Section II. Society: essence, types, development, functioning
E. Durkheim (1858-1917) is one of the most famous and respected French sociologists. His contribution to the history of world sociology is determined not only by his own ideas and concepts, but also by the fact that E. Durkheim created the French school of sociology, the traditions of which still have a serious influence on the style of thinking of French sociologists, their choice of subject of research, etc. .
A distinctive feature of Durkheim's scientific positions was the concept of sociology. According to it, social reality has its own specificity, autonomy, and irreducibility to other types of reality (for example, physical, mental). Consequently, it has its own laws, which sociology must identify and study. This implies one of the important methodological requirements of E. Durkheim - the social must be explained by the social, based on the social. With its sharp edge, this concept is directed against the psychologism that existed in Durkheim’s time in the interpretation of social phenomena.
The qualitative specificity of society is revealed more clearly in its irreducibility to the individual and individual consciousness. In relation to the individual, social reality is objective and independent in its existence. Durkheim wrote that at birth an individual finds ready-made laws and customs, rules of behavior, religious beliefs and rituals, language, a monetary system, etc., operating independently of him. “Social beliefs or acts are capable of existing independently of their individual expressions,” the sociologist wrote.
Explaining the irreducibility of social reality to the individual, individual life, Durkheim emphasized that in the process of interactions between people a new quality arises, which is called social life. For example, it is obvious that “a group thinks, feels, acts completely differently than its members would do if they were separated. If, therefore, we start from these latter, we will not understand anything of what is happening in the group.” . Illustrating this idea, the sociologist often referred to the example of a chemical whole as a synthesis of its component parts.
The primacy, the superiority of society over the individual is revealed in social coercion. Social institutions Already by the fact of their existence, they prescribe certain forms, methods and patterns of behavior for people, put pressure on them, and include negative and positive sanctions. Human behavior is mainly determined not by individual reasons and factors, but by the totality of social facts that push the individual to certain actions.
Social reality in the view of E. Durkheim consists of social facts of two kinds - morphological, to which the French sociologist includes demographic, technological and environmental facts, and from collective ideas, i.e. facts of collective consciousness. It is the latter that are especially significant for Durkheim - they reveal the specifics of society. The fact is that collective ideas, these common ideas and beliefs, bind people and form the very social fabric. Therefore, Durkheim considered collective consciousness to be the vital link of the entire society. Moreover, society is precisely “a composition of all kinds of ideas, beliefs and feelings that are realized through the medium of individuals.” .
In the most vivid form, these ideas about society were manifested in the theory of social solidarity by E. Durkheim.
The problem of social order and disorder, social norm and social pathology was one of the main ones for many early sociologists, including Durkheim. The French scientist’s development of the problem of collective consciousness, social solidarity, the methodology of structural-functional analysis, division of labor, as well as the study of suicide - all this various ways solutions to the same problem of social harmony.
From Durkheim's point of view, social solidarity is a certain integrity of social life, collectivity and, at the same time, the highest moral principle, the highest and universal value that is recognized by all members of society.
Starting from the idea of constructing two ideal types of society, typical of nineteenth-century sociology, between which there is historical continuity, Durkheim puts forward his concept of a society with mechanical and organic solidarity.
Mechanical solidarity, according to Durkheim, is characteristic of archaic, primitive and undeveloped societies. These societies are characterized by the fact that their constituent elements or components have little dependence on each other and exist almost autonomously. They are self-sufficient because they perform the same or similar functions. Subsistence farming can be considered as their model.
Other distinguishing feature such societies - poor development individual, personal beginning in a person. Within the framework of such societies, the unifying, integrating factor can only be a collective, general, supra-individual consciousness, expressed both in repressive law and in religion.
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Throughout history, man and society have been inseparable. And it’s difficult to understand who complemented whom. If we pay attention to the historical process, we can note that each event is the result of the actions of one individual. A certain person understands that the time has come for change, and does everything in his power. Therefore, looking back into the past, we see people's names brightly displayed. What is the role of society in this?
The fact is that it is society that shapes a person as an individual and influences his further actions and destiny. This statement completely negates the idea that everything is decided by the “top” or the authorities. The people have special power. Since it is the place where various ideas, talents, beliefs and feelings are stored, it endows a person with a certain set of qualities and abilities.
Of course, such influence can be of a different nature. How good and a kind person who helps others and tries to bring maximum benefit, and Serial killer, bringing pain and suffering, is part of society. Every time a person faces contempt, misunderstanding, or criticism from society, he has a reason to start moving in a different direction.
Based on this, we can conclude that society is a storehouse of useful things that can be used to achieve a goal. But we must remember that we, as individuals, are also part of society, so we must do everything to ensure that our words and actions do not become a temptation for others.
Updated: 2015-02-23
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Social reality in the view of E. Durkheim consists of social facts of two kinds - morphological, to which the French sociologist includes demographic, technological and environmental facts, and from collective ideas, i.e. facts of collective consciousness. It is the latter that are especially significant for Durkheim - they reveal the specifics of society. The fact is that collective ideas, these common ideas and beliefs, bind people and form the very social fabric. Therefore, Durkheim considered collective consciousness to be the vital link of the entire society. Moreover, society is precisely “a composition of all kinds of ideas, beliefs and feelings that are realized through the medium of individuals.”
The problem of social order and disorder, social norm and social pathology was one of the main ones for many early sociologists, including Durkheim. The development by the French scientist of the problem of collective consciousness, social solidarity, the methodology of structural-functional analysis, division of labor, as well as the study of suicide - all these are different ways of solving the same problem of social harmony.
From Durkheim's point of view, social solidarity is a certain integrity of social life, collectivity and, at the same time, the highest moral principle, the highest and universal value that is recognized by all members of society.
Collective consciousness almost completely absorbs individual consciousness. The peculiarity of mechanical solidarity is the dissolution of the individual in the team. The less developed individuality is, the fewer individual deviations, the more intense and vividly expressed is the all-filling collective consciousness and, consequently, social solidarity. Such consciousness inevitably acquires a religious character. Religion forms social life, consisting exclusively of common rites and rituals. Durkheim generally identifies beliefs of strong intensity with religious ones, which gives him grounds to reduce strong, intense social interactions to religious ones: “everything that is social is religious; both words are synonyms.”
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Explaining the irreducibility of social reality to the individual, individual life, Durkheim emphasized that in the process of interactions between people a new quality arises, which is called social life. For example, it is obvious that “a group thinks, feels, acts completely differently than its members would do if they were separated. If, therefore, we start from these latter, then we will not understand anything that happens in the group.” . Illustrating this idea, the sociologist often referred to the example of a chemical whole as a synthesis of its component parts.
The primacy, the superiority of society over the individual is revealed in social coercion. Social institutions, by the very fact of their existence, prescribe certain forms, methods and patterns of behavior for people, put pressure on them, and include negative and positive sanctions. Human behavior is mainly determined not by individual reasons and factors, but by the totality of social facts that push the individual to certain actions.
Social reality in the view of E. Durkheim consists of social facts of two kinds - morphological, to which the French sociologist includes demographic, technological and environmental facts, and from collective ideas, i.e. facts of collective consciousness. It is the latter that are especially significant for Durkheim - they reveal the specifics of society. The fact is that collective ideas, these common ideas and beliefs, bind people and form the very social fabric. Therefore, Durkheim considered collective consciousness to be the vital link of the entire society. Moreover, society is precisely “a composition of all kinds of ideas, beliefs and feelings that are realized through the medium of individuals.”
In the most vivid form, these ideas about society were manifested in the theory of social solidarity by E. Durkheim.
The problem of social order and disorder, social norm and social pathology was one of the main ones for many early sociologists, including Durkheim. The development by the French scientist of the problem of collective consciousness, social solidarity, the methodology of structural-functional analysis, division of labor, as well as the study of suicide - all these are different ways of solving the same problem of social harmony.
From Durkheim's point of view, social solidarity is a certain integrity of social life, collectivity and, at the same time, the highest moral principle, the highest and universal value that is recognized by all members of society.
Starting from the idea of constructing two ideal types of society, typical of nineteenth-century sociology, between which there is historical continuity, Durkheim puts forward his concept of a society with mechanical and organic solidarity.
Mechanical solidarity, according to Durkheim, is characteristic of archaic, primitive and undeveloped societies. These societies are characterized by the fact that their constituent elements or components have little dependence on each other and exist almost autonomously. They are self-sufficient because they perform the same or similar functions. Subsistence farming can be considered as their model.
Another distinctive feature of such societies is the weak development of the individual, personal principle in man. Within the framework of such societies, the unifying, integrating factor can only be a collective, general, supra-individual consciousness, expressed both in repressive law and in religion.
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Society and its functioning
The concept of society and its character traits
Society is a basic concept in social sciences. In sociological science there is a variety of views on society. O. Comte believed that society is a functioning system based on the division of labor. E. Durkheim viewed society as a supra-individual spiritual reality based on collective ideas. According to G. Spencer, society is a composition of all kinds of ideas, beliefs, feelings that are realized through the medium of individuals. M. Weber characterized society as the interaction of people, which is a product of social, that is, actions oriented towards other people. 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. T. Parsons defined society as a system of relations between people, the connecting principle of which is norms and values.
Modern sociologists unanimously identify the following essential features of society:
1. Society is the largest collection of people, steadily connected with each other through various interactions, common territory, history and culture.
2. Society creates the necessary conditions to satisfy the diverse needs of people and provides a person with ample opportunities for self-realization and self-affirmation. The main purpose of society is to give a person the opportunity to become an individual without infringing on the interests of other people.
3. In society, mechanisms for controlling social relations through special social formations develop: morality, law, state.
Thus, society is a certain way organized system that has the ability of self-development, self-regulation and self-control as an element of the self-regulation process.
Mechanisms of society functioning
The mechanisms for the functioning of society as a self-regulating system are socialization, institutionalization, and legitimation.
Socialization is the process of including a person into social life. During socialization, a person occupies a certain place in society (acquires social status) and learns to fulfill those prescribed to him by society social roles. Culture and state power play an important role in the process of socialization. Culture accumulates the experience of previous generations, traditions, knowledge, and values. State power opposes those social formations that oppose the value-normative order existing in society.
Culture and state power cannot restrain innovative processes in society. New structural formations are created in society, new social relations are formed. This process is called institutionalization.
But not all new social formations and social relations are accepted by society and take root in it. Some of them, which do not correspond to the prevailing value system in society, are “culled.” Comparing the results of socialization and institutionalization with generally accepted cultural patterns of a given society and accepting or rejecting them is called legitimation. Legitimate (lat. legitimus- legal) are those social new formations that have public acceptance, trust and support from society, from the people. The concept of “legality” is different from the concept of “legitimacy”. The legality of social education is its legal validity, its formal consolidation. Obtaining formal legitimacy is relatively easy, so the price of the legality of a social subject in comparison with its legitimacy is not so great. Thanks to the mechanism of legitimation, society does not allow the ruling elite to reform it or reshape it at their discretion social structure. The difficulties of radical reform of society are determined by the deep contradiction between the historically established and assimilated by the masses culture of behavior, thinking, perception and new system norms and rules.
Civil society and the state
Derived from the concept of “society” is the concept “ civil society" Civil society is: firstly, the totality of non-state relations in society - economic, social, family, national, spiritual and moral, religious, industrial, personal, etc.; secondly, voluntarily formed non-state structures corresponding to these relations: associations, organizations, associations, unions, centers, clubs, foundations, etc. in all spheres of society. The concepts of “civil society” and “state” theoretically divide public life into two interconnected and relatively independent spheres - civil and state. The separation of civil and state life is largely conditional. In reality, these spheres are in dialectical unity and interaction. This is explained by a number of reasons:
1. Civil society is the source of legitimacy of state power.
2. Contacts with civil society organizations are the most important source of information for the state about the state of society, its interests, sentiments, and attitude towards the dominant political force.
3. In difficult historical periods (economic crises, wars, etc.), civil society, as a rule, becomes a powerful force that supports the state and cements the entire society.
4. Among civil society organizations there are many that need financial support from the state, however, there are also those that provide financial support to the state (bank associations, business unions, etc.).
5. The specificity of civil society, the autonomous nature and independence of its constituent organizations do not exclude the unpredictability of their actions. Therefore, the state’s efforts to organize control over civil society are logical.
6. Civil society is an important and powerful counterbalance to the ruling elite’s desire for absolute domination. To fulfill this mission, he has a lot of means, namely: active participation in election campaigns and referendums, the formation of a certain public opinion, organizing campaigns of resistance to one or another government policy, etc.
Thus, the relationship between civil society and the state can be characterized as cooperation and struggle, and in a democratic society cooperation prevails. Close interaction and cooperation between the state and civil society is the basis of socio-economic and political stability.
Tests on topic 1 (section II)
I. Find the correspondence (make pairs) of the provisions marked with numbers and concepts (terms) with letter designations:
a) society; b) mechanisms for the functioning of society; c) socialization; d) culture; e) state power; f) institutionalization; g) legitimation; h) legitimacy; i) legality; j) civil society.
1. Accumulates the experience of previous generations, traditions, knowledge, and values.
2. Comparison of the results of socialization and institutionalization with generally accepted samples of the culture of a given society and acceptance or rejection of them.
3. The totality of non-state relations in society and the voluntarily formed non-state structures corresponding to these relations.
4. The largest collection of people, steadily connected by various interactions, common territory, history and culture.
5. The process of including a person in public life.
6. Legality, public recognition, trust and support from society, from the people.
7. A system organized in a certain way, with the ability of self-development, self-regulation and self-control as an element of the self-regulation process.
8. Opposes those social formations that oppose the value-normative order existing in society.
9. Socialization, institutionalization, legitimation.
10. Creation of new structural formations in society, registration of new social relations.
11. Legal, legal legitimacy.
II. Insert the meaning of the words into the text:
1) ... is the process of including a person in public life. In the course of ... a person takes a certain place in society (acquires ... ...) and learns to fulfill those prescribed to him by society ... ... .
2) New structural formations are created in society, new social relations are formed. This process is called... .
3) Comparing the results... and... with generally accepted samples... of a given society and accepting or rejecting them is called....
4) Thanks to the mechanism... society does not allow the ruling elite to reform it at their discretion, to reshape its social structure.
5) The price... of a social subject compared to its legitimacy is not so great.
6) A derivative of the concept “...” is the concept of “civil society”.
III. Choose the correct answers:
1. Basic concept of sociological science:
a) society;
b) power;
c) state;
d) property;
e) civil society.
2. The main purpose of society:
a) suppress personality;
b) subordinate a person to public interests;
c) create conditions for personal development;
d) counteract innovation processes.
3. The mechanism of functioning of society is not:
a) socialization;
b) globalization;
c) institutionalization;
d) legitimation.
4. Legitimation is:
a) a mechanism for satisfying human needs;
b) the process of correlating new ones social entities and new social relations with generally accepted cultural patterns;
c) the process of personality formation;
d) a mechanism for creating new structural formations in society and formalizing new social relations.
5. The creation and formalization of new social formations and social relations in society is called:
a) modernization;
b) legitimation;
c) institutionalization;
d) socialization.
6. Legitimate are considered those social new formations that:
a) correspond to the existing value system;
b) are not controlled by this company;
c) satisfy all human needs;
d) oppose the value-normative order existing in society.
7. The experience of previous generations, traditions, knowledge, values are accumulated in:
a) culture;
b) state;
in economics;
d) politics.
8. Nature and society are related to each other as follows:
a) nature and society - the dual natural-social basis of man;
b) society and man are part of nature and are subject only to the laws of nature;
c) nature and society as two realities live according to completely different laws;
d) the leading role of the social, not the biological, in human life.
9. Society is a self-regulating system:
b) incorrect.
10. Society is the largest group of people:
b) incorrect.
11. Socialization is:
a) the process of including a person in public life;
b) process social interaction;
c) a mechanism for satisfying human needs;
d) a mechanism for the transition of society from one qualitative state to another.
12. Civil society covers the totality of political relations:
b) incorrect.
13. The structural elements of civil society are:
a) church;
b) government;
c) parliament;
d) private enterprise;
14. The sphere of civil society does not include relations:
a) economic;
b) family;
c) state;
d) religious;
e) social.
15. For modern reality, the following statement is more suitable:
a) the state takes precedence over civil society;
b) civil society stands above the state;
c) the state and civil society represent whole system, complement each other and interact with each other.
16. Which of the following definitions belongs to M. Weber:
a) society is a supra-individual spiritual reality based on collective ideas;
b) society is a historically developing set of relations between people that develop in the process of their joint activities;
c) society is the interaction of people, which is a product of social, that is, actions oriented towards other people;
d) society is a system of relations between people, the connecting principle of which is norms and values.
17. “Society does not consist of individuals, but expresses the system of those connections and relationships in which these individuals are related to each other,” wrote:
a) G. Spencer;
b) M. Weber;
c) T. Parsons;
d) K. Marx.
18. O. Comte believed that society is:
a) a composition of all kinds of ideas, beliefs, feelings that are realized through the medium of individuals;
b) a functioning system based on the division of labor;
c) supra-individual spiritual reality based on collective ideas;
d) a system of relations between people, the connecting principle of which is norms and values.
19. E. Durkheim characterized society as:
a) supra-individual spiritual reality based on collective ideas;
b) a system of relations between people, the connecting principle of which is norms and values;
c) interaction between people, which is a product of social, that is, actions oriented towards other people;
d) a functioning system based on the division of labor;
20. According to G. Spencer, society is a composition of all kinds of ideas, beliefs, feelings that are realized through individuals.
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