Test on the topic “Society. Society and nature. Spheres of public life"
1. Find in the list below provisions that can serve as definitions of the concept “society”. Write down the numbers under which they are indicated.
1) a group of people united for joint activities and communication
2) a certain stage in the historical development of mankind
3) the entire material world as a whole
4) the totality of all peoples inhabiting our planet
5) stable stereotypes of human behavior
6) results of material-transforming activities of people
2. Are the following judgments about the relationship between society and nature true?
A. Nature is one of the components of society as a system.
B. The impact of society on nature always leads to negative consequences.
4) both judgments are incorrect
3. Write down the word missing in the diagram:
Main spheres of social life
economic………………political spiritual
4. The elements of the spiritual sphere of society’s life include:
1) classes, social groups 2) political parties 3) morale 4) labor
5. Establish a correspondence between the spheres of society and their institutions (organizations): for each position given in the first column, select the corresponding position from the second column:
6. Are the following judgments about society true?
A. Society is all of humanity in the past, present and future.
B. Society is a collection of people united to jointly perform some activity.
1) only A is true 2) only B is true 3) both judgments are correct 4) both judgments are incorrect
7. Society in the narrow sense of the word is:
1) a certain stage of human development
2) part of the environment that is created by man
3) a set of elements of living and inanimate nature
8. Are the following judgments about society true?
A. Society is all of humanity in the past, present and future.
B. Society is a collection of people united to jointly perform some activity.
1) only A is true 2) only B is true 3) both judgments are correct 4) both judgments are incorrect
9. Give an example of the negative consequences of society’s impact on nature:
1) massive deforestation 2) production of “environmentally friendly” cars
3) limiting the export of natural resources
4) use of technologies to reduce emissions of harmful substances
10. Are the following judgments about the relationship between nature and society correct?
A. Nature is part of society.
B. Society, influencing nature, causes certain damage to it, the same can be said about the influence of nature on society.
1) only A is true 2) only B is true 3) both judgments are true4) both judgments are incorrect
11. The basis of the economic sphere of society’s life is:
1) regulation of social relations
2) production of material goods
3) development of resource-saving technologies
4) interaction between the state and associations of entrepreneurs
12. Choose the correct judgments about areas of society and write the numbers under which they are indicated.
1) The basis for delimiting spheres of public life are basic human needs
2) The basis for delimiting spheres of public life are social norms
3) The main spheres of social life are quite autonomous and at the same time inextricably linked
4) Changes in one area of social life do not affect other areas and society as a whole
Answer: 13
13. Use three examples to reveal the influence of the spiritual sphere on the development of society
1) The adoption of Christianity in Rus' contributed to the strengthening of the grand ducal power
2) the ideas of the Enlightenment prepared the social revolution (French Revolution of the 18th century), etc.
14. Nature, as opposed to society
1) is influenced by human activity
2) is the human habitat
3) changes in the direction from lower to higher
4) capable of developing independently of a person
Society as a system. Public relations.
1. Which feature does not apply to society as a system?
1) alternative development
2) incomplete development
3) unpredictability of development
4) static development
2. The following does not apply to public relations:
1) paperwork when applying for a job
2) a walk in the forest with a dog
3) holding a strike by employees of the enterprise
4) carrying out election campaigning by a candidate for deputy
3. The elements of society as a system include:
1) fertile soils
2) productive forces
3) natural environment
4) climatic features of the country
4. Select the correct judgments about society and indicate the numbers under which they are indicated:
1) Society is characterized by absolute arbitrariness and uncontrollability
2) Society is characterized by the absence of competition of interests and aspirations
3) Society is the social organization of the country
4) Society is the social organization of a tribe, nationality, nation.
Answer: 34
5. What meaning do social scientists give to the concept of “social relations”?
Drawing on the knowledge of the social science course, compose two sentences: one sentence containing information about the types of social relations, and one sentence revealing ways to change social relations.
Answer:
1) Social relations are diverse connections that arise between and within social groups in the process of practical and spiritual activities of people.
2) Social relations are divided into material and spiritual
3) Social relations can be changed in a revolutionary way, or in the course of evolution, modernization, etc.
6. You are instructed to prepare a detailed answer on the topic “Society as the joint life activity of people.” Make a plan, according to which you will cover this topic. The plan must contain at least three points, of which two or more are detailed in subparagraphs.
1. The concept of society
1) in a broad sense
2) in the narrow sense of the word
2. Conditions for the emergence of society.
3. Main functions of the society:
1) production of material goods and services
2) distribution of labor products
3) regulation of activities and behavior
4) reproduction and socialization
5) development of the spiritual sphere
4. Main spheres of public life:
1) political 2) economic 3) social 4) spiritual
5. Public relations:
1) material
2) spiritual
6. Main features of society as a system:
7. The sciences that study society do not include:
1) sociology 2) philosophy 3) cultural studies 4) genetics
8. The sources of self-development of society in the future should not include:
1) interaction between society and nature
2) development of the spiritual sphere towards the ideal
3) the use of technology and new information capabilities to improve human existence
4) self-development of the technosphere and artificial reality, radically changing the status of man.
9. Which feature characterizes society as a system?
1) constant development
2) part of the material world
3) isolation from nature
4) human interaction
10. The dynamic nature of society as a system is manifested in:
1) changing stages of historical development
2) the presence of elements and subsystems
3) social stratification
4) sustainability of basic institutions
11. “Second nature” is called:
1) biosphere 2) society 3) activity 4) culture
12. Both society and nature –
1) enter the biosphere
2) obey the general laws of development
3) act as objects of study in social sciences
4) are dynamic systems
Philosophers distinguish two main ways of progressive development of human society - evolution and revolution.
Evolution- this is a slow, gradual quantitative change in existing social relations, economic and socio-political systems, ultimately leading to their qualitative transformation.
The evolutionary development of society can be carried out consciously. Then they take the form of social reforms.
Reform- this is the transformation of any aspect of social life or public institutions while maintaining the foundations of the existing social system, carried out by the state.
The reforms are aimed at improving various spheres of public life, improving the economic, social, political situation of the population and expanding opportunities to meet their basic needs.
Directions of reforms in modern Russia:
^ social - pension reform, implementation of national projects: “Health of the Nation”, “Maternity Capital”, “Housing for a Young Family”, “Education”, etc.;
^ political - changes in the political sphere of public life, in the Constitution, in the electoral system, the fight against corruption, etc.;
^ economic - privatization, measures to overcome the financial crisis, monetary reforms;
^ in the spiritual sphere - educational reform, an attempt to create a national idea that integrates Russians, the revival of historical traditions, propaganda of citizenship, patriotism, etc.
The degree of reformist transformations can be very significant, up to changes in the social system or the type of economic system: the reforms of Peter I, reforms in Russia in the early 90s. XX century
Evolution can take place spontaneously, for example, as a result of the division of labor, responsibilities and roles were differentiated between people, this gave rise to the process of differentiation in society.
Another example is the constant process of increasing the average standard of living of the planet's population. In this case, innovation plays a significant role.
Innovation- an ordinary, one-time improvement associated with an increase in the adaptive capabilities of a social organism under certain conditions.
Thus, the mechanism of evolution follows from the very nature of human society - the need for self-realization and improvement of society, increasing the quality of life.
However, under certain circumstances, social evolution sometimes encounters obstacles that cannot be eliminated through reforms, and then society takes the path of social revolution.
Revolution- a radical, qualitative change in all or most aspects of social life, affecting the foundations of the existing social system.
Signs of revolution:
- these are radical changes, as a result of which a radical breakdown of the social object occurs;
- are of a general, fundamental nature;
- as a rule, rely on violence;
- are organized consciously;
- cause unusually strong emotions and mass activity.
Revolution- seizure of state power by violent methods by leaders of mass movements and its subsequent use for large-scale reform of all spheres of public life.
G. Hegel did not consider revolution a violation of the normal course of history. On the contrary, a revolution is a natural break in the continuity of the historical process, a leap in the development of society. But revolution, in his opinion, plays a predominantly destructive role in history, freeing society from obstacles that impede its free development. Positive creativity is realized only through gradual development.
The theory of revolution is most thoroughly developed in Marxism. Karl Marx claims that the social revolution sweeps away all obstacles to the path of historical progress and opens up new horizons for it. It means a giant leap in social development, a transition to new, more progressive forms of social life. Therefore, revolutions are the “locomotives of history.”
The economic basis of the social revolution is the conflict between productive forces and production relations.
Opponents of Marxism actively developed the idea of the ineffectiveness of social revolutions. Revolutions, in their opinion, can turn into their opposite and, instead of liberation, bring new forms of violence and oppression to the people.
According to P. Sorokin, revolution is the worst way to improve the material and spiritual conditions of life of the masses, because it does not increase, but reduces all basic freedoms, does not improve, but rather worsens the economic and cultural position of the working class. The philosopher gives preference to the evolutionary path of development of society.
Social revolution- This is an extreme form of resolving social contradictions. It does not arise at the will or arbitrariness of individuals or parties, but is a necessary consequence of the previous development of society and becomes historically necessary only in the presence of certain objective conditions and circumstances. Now only extreme extremists consider revolution as the only means of transforming society. Modern Marxists have abandoned revolutionary methods of struggle for power and rely mainly on democratic and parliamentary forms.
A revolution can be considered as a radical transformation in any area of human activity, entailing a radical, fundamental, deep, qualitative change, a leap in the development of society, nature or knowledge, associated with an open break with the previous state.
Revolutions are distinguished:
- Neolithic(transition from an extractive to a producing economy, i.e. the birth of agriculture and cattle breeding);
- industrial(transition from manual labor to machine labor, from manufactory to factory);
- cultural(radical changes in the spiritual life of society, transformation and change in the basic values of the dominant way of life and way of life);
- "green"(the process of introducing the achievements of scientific and technological progress in agriculture, ways, methods and means of sharply increasing the productivity of crop production, its prerequisite
was introduced in the mid-1950s. new hybrid high-yielding varieties of food grain crops; demographic (radical changes in population reproduction in the process of its historical development); scientific (a radical change in the process and content of scientific knowledge, associated with the transition to new theoretical and methodological premises, to a new system of fundamental concepts and methods, to a new scientific picture of the world, as well as with qualitative transformations of material means of observation and experimentation, with new ways of assessing and interpretation of empirical data, with new ideals of explanation, validity and organization of knowledge).
There is a lot going on in the world around us. changes. Some of them occur constantly and can be recorded at any time. To do this, you need to select a certain period of time and monitor which features of the object disappear and which appear. Changes may concern the position of the object in space, its configuration, temperature, volume, etc., i.e. those properties that do not remain constant. By summing up all the changes, we can identify the characteristic features that distinguish this object from others. Thus, the category “change” is understood as the process of movement and interaction of objects and phenomena, the transition from one state to another, the emergence of new properties, functions and relationships in them.
A special type of change is development. If change characterizes any phenomenon of reality and is universal, then development is associated with the renewal of an object, its transformation into something new. Moreover, development is not a reversible process. For example, the change “water - steam - water” is not considered development, just as it is not considered quantitative changes or the destruction of an object and the cessation of its existence.
Development always involves qualitative changes occurring over relatively large time intervals. Examples include the evolution of life on Earth, the historical development of mankind, scientific and technological progress, etc.
Society development- this is a process of progressive changes that occur at every given moment at every point in human society . In sociology, the concepts of “social development” and “social change” are used to characterize the movement of society. The first of them characterizes a certain type of social change, aimed towards improvement, complexity and perfection. But there are many other changes. For example, emergence, formation, growth, decline, disappearance, transition period. These changes carry neither positive nor negative meaning. The concept of “social change” covers a wide range of social changes, regardless of their direction.
Thus, the concept "social change" denotes various changes that occur over a period of time in social communities, groups, institutions, organizations, in their relationships with each other, as well as with individuals. Such changes can occur at the level of interpersonal relationships (for example, changes in the structure and functions of the family), at the level of organizations and institutions (education, science are constantly subject to changes both in terms of their content and in terms of their organization), at the level of small and large social groups.
There are four type of social change :
1) structural changes relating to the structures of various
social entities (for example, family, any other community, society as a whole);
2) changes affecting social processes (relations of solidarity, tension, conflict, equality and subordination, etc.);
3) functional social changes relating to the functions of various social systems (in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993, changes occurred in the functions of the legislative and executive powers);
4) motivational social changes (recently
For significant masses of the population, the motives of personal monetary earnings and profit come to the fore, which influences their behavior, thinking, and consciousness).
All these changes are closely interconnected. Changes in one type inevitably lead to changes in other types.
Researches development dialectics . This concept originated in Ancient Greece, where the ability to polemicize, argue, and convince, proving one’s rightness, was highly valued. Dialectics was understood as the art of argument, dialogue, and discussion, during which participants put forward alternative points of view. In the process of dispute, one-sidedness is overcome, and a correct understanding of the phenomena under discussion is developed. The well-known expression “truth is born in dispute” is quite applicable to the discussions of ancient philosophers.
Ancient dialectics imagined the world as constantly moving, changeable, and all phenomena as interconnected. But at the same time, they did not distinguish the category of development as the emergence of something new. Ancient Greek philosophy was dominated by the concept of the great cycle, according to which everything in the world is subject to cyclical return changes and, like the change of seasons, everything eventually returns “to normal.”
The concept of development as a process of qualitative change appeared in medieval Christian philosophy. Augustine the Blessed compared history to human life, passing through the stages of childhood, youth, maturity and old age. The beginning of history was compared with the birth of a person, and its end (the Last Judgment) with death. This concept overcame the idea of cyclical changes and introduced the concept of progressive movement and the uniqueness of events.
During the era of bourgeois revolutions, the idea arose historical development , put forward by the famous French educators Voltaire and Rousseau. It was developed by Kant, who raised the question of the development of morality and social development of man.
Hegel developed a holistic concept of development. He found various changes in nature, but he saw true development in the history of society and, above all, in its spiritual culture. Hegel identified the main principles of dialectics : universal connection of phenomena, unity of opposites, development through negation.
Dialectical opposites are inextricably linked and unthinkable without each other. Thus, content is impossible without form, a part is impossible without the whole, an effect is impossible without a cause, etc. In some cases, opposites come closer and even transform into each other, for example, illness and health, material and spiritual, quantity and quality. Thus, the law of unity and struggle of opposites establishes that the source of development is internal contradictions.
Dialectics pays special attention to the relationship between quantitative and qualitative changes. Any object has a quality that distinguishes it from other objects, and quantitative characteristics of its volume, weight, etc. Quantitative changes may accumulate gradually and not affect the quality of the item. But at a certain stage, a change in quantitative characteristics leads to a change in quality. Thus, an increase in pressure in a steam boiler can lead to an explosion, the constant implementation of unpopular reforms among the people causes discontent, the accumulation of knowledge in any field of science leads to new discoveries, etc.
The development of society occurs progressively, passing through certain stages. Each subsequent stage, as it were, negates the previous one. As development progresses, a new quality appears, a new negation occurs, which in science is called denial of denial. However, denial cannot be considered the destruction of the old. Along with more complex phenomena, there are always simpler ones. On the other hand, the new, highly developed, emerging from the old, preserves everything valuable that was in it.
Hegel's concept is based on reality and generalizes vast historical material. However, Hegel put the spiritual processes of social life in first place, believing that the history of peoples is the embodiment of the development of ideas.
Using Hegel's concept, Marx created materialist dialectics, which is based on the idea of development not from the spiritual, but from the material. Marx considered the basis of development to be the improvement of the tools of labor (productive forces), entailing a change in social relations. Development was considered by Marx, and then by Lenin, as a single natural process, the course of which is not linear, but in a spiral. At a new turn, the passed steps are repeated, but at a higher quality level. Movement forward occurs spasmodically, sometimes catastrophically. The transition from quantity to quality, internal contradictions, and the clash of various forces and tendencies provide impetus for development.
However, the process of development cannot be understood as a strict movement from lower to higher. Different peoples on Earth differ in their development from each other. Some peoples developed faster, some more slowly. In the development of some, gradual changes prevailed, while in the development of others they were of a spasmodic nature. Depending on this, they distinguish evolutionary And revolutionary development.
Evolution- these are gradual, slow quantitative changes that over time lead to a transition to a qualitatively different state. The evolution of life on Earth is the most striking example of such changes. In the development of society, evolutionary changes manifested themselves in the improvement of tools and the emergence of new, more complex forms of interaction between people in different spheres of their lives.
Revolution- these are extremely radical changes that involve a radical breakdown of pre-existing relationships, are of a universal nature and rely, in some cases, on violence. The revolution is of a spasmodic nature.
Depending on the duration of the revolution there are short-term And long-term. The first include social revolutions - fundamental qualitative changes in all social life, affecting the foundations of the social system. Such were the bourgeois revolutions in England (XVII century) and France (XVIII century), the socialist revolution in Russia (1917). Long-term revolutions have global significance and affect the development process of different nations. The first such revolution was neolithic revolution . It lasted several thousand years and led to the transition of humanity from an appropriating economy to a producing one, i.e. from hunting and gathering to pastoralism and agriculture. The most important process that took place in many countries of the world in the 18th -19th centuries was industrial revolution , as a result of which there was a transition from manual labor to machine labor, mechanization of production was carried out, which made it possible to significantly increase the volume of output with lower labor costs.
In characterizing the development process in relation to the economy, extensive and intensive development paths are often distinguished. Extensive way associated with an increase in production by attracting new sources of raw materials, labor resources, increased exploitation of labor, and expansion of acreage in agriculture. Intensive way associated with the use of new production methods based on scientific and technological progress. The extensive path of development is not endless. At a certain stage, the limit of its capabilities comes, and development comes to a dead end. The intensive path of development, on the contrary, involves the search for something new that is actively used in practice; society moves forward at a faster pace.
The development of society is a complex process that continues continuously throughout the history of humankind. It began with the separation of man from the animal world and is unlikely to end in the foreseeable future. The process of development of society can only be interrupted with the death of humanity. If man himself does not create the conditions for self-destruction in the form of a nuclear war or an environmental disaster, the limits of human development can only be associated with the end of the existence of the solar system. But it is likely that by that time science will reach a new qualitative level and man will be able to move in outer space. The possibility of populating other planets, star systems, and galaxies can remove the question of the limit to the development of society.
Questions and tasks
1. What is meant by the category “change”? What types of changes can you name?
2. How does development differ from other types of change?
3. What types of social changes do you know?
4. What is dialectics? When and where did it originate?
5. How have ideas about the development of the history of philosophy changed?
6. What are the laws of dialectics? Give examples to support them.
7. How do evolution and revolution differ? How did these processes manifest themselves in the lives of individual peoples and of all humanity?
8. Give examples of extensive and intensive development paths. Why can't they exist one without the other?
9. Read the statement by N.A. Berdyaev:
“History cannot make sense if it never ends, if there is no end; the meaning of history is the movement towards the end, towards completion, towards the outcome. Religious consciousness sees history as a tragedy that has a beginning and will have an end. In a historical tragedy there are a number of acts, and in them the final catastrophe is brewing, an all-resolving catastrophe...”
What does he see as the meaning of history? How are his ideas related to the problem of social development?
10. Conduct a discussion on the topic “Is there a limit to the development of mankind?”
1. The essence of the concept of “social changes” and their types.
2. Factors of social change.
3. Social process: essence, types and forms.
1. From the very beginning of its emergence, since the time of O. Comte, sociology has been studying man and society not only in statics, but also in dynamics, in the process of social change. Everything changes in society: the economic system and social structure, social situations and roles, religious doctrines, cultural values and norms, etc. All these changes in social life are covered by the concept of “social change”.
Social changes are a set of diverse changes occurring in society, in its social structure, in social communities, groups, institutions, organizations, in the social statuses and roles of individuals and groups, in their interactions with each other and with any structural components of society.
Social changes cover all spheres of society, all types of diverse changes in it, constituting the core of the social dynamics of society. This social dynamics is reflected not only by this concept, but also by others that are close to it in meaning: social process, social development, social evolution, social progress, etc.
Typology of social changes:
A. The types of changes are varied and can vary depending on exactly which aspects, fragments and changes of the system are involved. Changes may be observed:
1) included(for example, migration from one group to another, cessation of a social movement, disintegration of a group, etc.);
2) in the structure(the emergence of inequality, the formation of friendly ties, the establishment of cooperative or competitive relations);
3) in functions(specialization and differentiation of work, reducing the economic role of the family, universities taking on a leadership role);
4) within the boundaries(merger of groups or competition between them, democratization of membership conditions, etc.);
5) in relations between subsystems(victory of politics over economics, management of private life by a totalitarian government, etc.);
6) surrounded(deterioration of the environmental situation, earthquakes, epidemics).
B. Social change refers to what happens either to the system itself or within it. In the first case, changes can cover all (or at least the main) components of the system, leading to its complete degeneration, when the new system is fundamentally different from the previous one. This perfectly illustrates most social revolutions. In the second case, the changes are of a private, limited nature and do not find a noticeable response in other parts of the system; its integrity is preserved and does not undergo global transformations despite the gradual changes occurring within. Thus, social changes are divided into two types: system-wide And intrasystem.
IN. Depending on the level of changes occurring:
1) social changes at the macro level (international systems, nations, states);
2) social changes at the meso level (corporations, political parties, religious movements, large associations);
3) social changes at the micro level (families, employment groups, cliques, groups of friends).
G. The form distinguishes between evolutionary and revolutionary social changes.
Evolutionary social changes are gradual, predominantly quantitative changes, usually of an irreversible nature, occurring in various social systems and communities - in economics, politics, culture, education, etc. Evolutionary changes can be socially organized and regulated, in which case they acquire the character of social reforms (for example: reforming the economic system in the country).
Revolutionary social changes are fundamentally different from evolutionary ones. These are changes: a) not of a quantitative, but of a qualitative nature, aimed at radical transformations of the social system; b) are organically connected with the crisis and, as a rule, do not occur without an increase in crisis phenomena; c) cover the main structures and functions of the system being changed; d) most often rely on violence.
D. Depending on the direction of the changes taking place:
Progressive changes - have such an orientation in which there is a transition from a lower level of development of a social system to its highest level or to a new, much more advanced social system, which has a more complex organized structure and more effective functions (for example: a transition from a pre-civilized, archaic stage development of humanity to civilized).
Regressive changes - have a direction, which is embodied in the transition from higher to lower, in the processes of degradation, stagnation, decline, return to obsolete social structures and functions (for example: the establishment of the fascist regime in Germany in the 30s of the twentieth century).
It must be borne in mind that progress is a value category; progress always correlates with values. The same changes can be qualified depending on the expected value preferences, which are completely different for different individuals, groups, classes, nations. Therefore, we must constantly ask the question: progress for whom and in what respect? If absolute progress does not exist, then a scale of values accepted as a measure or criterion of progress is always necessary.
The degree of relativity of values can be different. There are so-called universal values, also called absolute, for example, human life, knowledge. Facts such as an increase in human life expectancy, the elimination of many dangerous epidemics, the ability to cross the ocean not in three months, but in six hours are undoubted indicators of progress in society.
However, there are areas in which the choice of progress criterion is highly context dependent. For example, in the 19th century and most of the 20th century, industrialization, urbanization, and modernization were considered synonymous with progress, and only recently it was discovered that they could have too far-reaching consequences (overpopulated cities, traffic jams on highways, overproduction of goods, etc.). ) and that good things can have very unpleasant side effects (dispersal of resources, pollution and destruction of the environment, new diseases). In addition, it has become obvious that progress in one area is often only possible at the expense of regression in another. Thus, the processes of democratization, development of entrepreneurship and free markets currently taking place in post-communist countries are accompanied by an increase in unemployment and poverty, a weakening of social discipline, an increase in the level of crime and delinquency, and local conflicts.
By progress we mean such changes that steadily bring the system closer to either a more preferable, better state, or to the ideal state of society described in numerous social utopias. Over a long period of intellectual history, various thinkers have proposed various criteria to measure progress, including:
1) salvation by religion as spiritual and moral progress;
2) knowledge as the progress of knowledge leading to “positive” science;
3) negative freedom (i.e. freedom from restrictions and barriers to have the opportunity for individual self-expression and self-realization) and positive freedom (i.e. freedom to influence one’s own society and its formation);
4) emancipation as an expansion of the field of activity of members of society, measured by the growth of people’s involvement in public life and the disappearance of inequality;
5) technical development as the ability to dominate nature;
6) justice and equality, defined by humanely organized production and equal distribution;
7) abundance as the realization of opportunities for access to benefits;
8) the ability to choose and equal life opportunities.
History shows that no society stands still: it either progresses or regresses. If the sum of the positive consequences of large-scale changes in society exceeds the sum of the negative ones, then we speak of social progress. Progress is both local and global.
Regression is a local process that covers individual societies and short periods of time; it represents the predominance of negative changes over positive ones.
2. The emergence of social changes is explained by the interaction of a number of factors:
Physical environment. If the environment changes for some reason, its inhabitants, who have developed a certain type of adaptation to it, must respond to these changes with appropriate institutional changes, the development of new forms of social organization and new technical inventions. Droughts, floods, epidemics, earthquakes and other natural forces force people to make changes in their lifestyles. In addition, social changes are caused by changes in the physical environment as a result of negative human influences on it. Thus, dumping of hazardous waste, air and water pollution, acid rain, depletion of natural resources, erosion of the top fertile layer of soil are all the result of damage caused by people to the ecosystem. Thus, people are connected with their environment by a chain of complex reciprocal changes.
Population. Changes in the size, structure and distribution of population affect the culture and social structure of a society. For example, the “aging” of society creates serious problems with jobs.
Conflicts. Conflict is a form of interaction between people in the struggle for resources or values. The interests of individuals and groups contradict each other, their goals are incompatible. Most often, the final result of conflicts is expressed in the formation of a qualitatively new integral structure. The old social order is constantly being undermined and giving way to a new one.
Innovation. Discovery is a shared perception by many people of an aspect of reality previously unknown; This is a new achievement in the process of scientific knowledge of nature and society. It always adds something new to the culture. A discovery becomes a factor of social change only when it can be used, when it has become part of society or human relations. Thus, the ancient Greeks 100 years BC had an idea of steam energy. A small steam engine was even built in Alexandria for entertainment, but the power of steam did not effect social change until the discovery began to be seriously used by people two thousand years later.
An invention is a new combination or new use of existing knowledge. It was in this way that the inventor J. Selden in 1895, by combining an engine, a fuel tank, a belt drive and wheels, invented the car. Inventions are divided into two types: material (telephone, airplane) and social (alphabet, electoral democracy).
Innovation - both discoveries and inventions - is a cumulative sequence of increasing knowledge passed on from generation to generation, plus a number of new elements.
Diffusion is the process by which cultural characteristics spread from one social system to another. Diffusion operates both within societies and between them. It is possible only in those societies that come into close contact with each other. Diffusion is a selective action: a group accepts some cultural traits and rejects others.
3. Typically, isolated actions can rarely lead to significant social and cultural change. Significant social changes occur in the process of joint actions of people.
A social process is a set of unidirectional and repeated social actions that can be distinguished from many other social actions.
Social changes represent one of the important aspects of the social process, but do not cover it entirely, since a significant place in the social process belongs to the simple reproduction of pre-existing structures, functions, norms, and standards of behavior. Thus, social changes represent a very important, most dynamic part of social processes.
From the whole variety of social processes, one can single out processes that have common features, the totality of which allowed sociologists R. Park and E. Burgess to create a classification of basic social processes:
1) cooperation (co - together , operari – work ) – interaction of individuals or groups in the process of joint activity, united by a common goal or solution to a specific problem. The basis of cooperation is mutual benefit;
2) competition (rivalry)- this is the struggle between individuals, groups or societies for the mastery of values, the reserves of which are limited and unequally distributed between individuals or groups. Competitive relationships thrive in conditions of abundance.
Competition can manifest itself on a personal level (for example, when two managers fight for influence in an organization) or be impersonal in nature (for example, an entrepreneur fights for markets without personally knowing his competitors). Both personal and impersonal competition are usually carried out in accordance with certain rules that focus attention on achieving and outpacing rivals, rather than on eliminating them.
Competition has its “pros” (competition is a means that stimulates each individual to the greatest achievements, i.e., increasing motivation for activity) and “cons” (for example, if there are competing groups in an organization, this can negatively affect on the effectiveness of such an organization);
3) device– the acceptance by an individual or group of cultural norms, values and standards of action of the new environment, when the norms and values learned in the old environment do not lead to the satisfaction of needs and do not create acceptable behavior. In other words, adaptation is the formation of a type of behavior suitable for life in changed environmental conditions. Depending on the individual’s assessment of changes in the external environment and the significance of these changes, adaptation processes can be short-term or long-term.
The adaptation is a complex process in which a number of features can be distinguished, these are:
Submission is a prerequisite for the adaptation process, because any resistance significantly complicates the individual’s entry into a new structure, and conflict makes this entry or adaptation impossible. Submission to new norms, rules, customs can be conscious or unconscious, but in the life of any individual it occurs more often than disobedience and rejection of new norms;
Compromise is a form of adaptation that means that an individual or group comes to terms with changing conditions and culture by partially or fully accepting new goals and ways of achieving them. Each individual usually tries to reach an agreement, taking into account his own strengths and what forces the surrounding changing environment has in a certain situation. Compromise is a balance, a temporary agreement; as soon as the situation changes, a new compromise has to be sought;
Tolerance is a necessary condition for the successful process of adaptation; it is tolerance towards a new situation, new samples of culture and new values (for example, an emigrant traveling to another country must be tolerant of samples of a culture alien to him and try to understand them);
4) conflict- an attempt to achieve reward by subjugating, imposing one’s will, removing or even destroying an opponent seeking to achieve the same reward. Conflict differs from competition in its clear direction, the presence of incidents, and the tough conduct of the struggle. ;
5) assimilation is a process of mutual cultural penetration through which individuals and groups come to a common culture shared by all participants in the process. This is always a two-way process in which each group has the opportunity to penetrate its culture into other groups in proportion to its size, prestige and other factors. Assimilation can significantly weaken and extinguish group conflicts, mixing groups into one large one with a homogeneous culture;
7) amalgamation- biological mixing of two or more ethnic groups or peoples, after which they become one group or people.
The transition of social systems, their elements and structures, connections and interactions from one state to another is understood. The most important factors of social change are:
- habitat changes;
- dynamics of population size and structure;
- tensions and conflicts over resources or values;
- discoveries and inventions;
- transfer or penetration of cultural patterns of other cultures.
According to their nature and degree of influence on society, social changes are divided into evolutionary and revolutionary. Under evolutionary refers to gradual, smooth, partial changes in society, which can cover all spheres of life - economic, political, social, spiritual and cultural. Evolutionary changes often take the form social reforms, which involve carrying out various activities to transform certain aspects of public life.
Evolutionary concepts explain social changes in society endogenous or exogenous reasons. According to the first point of view, processes occurring in society are considered by analogy with biological organizations.
Exogenous the approach is presented primarily by theory diffusion. those. "leakage" of cultural patterns from one society to another, which becomes possible due to the penetration of external influences (conquest, trade, migration, colonization, imitation, etc.). Any culture in society is influenced by other cultures, including the cultures of conquered peoples. This counter the process of mutual influence and interpenetration of cultures is called in sociology acculturation.
Revolutionary refers to relatively rapid (compared to social evolution), comprehensive, fundamental changes in society. Revolutionary transformations are of a spasmodic nature and represent a transition of society from one qualitative state to another.
It should be noted that the attitude of sociology and other social sciences to the social revolution is ambiguous. For example, Marxists viewed revolution as a natural and progressive phenomenon in the history of mankind, considering it “the locomotive of history,” “the highest act of politics,” “the holiday of the oppressed and exploited,” etc.
Among non-Marxist theories it is necessary to highlight theory of social revolution. In his opinion, the damage caused to society by revolutions always turns out to be greater than the probable benefit, since revolution is a painful process that results in total social disorganization. According to Vilfredo Pareto's theory of elite circulation, a revolutionary situation is created by the degradation of elites, which have been in power for too long and do not ensure normal circulation - replacement with a new elite. Relative deprivation theory Theda lappa explains the emergence of social tension in society by the gap between the level of people’s demands and the possibilities of achieving what they want, which leads to the emergence social movements. And finally, modernization theory considers revolution as a crisis that arises when the processes of political and cultural modernization of society are carried out unevenly in different spheres of life.
In recent years, sociologists have paid increasing attention to cyclical social changes. Cycles are a certain set of phenomena, processes, the sequence of which represents a circuit over a period of time. The final phase of the cycle seems to repeat the initial one, only under different conditions and at a different level.
Among the cyclic processes, changes in pendulum type, wave movements And spiral. The former are considered the simplest form of cyclical change. An example is the periodic change in power between conservatives and liberals in some European countries. An example of wave processes is the cycle of technogenic innovations, which reaches its wave peak and then declines, as if fading. The most complex of cyclical social changes is the spiral type, since it involves change according to the formula: “repetition of the old at a qualitatively new level” and characterizes the social continuity of different generations.
In addition to cyclical changes occurring within one social system, sociologists and cultural scientists identify cyclical processes that span entire cultures and civilizations. One of these most integral theories of social life is cyclic theory, created by a Russian sociologist N.Ya. Danilevsky. He divided all the cultures of the world into “non-historical” ones, i.e. unable to be genuine subjects of the historical process, to create a “original civilization”, and “historical”, i.e. creating special, unique cultural and historical types.
In his classic work "Russia and Europe" Danilevsky, using historical and civilizational approaches to the analysis of social life, identified 13 cultural and historical types of society: Egyptian, Chinese, Indian, Greek, Roman, Muslim, European, Slavic, etc. The basis for identifying “original civilizations” is a peculiar combination of four main elements in them: religion, culture , political and socio-economic structure. Moreover, each of these civilizations goes through four main phases in its development, which, relatively speaking, can be called origin, formation, flourishing and decline.
The German sociologist argued similarly Oswald Spengler. which is in progress "The Decline of Europe" identified eight specific cultures in the history of mankind: Egyptian, Babylonian, Indian, Chinese, Greco-Roman, Arab, Western European, Mayan and the emerging Russian-Siberian. In his understanding, the life cycle of each culture goes through two stages: ascending (“culture”) And descending (“civilization”) branches of society development.
Later his English follower Arnold Toynbee in his book "Comprehension of History" The cyclic model of the historical process has been somewhat modernized. Unlike Spengler with his “patchwork quilt of individual cultures,” Toynbee believes that world religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Islam) unite the development of individual civilizations into a single process. He connects the dynamics of the historical process with the action of the “law of challenge and response,” according to which society develops due to the fact that it is able to adequately respond to the challenges of emerging historical situations. Toynbee is an opponent of technical determinism and sees the development of society in the progress of culture.
Cyclic theories also include sociocultural dynamics of P. Sorokin, which gives a very pessimistic forecast for the development of modern Western society.
Another example of cyclic theories is concept of “world-economy” I.Wallerstein(b. 1930), according to which, in particular:
- Third world countries will not be able to repeat the path taken by the states that are the leaders of the modern economy:
- capitalist world-economy, born around 1450, 1967-1973. entered the inevitable final phase of the economic cycle - the crisis phase.
Currently, sociologists are criticizing ideas about the unilinear nature of social processes, emphasizing that society can change in the most unexpected ways. And this happens in the case when the previous mechanisms no longer allow the social system to restore its balance, and the innovative activity of the masses does not fit within the framework of institutional restrictions, and then society is faced with the choice of a further option for its development. This branching or bifurcation associated with the chaotic state of society is called social bifurcation, meaning the unpredictability of social development.
In modern Russian sociology, the point of view is increasingly gaining ground, according to which the historical process in general and the transition of society from one state to another in particular always presupposes multivariate, alternative social development.
Types of social changes in society
Sociology highlights the social and cultural changes occurring in modern societies.
Social changes include shifts in social structure:
- the emergence of new social groups, layers and classes;
- reduction in the number, location and role of the “old layers” (for example, collective farmers);
- changes in the field of social connections (the nature of relationships and interactions, power relations, leadership in connection with the emergence of a multi-party system);
- changes in the field of telecommunications (mobile communications, Internet);
- changes in citizen activity (for example, in connection with the recognition of private property rights and freedom of enterprise).
We observe a special group of changes in the political field:
- changing the role of the representative institution (State Duma) and the government of the Russian Federation;
- the formation of a multi-party system and the removal of a single party from the leadership of the country;
- official recognition of ideological pluralism by the Constitution.
Social change also includes cultural change. Among them:
- changes in the field of material and intangible values (ideas, beliefs, skills, intellectual production);
- changes in the field of social norms - political and legal (revival of ancient traditions, customs, adoption of new legislation);
- changes in the field of communications (creation of new terms, phrases, etc.).
Social development of society
The concepts “ ” and “ ” are closely related to the problems of social change. Social development is understood as such a change in society that leads to the emergence of new social relations, institutions, norms and values. Social development has three characteristic features:
- irreversibility, meaning the constancy of the processes of accumulation of quantitative and qualitative changes;
- directionality - those lines on which this accumulation occurs;
- regularity is not accidental, but a necessary process of accumulation of such changes.
Social progress presupposes a direction of social development that is characterized by a transition from lower to higher forms, from less perfect to more perfect. In general, social progress refers to the improvement of the social structure of society and the improvement of human living conditions.
A process opposite to progress, is regression, it means return to the previous level of development of society. If progress seen as global process characterizing the movement of humanity throughout social development, then regression is a local process, affecting a particular society in a historically short period of time.
In sociology, to determine the progressiveness of a particular society, two most general criteria were usually used:
- level of labor productivity and welfare of the population;
- degree of personal freedom. But recently, Russian sociologists are increasingly expressing their point of view on the need for a criterion that would reflect the spiritual, moral, value-motivational aspects of people’s economic and socio-political activities. As a result, today in sociology it has emerged the third criterion of social progress is the level of morality in society, which could become an integrative criterion of social progress.
Concluding this question, we note that modern theories of progress draw attention to the fact that to save civilization, a human revolution is necessary in the form of a change in man’s attitude towards himself and others, the formation cultural universalism(N. Berdyaev, E. Fromm, K. Jaspers, etc.). The prospects for the development of modern civilization will be positive only if the focus in the 21st century. It won't be cars, but people. Promising changes can be recognized as those that promote true harmony between the individual, society and nature.
