A community of people that... The people as a social community

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Social communities.

Social community – this is a really existing, empirically fixed set of individuals, distinguished by relative integrity and acting as an independent subject historical process. Social communities are relatively stable collections of people, distinguished by more or less identical features (in all or some aspects of life), conditions and lifestyle, mass consciousness, to one degree or another by commonality social norms, value systems and interests. Commonalities different types and types are forms of joint life activity of people, forms of human community.

Social communities are not created by people consciously, but are formed solely under the influence of the objective course of social development, the joint nature of human life. Different types of communities are formed on different objective grounds. Some types of communities are directly caused by social production, for example, a production team, a social class, a socio-professional group. Others arise on an ethnic basis: nationalities, nations (ethnic communities), and along with the economy, their nature and character are also determined by a number of other factors. The objective basis of the third communities - socio-demographic - are natural demographic factors: gender, age, etc.

Any community is formed on the basis of the same living conditions of the people from which it is formed. But a collection of people becomes a community only when they are able to realize this sameness of conditions and show their attitude towards them. In this regard, they develop a clear understanding of who is “us” and who is “stranger.” Accordingly, an understanding of the unity of their interests in comparison with other communities arises. Awareness of this manifested itself in tribal societies of the primitive communal system. This awareness is inherent in any nationality and nation.

Nationality is a term denoting belonging to a people or the presence of some of its qualities. The people are large group people connected mainly by their place of residence. In the ethnic sense, this term refers to all historically established types of ethnic communities: tribes, nationalities, nations. Translated from Greek, ethnos means people. Since the beginning of the 50s of our century, people began to be called different kinds ethnic groups at the stage of development between tribe and nation. Thus, nationality - it is an ethnic and social community that historically follows the tribe and precedes the nation.

Another ethnic community is a nation. Nation(from Latin natio - people) - a type of ethnos, historically formed and reproduced on the basis of common territory, economic ties, language, cultural characteristics, mental make-up and consciousness of unity and difference from similar formations (self-awareness). This definition is dominant in modern literature. However, at present, when defining a nation, the emphasis is often placed not on ethnic characteristics, but on stage-specific and ethnosocial characteristics that distinguish a nation from the nationality that historically preceded it. These features include: unification of the language, mainly in the process of spreading it literary form through the education system, literature and means mass media; development of professional culture and art; formation of class and social composition corresponding to the level of industrial development, etc.

Nationality – it is belonging to a particular nation. At the same time, in Western European languages this concept is used mainly to denote the state affiliation of people (citizenship), and the expression “ethnic nationality” is often used to denote ethnicity.

The problem of ethnic communities is dealt with by ethnosociology, which has its own category apparatus. Its focus is on interethnic relations related to the problem of ethnic minorities, assimilation, etc. Ethnic minority – it is a collection of people who are treated differently from other members of society because of their characteristic physical and cultural characteristics. Under assimilation refers to the complete destruction of ethnic minorities by force or through their gradual mixing with the main (titular) ethnic group.

It should be noted that despite the presence of different points of view, it is not a variety ethnic community race. Race – This is a historically established group of humanity, characterized by common hereditary characteristics determined by the unity of origin and area of settlement. These characteristics include: skin color, eyes, hair, skull shape, height, etc. Modern humanity are divided into three main races: Negroid, Caucasoid and Mongoloid.

Features races have secondary importance. All races are absolutely equal in biological and psychological respects and are at the same level of evolutionary development. However, throughout human history attempts were made to elevate one race and degrade another. They are most clearly manifested in the theory and practice of racism. Racism – it is discrimination, exploitation or brutal oppression of a community belonging to a different race.

a set of people united by historically established stable social ties and relationships and possessing a number of common features(damn), giving it a unique originality.

Unlike other organizations and institutions, consciously created by people, O. arise naturally and historically, that is, regardless of the will and consciousness of people under the influence of objective necessity in the process of societies. production The method of production ultimately determines the character of O. In the early stages of history, weak development produces. forces determined the existence of numerically small O., which, however, were very stable and ensured the functioning and development of the production of means of subsistence, the reproduction of man himself, joint resistance to the hostile forces of nature, etc. Such O. were the genus, tribe, family, community. They allowed humanity not only to survive, but also to lay the foundations for further progress and the development of civilization. A more developed state produces. forces in pre-capitalist conditions. antagonistic social-economy, formations brought to life a new historical. O. - nationality. As a rule, nationalities are more numerous than previous O., and provide greater opportunities for development as they produce. forces and societies. life in general. Within the framework of nationalities, societies develop. division of labor, including the separation of minds. labor from physical labor arises political. sphere as a consequence of the split of society into classes. The formation of nationalities is associated with the decomposition of tribal organizations, the remains of which are sometimes preserved as relics. There is also a decomposition and modification of the community, but in many ways. In cases, it continues to exist within the nationality. The family is modified and further developed.

Capitalist the method of production gives rise to modern historical form O. people - a nation. All previous forms of education, with the exception of the family, are disintegrating and destroyed under the influence of capitalism. commodity-den. relationships. But these forms of O. continue to exist on the periphery of capitalism, where remnants of previous structures remain.

Socialism creates a qualitatively new economic system. and the social basis for human development. A. National development is being further developed. form of O. by overcoming social antagonisms within the nation, establishing their actual. equality and relations of friendship and cooperation between nations. Conditions are created for transformation large nationalities in independent nation, for the development of small nationalities, their inclusion in a full-fledged socio-economic. And cultural life socialist society. Democratic are being established. and truly humanistic. basics family relations. At the same time there is a struggle against outdated traditions and morals, views and attitudes alien to the nature of the new society, which are relics of the past. Economical And social development socialism creates a need and will create conditions for the emergence of new, broader than the nation, historical. A. The first such new historical. O. is Soviet people, which is an international organization welded together by a single socialist. farming system, socio-political. and the ideological unity of society, the unity of culture, having a common international language. communication - Russian language.

Philosophy: lecture notes Shevchuk Denis Aleksandrovich

4. Ethnic communities of people

Social communities of people were historically preceded by ethnic ones, on the basis of which they emerged in the process of development and complication of human relations. IN social philosophy the study of ethnic communities of people began to be carried out much later than many other things, but in terms of its importance and significance it ranks leading place. To date, there is no common point of view among scientists on this issue. We will consider two of them - Marxist and Weberian.

Along with Marx and Engels, V.I. Lenin played a major role in developing the theory of ethnic and national communities, their emergence and development. Their ideas on this problem are fundamentally historical and economic in nature. According to the founders of Marxism, the first known forms of community of people in the pre-class period were the clan and tribe. Before the advent of the clan organization of people, humans were characterized by a herd form of existence. The emergence of the genus was facilitated by the emergence primitive community, the economic basis of which was communal property. Joint farming on the basis of communal property, natural-equal distribution of things, primarily food, common life and entertainment contributed to the formation of such a community as a clan. It can be said that genus acts as the very first production, social and ethnic group of people, united into one joint whole labor activity, consanguineous origin, common language, general religious and mythological beliefs, customs and features of life. As economic activity changed and developed, the generic forms of human community evolved and became more complex.

The next larger form of ethnic community of people is tribe. Its appearance is explained by the need, first of all, to preserve and protect the habitat (territory of residence, hunting and fishing grounds) from encroachment by other human groups. More numerous composition population greatly facilitated the task of resettlement and establishment of life in new territories. Of no small importance was also the protection against the degeneration of the race, which threatened it due to sexual relations between consanguineous homo sapiens. Tribal form public life becomes significantly more complicated, leaders-leaders, military commanders, priests, and new governing bodies appear, which the clan previously managed without. This is explained by the fact that along with tribal property and tribal organization of social life, tribal property appears, and all this required new forms of management. We can say that a tribe is larger than a clan, community of people, usually consisting of several hundred or even thousands of people. Each tribe included at least two clans. For its time tribal form of human existence was the most optimal social community, corresponding and stimulating production activities. This, apparently, can explain the existence of such a form of community among almost all peoples of the world and its preservation in some regions of the world right up to the present day.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the tribal community in the formation cultural humanity in general and each individual individually. First of all, she is to a greater extent contributed to the improvement of labor tools, the development of norms and rules social behavior, development of primitive culture and language of communication. Essentially, society for the first time had the opportunity to preserve production experience, forms of social management, the beginnings of culture, achievements in the development of language, beliefs, traditions, and pass this on to subsequent generations in a more advanced form.

From the moment of its appearance, the tribal community acted as a socio-productive and at the same time ethnic community. With the formation of the social division of labor and, in particular, the separation of cattle breeding from agriculture, the emergence of various crafts, the emergence of exchange relations and property inequality, the need to create a more perfect community of people, bonded not only by blood ties, but also by other relationships that open up new opportunities for development of humanity. Nationality became such a form of community of people. The new aspects that determined its essence were closer territorial ties between people belonging to different clans and tribes and united with each other not by consanguinity, but by joint production, economic and cultural activities. At this stage of development, the political and legal aspect in human relations is noticeably strengthened, and further social and class differentiation between people occurs. With that said nationality can be defined as a community of people living in the same territory, united by a common language, mental characteristics, culture and way of life, enshrined in customs, morals, and traditions. At this stage, production and economic activity people, culture receives new development, social-class differentiation between people increases, prerequisites are created for the political isolation of peoples from each other, that is, the formation of independent states.

The next higher form of community of people, in which the ethnic moment begins to differentiate from the social-production one and acquire to a certain extent independent meaning is a nation. The formation of a nation is facilitated, first of all, by the need to expand and consolidate territory, the complication of economic and production relations, and the unification of peoples close in language, mental make-up and culture. The determining factor in uniting people into a nation is the development of production and economic relations. In socio-political terms, this leads to rapid education nation states. Today, the most common ethnic community of people is the nation. And this is not surprising, since it is the unification of people along national lines that creates the best preconditions for people to live and organize production, economic, socio-political and cultural life. Community economic life, a single language, a common territory, some features of the mental make-up of people, manifested in the specific features of culture, are the main features of a nation. It can be said that A nation is a stable association of people connected by a common language, a common territory, a common economic life and certain characteristics of the mental makeup of people, expressed in the specific features of the culture of a given people.

As we see, ethnic communities of people have a historically transient nature, and this indicates that when certain conditions, associated with changing economic conditions and the need to establish new relationships between people, the emergence of new ethnic communities of people is possible.

Like many of his like-minded people who consider capitalism the most perfect form of socio-economic structure, Weber does not consider economic conditions as a fundamental prerequisite for the formation of nations. He is silent about the previous ethnic communities of people. A nation, according to Weber, cannot be defined based on the empirical properties that characterize it. Those who try to do this come to believe that certain groups of people have a specific sense of solidarity towards each other. In this case, we are talking more about an emotional assessment than a conceptual approach. Meanwhile, in society there is neither agreement nor consensus on how to limit the number of such groups of people, nor on the nature of public actions that could be considered a manifestation of solidarity. In addition, according to Weber, a nation cannot be identified with the people of a separate state belonging to a specific political community. Numerous political communities, for example, in Austria until 1918 (the year of the collapse of the Austrian Empire) included social groups, who resolutely separated their “nation” from the “nations” of other groups (here the concept of nation is identified with the concept of nationality, which is illegal because, although these concepts are very similar, there are significant differences between them). A nation cannot also be defined by the linguistic affiliation of people, since people living in the same language can speak the same language. different countries(eg North Americans and British). On the other hand, such a community of people does not seem absolutely necessary, since in official documents used in interstate relations, along with the concept, for example, the Swiss nation, the concept of the Swiss people is used.

Some researchers consider cultural characteristics, inherent in one or another community speaking the same language. But this is not typical for everyone. This is acceptable for Austria, Russia and, to a lesser extent, the USA and Canada. Moreover, even those who speak the same language, even within the same country, can reject national homogeneity and claim belonging to a different culture. And for this they have certain reasons - different religions, differences in habits, customs, social structure, lifestyle. In addition, the manifestation of the national is demonstrated differently among different peoples. All this, according to Weber, gives reason to believe that, apart from emotional feelings and elements of prestige, there are no other convincing arguments that would justify the existence of nations. Judging by Weber's works, he prefers to analyze the life of society without taking into account the existence of ethnic communities, but only through the analysis of its socio-economic communities.

In general, Weber's views on ethnic communities of people and, in particular, on the nation reflect the situation that has developed in Western sociology on the issue of the essence and role of the nation in modern social life. Essentially, even among those who recognize the existence of this problem, there is no consensus on how it should be interpreted, and besides them, there are those who deny the need to deal with this issue at all, since it is allegedly created artificially.

Control questions

1. What is social stratification and social mobility in society?

2. The teaching of Marxism about classes, social groups and the causes of class confrontation.

3. M. Weber on the social structure of society.

4. Clan, tribe, family, community - the original forms of community of people.

5. Nationality and nation, ways of their formation.

6. Forms of social relations and their essence (economic, legal, political, religious, etc.).

From the book Applied Philosophy author Gerasimov Georgy Mikhailovich

Ethnic theories(introduction) Acquaintance with the works of L. Gumilyov and some of the ideas set out in them gave me the impression that this approach was promising, but delving deeper into the problem showed that scientific level the work of L. Gumilyov himself is extremely low.

From the book Answers to the Candidate's Minimum Questions in Philosophy, for postgraduate students of natural faculties author Abdulgafarov Madi

54. Man and society: forms of communities - personal, ethnic and

From the book Me and the World of Objects author Berdyaev Nikolay

4. Stages of generality in cognition. The extinction of the material, objective world and the revelation of the mystery of existence. Knowledge undoubtedly has a social character, and this social character has not yet been sufficiently revealed by the theory of knowledge. Knowledge is communication between people, the establishment

From the book Sociology [ Short course] author Isaev Boris Akimovich

3.2. Social groups and communities. Their role in the development of society A social group is an association of people connected by a system social values, norms and patterns of behavior, all members of which participate in the activity. For the emergence of any social group, it is necessary

From the book Gods, Heroes, Men. Archetypes of Masculinity author Bednenko Galina Borisovna

LOYALTY TO THE COMMUNITY The Hades man rarely builds his own system (we call the exception the Underground Zeus). He usually has no descendants or is not attached to them, and does not perform any parental functions in relation to children. But, as a rule, he is loyal to a certain community. It may

From the book Cosmic Philosophy author Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Eduardovich

Evaluating people Let's start with the highest. Only history serves as a guide for this. Let us distribute people in order of their value, starting with the highest. The love of the few, the hatred of the many and the indifference of the many. Their fate is to have done their deed and die in their youth from the powers that be.

From the book The Essence of Man author Bugera Vladislav Evgenievich

3. Nation as a type of community corresponding to capitalism and the neo-Asian social system a) What is a nation? The type of ethnic community corresponding to capitalism and the neo-Asian system is the nation. A nation is such an ethnic community with a consolidating core

From the book The Medieval World: The Culture of the Silent Majority author Gurevich Aron Yakovlevich

7. PEASANTRY AND SOCIO-ETHNIC PROCESSES DURING THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES If the problems of the formation of nationalities to the extent that it occurred during the period under study have generally been studied extremely insufficiently, then the question of the role played in this process

From the book Commander I by Shah Idris

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B. In the name of community with the evolution of the world. Dialectical materialism. The Religion of "Dynamism" Another betrayal of intellectuals has been, for twenty years, the position of many of them regarding the successive changes of the world, especially its economic changes. She

From the book Bourdieu's Adept in the Caucasus: Sketches for a Biography in a World System Perspective author Derlugyan Georgy

Does globalization give rise to ethnic conflicts? No. This, in a nutshell, is the answer to the question many in America asked after the terrorist attacks of September 2001. Globalization is not the direct cause of ethnic or fundamentalist violence in post-Soviet or

From the book The Individualized Society author Bauman Zygmunt

From the book Philosophy: lecture notes author Shevchuk Denis Alexandrovich

Chapter XI. Social structure of society and ethnic communities of people To understand the essence of society, the complex and diverse processes occurring between people, the most important, one might say, fundamental, is the analysis of it social structure and ethnic

From the book The Racial Meaning of the Russian Idea. Issue 2 author Avdeev V.B.

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From the book 50 great books about wisdom, or Useful knowledge for those who save time author Zhalevich Andrey

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1. A world of people without problems “There is no problem that a person cannot create for himself.” From people's lives. Lewis Henry Morgan, the author of the book that was sensational in his time: “The League of the Hoednosaunee or Iroquois,” - over the course of several years he spent among the Iroquois Indians, he tried

Historical communities of people: clan, tribe, nationality and nation. First historical form community of people is genus- organization of primitive society based on blood kinship, collective ownership of the means of production, common elements of primitive culture, language, traditions, etc.

The form of a broader ethnic community characteristic of the primitive communal system is tribe, which, as a rule, consisted of several genera. Tribes were also based on tribal relations, consanguineous ties of people. A person's belonging to a tribe made him a co-owner of common property and ensured participation in public life.

Nation- this is what it is historical community people who have a common territory, language, culture and, most importantly, a common economy. Nations are formed from many or several nationalities

Nationality how a community of people is formed with the emergence of private property relations. Development private property, exchange, trade destroyed former tribal ties, gave rise to a new division of labor and class stratification. The nationality consists of tribes close in origin and language. A nationality, as a historically established community of people, is characterized by such features as common territory, economic ties, a common language and culture, etc. Having emerged in a slave-owning and feudal society, nationalities are preserved and even formed up to the present day.

5. Family in the social structure of society. Problems seven and marriage.

A family is a small social group, the members of which are connected by marriage or kinship relations, a common life and mutual moral responsibility, certain legal norms. The social necessity of the family is determined by the needs of society. Being a necessary component of the social structure of any society and performing various social functions, family playing important role in social development, fulfilling whole line important social functions. With the development of society, certain changes occurred in marriage and family relations.

Family life and its social functions are multifaceted. They are related to intimate life spouses, procreation, raising children. All this is based on compliance with certain moral and legal norms: love, respect, duty, fidelity, etc.

The family is such a foundation of society and such a microenvironment, the climate of which promotes or hinders the development of a person’s moral and physical strength, his formation as a social being. It is in the family that the moral foundations that contribute to the development of personality are laid.

The family provides the most big influence on the child's personality. In the sphere of influence of the family, the child’s intellect and emotions, his views and tastes, skills and habits are simultaneously affected.

6. Politics as a social phenomenon. Power. Types of Power

Translated from Greek policy means the art of government, a certain way of achieving the goals of the state inside and outside its territory. All philosophers, starting with Aristotle, have emphasized what is most characteristic of politics as social phenomenon- its direct or indirect connection with power

Thus, politics is special area life of society, associated with relations between classes and social groups regarding power.

The concept of "power" correlates, as a rule, with political power, although in reality there are varieties of public power that arose long before the advent of the state. In general terms, power is the ability and opportunity to exercise one’s will as a class, group, party or individual, to influence people’s behavior, relying on force, authority, law or any other means of coercion and persuasion. Thus, in the primitive communal system, power was public character, was carried out by all members of the clan, who elected an authoritative elder. There are several types of power - economic, political, class, group power or individual power. In history there were family species powers such as matriarchy and patriarchy. Power performs a number of functions: domination, leadership, management and organization, control, which are inherent in any of its types.

the political system is a complex, multi-level dynamic formation. It has three components: 1) a subsystem of political ideas, theories, views, emotions, feelings that make up political consciousness; 2) subsystem political relations between society and the state, different classes and social groups, states, etc. about power; 3) a subsystem of political institutions that form the political organization of society: the state, parties, trade unions and other public organizations

Classification of social communities

What are the criteria for identifying and classifying social communities?

Systematization of the views of modern sociologists on this issue allows us to identify a number of potential and real, necessary and sufficient grounds for identifying a community:

similarity, proximity of people's living conditions (as a potential prerequisite for the emergence of an association);

community people's needs, their subjective awareness of the similarity of their interests (a real prerequisite for the emergence of solidarity);

presence of interaction, joint activities, interconnected exchange of activities (direct in the community, indirect in modern society);

the formation of its own culture: a system of internal norms of relationships, ideas about the goals of the community, morality, etc.;

strengthening community organization, creating a system of management and self-government;

social identification of members of a community, their self-ascription to this community.

Social community - ϶ᴛᴏ a collection of individuals unitedidenticalliving conditions, values, interests, norms, social connectionand awareness of social identity, acting inas a subject of social life

How do social communities arise?

There are various concepts of creating social communities. It is important to note that one of them was proposed by the American sociologist George Homans kᴏᴛᴏᴩy thought that people, in interaction with each other, try to achieve the good, and the more significant the good, the more a person undertakes efforts to unite with other people.

Looking at collective behavior from the perspective presets(predispositions), sociologist Gordon Allport put forward a theory according to which a new social subject is formed through convergence of predispositions, i.e. unity of assessments, values, assigned meanings, stereotypes, which members of the emerging community possess. It is worth noting that he theoretically proved that the origin of a new community is based on similarity of emotions, and rational preferences of people.

The famous American sociologist Neil Smelser structured Allport's theory of convergence in his book “Mass Behavior” (1964-1967). It is worth noting that he quite clearly linked this explanatory concept of the emergence of a new community not with emotional grounds, but with rational ones.

Let us note that N. Smelser’s theory of rational value-oriented behavior made it possible not only to reflect and interpret stages formation of communities, but also to reproduce (scientifically model) logical stages of this process:

formation of the most generalized ideas regarding the ideals, goals, and objectives of the future association;

escalating a certain tension on the basis of a common vision of the problem, primarily through exaggerating threats and identifying a “common enemy”;

cultivation of an implicit, preliminary, rather vague belief about the principles of action of the community, cultivation of preferences regarding the future model of activity (legal, illegal, violent, peaceful, etc.);

turning to history in search of models to borrow (this is what the Cossacks, nobles and other revivalist communities do in the new Russia);

mobilizing forces for action: expanding the number of supporters and preparing them for organization;

the introduction of internal social control, i.e. rights and responsibilities that allow demanding, punishing, encouraging, expelling, wearing symbols;

entry of a new mass organization (embedding, infusion, adoption public opinion, legitimation) into existing social structures.

The last stage marks the emergence of a new community into the system of existing social relations - the formation of a public or legally fixed organization, institutionalization, promotion of “them” to the power elite, etc.

Types of social communities

Social communities are distinguished by a huge variety of specific historical and situationally determined types and forms.

Yes, according to quantitative composition they range from interactions between two people (dyads) to numerous international political and economic movements.

By lifetime time- from lasting minutes and hours (the audience of a particular entertainment event) to ethnic groups and nations living for centuries and millennia.

According to the density of connections between individuals- from closely knit groups and organizations to very vague, amorphous entities (for example, fans of a football team), etc.

By size There are three main groups:

1. Large social communities, i.e. groups existing throughout the country as a whole (nations, classes, social strata, professional associations).

2. Average social communities, for example, residents of Arkhangelsk or the entire Arkhangelsk region.

3. Small social communities, or small (primary) groups, which can include, for example, a family, a team of workers in a small store, etc.

1. Socio-economic (castes, estates, classes);

2. Socio-ethnic (clans, tribes, nationalities, nations);

3. Socio-demographic (youth, elderly, children, parents, women, men, etc.)

4. Social-professional, or corporate, communities (miners, teachers, accountants, financiers, doctors, etc.);

5. Social-territorial (residents of individual territories, regions, districts, cities, villages, hamlets, etc.).

Primary and secondary social groups

From the point of view of the nature of interaction within the human community, primary and secondary social groups are distinguished. A primary social group is a collection of people who know each other well and enter into direct interaction and interpersonal relationships. The connections between members of the primary group are very close, involve mutual support, and the group itself has a significant influence on the people within it. Examples of primary social groups: family, group of friends, neighbors on the landing. A secondary social group is a set of people who enter into formal business relationships to achieve a specific common goal. Relationships between group members are often impersonal and do not involve close emotional connections. Examples of secondary social groups: creative union, political party, production and economic association. Representatives of one social group are aware of their belonging to it, regardless of whether there are close connections between them (primary social group) or whether these connections are superficial (secondary social group).

A complex set of features allows divide all communities into the two broadest subclasses, types: mass and group communities, which are divided into large and small social groups. (According to Marx and Tönnies)

Mass social communities

Our life is comprehensively permeated with concepts that constitute the main content of such a sociological category as “mass social community.”

Mass communities are characterized by the following features:

are structurally undivided amorphous formations with rather expanded boundaries with an uncertain qualitative and quantitative composition, do not have a clearly defined principle of inclusion in them;

for such communities characterized by a situational way of existence, i.e. they are formed and function on the basis and within the boundaries of a particular other specific activities are impossible outside of it, and therefore they turn out to be unstable, changing from time to time formations;

them inherent heterogeneity of composition, intergroup nature, i.e. these communities break class, group and other boundaries;

due to its amorphous formation, they are not able to act as part of broader communities as their structural units.

Typical example mass communities will be participants in broad political or environmental movements(for peace, against nuclear threat, against pollution environment etc.), fans pop stars, fans sports teams, members of amateur interest associations (philatelists, etc.).Their same type of behavior is often dictated not by reason, but by feelings, general emotions.

Mass social communities include:

ethnic communities (races, nations, nationalities, tribes);

socio-territorial communities - ϶ᴛᴏ collections of people permanently residing in a certain territory, formed on the basis of socio-territorial differences, having a similar way of life,

social classes and social strata(϶ᴛᴏ a collection of people who have common social signs and performing similar functions in the system of social division of labor).Classes are distinguished in connection with the attitude towards ownership of the means of production and the nature of the receipt of benefits.

Social connections

The functioning and development of a social community occurs on the basis of social connections and the interaction of its individual elements.

In the very general view a connection is an expression of the compatibility of the functioning or development of two or more elements of an object or two (several) objects. Connection is the most profound manifestation of such compatibility. In social research there are Various types connections: connections of functioning, development, or genetic, causal connections, structural connections, etc. In epistemological terms, it is important to distinguish between connections of an object and formal connections, i.e. connections established only in the plane of knowledge and not having a direct analogue in the sphere the object itself, mixing these connections inevitably leads to errors both in the methodology and in the results of the study.

By “social” connection we usually understand a set of factors that determine the joint activities of people in specific communities, at a certain time, to achieve certain goals. Social connections are established for a long period of time, regardless of the personal qualities of individuals. These are the connections of individuals with each other, as well as their connections with the phenomena and processes of the surrounding world, which develop in the course of their practical activities. The essence of social connections is manifested in the content and nature of the actions of the people who make up a given social community. It is possible to distinguish connections of interaction, control, relationships, as well as institutional connections.

Features of social communities

A characteristic feature of a social community (city, village, work collective, family, etc.) is that social systems develop precisely on its basis. A social community is a collection of people, which is characterized by the conditions of their life (economic, socio-status, level of professional training and education, interests and needs, etc.), common to a given group of interacting individuals (nation classes, socio-professional groups, labor collectives, etc.); belonging to historically established territorial entities (city, village, region), belonging of the studied group of interacting individuals to certain social institutions (family, education, science, politics, religion, etc.).

Causes of disorganization of social communities

Social processes (demographic, migration, urbanization, industrialization) as an undesirable result can have a destructive, disorganizing impact on social communities. The phenomena of disorganization are reflected both in the external (formal) structure of communities and in their internal, functional characteristics. So, if, on the external side, processes such as migration, urban development, industry, etc. lead to the disintegration of large families that previously consisted of two or three generations, in production groups - to staff turnover, etc., in territorial communities - to an increase in the number of migrants in the indigenous population, to a violation of the natural gender and age structure, then the disorganization of the functions of such communities is expressed in the weakening of values, the increase in inconsistency of standards and patterns of behavior, the weakening of the normative structure of the community, which in turn leads to an increase in deviations in the behavior of its members.

Among the social reasons that disorganize a person, one can include his participation either in several social communities that impose contradictory social values and patterns of behavior on him, or in those that are characterized by uncertainty social roles, i.e., the requirements placed on the individual, the lack of social control, the ambiguity of the criteria for assessing behavior. As a rule, this kind of phenomenon is associated with a weakening of the socio-psychological effect of community, which serves as a means of intra-group cohesion and mutual understanding.

Under these conditions, the so-called normal social communities are not in all cases able to ensure the fulfillment of a number of their essential functions, that is, to provide the individual with a consistent, internally non-contradictory system of standards of behavior, to stimulate a sense of solidarity and belonging to it, to provide an orderly system of levels of social prestige and recognition, etc.