There are various meanings of the term "society". Society is broadly understood to mean
SELF-CHECK QUESTIONS
1. What should be understood as a society in a narrow and broad sense the words?
We can give several definitions to the concept of "society".
Society in the broad sense of the word includes all ways of interaction between people in various spheres of public life: political, economic, legal, spiritual. From this point of view, society can be considered humanity as a whole, the population of the Earth in all its cultural diversity.
Society in the narrow sense of the word is a set of people who are stably connected with each other by certain types of interaction. It could be certain group people united common goals, interests, worldview, origin (noble society, society of hunters and fishermen, etc.).
2. What is the relationship between society and nature? What is the specificity of social phenomena?
The relationship between society and nature is very significant. First, the natural environment, geographical and climatic features have a significant impact on social progress, accelerating or slowing down the pace of development of countries and peoples, influencing the social division of labor. Secondly, society influences natural environment human habitat. The history of mankind testifies both to the beneficial effect of human activities on the natural habitat, and to its detrimental consequences. So, at one time, the swamps around Florence were drained, which later became flowering lands.
The specificity of social phenomena lies in the fact that, unlike natural natural forces in the center community development stands a man with consciousness and will. Nature exists and develops according to its own laws independent of man and society. There is one more circumstance: human society acts as a creator, reformer, creator of culture.
3. What is the peculiarity of human activity?
Man is not limited to adapting to environment, but transforms it. At the heart of human activity is biological program behavior, but a conscious goal. The activity of people is ensured by their interaction, in the process of which various forms their associations. It is no coincidence that some researchers consider society at the level of organizations operating in it (the state, the church, the education system, etc.), others - through the prism of the interaction of social communities. A person enters society through a collective, being simultaneously a member of several collectives (labor, trade union, sports, etc.). Society is presented as a collective of collectives.
4. What is the relationship between the joint activities of people and the forms of their association?
Forms of association are formed by joint activities of people. In any society, people interact, at least they must do so, in order to provide certain conditions for themselves. As a result of such interactions, a connection is set up, which flows into the forms of association. Thus, a strong bond is formed between them. One makes way for the other.
To public relations are the various connections that exist between social groups, nations, as well as within them in the process of economic, social, political, cultural life and activities.
But not all connections that arise between people in the process of communication or joint activities are classified as social relations. Indeed, imagine that you are on a crowded bus: someone asks when the stop he needs will be, someone asks to give way. The contacts arising in these situations are random, episodic, and they are not classified as social relations.
6. Open different meanings the concept of culture.
Culture is achievement human thought in all areas of activity.
It is divided into material and spiritual.
Spiritual culture is achievements in painting, literature, poetry. music, etc.
Material culture is achievements in all spheres material production from agriculture and blacksmithing to high technology. The very concept of culture in the broadest sense means everything created by man: it is a second nature created by man, which, as it were, is built on top of natural nature. All this gives rise to the idea that man and society in their activities are opposed to nature. The attitude to nature as something unformed, lower than culture, puts a person in the position of a conqueror, a conqueror of nature.
7. What do researchers refer to as cultural universals?
Researchers refer to cultural universals the values or behaviors that are characteristic of all human cultures.
8. What sciences study society?
The sciences that study society include: philosophy, psychology, social science, history, biology, sociology, cultural studies, economics, jurisprudence, anthropology, etc.
TASKS
1. An argument broke out in one of the lessons. Nikolai argued that man appeared first, and then society. Olga objected to him: a person becomes a person only in society, therefore society arose first, and then a person. What do you think? Justify your point of view.
I believe that man and society originated at the same time, since ancient times, our ancestors used to live together, in communities. A person needed to survive in difficult conditions, where one simply could not cope.
2. The Roman philosopher Seneca (c. 4 BC - 65 AD) said: “We are born to live together; our society is a vault of stones that would collapse if one did not support the other.” How do you understand this statement? Compare it with the definition of society given in the textbook. Do these characteristics match? If a modern definition society differs from that given by the ancient philosopher, then what are the differences?
Today, the concept of society is as follows: society is a collection of people. However, this is not a simple sum of individuals included in it, which are sometimes called "social atoms", but held together by numerous connections and relationships. But in modern society, where individualism is promoted, these connections and relationships are of a formal nature, and earlier, indeed, each person was more connected with another. strong ties. Therein lies the difference.
3. L. N. Tolstoy wrote: “If people interfere with you, then you have no reason to live. Leaving people is suicide." What is the thought in educational text Is it consistent with this statement of the writer? Why do you think so?
A person becomes a person only in society. And if a person leaves people, then as a person he “dies”.
4. Do the so-called negative values (rules of conduct in a criminal community, the production of pornography, etc.) belong to cultural phenomena? Justify your conclusion.
Yes, negative values are also cultural phenomena, because these are signs of our current culture, what is being created in the current society, in public consciousness of people.
5. In 2011, to the question of sociologists “What do you think, modern Russian society generally arranged fairly or unfairly? 12% of respondents answered “fairly” and 61% “unfairly”. Another 27% found it difficult to answer (POF survey, November 24, 2011). What do you think? Explain your opinion.
Most often, a just society is described by Russians as a society where the principle of equality of all people before the law is implemented, and there is also no economic inequality. But today, according to these parameters, there is a discrepancy, because. Not all citizens are equal before the law and material inequality is very noticeable. From the foregoing, it should be concluded that Russian society today is “unfair”.
Practical material
on topic 1.1 "Society as a form of people's life"
Short answer questions
1. Scientists use the concept of "society" to characterize
1) natural environment habitat
2) all around the world
3) results of human activities
4) of all mankind
2. Social scientists define society as
1) the whole world around man
2) a part of the world isolated from nature, associated with the activities of people
3) variety of forms and manifestations of nature
4) set of natural and social phenomena
11. Are the following judgments about society correct?
A. Society can be called any group of people united by common activities.
B. Society can be called the population of a country, a continent, the world as a whole.
1) only A is correct
2) only B is correct
3) both statements are correct
4) both statements are wrong
Definition of society
Society is a multi-valued concept used to define both social systems of various levels and associations of people with a common origin, position, interests and goals, including joint-stock companies and other economic organizations.
In the broadest sense, "society" means a part of the material world isolated from nature, a set of historically established forms of joint activity of people.
In a narrower sense, society is a complex social system, an integral formation, the main element of which are people with their connections, interactions and relationships; or as a historical stage, certain form social development (primitive society, feudal society, capitalist society); or as a specific society within one country (French society, Russian society, Japanese society, etc.).
Society can also mean a circle of people united by the unity of class (for example, a noble society, a merchant society, a peasant society) or any interests (a consumer society, a charitable society, a sports society, a theater society, etc.). They also include commercial organizations that set themselves common tasks in the field of management and entrepreneurial activity.
In wide sociological sense society is the world community, or world system, meaning all of humanity as a whole. The world community is understood as a kind of planetary social system that unites the entire population of the Earth, has supranational governing bodies, rules of political, economic and cultural interaction that are universal for all countries. In such a society, not intra-national, but international relations operate.
Society in the narrow sociological sense refers to the totality of people living historically long time on the same territory, having created their own culture and political system of government.
Society in the third sense - as a community, union or association (for example, the Society of Readers) - in the strict sense is not a sociological category, since one of the integral features of society in the sociological sense is violated: not to be part of a more general system.
Other definitions of society: 1) the population of a country, its citizens, considered in conjunction with their history, interests, needs, desires, beliefs, behavior, psychology; 2) an association of citizens, enterprises for the implementation of common economic activities (economic company); 3) association of citizens by interests; a public organization created for the purpose of helping someone.
A society is the largest group in which people have to live, or the largest group in a given territory. Constantly living together and interacting, people create an intricately intertwined system social relations, historically stable, reproduced from generation to generation, the forms of which crystallize into social institutions.
The concept of “society”, which refers to the object of sociology, like many other words used in this discipline, came from everyday speech, where it never had a clear definition. So, for example, "society" can mean a special club community (such as the Society of Hunters), a group of people with prestige and privileges (for example, "high society", "secular society"), an abstract set of people (in such cases they say that he or it is weighed down by the absence of society).
It should also be noted that the concept of "society" partially coincides with the concepts of "culture" (used by anthropologists) and "nation state" (used by political scientists). However, "culture" is not necessarily defined by territorial boundaries or political independence. For example, we can talk about "Jewish culture", although only a small part of the Jews live in th State of Israel. In this case we are talking about the commonality of the religious worldview and a special way of life. Anthropologists speak, for example, of a Melanesian culture, although the peoples of Melanesia, scattered throughout the islands of the Pacific Ocean, are not united in one politically independent society.
The sociologist takes into account the variety of general speech meanings of the term "society", but tries to use it in a more precise sense, although, of course, there are differences in its use within sociology itself. In particular, for sociologists who adhere to a humanistic perspective, "society" means a wide range of human relations, understood as an autonomous whole, or, in more technical terms, a system of interactions. The word "wide" in this context is difficult to quantify. A sociologist may refer to a "society" that includes millions of people (say, "Chinese society"), or may use the term to refer to a much smaller population ("society of college sophomores"). Two people talking on the corner are unlikely to make a "society", but three who
thrown onto a desert island, of course, will be such. Therefore, the meaning of the concept of "society" cannot be judged only by a quantitative criterion.
In foreign and domestic literature, you can find a huge number of definitions of society. In one case it is understood as large group people who formed a common culture, in another - as a complex social system with people inhabiting it, in the third - as a socio-political association associated with some territory, etc. In particular, R. Mills understood society as a configuration of institutions which, during their functioning, limit the freedom of action of people. I. Wallerstein believes that the attempt of sociologists to put things in order in the numerous, often contradictory and confusing definitions of society, ultimately did not lead to anything:
“No concept is more comprehensive in modern social science than society, and no concept is used more automatically and thoughtlessly than society, despite countless pages devoted to its definition. Definitions in textbooks revolve around the question "What is a society?" while the arguments we have made regarding the unity of historical and social science, force us to ask another question: "When and where is society?"
"Societies" are specific. Moreover, society is a term that we may well discard because of its conceptual ambiguity in history and hence its undeniable and misleadingly contradictory definitions. Society is a term whose current use in history and the social sciences is contemporary to the institutionalization of social science in the 19th century. Society is half of a contradictory tandem, the other part of which is the state.”
In domestic science, there are two approaches to understanding what society is: narrow sociological and broad philosophical. Both of them are right in their own way, and each of them gives something new to understand. the most complex phenomenon. However, they must be distinguished because different approaches to society suggest a different methodology for its analysis.
Society should be understood as the historical result of spontaneously or naturally developing relationships between people, while th the state will appear as an artificial political construct - an institution or institution designed to manage these relationships. Another concept, "country", is also an artificial territorial construct that designates the sovereign borders of a state. The country - a part of the world or a territory that has certain boundaries and enjoys state sovereignty. State - the political organization of the country, implying a certain type of power (monarchy, republic, the presence of a management apparatus (government). Society - social organization not only of the country, but also of the nation, nationality, tribe. There was a time when there were no clear political or state borders separating one country from another. There were no countries in the usual sense of the word then, whole peoples and tribes moved quite freely in space, developing new territories. When the process of resettlement of peoples was completed, lands appeared, limited by state sovereignty. Thus, countries are the result of the territorial division of the world.
It is necessary to distinguish three phenomena - country, state, society. Their borders do not always coincide. For example, no one has heard the phrase "Luxembourg society", although Luxembourg is This state or country in Western Europe, whose area is 2.6 thousand km 2, and the population is 392 thousand people. Today, the obvious problematic nature of the concept of society, conceivable on the basis of the territorial-state principle, has come to light.
Society existed in that distant era when there were no countries and states. Therefore, the concept of "society" is applicable to any historical epoch, to any group or association of people in size. Society is the largest of the groups living in the area. The signs that E. Shils expressed in a concentrated form are applicable to it. A company is an association that meets the following criteria:
it is not part of any larger system;
marriages are concluded between representatives of this association;
it is replenished mainly by the children of those people who are already its recognized representatives;
the association has a territory that it considers its own own venous;
it has its own name and its own history;
it has own system management;
the association exists longer than the average long life of an individual;
unites him general system values (customs, traditions, norms, laws, rules, mores), which is called culture.
Both modern powers, numbering hundreds of millions of citizens, and ancient tribes, fitting in the territory of the present urban microdistrict, meet these criteria. Both have kinship systems (marriages), their territory, name, culture, history, administration, and most importantly, they are not part of another whole. But many other human associations do not correspond to them, say, a village or a village, although, at first glance, they have all the necessary conditions for this: a kinship system, territory, history, culture, name, administration.
Having carefully looked at the signs of E. Shils, we will notice that the state is only one of the signs of society, namely the management system. The state does not even exhaust the political system. It is the main institution of this system.
Historically, society is primary, the state is secondary. The society is at least 40 thousand years old, and the state is only 5-6 thousand years old. Society arises at a certain stage in the development of mankind, and then the state appears - to protect the interests of the citizens that make up this very society. Thus, the state acts as a servant of society. However, often the servant turns into a master, and citizens have to defend themselves from him. The relationship between society and the state throughout history has not been easy: harmony and conflict, the desire to suppress and establish equal, partnership relations.
The concept of society acquires a very definite meaning when we speak of "Russian society", which has geographical boundaries, a common legislative system and some kind of national unity. Approximately in this direction sociologists reason when they create a set of operational definitions of society. In 1967, R. Marsh tried to determine the conditions under which a social association should be considered a society:
permanent territory - for example, Spain within its state borders;
replenishment of society mainly through childbearing, although immigration also plays a role here;
highly developed culture models of culture can be diverse enough to satisfy all the needs of social life;
4) political independence- society is not a subsystem or part of some other system, so colonial societies like Belgian Congo before they gained independence, they could not be considered as such.
Other sociologists and political scientists, namely D. Aberle, A. Koei K. Davis, M. Levy and F. Sutton, T. Parsons, suggested that the defining characteristic of society is "self-sufficiency". This criterion is close to "political independence", but should be interpreted not only in the political science sense. A self-sufficient society is one that is not only able to feed itself by producing enough goods and services without resorting to external borrowing, able to protect itself from external and internal threats, but which is also able to create the whole complex of culture, from high to folk and popular, and related infrastructure, as well as to successfully deal with the social security of the population.
New facets in the understanding of society have been introduced by the concept of the world community, which is often referred to not as a community, but as a society. In its radical form, the thesis about world society says that at present there is only one single social system - supranational, world. In such a case, Germany, USA, Norway or Pakistan are not societies.
N. Luhmann proposes to use the concept of "society" to take into account only the world society as the only closed system within which it is possible to trace all communication operations. Indeed, the flow of information, television, telephone communication, the Internet do not know national borders. They unite people into a single society. In this case, national societies fade into the background. True, the problem of poor and rich countries persists. Poverty exists and reproduces within national boundaries
So, if you adhere to the territorial-state principle, you will have to reckon with more than 200 societies that exist on the planet. And if we are faithful to the communicative approach (information knows no boundaries), then it will be necessary to recognize the existence of a single society on Earth - the world one.
There are various meanings of the term "society". Society is broadly understood to mean
1) the entire population of the Earth
2) the whole world in the variety of its forms and manifestations
3) the unity of animate and inanimate nature
4) a certain stage of historical development
The concept of "personality" is used to characterize
1) human activities
2) the unique originality of a person
3) a set of socially significant qualities of a person
4) a person as a single representative of the human race
Grandmother explains how to cook delicious borscht. What form of communication does this example illustrate?
1) exchange of views
3) transfer of experience
2) information exchange
4) expression of experiences
Are the following judgments about the relationship between society and nature correct?
A. The existence of society largely depends on the state of nature.
B. Society always negatively affects the natural environment.
1) only A is true
3) both statements are correct
2) only B is true
4) both judgments are wrong
Purposeful cognitive activity person upon receipt
knowledge and skills is
1) creativity
3) socialization
2) education
4) labor
Are the following judgments about the role of science in the modern world correct?
A. Science explains the laws of development of the surrounding world.
B. Science reveals the possible prospects for the development of society.
1) only A is true
3) both statements are correct
2) only B is true
4) both judgments are wrong
Labor productivity is called
1) the amount of products produced per unit of time
2) the difference between the company's revenue and total costs
3) division of the production process into a number of separate stages
4) the process of production of goods and services
Citizen V., who returned from vacation, discovered that for a month the prices for
basic consumer goods increased. Subsequently, she noted
further price increases. Manifestations of what economic phenomenon noted
citizen V.
1) competition
2) inflation
3) suggestions
4) demand
In country Z there is commodity production and money circulation. Which
Additional Information would lead to the conclusion that the economy
country Z has a command (planned) character?
1) Retired workers receive an old-age pension.
2) Most workers work in industrial enterprises.
3) The state acts as a monopoly in hiring labor.
4) The state exercises control over the money supply.
Are the following statements about wages correct?
A. The salary of an employee depends solely on his personal qualities.
B. There are various forms of remuneration of workers.
1) only A is true
3) both statements are correct
2) only B is true
4) both judgments are wrong
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