements, the sociology of law (although some researchers distinguish it as an independent scientific and applied theory), the sociology of the army, international relations. As for the sociology of spiritual life, it is represented by the sociology of education, culture, religion, media, science, literature and art.
Today in sociology, more or less, over 50 major special sociological theories have already been formalized. Some of them received the status of fundamental disciplines, others - applied, and others - theoretical and applied. Their situation is still not fully comprehended both from the point of view of the perspectives of sociology and from the point of view of social needs. Analysis of the place of special sociological theories in the system of sociological knowledge implies a constant critical review of their development, especially those that are of direct importance both for understanding the place, role and functions of sociological science in modern conditions, and for improving the efficiency and quality of research.
In sociology, more than in any other social science, there is a noticeable division into theory and empiricism, but this in no way means that they exist separately, without interacting with each other. Following the apparent independence of theory and empiricism in the practice of work of sociologists does not turn out to be anything but deep scientific and methodological miscalculations.
Third , along with generalizing(systemic)and the main special sociological theories, there are private auxiliary concepts, the object of study of which are specific, individual phenomena and processes that are derivatives of more "voluminous" processes and social phenomena. Such objects of research are within the framework of the sociology of education - higher or preschool education, within the framework of the sociology of youth - youth movements, interest groups, etc. Thus, modern structure sociological knowledge consists of four elements - theoretical sociology, consisting of theoretical and methodological knowledge and empirical sociology, which includes three levels of special sociological theories, subdivided into generalizing(systemic),main and private(concrete).
Main hallmark sociology in the modern era is becoming an anthropocentric approach, because modern era revealed the enduring and ever-increasing value of a person and his activities, people's lives in all its diversity. Within the framework of this approach, a person appears before us both as a resource for social development and as a carrier of social capital, which is a huge reserve and impetus for social development. Modern approaches, defining the subject of sociology, are noticeably shifting in the direction of human studies, to the recognition that the analysis of the problems of people's lives in all its diversity is becoming more and more the object of attention of sociology. Man in society and society for man - this is the essence of modern sociology
Modern sociology is increasingly inclined to interpret itself as sociology of life, since it operates with indicators of the relationship and interactions of people to real problems, situations, to everything that happens in the society in which they work and live.
Zh.T. Toshchenko
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