Work plan:

Introduction.

The structure of human nature.

Biological and social in man.

The role of biological and geographical factors in the formation of social life.

Social life.

Historical types of social life.

Social connections, actions and interactions as a basic element of social life.

Motivation of social action: needs, interests, value orientations.

Social development and social change.

Social ideal as a condition of social development.

Conclusion.

Introduction.

More interesting than the man himself, there is nothing in the world.

V. A. Sukhomlinsky

Man is a social being. But at the same time, the higher mammal, i.e. biological being.

Like any biological species, Homo sapiens is characterized by a certain set of specific features. Each of these signs different representatives may vary, even within large limits. Social processes can also influence the manifestation of many biological parameters of a species. So, for example, the normal life expectancy of a person is currently 80-90 years, given that he does not suffer from hereditary diseases and will not be exposed to harmful external influences such as infectious diseases, traffic accidents, etc. Such is the biological constant of the species, which, however, changes under the influence of social laws.

Like other biological species, man has stable varieties, which are denoted, when talking about man, by the concept of "race". Racial differentiation of people is associated with the adaptation of various groups of people inhabiting different regions of the planet, and is expressed in the formation of specific biological, anatomical and physiological characteristics. But, despite the difference in certain biological parameters, a representative of any race belongs to a single species of Homo sapiens and has biological parameters characteristic of all people.

Each person is by nature individual and unique, each has his own set of genes inherited from his parents. The uniqueness of a person is also enhanced as a result of the influence of social and biological factors in the process of development, because each individual has a unique life experience. Consequently, the human race is infinitely diverse, human abilities and talents are infinitely diverse.

Individualization is a general biological regularity. Individual-natural differences in humans are complemented by social differences due to the social division of labor and differentiation. social functions, and at a certain stage of social development - also by individual-personal differences.

A person is included in two worlds at once: the world of nature and the world of society, which gives rise to a number of problems. Let's consider two of them.

Aristotle called man a political animal, recognizing in him a combination of two principles: biological (animal) and political (social). The first problem is which of these principles is dominant, determining in the formation of abilities, feelings, behavior, actions of a person and how the relationship between the biological and the social in a person is carried out.

The essence of another problem is this: while recognizing that each person is unique, peculiar and unrepeatable, we nevertheless constantly group people according to various characteristics, some of which are determined biologically, others socially, and some - the interaction of biological and social. The question arises, what is the significance in the life of society of biologically determined differences between people and groups of people?

In the course of discussions around these problems, theoretical concepts are put forward, criticized and rethought, new lines of practical action are developed that contribute to the improvement of relationships between people.

K. Marx wrote: “Man is a directly natural being. As a natural being… he is… endowed with natural forces, vital forces, being an active natural being; these forces exist in him in the form of inclinations and abilities, in the form of drives ... ”This approach was substantiated and developed in the works of Engels, who understood the biological nature of man as something initial, although not sufficient for explaining history and man himself.

Marxist-Leninist philosophy shows the importance of social factors along with biological ones - they both play qualitatively different roles in determining human essence and nature. It reveals the dominant meaning of the social, without ignoring the biological nature of man.

Neglect of human biology is unacceptable. Moreover, the biological organization of a human being is something intrinsically valuable, and no social goals can justify either violence against it, or eugenic projects to remake it.

Among the great diversity of the world of living beings living on the planet Earth, only one person has a highly developed mind, largely thanks to which, in fact, he was able to survive, to be preserved as a biological species.

Even prehistoric people, at the level of their mythological worldview, knew that the cause of all this is something that is in the person himself. This "something" they called the soul. Plato made the greatest scientific discovery. He established that the human soul consists of three parts: mind, feelings and will. The whole spiritual world of a person is born precisely by his mind, his feelings and his will. Despite the innumerable diversity of the spiritual world, its inexhaustibility, in fact, there is nothing else in it, except for the manifestations of intellectual, emotional and volitional elements.

The structure of human nature.

In the structure of human nature, three components of it can be found: biological nature, social nature and spiritual nature.

The biological nature of man was formed over a long, 2.5 billion years, evolutionary development from blue-green algae to Homo sapiens. In 1924, the English professor Leakey discovered the remains of Australopithecus in Ethiopia, which lived 3.3 million years ago. From this distant ancestor descend modern hominids: great apes and humans.

The ascending line of human evolution has gone through the following stages: Australopithecus (fossil southern monkey, 3.3 million years ago) - Pithecanthropus (monkey man, 1 million years ago) - Sinanthropus (fossil " chinese man", 500 thousand years) - Neanderthal (100 thousand years) - Cro-Magnon (Homo Sapiens fossil, 40 thousand years) - modern man (20 thousand years ago). It should be borne in mind that our biological ancestors did not appear one after another , and for a long time stood out and lived together with their predecessors.So, it is reliably established that the Cro-Magnon lived with the Neanderthal and even ... hunted him.Cro-Magnon, thus, was a kind of cannibal - he ate his closest relative, ancestor.

In terms of indicators of biological adaptation to nature, man is significantly inferior to the vast majority of representatives of the animal world. If a person is returned to the animal world, he will suffer a catastrophic defeat in the competitive struggle for existence and will be able to live only in a narrow geographical zone of his origin - in the tropics, on both sides close to the equator. A person does not have warm wool, he has weak teeth, weak nails instead of claws, an unstable upright gait on two legs, a predisposition to many diseases, a degraded immune system ...

Superiority over animals is biologically ensured to man only by the presence of a cerebral cortex, which no animal has. The cerebral cortex consists of 14 billion neurons, the functioning of which serves as the material basis for the spiritual life of a person - his consciousness, ability to work and live in society. The cerebral cortex abundantly provides space for the endless spiritual growth and development of man and society. Suffice it to say that for today, for the entire long life of a person, at best, only 1 billion - only 7% - of neurons are included in the work, and the remaining 13 billion - 93% - remain unused "gray matter".

In the biological nature of a person, the general state of health and longevity is genetically laid; temperament, which is one of four possible types: choleric, sanguine, melancholic and phlegmatic; talents and inclinations. At the same time, it should be taken into account that each person is a biologically non-repeated organism, the structures of its cells and DNA molecules (genes). It is estimated that 95 billion of us, people, were born and died on Earth in 40 thousand years, among which there was not at least one second identical.

Biological nature is the only real basis on which a person is born and exists. Each separate individual, each person exists from that time until his biological nature exists and lives. But with all his biological nature, man belongs to the animal world. And man is born only as an animal species of Homo Sapiens; is not born a man, but only a candidate for a man. The newborn biological creature Homo Sapiens has yet to become a man in the full sense of the word.

Let us begin the description of the social nature of man with the definition of society. Society is an association of people for the joint production, distribution and consumption of material and spiritual goods; for the reproduction of their kind and their way of life. Such association is carried out, as in the animal world, to maintain (in the interests of) the individual existence of an individual and to reproduce Homo Sapiens as a biological species. But unlike animals, human behavior - as a creature that is inherent in consciousness and the ability to work - in a team of its own kind is controlled not by instincts, but by public opinion. In the process of assimilation of the elements of social life, the candidate for a person turns into a real person. The process of acquiring elements of social life by a newborn is called human socialization.

The concept of "social life" is used in a broad and narrow sense.

In a broad sensesocial life- this is nothing but the life of people, the life of a person among people; the vital activity of the whole society, the functioning and interaction of its various spheres and parties.

In a narrow sense(in a sociological concept) is the consideration of social life as an organized, ordered system of actions and interactions of people, social communities (groups), society as a whole through the functioning of social institutions and organizations, social norms and values, social control.

Social life is a special type of life. Its most diverse forms - from the family to society - are immersed in nature, which is able to directly or indirectly, strongly or weakly influence them. Society is forced to reckon with nature, to adapt to it.

Let us consider various aspects of the influence of nature on human life, forms of organization of social life.

The first mechanism is the mechanism of coercive influence, or rather harsh influence of the geographic environment, which manifests itself in several aspects:

First of all, it is the presence of the necessary minimum natural and geographical conditions necessary for the successful development of man. Outside the boundaries of this minimum, social life as such is impossible, or is of a quite definite nature (small peoples of the north, who, as it were, froze at a certain stage of their development)

coercive force environmental factor, which obliges the society to develop such rules that could prevent the occurrence of an environmental threat or contribute to its timely neutralization.

The influence of natural disasters (whole civilizations with their customs, orders and foundations perish; people are forced to leave their homes, settling in different parts of the Earth, as a result of which their customs and customs disappear; sometimes people jointly move to a new place and basically reproduce their former customs and traditions).

The second mechanism is the mechanism of the formative influence of the natural-geographical environment, the mechanism of adaptation to external natural-geographical conditions through direct adaptation:

Nature of occupation, type of economic activity, type of housing, etc. - all this bears the imprints of the natural and geographical environment in which the society is located (cotton growing, reindeer breeding, etc.).

The influence of the environment on the spiritual and ethical life of society (the specifics of architecture, painting, language, songs, dances, clothing, etc.).

The third mechanism is manifested in the promotion or obstruction of the geographical environment for effective social development (for example, soil fertility creates favorable conditions for the progress of the people, and vice versa, poor soils hinder the development of human well-being, the effectiveness of efforts is reduced; high mountains hinder contacts between communities, while the plain contributes to the emergence of large ethnic groups; the presence of rivers is favorable for establishing contacts with other peoples, developing trade).

With all this, we have to state that the same geographical environment can affect people's lives in different ways (i.e., in some cases, the natural and climatic environment has a direct impact, in others it is insignificant, in others it does not have any effect at all) . Consequently, there is a kind of invisible wall, a “shell”, passing through the filters of which the natural and geographical environment has one or another impact on social life. This “shell” is the socio-cultural system, which includes values, norms of behavior, standards of economic activity, organization of social and political life. And, apparently, the more perfect the organization of social life, the weaker the ability of the geographical factor to influence social life.

Of course, one should not consider the relationship “geographical environment – ​​society” one-sidedly. It is also very important to determine the feedback: what people will see in a given geographical environment, what options for life they will choose - all this depends on the values, traditions, and foundations that have developed in a given society.

Social reality is symbolic. In essence, this is the sphere of meanings and meanings born within human communication. And in order to catch these meanings, it is necessary to have a “social vision”, which is formed by the social environment.

An important form of manifestation of social long-term, permanent, systemic, renewable, diverse in content links are social relations.

They are relations of similarity and difference, equality and inequality, domination and subordination between individuals and groups.

The basis of social relations are social ties that unite individuals, groups and other elements of society into a functional whole. Their core is the relationship of equality and inequality, since they reveal the relationship between people who are in different social positions. We are talking about a complex dialectic of equality and inequality between people within the boundaries of the social structure of society. Since relations of absolute equality are impossible, relations of social inequality are leading.

The nature of social inequality in the system of social relations is determined by:

Differences between people laid down by nature, inherent in their kind: ethnicity, gender and age characteristics, physical abilities, intellectual abilities;

Differences between people that arise in connection with professional roles;

Differences between people that are due to ownership (property, goods, privileges, etc.).

Relations of inequality in certain situations turn into relations of social equality (when it comes to fair stimulation of work of equal value).

Allocate a variety types of social relations:

By the volume of power: horizontal relations, vertical relations;

According to the degree of regulation: formal (officially formalized), informal;

According to the way of communication of individuals: impersonal or mediated, interpersonal or direct;

By subjects of activity: interorganizational, intraorganizational;

According to the level of justice: fair, unfair.

The basis of the differences between social relations are motives and needs, the main of which are the primary and secondary needs (power, respect) of each person.

The specifics of social relations is that:

These relationships are conscious;

They are associated with the action in society of highly developed sign systems (language, facial expressions, gestures, postures), with the system of etiquette norms and rules created in society.

Awareness of social relations is associated with the presence in a person of highly organized matter (the brain), which is able to reflect objective reality and, on this basis, form a subjective mental image that regulates human behavior and activities. For inanimate matter, reflection is possible only at the physical and chemical levels. An essential feature of a person is the presence of intelligence, i.e. the ability not only to reflect objects, but also the connections between them, as well as to abstract from specific phenomena of reality.

The development of the psyche of animals is due to purely biological laws, and human consciousness is due to the course of socio-historical development.

Most of the knowledge, skills and techniques of human behavior are not so much the result of personal experience (as in animals), but are formed by assimilating universal human experience in learning through the highest form of human communication - human speech.

Human speech is also a product of socio-historical development, which is associated with the formation of an articulatory apparatus adapted to the pronunciation of articulate sounds, the complexes of which are endowed with a certain meaning and form a symbolic-sign system - language.

Language is a unique social phenomenon. If the language of animals has no boundaries, then the language created by people of one social system may not be understood by representatives of another social system (French, Chinese, Ukrainian, etc.).

Gestures and facial expressions are also quite complex sign systems of human communication, which not only allow representatives of the same sociocultural space to better understand each other, but also make it difficult for representatives of different cultures to communicate.

Thanks to the norms and rules of behavior formed in society, people have the opportunity to predict each other's behavior in a given situation and behave in accordance with social expectations. In fact, these are certain rules of the game in society, which are a kind of agreement shared by all mutual obligations, in accordance with which people build their lives.

The generic premise of social relations is social action. Analysis of the system of social actions leads to an understanding of the essence of social relations.

Under social action understood meaningful individual behavior of a person, correlated with the behavior of another person and focused on him. The theory of social action was developed by M. Weber, K. Marx, T. Parsons, R. Merton, G. Becker and others.

M. Weber called social actions only those behavioral acts that are to some extent deliberate in nature, are motivated, i.e. are carried out in the name of a specific goal, are associated with analysis, the choice of certain means that contribute to the achievement of the goal in a given situation, under given conditions.

Consequently, social action must meet the following conditions: intentionality, motivation, focus on the other (others).

Social action is the most elementary knot social reality. But it is obvious to everyone that social life is interaction, integration of people.

Subjects enter into a social bond, as depend on each other in the process of meeting various needs, the realization of life goals and attitudes.

social connection- social action, which expresses the dependence and compatibility of people or groups through mutually directed social actions, i.e. mutual conscious actions with mutual orientations to each other, with the expectation of an appropriate response from the partner.

The main elements of social communication, regardless of its form, are:

communication subjects (they can be any number of people);

the subject of the connection (i.e. about what the connection is being made);

mechanism of conscious regulation of relationships between subjects).

Social communication can take the form of either social contact or social interaction.

social contact- this is a single act (contact with passengers in transport, a passer-by on the street, a cloakroom attendant in a theater, etc.)

social interaction- systematic, fairly regular social action partners directed at each other, with the goal of causing a well-defined (expected) reaction from the partner; moreover, the response generates a new reaction from the partner.

It is the conjugation of the systems of actions of both partners in relation to each other, the recurrence (and not only actions, but also their coordination), a steady interest in the response actions of one's partner that distinguish social interaction from a social act, make it the main subject of sociological analysis.

The basis of social interaction is always exchange, which manifests itself in contractual and diffuse forms.

Contract Forms most clearly manifested in the economic sphere; social exchange here takes the form of a deal, which strictly stipulates the scope of services, the timing of their reimbursement, cost, etc.

Contractual forms in the political sphere are widely developed (treaties between states, parties, agreements between political figures on the coordination of activities, etc.).

Diffuseness (softness) in its pure form is manifested in exchanges that have a moral and ethical content: friendship, neighborhood, relationships between parents and children, partnership.

No matter how rigid the contractual forms of social exchange may be, they are based on such non-rigid matters as expectation, trust, and so on. The bulk of the exchanges between people in society is carried out on credit, on the basis of risk, the expectation of reciprocity, on the basis of trust.

The exchange is carried out at the level of both individuals and social groups, communities.

Social interactions are built on the basis of certain principles: personal expediency, mutual effectiveness of interactions, the principle of a single criterion, social differentiation, the principle of balance in the system of social interactions.

The main types of social interactions are cooperation and rivalry.

Cooperation manifests itself in many specific relationships between people: business partnership, friendship, solidarity, political alliance between parties, states, cooperation between firms, etc. Distinctive features of interactions such as cooperation: mutual interest, the benefits of interaction for both parties, the presence of a common goal, respect, support , gratitude, loyalty.

Rivalry as a type of interaction, it presupposes the existence of a single indivisible object of claims of both parties (votes, authority, territory, power rights, etc.). The basis of rivalry is: the desire to get ahead, remove, subjugate or destroy the opponent, the absence of common goals, but the obligatory presence of similar goals, hostility, anger, insincerity, secrecy.

Rivalry can take the form of competition and conflict.

Thus, social relations arise in connection with the realization of needs and interests, the achievement of certain vital goals by individuals or their aggregates.

The imperatives of social relations are: social needs - social interests - social goals of individuals, manifested in their activities in all spheres of life without exception.

BASICS OF SOCIAL LIFE

The study of human societies begins with the study of the basic conditions that determine their functioning, their "life". The concept of "social life" is used to refer to a complex of phenomena that arise in the course of interaction between a person and social communities, as well as sharing natural resources needed to meet needs. The biological, geographical, demographic and economic foundations of social life differ.

When analyzing the foundations of social life, one should analyze the features of human biology as a social subject that create the biological possibilities of human labor, communication, and mastering the social experience accumulated by previous generations. These include such an anatomical feature of a person as a straight gait.

It allows you to better capture the environment and use your hands in the process of work.

An important role in social activity is played by such a human organ as a hand with an opposed thumb. Human hands can perform complex operations and functions and the person himself can participate in various types of labor activity. This should also include a look directed forward, and not to the sides, allowing you to see in three directions, a complex mechanism of the vocal cords, larynx and lips, contributing to the development of speech. The human brain and complex nervous system enable the high development of the psyche and intellect of the individual. The brain serves as a biological prerequisite for reflecting the entire wealth of spiritual and material culture and its further development. The brain to the adult state of a person increases 5-6 times compared to the brain of a newborn (from 300 g to 1.6 kg). The lower parietal, temporal and frontal areas of the cerebral cortex are associated with speech and labor activity of a person, with abstract thinking, which provides specifically human activity.

The specific biological properties of a person include the long-term dependence of children on their parents, the slow stage of growth and puberty. Social experience, intellectual achievements are not fixed in the gene apparatus. This requires extra-genetic transmission of moral values, ideals, knowledge and skills accumulated by previous generations of people.

Of great importance in this process is the direct social interaction of people, "live experience." It has not lost its significance in our time, despite the colossal achievements in the field of "materialization of the memory of mankind, primarily in writing, and more recently in the memory". On this occasion, the French psychologist A. Pieron noted that if a catastrophe befell our planet, as a result of which the entire adult population would die and only small children would survive, then, although the human race would not cease to exist, cultural history humanity would be thrown back to its origins, there would be no one to set culture in motion, introduce new generations of people to it, reveal to them the secrets of its reproduction.

When asserting the great importance of the biological basis of human activity, one should not absolutize some stable differences in the characteristics of organisms, which are the basis for dividing humanity into races and supposedly predetermining the social roles and statuses of individuals. Representatives of anthropological schools, based on racial differences, tried to justify the division of people into higher, guiding races, and lower ones, called to serve the first. They argued that the social position of people corresponds to their biological qualities and that it is the result of natural selection among biologically unequal people. These views have been refuted by empirical research. People of different races, brought up in the same cultural conditions, develop the same views, aspirations, ways of thinking and acting. It is important to note that upbringing alone cannot arbitrarily shape the educatee either. Innate talent (for example, musical) has an important impact on social life.

Let us analyze various aspects of the influence of the geographical environment on the life of a person as a subject of social life. It should be noted that there is a certain minimum of natural and geographical conditions that are necessary for the successful development of man. Beyond this minimum, social life is not possible or has a certain character, as if frozen at a certain stage of its development.

The nature of occupation, type of economic activity, objects and means of labor, food products, etc. - all this significantly depends on the habitation of a person in a particular zone (in the polar zone, in the steppe or in the subtropics).

Researchers note the influence of climate on human performance. The hot climate shortens the time of active activity. The cold climate requires great efforts from people to maintain life.

The temperate climate is most conducive to activity. Factors such as atmospheric pressure, air humidity, winds are important factors that affect the state of human health, which is an important factor in social life.

Big role Soils play a role in the functioning of social life. Their fertility combined with favorable climate creates conditions for the progress of the people living on them. This affects the pace of development of the economy and society as a whole. Poor soils hinder the achievement of a high standard of living, require significant expenditures of human effort.

No less important in social life is the terrain. The presence of mountains, deserts, rivers can become a natural defensive system for a particular people. J. Szczepanski, a well-known Polish sociologist, believed that "democratic systems developed in countries with natural borders (Switzerland, Iceland), that in countries with open borders prone to raids, strong, absolutist power arose in the early stages."

At the stage of the initial development of a particular nation, the geographical environment left its specific imprint on its culture, both in its economic, political, and spiritual and aesthetic aspects. This is indirectly expressed in certain specific habits, customs, rituals, in which the features of the life of the people associated with the conditions of their residence are manifested. The peoples of the tropics, for example, are unfamiliar with many of the customs and rituals characteristic of the peoples of the temperate zone and associated with the seasonal cycles of work. In Rus', for a long time there has been a cycle of ritual holidays: spring, summer, autumn, winter.

The geographic environment is also reflected in the self-consciousness of the peoples in the form of the concept of "native land". Some of its elements are either in the form of visual images (birch for Russians, poplar for Ukrainians, oak for the British, laurel for the Spaniards, sakura for the Japanese, etc.), or in combination with toponymy (the Volga river for Russians, the Dnieper for Ukrainians, Mount Furzi among the Japanese, etc.) become a kind of symbol of national identity. The names of the peoples themselves testify to the influence of the geographical environment on the self-consciousness of the peoples. northern people- "leinkum", i.e. "taiga people".

Thus, geographical factors played a significant role in the formation of culture at the initial stages of the development of a particular people. Subsequently, being reflected in culture, they can be reproduced by the people regardless of the original habitat (for example, the construction of wooden huts by Russian settlers in the treeless steppes of Kazakhstan).

Based on the foregoing, it should be noted that when considering the role of the geographic environment, "geographical nihilism", a complete denial of its impact on the functioning of society, is unacceptable. On the other hand, one cannot share the point of view of the representatives of "geographical determinism", who see an unambiguous and unidirectional relationship between the geographical environment and the processes of social life, when the development of society is completely determined by geographical factors. Accounting for the creative potential of the individual, the development of science and technology on this basis, cultural exchange between peoples create a certain independence of man from the geographical environment. However, human social activity must harmoniously fit into the natural and geographical environment. It must not violate its basic eco-ties.

Demographic processes that affect the entire population as a whole have a great influence on the functioning of social life. Important demographic categories are fertility, natural increase, increasing population density, the percentage of people of a certain age in the population (number of children, youth or old people), which are different for different societies.

In modern conditions, the lowest birth rate is in the countries of Southern Europe (from 1.3 to 1.5 births per woman of reproductive age), and the highest in the African countries of Rwanda, Malawi and Côte d'Ivoire (from 8.5 to 7 4) In Russia, the population in 1994 amounted to almost 149 million people, having decreased by 300 thousand people in 1993. A decrease in the population is noted in 49 regions of the country (in 1992 - 41 times, in 1991 - 300 thousand people). - 33 times.) The number of births per year decreased by 13%, while the number of deaths was 18% more.

Life expectancy in Japan is higher than in the rest of the world. It is 83 years for Japanese women and 76.3 years for men. Over the past 11 years in a row, Japan has consistently held the lead in this indicator. During this period of time, Switzerland, France, and Sweden also fell into the top three long-livers more often than others.

Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan are among the three countries with the highest infant mortality rates (30.2 and 26.7 per 1,000 newborns), second only to the southern regions of Brazil (32.5). The situation is completely different in Japan (4.5), Finland ( 5.2), Singapore (5.4).

The above demographic characteristics affect economic and social processes (production development, standard of living, labor supply and employment structure, cause migration, etc.). Population density has a dual effect on social life. Population density causes competition, promotes more frequent contacts between individuals and groups. Thus, it favors the rapid spread of ideas, increases the intensity of invention, and is thus a factor in cultural development. At the same time, excessive population growth is the cause of underdevelopment of economic development, hinders the growth of living standards, is the cause of hunger, and a source of social unrest. Rapid population growth creates a problem for the entire globe.

Demographic processes are an important factor in social life, which, together with others, determines the functioning of society.

It should be noted that biological features organism and processes occurring in it, geographical conditions and demographic processes constitute the necessary basis of social life, but do not unequivocally determine its processes. People with the same genetic inclinations and living in the same geographical environment can develop different forms of living together, develop different economies and cultures. Within the limits that nature has established for man, there are opportunities for different behavior, activities and creativity. The organization of social life is formed and largely determined by its economic foundations, i.e. first of all, the totality of branches of production and labor within society.

LABOR AS A FUNDAMENTAL FORM OF HUMAN ACTIVITY

An essential characteristic of the economic foundations of social life is social labor. It becomes so because in the process of labor people enter into certain relationships, interactions, relationships. Human labor is the unification of many types of labor into a common, single labor process, for the implementation of which its organization is necessary. The organization of work is the distribution of individuals and groups with certain tasks and their relationships in the work environment. The organization of labor is socially conditioned; it is carried out in the specific conditions of certain forms of social life.

In modern society, several types of labor organization have developed. Let's take a look at some of them. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Taylor organization of labor became widespread. It is based on the exclusion of workers from creative roles and the limitation of their activities to performance; exclusion of workers from the preparation and control of the labor process, exclusion of workers from the process of training at work,

the worker does not have the opportunity to get acquainted with labor technology, labor organization and enterprise management; on the exclusion of workers from the temporary regulation of the labor process (working rhythm, norm and break are determined by the management of the enterprise), on the isolation of workers from employees - Taylorism limits contacts at work to contacts between superiors and inferiors, tk. contacts with other workers are considered non-functional; on the individualization of labor and income (individualization of work orders and pay).

Since the 60s of the twentieth century, a different type of labor organization has become widespread - industrial democracy. This term refers to the democratization of relations in the management of industrial enterprises.

At the same time, such forms of workers' participation in management as "participation in decision-making", "workers' control", "production committees", etc. are highlighted. social, personnel and economic issues or forms of participation of workers' representatives in the work of management and control bodies that make the most important decisions; includes employees to veto (prohibit) certain decisions related to the operation of the enterprise, etc. However, it should be noted that employees involved in management are endowed only with advisory functions.

Social work has a dual nature. Sociologists view it as a process of transforming nature in order to meet social needs, and also as a process of reproduction of man himself.

Man, acting on nature, creates the material goods necessary to meet his needs. The production process consists of three main elements: 1) purposeful human activity, i.e. labor itself; 2) objects of labor that a person transforms through labor; 3) the means of labor with which a person acts on the objects of labor. By changing the world around, a person forms himself as a person, develops his abilities. Labor is a specific form of self-expression and self-affirmation of a person. Thus, labor is a conscious, universal and organized human activity, the content and nature of which are determined by the degree of development of the means of labor and the characteristics of the social relations within which it is carried out.

social entity labor is revealed in the categories "content of labor" and "character of labor". The concept of "content of labor" reveals labor in the unity of its material (subject, means, product of labor) and personal aspects and expresses the specific labor activity of the worker.

The content of labor expresses the composition and distinctive features labor functions, predetermined by the level of development of the objects of labor and the functions of the participants in the labor process, the level of qualification, their intellectual and other abilities; the measure of the transformation of science into a direct productive force (this is expressed in the achievement of a level of mechanization and automation of labor and the place of the worker in the production process); the level of labor organization, the ratio of the costs of mental and physical energy; the presence in the activity of elements of creativity. It should be noted that routine elements of labor are present in any kind of activity, even in creative work. They make up at least 50-70% of a person's labor activity. The remaining 30-50% (in different professions they specific gravity fluctuates) fall on the creative elements of labor associated with setting a goal, choosing the optimal place of work from several alternative ones, and solving unexpected problems.

In the narrow sense of the word, the content of labor means the totality of the operations performed by the worker and the prescribed functions.

It should be noted that the labor process is characterized by a certain motivation of the participants in labor relations. Motivation is understood as internal incentives for action in a certain person, this is an internal factor that pushes and directs the individual's behavior.

In connection with how the influence of motives on the activity of an individual in the working environment or in the labor process is understood, several theories of labor motivation are distinguished. The need-to-achieve theory highlights one need - the need to achieve success. According to this theory, a person's desire to work is mainly due to

the intensity of his need to succeed.

Representatives of the theory of justice, or social comparison, believe that the main thing in the satisfaction of the individual in the labor process lies in the degree of justice or injustice that a person feels in his working position. At the same time, the degree of justice is understood as the ratio between what a person invests in labor (for example, efforts) and what he receives in return from the enterprise (for example, payment) and a comparison of the ratio of these values ​​among other participants in the labor process. The person analyzes what his contribution is, how he is valued, and compares this with how much others invest and receive. Based on the conclusions from this comparison, he can reduce or increase his labor activity.

Expectancy theory proceeds from the fact that the motive for achieving success in work is due to the individual's expectation of results in the future, that is, the increased value of a possible result. Supporters of the dual theory of motivation emphasize that there are two sets of factors that affect labor productivity, and they are independent of each other. As a satisfaction factor, achievement of results, recognition, responsibility and promotion are taken. Factors of dissatisfaction that arise from labor relations include the policy of enterprise management, forms of control by direct supervisors (democratic or autocratic), working conditions, wages.

According to the hierarchy of needs theory, individual behavior is determined by needs, which can be divided into five groups. The first (lower) group consists of needs, the satisfaction of which is the basis for maintaining life (needs for food, clothing, shelter, water, air, etc.). The second is the need for confidence, not only physical, but also socio-economic (work, status, authority). The third is the human need to be in contact with other people (belong to their society and be accepted by them). The fourth is the individual's needs for self-respect (a sense of self-importance), as well as the individual's desire to be valued and respected by other members of the group. The fifth group consists of developmental needs, which are manifested in the desire of a person to develop, to implement something new and thereby fulfill himself as a person.

Theories of work motivation remain the basis for taking measures to increase labor motivation and increase labor productivity, and on their basis certain motivational models have arisen: the traditional model, the model of human relations, the model of human resources. The traditional model is based on a pessimistic view of human nature and assumes that work is disgusting to most people and that what matters to people is not what they do but how much they get paid for it, and that only a few people can do it. creative work under self-control.

The model of human relations is based on the assumption that people want to feel useful, to feel that they belong to a group, that they are recognized by the group. And this is more important for them in their work motivation than material rewards.

The human resource model is based on the premise that work in itself is not disgusting to the individual and that most individuals can be creative and improve themselves in their profession to a much greater extent than the conditions of production require them to. The human resource model does not neglect monetary motivation, but it recognizes the importance of other motivational factors as well.

The above motivation for labor activity is confirmed by specific studies of Western sociologists. They show that it is in the sphere of work that people most often experience a sense of powerlessness, meaninglessness. Failure to satisfy the need for the work to be interesting and give more opportunities for self-reliance negatively affects both labor morale and labor productivity, and the general psychological well-being and self-esteem of workers.

People value independence, the ability to make responsible decisions themselves. This is manifested in their attitudes towards society, towards themselves and towards their children. Specific working conditions are also important: more complex and independent work favors the development of more flexible thinking and an independent attitude towards oneself and society. Routine work, which limits the independence of the worker, makes his thinking more stereotyped. This leads to the formation of a conformist attitude towards oneself and society.

A person whose labor activity is relatively autonomous, free from petty external guardianship, better perceives and realizes the inner meaning and value of his work. On the contrary, scrupulous external control causes the worker to feel his own powerlessness, which is often transferred to the whole society, and sometimes causes neuropsychiatric disorders. Studies indicate that the less a person has the opportunity to show initiative in work, the more he is inclined to focus on external authority in other areas of activity, to consider the world around him as hostile and threatening.

The qualities that are formed in work are also manifested in the sphere of leisure and in family life. People engaged in more complex and independent work are more intellectual in their leisure time. They also highly value independence and bring it up in their children. There is also feedback. Complexity, flexibility and independence increase the level of the individual's requirements for the content and conditions of his work.

Sociological studies conducted in our country have revealed the differentiation of workers depending on the motives for participation in the labor process:

supernormative type; this group includes only conscientious workers;

normative type; this category is made up of fairly conscientious workers;

subnormative type; includes insufficiently conscientious workers;

non-normative type (unscrupulous workers). The number of selected typological groups, depending on their attitude to work, is distributed as follows: 5%, 60%, 30%, 5%.

The content of labor is closely related to the nature of labor. The latter reflects the socio-economic quality of social labor, the interaction of man and society, man and man in the labor process. In society, workers are assigned to economically and socially heterogeneous types of work. Belonging to a profession determines the place of the individual in the labor process. The nature of work gives rise to differences between social groups in various spheres of life: in the cultural and technical level, participation in the management of production, the level of material well-being, the structure and ways of spending free time, etc.

The foundations of social life discussed above affect the functioning of society.

HISTORICAL TYPES OF ORGANIZATION OF SOCIAL LIFE

In sociology, there are two main approaches to the analysis of society as a special category.

Proponents of the first approach ("social atomism") believe that society is a collection of individual individuals and the interaction between them.

G. Simmel believed that the "interaction of parts" is what we call society. P. Sorokin came to the conclusion that "society or collective unity as a set of interacting individuals exists.

Representatives of another direction in sociology ("universalism"), as opposed to attempts to summarize individual people, believe that society is some kind of objective reality that is not limited to the totality of its constituent individuals. E. Durkheim was of the opinion that society is not a simple sum of individuals, but a system formed by their association and representing a reality endowed with special properties. V. Solovyov emphasized that "human society is not a simple mechanical collection of individuals: it is an independent whole, has its own life and organization."

The second point of view prevails in sociology. Society is inconceivable without the activities of people, which they carry out not in isolation, but in the process of interaction with other people united in various social communities. In the process of this interaction, people have a systematic impact on other individuals, form a new integral formation - society.

In the social activity of the individual, persistently recurring, typical features are manifested, which society forms in her as an integrity, as a system.

A system is a set of elements ordered in a certain way, interconnected and forming some integral unity, which is not reducible to the sum of its elements. Society, as a social system, is a way of organizing social ties and social interaction that ensures the satisfaction of people's basic needs.

Society as a whole is the largest system. Its most important subsystems are economic, political, social, spiritual. In society, there are also such subsystems as classes, ethnic, demographic, territorial and professional groups, family, etc. Each of these subsystems includes many other subsystems. They can mutually regroup, the same individuals can be elements of different systems. An individual cannot disobey the requirements of the system in which he is included. He more or less accepts its norms and values. However, in society there are simultaneously various forms social activities and behaviors between which one can choose.

In order for society to function as a whole, each subsystem must perform specific, strictly defined functions. The functions of subsystems mean the satisfaction of any social needs. Yet together they aim to maintain sustainability.

society. Dysfunction (destructive function) of a subsystem can disrupt the stability of society. The researcher of this phenomenon, R. Merton, believed that the same subsystems can be functional in relation to one of them and dysfunctional in relation to others.

A certain typology of societies has developed in sociology. Researchers highlight traditional society. It is a society with an agrarian way of life, with sedentary structures and a tradition-based way of regulating relations between people. It is characterized by extremely low rates of development of production, which could satisfy the needs only at a minimum level, a great resistance to innovation, due to the peculiarities of its functioning. The behavior of individuals is strictly controlled, regulated by customs, norms, social institutions. The listed social formations, consecrated by tradition, are considered unshakable, even the idea of ​​their possible transformation is denied. Fulfilling your integrative function, culture and social institutions suppressed any manifestation of individual freedom, which is a necessary condition for the creative process in society.

The term "industrial society" was first introduced by Saint-Simon. He focused on the production basis of society. Flexibility is also an important feature of an industrial society. social structures, allowing them to be modified as the needs and interests of people change, social mobility, a developed system of communications. This is a society in which flexible management structures have been created that make it possible to reasonably combine the freedom and interests of the individual with general principles governing their joint activities.

In the 1960s, two stages in the development of society were supplemented by a third. The concept of a post-industrial society appears, actively developed in American (D. Bell) and Western European (A. Turin) sociology. The reason for the emergence of this concept is structural changes in the economy and culture of the most developed countries, forcing a different look at society itself as a whole. First of all, the role of knowledge and information has sharply increased. Having received the necessary education, having access to latest information, the individual received preferential chances in moving up the ladder of the social hierarchy. Creative work becomes the basis for the success and prosperity of both a person and society.

In addition to society, which in sociology is often correlated with the boundaries of the state, other types of organization of social life are analyzed.

Marxism, choosing the method of production of material goods as the basis (the unity of the productive forces and the production relations corresponding to them), defines the socio-economic formation corresponding to it as the basic structure of social life. The development of social life is a gradual transition from lower to higher socio-economic formations: from primitive communal to slave-owning, then to feudal, capitalist and communist.

The primitive appropriating mode of production characterizes the primitive communal formation. A specific feature of the slave-owning formation is the ownership of people and the use of slave labor, the feudal - production based on the exploitation of peasants attached to the land, the bourgeois - the transition to economic dependence of formally free wage workers, in the communist formation it was supposed to establish an equal attitude of all to ownership of the means of production by abolishing private property relations. Recognizing the cause-and-effect relationships between economic, political, ideological and other institutions, production and economic relations are assumed to be decisive.

Socio-economic formations are distinguished on the basis of the general that is inherent in different countries within the same formation.

At the heart of the civilized approach lies the idea of ​​the originality of the path traveled by peoples.

Civilization is understood as a qualitative specificity (originality of material, spiritual, social life) of a particular group of countries, peoples at a certain stage of development.

Among the many civilizations stand out ancient india and China, the states of the Muslim East, Babylon, European civilization, the civilization of Russia, etc.

Any civilization is characterized not only by a specific social production technology, but also, to no lesser extent, by a culture corresponding to it. It has a certain philosophy, socially significant values, a generalized image of the world, a specific way of life with its own special life principle, the basis of which is the spirit of the people, its morality, conviction, which also determine a certain attitude towards oneself.

The civilizational approach in sociology presupposes taking into account and studying that peculiar and original that exists in the organization of the social life of an entire region.

Some of the most important developed certain civilization forms and achievements are universally recognized and spread. Thus, the values ​​that originated in European civilization, but are now acquiring universal human significance, include the following.

In the field of production economic relations- this is the achieved level of development of technology and technology, generated by a new stage of the scientific and technological revolution, the system of commodity-money relations, the presence of a market.

In the political sphere, the general civilizational base includes a rule of law state operating on the basis of democratic norms.

In the spiritual and moral sphere, the common heritage of all peoples is the great achievements of science, art, culture, as well as universal moral values.

Social life is formed by a complex set of forces, in which natural phenomena and processes are only one of the elements. Based on the conditions created by nature, a complex interaction of individuals manifests itself, which forms a new integrity, society, as a social system. Labor, as a fundamental form of activity, underlies the development of diverse types of organization of social life.

Social life is nothing but the life of people, the life of a person among his own kind. But man is a biosocial phenomenon. On the one hand, it is impossible not to see that this is an element of wildlife that largely depends on it, is associated with it, implements a certain inevitable biological program (self-preservation program, procreation program, etc.), genetically endowed with reflexes, instincts, temperament.

On the other hand, a person is a fundamentally different phenomenon - he implements a system of constantly renewing interactions, focusing in his actions not on reflexes, instincts, but on the norms of morality, ethics, and law.

The ratio of the natural and the social in a person is the starting point for the analysis of, perhaps, all social sciences and the humanities, which is of interest to philosophers, psychologists, and culturologists.

Sociology has its own perspective. She is interested in the relationship between the natural and the social in relation to understanding the laws of human interaction with their own kind.

First of all, it is important for a sociologist to understand the nature of the laws that drive the development of society, relationships in society, give rise to such social formations as the family, the state, etc. What is it - man's own invention, which allowed him to live more efficiently, or the realization of certain innate instincts that man has inherited from animals? And animals form families, and among them there are leaders and subordinates. Are the norms, laws, rules of human behavior in society essentially the same as the instincts inherited genetically by animals? Or are the laws of social life of a completely different nature? Is there a fundamental difference between the regulation of relationships between people and the regulation of animal behavior, and if there is such a difference, then what is its essence?

Other aspects of the problem of the correlation between the natural and the social are extremely important for the sociologist: how, in what way and to what extent are natural conditions able to influence, determine the course and forms of the course of social life? What biological features of a person made possible the emergence of society?

As you can see, the relationship between the natural and the social raises many questions in sociology. The answers to these questions are important both for science and for understanding many practical aspects of life that we all have to face more than once.

For example, often when trying to find an answer to the question why different nations different traditions, norms, character traits are characteristic (accuracy, prudence, etc.), many of us begin to justify this with biological and genetic differences (say, these peoples differ from each other “by blood”), natural and climatic living conditions, etc. d.

Such examples, when practical understanding, evaluation of certain social phenomena, orders, customs leads to the need to determine the ratio of natural and social in people's behavior, cannot be counted.

Why is it so important for science to solve the problem of the correlation between the natural and the social in man, in public life?

This is due to many reasons. Let's consider at least two of them. If we explain social phenomena, certain social orders by natural and biological causes (climate, terrain, genes, instincts, etc.), then we, firstly, will give these phenomena a biological meaning, i.e. we agree that some kind of natural argumentation is at work here, an extra-social, animal-biological logic that is not controlled by people, and therefore, the comprehension of social laws proper is generally pointless - it is enough to know the biological laws (the behavior of an animal in a herd). In this case, the task of the sociologist will be to better study the facts of biology and skillfully use them in relation to the life of people, their communities. Sociology disappears - sociobiology or something like that emerges.

Secondly, the solution of the problem of the relationship between the natural and the social in a person, in public life opens the way to solving even more important ones from the point of view of strategies studying the general sociology of issues. After all, the absolutization of the natural-biological principle one way or another leads to understanding logic social processes, the same as the logic of natural biological processes. The latter are dominated by natural selection, mechanical causality, natural inevitability (by analogy: at 100 ° C, water Always boil).

Can we say that the logic of social life is organized according to the same laws? This question is in many ways the key to the general sociological understanding of the historical process. After all, if the same laws of natural-historical and rather rigid mechanical necessity and causality operate in society, then the history of people in general appears as some kind of inevitable, predetermined path. For example, the peoples of Eurasia were doomed to have such a history, such state structure etc. At best, people could accelerate development, but not change its natural-historical course. One way or another, everyone will come to a prearranged “end of history”, in the words of P. Sztompka.

As you can see, the question of the relationship between the natural-biological and the social has a huge scientific context. This seemingly prosaic problem hides the solution of strategic issues of social science.

1. In this topic, we continue the characterization of social life, and provide additional information about it; the topic deals with the main features of theoretical and empirical sociological knowledge.

It gives an idea of ​​the specifics of social life, its place and role in society.

The social life of people arose before the formation of society, which, along with it, is also formed by their economic, political, spiritual and ideological life. These forms of life arose on the basis of social life as its continuation and for the sake of its service. Their appearance was the result of conscious actions of people, caused in many respects by reasons that do not correspond to the nature of social life. Over time, already within the framework of society, social life has undergone significant changes and has gone through all the historical stages that characterize its development. But even today, despite the extremely increased influence of societal forms of life, it remains the main one for society.

Social life is etymologically connected with the concept sociality, which indicates the commonality of people's lives. However, this is how people lead their economic, political, ideological life, participate in all forms of public life. Therefore, indications of compatibility are not enough to characterize the specifics of social life. The latter has other qualitative features as well.

Social life - substantive, it corresponds to the generic nature and essence of man. Its peculiarity is that it is for people necessary, without them realizing it, what constitutes their human existence is lost. When the existence of people is understood, it primarily means their social life. It is most often carried out by people as what constitutes their life, and societal forms of life as its necessary addition. Social life matters to people by her own- it is important for them not by what they receive through it, but by what it enriches them with. This is her self-worth. The difference between social life lies in the high degree of solidarity in its implementation by people, it does not have the disunity between them that is inherent in their economic, ideological, political life.

Social life exists mainly as a common for all people, societal forms of life - as divided. This is explained by the fact that the participation of people in each of the societal forms of life is associated with their different, often class, interests. But they are actually united in the desire to realize themselves. as everybody in social life: start a family, succeed in the labor field, preserve your national identity, etc. This is the meaning and necessity for them of family and ethnic, labor and gender, settlement and everyday life. Moreover, the violation of each of them threatens homeostasis - the balanced, stable existence of people in society. Social life inclusive - it extends to the work of people, and to their life and leisure. Besides, people make it constantly, while economic, political, ideological only for a certain time. People's lives are continuous, they constantly need manifestations of their social characteristics, and in societal -

only periodically. It seems important to note such a feature of social life as its close connection with the biological and physiological nature of people. Man first of all biosocial, not a biosocietal being. Hence, his primary needs are the needs to communicate with other people, to take care of them and them about him, in the joint implementation of most social activities, etc.

The peculiarity of social life, unlike other forms of life, is that people join it in many ways. natural way, as if by itself, but to the societal necessarily through a special learning.

All this reveals the specifics of social life.

At the same time, it must be remembered that modern social life, for all its importance, is only a part of the life of society and tests on its part strong influence. As a result, there are no varieties of social life in their original form. All of them exist, experiencing a great influence of economic, political, ideological forms of life.

2 . An in-depth study of social life is facilitated by its system analysis. It consists in considering social life in three planes: elemental, functional and historical. The analysis is aimed at clarifying what main parts social life consists of, what functions they perform in relation to other parts and social life as a whole, and what stages, stages social life goes through in its historical evolution. Peculiarity system analysis social life also lies in the fact that it includes consideration of its as a social, part of society and eco-social education. The question is what to count elements social system?

They are called social actions, social statuses and the role of the individual. We believe that the first building blocks of the system of social life are commonality all varieties of this life. They are primordial in the history of mankind, they correspond to the generic nature of man. These are, first of all, communities of gender, ethnic, family, settlement varieties of social life, which have the greatest natural properties. Communities of labor, household, leisure varieties of social life have artificial origin, based on the developed physical and intellectual abilities of people. It should be emphasized that without these varieties of social life, humanity loses its qualitative feature. Therefore, they are all necessary. At the same time, their composition testifies to their sufficiency for the life of people in society, since it allows them, participating in them, to satisfy all the needs conditioned by their nature and thereby fully realize themselves.

The modifications of the generalities are societies and social groups. Both of them have features of social communities. Only in the first

case, their signs are generalized, synthesized, and in the second case they are individualized, concretized. Individuals in sociology are considered as representatives of communities with their characteristics, and are called personalities.

Common varieties of social life are divided into activity(manifested in the activities of people - labor, household, leisure) and on interactive, characterized by interactions between people - gender, ethnic, family, settlement. The communities of working life play a central role among them. This is due to their direct connection with material production, which is of paramount importance for the social and entire life of society.

Varieties of social life, their common features are historically changeable. For example, such communities of ethnic life replacing each other as clan, tribe, nationality, nation are known.

The communities of varieties of social life are interconnected, mutually influence, and thus influence each other. For this reason, they do not exist in their pure form, possessing the features of only one of the varieties. This leads to the fact that each of the communities is characterized by features of all others. For example, the life of a family also depends on whether it lives in a city or in a village, what professions, nationalities the spouses have, whether they are young or old, that is, on all its social characteristics. Under specific conditions, the influence of individual varieties of social life may be predominant. In identifying in one or another variety of social life the presence (signs) of its other varieties, the degree of their impact on it important aspects sociological analysis.

The considered communities are core social system, its first level.

The interactions of communities with societal formations constitute second- public level of the social system. The economic, political, ideological forms of the life of society are carried out, respectively, through the interaction of people about property, power and ideas (knowledge). Each of them is general, extending to all varieties and communities of social life. Therefore, they exist as socio-economic (-political, -ideological) forms of life. The appeal of people leading a social life to societal forms is due to the fact that they often lack them for their existence in society, there is a need for economic, political, ideological life.

Sociology does not deal specifically with the societal forms of life that characterize their processes. It is the prerogative economics, political science, science of science, art history, religious studies, etc. It also deals with societal forms of life only in connection with the presence of a social aspect in them.

Social life also manifests itself in interactions social formations with those around them Wednesdays - natural, real And spiritual or some of their parts (fragments), during which the biological existence of people, their vital (life) needs are satisfied. This third - ecosocial the level of the system under consideration.

Nature- this is litho, hydro and atmosphere, flora and fauna of the Earth. Things - the whole variety of material values ​​created by people to meet their needs and therefore have different functional purpose. These are buildings, vehicles, furniture, clothes, utensils. In their composition, a special place is occupied by tools, technical devices, through which material values. Spiritual values - the results of scientific, artistic, religious activities that exist in a materialized form as books, notes, paintings, phonos and video recordings.

Each environment performs certain functions. Nature is the natural foundation and constant primary condition of social life. The things that people not only use, but also own, have a decisive influence on the nature of their relationships. The dominance of private ownership of things leads to the "reification" of relations between people. Spiritual values ​​perform educational, socializing, regulatory and other functions in the life of social communities.

Under the influence of the three habitats and within the time frame of their historical action, various formational And civilizational types of society. The first are characterized mainly by the peculiarities of the mode of production, the latter, moreover, by the peculiarities of social and spiritual life.

AND public, And eco-social The levels of a social system have their own specific purpose in it. The first plays a role in giving social life one way or another. public form, mediates the impact on it of the surrounding natural, material and spiritual environment. This function is also performed by societal forms of life when people influence the environment in the course of their multi-species activities.

Ecosocial level acts as a factor determining the historical evolution of social life. The content, nature, pace of changes in social and societal forms of society's life depends on the dominant impact on them of the natural or artificial (material and spiritual) environment. With the successive predominant influence of these three environments on social life, the identification of the main stages (epochs) in its history is connected. For tens of thousands of years, the life of peoples has been conditioned by the influence of nature on them - soil, hydrographic, climatic, raw material and other conditions of their residence. The life of people was extremely naturalized, subject to the forces of nature.

It was replaced by the material environment, which still determines the features of the historical process, manifested in the dominance of economic relations between people in society. The latter are the result of people's different ownership of things and lead to reification - the reification of all human relations, including social ones, to the relations of people to each other as to things.

At the turn of the third millennium, industrialized countries began to move into a post-industrial and information society, the characteristic features of which are determined by radical changes in the spiritual environment, in particular, in the growing role of such a component as science. It is connected with the creation of science-intensive technologies, the electronization of all human life. The scientization of all forms of life is the hallmark of the coming era of human history.

Social life, taken as a whole, taking into account the 3 levels of its systemic structure, is capable of teleonomic- purposeful adaptive, adaptive associated with both adaptation and transformation of the environment and to coevolutionary joint self-development with the environment.

3. The social life of people, taking place in interaction with the environment, should be considered as the ecological side of their being, within the framework of social ecology, which is one of the branches of sociological science. Ecology is the science of such interactions of people with the outside world, primarily with the natural world, on which their existence depends. biological creatures. Man is a biosocial, natural-social being. His biological properties form the foundation on which, first of all, his social life arises and develops, and already on its basis all societal forms of life. The ecological aspect of social life is to ensure homeostasis - the stability of a person's physical condition. From his well-being natural properties depends on the activity of his social life, participation in labor, household, family and its other varieties. The peculiarity of the ecological side of people's social life is that it refers to their daily actions, actions that form the basis of human existence.

If general ecology focuses on the study of the state of the environment, in other words, the conditions in which people live, then social ecology pays primary attention to the study of the characteristics of interaction with the environment of groups with different social status in society, to clarify the role of social interactions about environmental problems. Sociology is most responsible for solving the problems of social ecology.

So, social ecology finds out the features and degree of activity of different social subjects in their interactions with natural, artificial

natural and so-called. social environments in order to ensure their biological existence.

Let us emphasize at once that we are considering environmental aspect the social life of people, which, in other forms of their life, has a different content. Of course, due to the fact that social life is a part of society, its full comprehension is possible only within the framework of the latter, taking into account its typological (formational and civilizational) features. And social ecology takes this into account. In addition, the sciences of the economic, political and spiritual life of society pay great attention to the implementation of appropriate measures to solve the environmental problems of social life.

Social ecology pays primary attention to elucidating the features of the ecological interaction of people leading a social life, and the ecology of the social life of a particular social subject, depending both on himself, on his ecological state, and on the external environmental impact of the environment on him. Here it is important to clarify the following: the three main environments of social subjects - natural, artificial (all sorts of material and spiritual benefits) and social, in which they live; interactions of subjects with environments can have both positive and negative consequences for them (for example, contribute to the stability of the biological state of people or harm it); as a result of the ecological interaction of people with the natural and artificial environment, their material characteristics (natural and material) change.

At the center of social ecology is the ecological side of the social life of subjects, those connections that are ecological. In this regard, it must be said that social ecology studies not only socio-natural connections, but also those that exist in the subject with the artificial and social environment and have ecological significance for him, i.e. relate to everything on which its physical and biological state depends. It depends on the influence of various factors - from the material well-being of people to their good or bad health, from the use of environmentally friendly things by people, to their healthy lifestyle. To a large extent, the ecological interaction of people with the environment depends on their social characteristics (gender, ethnic, professional) and status differences. In many ways, they determine its positive or negative meaning. Revealing them is an important task of social ecology.

Generally speaking, the ecological interaction of people with environments assumes that the latter will not be polluted, that the atmosphere, soil, water will not be damaged, environmentally harmful machines and things will not be created. All this is a consequence of the violation of the rules of environmental management, the production of environmentally defective equipment and technology, all kinds of things. The deterioration of the state of the natural and built environment turns negative consequences for the people themselves, affects their health.

"Pollution" of the natural and social environment is a consequence of the anti-ecological behavior of people in society. This is expressed mainly in the impact on consciousness, in the change in the ecological thinking of people, which determines the nature of their interactions with the environment.

No less important is the ecological state of the subject's social life. In many ways, it is a consequence of the positive or negative impact that the environment has on it, especially natural and artificial. Human health depends on it. In a word, we are talking about such dependences of social subjects on objects and phenomena of the artificial and social environment that determine their ecological state. But the ecological state of people's social life also depends on themselves, on their awareness of the rules of interaction with the natural and artificial environment, on their knowledge of the standards for their pollution, and on the general ecological meaningfulness of social life. The negative environmental impact on the part of nature is a consequence not only of its depravity by people, but also of naturally occurring changes in it.

4. All social communities have a systemic structure. Each of them is an association of people leading mainly one of the varieties of social life. The community is formed by:

1. Subjects of social activity - people with ethnic, family, professional, gender and other interests, views, values;

2. Social relationship individuals to each other and to the objects of their activity;

3. Social connections- different contacts of people forming a community with reality;

a. Activity of people; ) Two main types

b. Relationships between people; ) social activity

c. culture- a perfect way of implementation by people constituting a community, different types social action;

4. An object human impact;

5. results material and spiritual activities;

6. Environment communities - natural, artificial (material and spiritual) and societal environment, which act as conditions for their social activity, as well as objects of their activity or subjects of interaction (the latter applies only to the societal environment).

In social life, as in other forms of social life, people manifest themselves in three ways: they participate in 1) subject activity, 2) social activities and 3) during relationships together. The first is the various actions of people in relation to nature and the things they have created in order to satisfy their various material needs.

nyh and spiritual needs. The second is the actions of some people in relation to others in order to change their consciousness (for example, the speech of a speaker). Often they are called social interactions or interactions. The peculiarity of sociology is that in activity it is only interested in who and how is engaged in it, what social properties, features of acting subjects are manifested in it. Sociology does not study the very activity of people. The content of any material and spiritual activity (what it is, how it differs from other activities) is studied by one or another technological Sciences. The third is interconnections, contacts of people due to their mutual dependence or need for each other.

Activity is subject-object, it is What S→O or on whom S→S'(O) directed activity. In the first case, it is objective, in the second - social. In activity, the subject is active and the object is passive. Social relationships are subject-subject S↔S". In them, each side is active, makes contacts, realizes its social interests in them. Social relationships are not only one of the two main forms of people's activity, but also an obligatory side that makes up any of their activities. The latter exists only in union with them.

The life of communities depends on the activity of their members. What drives them, makes them perform actions in relation to various kinds of objects and other people, enter into interactions and relationships with them? The main motive force is their need, their needs in something. Among them are social. However, there is no common understanding of the latter. Yes, for A. Maslow - these are the needs for belonging to a team, for attachment to other people, for communicating with them, caring for them, and paying attention to oneself.

The needs realized by individuals and groups become their social needs. interests. The latter always express the desire of various communities and individuals to reproduce themselves, to preserve or change their social position. Social interests are the main driving force, the impulse of social action of all social actors. Social interests are the force that unites people in communities and groups. However, their participation in societal forms of life also implies the existence of economic, political, ideological interests, or rather their synthesis - the presence of socio-economic (-political, -ideological) interests. For example, people's attitudes towards work are influenced by both their social and societal interests. Which of them will take the "top" will depend on the specific circumstances, on the priority for the individual (group) of certain problems.

The presence of interests in social subjects indicates only their potential abilities for social actions. The beginning of the practical realization by the subject of his interests is expressed in his relations to other subjects and objects of their actions. Relationships are the basis

for tying the subjects of social connections, those. their entry into various contacts with certain subjects or objects of the environment. The latter are objects of social activity. Social ties also arise as a result of the performance by subjects of some roles, duties, social functions assigned to them.

All social actions are characterized by a certain way of their implementation. He points out that How people (social groups) act in contrast to What represent their social actions, what is their content. An exemplary way of activity and relationships of people is their culture.

5. We considered social life mainly in an unchanged state, in statics, but it lives (its name indicates this), changes, develops. Mobility, its dynamism is expressed in social processes. They represent a change in the states of social life. There are many social processes. Their classification is based on different grounds, in particular, taking into account the participation of different actors. In accordance with it, social processes are distinguished into micro level - as interpersonal interactions, on meso level - as the relationship of communities of all varieties of social life, on macro level - as the relationship of societies. Moreover, the interdependencies of each previous level are included in the following levels.

A feature of the personal social process is that it is carried out by individuals, and the actions of individuals are observable and fixed, and thus make it possible to judge what goals they pursue. A distinctive feature of the process in which societies participate is that it is carried out by many people and consists of collisions and combinations of their actions, thereby making it possible to judge only about trends social change.

There are other classifications of social processes. Among them, we note the processes: integration(associations, rapprochements) and disintegration; adaptation(devices) and maladaptation; cooperation And conflicts, and, transformation- transition from one state of social life to another, modernization(updates, upgrades).

social processes can be and trasosocial And intersocial, that is, occurring within social formations and between them (for example, ethnic, family and interethnic, interfamily).

Social life is evolving, is in the process of natural change. She has a history that is a cut public history. This is due to its unity with society. Therefore, the stages of the formational and civilizational development of mankind testify to the stages of history passed by social life. An important feature of a single historical process is its focus, indicating the progressiveness of changes in the content of social life, and the fact that people, making their own history, cannot act according to the whims of their interests, and are forced to reckon with the actions of natural and social forces, that is, with the determining influence on them of societal factors and the environment environment. At the same time, one cannot ignore the fact that history is carried out by social forces that achieve different goals. This cannot but affect its direction, which is influenced (sometimes very strongly) by subjective factors - especially within relatively short periods.

important party historical section of social life is to clarify the prospects for its change. In various sociological theories, three main options are predicted: finalist(the inevitability of the end of social and social development), pessimistic(uncertainty of their further change), optimistic(the inevitability of the progressive movement of history). To substantiate the forecasts, the natural-science, ecological and humanistic foundations of the historical process are used. Consideration of the emerging post-industrial and information society in the world occupies a large place in the predictive argumentation.

Of particular interest for predicting the future is created by domestic scientists on the basis of the teachings of V.I. Vernadsky about the transformation of the earth's biosphere into the noosphere and the socio-economic doctrine of K. Marx theory globalist society. The advantage of the theory of noospheric civilization is that it takes into account the recently identified limits of the anthropogenic load on the biosphere associated with ecological crisis industrial growth, the use of non-renewable resources. The globalist society relies on such fundamental principles of its development as: the concept of sustainable development, the human development index (life expectancy, the level of education achieved, per capita income of the population), the doctrine of the noosphere (the sphere of a flourishing mind and spirit), ecological socialism (society interacting with nature for the benefit of the entire population).

6. Scientific knowledge has two main branches. The first is connected with the study of the natural (natural), and the second - the artificial world (general).

of things created by people, man). Social life belongs to the second world, the knowledge of which is engaged in the social sciences and the humanities. The main feature of the latter is that through them single, individual objects, phenomena, interesting for their uniqueness, while, with the help of natural - are common, under certain conditions, recurring, regularly reproduced. For this, different methods of cognition are used, in the first case - ideographic, in the second - nomothetic. Despite the fact that sociology belongs to the social sciences and humanities, its peculiarity is nomological- in striving for the discovery of laws, i.e. to clarify necessary, essential, recurring, sustainable connections between people in social life. This gives grounds to believe that among single and individual social objects, phenomena, value orientations of people, their relationships, the most characteristic, typical and necessarily representative ones are selected - those that meet the characteristics of the studied population of people, i.e. characterized by the commonality of features, which gives the basis for the construction of laws. When studying social life, the nomothetic method of its cognition is used, the same one that is used in the study of natural processes and phenomena.

Of course, there are differences between the natural and social sciences: the former clarify how processes and phenomena occur, the latter - and how they should occur. This is due to the difference in the objects of knowledge of these sciences. Some study the spontaneous, blindly occurring natural processes, others study the actions carried out by man. The peculiarity of the latter is in their purposefulness and meaningfulness. This testifies to a certain freedom of his will, to the possibility of choosing his actions, while nature does not have this. Thus, the need natural phenomena, processes and human actions are fundamentally different. The expression of the first is ontological, dynamic laws that determine the unambiguous causal existing relationships in the natural world, the conditionality of some phenomena and processes by others, the expression of the second is deontological, stochastic (probabilistic) patterns that determine only the trends of social processes, due and eventual - possible only with certain circumstances of communication. At the same time, the degree of certainty of social processes decreases as the level of their generalization decreases. The most unpredictable are the actions and interactions of individuals, small groups.

As for the ideographic method, which is used to study individual objects, it is not contraindicated in sociology and is used in it in elucidating the socio-psychological characteristics of individuals (their social portraits).

An important feature of the social sciences and humanities, which study various manifestations of human life, is that they, as its resulting indicators, deal with meaningful “follow-

mi of their actions. Each sphere of activity and relationships of people has its own traces, which are studied by various social sciences and the humanities, including sociology.

There are also features sociological knowledge of social life. It is based on certain theoretical and methodological grounds and principles. As the history of sociology shows, in its various directions and schools they have ontological and epistemological differences, which are reflected in the choice of the subject, methods and principles of analysis of social reality by scientists.

In modern Russian sociology, priority is given to the materialistic method of cognition, which is dominated by the view of society as a self-developing organism that changes as a result of resolving its inherent contradictions. This fully applies to social life, the depth and completeness of understanding of which depends on its dialectical-materialistic knowledge. The identification of social contradictions, the opposing forces behind them and the nature of their interaction is the most important task. sociological research. Sociology considers the phenomena and generalities of social life not so much in statics as in dynamics, in the processes of their change and development. This allows us to discover the features of their characteristic differences and opposites, the relationship between which in the form of rivalry and confrontation is the essence of their contradictions.

Sociology is characterized by a predominant consideration of three aspects of social reality. They represent three directions of her knowledge. The first is related to the study composition And structures social life, the second - with the study of the features of the participation of social actors in multi-species activities; the third - with the study of all varieties of social relationships between people. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that stratification differentiation is an integral part of structural analysis, and activity is considered as a result of the interactions of social subjects with the natural, material and spiritual environments or some of their parts. Moreover, subjective side of activity, features social influence subjects to the objects of their activities.

The peculiarity of the epistemology used in modern sociology is that it is based on what, how and by whom is studied. The object of study is social life. It is learned with the help of research principles, including its explanation and understanding. At the same time, the socio-humanitarian attitudes of the cognizing sociologist are reflected in the results of the study.

Sociological principles include:

1. - the study of what scientists believe significant what is in their interest. Related to this is their introduction of a personal perspective into research;

2. - a look at the object of knowledge through the prism sociological imagination, allowing to see it not as it appears to the ordinary consciousness of people, but anew, in the context of any sociological theory;

3. - use by the researcher reflections - self-knowledge by him of those mental actions through which he cognizes social objects. Peculiarity