What are the main characteristics of a social group? The concept of "social group". Signs of a social group

Signs of social community

Generality of needs.

Types of social communities:

Class communities and layers.

Historical forms of community.

corporate communities.

AT the basis of the first

sign	population	Contact	Membership	Structure	Connections in the process of work	Examples
Malaya	Dozens of people		real behavioral		Direct labor
Medium	Hundreds of people		functional
Big	Thousands and millions of people	Lack of contact

Second classification Third classification

Number of children in the family

small families - 1-2 children (not enough for natural growth)

Medium-sized families - 3-4 children (enough for small-scale reproduction, as well as for the emergence of intra-group dynamics)

large families - 5 or more children (much more than it is necessary to replace generations)

In a comprehensive study of the family structure, they are considered in a complex combination. From a demographic point of view, there are several types of families and their organization.

Depending on the form of marriage:

1. monogamous family - consisting of two partners

2. polygamous family - one of the spouses has several marriage partners

Polygyny - the simultaneous state of a man married to several women. Moreover, marriage is concluded by a man with each of the women separately. For example, in Sharia there is a limit on the number of wives - no more than four

Polyandry - the simultaneous state of a woman married to several men. It is rare, for example, among the peoples of Tibet, the Hawaiian Islands.

Depending on the gender of the spouses:

same-sex family - two men or two women jointly raising adopted children, artificially conceived or children from previous (heterosexual) contacts.

Diverse family

Depending on the number of children:

a childless or infertile family;

one-child family

small family;

The average family

· the large family.

Depending on composition:

· simple or nuclear family - consists of one generation represented by parents (parent) with or without children. The nuclear family in modern society has become the most widespread. She may be:

elementary - a family of three members: husband, wife and child. Such a family can be, in turn:

complete - includes both parents and at least one child

incomplete - a family of only one parent with children, or a family consisting of only parents without children

Composite - a complete nuclear family in which several children are brought up. A composite nuclear family, where there are several children, should be considered as a conjunction of several elementary

complex family or patriarchal family - a large family of several generations. It may include grandparents, brothers and their wives, sisters and their husbands, nephews and nieces.

Depending on the place of the person in the family:

parental - this is the family in which a person is born

reproductive - a family that a person creates himself

Depending on the residence of the family:

matrilocal - a young family living with the wife's parents,

patrilocal - a family living together with the husband's parents;

neolocal - the family moves to a dwelling remote from the place of residence of the parents.

Family Functions:1. Reproductive function. One of the main tasks of any society is the reproduction of new generations of its members. At the same time, it is important that children are physically and mentally healthy and subsequently have the ability to learn and socialize. At the same time, an important condition for the existence of society is the regulation of the birth rate, the avoidance of demographic declines or explosions.

2. The function of socialization. Despite the large number of institutions involved in the socialization of the individual, the family occupies a central place in this process. This is primarily due to the fact that it is in the family that the primary socialization of the individual is carried out, the foundations of his formation as a personality are laid. The family for the child is the primary group, it is from it that the development of the personality begins.

3. The function of emotional satisfaction. Psychiatrists believe that the main cause of emotional and behavioral difficulties in communication and even physical illness is the lack of love, warmth in the primary group, and above all in the family. A huge amount of data indicates that serious crimes and other negative deviations occur much more often among those who were deprived of care in the family in childhood, that children brought up in orphanages without the love of mother and father are much more susceptible to diseases, mental disorders, increased mortality, etc. It has been proved that people's need for close confidential communication, emotional expression of feelings to close people is a vital element of existence.

4. Status function . Each person brought up in a family receives as a heritage some statuses close to the status of members of his family. This primarily applies to such important statuses for the individual as nationality, place in urban or rural culture, etc. In class societies, the family's belonging to a certain social stratum provides the child with the opportunities and rewards characteristic of this stratum, and in most cases determine his future life. Class status changes due to human efforts and favorable circumstances.

5. Protective function. In all societies, the institution of the family provides, to varying degrees, the physical, economic, and psychological protection of its members. In most cases, guilt or shame for a person is shared by all family members. They can also protect him.

6. Economic function. The maintenance of a common household by family members, when they all work, contributes to the formation of strong economic ties between them. The norms of family life include the obligatory help and support of each family member in case he has economic difficulties.

B.52 Personality socialization.

Socialization- development of a person throughout his life in interaction with environment in the process of assimilation and reproduction of social norms and values, as well as self-development and self-realization in the society to which he belongs. Socialization occurs in conditions of spontaneous interaction of a person with the environment. This process is directed by society, the state through the influence on certain age, social, professional groups of people. In addition, management and influence on the part of the state is carried out through targeted and socially controlled education (family, religious, social). These components have both private and significant differences throughout a person's life at various stages or stages of socialization.

Socialization performs in society three main tasks: 1) Integrates the individual into society, as well as into various types

social communities through their assimilation of elements of culture, norms and

values;

2) promotes the interaction of people due to their acceptance

social roles;

3) preserves society, produces and transmits the culture of generations

through persuasion and showing appropriate patterns of behavior.

According to Ch. Cooley, the person goes through the following stages of socialization:

1) imitation - children copying the behavior of adults;

2) play - children's behavior as the performance of a role with meaning;

3) group games - a role as expected behavior from it. In the process

socialization distinguish between its primary and secondary forms.

Primary(external) socialization means the adaptation of the individual to the role functions and social norms that take shape in various social institutions of society at various levels of human life. This happens through the awareness of one's belonging to this community. The agents here are family, school, peers or subcultures and compensators leading to desocialization.

Secondary socialization - means the process of including social roles in the inner world of a person. As a result, a system of internal regulators of the individual's behavior is formed, which ensures that the individual's behavior corresponds (or counteracts) to the patterns and attitudes set by the social system. This represents life experience, the ability to evaluate norms, while at the level of identification they were basically only assimilated.

The most important factors personality socialization phenomenon finding an individual in a group and self-realization through it, as well as the entry of an individual into more complex structures of society.

B. 54 Education as a social institution.

Education The formal process by which a society transfers values, skills and knowledge from one person or group to another. As its main elements, educational institutions can be distinguished as social organizations, social communities (teachers and students), the educational process as a type of socio-cultural activity.

social institution- it is an organized system of relations and social norms that combines significant social values ​​and procedures that meet the basic needs of society. Any functional institution arises and functions, fulfilling this or that social need.

Each social institution has how specific features, as well as general signs with other institutions.

The features of the institute of education are:

1. attitudes and patterns of behavior - love of knowledge, attendance

2. symbolic cultural signs - school emblem, school songs

3. utilitarian cultural traits - classrooms, libraries, stadiums

4. oral and written code - student rules

5. ideology - academic freedom, progressive education, equality in education

Main types of education: Education system structured according to other principles, it includes a number of links: system of preschool education, general education school, vocational education, secondary specialized education, higher education, postgraduate education, advanced training and retraining system, hobby education .

Signs of social community

similarity of living conditions.

Generality of needs.

Availability joint activities

Formation of own culture.

Social identification of community members, their very inclusion in this community

Social communities are distinguished by an unusual variety of specific forms and types. They may vary:

Quantitative composition: from a few individuals to numerous masses;

by duration of existence: from minutes and hours (for example, train passengers, theater audience) to centuries and millennia (for example, ethnic groups)

· according to the degree of connection between individuals: from relatively stable associations to very amorphous, random formations (for example, a queue, a crowd, an audience of listeners, fans of football teams), which are called quasi-groups or social aggregations. They are characterized by the fragility of relationships between contacting people.

Social communities are divided into stable (for example, a nation) and short-term (for example, passengers on a bus). Types of social communities:

Class communities and layers.

Historical forms of community.

Socio-demographic communities.

corporate communities.

Ethnic and territorial communities.

Communities that have developed depending on the interests of individuals.

Classifications of social groups:

AT the basis of the first classification is based on such a criterion (attribute) as the number, i.e. the number of people who are members of the group. Accordingly, there are three types of groups:

1) small group - a small community of people who are in direct personal contact and interaction with each other;

2) middle group- a relatively large community of ideas that are in indirect functional interaction.

3) a large group - a large community of people who are in social and structural dependence on each other.

sign	population	Contact	Membership	Structure	Connections in the process of work	Examples
Malaya	Dozens of people	Personal: getting to know each other on a personal level	real behavioral	Developed internal informal	Direct labor	A team of workers, a classroom, a group of students, employees of the department
Medium	Hundreds of people	Status-role: acquaintance at the status level	functional	Legally formalized (lack of a developed informal structure)	Labor, mediated by the official structure of the organization	Organization of all employees of an enterprise, university, firm
Big	Thousands and millions of people	Lack of contact	Conditional socio-structural	Lack of internal structure	Labor, mediated by the social structure of society	Ethnic community, socio-demographic group, professional community, political party

Second classification associated with such a criterion as the time of existence of the group. There are short-term and long-term groups. Small, medium and large groups can be both short-term and long-term. For example: an ethnic community is always a long-term group, and political parties can exist for centuries, or they can very quickly leave the historical stage. Such a small group, such as, for example, a team of workers, can be either short-term: people unite to perform one production task and, having completed it, part, or long-term - people work all their working lives at the same enterprise in the same team. Third classification relies on such a criterion as the structural integrity of the group. On this basis, primary and secondary groups are distinguished. The primary group is a structural subdivision of an official organization that cannot be further decomposed into its constituent parts, for example: a brigade, department, laboratory, department, etc. The primary group is always a small formal group. The secondary group is a set of primary small groups. An enterprise with several thousand employees, for example, Izhora Plants, is called secondary (or main, since it consists of smaller structural divisions shops, departments. The secondary group is almost always the middle group.

sociology

AND METHODOLOGY OF SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

The meaning of “social” can be revealed only by drawing up a mechanism for its formation in the context of the structural logic of the forming elements and indicating social specifics.

The area of ​​exclusively human existence;

the interaction of people on the basis of certain needs;

· the formation and activation as a result of this interaction of social features, each of which, taking on different specific meanings, thus creates a positional hierarchy;

· formation on the site of each position of groups of people entering into meaningful relationships with each other;

The process of institutional organization of these groups as a way to meet the initial social needs and express and protect their interests in terms of regulation social activities;

· Creation and distribution of social objects as factors of social satisfaction.

The fundamentally binding role in this logic is played by social signs and the social groups they form.

A social attribute is a factor of social activity that functions exclusively in the process of social interaction people and able to form a hierarchy of social groups.

Examples: income, ownership of the means of production, ideology, ethnicity, religious belief, education. In addition to their specific applied functions, all social features carry a fundamental load - taking various meanings, they position the social hierarchy (social-group inequality).

The typology of social features is taking place:

· by spheres of social activity: economic, political, religious, etc.;

By complexity - simple and complex as an integration of simple ones;

· according to the criterion of formation of the social-group hierarchy: quantitative, qualitative and mixed - quantitative-qualitative;

According to the philosophical criterion: subjective - components of social and group inequality, where human consciousness is a factor of positional change, and objective, in the vectors of which movement is either impossible (ethnos and gender), or does not depend on subjective thought (age).

Social groups are usually defined by the unity of social interests, which is not entirely accurate in the sense of the secondary nature of social interests in relation to a specific position of a social attribute. In addition, in many large social groups-communities, the formal unity of interests is so neutralized by interpersonal value-ideological differences that it is simply incorrect to talk about the goal-motivational integrativity of these groups.

Thus, a social group should primarily be interpreted as a set of people occupying the same position-location (status) in the social hierarchy formed by a certain social attribute. The typology of social groups takes place according to the spheres of social activity (economic, political, religious, etc.), number, composition (simple and complex), as well as according to the criterion of accessibility (closed and open - easy and hard to reach).

We note the presence of large social positional groups (it is their context that is present in the scientific definition), which in the sociological literature are often referred to as social communities - for example, classes and nations, and microgroups with relatively constant and universal interpersonal contact, where a narrow social interest is primary and the psychological factor acquires some significance.

The most important role property of social groups is their ability to organize to meet social needs and express and protect their interests in terms of regulating social activity. Legal Forms such organizations are called social institutions. Although institutions carry the highest organizational social quality, they are secondary in relation to social group activity both in terms of formation and in terms of instrumentality.

Certain social groups and corresponding institutions make up the active subjective core of each social sphere. Often this term denotes either the area of ​​the budget distribution, or the lower level of the economic hierarchy on the basis of income, requiring state support and protection. This rather everyday and applied understanding unduly reduces the category of the social sphere to a narrow, exclusively economic importance. In this study, it is proposed to define the social sphere as all areas of social activity - economics, politics, religion, art, pedagogy, etc. What they have in common is the same formation mechanism, and the fundamental difference lies in their specific content - each sphere arises on the basis of specific social needs, contains its own social characteristics and a group hierarchy of subjects, its own institutions and social objects as a factor of social satisfaction and the result of subjective organizational activity.

Consider in this logic the most important social spheres- economics and politics. It is in these areas that a significant part of the study will take place, and it is here that the fundamental elements that determine the quality of the entire sociality are located.

The essence and content of social status

Definition 1

Social status is the position that an individual occupies in the social environment, in relation to other citizens of society.

Social status is characterized by mobility. This is shown in his role aspect. At the same time, the content and significance of social status is a stable process.

The essence and content of social status is reflected in the following features:

1. A social system of relationships in which a specific social subject is succinctly included.
2. The location of the social subject in society, distinctive features of this place, its characteristics and the specifics of education.

Public life involves the functioning of individuals and social associations that enter into a system of interaction and building social contacts, depending on their location and role in society, social status. This reflects the content of a person's social status.

Social status and social environment contribute to the formation and development personal interests, social relationships, between an individual and the social environment in which it develops and functions, the formation of working and living conditions, maintaining health and developing leisure activities.

Social status determines the position of a person in the social environment, which is reflected in the formation of relations of equality and inequality. In fact, social status develops social inequality. It entails the development of relations of cooperation and struggle in society. If the interests of different subjects turn out to be identical, then collaborative relationships begin to develop. And, on the contrary, if the interests turn out to be absolutely different, then relations of struggle begin to develop.

Social status is focused on comparing the positions of individuals in society. Thus, the location of each person is reflected in hierarchical structure society. If the social status occupied by a person places him at a higher level, then he is capable of changing society, influencing social development. In addition, he has certain privileges of this society and occupies a special place in it.

Signs of social status

The social position of the individual, his social status is determined by the existing system of social relations that characterize the place of the subject included in this social structure. Such relationships in the course of practical joint activities of people are established for a long time and are of an objective nature.

When determining social status, a multidimensional approach is most often used, which allows taking into account the whole variety of features:

• natural signs (age, gender); ethnic relations;
• a set of rights and obligations;
• place in the hierarchy of political relations;
• relations between individuals in the system of social division of labor;
• economic criterion (property, financial situation, income level, family and living conditions, lifestyle, education, profession, qualification);
• distribution relations;
• consumption relations;
• prestige - an assessment by a social group or society of the social significance of the positions occupied by people, etc.

Different sociologists use their own combination of criteria to determine the status of social groups of the population, and therefore the grouping of individuals can occur in different ways. Often, social status is determined by the social functions performed by an individual when interacting with other people. Social status is divided by education, skills and abilities.

An important indicator of social status in modern society are such features as:

• scope of power,
• level of income and education,
• prestige of the profession in the field of municipal and state administration.

In the sociology of Western countries, a socio-economic index is popular, which includes measurable features: the quality of education, income level, prestige of the profession. Socio-demographic characteristics The social status of an individual is established taking into account objective socio-demographic indicators, including: age, nationality, gender, education, material conditions, occupation, marital status, social status, specialty, social roles, permanent residence, citizenship.

Components of social status

The components characterizing social status include:

• status rights and obligations - determine what the holder of the status can and must do;
• status range - the designated framework within which status rights and obligations are exercised;
• status image - a set of ideas about the proper form and behavior of the status holder;
• status symbols - certain external insignia that allow you to distinguish between holders of different statuses; status identification - finding out the degree of conformity of the individual to the status.

Signs of certain types of social status

There are a large number of different statuses, each of which has its own characteristic features:

1. The main status determines the way of life of the individual; in accordance with the status, others identify him;
2. The prescribed status is characterized by gender, age, race and nationality.
3. The achieved status is described by the following criteria: level of education, qualifications, professional achievements, rank, position, career, prosperous in social relations marriage, etc. M. Weber identified three main indicators: power, prestige, wealth.
4. Socio-administrative status is determined by a set of rights and obligations.
5. Personal status is characterized individual qualities and properties.
6. Mixed social statuses are distinguished by signs of both prescribed and achieved statuses, however, achieved as a result of a combination of certain circumstances.

(from lat. institutum - establishment, institution), which form the basic element of society. Therefore, it can be said that society is a set of social institutions and the links between them. There is no theoretical certainty in the understanding of a social institution. First of all, the relationship between "social systems" and "social institutions" is unclear. In Marxist sociology, they are not distinguished, while Parsons considers social institutions as the regulatory mechanism of social systems. Further, the distinction between social institutions and social organizations, which are often confused, is not clear.

The concept of a social institution came in from jurisprudence. There it refers to a set of legal rules governing legal activity people in some area (family, economic, etc.). In sociology, social institutions are (1) stable complexes of social regulators (values, norms, beliefs, sanctions), they (2) control systems of statuses, roles, behaviors in various spheres of human activity (3) exist to satisfy social needs and ( 4) arise historically in the process of trial and error. Social institutions are the family, property, trade, education, and so on. Let's consider the listed signs.

First, social institutions are expedient character, i.e. created to satisfy some public needs. For example, the institution of the family serves to meet the needs of people for procreation and socialization, economic institutions - to meet the needs for production and distribution wealth, educational institutions - to meet the needs for knowledge, etc.

Secondly, social institutions include a system of social statuses(rights and obligations) and roles resulting in a hierarchy. For example, at the institute higher education these are the statuses and roles of rectors, deans, heads of departments, teachers, laboratory assistants, etc. The statuses and roles of the institute correspond to stable, formalized, diverse regulators social ties: ideology, mentality, norms (administrative, legal, moral); forms of moral, economic, legal, etc. stimulation.

Thirdly, in a social institution, the social statuses and roles of people are fulfilled due to the transformation into values ​​and norms related to the needs and interests of people. “It is only through the internationalization of institutionalized values ​​that a genuine motivational integration of behavior into the social structure takes place: very deep layers of motivation begin to work to fulfill role expectations,” writes T. Parsons.

Fourthly, social institutions arise historically, as if by themselves. Nobody invents them the way they invent technical and social goods. This happens because the social need that they must satisfy does not arise and be recognized immediately, but also develops. Man owes many of his greatest achievements not to conscious aspirations, much less to the deliberately coordinated efforts of many, but to a process in which the individual plays a role that is not entirely comprehensible to himself. They are<...>are the result of a combination of knowledge that a single mind cannot grasp,” Hayek wrote.

Social institutions are a kind self-governing systems consisting of three interconnected parts. Initial some of these systems form a network of agreed-upon status-roles. For example, in a family these are the statuses-roles of husband, wife, children. Them managing the system is formed, on the one hand, by the needs, values, norms, and beliefs shared by the participants, and, on the other hand, by public opinion, law, and the state. transformative the system of social institutions includes the coordinated actions of people in which appear respective statuses and roles.

Social institutions are characterized by a set of institutional features that distinguish these forms of social connection from others. These include: 1) material and cultural characteristics (for example, an apartment for a family); 2 institutional symbols (seal, company logo, coat of arms, etc.); 3) institutional ideals, values, norms; 4) charter or code of conduct, fixing ideals, values, norms; 5) an ideology that explains the social environment from the point of view of a given social institution. Social institutions are type of(general) social connection of people, and their specific(single) manifestation, and a system of specific institutions. For example, the institution of the family represents both a certain type of social connection, and a specific family, and a multitude of individual families that are in social ties with each other.

The most important characteristic of social institutions is their functions in the social environment, which consists of other social institutions. The main functions of social institutions are the following: 1) stable satisfaction of the needs of people for the sake of which the institutions arose; 2) maintaining the stability of subjective regulators (needs, values, norms, beliefs); 3) determination of pragmatic (instrumental) interests, the implementation of which leads to the production of goods necessary to meet the corresponding needs; 4) adapting the available funds to the chosen interests; 5) integration of people into a cooperative relationship around identified interests; 6) transformation of the external environment into the necessary benefits.

Social institutions: structure, functions and typology

An important structural element of society are social institutions. The very term "institution" (from lat. institution- establishment, institution) was borrowed from jurisprudence, where it was used to characterize a certain set of legal norms. This concept was first introduced into sociological science. He believed that every social institution develops as a stable structure of "social actions".

In modern sociology, there are different definitions of this concept. Thus, the Russian sociologist Yu. Levada defines a “social institution” as “something similar to an organ in a living organism: it is a node of people’s activities that remains stable over a certain period of time and ensures the stability of the entire social system.” In Western sociology, a social institution is most often understood as a stable set of formal and informal rules, principles, norms, and attitudes that regulate various spheres of human activity and organize them into a system of roles and statuses.

With all the differences in such definitions, a generalization can be the following: social institutions- these are historically established stable forms of organizing joint activities of people, designed to ensure the reproduction of social relations. reliability and regularity in meeting the basic needs of society. Thanks to social institutions, stability and order in society are achieved, and the predictability of people's behavior becomes possible.

There are many social institutions that appear in society as products social life. The process of formation of a social institution, which involves the definition and consolidation of social norms, rules, statuses and roles and bringing them into a system that can satisfy socially significant needs, is called institutionalization.

This process includes several successive steps:

• the emergence of a need, the satisfaction of which requires joint organized action;
• formation of common goals;
• the emergence of social norms and rules in the course of spontaneous social interaction, implemented by trial and error;
• the emergence of procedures related to rules and regulations;
• formalization of norms, rules, procedures, i.e. their adoption and practical application;
• the establishment of a system of sanctions to maintain norms and rules, the differentiation of their application in individual cases;
• creation of a system of appropriate statuses and roles;
• organizational design of the emerging institutional structure.

The structure of a social institution

The result of institutionalization is the creation in accordance with the norms and rules of a clear status-role structure, socially approved by the majority of participants in this process. If speak about structure of social institutions, then they most often have a certain set of constituent elements, depending on the type of institution. Jan Szczepański highlighted the following structural elements social institution:

• the purpose and scope of the institute;
• functions necessary to achieve the goal:
• normatively conditioned social roles and statuses presented in the structure of the institute:
• means and institutions to achieve the goal and implement functions, including appropriate sanctions.

Common and basic for all social institutions function is satisfaction of social needs for which it is created and exists. But to carry out this function, each institution performs other functions in relation to its participants, including: 1) consolidation and reproduction of social relations; 2) regulatory; 3) integrative: 4) broadcasting; 5) communicative.

The activity of any social institution is considered functional if it benefits society, contributes to its stability and integration. If a social institution does not fulfill its basic functions, then they talk about its dysfunctionality. It can be expressed in the fall of public prestige, the authority of a social institution and, as a result, lead to its degeneration.

The functions and dysfunctions of social institutions can be explicit if they are obvious and understood by everyone, and implicit (latent) when they are hidden. For sociology, it is important to identify hidden functions, since they can lead not only to an increase in tension in society, but also to the disorganization of the social system as a whole.

Depending on the goals and objectives, as well as the functions performed in society, the whole variety of social institutions is usually divided into main and minor (private). Among the first, satisfying the fundamental needs of society, there are:

• institutions of family and marriage - the need for the reproduction of the human race;
• political institutions - in safety and social order;
• economic institutions - in providing means of subsistence;
• institutes of science, education, culture - in obtaining and transferring knowledge, socialization;
• institutions of religion, social integration- in solving spiritual problems, searching for the meaning of life.

Signs of a social institution

Each social institution has both specific features. and common features with other institutions.

There are the following signs of social institutions:

• attitudes and patterns of behavior (for the institution of the family - affection, respect, trust; for the institution of education - the desire for knowledge);
• cultural symbols (for the family - wedding rings, marriage ritual; for the state - anthem, coat of arms, flag; for business - brand name, patent sign, for religion - icons, crosses, Koran);
• utilitarian cultural features (for a family - a house, apartment, furniture; for education - classrooms, a library; for business - a shop, factory, equipment);
• oral and written codes of conduct (for the state - the constitution, laws; for business - contracts, licenses);
• ideology (for the family - romantic love, compatibility; for business - freedom of trade, expansion of business; for religion - Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism).

It should be noted that the institution of family and marriage is at the intersection of the functional links of all other social institutions (property, finance, education, culture, law, religion, etc.), while being a classic example of a simple social institution. Next, we will focus on the characteristics of the main social institutions.

Three specific features distinguish social organizations from social communities, social groups and social institutions:
firstly, organizations are, first of all, communities focused on achieving rational, functional, specific goals;
secondly, organizations are such groups of people who are characterized by high degree formalization. Their internal structure is highly formalized, normative and standardized in the sense that rules, regulations, routines cover almost the entire sphere of behavior of its members.
thirdly, organizations are very dependent on the qualitative composition of participants, the personal qualities of their members, organizers, their group properties (organization, cohesion, solidarity, mobility, manageability, etc.), the composition changes - the "face" of the organization changes.
The structure of the formal social organization characterized by the following features:
a) rationality, i.e. at the heart of its formation and activity is the principle of expediency, usefulness, conscious movement towards a specific goal;
b) impersonality, i.e. it (the organization) is indifferent to the individual personal characteristics of its members, since it is designed for relationships established according to a given function;
in) service relations, i.e. provides for and regulates only service relations;
G) functionality subordinated in its activities and communications to functional (necessary, necessary) goals;
e) availability of organizers, persons systematically involved in its management, i.e. has (in most cases) a managerial link ("core"), administrative personnel constantly responsible for maintaining the stability of the organization, coordinating the interactions of its members and the effectiveness of its activities as a whole.

26. In development

27Bureaucracy- a social structure based on a hierarchy of positions and roles prescribed by clear rules and standards and on the division of functions and powers.

Bureaucracy inherent in a society built on social inequality and exploitation, when power is concentrated in the hands of one or another narrow ruling group. The fundamental feature of bureaucracy is the existence and growth of a stratum of bureaucrats—a bureaucratic-administrative caste privileged and cut off from the people. The phenomenon of bureaucracy has attracted particular attention of bourgeois scholars since the beginning of the 20th century, when the growth of bureaucratic organizations assumed enormous proportions. The foundations of non-Marxist sociological concepts of bureaucracy were laid in the works of the German sociologist M. Weber, who considered bureaucracy as a "natural" and "necessary" form of any social organization. The very term "bureaucracy" acquired a positive character from Weber and referred to the organization in general. It is used in the same sense in many non-Marxist sociological works. Impersonality, rationality, the strictest regulation, limited responsibility Weber considered the "ideal" of any organization. In the capitalist countries, Weber's ideas found application in the system of managing teams within the framework of the policy of "scientific leadership" (especially in the USA). With the complication of organizations, the growth of the qualifications of workers and the multiplication of the number of service and engineering personnel, the concept that emphasizes the impersonal nature of people's relations was supplemented by the concept of "human relations", according to which work efficiency is associated with the moral and psychological climate prevailing in the organization, personal relations, moods, likes and dislikes of the members of the organization. As an antidote to "bureaucracy" a program is put forward to improve people's personal relationships. The concept of "human relations" does not take into account that the streamlining and "humanization" of relations does not destroy the anti-democratism of management inherent in the bourgeois organization and thereby does not save it from turning into a bureaucracy.

M. Weber "The concept of an ideal bureaucracy"

1) Every post or position has clearly defined duties and responsibilities

2) Any activity is based on afterbirths. A system of norms and rules that defines the responsibility of various officials and the principle of the relationship between them

3) All posts are placed at a specific level of the hierarchy of power, having the shape of a pyramid. Responsibility not only for own decisions, but also for subordinates

4) All positions require job skills

5) Officials are not owners of their posts. The position is the property of the organization

6) Work equals career, promotion is based on seniority and merit to the organization, probation- job title

7) Orders, rules, procedures, powers are fixed in writing and permanently stored.

Social institutions(from Latin institutum - establishment, institution) - these are historically established stable forms of organizing joint activities and relations between people that perform socially significant functions. The term "social institution" is used in a wide variety of meanings. They talk about the institution of the family, the institution of education, the institution of the army, the institution of religion, and so on. In all these cases, we mean relatively stable types and forms of social activity, connections and relations through which social life is organized, the stability of connections and relations is ensured. Let us consider specifically what gives rise to social institutions and what are their most essential characteristics.

The main purpose of social institutions is to ensure the satisfaction of important vital needs. Thus, the institution of the family satisfies the need for the reproduction of the human race and the upbringing of children, regulates relations between the sexes, generations, and so on. The need for security and social order is provided by political institutions, the most important of which is the institution of the state. The need for obtaining means of subsistence and distribution of values ​​is provided by economic institutions. The need for the transfer of knowledge, the socialization of the younger generation, and the training of personnel are provided by educational institutions. The need for solving spiritual and, above all, meaningful problems is provided by the institution of religion.

Social institutions are formed on the basis of social ties, interactions and relationships of specific individuals, social groups, strata and other communities. But they, like others social systems, cannot be related to the sum of these persons, communities and interactions. Social institutions are supra-individual in nature and have their own systemic quality. Therefore, a social institution is an independent public entity, which has its own development logic. From this point of view, social institutions can be characterized as organized social systems characterized by the stability of the structure, the integration of their elements, and a certain variability of their functions.

Social institutions are able to fulfill their purpose by streamlining, standardizing and formalizing social activities, connections and relationships. This process of ordering, standardization and formalization is called institutionalization. Institutionalization is nothing but the process of forming a social institution.

The process of institutionalization includes a number of points. A prerequisite for the emergence of social institutions is the emergence of a need, the satisfaction of which requires joint organized actions, as well as the conditions that ensure this satisfaction. Another prerequisite for the process of institutionalization is the formation of common goals of a particular community. Man, as you know, is a social being, and people try to realize their needs by acting together. A social institution is formed on the basis of social ties, interaction and relations of individuals, social groups and other communities regarding the realization of certain vital needs.

An important point in the process of institutionalization is the emergence of values, social norms and rules of behavior in the course of spontaneous social interaction, carried out by trial and error. In the course of social practice, people make a selection, from different options they find acceptable patterns, stereotypes of behavior, which, through repetition and evaluation, turn into standardized customs.

A necessary step towards institutionalization is the consolidation of these patterns of behavior as binding norms, first on the basis of public opinion, and then sanctioned by formal authorities. On this basis, a system of sanctions is being developed. Thus, institutionalization, first of all, is a process of defining and consolidating social values, norms, patterns of behavior, statuses and roles, bringing them into a system that is able to act in the direction of meeting certain vital needs.

In sociology, the institution of the family has a special place. In our country, many scientists are engaged in this topic.

A family is a small social group whose members are connected by marriage, parenthood and kinship, a common life, a common budget and mutual moral responsibility.

Today, according to statistics, Russia is in first place in terms of the number of divorces (very recently overtaking the United States). But in place of broken marriages, new ones are being created again and again. About 2 million marriages take place in our country every year. Today we will look at why people get married and get married, and for this we will consider the family as a social institution, a social community and a small group.

The family is one of the most ancient social institutions. It arose much earlier than religion, state, army, education, market.

The structure of human needs, according to the model of the American psychologist Abraham Maslow, is divided into:

1) physiological and sexual needs;

2) existential needs for the security of their existence;

3) social needs for communication;

4) prestigious needs for recognition;

5) spiritual needs for self-realization.

Using the explanatory possibilities of the presented structure of needs, we will try to understand the nature and social functions of the family.

Let's start with the reproductive function of the family. This function performs two tasks: social - biological reproduction of the population, and individual - satisfaction of the need for children. It is based on the satisfaction of physiological and sexual needs that encourage people of opposite sexes to unite in a family union. The opposite of the sexes, according to Emile Durkheim, is not only the basic foundation on which the marriage union is built, but also the main reason for moral closeness in the family. In terms of its impact on the stability of family and marriage relations, it is stronger than even such a factor as blood relationship.

The functions of woman and the functions of man became so specialized that women began to lead an existence quite different from that of men. The man personified power, strength, intelligence, and the woman - femininity, weakness, softness, emotionality.

The peculiarity of the family as a small social group is that it is capable of growing from within. No other social community (class, nation, group) has such an internal mechanism of self-reproduction.

1. The most important function of the family is the socialization of the individual, the transfer of cultural heritage to new generations. The human need for children, their upbringing and socialization gives meaning to the very human life. It is quite obvious that the priority of the family as the main form of socialization of the individual is due to natural biological reasons.

The family has great advantages in the socialization of the individual in comparison with other groups due to the special moral and emotional psychological atmosphere of love, care, respect, sensitivity. Children raised outside the family have a lower level of emotional and intellectual development. They inhibited the ability to love their neighbor, the ability to sympathy and empathy. The family carries out socialization in the most crucial period of life, provides an individual approach to the development of the child, reveals his abilities, interests, needs in time.

Due to the fact that in the family there are the closest and closest relationships that can exist between people, the law of social heritage comes into force. Children in their character, temperament, style of behavior are in many ways similar to their parents.

The effectiveness of parenthood as an institution of socialization of the individual is also ensured by the fact that it is permanent and long-lasting, continuing throughout life, as long as the parents-children are alive.

2. The next most important function of the family is the function of social and emotional protection of its members.

In a moment of danger, most people seek to be close to their families. In a situation that threatens life and health, a person calls for help from the most dear and close person - his mother. In the family, a person feels the value of his life, finds selfless dedication, readiness for self-sacrifice in the name of the life of loved ones.

3. The next most important function of the family is economic and household. The bottom line is to support minors and disabled members of society and to receive material resources and household services by some family members from others.

4. Social status function is associated with reproduction social structure society, as the family conveys a certain social status to its members.

5. Recreational, restorative function is aimed at restoring and strengthening the physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual forces of a person after a hard working day. Marriage has a more beneficial effect on the health of spouses, and on the body of a man more than women. And the loss of one of the spouses is more difficult for men than women.

6. The leisure function carries out the organization of rational leisure and exercises control in the field of leisure, in addition, it satisfies certain needs of the individual in spending free time.

7. The sexual function of the family exercises sexual control and is aimed at satisfying the sexual needs of the spouses.

8. The felicitological function is of particular interest in this list. Right now, love and happiness have become the main reason for creating a family, and not reproductive and economic considerations. Therefore, the strengthening of the role of the felicitological function in the family makes modern family and marriage relations specific in comparison with the family and marriage of other historical periods.

The strength and attractiveness of the family, its essence lies in the integrity that is inherent in the family both as a social community, and as a small social group, and as a social institution. The integrity of the family is formed due to the mutual attraction and complementarity of the sexes, creating a "single androgenic being", a kind of integrity that is not reducible either to the sum of family members or to an individual family member.

A family is created to satisfy not one or two, but a whole complex of vital human needs.

social conflict- conflict, the cause of which is the disagreement of social groups or individuals with a difference in opinions and views, the desire to take a leading position; manifestation of social connections of people.

In the field of scientific knowledge, there is a separate science dedicated to conflicts - conflictology. Conflict is a clash of opposing goals, positions, views of the subjects of interaction. At the same time, the conflict is the most important side of the interaction of people in society, a kind of cell of social life. This is a form of relationship between potential or actual subjects of social action, the motivation of which is due to opposing values ​​and norms, interests and needs.

In this direction, the following properties of social conflict are distinguished:

1. Bipolarity“as the presence and opposition of two principles” in the conflict, their interconnectedness and mutual opposition at the same time. However, this property is disputed, since in modern social conflicts there are often more than two sides. That is, when constructing a definition on this thesis, it is necessary to take into account such a feature.

2. Activity aimed at overcoming contradiction. Highlighting this feature, Grishina tries to determine what is a conflict: feelings and emotions without actions or feelings, emotions and actions. She asks the question: “When does the situation begin to develop as a conflict?” And gives an answer to it: “If a person, perceiving the current situation as unacceptable for him, begins to do something to change it, explains his point of view to the partner, tries to convince him, goes to complain about him to someone, shows his dissatisfaction, etc.” that is, it begins to work.

Within the framework of this feature, they also begin to distinguish potential conflict(existence of disagreements without any action) and direct conflict(during which specific actions are performed).
3. Presence of a subject or subjects as carriers of the conflict. "The simplest interpretation of this feature means that conflict is a 'human' phenomenon," Grishina argues.
Thus, based on the described specifics, the following definition of the conflict is given: “the conflict acts as a bipolar phenomenon - the confrontation of two principles, manifesting itself in the activity of the parties aimed at overcoming the contradiction, and the parties to the conflict are represented by an active subject (subjects)

Structure of the conflict

The conflict grows out of the conflict situation, which is the basis of the conflict. A conflict situation is a situation in which the incompatibility of the actions of one side with the norms and expectations of the other is manifested and realized by the parties.

The conflict situation includes, first of all, the object of the conflict. The object of the conflict is what caused the conflict between the opponents, which each of its participants claims. The object of the conflict can be material (for example, some prestigious thing) or ideal (for example, rules of conduct, status in a team, etc.).

Participants in the conflict (opponents) also enter the conflict situation. The participants in the conflict have different “strength”, have different ranks depending on who they represent (for example, a person speaks only on his own behalf or expresses the opinion of the majority of people).

In the structure of the conflict, the internal and external positions of the participants are also distinguished.

Fig.1. The structure of the conflict situation.

In the internal position of the participants, one can single out the goals, interests and motives of the participants; it directly affects the course of the conflict situation, it is, as it were, behind the scenes and is often not spoken out in the course of conflict interaction. The external position is manifested in the speech behavior of the conflicting parties, it is reflected in their opinions, points of view, wishes.

It is necessary to distinguish between the internal and external positions of the people involved in the conflict in order to see behind the external and situational - the internal and essential.

Opponents and the object of the conflict, with all their relations and characteristics, constitute a conflict situation that always precedes the actual conflict and can exist long before its occurrence, without manifesting itself in any way.

In order for a conflict to grow out of a conflict situation, an incident must occur, that is, the actions of the participants in the conflict claiming the object. At the same time, people can start an incident when there is no real contradiction (the conflict is illusory). Or, on the contrary, conflict situation may exist long before the start of the incident (“smoldering” conflict).

The structure of the conflict can change as it develops: the object of the conflict can be (intentionally or spontaneously) replaced, and the participants can also change (someone can orchestrate the conflict). The substitution of participants can be fictional (one represents the participants as he wants). All these real and imagined changes in the essence of the conflict must be taken into account.

social functions. conflict

Most people see conflict as an unpleasant thing, part of the curse of the human race. But you can treat conflicts differently - see them as potential progress. That is, conflicts as an integral part of social life can perform two functions: positive (constructive) and negative (destructive). Therefore, as many researchers believe, the task is not to eliminate or prevent conflict, but to find a way to make it productive.

In general terms, the possibility of conflict to play a constructive role is associated with the fact that the conflict prevents the “stagnation” and “death” of individual or group life and stimulates their movement forward. In addition, since the basis for the emergence of any conflict is the denial of previous relations between the parties, contributing to the creation of new conditions, the conflict simultaneously performs an adaptive function. The positive consequences of the conflict for the individual may also consist in the fact that internal tension will be eliminated through it.

The positive function of conflicts is that they often serve to express dissatisfaction or protest, to inform the conflicting parties about their interests and needs.

In certain situations, when negative relationships between people are controlled, and at least one of the parties defends not only personal, but also organizational interests in general, conflicts help to unite others, mobilize the will, mind to solve fundamentally important issues, improve the psychological climate in a collective.

Moreover, there are situations when a clash between members of the team, an open and principled dispute is more desirable: it is better to warn, condemn and prevent the wrong behavior of a work colleague in time than to condone him, not to react, for fear of spoiling the relationship. As M. Weber put it, "conflict cleanses." Such a conflict has a positive effect on the structure, dynamics and effectiveness of socio-psychological processes that serve as a source of self-improvement and self-development of the individual.

However, conflict is most often associated with aggression, threats, arguments, and hostility. to negative features. social conflicts should be attributed first of all, the curtailment of interaction and communication between the conflicting parties, the increase in hostility between them as interaction and communication decrease. A frequent phenomenon is the idea of ​​the other side as an "enemy", the idea of ​​one's goals as positive, and the goals of the other side as negative.

The conflict often changes priorities so much that it threatens the true interests of the parties, hinders the implementation of change and the introduction of the new. In addition, there is an increase in emotional and psychological tension in the team, dissatisfaction, a bad state of mind (for example, as a result, an increase in staff turnover and a decrease in labor productivity), a lower degree of cooperation in the future.

The conflict is destructive if the participants in the conflict are not happy with its outcome and feel that they have suffered something. If the participants are satisfied and get something as a result of the conflict, the conflict is considered productive.

social movements- the type of collective action or association that focuses on specific political or social problems. A social movement is also called an organized collective effort that promotes or hinders, up to abolishment, social change.