The main spheres of public life are their mutual connection. The relationship of spheres of public life

The main areas of society

In a social system, not only social subjects are distinguished as parts, but also other entities - spheres of society. Society is a complex system of specially organized human life. Like any other complex system, society consists of subsystems, the most important of which are called areas of public life.

Sphere of life of society- a certain set of stable relations between social subjects.

The areas of public life are large, stable, relatively independent subsystems of human activity.

Each area includes:

§ Certain human activities (eg educational, political, religious);

§ social institutions (such as family, school, parties, church);

§ established relations between people (i.e. connections that have arisen in the course of people's activities, for example, relations of exchange and distribution in the economic sphere).

Traditionally, there are four main areas of public life:

§ social (peoples, nations, classes, gender and age groups, etc.)

§ economic (productive forces, production relations)

§ political (state, parties, socio-political movements)

§ spiritual (religion, morality, science, art, education).

It is important to understand that people are simultaneously in different relationships with each other, connected with someone, isolated from someone when solving their life issues. Therefore, the spheres of the life of society are not geometric spaces where different people live, but the relations of the same people in connection with various aspects of their lives.

Graphically, the spheres of public life are presented in fig. 1.2. The central place of man is symbolic - he is inscribed in all spheres of society.

Rice. 1 Areas of public life

Social sphere

Social sphere - these are the relations that arise in the production of direct human life and man as a social being.

The concept of "social sphere" has different meanings, although they are related. In social philosophy and sociology, it is a sphere of social life, which includes various social communities and the connections between them. In economics and political science, the social sphere is often understood as a set of industries, enterprises, organizations whose task is to improve the standard of living of the population; while the social sphere includes health care, social security, public services, etc. The social sphere in the second meaning is not an independent sphere of social life, but an area at the intersection of economic and political spheres, associated with the redistribution of state revenues in favor of those in need.

The social sphere includes various social communities and relations between them. A person, occupying a certain position in society, is inscribed in various communities: he can be a man, a worker, a father of a family, a city dweller, etc. Visually, the position of an individual in society can be shown in the form of a questionnaire (Fig. 1.3).

Rice. 2. Questionnaire

Using this conditional questionnaire as an example, one can briefly describe the social structure of society. Gender, age, marital status determine the demographic structure (with groups such as men, women, youth, pensioners, single, married, etc.). Nationality determines the ethnic structure. The place of residence determines the settlement structure (here there is a division into urban and rural residents, residents of Siberia or Italy, etc.). Profession and education make up professional and educational structures proper (doctors and economists, people with higher and secondary education, students and schoolchildren). Social origin (from workers, from employees, etc.) and social position (employee, peasant, nobleman, etc.) determine the class structure; this also includes castes, estates, classes, etc.

Economic sphere

Economic sphere is a set of relations between people that arise during the creation and movement of material goods.

The economic sphere is the area of production, exchange, distribution, consumption of goods and services. In order to produce something, people, tools, machines, materials, etc. are needed. - productive forces. In the process of production, and then exchange, distribution, consumption, people enter into a variety of relationships with each other and with the goods - relations of production. Production relations and productive forces together constitute the economic sphere of society:

§ productive forces- people (labor force), tools, objects of labor;

§ industrial relations - production, distribution, consumption, exchange.

Political sphere

The political sphere is one of the most important spheres of public life.

Political sphere- this is the relationship of people, connected primarily with power, which provide joint security.

The Greek word politike (from polis - state, city), having appeared in the writings of ancient thinkers, was originally used to refer to the art of government. Having retained this meaning as one of the central ones, the modern term "politics" is now used to express social activity, in the center of which are the problems of acquiring, using and retaining power. The elements of the political sphere can be represented as follows:

§ political organizations and institutions- social groups, revolutionary movements, parliamentarism, parties, citizenship, presidency, etc.;

§ political norms - political, legal and moral norms, customs and traditions;

§ political communications - relations, connections and forms of interaction between participants in the political process, as well as between the political system as a whole and society;

§ political culture and ideology- political ideas, ideology, political culture, political psychology.

Needs and interests form certain political goals of social groups. On this target basis, political parties, social movements, powerful state institutions that carry out specific political activities arise. The interaction of large social groups with each other and with the institutions of power constitutes the communicative subsystem of the political sphere. This interaction is regulated by various norms, customs and traditions. Reflection and awareness of these relations form the cultural and ideological subsystem of the political sphere.

spiritual realm

spiritual realm- this is the area of ideal, non-material formations, including ideas, values of religion, art, morality, etc.

The structure of the spiritual realm The life of society in the most general terms is as follows:

§ religion - a form of worldview based on belief in supernatural forces;

§ morality - a system of moral norms, ideals, assessments, actions;

§ art - artistic development of the world;

§ science - a system of knowledge about the patterns of existence and development of the world;

§ law - a set of norms supported by the state;

§ education is a purposeful process of education and training.

Spiritual sphere - this is the sphere of relations that arise in the production, transfer and development of spiritual values (knowledge, beliefs, norms of behavior, artistic images, etc.).

If the material life of a person is connected with the satisfaction of specific daily needs (for food, clothing, drink, etc.). then the spiritual sphere of human life is aimed at meeting the needs for the development of consciousness, worldview, and various spiritual qualities.

spiritual needs unlike material ones, they are not biologically defined, but are formed and developed in the process of socialization of the individual.

Of course, a person is able to live without satisfying these needs, but then his life will not differ much from the life of animals. Spiritual needs are met in the process spiritual activity - cognitive, value, prognostic, etc. Such activity is aimed primarily at changing individual and social consciousness. It manifests itself in art, religion, scientific creativity, education, self-education, upbringing, etc. At the same time, spiritual activity can be both producing and consuming.

spiritual production called the process of formation and development of consciousness, worldview, spiritual qualities. The product of this production are ideas, theories, artistic images, values, the spiritual world of the individual and spiritual relations between individuals. The main mechanisms of spiritual production are science, art and religion.

Spiritual consumption called the satisfaction of spiritual needs, the consumption of products of science, religion, art, for example, visiting a theater or a museum, obtaining new knowledge. The spiritual sphere of the life of society ensures the production, storage and dissemination of moral, aesthetic, scientific, legal and other values. It covers various forms and levels of social consciousness - moral, scientific, aesthetic, religious, legal.

The relationship of spheres of public life

The spheres of public life are closely interconnected. In the history of the social sciences, there have been attempts to single out any sphere of life as determining in relation to others. So, in the Middle Ages, the idea of the special significance of religiosity as part of the spiritual sphere of society dominated. In modern times and the Age of Enlightenment, the role of morality and scientific knowledge. A number of concepts assign the leading role to the state and law. Marxism affirms the decisive role of economic relations.

Within the framework of real social phenomena, elements of all spheres are combined. For example, the nature of economic relations can influence the structure of the social structure. A place in the social hierarchy forms certain political views, opens up appropriate access to education and other spiritual values. The economic relations themselves are determined by the legal system of the country, which is very often formed on the basis of the spiritual culture of the people, their traditions in the field of religion and morality. Thus, at various stages of historical development, the influence of any sphere may increase.

Complex nature social systems combined with their dynamism, i.e. mobile, changeable character.

SPHERES OF SOCIETY AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS

The most correct approach to the study of society is a systematic approach, which involves an analysis of social structures, including the study of the elements of society and the relationships between them, as well as an analysis of the processes and changes taking place in society and reflecting its development trends.

It is logical to start the structural analysis of the system with the selection of the largest difficult parts called subsystems. Such subsystems in society are the so-called spheres of social life, which are parts of society, the limits of which are determined by the influence of certain social relations. Traditionally, social scientists distinguish the following main areas of society:

1. The economic sphere is a system of economic relations that arises and is reproduced in the process of material production. The basis of economic relations and the most important factor determining their specificity is the mode of production and distribution of material goods in society.

2. Social sphere - a system of social relations, that is, relations between groups of people occupying different positions in the social structure of society. The study of the social sphere involves consideration of the horizontal and vertical differentiation of society, the allocation of large and small social groups, the study of their structures, forms of implementation social control in these groups, analysis of the system of social ties, as well as social processes occurring at the intra- and intergroup level.
Note that the terms "social sphere" and "social relations" are often used in a broader interpretation, as a system of all relations between people in society, reflecting not the specifics of this local sphere of society, but the integrative function of social science - the unification of subsystems into a single whole.

3. Political (political and legal) sphere - a system of political and legal relations that arise in society and reflect the attitude of the state towards its citizens and their groups, citizens towards the existing state power, as well as relations between political groups (parties) and political mass movements. Thus, the political sphere of society reflects the relationship between people and social groups, the emergence of which is determined by the institution of the state.

4. Spiritual sphere - a system of relations between people, reflecting the spiritual and moral life of society, represented by such subsystems as culture, science, religion, morality, ideology, art. The significance of the spiritual sphere is determined by its priority function of determining the value-normative system of society, which, in turn, reflects the level of development of social consciousness and its intellectual and moral potential.

It should be noted that an unambiguous division of the spheres of society is possible and necessary within the framework of its theoretical analysis, however, empirical reality is characterized by their close interconnection, interdependence and intersection, which is reflected in terms such as socio-economic relations, spiritual and political, etc. That is why the most important task of social science is to achieve the integrity of scientific understanding and explanation of the laws governing the functioning and development of the social system.

In modern society, the following are necessary and vital: a) human reproduction; b) creation, storage, distribution and consumption of material assets; c) determination of rights and freedoms, social position of the individual and other social subjects in society; d) reproduction of the spiritual values of society, consciousness and worldview of people, satisfaction of their spiritual needs; e) implementation of policy and power-legal relations.

In accordance with these needs of society, four main spheres (subsystems) of the life of society are distinguished: material and production (economic); social; political and spiritual. The concept of "sphere of life of society" expresses a kind of social organization that has a special purpose, content, patterns and associations of a circle of people, ways and means of functioning, certain limits of distribution. The spheres of society's life are interpreted as basic and non-basic, large and small. Their presence and number are determined by the specific historical conditions of the development of society, other circumstances.

The study of the spheres of public life, the analysis of their elements shows that this problem has an important theoretical and practical value. The understanding of the sphere of social life is based on a certain side, part or area of social life, relatively independent and structured. The categorical status of the sphere of life of society is more deep character. It consists not only in the selection and analysis of a particular sphere, but also in the establishment and disclosure of its connections with other aspects (spheres) of public life, as well as between elements of content.

The spheres (subsystems) of the life of society are the areas of human activity necessary for the normal functioning of society (industrial, scientific, political, family, pedagogical, religious, military, etc.), where material and spiritual benefits are created, as well as satisfaction the needs of the subjects. Knowledge of the spheres of the life of society, the laws of their functioning and development, allows us to see the place and role of a person in them, his living and working conditions, the correlation of the interests of the individual and society, their mutual duties and responsibilities, as well as the immediate and more distant prospects for the development of both society and society. individual personality.

The maturity of the development of the main spheres of society's life is ultimately an indicator of the state of the whole society and its capabilities for the further development of production, culture, politics, military affairs, etc. All areas of life Russian society in one way or another, in their functioning they are connected with the life of the Armed Forces. Knowing and taking into account the specifics of their functioning contribute to the understanding of this relationship, determine the direction of influence on the consciousness of servicemen.

Society is a dynamic system, various subsystems (spheres) and elements of which are updated and are in changing relationships and interactions. A person takes part in different areas of the life of society, since by a certain side of his activity he enters into any of the types of the structure of society. The production of material goods determines the social, political, spiritual and other processes of life, which, in turn, are relatively independent areas and affect material life. The structure of society (economic base and superstructure, ethnic communities, classes, social strata and groups, individuals) serves as the basis for highlighting its spheres of life. Consider the main areas.

Under material and production(economic) sphere the vital activity of such a society is understood, in which material values (benefits) are reproduced, stored, distributed and consumed, the material needs of people are satisfied. The material-production sphere is not identical in everything with material life as the primary level of society's life. It relates to the spiritual life as a secondary level. In material life, together with the material-production sphere, the sphere of reproduction of the person himself is included as a process of implementing the laws of population, as well as other types of practice. Material life as the primary level of existence of society is social being.

Material production is decisive, but not the only factor in social development. It gives rise to the need for the functioning of other spheres, which also become factors of historical development. The essence of this process lies in the fact that material production takes the form of other social relations, and these "non-economic" relations in the process of development acquire new features and laws. They are more and more "moving away" from material and economic relations, but at the same time they retain their transformed essence. In the most concentrated form, the essence of basic relations is preserved by politics, and in the smallest form, spiritual relations. Thus, each of the spheres of society's life acquires relative independence, exerting its influence on the material and production sphere, as well as on each other.

The material and production sphere is the leading cause, condition and prerequisite of the historical process because people must have material means in order to live. It is a manifestation of the need and at the same time freedom in society, becoming a kind of vector for other areas of public life. Other spheres of the life of society, rising above it, constitute the unity of superstructural activities and social relations.

The main criteria of this sphere are: the development of the tools of labor activity; mechanization and automation of production processes; availability of new technologies; implementation of professional training of subjects in material production; material standard of living of people.

To comprehend the processes taking place in this sphere of society's life, will allow consideration of its structure, that is, the totality of the elements of the sphere and the connections between them. The material and production life of society includes:

- material and production individual labor activity;

– vital activity of industrial subjects;

- Agriculture;

- the life of people in the field of transport, communications and services;

– activities of entities in the field of raw materials and energy resources;

- the financial life of society;

– scientific and technological progress in this area;

- the functioning of the economic consciousness of people;

- the system of economic relations between people;

- a system of norms of material and production life;

The material and production sphere of society's life performs the following functions: the reproduction of material wealth, economic and organizational, the function of integration and differentiation of economic life, managerial, communicative, educational and economic, prognostic, regulatory, and others. The indicators of this area are the leading estimates general development state and determine its place among other countries.

Directly related to material and production social sphere, the content of which is the life activity of people as members of social communities and subjects of relations, characterizing their position in society from the standpoint of social equality or inequality, justice or injustice, rights and freedoms.

Any society consists of many people who are not just a number of separate individuals. In this set, certain social groups are formed, which differ from one another and are in different proportions between themselves and the whole society. In this regard, human society is a complex set of different groups, their connections and interactions, i.e. it is socially structured.

The social sphere of society's life is associated with the position (status) in society and the development of certain social communities, their interaction, and role in society. This area reflects, for example, the state and characteristics of the existence of ethnic communities, groups (strata) of the population by age, gender, social security, regions, etc., interaction with each other and with society as a whole. It also reveals the laws of social relations, their classification and role in society.

The social sphere, like no other, actualizes the needs and interests of citizens and social communities, the nature and completeness of their satisfaction. It most conspicuously manifests the quality of the realization of human rights and freedoms, his duties and responsibilities to himself and society.

In the social sphere, reproduction of the population is carried out. The family as the initial cell of society not only ensures the preservation and growth of the population, but also largely determines the socialization of the individual, his education and upbringing. The criterion for the development of the social sphere of society is primarily a measure of harmonious improvement and self-expression of the individual. Other criteria are: lifestyle, the state of medical and other types of social security, education and upbringing, population growth, etc. The core of social relations is the relationship of equality and inequality according to the position of individuals in society. With a lack of, for example, housing, food, clothing or medicines, the social sphere does not play such major roles as maintaining people's health, ensuring the necessary life expectancy, restoring the physical strength spent by a person on work, compensating for the costs of psycho-emotional and nervous system etc.

The normally functioning sphere of social relations “continues” material and economic relations to the greatest extent, as it implements the results of labor activity: the cycle of distribution relations is completed, the cycle of social consumption relations continues, and the cycle of individual consumption relations is fully realized. The social sphere itself does not create material wealth. They are created in the field of production. But the social sphere, organizing the conditions and the process of consumption, supports a person in a state of vital activity, restores him as a living productive social and personal force.

A certain position of people in society, the basis of which is the type of their labor activity (worker, entrepreneur, collective farmer, farmer, engineer, soldier, poet, artist), is fixed by specific legal acts (Constitution, laws, decrees, resolutions, orders of state power). When social relations are formed on the basis of the coincidence of people's interests, they take on the character cooperation. If the interests of people, social groups do not coincide or they are opposite, then social relations become relations. fight. And then critical issue relations becomes the modernization of government, the reorganization of the social system, changing the position of various classes, nations, social groups in society. Social relations in this aspect are modified in political relations.

Political and legal sphere of society associated with the activities of subjects to reorganize power relations on the basis of law. This is a subsystem of social relations, the content of which is the exercise by a specially created institution (state) of power in society using legal norms and guarantees, the realization of the interests of citizens in relation to power. The political life of society and the activities of its institutions are today inseparable from law and legal regulations established by the state.

This sphere arose on the basis of the awareness of various social communities of their political interests and needs related to the conquest of power, the use of power functions, legislative activity and the implementation of laws. The specificity of the political sphere is also manifested in the fact that the needs of social communities and groups, being meaningful, are expressed in political goals, ideas and programs and determine the purposefulness of the struggle of social forces for fundamental interests. It includes a system of political institutions: the state, political parties, other public organizations, unions and movements, as well as law as an institution of society. The totality of the institutions of the political life of society forms its political organization. The political sphere of the life of society also includes the political and legal consciousness of the subjects, political and legal relations, political and legal culture and political activities for the exercise of power in the country.

The main criteria of the political and legal sphere of society are: consistency of state policy with the interests of the country's citizens and the rule of law; availability and observance of political and legal freedoms; democracy; the rule of law in the political life of the country, etc.

The structure of the political and legal sphere of society consists of:

– subjects of political and legal relations;

- a set of political and legal institutions of the state;

- the functioning of the political and legal consciousness of the subjects;

- political and legal activities.

The main functions of the political sphere of society include: imperious, regulatory and legal, ideological, ensuring the security of society, the individual and the state, communicative, property and distribution, organizational and managerial, controlling and coercive, law-making, etc.

According to the presence of a political regime, the nature and method of interaction between power, personality and society, political systems can be divided into totalitarian, authoritarian and democratic.

The main regulator of social relations, along with others, is law, understood as a system of generally binding norms (rules) established and sanctioned by the state, enforced voluntarily or forcibly. Law as a social phenomenon is characterized by the following features: a) universally binding - the rules of law regulate the behavior of all members of society, they are binding on everyone to whom they are addressed, regardless of the attitude of certain persons towards them; b) formal certainty - the rules of law are established by the state in special acts, accurately and in detail reflect the requirements for the behavior, communication and activities of all subjects of society; c) enforcement of the rule of law is carried out voluntarily on the part of the subjects and forcibly - on the part of the state (if necessary); d) the rules of law are designed for an unlimited number of cases and facts.

In society, law performs very extensive and diverse functions. First, it consolidates the foundations of the existing system; secondly, it contributes to the development of positive social relations; thirdly, it introduces a certain order into society and the activities of the state, creates the prerequisites for their purposeful and expedient functioning; fourthly, it acts as a criterion for the lawful and unlawful behavior of people and social communities, is the basis for the application of state coercion measures to violators of law and order; Fifthly, law plays an educational role, developing in people a sense of justice, legality, goodness, and humanity.

Spiritual sphere of society is closely connected with the reproduction of individual and social consciousness, with the satisfaction of the spiritual needs of subjects and the development of the spiritual world of man. This is a subsystem, the content of which is the production, storage and distribution of society's values (science, education, upbringing, art, morality) to regulate the activities of institutions and subjects of spiritual life.

The main criteria for the spiritual sphere of society's life are: individual consciousness; the ability of a person to realize himself, his relationship with nature and society; humanistic orientation of public outlook; state of spiritual values; the degree of their consistency with the needs and interests of the individual and other subjects of society; state of education, upbringing, science, art; practical implementation of freedom of conscience of citizens.

As subsystems of the spiritual sphere of society in philosophical literature distinguish: reproduction of individual and social consciousness, personal and social outlook; scientific life; artistic and aesthetic life; educational process; spiritual and moral life; functioning of religion, freethinking and atheism; information life of society. They ensure the formation and development of personality, the preservation and transmission of spiritual values. A kind of integral indicator of the development of the spiritual sphere of society and other spheres is spiritual culture.

Each of the subsystems of the spiritual sphere of society's life covers certain fragments of the functioning of individual and social consciousness, personal and social worldview. But these subsystems are not limited to functioning consciousness. They also represent the active and productive side of spiritual life, i.e. the very activity of subjects in the production, distribution, circulation and consumption of spiritual values. For example, science is not just the sum of special knowledge, it is a collection of scientific institutions, the most complex process of spiritual production.

In this way, science, ideology and social psychology, education and upbringing, art, religion, morality have become in society specialized types of spiritual activity. All of them fit into the general system of the division of labor, acting as its varieties. This circumstance distinguishes the subsystems of the spiritual sphere of life from the components of social consciousness. In the process of historical development, all areas of the spiritual sphere interact with each other, enrich each other.

Main spiritual life functions societies are: the reproduction of individual and social consciousness; creation, storage, distribution and consumption of spiritual values; worldview; methodological; regulatory; communicative; scientific and educational; artistic and aesthetic; educational and educational, etc.

The spheres of the life of society, acting as integral formations, are in close interconnection, influence each other, intertwine, complement each other, characterizing the unity of the entire social organism. Connections, existing between the spheres, diverse. The most characteristic are subordinate ones. The specificity of these connections lies in the fact that the spheres of life in society play a different role. For example, it is known that the basis of all types of social activities of people is the economic sphere. It, in turn, is the main determinant of other spheres: social, political, spiritual. For example, the social sphere determines the political and spiritual, and the political determines the spiritual.

The first mediating link, where the economic interests of social forces correlate with other interests of these, as well as other social communities, is the social sphere of society.

The emergence and development of the social structure of society is determined by many factors, and primarily economic. Under the influence of economic activity, the interests of subjects, their working and living conditions, health, and leisure are formed and changed. The concrete historical system of production relations forms the basis of the economic position of classes, national, professional and other types of social groups. The specific material organization of society determines the nature of the development of social communities, the processes of their interaction.

The specific social potential of a certain type of society is also a condition for solving the fundamental problems facing it. But in the social sphere of society, as a rule, only prerequisites for the transformation of social communities and individuals into subjects of conscious activity. These prerequisites create the basis for the transition from the social to the political existence of social groups, where their activities are associated with power and legal relations. Therefore, the economic and social spheres led to the emergence of the political and legal sphere of society.

Main the determinant of the political and legal sphere of society is political power. Its essence lies in the implementation of the will of citizens directly or through certain institutions (the state, etc.) regarding the management of society on the basis of the powers granted by law, the solution of important tasks of social development, ensuring the integrity and independence of society (country). The nature of the policy of specific social actors is determined by their economic and social position. In a class society, politics primarily reflects alignment of class interests. Through it, the social needs of various categories of citizens are realized.

As noted by G.V. Plekhanov, the oppressed classes strive "for political domination in order to help themselves by changing existing social relations and adapting the social system to the conditions of their own development and well-being." That is why the political and legal sphere of society is determined by its class structure, class relations, and then the demands of the political struggle. Consequently, the political and legal sphere of society's life differs from other spheres in the greater activity of subjects in power relations. It comprehends, forms and implements the fundamental interests and goals of peoples, ethnic communities, classes and social groups, their relations of cooperation or struggle. The political and legal sphere is also the relationship of states, coalitions of states.

In addition, politics, reflecting economic and social needs from the standpoint of the power interests of specific subjects, develops the initial provisions of spiritual production, the nature of the distribution and consumption of spiritual values. Political forces influence the formation of ideological views and the nature of the functioning of social psychology, relations in society and its individual institutions, including the armed forces.

In conditions of general dependence on the economy, the development of the spheres of society is carried out according to its own laws. Each of them has the opposite effect: spiritual - on the political, legal, social and economic; political and legal - social, spiritual and economic; social - economic, political, legal, spiritual. The state of the spiritual sphere of society provides information to the political and legal sphere, sets forth immediate tasks for it, determines those political values that need to be developed in the specific conditions of the development of society. On the basis of ideas developed in the spiritual sphere of society, the efforts of people are aimed at the fulfillment of certain tasks and programs. And the political and legal sphere influences the nature of social programs, relations, the quality of the implementation of social needs and interests of nations and social groups, the extent to which the principles of social justice, equality and humanity are implemented in society.

Thus, the social sphere of society, acting as an active force, also affects all aspects of society. Depending on belonging to a particular social group, people form different attitudes towards property, forms of distribution of material wealth, rights and freedoms, lifestyle and standard of living. The state of life of the whole society, its stability and stability in historical development depends on the harmony of the relationships between classes, ethnic communities and social groups.

Society structure

Any structure is a set of elements united by the forms of their interaction. In relation to society, these are people + forms of their relations. These relationships can be represented in three dimensions:

Like levels.

as social groups.

Integral in terms of norms and values (like culture, but in a narrower sense).

Levels: In terms of levels, society is presented as a set of roles, positions and functions that people occupy, being included in the collective activity of all mankind. This is the position of the individual in the composition of the level, turned, as it were, outward:

The leading level is social. It is mutual in the composition of humanity. Inclusion in different social groups.

material level- a part of nature, practically included in culture or an object included in the subject. This is a material and energy system, the existence of people, which consists of: tools - objects of nature combined by man, with the help of which he acts on the rest of nature

What influences.

What is affected.

Economic level= 1 + 2, i.e. a historically specific way of connecting people with the material conditions of their existence.

Political level- the economic level, turned into the sphere of the subject and presented as a relation of ownership, fixed through the relation of power. The political level can be represented as a sphere of government, at this level the struggle for power takes place.

Spiritual Level or the sphere of public knowledge, several sublevels are also distinguished here:

Socio-psychological sublevel, i.e. sphere of mass feelings and moods.

The journalistic sublevel of public consciousness, where the primary comprehension of sociocultural reality is made.

The theoretical sphere where the most rational and consistent connection of socio-cultural reality is made. This sphere is made up of science, art, religion, etc.

Spiritual superstructure of society = 4 + 5.

Social communities- these are groups in which people are united by the presence of common social significant features. If the levels are turned outward, then the principle of generalization is directed inward, i.e. it is a way of internal interaction of people. Social communities are extremely diverse, because there are countless principles that introduce the same people into different social groups. For example: classes, nations, professional groups, family, pensioners, territorial entity (population), political entities (electorate), small groups (interest groups).

ethnic groups(nation). Unique social groups that arise and develop historically. But they are fixed genetically, i.e. biologically.

Nation- a complex social organism, which is a unity of socio-economic and ethnic features. This is a stable historical community of people that has developed on the basis of the common economic life of people, combined with a common territory, language, culture, consciousness and psychological makeup.

ethnic population- one of the characteristics of a person, along with the time of his existence in culture, the ratio to a particular social group, etc.

Primary Principle formation of an ethnos - opposition on the basis of the principle "we - they". In the future, as culture develops in an ethnic group, 3 groups of features are determined that define its specificity:

National character (ethnic psychology).

national identity.

The national character is a set of ideal ideas and real behaviors determined by the common psychological makeup of the people.

The national character is not inherited genetically, but is formed socio-historically, for example: the Germans, who today are considered neat and punctual people, back in the 19th century. regarded as a nation of romantics and poets. The national character of modern Germans is the result of the industrial revolution, the same difference in the character of West and East Germans that has arisen over the course of 50 years.

Self-consciousness of the ethnos- a way to distinguish it from others. Self-consciousness manifests itself only when the ethnos has passed a certain path of historical development. At the level of historical zero, this has no self-name and coincides with the concept of people, Chukchi - people. It is important that the ethnic group calls itself, for example: a Russian in Turkey calls himself a Cossack, and in Finland - Vienna. For the productive existence of an ethnic group, contact with other ethnic groups is necessary, i.e. exchange of collective experience, culture. It is thanks to contacts that the ethnos goes through the historical path of development - a tribe, a primitive communal system. The diversity of the ethnos is a condition for the productive and further existence of mankind.

Classes- a social community that stands out according to the economic principle. Classes come to the first leading place in the existence of society only in the theory of capitalism, when the economic property principle becomes the leading one. National and professional groups dominate.

classes large groups of people are called, differing in their place in a historically determined system of social production, in their attitude to the means of production, in their role in the social organization of labor, and, consequently, in the methods of obtaining and the size of the share of social wealth that they dispose of. Classes are such groups of people, of which one can appropriate the labor of another, due to the difference in their place in a certain way of social economy.

The class theory is expressed in two versions:

In the Marxist version the main class-forming principle is the economic relations of people in the form of the relationship of people to the means of production, which is fixed as a form of ownership.

Classes are called large groups of people who differ in their place, historically specific economic system, in their attitude to forms of ownership and, in their role in the division of labor system and in the size of obtaining social wealth (V.I. Lenin).

According to the Marxist version, classes are united in opposition, antagonistic in subclasses - slaves, slave owners, serfs, feudal lords, hired workers - capitalists.

In the bourgeois-liberal version The main exemplary class principle is the economic factor, but not in the form of property relations, but in the form of the level of monetary income.

There are 3 main classes 0.25 - 1% of the population:

Higher - 20% (in developed Western countries).

Medium - 60 - 70% (millionaires and the political elite of managers, civil servants, middle and petty bourgeoisie who can live off their labor)

The lowest - 20 - 30% (those whose income does not allow them to rise above the subsistence level). In Russia, the ratio is reversed, some sociologists argue that the middle class is no more than 10%.

Culture. Culture is an integrable characteristic of society in terms of structure. In this aspect, new components are revealed in the existence of society.

Extra-scientific generally accepted ideas of the concept of "society" and "culture" coincide: this is what radically distinguishes man from nature. Society is not nature, a concept that characterizes a radical difference in human life natural processes. In this case, society as culture is understood as all the changes that occur in nature under the influence of man.

However, there is a difference between the concepts of society and culture:

Society is the social interaction of people, which is presented as a reality of the current day, i.e. culture in the present. Culture proper is the collective experience of mankind in the past, present and future. Therefore, these 2 aspects are studied in different sciences: society is studied by sociology, and culture by philosophy.

From the point of view of philosophy, human culture is represented by two major components:

Tool culture, i.e. technique of tools of labor, ways of human influence on nature. This is the so-called material, technical culture or the second artificial nature.

Communicative culture is the ways in which people influence each other, presented different forms communication. Here they distinguish: natural speech (language), images of art, science, management, law and morality.

If the tool culture is directed, as it were, outside, from the world of people to the world of nature, then the communal culture is directed inward into the sphere of interhuman interaction.

Culture is a specific human way of being in the world. Animals do not create culture and are not expounded in it, because, as it were, they carry tools of labor on themselves in the form of innate adaptations (teeth, claws, wool, etc.), external, artificially combined objects of nature, thus turned into tools of labor. Therefore, people are able to carry out their vital activity only together with other people, collectively. However, collections of animals in humans are added to learning i.e. a process of communication in which human individuals learn collectively developed ways of marking tools. Therefore, the instrumentality of a person reaches a new qualitative control in comparison with animals: animals can use artificial tools, but not ways to transfer this drink to others.

Therefore, the universal component in culture is the leading one. Culture, i.e. people live in reproduction - i.e. transfer of collective experience. In the course of history, 3 forms of such transmission have been developed:

The oldest form - from the viewer to the average according to the formula "Do as I do."

The transfer of experience is not direct, but with the help of the principles of prescriptions and prohibitions (traditions), according to the formula "Do this."

In the form of ideals, laws and values, according to the formula "This is the truth, goodness, truth."

It is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of culture and civilization. Most modern researchers agree that civilization is the technological material basis of culture, on which spiritual culture is built according to its own laws.

PLAN:

1) The concept of society.

2) What is a system? Society and nature as elements of the system.

3) Society as a system. Subsystems and elements of society.

4) Public relations.

5) Interaction of the main spheres of public life.

1) The concept of society.

The term "society" is ambiguous. The following meanings of this word are usually indicated:

* society as a group of people united for modern activities

for the realization of their common goals and interests (a society of book lovers, a society of beer lovers, a society of sobriety, etc.). In this sense, the word "society" is synonymous with the words "organization", "union", "association". * society as a certain stage in the development of mankind or a country (primitive society, feudal society, French society of the Restoration era, Soviet society of the NEP period, etc.). Here the word "society" is often used together with the words "stage", " stage", "period". * society as a characteristic of the qualitative state of a particular stage in the development of mankind or a country ("consumer society", "information society", "traditional society", etc.). In this case, the word "society "is necessarily preceded by its qualitative characteristics.

* society as an extremely broad concept for designating that part of the material world that has become isolated from nature and interacts with it in a certain way. In this sense, society is the totality of all forms of association and ways of interaction between people both among themselves and with the natural world around them. This last definition is considered the philosophical definition of the concept of society.

Before proceeding to characterize the interaction of society and nature, it is necessary to pay attention to the similarities that exist between the various concepts of "society". This similarity can be seen if you look closely at the word itself: "society" - from the words "general", "community " (Latin societas also comes from socius, which means common, joint).

2) What is a system? Society and nature as elements of the system.

If we take into account the origin of the word "society", it becomes necessary for its detailed description introduce the concept of "system" and consider society from the point of view of a systematic approach.

System (from the Greek "systema") - a set or combination of parts and elements that are interconnected and interact in a certain way with each other.

They talk about the solar system, the river system, the nervous system. A system is any set of phenomena that are interconnected and interact with each other. In this sense, the system is the unity, the constituent parts of which are society and nature.

The interaction of society and nature shows their inseparable connection with each other.

Society cannot exist outside of nature and without interaction with it, because:

* it arose as a result of the development of the natural world, standing out on

a certain stage from it (this happened in a long and complex process of becoming a person),

* it takes from the environment the means and resources necessary for its development (agriculture is impossible without the existence of fertile soils, modern industry cannot exist without a number of natural materials, the life of modern society is unthinkable without the use of various natural sources of raw materials),

* the pace and characteristics of its development are largely determined by the specifics of the natural environment, climatic and geographical conditions. (Northern peoples (Eskimos, Evenks, Chukchi) - in their places of residence there are severe climatic conditions, therefore they are engaged in reindeer herding and hunting.)

(The ancient civilizations of the East (ancient Egypt, the civilization of ancient China) arise in the river valleys, the climate is arid, irrigation irrigation systems are needed. Huge labor costs and therefore always a strong despotic beginning.)

Society at the same time has a huge impact on nature because: * it produces various means adaptations, adaptations to the surrounding natural elements (man learned to use fire, build houses, sew clothes, created artificial materials necessary for the life of society),

* in the process of labor, society modifies natural landscapes, uses certain natural resources in the interests of further social development (the consequences of this impact can be both destructive and beneficial).

Crimea used to have a more arid climate. They were mainly engaged in fishing, after the annexation of Crimea to Russia (1783), they brought exotic

trees, the climate has changed (the climate has become milder).

There was very little fertile land in Holland, the land was constantly flooded. The Dutch created a network of dams, drainage canals, due to these structures they significantly increased the area of land suitable for both construction and land use.

An artificial Rybinsk reservoir was created, villages, villages and floodplain meadows were flooded. Now there is a bad environment and everything that is under water is rotting - a negative impact on nature.

Does society become freer, more independent of nature as it develops? Until recently, the answer could only be positive - a person was considered as a being capable of subjugating, subjugating nature (according to the principle: "We cannot wait for mercy from nature, it is our task to take them from nature"). Today, it is obvious that society cannot be independent by nature. In some ways, we are modern world we depend on nature more than ever. This refers to the fact that society today is facing an ecological catastrophe created by a predatory, consumerist attitude towards nature. In this regard, it should be mentioned that the United Nations in 1992 adopted the concept sustainable development, obligatory for all states and proceeding from the need to ensure such a development of society that would make it possible to preserve natural world and ensure the survival of mankind.

3) Society as a system. Subsystems and elements of society.

Society itself can be considered as a certain system of interacting subsystems and elements.

The main subsystems of society are the spheres of public life. Usually they talk about the existence of four most important social (public) spheres:

economic- | political- |social- |spiritual-

covers relatively | covers relatively | covers relatively | covers from-

scheniya, arising - | niya associated with | scheniya associated with | wearing,

in the process | interaction | interaction | associated with

production, races | states, parties | classes, social | development of

definition, exchange | political org- | layers and groups |

and consumption ma- |izations about | | consciousness, science

material goods | power and management | | | culture,

| Niya | | arts

These subsystems (spheres), in turn, can be represented by a set of their constituent elements:

* economic - production institutions (factories, factories), transport institutions, stock and commodity exchanges, banks, etc.,

* political - the state, parties, trade unions, youth, women's and other organizations, etc.,

* social - classes, strata, social groups and strata, nations, etc.,

* spiritual - church, educational institutions, scientific institutions, etc.

4) Public relations.

To characterize society as a system, it is not enough to single out its subsystems and elements. It is important to show that they are interconnected and can be represented as links between social groups, nations, individuals that arise in the process of economic, political, social, spiritual life society. The term is used to refer to these links. "public relations" .

Types of public relations:

material: | spiritual:

about the reason - | political,

stva, distribution | legal,

exchange and consumer-|moral,

material | ideological

benefits | and etc.

5) Interaction of the main spheres of public life.

Society, thus, is a certain set of elements interconnected and interacting with each other. The spheres of public life are mutually permeable and interconnected.

Economic difficulties and even more so crises (economic sphere) give rise to social instability and discontent of various social forces (social sphere) and lead to an aggravation of political struggle and instability (political sphere). All this is usually accompanied by apathy, confusion of spirit, but also - spiritual searches, intensive scientific

research, the efforts of cultural figures aimed at understanding

the origins of the crisis and ways out of it. This is one of the examples illustrating the interaction of the main spheres of public life.

A military coup (political sphere) as a result of the economic crisis, a sharp decline in living standards (economic sphere), disagreement in society (social sphere) and all this affects the spiritual life of society. (Pinochet (1973) (military junta) came to power in Chile as a result of the military-fascist coup, he established a regime of the most severe terror, the economy improved, disagreement in society, the creative intelligentsia went underground.

Basic concepts: society, system, public relations, spheres of public life

Questions and tasks:

1) Define the concepts listed above. Analyze them.

2) Give examples of the beneficial and negative impact of society on nature.

The spheres of public life are closely interconnected. In the history of the social sciences, there have been attempts to single out any sphere of life as determining in relation to others. So, in the Middle Ages, the idea of the special significance of religiosity as part of the spiritual sphere of society dominated. In modern times and the Age of Enlightenment, the role of morality and scientific knowledge was emphasized. A number of concepts assign the leading role to the state and law. Marxism affirms the decisive role of economic relations.

The complex nature of social systems is combined with their dynamism, i.e., mobile, changeable character.

51. Society as a self-developing system. The driving forces of the development of modern society.

SOCIAL DYNAMICS, Unlike SOCIAL STATICS, considers society, as a self-developing system. The main problems of this section of social philosophy are; the problem of sources and driving forces of social development, the nature and characteristics of social processes, the direction of the development of society, the problem of the meaning and purpose of human history.

The problem of sources and driving forces of development has always been one of the central in philosophy in general, and social philosophy in particular. In social theories, various opinions were expressed on this subject, where they called natural factors (geographical environment, etc.) as driving forces, as well as purely subjective factors (revolutions, the activities of groups of people or outstanding personalities).

In the 19th century, the problem of driving forces and sources of development was reflected in Hegelian-Marxist concept. Its essence lies in the fact that the source of movement is main contradictions, their struggle and the resolution of these contradictions. Today, most philosophers and social scientists adhere to a similar point of view.

Sharing this position, it is necessary to clarify the concepts of " sources" and " driving forces» . The distinction between sources and driving forces is due to the fact that the causes themselves are divided into: immediate and mediated.

SOURCE – this is the immediate, most profound cause that gives the initial impetus to self-movement and self-development. Strictly speaking, the source is an objective contradiction, and that alone.

DRIVING FORCE – it is an indirect cause acting as a stimulator, an accelerator, a motive for movement. It seems to move the very source of development.

The contradiction is both the source and the most important driving force development, because it gives the primary impetus to movement and development. Moreover, the contradiction is not limited to such an impulse, but is a constantly acting force of movement and development.

The driving forces of social development include very diverse social phenomena: 1) social contradictions; 2) productive forces; 3) the mode of production and exchange; 4) division of labor; 5) the actions of large masses of people, peoples, classes; 6) class struggle; 7) revolutions; 8) needs and interests, ideal motives, etc. In the historical process, such driving forces as needs, interests and goals.

NEEDS- this is the need or lack of something necessary to maintain the life of an individual, social group or society as a whole, an internal stimulus to activity. There are biological and social needs. Social needs depend on the level of development of society and the conditions in which a person operates. They are the basis of social development and are objective character. The stimulating role of needs is determined by their characteristics. The fact is that every need requires satisfaction and, at the same time, every satisfied need gives rise to new needs, and so on. This feature is called the law of the rise of needs.

INTERESTS- this is perceived (by society by classes, social groups or individuals) needs. Social interest is the real cause of social action, behind the immediate motives, thoughts, ideas of people. Social interests reflect the orientation of society to meet needs. At the heart of interest are only such needs, the need to satisfy which has a basis, motivation.

GOALS- this is ideal formations in the minds of people, expressing the anticipation of the results of their activities. Arising before or during the activity, they act as its direct motive, initiate, stimulate and direct this activity in a given direction. Goals can be immediate or distant perspective, serve the interests of individuals, social groups or society as a whole. Expressing the active side human consciousness, goals must be in accordance with objective laws, real opportunities specific conditions, as well as the capabilities of the person himself. Otherwise, they will remain only good wishes and pipe dreams.

52. Philosophical problems of interaction between society and nature. Ecological problems of the present and ways of their solution.

Nature is usually understood as non-social. Only that which essentially distinguishes man and society from the universe is not included in the realm of nature. In this regard, they often talk about the relationship "nature and society", "man and society". Society and man have a certain natural basis of being, but in their specificity they are not part of nature. The often used expression "second nature", i.e. "humanized nature", can be misleading. No matter how man manipulates nature, it remains itself. Man is not able to create a second nature, but he gives it a symbolic meaning. The second nature is nothing but nature in its symbolic meaning.

The concepts of "nature" and "matter" are very close in their meaning. Matter is an objective reality. Matter, unlike nature, does not contain mental phenomena the animal world, otherwise nature and matter coincide. There is, however, another nuance in which nature and matter differ. When the concept of "nature" is used, it is usually assumed that a person and society have some relation to the external environment. In other words, the concept of nature is given a brighter pragmatic meaning than the concept of matter. For this reason, we are accustomed to sayings like "the relation of man to nature" and a statement like "the relation of man to matter" hurts the ear. Aristotle opposed form to matter. In this sense, the concept of matter is now used very rarely.

Nature, due to its enduring significance, has always been the subject of philosophical analysis.

Ancient philosophy is based on the primacy of the natural. Outstanding ancient Greek philosophers perceived nature | as the fullness of being, aesthetically beautiful, the result of the expedient ordering activity of the demiurge (Plato). In its power, nature immeasurably surpasses man, acts as an ideal of perfection. A good life is conceived only in harmony and harmony with nature.

Medieval Christianized philosophy develops the concept of the inferiority of nature as a result of the fall of man. God stands immeasurably high above nature. Man, developing his spiritual powers, seeks to rise above nature. A person can realize his intentions to rise above nature only in relation to his own body (mortification of the flesh), because on a global scale in the Middle Ages he was subject to natural rhythms.

The Renaissance, seemingly returning to the ancient ideals of understanding nature, gives them a new interpretation. Opposing the medieval sharp opposition of God and nature, the Renaissance philosophers bring them closer and quite often reach pantheism, to the identification of God and the world. God and nature. With J. Bruno, God has become simply nature. Ancient philosophers, by virtue of the above grounds, could not be pantheists. However, they often acted from the position of hylozoism, considering the Cosmos to be alive (gile - life) as a whole. Renaissance philosophy actually implemented the slogan "Back to nature". She did this by virtue of cultivating the sensual-aesthetic ideal of philosophy. Subsequently, the slogan "Back to nature" will gain popularity for political (Rousseau), environmental (the "green" movement) and other reasons.

In modern times, nature for the first time becomes the object of careful scientific analysis and, at the same time, the field of active practical human activity, the scale of which, due to the successes of capitalism, is constantly growing. Relatively low level The development of science and, at the same time, man's mastery of the powerful forces of nature (thermal, mechanical, and then electrical energy) could not but lead to a predatory attitude towards nature, the overcoming of which stretched for centuries, up to our days.

The need for such an organization of interaction between society and nature, which would meet the current and future needs of developing mankind, was expressed in the concept of the noosphere, the French philosophers Teilhard de Chardin and E. Le Roy and the Russian thinker V. I. Vernadsky. The noosphere is the domain of the mind's dominance. The concept of the noosphere was developed in the early 20s of the 20th century, and subsequently its conceptual ideas were developed in detail in a special science - ecology.

Our brief historical background shows that man has always been and is in a certain relationship with nature, which he interprets in a certain way. Man is initially in conditions where, by virtue of the very fact of his existence, he is constantly forced to check nature for "humanity". To this end, he uses all means available to him, both intellectual and substantive content. It is quite obvious, for example, that researchers in the study of animals are compelled to use more versatile methods than in the study of inanimate nature. This is explained by the fact that animals, unlike stones, have a psyche, which is studied by a special science, zoopsychology. The scientific and practical activity of a person indicates that a person is able to cognize natural phenomena and regulate his relationship with them.

In our opinion, there are four fundamental facts that express the "human face" of nature.

First, nature is such that it has the ability to generate man. It is known from physics that the fundamental structures of being are characterized by the so-called constants: Planck's constant, the speed of light, the gravitational constant, and others. It was found that if these constants were at least slightly different, then stable structures of the type human body could not exist. In the absence of man, there would be no one to know nature. the universe. The universe is such that the emergence of human life is a permanent possibility.

Secondly, man is born "out of nature." This is indicated at least by the process of childbearing.

Thirdly, the natural basis of a person is the foundation on which only the appearance of non-natural, i.e., specifically human being, psyche, consciousness, etc. is possible.

Fourthly, in natural material, a person symbolizes his unnatural properties. As a result, nature becomes the foundation of public, social life.

To ensure his existence, man must know as much as possible about nature.

For the first time the term "ecology" was introduced into circulation by the German biologist Egeckel (1834-1919) in 1866, which meant the science of the relationship of living organisms with the environment. At present, this term has acquired a new meaning and essentially reflects the ideas of social ecology - a science that studies the problems of interaction between society and the environment.

At present, modern humanity faces two main dangers - the danger that it will destroy itself in fire nuclear war, and the danger of an ecological catastrophe, which today has become a reality. This is confirmed by the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the negative consequences of which will affect future generations of people. Children are already being born with serious defects and pathological changes, the number of people with oncological diseases and thyroid diseases. The deterioration of the ecological situation is due to the fact that humanity annually extracts over 100 billion tons of various mineral resources from the bowels of the Earth. Their predominant part - from 70 to 90% - turns into various kinds of production waste, polluting environment leading to the death of flora and fauna.

One of the serious problems today is the reduction of available mineral resources, as well as an increase in the future population of our planet. According to UN experts, in the 21st century the growth rate of world population will slow down somewhat, but the absolute increase will continue, and the world population will be 6 billion by 2005, 10 billion by 2050, and 14 billion by 2100. people This amount of population will be enough to destroy all the ecosystems of the planet.

The current ecological situation can be characterized as critical. It has acquired a global character and its solution is possible only through joint efforts governments of all civilized countries of the world.

An important measure on the way to solving modern environmental problems is the greening of production:
- development of non-waste technologies based on closed cycles;
- complex processing of raw materials;
- use of secondary resources;
- search for new sources of energy;
- wide introduction of biotechnologies;
- obligatory ecological expertise of new production projects;
- development of environmentally sound forms of agriculture with a constant rejection of pesticides, etc.

An important direction in improving the current environmental situation is also a reasonable self-limitation in the use of natural resources, especially energy sources, which are of paramount importance for human life.

Another measure for solving an environmental problem is the formation of environmental consciousness in society. Environmental education and upbringing should be placed at the state level, and in relation to higher education, become the most important element in the training of specialists of any profile.

53. The essence of social progress and its criteria. The relationship of social and scientific and technological progress.

For a long time in the philosophical and sociological literature, social progress was considered mainly as the progress of material production, within the boundaries of which man existed as its means. Life has confirmed the impossibility of this simplified understanding of history, has proved the need to consider society as a complex system, where all parties are interconnected and mutually determine one another. Man has occupied a central place in this system.

The question of social progress, its essence and role in the life of society interested thinkers of many generations. Nevertheless, the vast majority of them, remaining on idealistic positions, really could not provide scientific coverage of this problem. Only with the discovery of a materialistic understanding of history did it become possible to reveal the essence of social progress, the source of the development of society, its driving forces and criteria.

The main methodological assumptions for the study of social progress are reflected in the works of the founders of dialectical materialist philosophy. In this regard, F. Engels' idea that progress is the essence of humanity deserves special attention. This idea leads to the conclusion that social progress must be studied in the aspect of the social and active essence of man. As already noted, the essence of a person lies in the fact that his life activity is the main one in material production and is carried out in the system of social relations in the process of conscious, purposeful, transformative impact on the world around him and on the person himself to ensure his existence, functioning and development. This essence is manifested in the dialectic of needs and activity, where needs are the initial impulse of life activity, and activity is a way to satisfy, reproduce and give birth to new needs.

It should be noted that the essence of man does not remain unchanged. Therefore, it is advisable to consider the process of formation and development of a person as a complex dialectical process. For we are talking about the fact that the historical process acts as an uninterrupted formation of a person, the essence of which is in progressive movement. There is a strengthening of man's power over nature (both over the external and over his own), the steady and unlimited development of the creative abilities of individuals.

These features of the formation of a person are the features and factors of ensuring the life of society as a complex, open system which is self-organizing and self-governing. Thus, social progress is a process of continuous formation and development of human essence, which arises as a steady improvement in life itself, the ability of people to ensure the conditions of their existence.

It should be emphasized that the essence of a person does not exist by itself, but is manifested in all the versatility of social ties and relations. As you know, the essence of man is the totality (ensemble) of all social relations. This set of relations acts, on the one hand, as a society (a person in his social relation), the concrete historical form of which is a socio-economic formation, on the other hand, as a person (a person of a specific historical era and specific social relations).

Society and the individual are two sides of human reality, manifestation, functioning of the essence of man. These sides are in dialectical unity. After all, society is a specific organization of people's life, a certain social organism, a system of relations that binds people into a single whole.

Since the concrete historical form of this system of relations is the socio-economic formation, the analysis of social progress is not limited to revealing the essence of man. Such an analysis should also include the disclosure of the process of the formation of human essence in its reality as the totality of all social relations. In this regard, social progress arises as a natural-historical, natural process of development and change in socio-economic formations, the core of which is the ascent from lower forms social organization to higher and more perfect. In addition, since the essence of a person is a real person, whose existence is realized in a social individual, social progress also acts as a process of steady development and improvement of the individual.

Thus, social progress should be considered both from the point of view of the essence of the historical process itself, and from the point of view of the development and change of concrete historical forms of social organization. The basis for analyzing the content of social progress, its general direction and tendencies is the disclosure of the essence of man. In this regard, we can say that social progress is carried out in the dialectic of needs and activities. It is in this dialectic that social progress is realized as a process of formation and development of the essence of man, and as a process of ascent from lower to higher, more perfect concrete historical forms of social organization.

The study of the problem of social progress, its essence and tendencies is closely connected with the problem of its criteria. In the literature dealing with the issue of social progress, there are different views to what is the criterion for the progressive, progressive development of society. The difficulty of developing this issue lies in the fact that social progress is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. In addition, it is characterized by specific features at different stages of human history. Therefore, it is advisable to take into account the specifics of the criteria for social progress, primarily from the point of view of: a) its essence as a process of formation and development of human essence; b) characteristics and comparisons of specific historical forms of its implementation in the progressive development of society; c) characteristics and comparisons of levels of development different countries within the boundaries of the same historical stage in the development of society.

Analyzing the question of the criteria for social progress, researchers proceed, as a rule, from the level of development of the productive forces. However, in this case we are talking about the criteria of social progress from the point of view of its basis and the general logic of the development of mankind. Indeed, the defining moment of the separation of man from the animal kingdom and his formation as a man is the direct satisfaction of his vital needs in the process of material production, in which the production of labor tools acquires the significance of a special need. The process of material production constitutes the main and defining sphere of its self-realization in human life. The emergence of material production predetermines the emergence of the entire system of social relations.

The direct satisfaction of human needs by material production and the system of social relations determines his awareness of his attitude to reality and to himself. This approach to understanding social progress at its very foundation makes it possible not to lose sight of the main methodological principle of the approach to the study of the process of formation and development of mankind - the principle of materialism. However, the disclosure of the criterion of social progress in its very basis is insufficient to reveal the specifics of social progress regarding its understanding as a process of formation and development of human essence in its entirety.

As already noted, the essence of man, having a complex internal structure, which manifests itself in the unity of the essence of different orders, finds its real embodiment in the formation and development of society as an integral system. It should be recalled that society in this case is considered both as a complex system and as a subject of social action. Given this, the most general criterion of social progress, which covers all aspects of the manifestation of the essence of man, is the level of human freedom and creativity. It is in the equality of freedom and creativity that the level of development of productive forces and the nature of social relations (primarily production) are displayed, which determine the method, degree and nature of meeting people's needs, as well as the content and scale of values that reveal the degree of mastery of people around reality, awareness of the essence of the world. , his being and his own essence.

The level of freedom and creativity also reveals the degree of development of all the essential forces of a person, the degree of his dominance over the forces of external and his own nature. This level shows the extent to which a person is able, by transforming the world around him and himself, to ensure the vital activity of the whole society as an integral system, and of each person in particular. Such an approach to identifying the criteria for social progress serves as the basis for determining them in relation to the specific historical forms of manifestation of this progress in different countries.

At the same time, disclosure of the essence and main criteria of social progress is insufficient for understanding the historical development of society from the point of view of the causes and nature of this development. Therefore, the question of its sources and historical types is very important in the study of social progress.

54. The essence of culture, its genesis and structure. Material and spiritual culture.

Culture is human activity, including its motivations and its results. It is the accumulation, preservation, and transmission of socially significant experience, and the spiritual and creative process of transforming activity, and a certain level of development of society and human abilities. Culture is also a system of values and norms that shapes and optimizes human life and activity, giving it meaning and ensuring the purposefulness of the historical development of society.

Man and culture are interdependent systems. A person creates culture, and at the same time is completely immersed in it. You can point to the human - anthropological essence of culture. It makes a person a person. The cultural determines the personal, and vice versa. Culture functions differently at the social and personal levels.

At the social level, the main functions of culture are the following functions:

communicative function. Each culture performs the function of accumulating, preserving and relaying knowledge about the world and man. The growth of knowledge and its unification contribute to the development of culture, its enrichment, the establishment of intercultural dialogue. Cultural knowledge often finds expression in abstract symbolic forms that break the rhythm and mechanism of cultural relaying, but at the same time contribute to the creation of a global information space, a vivid example of which is the Internet.

Axiological (value) function. Cultural development is sequential. In the course of it, moral norms and guidelines, patterns of traditional social behavior, as well as a scale of values are formed and consolidated. The presence of these elements ensures the stability and unity of culture, which is especially important during periods of intense socio-cultural changes, and also makes each culture unique and unique.

adaptive function. In the modern world, a person mainly adapts to social and cultural reality, and not to nature. Culture, in turn, has a number of mechanisms that simplify and optimize the process of human adaptation to society and the cultural environment.

function of socialization. A certain type of culture produces a certain type of person, and vice versa. Such an influence of culture becomes possible due to the process of socialization (that is, the upbringing and education of a person, the assimilation of a system of cultural norms, values and a certain system of knowledge). Personal consciousness is always characterized by two tendencies that are opposite in their vectors. On the one hand, this is the desire to separate oneself from society, from the general mass, to be fully realized, based on one's capabilities and needs. But on the other hand, there is a desire to "merge with the crowd." Both are impossible without socialization, which is provided precisely through culture. Culture is a prerequisite and a measure of the realization of human essence.

regulatory function. Within a culture there are different types social associations that support the stability of its development and the performance of communication, axiological, adaptive and other functions. Such associations include biosocial communities (clan, tribe, family), social communities (unions of tribes, clans) and socio-political communities (state, political unions, international organizations). The regulatory function of culture structures cultural elements, which is especially important in the context of their constant differentiation and growth. The regulatory function is realized through moral, religious and legal values and norms.

Cultural genesis is the historical process of the emergence and development of types of human culture. One of the simplest and most convenient classifications of types of cultures is a classification built on the territorial-temporal principle, according to which types of cultures are distinguished in connection with the place (for example, Indian, Greek, American culture) and the time of their occurrence (ancient period, Middle Ages, New time).

The beginning of cultural genesis refers to the era of the Upper Paleolithic. During this period, culture emerges as a system of integrating connections, while previously there were only separate elements of cultural behavior. In the era of the Upper Paleolithic, there was a rapid development of tools, exogamy arose, and the development of such social communities as clan and family became more active.

The essence of culture is also manifested in the fact that, with all the diversity and originality of cultural and historical types, they have much in common. So, in almost all cultures, an approximately similar structure of cultural activity is reproduced. All historical types of culture contain: mythology, religious beliefs, moral norms, social status hierarchy, art, certain knowledge, value system, etc. And although in different cultures these cultural features manifest themselves in different ways, yet one can speak of a certain universal structure of culture.

Spiritual culture is the cultural content of human consciousness in the form of meanings, values and ideals, ideas, fantastic images, creative ideas, which is embodied in mythology, religion, philosophy, morality, art, science, ideology, law, writing, various forms and types of creative activity. Due to its semantic specificity, spiritual culture has a symbolic character.

Material culture is the world of material things or artifacts of culture, its substantive state. It covers: objects and tools of labor, the material conditions of human life and economic activity, its equipment and technology, property, that is, everything that is aimed at optimizing the physical existence of a person and reproducing the material conditions of his life.

55. The concept of civilization. West - East - Russia in the dialogue of civilizations.

The term "civilization" (from Latin civilis - urban, state, civil) appeared in the middle of the 18th century. and was used by the French Enlighteners, who, with its help, characterized a society based on the principles of reason and justice. Nowadays the term "civilization" has different semantic meanings. Most often it is understood as follows:

As a stage in the historical development of mankind, following savagery and barbarism (L. Morgan, F. Engels);

As a synonym for culture (French enlighteners, A. Toynbee);

As a level (stage) of development of a particular region or a separate ethnic group (in the expression "ancient civilization");

As a certain stage of the decline and degradation of culture (O. Spengler, N. Berdyaev) .;

As a characteristic of the technical and technological side of society (D. Bell, A. Toffler).

AT modern philosophy History usually distinguishes three approaches to the interpretation of the concept of "civilization": local-historical, historical-stage and world-historical.

Among the supporters of the local-historical approach, there is no unity on the question of how many civilizations there were in the past and how many of them exist at the present time. N. Danilevsky, for example, singled out (in chronological order) the following civilizations, or, in his terminology, cultural and historical types: Egyptian, Assyrian-Babylonian-Phoenician, Indian, Iranian, Jewish, Greek, Roman, Arabian, Germano-Roman (European ) and Slavic. O. Spengler considered such cultural and historical worlds as: Egyptian, Indian, Babylonian, Chinese, Greco-Roman (Apollo), Maya and Western European (Faustian).

In A. Toynbee's preliminary classification, there are a number of societies of the same type, which, as he states, "it is customary (by me. -V.Ch.) to call civilizations": Egyptian, Andean, Chinese, Minoan, Sumerian, Mayan, Syrian, Indian, Hittite, Hellenic, Orthodox Christian (in Russia), Far Eastern (in Korea and Japan), Orthodox Christian (main), Far Eastern (main), Iranian, Arabic, Hindu, Mexican, Yucatan, Babylonian.

In later and general classification Toynbee himself singled out, in addition to the "Western world", "Orthodox-Christian, or Byzantine society", located in South-Eastern Europe and Russia; an "Islamic society" centered in an arid zone (an area of dry steppes, deserts and semi-deserts) running diagonally across North Africa and the Middle East from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Wall of China; "Hindu society" in tropical subcontinental India southeast of the arid zone; "Far Eastern society" in the subtropical and temperate regions between the arid zone and the Pacific Ocean. This classification of civilizations is actively commented on in Russian literature, and on its basis five modern civilizations are sometimes distinguished: “Western European”, “Russian”, “Islamic”, “Indo-Buddhist” and “Confucian” (L. Vasiliev).

Within the framework of the historical-stage approach, depending on the choice of certain criteria for assessing the life of society, various types of civilizations are also distinguished. However, they all characterize the development of society as a single historical process throughout its entire length. AT contemporary literature, for example, such types of civilization are considered as: “oral, written, book and screen”; "cosmogenic, technogenic and anthropogenic"; "traditional and modern"; "evolutionary and innovative", etc.

Most often, in historical-stage studies, a technical and technological criterion is used, on the basis of which they distinguish: agrarian (pre-industrial), industrial (industrial) and information (post-industrial) civilizations (W. Rostow, D. Bell, A. Toffler). Let's consider their characteristics in more detail.

An "agrarian civilization" is a society with primitive agricultural production, a hierarchical social structure and power held by the landowners, the church and the army as the main social institutions.

“Industrial civilization” is a society characterized by the rapid development of industry, the widespread introduction of scientific and technological achievements, a sharp increase in the level of capital investment, an increase in the share of skilled labor, a change in the employment structure, and a predominance of the urban population.

“Post-industrial civilization” is a society of “high mass consumption”, in which the main problems are the development of the service sector, the production of consumer goods and theoretical knowledge.