The exact natural social sciences that study society. Correlation of categories of social sciences and humanities

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Humanitarian sciences

As already noted, the humanities do not have exact confirmation and postulate. These include: psychology, economics, philosophy, sociology, jurisprudence. Understanding and acquiring new knowledge of human nature and art are the most important characteristics of the humanities. This is the normative knowledge of an educated person. By deepening science, the settlement of integrity in relation to man and the core of nature is being explored by scientists and professors.

Although quite recently the humanities were limited in the study of social management, now modern science, on the contrary, seeks to solve the problem of social construction of the social population. The main direction of which today has gained some progress and interest among many humanistic scientists is the study of society and its capabilities in front of technological discoveries, as well as knowledge of social statistics.

Social Sciences

Social sciences, in addition to the humanities listed above, also cover social circle of research- this is history, jurisprudence, linguistics, rhetoric, political science, pedagogy, cultural studies, geography, anthropology. Such a wide range of sciences studies the historical stages of the past, as well as what may happen in the history of the future. Solves fundamental theorems of social society. This science explores human relationships and attitudes.

Even in the recent past, social sciences had no basis and were considered only from the point of view of necessity in a particular area. Today they are relevant for all segments of society. The theory that people will be able to govern themselves through social statistics and research is becoming popular and being considered.

Similarities between the two sciences

Some sciences such as history, political science and sociology are to some extent harbingers of the future, i.e. Guided by the skills of the historical past and analysis of the public political mood of society, political scientists and sociologists can predict an assessment of what may happen in the future. Thus, sociology, history and political science are closely related. A characteristic difference is the fact that political science studies theories, and sociology studies entire social corporations.

Philosophy, political science and psychology have common features. All these sciences mainly study social attitudes and human behavior in a given situation. The experience of philosophy advises political scientists on some issues related to the relations of peoples and the role of the state in public welfare. Psychology can also be both a humanitarian and a social science. An opinion about why a person would do this and what motivated him is very appropriate and, to some extent, necessary for the development of the right promising elite.

The sciences that are part of the humanities cannot be standard and isolated by theories alone; they are in demand and embrace the sciences of the social environment. And vice versa - they find a common basis in their searches.

Difference between humanities and social sciences

In simple terms, the humanities are aimed at studying man from the point of view of his inner nature: spirituality, morality, culture, ingenuity. In turn, social ones are aimed at studying not only the inner nature of a person, but also his actions in a given situation, his worldview on what is happening in society.
There are several main differences between the humanities and social sciences:

Abstract concepts that identify signs and properties are oriented in the humanities. For example, “an experienced person”, in this case it is not the person himself that is considered, but the very experience that he received. Social sciences focus their attention on man and his activities in social society.
To theoretically navigate the study of social development of society, social scientists use proven tools and rules. This is rarely practiced in the humanities.

Social (social and humanities) sciences- a complex of scientific disciplines, the subject of study of which is society in all manifestations of its life activity and man as a member of society. The social sciences include such theoretical forms of knowledge as philosophy, sociology, political science, history, philology, psychology, cultural studies, jurisprudence (law), economics, art history, ethnography (ethnology), pedagogy, etc.

Subject and methods of social sciences

The most important subject of research in social science is society, which is considered as a historically developing integrity, a system of relationships, forms of associations of people that have developed in the process of their joint activities. Through these forms the comprehensive interdependence of individuals is represented.

Each of the above-mentioned disciplines examines social life from different angles, from a certain theoretical and ideological position, using its own specific research methods. So, for example, in the study of society the category “power” is used, due to which it appears as an organized system of power relations. In sociology, society is considered as a dynamic system of relations social groups of varying degrees of generality. Categories “social group”, “social relations”, “socialization” become a method of sociological analysis of social phenomena. In cultural studies, culture and its forms are considered as value-based aspect of society. Categories “truth”, “beauty”, “good”, “benefit” are ways of studying specific cultural phenomena. , using categories such as “money”, “product”, “market”, “demand”, “supply” etc., explores the organized economic life of society. studies the past of society, relying on a variety of surviving sources about the past, in order to establish the sequence of events, their causes and relationships.

First explore natural reality through a generalizing method, identifying Nature laws.

Second through the individualizing method, non-repeatable, unique historical events are studied. The task of historical sciences is to understand the meaning of social ( M. Weber) in various historical and cultural contexts.

IN "philosophy of life" (V. Dilthey) nature and history are separated from each other and opposed as ontologically alien spheres, as different spheres being. Thus, not only the methods, but also the objects of knowledge in the natural and human sciences are different. Culture is a product of the spiritual activity of people of a certain era, and in order to understand it, it is necessary to experience the values of a given era, the motives of people’s behavior.

Understanding how direct, immediate comprehension of historical events is contrasted with inferential, indirect knowledge in natural sciences.

Understanding Sociology (M. Weber) interprets social action, trying to explain it. The result of this interpretation is hypotheses, on the basis of which an explanation is built. History thus appears as a historical drama, the author of which is a historian. The depth of understanding of a historical era depends on the genius of the researcher. The subjectivity of a historian is not an obstacle to understanding social life, but a tool and method for understanding history.

The separation of the natural sciences and the cultural sciences was a reaction to the positivist and naturalistic understanding of the historical existence of man in society.

Naturalism looks at society from the perspective vulgar materialism, does not see fundamental differences between cause-and-effect relationships in nature and in society, explains social life by natural causes, using natural scientific methods to understand them.

Human history appears as a “natural process”, and the laws of history become a kind of laws of nature. For example, supporters geographical determinism(geographical school in sociology) the main factor of social change is considered to be the geographical environment, climate, landscape (C. Montesquieu , G. Buckle, L. I. Mechnikov) . Representatives social Darwinism reduce social patterns to biological ones: they consider society as an organism (G. Spencer), and politics, economics and morality - as forms and methods of struggle for existence, a manifestation of natural selection (P. Kropotkin, L. Gumplowicz).

Naturalism and positivism (O. Comte , G. Spencer , D.-S. Mill) sought to abandon the speculative, scholastic reasoning characteristic of metaphysical studies of society, and create a “positive,” demonstrative, generally valid social theory in the likeness of natural science, which had already largely reached the “positive” stage of development. However, based on this kind of research, racist conclusions were made about the natural division of people into higher and lower races (J. Gobineau) and even about the direct relationship between class affiliation and anthropological parameters of individuals.

Currently, we can talk not only about the opposition of the methods of the natural and human sciences, but also about their convergence. In the social sciences, mathematical methods are actively used, which are a characteristic feature of natural science: in (especially in econometrics), V ( quantitative history, or cliometrics), (political analysis), philology (). When solving problems of specific social sciences, techniques and methods taken from the natural sciences are widely used. For example, to clarify the dating of historical events, especially those remote in time, knowledge from the fields of astronomy, physics, and biology is used. There are also scientific disciplines that combine methods from the social, humanities and natural sciences, for example, economic geography.

The emergence of social sciences

In antiquity, most social (socio-humanitarian) sciences were included in philosophy as a form of integrating knowledge about man and society. To some extent, jurisprudence (Ancient Rome) and history (Herodotus, Thucydides) can be considered as separate disciplines. In the Middle Ages, social sciences developed within the framework of theology as an undivided comprehensive knowledge. In ancient and medieval philosophy, the concept of society was practically identified with the concept of the state.

Historically, the first most significant form of social theory is the teachings of Plato and Aristotle I. In the Middle Ages, thinkers who made a significant contribution to the development of social sciences include: Augustine, John of Damascus, Thomas Aquinas , Gregory Palamu. Important contributions to the development of social sciences were made by figures Renaissance(XV-XVI centuries) and New times(XVII century): T. More ("Utopia"), T. Campanella"City of Sun", N. Machiavellian"Sovereign". In modern times, the final separation of social sciences from philosophy takes place: economics (XVII century), sociology, political science and psychology (XIX century), cultural studies (XX century). University departments and faculties in the social sciences are emerging, specialized journals devoted to the study of social phenomena and processes are beginning to be published, and associations of scientists engaged in research in the field of social sciences are being created.

Main directions of modern social thought

In social science as a set of social sciences in the 20th century. Two approaches have emerged: scientistic-technocratic And humanistic (anti-scientist).

The main topic of modern social science is the fate of capitalist society, and the most important subject is post-industrial, “mass society” and the features of its formation.

This gives these studies a clear futurological overtone and journalistic passion. Assessments of the state and historical perspective of modern society can be diametrically opposed: from anticipating global catastrophes to forecasting a stable, prosperous future. Worldview task Such research is the search for a new common goal and ways to achieve it.

The most developed of modern social theories is concept of post-industrial society , the main principles of which are formulated in the works D. Bella(1965). The idea of a post-industrial society is quite popular in modern social science, and the term itself unites a number of studies, the authors of which seek to determine the leading trend in the development of modern society, considering the production process in various, including organizational, aspects.

In the history of mankind stand out three phase:

1. pre-industrial(agrarian form of society);

2. industrial(technological form of society);

3. post-industrial(social stage).

Production in a pre-industrial society uses raw materials rather than energy as the main resource, extracts products from natural materials rather than producing them in the proper sense, and intensively uses labor rather than capital. The most important social institutions in pre-industrial society are the church and the army, in industrial society - the corporation and the firm, and in post-industrial society - the university as a form of knowledge production. The social structure of post-industrial society loses its pronounced class character, property ceases to be its basis, the capitalist class is forced out by the ruling elite, possessing a high level of knowledge and education.

Agrarian, industrial and post-industrial societies are not stages of social development, but represent coexisting forms of organization of production and its main trends. The industrial phase begins in Europe in the 19th century. Post-industrial society does not displace other forms, but adds a new aspect associated with the use of information and knowledge in public life. The formation of post-industrial society is associated with the spread in the 70s. XX century information technologies, which radically influenced production, and consequently, the way of life itself. In a post-industrial (information) society, there is a transition from the production of goods to the production of services, a new class of technical specialists is emerging who become consultants and experts.

The main resource of production becomes information(in a pre-industrial society this is raw materials, in an industrial society it is energy). Science-intensive technologies are replacing labor-intensive and capital-intensive ones. Based on this distinction, it is possible to identify the specific features of each society: pre-industrial society is based on interaction with nature, industrial - on the interaction of society with transformed nature, post-industrial - on interaction between people. Society, thus, appears as a dynamic, progressively developing system, the main driving trends of which are in the sphere of production. In this regard, there is a certain closeness between post-industrial theory and Marxism, which is determined by the general ideological prerequisites of both concepts - educational worldview values.

Within the framework of the post-industrial paradigm, the crisis of modern capitalist society appears as a gap between a rationalistically oriented economy and a humanistically oriented culture. The way out of the crisis should be a transition from the dominance of capitalist corporations to scientific research organizations, from capitalism to a knowledge society.

In addition, many other economic and social shifts are planned: the transition from the economy of goods to the economy of services, the increasing role of education, changes in the structure of employment and human orientation, the emergence of new motivation for activity, a radical change in the social structure, the development of the principles of democracy , the formation of new policy principles, the transition to a non-market welfare economy.

In the work of the famous modern American futurologist O. Toflera“Future shock” notes that the acceleration of social and technological changes has a shock effect on individuals and society as a whole, making it difficult for a person to adapt to a changing world. The cause of the current crisis is the transition of society to a “third wave” civilization. The first wave is an agricultural civilization, the second is an industrial civilization. Modern society can survive in existing conflicts and global tensions only under the condition of a transition to new values and new forms of sociality. The main thing is a revolution in thinking. Social changes are caused, first of all, by changes in technology, which determines the type of society and the type of culture, and this influence occurs in waves. The third technological wave (associated with the growth of information technologies and a fundamental change in communications) significantly changes the way of life, the type of family, the nature of work, love, communication, the form of the economy, politics, and consciousness.

The main characteristics of industrial technology, based on the old type of technology and division of labor, are centralization, gigantism and uniformity (mass), accompanied by oppression, squalor, poverty and environmental disasters. Overcoming the vices of industrialism is possible in the future, post-industrial society, the main principles of which will be integrity and individuality.

Concepts such as “employment”, “workplace”, “unemployment” are being rethought, non-profit organizations in the field of humanitarian development are becoming widespread, the dictates of the market are being abandoned, and narrow utilitarian values that led to humanitarian and environmental disasters are being abandoned.

Thus, science, which has become the basis of production, is entrusted with the mission of transforming society and humanizing social relations.

The concept of post-industrial society has been criticized from various points of view, and the main reproach was that this concept is nothing more than apology for capitalism.

An alternative route is proposed in personalistic concepts of society , in which modern technologies (“machinization”, “computerization”, “roboticization”) are assessed as a means of deepening human self-alienation from of its essence. Thus, anti-scientism and anti-technicism E. Fromm allows him to see the deep contradictions of post-industrial society that threaten the self-realization of the individual. Consumer values of modern society are the cause of depersonalization and dehumanization of social relations.

The basis of social transformations should be not a technological, but a personalist revolution, a revolution in human relations, the essence of which will be a radical value reorientation.

The value orientation toward possession (“to have”) must be replaced by a worldview orientation toward being (“to be”). The true calling of a person and his highest value is love . Only in love is the attitude towards being realized, the structure of a person’s character changes, and the problem of human existence is solved. In love, a person’s respect for life increases, a sense of attachment to the world, unity with existence is acutely manifested, and a person’s alienation from nature, society, another person, and himself is overcome. Thus, a transition is made from egoism to altruism, from authoritarianism to genuine humanism in human relations, and personal orientation to being appears as the highest human value. Based on criticism of modern capitalist society, a project for a new civilization is being built.

The goal and task of personal existence is to build personalistic (communal) civilization, a society where customs and lifestyles, social structures and institutions would meet the requirements of personal communication.

It must embody the principles of freedom and creativity, harmony (while maintaining differences) and responsibility . The economic basis of such a society is the economy of gift. The personalist social utopia is opposed to the concepts of a “society of abundance”, “consumer society”, “legal society”, the basis of which are various types of violence and coercion.