The biological factor influences the development process not directly, but indirectly. Hereditary and congenital characteristics represent only possibilities for the future development of the individual. Its course largely depends on what environment, what system of living conditions and relationships the biological individual will be included in.

The concept of environment includes the entire set of conditions in which the development of an organism takes place.
The environment includes three components: natural, material (or objective) and social.
The natural environment consists of climate, vegetation, and geographical conditions. The natural environment has indirect influence through the lifestyle and work of adults. It is known that the games of children living in different continents, are different.

The material environment is presented artificial world created by man himself is household items, forming the immediate environment of a person, buildings, books, works of art, etc. In the course of his development, the child gradually masters the ways of using these things; objects around him contribute to the formation of ideas.

But the social environment is of greatest importance for development. The facts available in science prove that outside human society a baby cannot become a real person, a person.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Indian psychologist Reed Singh discovered in wolf pack two girls: eight and one and a half years old. The youngest died a year later, and the eldest lived to be 17 years old. Over the course of 9 years, she was almost weaned from wolfish habits, but the girl essentially never mastered speech; with great difficulty she used only about 40 words.

History has examples that, under appropriate environmental conditions, an individual can achieve a high level of development.

The expedition of the French scientist J. Velar discovered in a village, lost in the depths of the forests of Central America, a little girl abandoned to the mercy of fate, who was later named Marie Yvonne. She belonged to the Guayaquil tribe - the most backward on the globe. The girl was brought to Paris and placed in school. Ultimately, she turned into an intelligent, highly educated, cultured woman.

The social environment is an interconnection of three components.

The macroenvironment consists of society, certain socio-economic and socio-political living conditions. Its impact is carried out mainly through the media, books, laws and rules established in society, through the requirements and assessment of morality and aesthetics.

The mesoenvironment includes the national-cultural and socio-demographic characteristics of the region in which the child lives.

Microenvironment is the social environment of a child’s life with which he is in direct contact (family environment, adult society, peer groups in various educational institutions and in the yard where the child lives). Interaction with these elements of the environment is of exceptional importance for the development of the child. What kind of people are included in the child’s microenvironment, what the content of their communication with the child is, what the nature of the relationship is, largely determines what personality traits will be formed in the child.

As the child grows up, he joins various contact groups.

The first and very significant, especially in the first years of life, microgroup is the family. Researchers, in particular E.V. Subbotsky1, have noted that the formation of a child’s personal qualities is largely determined by the uniqueness of the family microclimate: children raised in an atmosphere of goodwill and respect for the child’s personality have many advantages over children living in more unfavorable conditions.

Modern research shows that, unfortunately, negative trends are growing in families. For example, American psychologist W. Bronfenbrenner (data given from the book by L. F. Obukhova) points out that a tendency towards alienation in child-parent relationships is increasingly noted. Among the main reasons, he identifies the following: parents’ employment, an increase in the number of divorces, a low level of material well-being and, on the contrary, the achievements of civilization (separate bedrooms, televisions in every room, etc.). Similar trends have emerged in our society. This leads to the formalization of contacts (did you do your homework, did you eat) and impoverish the content of communication between parents and children.

At the same time, communication with adults is extremely important for the development of the child’s psyche. Research by N.M. Shchelovanova, N.M. Aksarina and many others indicate that lack of communication with parents and limited microenvironment are the reasons for such a phenomenon as hospitalism.

It is known that an important achievement of infancy is the emergence of a need to communicate with people, which prompts him to seek contact with an adult. But this need does not arise or is extremely delayed during hospitalization. Children deprived of communication do not show interest in the world around them, are in a half-asleep state, and passively react to external signals.

With the expansion of the circle of relationships, with the child entering preschool Another adult is included in his microenvironment - the educator. The nature of the relationship with him and his assessment significantly affect the development of the child’s personality.

In addition, the child interacts with children, that is, the “child-child” system begins to stand out in the microenvironment. Ya. L. Kolominsky, T. A. Repina and others note the significant influence of a child’s communication with peers on the development of his personality. Through the attitude of peers towards him, an understanding, assessment of oneself, and the ability to relate one’s desires to the interests of other people are formed.

So, at the beginning of life, the child is included in the “child-mother (significant adults)” dyad. Then the “child-child” system is connected, which naturally changes in the process of development (kindergarten group, school class, out-of-school educational group, production team). At a certain stage of development, with the creation of a family, a return to the family environment occurs, but in a new capacity - as a parent. This is the vertical axis of human life.

But the movement of personality across groups also occurs horizontally. At every moment of life a person is involved in complex system various non-contact and contact communities. A unique situation is emerging interpersonal interaction: role, status, nature of relationships, etc.

So, the environment, especially the social one, has a significant impact on the mental development of the child. In different years of life, each of the environmental components has different importance. However, the influence of the environment is not absolute: the child not only experiences the influence, but also transforms the world himself. He interacts with the environment in the process of activity, both his own and organized by an adult. The expression of interaction is the activity of the child himself.

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

Posted on http://www.allbest.ru/

Abstract: Human social environment

• Introduction

Introduction

Social environment is the social, material and spiritual conditions surrounding a person’s existence, formation and activity. In a broad sense (macroenvironment) covers society. - economic system in general - produces. forces, the totality of social relations and institutions, social consciousness, the culture of a given society; In the narrow sense (microenvironment), being an element social environment in general, includes the immediate social environment of a person - family, work, educational and other teams and groups. The social environment has a decisive influence on the formation and development of personality. At the same time, under the influence of creative activity and human activity, it changes, transforms, and in the process of these transformations, people themselves change.

Socio-psychological phenomena arise from the interaction of the social environment, the individual and the group. Therefore, when studying them, it is necessary, first of all, to form a fairly clear idea of ​​the social environment, of the individual and the group as subjects of these phenomena, and of the general conditions of their mutual influence and interaction.

The social environment is everything that surrounds a person in his social life, serves as the object of his mental reflection - either direct or mediated by the results of the work of other people. A person experiences the influence of a wide range of social factors throughout his life. All of them, taken together, make up the social environment of the individual. But to designate the social factors that determine social life, in Marxism the concept of “socio-economic formation” is used, why else the concept of “social environment”? Let's consider the relationship between these concepts.

Social environment and socio-economic formation

The concept of social environment denotes the specific uniqueness of social relations at a certain stage of their development. In this way it differs from the concept of socio-economic formation and complements it. The concept of social environment characterizes not the essence of social relations, but their specific manifestation. Capitalism as a socio-economic formation is subject to the same socio-economic laws. But, manifesting itself in a specific special forms, the operation of these laws creates a specific social environment that is different from other social environments. It is in such a specific social environment that individuals and groups operate. Moreover, if historical figures and large groups (classes, nations) act in a broad social environment, then the sphere of action of small groups and the individuals included in them is the microenvironment, the immediate social environment.

A specific social environment appears in the psychological aspect as a set of relationships between individuals and groups. The relationship between the social environment and the individual has a rather significant element of subjectivity. If a class cannot change its place in the socio-economic formation without destroying itself as a class, then a person can change his place in the social environment, can move from one social environment to another and thereby construct, to a certain extent, his own social environment.

Of course, the mobility of an individual in a social environment is not absolute; it is limited by the objective framework of social economic relations, class structure society. Nevertheless, the activity of the individual, especially in relation to the microenvironment he chooses, cannot be underestimated. Practical significance This issue is revealed, in particular, when analyzing the causes of crime.

The social environment in relation to the individual is of a relatively random nature. This randomness is especially great in psychological terms, since the character and characteristics of certain individuals leave their mark on their relationships. But even this randomness manifests itself only to certain limits. It is limited by the necessity of relations determined by a certain socio-economic system.

It should be taken into account that the socio-economic formation is the highest abstraction of the system of social relations, where only global features. In the social environment, these elements of socio-economic formations are revived by the most various aspects: demographic, ethnic, psychological, individual. Therefore, the structure of the social environment seems more confusing and more complicated than the strictly logical structure of the socio-economic formation.

The structure of the social environment cannot be a complete analogue of the structure of the socio-economic formation, its mirror image. Factors of an ethnic order, for example, belonging to a nationality, nation, one or another ethnic group, as well as derived factors of ethnic consciousness, acting together, constitute integral elements of the social environment. At the same time, elements directly related to the socio-economic formation have a decisive influence on the social environment. The system of objective social relations constitutes, as it were, a framework on which small groups and individuals are located. The place of the group on this framework mainly determines the social environment of the individual.

Thus, the social environment, to a first approximation, can be determined by the type of socio-economic formation. This is how the social environment characteristic of the primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist and socialist systems differs. The nature of the influence of the social environment defined in this way on the individual and the group also differs. We speak with indignation, for example, about feudal-bai remnants in socialist reality. We angrily denounce the modern facts of the slave trade and slavery, realizing that they do not pass without leaving a trace on the minds of those who live in a similar social environment in some foreign countries.

The class character of the social environment

Within the types of social environment, distinguished by the type of socio-economic formation, the types should be distinguished depending on the place of the group in the structure of the formation. Here, first of all, the class social environment is distinguished by its place in the historically determined system of social production. Thus, we distinguish between the bourgeois social environment, the proletarian social environment, etc. Since any social class is heterogeneous in its composition and is divided into certain layers, then each layer has its own characteristic features of the social environment. This gives intra-class divisions of the social environment. In addition, there is a social environment of so-called declassed elements. Each of the noted types of social environment is characterized by certain psychological traits, leaving their mark on individuals and groups of people.

Finally, there is a group of characteristics that help to identify the type of social environment according to the division of labor. More or less clearly distinguished urban environment and rural environment; a social environment characterized by physical and mental labor, various types of activity - industrial, political, legal, scientific, artistic, with all the ensuing features of people's existence.

social environment division of labor

All these signs constitute specific characteristics of the social environment that affect the individual qualities of a person, leaving their mark on their relationships.

Closely related to the problem of the social environment is the problem of the individual’s lifestyle, small group. The social environment is a complex set of relationships. However, the individual can be involved with varying degrees of activity in these relationships. The totality of practical relations to the social environment constitutes the individual’s way of life. More details about lifestyle will be discussed below. Now let's sum it up.

So, the socio-economic formation in its historical, demographic, geographical and ethnic specificity forms a given social environment, giving rise to a particular way of life and, subsequently, a way of thinking and feeling.

Consequently, the socio-economic formation - social environment - lifestyle - personality - is circuit diagram the process of penetration of social relations into a person’s relationship with other people, the social into the individual, the path of socialization of the individual.

It is not enough to say that the social environment shapes personality, as the French materialists of the 18th century said. It is necessary to carry this connection further - to the socio-economic formation, the method of production, as Marxism does. “We,” wrote G.V. Plekhanov, “not only say that a person with all his thoughts and feelings is a product of the social environment; we try to understand the genesis of this environment.” Concluding that, ultimately, “the properties of the social environment are determined by the state of the productive forces at any given time,” Plekhanov explains: “Any given stage of development of the productive forces necessarily leads to a certain grouping of people in the social productive process, i.e., certain relations of production , i.e., a certain structure of the entire society. And once the structure of society is given, it is not difficult to understand that its character will be reflected in the entire psychology of people, in all their habits, morals, feelings, views, aspirations and ideals."

The concept of social environment is widely used by modern bourgeois sociology and social psychology. However, the social environment is predominantly understood by them as a cultural environment, without connecting it with the productive activities of people, with the social-class structure of society, which ultimately leads to an idealistic interpretation of the role of the social environment in the formation of personality.

As a result:

The social environment is everything that surrounds a person in his social (public) life. This is, first of all, family, classmates, peers in the yard, and so on. Throughout his life, a person experiences the influence of social factors. In relation to human health, individual factors may be indifferent, may have a beneficial effect, or may cause harm - even death.

Posted on Allbest.ru

Similar documents

Theoretical foundations for diagnosing the social environment. The concept of the social environment and the system of social protection of children in Russia. Methods for diagnosing the social environment. Study of the social environment of the Orthodox orphanage"Rozhdestvensky" in the Kaluga region.

thesis, added 02/14/2010


Hierarchical structure personality according to the model of the mental apparatus in S. Freud’s work “I and It”. The social environment as the source of the emergence of all specific human personality traits. The role of the state in the formation and development of personality.

report, added 05/25/2014


The problem of personality in sociology and philosophy. The social and active essence of man. Physical, social and spiritual personality. Interaction between the individual and society. The influence of social role on personality development. Institutionalized social roles.

test, added 01/27/2012


Personality. Development of a child's personality under the influence of environmental factors. IN complex process Many physical, biological and social factors are involved in personality formation.

abstract, added 06/11/2006


Karen Horney's study of the impact of the social environment on personality formation. Feelings of anxiety and the desire for security as the basis of human motivation. The structure of the neurotic personality. Activities of a social work specialist.

essay, added 05/05/2014


Social work as a phenomenon of social life. Historical roots of structural social work. Regulation of legal and economic relations between a person and society. The relationship of social work with other sciences. The essence of social work paradigms.

abstract, added 10/13/2008


Features, functions, tasks and principles of social policy. Administrative reform in the Russian Federation and its impact on the formation and implementation of the state’s social policy. Social cohesion and human rights forecast social situation in Russia.

course work, added 03/29/2015


Personality as a social unit existing in a particular society; social environment. The process of personality socialization: essence, dynamics, stages, methods and means. The role of personality in the development of society, its formation and purposeful education.

test, added 11/23/2010


The concept of personality in sociology. The relationship between biological and social in the formation of personality. The process of a person’s entry into society, his socialization and social adaptation, the individual’s adaptation to the social environment. Social status of the individual.

test, added 04/25/2009


The topic of man and personality as one of the key topics in sociology. Systemic properties of a person. Social role and status of the individual. Socialization as the process of a person’s assimilation of the rules prevailing in a given society. Social typology of personality.

A person always exists only in a certain environment. The social environment, as already mentioned in section 1.3.4, means the totality of natural and social conditions surrounding a person, social groups, society and humanity as a whole. For individual person the environment appears in the form of the nearest living space: apartment, house, street, area of ​​residence, city, place of work or study, etc. Although man is the most important component of this socio-spatial environment and the creator of its image, in this very general definition, nevertheless, Newton’s picture of the world clearly emerges, where a person finds himself “placed” in an environment, an environment where “being determines consciousness,” etc. The active role of social actors as subjects of defining and constructing the world, creating its geometry cannot be ignored by theoretical consideration. A way of relating a person to the world, i.e. the nature of a person’s relationship with the social environment determines the most important features of both the environment and all life situations of a person, the predominance of normal situations (naturally, normatively or conventionally defined by society) or “difficult life situations”, which are also codified differently in different societies, and in modern society determined by law.

Man as an individual always correlates his immediate existence and environment with something else that lies beyond his own boundaries. “Axes of relationships (relationships)” are very different and historically changeable: this is the family, clan, tribe or clan; home, village, city, state; Old World and New World; country, planet, space, etc. Such relationships defined the boundaries of “us” and “alien”, “I”, “we” and “they”.

2.2.1. The environment is the totality of eco-social conditions surrounding a person or group, and a person is the “environment of the environment”, since he isolates, analyzes, constructs, and attaches certain meanings to his socio-cultural and natural environment. The concept of “home” presupposes an environment that has already been mastered by man.

But “house” as a designation for the developed environment in a modern city is different from a village house or a house in a small town where the parents or grandfathers of most of today’s Russians were born. Russia is a country where the urban revolution occurred much later than in Europe, and its social consequences and features were not sufficiently analyzed against the backdrop of constant changes in forms of ownership and mode of production. For example, according to historians, the corporate organization of production in the cities of Western Europe had extremely important consequences for citizens in terms of social inclusion. Any artisan or member of a guild organization found himself completely bound by corporate guidelines that regulated not only production, but often family life. At the same time, there was mutual respect and revenue within the corporation, reinforced by consistency of employment.

In pre-revolutionary Russia, such professional corporations simply did not have time to take shape in a sustainable manner, although they certainly existed in big cities. It is interesting that they were fueled by migration processes, where communities played the role of socializing and career-guiding structures. Multiple transformations of the social structure in Russia during the 20th century. They did not allow the natural mechanisms of social inclusion that had been developing in European cities for centuries to take shape. In addition, many historically established Russian cities gradually decayed, and the country enthusiastically built new cities on the edge of the Earth (i.e., outside the “home”), some of which today have also fallen or are falling into decay. Therefore, the literature notes that society has acquired the characteristics of a “tumbleweed,” and people have acquired the psychology of homeless people living on state land, in no-man’s space, and not in their own equipped home. Alienation begins immediately outside the door of your own apartment or outside the entrance door. Condition of yards, streets and others common spaces indicates that people feel completely uninvolved in them, completely turned off and indifferent. I remember O. Spengler, who wrote about a new nomad, a modern barbarian, an inhabitant of large cities (the ancient Greeks called all those who were not residents of their city-polises barbarians).

If we systematize changes in the social environment and ways of interacting with it, which distinguish the urbanized, non-natural environment from the natural environment of a small settlement, we will obtain the following features.

• 1. Differentiation and concentration of various types of activities potentially available to every person and the possibility of not only choosing, but also changing them.
• 2. Differentiation and concentration social interactions, their diversity and, again, the ability to choose among a potentially endless variety.
• 3. Changing the form of social interactions from predominantly personal, informal to impersonal, formalized, anonymous, functional-role-based.
• 4. “Feverish” or stressful pace and rhythm of interactions, set by the concentration of activities, the tyranny of artificial, “tempered” time, clocks, schedules, etc.
• 5. Refusal or neglect of common, old traditions for freer individual expression, individualization of style and lifestyle, even to the point of abandoning such traditional form communities, like a family with children.
• 6. Coexistence of individual lifestyles, interaction of diverse cultures and emphasis on tolerance to the point of indifference to generally accepted norms.
• 7. A change in the nature of interaction with the developed environment, with the “house”, because the design and construction of the house is entrusted to “qualified specialists”, and a person is placed in a given environment, like “an atom in the void”. From this point of view, the practice of renting houses for occupancy without interior decoration should be welcomed, since it gives people the opportunity to master the environment and become masters of their apartment home - residents of such apartments gain control over their environment.

All this has led to the fact that the development of many artificial environments is becoming increasingly difficult for humans. This also applies to the state environment due to the underdevelopment of civil law relations in Russia; market environment due to the unformed layer of small owners and entrepreneurs and other environments. When talking about any type of environment, we must take into account their accessibility for human development and the ability of man himself to control changes in the environment.

In the historical subconscious of the population of Russia lies a stably structured and functionally defined natural space in which the house and the surrounding “extra-natural” environment are localized. In the city, it is the natural environment that is localized, and the main environment is an unusual, alien socio-cultural environment, the “jungle of the big city”, in which the unrooted Russian city dweller lives in struggle. This transition from a simple, predictable and stable environment to a complex and alienating environment modern city very dramatic. (An example of this is apartment buildings freezing due to faulty communications in small towns in Russia. In the summer, the residents themselves cannot replace or weld damaged pipes, communications, or even take part in this, because they are not the owners of it.) So that part of the city is a home. , i.e. mastered environment, people must know what they can (should) do in this environment. They must truly master it, make it “theirs.” No wonder “graffiti”, which abounds in clean Western cities, some researchers consider it a logical form of development - the domestication of the urban environment by young people. A significant part of modern social work in community development consists of the work of a social manager who finds points of application of efforts local residents- clearing a dirty yard, landscaping a staircase, building a sports ground, etc. Thus, the concept of one’s environment is formed, the image of the House, in the construction of which every resident of the block, microdistrict, etc. took part. The Russians have yet to travel this path.

2.2.2. Wednesday Always characterized by certain resources necessary for a person to satisfy his needs. Resources can be tangible or intangible. Material resources are often important for access to intangible ones: information, legal, medical, etc. But apart from the resources themselves, there is no lower value The client also has access to these resources. It is known that in modern society there is an extremely uneven distribution of not only material goods, but also power, prestige, respect, access to various services. Social worker clients often have their channels of access to these resources and services blocked. Often resources in the environment are only potentially available. For example, in the environment of a local territorial community (city, district, block, municipality) there is always such an untapped reserve as the activity of the residents themselves. But, in order to put this reserve into action, it is necessary to activate the social participation of these residents, awakening their initiatives, which can be done by a professional social worker. Educational institutions, families and other environments have their own unused reserves.

But the social environment not only provides resources, but also poses a certain risk for people. For example, a person can become a client as a result of unfavorable conditions in the social environment (get injured and become disabled, a person with deviant behavior, etc.). Moreover, victims of unfavorable environmental conditions can be divided into real and potential. Real clients are people with psychosomatic defects and deviations, people with disabilities; potential clients - children born in families with low economic, moral, cultural levels, migrants, etc.

2.2.3. Exists enough a lot of objective factors , turning a person into a victim of unfavorable environmental conditions, i.e. social work client. These are, firstly, the harsh natural and climatic conditions of the region, country, locality, geopathogenic zones, environmental pollution of various types, which can have a negative impact on human development and behavior, increasing not only the risk of morbidity, but also the level of criminal, antisocial behavior (stimulating the development of drug addiction, alcoholism, suicide, etc.). Secondly, instability in society, which is typical for societies transition period. Researchers emphasize that the rapid economic, political and ideological reorientation in Russia has led to the loss of individual and social identity among different groups of the population, especially older ones, and to the formation of younger generations fundamentally different, new value orientations, which collectively leads to an increase in “victims” among older, middle and younger groups of the population.

IN result The number of different types of victims of unfavorable socialization conditions has also increased (offenders, drug addicts, prostitutes, homeless people, poor sections of the population). Thirdly, a peer group with an antisocial orientation (especially in adolescence and adolescence). Fourthly, family, when, for example, a tendency to antisocial lifestyle and illegal behavior can be inherited.

In general, the environment should be treated as a source of various risks, and not just resources; it can be both developing and destructive of a person. If the possibilities of risks in it dominate over the possibilities of obtaining resources, if it does not provide opportunities for human development, stimulating in him only the emergence of asocial qualities, then such an environment is precisely destructive. A developing environment will be if:

it presents in the required balance both risks and ways of adapting to them;

• - There is necessary resources for positive human development and satisfaction of his needs;
• - a person has access to these resources;
• - the environment is characterized by diversity and richness of stimuli; a person is included in this environment voluntarily and actively, based on

his motives and abilities (which corresponds to his self), and not under external pressure;

the characteristics of the environment do not provoke his transformation into a passive client or only a consumer of services;

The environment forms a social order for personal qualities person;

interactions between man and environment are built on the basis of mutual openness of man and environment, their mutual interest;

Mastering the environment is feasible for a person, accessible, or when difficulties arise for a person, it is regulated by a special intermediary, so that the person sees benefit from this mediation for himself (he feels that his social competence is increasing);

such regulators of interaction between man and environment as law, morality, professional activity social worker, etc. Components of the social environment can be strongly or weakly connected. Strong connectivity indicates the strength of the environment, weak connectivity indicates its fragility.

Any environment has a number of common characteristics, among which we can point out:

• measure of stability/instability of the environment;
• availability of environmental resources (material/intangible)",
• the client's ability to access these resources;
• riskiness of the environment for the client",
• hidden reserves of the environment,
• accessibility of the environment for development by the client (the possibility of his direct interaction with its components);
• diversity of opportunities and environmental characteristics (creating the basis for human growth)
• a measure of the openness of the environment to humans, demand for a person by the environment;
• way of including a person into the environment: voluntary (based primarily on personal motives and abilities) or strictly forced;
• presence/absence of intermediaries between a person and the environment;
• type of relationship between the environment and a person and vice versa (from destructive to completely meeting mutual needs).
• 2.2.4. Which of these characteristics is appropriate to focus on depends on the goals facing the social worker, as well as on the specifics of the client’s life situation itself. In any case, a generalized portrait bad environment in accordance with the general characteristics given, it boils down to the fact that this is an environment with weak (at best limited) resources for the client, difficulties in accessing these limited resources, a high probability of a person becoming a victim of environmental conditions, increased instability, unpredictability of events occurring in it (which gives rise to difficulties in adapting the client to it, frustration, neuroticism of the client), the poverty of the environment with incentives (which limits the possibilities of his self-realization), the difficulty of mastering the client (and as a result of his poor health in the conditions of this environment) or the compulsion of his inclusion in this environment and etc. Respectively good there will be an environment characterized by a sufficiently high level of stability (which is important for the client’s successful adaptation), the presence of necessary resources and the ability to access them on the part of the client, the absence of the danger of turning him into a victim, a variety of incentives (which creates opportunities for his development), and good mutual exchange between client and environment, ease of mastery by the client (and, accordingly, his good psychological well-being in the conditions of this environment), voluntariness of his inclusion in this environment, etc.

This can be illustrated with examples. If the environment is in the family, educational institution, the territorial community is quite stable, sustainable, has the necessary resources, despite the fact that these resources are available to a person, if in this environment the means of adaptation to various risks are developed and it provides the necessary opportunities for the constructive development of a person, is characterized by a variety of incentives, etc., then we can consider such an environment prosperous. And, indeed, the stability of the demands placed on children in the family and school is an obvious condition for the success of their upbringing. Instability, brought about by parental divorce or conflicting demands from parents, hinders the success of parenting. The presence of a variety of resources is also an obvious condition for the family and school to successfully achieve their educational goals. At the same time, resources must be available to children. For a school, material resources such as the provision of premises, computers, textbooks, etc. often come to the fore. For a family, the most priority resource is a spiritual resource: love for children and care for them.

The richness and variety of situations and developmental environments in the family and school make them interesting and attractive for children. The monotony of the environment in such specific institutions as Orphanage, shelter (in general, any closed institution), negatively affects the development of children and adolescents.

It is necessary, however, to emphasize that the emphasis in the family and school on material resources alone often leads to the impoverishment of communication in these environments. A family with such an orientation turns out to be closed only on the problems of their own survival, children grow up in an atmosphere of flawed communication generated by the current difficult situation (they hear conversations only about money, material difficulties of parents who do not have enough time for their spiritual education and familiarization with culture). The spiritual resource turns out to be completely unused.

Of course, the family and school must be interested in the child, ready to accept him, surround him with care, attention, adapt to him and his characteristics (which is so often lacking). There are, as they said, even families with “unnecessary”, “extra” children. In general, the most diverse environments are often not ready for the inclusion of a person in them, are not able to adapt to the emergence of a person, are characterized by a certain egoism, and strive to “crush” the person’s iodine. And environments can be differentiated according to the degree of readiness/unreadiness for such inclusion of a person in them. For this reason alone, a person who joins them often needs an intermediary - a social worker, who helps him in mastering the environment and entering it.

In principle, the social environment should maximize the process of realizing a person’s potential and adapting it to the requirements of society. Here, of course, difficult questions arise: what is the most favorable developmental environment for a child or an elderly person, what are its features in general for each stage of life, how to fill it with specific content in relation to the stage of infancy, adolescence, youth, and even more so senile or adulthood age.

From a theoretical point of view, it is important to emphasize that it is necessary to raise the question of constructing favorable developmental environments specific to each age period. It is the question of these environments that forms the core of developments on the problem of creating “ worthy person living conditions” (poorly clarified conceptually). In practical terms, this task intersects with the task of developing social standards and regulations for the activities of social services.

Often the social environment, as already mentioned, is filled with incentives that create threats to development and can turn a person into a client-victim. Information about drugs, advertising of alcohol, cigarettes, and corresponding temptations for teenagers have become integral features of the modern urban environment. It also presents the possibility for a teenager to join totalitarian sects and join various criminal groups. All these risks seem to program the teenager into the role of a possible victim, a client of a social worker. Of course, these components of the environment affect a person only under the condition of underdevelopment of his consciousness, infantilism. A focus on “prestigious” consumer goods is typical for many teenagers. The priority task for a social worker is to improve the environment, reduce its riskiness through changing the organization of the environment, saturating it with developmental rather than destructive stimuli, and preventing drug addiction, youth and teenage crime.

In surveys, teenagers often say that they prefer to spend their free time not in your own, but in other areas; feel the lack sports sections and circles, teenage clubs, in general, name many reasons that shape their negative attitude to your area of ​​residence. This situation is a signal for rethinking local social policy in relation to youth, an incentive to formulate positive programs to create a more attractive environment for teenagers in the region. At the same time, this is an assessment of the activities of local authorities by this group of the population.

2.2.5. Others problems with environment optimization arise in relation to a person elderly. For now, older people live in an environment created primarily for healthy adults. It is often difficult for an elderly person to use transport - it is difficult to enter, the steps are too high, etc. Sometimes there aren’t enough benches near the front doors of houses to just sit and chat. Not in Russian traditions and it is not within the financial capabilities of older people to regularly visit cafes and restaurants. The modern urban environment devotes less and less space to people in general and older people in particular (the number of comfortable recreational places is decreasing, the number of green spaces, squares, etc. is decreasing). In general, a large-scale task arises of designing the living environment by local authorities to suit the needs and interests of people, and not cars. On this path, we will have to overcome certain stereotypes, namely, the opinion that this kind of activity is something of secondary importance; power can function without taking into account the needs of different groups of the population.

Of course, in the practice of shaping the urban environment, in addition to the negatives, there are also positives. Their example is the creation of pedestrian zones in city centers. Pedestrian zone opens up the possibility of returning to the original meaning of movement around the zone. The pedestrian zone allows anyone to relax, concentrate on the architecture of the buildings, sit and relax. Sitting is not just an empty pastime or rest. This is at the same time a way of contemplation, unity with the environment and a demonstration of an autonomous (independent) position, a “way of movement” for older people. A significant proportion of older people, as a rule, avoid crowded city streets and squares. Other stimulating elements of urban space are its small architecture, trees, and flowing water. Components of this kind create the impression of a “domesticated environment” and strengthen people’s sense of security. The creation of appropriate localized spaces and cozy corners can be considered as a promising area of ​​activity in municipal social work. These aspects are indicated in “Lectures on the technology of social work”, ed. E.I. Kholostova (Part III. M., 1998. P. 57). A striking experiment by E. Lenger and her Harvard colleagues shows the potential for healing and rejuvenation of an elderly person by the environment. They decided to change the environment surrounding people at the age of 75, restructuring it into an environment that was 20 years earlier, immersing them in the environment of 20 years ago. The experiment lasted only a week, but the result of immersing the elderly in such a “younger” environment is amazing: it was possible to influence the very process of aging of people (sharpen vision and hearing, increase muscle strength, improve memory, even increase the level of intelligence). These kinds of results are encouraging. The conclusion, however, is already clear: by changing the environment, turning it into a more comfortable one that meets the deepest interests of a person, a lot can be achieved.

It so happened that, on the basis of the predominant type of social environment, as mentioned, separate directions in social work are distinguished. This approach, however, does not take into account the holistic nature of the structure “person - environment - regulators of their interaction”; it is based only on one, albeit important, component of it - the environment.

• 2.2.6. For the theory of social work, the question of types of relationships, possible between people And environment basically. The fact is that these ratios can be very different - from extremely unfavorable (a person is a victim of the environment) to very favorable for a person. In other words, the social environment can either completely suppress or block a person’s development, turning him into a victim-client, or completely contribute to the satisfaction of all his needs and the process of human development. Let us list some types of relationships between man and environment.
• 1. Complete mismatch between man and environment. The environment turns a person into a client-victim, which can manifest itself at various stages of life. But its original form is clearly revealed at the very beginning of life, when the newborn baby is not needed by the immediate environment, the family did not expect him, he is not in demand, “superfluous”. The percentage of “unnecessary” children, as we know, is very significant. The “protective” capabilities of the social worker should be immediately included or removed from such an environment, triggering the mechanism of legal protection of the child. In any case, a search for means and mechanisms for including the child in an age-appropriate environment is required.

But a person can end his life in such an unfavorable environment that destroys him. Thus, research shows that elderly single people in social homes for single elderly people often do not always find themselves in a favorable environment. Contrary to initial expectations, the environment in social homes for single elderly people can isolate a person from society and lock them into their experience of old age. If a social house is integrated into the life of a city block, then it increases the variety of meaningful life and does not limit the number social roles old people.

The opposite situation is also possible, when the environment acts as a victim of people. For example, the same painted, shabby elevators, stairs, entrances, turned into a kind of garbage dump, basements flooded with water, etc. There are many examples of such an attitude towards the urban environment on the part of people.

Social work is focused primarily on changing what develops in inadequate types of relationships between a person and the environment. Of course, we need, first of all, technologies to protect people from the effects of environments that destroy them. Adaptation of a person to them is impossible in principle. Therefore, appropriate social diagnostic tools are important to first identify such environments.

• 2. Partial matching of person and environment. The social environment of modern Russian society now requires large number people with increased initiative and entrepreneurship. But most people meet this requirement only “partially”; perhaps they have just begun to develop these qualities; many are not capable of them at all. There is also partial correspondence between a person and a profession, etc.
• 3. Complete correspondence between person and environment. In this case, the environment develops a person’s potential (for example, a person’s informed choice of profession, a happy marriage, life-diversifying hobbies, etc.).

Of course, a social worker more often deals with cases of complete discrepancy or partial conformity between person and environment. In the case of a complete discrepancy (most often encountered in the practice of social work), in order to prevent a person from turning into a client-victim, technologies are required to radically transform the situation, remove the person from the influence of this environment, and select for him another environment that meets his age, personal, and social characteristics.

The most productive interaction between a person and the environment, as stated, is possible only if a relationship of mutual exchange has developed between them: the environment satisfies the basic needs of a person, and a person, in turn, supports the existence of the environment through his activities. In this sense, it was said about their mutual assumed™, mutual usefulness. Of course, this relationship of mutual utility is most represented at the stage of a person’s adulthood, when he is at the stage of productive activity. You cannot demand “usefulness” from pensioners, disabled people, and children.

• Collection of legislation Russian Federation. Art. 3.
• 2 See: Spengler O. Decline of Europe. M., 1993.
• Social work / under general. ed. V. I. Kurbatova. Rostov n/d, 1999.
• Kuznetsova T. 10. Social adaptation of orphanage graduates: kaid. dis. St. Petersburg, 2003.
• Chopra L. Ageless body, eternal spirit. M., 1994.

Socio-psychological phenomena arise from the interaction of the social environment, the individual and the group. Therefore, when studying them, it is necessary, first of all, to form a fairly clear idea of ​​the social environment, of the individual and the group as subjects of these phenomena, and of the general conditions of their mutual influence and interaction.
The social environment is everything that surrounds a person in his social life, serves as the object of his mental reflection - either direct or mediated by the results of the work of other people. A person experiences the influence of a wide range of social factors throughout his life. All of them, taken together, make up the social environment of the individual. But to designate the social factors that determine social life, they can tell us that in Marxism the concept of “socio-economic formation” is used, why else the concept of “social environment”? Let's consider the relationship between these concepts.

Social environment and socio-economic formation

The concept of social environment denotes the specific uniqueness of social relations at a certain stage of their development. In this way it differs from the concept of socio-economic formation and complements it. The concept of social environment characterizes not the essence of social relations, but their specific manifestation. Capitalism as a socio-economic formation is subject to the same socio-economic laws. But, manifesting itself in specifically special forms, the action of these laws creates a specific social environment that differs from other social environments. It is in such a specific social environment that individuals and groups operate. Moreover, if historical figures and large groups (classes, nations) act in a broad social environment, then the sphere of action of small groups and the individuals included in them is the microenvironment, the immediate social environment.
A specific social environment appears in the psychological aspect as a set of relationships between individuals and groups. The relationship between the social environment and the individual has a rather significant element of subjectivity. If a class cannot change its place in the socio-economic formation without destroying itself as a class, then a person can change his place in the social environment, can move from one social environment to another and thereby construct, to a certain extent, his own social environment.
Of course, the mobility of an individual in the social environment is not absolute; it is limited by the objective framework of socio-economic relations and the class structure of society. Nevertheless, the activity of the individual, especially in relation to the microenvironment he chooses, cannot be underestimated. The practical significance of this issue is revealed, in particular, when analyzing the causes of crime.
The social environment in relation to the individual is of a relatively random nature. This randomness is especially great in psychological terms, since the character and characteristics of certain individuals leave their mark on their relationships. But even this randomness manifests itself only to certain limits. It is limited by the necessity of relations determined by a certain socio-economic system.
It should be taken into account that the socio-economic formation is the highest abstraction of the system of social relations, where only global features are recorded. In the social environment, these elements of socio-economic formations are enlivened by a variety of aspects: demographic, ethnic, psychological, individual. Therefore, the structure of the social environment seems more confusing and more complicated than the strictly logical structure of the socio-economic formation.
The structure of the social environment cannot be a complete analogue of the structure of the socio-economic formation, its mirror image. Factors of an ethnic order, for example, belonging to a nationality, nation, one or another ethnic group, as well as derived factors of ethnic consciousness, acting together, constitute integral elements of the social environment. At the same time, elements directly related to the socio-economic formation have a decisive influence on the social environment. The system of objective social relations constitutes, as it were, a framework on which small groups and individuals are located. The place of the group on this framework mainly determines the social environment of the individual.
Thus, the social environment, to a first approximation, can be determined by the type of socio-economic formation. This is how the social environment characteristic of the primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist and socialist systems differs. The nature of the influence of the social environment defined in this way on the individual and the group also differs. We speak with indignation, for example, about feudal-bai remnants in socialist reality. We angrily denounce the modern facts of the slave trade and slavery, realizing that they do not pass without leaving a trace on the minds of those who live in a similar social environment in some foreign countries.

The class character of the social environment

Within the types of social environment, distinguished by the type of socio-economic formation, the types should be distinguished depending on the place of the group in the structure of the formation. Here, first of all, the class social environment is distinguished by its place in the historically determined system of social production. Thus, we distinguish between the bourgeois social environment, the proletarian social environment, etc. Since any social class is heterogeneous in its composition and is divided into certain layers, each layer has its own characteristic features of the social environment. This gives intra-class divisions of the social environment. In addition, there is a social environment of so-called declassed elements. Each of the noted types of social environment is characterized by certain psychological traits that leave their mark on individuals and groups of people.
Finally, there is a group of characteristics that help to identify the type of social environment according to the division of labor. There is a more or less clear distinction between the urban environment and the rural environment; a social environment characterized by physical and mental labor, various types of activity - industrial, political, legal, scientific, artistic, with all the ensuing features of people's existence.
All these signs constitute specific characteristics of the social environment that affect the individual qualities of a person, leaving their mark on their relationships.
The problem of the lifestyle of an individual or a small group is closely related to the problem of the social environment. The social environment is a complex set of relationships. However, the individual can be involved with varying degrees of activity in these relationships. The totality of practical relations to the social environment constitutes the individual’s way of life. More details about lifestyle will be discussed below. Now let's sum it up.
So, the socio-economic formation in its historical, demographic, geographical and ethnic specificity forms a given social environment, giving rise to a particular way of life and, subsequently, a way of thinking and feeling.
Consequently, socio-economic formation - social environment - lifestyle - personality - this is the fundamental diagram of the process of penetration of social relations into a person’s relationship with other people, the social into the individual, the path of socialization of the individual.
It is not enough to say that the social environment shapes personality, as the French materialists of the 18th century said. It is necessary to carry this connection further - to the socio-economic formation, the method of production, as Marxism does. “We,” wrote G.V. Plekhanov, “not only say that a person with all his thoughts and feelings is a product of the social environment; we are trying to understand the genesis of this environment.” Concluding that ultimately “the properties of the social environment are determined by the state of the productive forces at any given time,” Plekhanov explains: “Any given stage of development of the productive forces necessarily leads to a certain grouping of people in the social productive process, i.e., certain relations of production , i.e. a certain structure of the entire society. And once the structure of society is given, it is not difficult to understand that its character will be reflected in general on the entire psychology of people, on all their habits, morals, feelings, views, aspirations and ideals.”
The concept of social environment is widely used by modern bourgeois sociology and social psychology. However, the social environment is predominantly understood by them as a cultural environment, without connecting it with the productive activities of people, with the social-class structure of society, which ultimately leads to an idealistic interpretation of the role of the social environment in the formation of personality.

Popular site articles from the “Dreams and Magic” section

If you had a bad dream...

Social rehabilitation of children with disabilities

The most important factor and condition for the development of a child is the social environment. The social environment is everything that surrounds us in social life and, above all, the people with whom each individual has specific relationships. The social environment has a complex structure, which is a multi-level formation, including numerous social groups that have a joint impact on the mental development and behavior of the individual.

These include:

1. Microenvironment.

2. Indirect social formations, affecting the individual.

3. Macrosocial structures - macroenvironment.

The microenvironment is the immediate environment, everything that directly affects a person. In it he is formed and realizes himself as a person. This is a family, a kindergarten group, a school class, a production team, various informal groups communication and many other associations that a person constantly encounters in everyday life.

Indirect social formations affecting the individual. These are formations that are not directly related to the individual. For example, the production team where his parents work is directly connected with them, but only indirectly - through the parents - with the child.

Macroenvironment is a system of social relations in society. Its structure and content include a combination of many factors, among which in the first place are economic, legal, political, ideological and other relations. The named components of the macroenvironment influence individuals both directly - through laws, social policy, values, norms, traditions, mass media, and indirectly, through influence on small groups in which the individual is included.

Relationships between people have a wide range. Both on the scale of the macroenvironment and in the microenvironment, they are multiply mediated. For example, a grandfather or grandmother may not always be with the child. But a father’s story about his grandfather and his qualities as a person can have no less impact on the child than direct contact with him.

In addition to the above classification, there are types of social environment that differ according to the principle of the location of the group in the structure of social relations. Based on this, they distinguish the working, student, school social environment, etc. Each of the listed types of social environment is characterized by certain psychological characteristics that leave an imprint on the personality of a person, as well as groups of people.

There are also a number of other features that can be used to distinguish the type of social environment. For example, according to the division of labor, they distinguish between urban and rural environments, environments characterized by physical or mental labor. By various types activities - production, political, scientific, artistic, pedagogical, etc.

A specific social environment is, in socio-psychological terms, a set of relationships between an individual and a group.

The social environment into which a child finds himself acts as a determining factor in the realization of his needs and demands, is the most important condition revealing his social essence as a person. However, a child acquires socio-psychological qualities only through his own experience, communication, through direct contact with peers and adults in the family, in kindergarten, school, on the street due to his own activity.

The social environment in relation to the individual is of a relatively random nature. For example, parents, choosing for their child educational institution, they may choose not the one that is located close to home, but the one that is located next to the grandmother’s house, since due to their employment they cannot pick up the child from school. But this accident plays an extremely important role in the socio-psychological plan, since the character and characteristics of certain individuals and the characteristics of groups leave an imprint on their relationships, since the child finds himself in the socio-psychological atmosphere inherent in a given group.

The social environment is active; it influences a person, captivates him, and infects him with appropriate behavior patterns. It can encourage, and sometimes force, certain actions. However, this impact of the social environment on the individual is not always directed in the right direction and, often, does not meet the goals of the child’s upbringing and development. To reduce its unpredictability and negative impact on the child’s personality, attempts are made to make it manageable. Recently, in psychological and pedagogical literature The concept of “developing social environment” or “developing environment” for short appeared.

What is meant by this concept?

In broad terms, a developing social environment is understood as a certain community of people or an organization created for the purpose of implementing specific educational and developmental tasks and providing an opportunity for children, adolescents and young men to reveal their personal potential. Based on this understanding, any educational institution or organization can be classified as a developing social environment. This social environment can be called educational, school, kindergarten, etc. The developing social environment is complexly organized. It may have different organizational forms, differ in their content and focus.

According to the form of organization, these can be kindergarten groups, a class in a general education or special school, groups of children in out-of-school institutions: music, art, sports and other schools, sections, studios, various centers, etc.

The content of the developing social environment is determined by the system various relationships child with peers, older children and adolescents, teachers, caregivers, parents of other children, adults who interact with them and many other factors. The content of these relationships may be different character: moral (ethical), intellectual (cognitive), aesthetic, everyday.

The direction of communication and the established relationships between interacting individuals also represents significant variability, which is based on their need-motivational sphere. In one case, this may be a pronounced desire to satisfy one’s cognitive need, in others - to compensate for an existing defect, in others - the child may be attracted not by what adults are trying to give, but by various pranks, aimless pastime, etc.

The named characteristics of the developing social environment are set from the outside and determined by the goals and objectives of training, education and development. A child or adolescent who finds himself in such a developing social environment is presented with a wide choice of paths of intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and moral development. However, the child himself is not able to decide what to do and what to prefer. In order for him to develop a stable motivation for a particular type of activity, he needs the intelligent help of an adult, and happiness falls to the child who happens to have a person nearby who can interest and captivate him in the right direction.

Along with a broad understanding of the developmental social environment, there is a narrower definition that can be designated by the term “special developmental social environment.”

A special developmental social environment is an organization of children’s life activities in which, through a certain system-forming component, a special socio-psychological atmosphere is created that promotes the manifestation of a harmonious combination of relationships between the child and the social environment, and which encourages children to be active and purposeful.

An example of such a special developmental social environment is the experience of developing a child’s personality accumulated by A.S. Makarenko in organizing the training and education of street children in a children's colony. One of the most important system-forming components of the special social environment created by him is, in our opinion, the phenomenon of “responsible dependence”.

To understand some of the features of the process of social rehabilitation of children with disabilities, it is of interest that L.I. proposed in the 60s. Umansky such a form of organizing the life activities of schoolchildren during extracurricular time as “multi-age groups”. The idea and creation of these units was based on the assumption that when children communicate and interact different ages Favorable conditions are created for the accelerated development of younger schoolchildren and the formation of positive moral qualities in adolescents.

Around the same time, L.I. Umansky proposed another form of a special developmental social environment for training school leaders, which was implemented in the organization of the “Komsorg” camp for high school students. Ideas about creating a special developmental environment were developed and continued by his students A.S. Chernyshev, L.I. Akatov, E.A. Shanin and others. Currently, in Kursk, where this form of special developmental social environment first appeared, such associations of youth and schoolchildren as “Vertical”, “Monolith”, a camp for children with delayed mental development and etc.

Their functioning is based on the optimal combination of meaningful and exciting recreation for children with the simultaneous solution of a program of special training, developmental and educational tasks developed for each camp.

Forms of special developmental social environment can also include institutions and centers designed to carry out social rehabilitation of children and adolescents with disabilities. The same purpose is served by various training sessions, where both developmental and correctional tasks are solved; specially organized play activity, during which actions and deeds that are useful for the child’s entry into real life come first; meetings that serve to develop the necessary communicative qualities in children.

Another form of organizing a special developmental social environment, which has recently gained recognition in working with adolescents and high school students, is educational psychodiagnostics. This form of work is based on the principle of self-knowledge and self-development based on the analysis and use of data obtained through psychodiagnostic procedures.

So, the social environment is a complex multi-level formation, a concrete manifestation of social relations that have developed in society, in which a specific person lives and develops. But in order for the social environment to influence the child purposefully and contribute to the formation of personality traits necessary for effective entry and successful interaction with it, it is necessary to create special, special oriented conditions. Such conditions for organizing social rehabilitation of children with developmental disabilities are a special developmental social environment.

Attitudes towards children with disabilities in society

The concept of “disabled” at all times meant “unfit for work,” and for the state, which was forced to spend certain funds on them, they became dependents. Peculiar difficulties in communication and interaction with them also arose among the people around them. History shows that the view of children with disabilities has changed as scientific knowledge and society as a whole have developed. In this regard, the condition is divided into three stages: mystical, naive-biological and scientific, the comparison of which allows us to better understand the trend in the development of society’s relations towards people with disabilities.

The first stage includes the period from ancient times until the 18th century. We find information about this period in legends, myths, proverbs, fairy tales, and other oral and written sources. People saw this or that defect, first of all, as a great misfortune of a person, whom they treated with superstitious fear and compassion. Along with a similar attitude towards abnormal people, there was a belief that people with defects, for example, the blind, have mystical powers, they supposedly have access to special spiritual knowledge and vision.

The second stage begins with the era of enlightenment (XVIII century). During this period, medieval mystical ideas and prejudices became a thing of the past, giving way to vigorous developing science, accumulation of knowledge in various areas, obtained on the basis of experience, experiment. In theoretical terms A New Look realized in the doctrine of the vicariate of the senses. According to this view, the loss of one of the functions of perception, the deficiency of one organ is compensated by an increase in the functioning and development of others. However, research in this area has found this theory to be untenable. At the same time, a significant step forward was made in the view of a child with life limitations. Empirical approach to the study of physical disabilities of people led to serious discoveries. The practical consequence of these views was the emergence of a special alphabet for the blind (Braille alphabet), which allowed the blind to open access to culture and social life.

Start of the third scientific stage The understanding of the psychology of an abnormal person was based on the work of the Austrian psychologist A. Adler and his school. They substantiated the significance and psychological role of an organic defect in the process of development and personality formation. According to his views, if any organ, due to morphological or functional inferiority, cannot cope with its work, then the central nervous system and the mental apparatus takes on the task of compensating for the difficult functioning of the organ. A mental superstructure is created over a defective organ or function, striving to ensure the vital activity of the organism in this or a threatening link. Upon contact with external environment there is a conflict caused by the inadequacy of an organ or function with its tasks, which leads to increased morbidity and mortality. This conflict also creates additional incentives for overcompensation. The defect thus becomes the starting point and the main driving force mental development of personality. If the struggle ends in victory for the organism, then it not only copes with the difficulties created by the defect, but rises in its development to a higher level, creating giftedness from insufficiency, ability from a defect, strength from weakness, super value from low value.

A significant contribution to understanding the developmental features of abnormal children was made by V.M. Bekhterev, L.S. Vygotsky, A.R. Luria, B.N. Zeigarnik and many others. Currently, the main directions for studying children with one or another defect have been determined. Special schools and rehabilitation centers for mentally retarded children, children with loss of vision, hearing, speech, and musculoskeletal disorders have been created and operate everywhere.

However, in general, society’s attitude towards children with developmental disabilities cannot be considered optimal. The degree of rejection of abnormal children is influenced mainly by two factors: demographics and the defect itself. For example, according to a number of studies, city residents are more negatively disposed towards abnormal children and adolescents than residents of small villages. Villagers more often show selflessness and altruism towards them.

As for specific defects, according to L. Pozhar, mental retardation is considered the least acceptable in society, then blindness is indicated in the available literature, deafness is in third place, musculoskeletal disorders are in fourth place, and speech disorders are in fifth place.

The results of a study conducted under our direction largely confirmed these data. Thus, 68 percent of schoolchildren stated that it was impossible to be friends with a mentally retarded peer. At the same time, 73 percent of respondents could make friends with a blind person, 72 percent with a cripple, 78 percent with a person with poor speech skills, and 70 percent with a deaf person. Moreover, the opinions of girls and boys are somewhat different. Girls in grades 7 and 9 and all students in grades 11 put mental retardation first in their reluctance to communicate with abnormal peers. Then there are hearing defects, speech, vision and musculoskeletal disorders. But boys in grades 7 and 9, respectively, put hearing impairment in first place. All other defects are approximately the same for them.

From the data obtained, we can conclude that for adolescents and high school students, the first place in a negative assessment is given to those qualities of a defective peer that most interfere with communication and the establishment of certain interpersonal interactions.

The negative attitude of society towards children and adolescents with physical defects, as well as increased doses of pity and attention, not only create life inconveniences for them, but also negatively affect the formation of their personality. Their development is inextricably linked with the need for self-affirmation in the appropriate social environment. Unfortunately, normal children often reject a child with a defect, and this is the most important social need, thus, is not implemented.

A state of unsatisfied self-affirmation leads, as a rule, to deformation of the personality, to the emergence of moral instability and emptiness. If this need is satisfied, then the path opens to the realization of the individual’s capabilities in various decisive areas of life and work.

The critical point in the life of an anomalous child, regardless of what defect he suffers from, is the period when he begins to realize that his external characteristics are different from other people and, in this regard, tries to anticipate the consequences of these differences for him. If people around the child do not in any way focus attention on the defect and the inconveniences it brings to the child, moral and mental tension gradually subsides. If a child becomes an object of ridicule and bullying from peers and others, severe problems arise. internal conflict, the consequences of which are difficult to predict.

Thus, the social status of people with disabilities is still very low. The actual inclusion of them in social life will require a lot of time, financial resources, and additional efforts. One of these areas is social rehabilitation as the process of returning and introducing people to social life.

No less important is the problem associated with change public opinion in relation to persons with disabilities. The press, radio, television, and other media must join forces to educate the population respectful attitude to all people who find themselves in a difficult situation due to a physical or mental defect. The feeling of inferiority that arises in them due to a lack of understanding of their problems prevents them from living, taking advantage of the opportunities of human life, and children develop qualities that do not allow them to effectively interact with the social environment.

Adaptation of children and adolescents in the social environment

The concept of “adaptation” (from the Latin word adapto - adapt) is the adaptation of the body to external conditions. In modern social psychology this concept interpreted broadly. The individual, according to A.V. Petrovsky, initially has a desire for an internal goal, in accordance with which all manifestations of his activity without exception are activated. This internal goal is revealed in the concept of the adaptive orientation of all mental processes and behavioral acts. This includes the processes of an individual’s adaptation to the natural and social environment, the processes of self-adaptation (self-regulation, subordination of higher interests to lower ones) and others.

Depending on the interpretation of the individual’s life goals, the following options for the possible direction of adaptation are distinguished:

1) homeostatic option - the adaptive outcome is to achieve equilibrium;

2) hedonic option - the adaptive outcome consists of pleasure and avoidance of suffering;

3) pragmatic option - the adaptive outcome consists of practical benefits, success.

All particular aspirations in relation to the general internal pre-established goal are assessed as adaptive and non-adaptive. The concepts of “adaptability - non-adaptation” are revealed as tendencies in the functioning of a purposeful system and are determined by the correspondence - discrepancy between its goals and achieved results.

Adaptability is expressed in the coordination of the goal and the results of efforts to achieve it.

Non-adaptiveness consists in the fact that opposite relationships develop between the goal and the result of an individual’s activity: intention does not coincide with the action, the plan with execution, the incentive to action with its results. The idea of ​​a discrepancy between goal and outcome is the defining characteristic of maladaptation.

The named contradictions in the problem of non-adaptation are inevitable and irremovable, but they manifest not only negative tendencies, but also progressive ones: this is the source of the dynamic existence of the individual, his development. So, if the goal is not achieved, then this encourages continued activity in in this direction. Non-adaptiveness can also act as maladaptation: in case of constant failure when trying to realize a goal or in the presence of two or more equally significant goals.

In connection with the broad interpretation of the concept of “adaptation”, several types are distinguished: physiological, psychophysiological, mental, social. In relation to the process of social rehabilitation, mental, socio-psychological and social adaptation are of greatest interest.

Mental adaptation is expressed in the restructuring of the dynamic personality stereotype in accordance with the new environmental requirements.

Socio-psychological adaptation is the optimization of the relationship between the individual and the group, the convergence of the goals of their activities, value orientations, the individual’s assimilation of the norms and traditions of groups, entry into their role structure.

Social adaptation is constant process active adaptation of the individual to the conditions of the social environment.

The named types of adaptation, although they have their own specific characteristics, manifest themselves as a single whole, in the single process of the child’s adaptation to new life situations. The process of adaptation to the surrounding social Wednesday goes continuously. However, it is usually associated with dramatic changes occurring in life path individual.

The child receives his first lessons in adapting to interacting with people in the family, in the circle of friendly, well-meaning relatives and friends close to him. But social life is not limited to the family. Important steps for entering social life are preschool, school, formal and informal communication groups, inclusion in labor activity, starting a family and much more. And each time, in each new association, the individual has to maintain or acquire anew his socio-psychological status.

Among the main factors that determine the degree of success of a child’s entry into the social environment are the characteristics of the child himself and the characteristics of the microsocial environment in which he is included. TO individual characteristics child, on which the effectiveness of his adaptation depends, include his need-motivational sphere (needs, goals, motives, attitudes, etc.), emotional and intellectual properties, as well as some characterological and typological features.

Depending on the structure of the child’s need-motivational sphere, two main types of adaptation process are distinguished: active and passive.

Active type of adaptation. It is characterized by the child or adolescent’s determination to establish contacts with peers or other people, active search comrades based on common interests. Children of this type are not disappointed by temporary setbacks, but are encouraged to be more active.

The passive type of adaptation is characterized by uncritical, conformal acceptance of the goals and value orientations of the group.

The type of adaptation significantly affects the child’s socialization and his assimilation of social experience. Based on the typological approach to the study of personal characteristics, the following types of personality formation and its interaction with the environment are distinguished: harmonious, dominant, sensitive, conformal, anxious, introverted and infantile. They determine selective sensitivity to various pathogenic influences and determine the effectiveness of the child’s adaptation to the environment (E.M. Aleksandrovskaya, 1987).

1. Harmonious type of personality formation. In children of this type equally all personal properties are formed. They are sociable, self-confident, successfully control their behavior, and have low levels of anxiety and tension. However, despite all the stability of their personal structures