Marriages are concluded between representatives of the association. What are the main characteristics of society? General sociology

The word “society” is used everywhere, but not everyone can clearly formulate the essence of this concept. The definition of this phenomenon and the concept denoting it is given by sociology, as well as social science. The latest science in this issue has the most significant weight, since it is society that is the subject of its study. Unlike all other sciences, it purposefully examines all possible aspects of society. Other sciences highlight only one specific side of the phenomenon.

However, we will focus on the idea that sociology gives us, since in our article we are going to consider the question: “What are the main characteristics of society?” - as well as some related aspects. They will help us operate with this concept more consciously and, in general, will be useful for expanding knowledge in this area.

A look at the concept of society

Let us present some data from sociology that reflects the essence of society. Thus, this science examines the concept from two main sides, respectively, presenting diverse meanings. Let's talk about each separately, while touching on the distinctive features of society.

Historical and economic aspect

The first aspect of the study is to consider society taking into account historical, economic, geographical and political factors. According to this aspect, societies are identified as structures larger than just groups of people or communities.

Most often, such very specific types as primitive, slaveholding, feudal and others are distinguished in this vein. They differ in their common level of technology development,

When considering the same historical-economic aspect, societies formed on the territory of a certain country or continent are highlighted. This is Russian, and American, and the Western world as a whole, and the Eastern.

Based on the listed facts, let us summarize this block of information with a definition: society is a system limited in time and territory. Any era with its values ​​and level of technological development is such a society.

Main features

Scientist E. Shils gives us a number of characteristics by which a society is distinguished, based on the formative factors considered:

As an integral functioning system, it is not included in any major systems);

Has its own clearly defined territory;

Has a name, history of education and development;

The replenishment and growth of society occurs at the expense of human resources, who are its own representatives (with rare exceptions);

As a sign complementary to the previous one, representatives of one association enter into marriage;

There is a functioning own control system;

It is characteristic that representatives have common norms and traditions that shape culture;

The lifespan of a society is necessarily longer than the lifespan of an individual representative.

• territory - it also plays the role of the main material basis for the existence and development of social relations;
• autonomy - self-sufficiency, allowing one to exist without economic and other ties with other societies;
• integrativeness - the unification of all individuals in the process social life, maintenance and reproduction of generations;
• universality - all-encompassing (for individual participants).

Sociological and philosophical aspect

So, we have already learned what the main characteristics of society are in accordance with the economic-geographical aspect of the study. It is time to consider the second aspect of the study of this topic in sociology.

The second meaning of society is purely sociological and philosophical when viewed as a whole. In research in this area, sociology relies on the results of practical observations and experiments on smaller structures - small communities (families, clans, nations). A kind of hierarchy of structures is built, from smallest to largest. As a result, we obtain the functional unity of communities.

Considering various institutions of society from this practical point of view, sociology touches on the problems of the universe - the origin of society, the single purpose of its existence. Every society has its own history. So, American theory“the beginning of the beginning” takes as its basis certain founding fathers. Reflections on this topic by sociologists of the times Soviet Union turn around October revolution 1917

Let us briefly summarize what has been said within the framework of the sociological aspect: society is the largest, embracing all others, making them its part. We continue to consider the question of what are the main characteristics of society.

in a sociological context

Sociological researcher R. Koenig attributes to society following signs:

• a certain way of life of individuals;
• economic and ideological associations formed based on agreements;
• the presence of social unities (different nations);
• integrity of social unities, i.e. smaller structures;
• historical prerequisites for the formation and development of this particular society;
• social reality - the processes in which relationships between individuals are established.

Some Fundamental Properties

Before this, we have already examined two aspects of the study of society in sociology, and mentioned some forms of society as examples. We also learned about the characteristics inherent in society when studied from the economic and sociological sides. Now we consider it appropriate to dwell in more detail on some of its most important properties. In sociology, these include autonomy and self-sufficiency.

Autonomy and self-sufficiency as properties

Earlier we only briefly mentioned the property of autonomy of the structure of society. Now about this in more detail.

The ability of a society to exist separately from others, to support the functioning of smaller structures that are part of it, is autonomy. This property, at first glance, somewhat fades into the background in the conditions of total globalization of absolutely all world processes at the moment. However, this is a misleading impression: the strengthening of international contacts has some signs that autonomy is becoming less obvious, but this process is of a completely different kind.

A clear confirmation of the autonomy of societies, which include the population of countries around the world, is the presence of their own systems of power in them. Within countries there are smaller communities of people who are hierarchically integrated into society as a whole.

Studying further the institutions of society, let's say a few words about self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency is inherent in the people of a particular country, a property that provides the opportunity to exist completely in isolation from all other societies. After the division of labor (production specialization) occurred between the territories of the world, self-sufficiency is not observed in any country. U modern societies a new inherent quality appeared - complementarity for economic reasons.

Other properties

An important part of any society is its cultural array. This concept includes many phenomena; there is no need to consider them within the framework of our topic. Let's just say that based on common traditions, self-awareness, moral values individuals are formed cultural society. Its formation is preceded by a rich history.

Smaller communities are able to perform their functions in the unified system of the country's society independently. This is the main manifestation of the property of self-regulation.

Conclusion

As a conclusion, let us conclude: society and its characteristics are considered in sociology in various aspects. This takes into account economic, geographical, historical, cultural and other factors. Modern societies appear mainly in the form of countries and their populations. Their most important properties are autonomy and self-sufficiency.

Thus, we have understood the question of what are the main features of society that form it as a phenomenon. We hope that the information received will be useful for an informed look at modern society.

Society -- social organization country that ensures the joint functioning of people. This is a part of the material world isolated from nature, representing a historically developing form of connections and relationships between people in the process of their life.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that the family is the most ancient of all societies. She is the likeness of a father, the people are like children, and all those born equal and free, if they alienate their freedom, do so only for their own benefit.

Hegel tried to view society as complex system relations, highlighting as the subject of consideration the so-called civil society, i.e. a society where there is a dependence of everyone on everyone.

Of great importance for the scientific understanding of society were the works of one of the founders of scientific sociology, O. Comte, who believed that the structure of society is determined by the forms of human thinking (theological, metaphysical and positive). He viewed society itself as a system of elements, which are the family, classes and the state, and the basis is formed by the division of labor between people and their relationships with each other. We find a definition of society close to this in Western European sociology of the 20th century. Thus, according to Max Weber, society is a product of the interaction of people as a result of their social actions in the interests of everyone.

T. Parsons defined society as a system of relations between people, the connecting principle of which is norms and values. From the point of view of K. Marx, society is a historically developing set of relations between people that develop in the process of their joint activities.

American sociologist E. Shils identified the following characteristics of society:

§ it is not an organic part of any larger system;

§ marriages are concluded between representatives of a given community;

§ it is replenished by the children of those people who are members of this community;

§ it has its own territory;

§ it has a self-name and its own history;

§ it has its own control system;

§ it lasts longer average duration the life of an individual;

§ unites him general system values, norms, laws, rules.

According to a number of domestic sociologists, the criteria of society include the following:

§ the presence of a single territory, which is the material basis for emerging within its borders social connections;

§ universality (comprehensive nature);

§ autonomy, the ability to exist independently and independently of other societies;

§ integrativeness: society is able to maintain and reproduce its structures in new generations, to include more and more new individuals in a single context of social life.

At the same time, a number of scientific theories emerged:

The instrumental concept puts human intelligence first. Man invented special tools - tools. Well-being increased, which led to the division of labor, the functional division of the community, as well as the emergence of economic differences between people living in the community.

The sexual concept is based on physiological characteristics person. The establishment of birth control is associated with the emergence of families and the establishment of norms regulating sexual, and with them, other relationships of community members.

The gender concept is based on distributional analysis social roles between the sexes. Men create an artificial counterbalance to the female monopoly of reproduction, in the form of a male monopoly on the establishment of order. Feminist theorists argue that social organization arose when men agreed to distribute women.

The cratic concept is based on general theory systems and deduces the emergence of society from the development of control subsystems.

A person’s personal qualities (intelligence, strength, ingenuity, etc.) are distributed unevenly among people, and therefore turn into a monopoly. A person who has these qualities takes a leadership position. Leaders (elite) form and maintain a system of rules (norms) that maintain inequality. These rules formed the basis of social organization.

The semantic concept is based on the recognition of the weakness of man as a biological being. The law of survival requires the unification of human efforts, which is associated with their coordination, division and combination of functions of individuals. There is a need for preliminary approval and immediate adjustment. This is only possible through the use of language. By developing symbols and signs, rules for their interpretation, and actively using speech, people shape the world of communications. It precedes, mediates and completes the cycles of people’s material activities. As a result, a system of ordered collective interactions and special functions arises, and a society is formed.

Founder Auguste Comte considered it about society, the space in which people’s lives take place. Without it, life is impossible, which explains the importance of studying this topic.

What does the concept “society” mean? How does it differ from the concepts “country” and “state”, which are used in everyday speech, often as identical?

A country is a geographical concept that denotes a part of the world, a territory that has certain boundaries.

- political organization of society with a certain type of government (monarchy, republic, councils, etc.), bodies and structure of government (authoritarian or democratic).

- the social organization of the country, ensuring the joint life of people. This is a part of the material world isolated from nature, representing a historically developing form of connections and relationships between people in the process of their life.

Many scientists have tried to study society, to determine its nature and essence. The ancient Greek philosopher and scientist understood society as a collection of individuals who united to satisfy their social instincts. Epicurus believed that the main thing in society is social justice as the result of an agreement between people not to harm each other and not to suffer harm.

In Western European social science XVII-XVIII centuries ideologists of the new rising strata of society ( T. Hobbes, J.-J. Rousseau), who opposed religious dogma, was put forward the idea of ​​a social contract, i.e. agreements between people, each of which has sovereign rights to control its own actions. This idea was opposed to the theological approach to organizing society according to the will of God.

Attempts have been made to define society based on the identification of some primary cell of society. So, Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that the family is the most ancient of all societies. She is the likeness of a father, the people are like children, and all those born equal and free, if they alienate their freedom, do so only for their own benefit.

Hegel tried to consider society as a complex system of relations, highlighting as the subject of consideration the so-called, i.e., a society where there is a dependence of everyone on everyone.

The works of one of the founders of scientific sociology were of great importance for the scientific understanding of society O. Konta who believed that the structure of society is determined by the forms of human thinking ( theological, metaphysical and positive). He viewed society itself as a system of elements, which are the family, classes and the state, and the basis is formed by the division of labor between people and their relationships with each other. We find a definition of society close to this in Western European sociology of the 20th century. Yes, y Max Weber, society is a product of the interaction of people as a result of their social actions in the interests of everyone.

T. Parsons defined society as a system of relations between people, the connecting principle of which is norms and values. From point of view K. Marx, society is a historically developing set of relationships between people, emerging in the process of their joint activities.

Recognizing the approach to society as the relations of individuals, K. Marx, having analyzed the connections and relationships between them, introduced the concepts of “social relations”, “relations of production”, “socio-economic formations” and a number of others. Relations of production, forming social relations, create society, located at one or another specific level historical development. Consequently, according to Marx, production relations are the root cause of all human relations and create large social system called society.

According to the ideas of K. Marx, society is the interaction of people. Form social order does not depend on their (people's) will. Each form of social structure is generated by a certain stage of development of the productive forces.

People cannot freely dispose of productive forces, because these forces are the product of people’s previous activities, their energy. But this energy itself is limited by the conditions in which people are placed by the productive forces that have already been conquered, by the form of social structure that existed before them and which is the product of the activities of the previous generation.

American sociologist E. Shils identified the following characteristics of society:

• it is not an organic part of any larger system;
• marriages are concluded between representatives of a given community;
• it is replenished by the children of those people who are members of this community;
• it has its own territory;
• it has a self-name and its own history;
• it has its own control system;
• it exists longer than the average life expectancy of an individual;
• it is united by a common system of values, norms, laws, and rules.

It is obvious that in all the above definitions, to one degree or another, an approach to society is expressed as an integral system of elements that are in a state of close interconnection. This approach to society is called systemic. The main task systematic approach in the study of society is to combine various knowledge about society into whole system, which could become a unified theory of society.

Played a major role in systemic research of society A. Malinovsky. He believed that society can be viewed as a social system, the elements of which are related to the basic needs of people for food, shelter, protection, and sexual satisfaction. People come together to satisfy their needs. In this process, secondary needs arise for communication, cooperation, and control over conflicts, which contributes to the development of language, norms, and rules of the organization, and this in turn requires coordination, management and integrative institutions.

Life of society

The life of society is carried out in four main areas: economic, social, political and spiritual.

Economic sphere there is a unity of production, specialization and cooperation, consumption, exchange and distribution. It ensures the production of goods necessary to satisfy the material needs of individuals.

Social sphere represent people (clan, tribe, nationality, nation, etc.), various classes (slaves, slave owners, peasants, proletariat, bourgeoisie) and others social groups, which have different financial situation and attitude towards existing social orders.

Political sphere covers power structures ( , political parties, political movements), people managers.

Spiritual (cultural) sphere includes philosophical, religious, artistic, legal, political and other views of people, as well as their moods, emotions, ideas about the world around them, traditions, customs, etc.

All of these spheres of society and their elements continuously interact, change, vary, but in the main remain unchanged (invariant). For example, the eras of slavery and our time differ sharply from each other, but at the same time all spheres of society retain the functions assigned to them.

In sociology there are different approaches to search for reasons choosing priorities in social life of people(the problem of determinism).

Aristotle also emphasized the extremely important importance government structure for the development of society. Identifying the political and social spheres, he viewed man as a “political animal.” At certain conditions politics can become a decisive factor that completely controls all other areas of society.

Supporters technological determinism determining factor public life seen in material production, where the nature of labor, technique, and technology determine not only the quantity and quality of material products produced, but also the level of consumption and even the cultural needs of people.

Supporters cultural determinism They believe that the backbone of society consists of generally accepted values ​​and norms, the observance of which will ensure the stability and uniqueness of the society itself. Differences in cultures predetermine differences in people’s actions, in the organization of material production, in the choice of forms of political organization (in particular, this can be associated with famous expression: “Every people has the government it deserves”).

K. Marx based his concept on the determining role of the economic system, believing that it is the method of production of material life that determines the social, political and spiritual processes in society.

In modern Russian sociological literature there are opposing approaches to solving problems of primacy in the interaction of social spheres of society. Some authors tend to deny this very idea, believing that society can function normally if each of the social spheres consistently fulfills its functional purpose. They proceed from the fact that the hypertrophied “swelling” of one of the social spheres can have a detrimental effect on the fate of the entire society, as well as underestimating the role of each of these spheres. For example, underestimating the role of material production (the economic sphere) leads to a decrease in the level of consumption and an increase in crisis phenomena in society. The erosion of norms and values ​​that govern the behavior of individuals (social sphere) leads to social entropy, disorder and conflict. Acceptance of the idea of ​​the primacy of politics over economics and others social spheres(especially in a totalitarian society) can lead to the collapse of the entire social system. In a healthy social organism, the vital activity of all its spheres is in unity and interconnection.

If unity weakens, the efficiency of society will decrease, up to a change in its essence or even collapse. As an example, let's take the events recent years XX century, which led to the defeat of socialist social relations and the collapse of the USSR.

Society lives and develops according to objective laws unity (of society) with ; provision social development; energy concentration; promising activity; unity and struggle of opposites; transition of quantitative changes into qualitative ones; negations - negations; compliance of production relations with the level of development of productive forces; dialectical unity of the economic basis and social superstructure; increasing the role of the individual, etc. Violation of the laws of social development is fraught with major cataclysms and large losses.

Whatever goals the subject of social life sets for himself, being in the system of social relations, he must obey them. In the history of society, hundreds of wars are known that brought huge losses to it, regardless of the goals of the rulers who unleashed them. Suffice it to recall Napoleon, Hitler, former presidents The USA, which started the war in Vietnam and Iraq.

Society is an integral social organism and system

Society was likened to a social organism, all parts of which are interdependent, and their functioning is aimed at ensuring its life. All parts of society perform the functions assigned to them to ensure its life: procreation; ensuring normal conditions for the life of its members; creating production, distribution and consumption capabilities; successful activities in all its areas.

Distinctive features of society

Important distinctive feature society advocates him autonomy, which is based on its versatility, ability to create the necessary conditions to meet the diverse needs of individuals. Only in society can a person engage in narrowly professional activities, achieve its high efficiency, relying on the division of labor existing in it.

Society has self-sufficiency, which allows him to fulfill the main task - to provide people with conditions, opportunities, forms of organization of life that facilitate the achievement of personal goals, self-realization as fully developed individuals.

Society has a great integrating force. It provides its members with the opportunity to use habitual patterns of behavior, follow established principles, and subordinates them to generally accepted norms and rules. It isolates those who do not follow them in various ways and means, ranging from the Criminal Code, administrative law to public censure. Essential characteristic of society is the level achieved self-regulation, self-government, which arise and are formed within himself with the help social institutions, which, in turn, are at a historically determined level of maturity.

Society as whole organism has quality systematic, and all its elements, being closely interconnected, form a social system that makes the attraction and cohesion between the elements of a given material structure stronger.

Part And whole as components unified system connected inseparable bonds between each other and support each other. At the same time, both elements have relative independence in relation to each other. The stronger the whole is in comparison with its parts, the stronger the pressure of unification. And on the contrary, the stronger the parts are in relation to the system, the weaker it is and the stronger the tendency to separate the whole into its component parts. Therefore, to form a stable system, it is necessary to select appropriate elements and their unity. Moreover, the greater the discrepancy, the stronger the adhesion bonds should be.

The formation of a system is possible both on the natural basis of attraction, and on the suppression and subordination of one part of the system to another, that is, on violence. In this regard, different organic systems are built on different principles. Some systems are based on the dominance of natural connections. Others rely on the dominance of force, others seek to hide under the protection of strong structures or exist at their expense, others unite on the basis of unity in the fight against external enemies in the name of the highest freedom of the whole, etc. There are also systems based on cooperation, where force does not play a significant role. At the same time, there are certain limits beyond which both attraction and repulsion can lead to the death of a given system. And this is natural, since excessive attraction and cohesion pose a threat to the preservation of the diversity of system qualities and thereby weaken the system’s ability to self-develop. On the contrary, strong repulsion undermines the integrity of the system. Moreover, the greater the independence of the parts within the system, the higher their freedom of action in accordance with the potentials inherent in them, the less they have the desire to go beyond its framework and vice versa. That is why the system should be formed only by those elements that are more or less homogeneous with each other, and where the tendency of the whole, although dominant, does not contradict the interests of the parts.

The law of every social system is hierarchy of its elements and ensuring optimal self-realization through the most rational construction of its structure in given conditions, as well as maximum use of conditions environment to transform it in accordance with its qualities.

One of the important laws of the organic system — law to ensure its integrity, or, in other words, vitality of all elements of the system. Therefore, ensuring the existence of all elements of the system is a condition for the vitality of the system as a whole.

Fundamental Law any material system, ensuring its optimal self-realization, is the law of the priority of the whole over it components . Therefore, the greater the danger to the existence of the whole, the greater the number of victims on the part of its parts.

Like any organic system in difficult conditions society sacrifices a part in the name of the whole, the main and fundamental. In society as an integral social organism, the common interest is in the foreground under all conditions. However, social development can be carried out the more successfully the more the general interest and the interests of individuals are in harmonious correspondence with each other. Harmonious correspondence between general and individual interests can be achieved only at a relatively high level social development. Until such a stage is reached, either public or personal interest prevails. The more difficult the conditions and the greater the inadequacy of the social and natural components, the more strongly the general interest manifests itself, being realized at the expense and to the detriment of the interests of individuals.

At the same time, the more favorable conditions, arising either on the basis of the natural environment, or created in the process production activities the people themselves, then, other things being equal, the general interest is to a lesser extent realized at the expense of the private.

Like any system, society contains certain strategies for survival, existence and development. The survival strategy comes to the fore in conditions of extreme lack of material resources, when the system is forced to sacrifice its intensive development in the name of extensive, or more precisely, in the name of universal survival. For survival purposes social system withdraws material resources produced by the most active part of society in favor of those who cannot provide themselves with everything necessary for life.

Such a transition to extensive development and redistribution of material resources, if necessary, occurs not only on a global, but also on a local scale, that is, within small social groups if they find themselves in an extreme situation when funds are extremely insufficient. In such conditions, both the interests of individuals and the interests of society as a whole suffer, since it is deprived of the opportunity to develop intensively.

Otherwise, the social system develops after leaving extreme situation, but located in conditions inadequacy of social and natural components. In this case survival strategy is replaced by existence strategies. The strategy of existence is implemented in conditions when a certain minimum of funds arises to provide for everyone and, in addition, there is a certain surplus of them in excess of what is necessary for life. In order to develop the system as a whole, surplus produced funds are withdrawn and they concentrate on decisive areas of social development in in the hands of the most powerful and enterprising. However, other individuals are limited in consumption and are usually content with the minimum. Thus, in unfavorable conditions of existence the general interest makes its way at the expense of the interests of individuals, a clear example what is the formation and development of Russian society.

Society is the largest group to which an individual belongs. “Society” means a self-replenishing sustainable social system that consists of people of different ages and gender and forms economic, political and cultural assemblages. We can talk about Finnish society, Western society etc.

A clear definition of this concept is very difficult and its use is very diverse.

According to Rene Konig (1958), society can be understood as: 1) different type lifestyle; 2) unities formed by peoples or 3) economic and ideological associations based on treaties; 4) an integral society, i.e. wide social education, a collection of different social units. In addition, the concept of “society” is used: 5) when describing a certain historical form social life, for example, “bourgeois society” and 6) as a synonym for “social”, “society”, when we're talking about about the relationships between individuals and the structures and social processes based on these relationships.

Robertson (1977) defines society as a group of individuals who live in the same territory, are in relationships of mutual influence and have general culture. This definition contains some essential features of the concept of “society” (“culture” and “territory”), which should, however, be understood in a broad sense.

Rudhard Stollberg (1983) considers the main task of sociology to be the study of society. Sociology subjects -- social phenomena and processes. At the same time, society is understood as a set of social relations and as all manifestations human life up to leisure and living conditions, as well as social groups and relationships between individuals. Thus, “society” is a very broad concept that can be defined as a system or set of social phenomena.

It can be considered that social relations appear and are realized in human activity. Therefore, one subject of sociology is the study of this activity. The second subject of sociology is social structure society, its division into social groups, classes, professional groups, etc. That is, into abstract level society is structure and function.

Szczepanski (1970) uses the concept of “social life”, by which he understands all phenomena caused by the interaction of individuals and communities located in a certain limited territory. He considers the main factors of social life to be biological, territorial, demographic, economic and cultural factors.

Society is a group of people created through purposeful and intelligently organized joint activity, and the members of such a group are not united by such a deep principle as in the case of a genuine community.

Society rests on convention, agreement, and the same orientation of interests. Individuality individual person changes much less under the influence of his inclusion in society than depending on his inclusion in the community. Society is often understood as the sphere that lies between the individual and the state.

After attempts to explain the essence of the concept of “society” in antiquity (Aristotle) ​​and in the Middle Ages (Augustine and Thomas Aquinas), this question became, especially in the 1st and 18th centuries, a political and philosophical problem, the comprehensive solution of which Comte tried to give in his sociology; Therefore, society became the subject of consideration and the central point of the new science - sociology.

Exist different interpretations society: subjective, which considers society as a special amateur collective of people; active, which believes that society should be considered not so much the collective itself as the process of collective existence of people; organizational, which views society as an institutional system of stable connections between interacting people and social groups.

Society as an extremely broad concept to designate that part of the material world that is isolated from nature and in a certain way interacts with her. This separation is as follows: in contrast to spontaneous natural forces, at the center of social development is a person with consciousness and will. Nature exists and develops according to its own laws, independent of man and society. In this sense, society is the totality of all forms of association and ways of interaction of people both among themselves and with the natural world around them.

This last definition is considered as the main one in this work.

Signs of society E. Shils

American sociologist E. Shils identifies the following criteria of society:

• · it is not part of a larger system;
• · marriages are concluded between representatives of this association;
• · it is replenished primarily by the children of those people who are already its recognized representatives;
• · the association has a territory that it considers its own;
• · the society has its own name and own story;
• · it has its own control system;
• · the association exists longer than the average life expectancy of an individual;
• · it is united by a common system of values ​​(customs, traditions, norms, laws, rules) which is called culture.