Social relations are relations of a normative and regulatory order that develop between various social and professional groups. The subject of such relations is usually collective or personal interests, the imposed collective will (in relation to the opposing group), as well as an economic or symbolic resource, the right to possession of which is claimed by all opponents. In this regard, the term "social" is synonymous with the concept of "public" and serves as an integral designation of the entire depth of interactions, interconnections and interdependencies that exist in society. At the same time, the narrow meaning of this phrase is also used. In this case, social relations are relations associated with the struggle of individuals or groups for the right to occupy certain positions in society (the so-called "social status") and, naturally, the material, symbolic and economic resources that are attached to this status.

In principle, if we are talking about any relationship, then we mean the relationship that is formed with respect to some object or abstract concept. In this sense, social relations are between everyone. Consider such an example as labor relations in production. The employer accepts an employee for a certain position, offering him a certain amount of permanent work, the conditions accompanying this work, and payment as an economic reward for work. The employee, in turn, agrees to all the proposed conditions, including the obligation to produce the required volume of products. In addition, the employee accepts the rules of conduct in the team and the place (social status) that is given to him along with the position. As a result, a system of social relations (in this case, production) arises, which exists for an indefinitely long time in a limited physical space. Of course, any one is modified and improved, it becomes more complex, but in essence it remains unchanged and stable, of course, if there are no social conflicts.

But what happens if such a conflict does arise? It must be remembered that social relations are, in general terms, relations that develop in relation to property. The latter can be played by both quite tangible objects (land, house, factory, Internet portal) and abstract concepts (power, domination, information). A conflict arises when previous agreements on property rights lose their legal, moral, or even religious significance, and the functions of governance and regulatory status regulation are also lost. Nobody wants to live by the old rules, but new ones have not yet been created, much less recognized by all participants in the social contract. As a result, there is not only a revision of the rules of the game (in our case, the adoption of a new version of the Charter or other statutory document), but also a change of the elite (the director corps), which comes with its own rules and requirements for hired personnel.

However, let's get back to our definition. Social relations are in a broad sense, that is, we are talking about economic, cultural, religious and other relations that have arisen in the process of forming the social organization of society. Any sphere of his life is permeated with the theme of sociality. This is due not only to the fact that a person initially lives in a specific social environment, assimilates his habits, imposes his views, accepts others, that is, is included in the process of socialization. But he understands that he cannot live outside of society, whether he wants it or not, he is forced to accept general rules, otherwise society will "throw" him out of its circle, turn him into an outcast. It is not for nothing that we are now talking about social organization as such. According to some sociologists, it is society that is the most rigidly built corporation using a vertically integrated management system. The development of social relations in such an organization is possible only through submission to the proposed social practices. The choice, if possible, is only in the case of a change of social partners: when moving to another corporation, moving to another city, or completely breaking any ties with the former personal environment.

Social interaction

The starting point for the emergence of social connection is the interaction of individuals or groups of individuals to meet certain needs.

Interaction - it is any behavior of an individual or a group of individuals that is important for other individuals and groups of individuals or society as a whole at the moment and in the future. The category "interaction" expresses the content and nature of relations between individuals and social groups as permanent carriers of qualitatively different types of activity, differing in social positions (statuses) and roles (functions). Regardless of in which sphere of society's life (economic, political, etc.) the interaction takes place, it is always social in nature, since it expresses connections between individuals and groups of individuals, connections mediated by goals that each of the interacting parties haunts.

Social interaction has an objective and a subjective side. Objective side of interaction- these are connections that are independent of individuals, but mediate and control the content and nature of their interaction. The subjective side of interaction - it is a conscious relationship of individuals to each other, based on mutual expectations (expectations) of the corresponding behavior. These are interpersonal (or, more broadly, socio-psychological) relations, which are direct connections and relationships between individuals that develop in specific conditions of place and time.

Mechanism of social interaction includes: individuals who perform certain actions; changes in the outside world caused by these actions; the impact of these changes on other individuals; the backlash of the affected individuals.

Under the influence of Simmel and especially Sorokin, interaction in his subjective interpretation was accepted as the initial concept of group theory, and then became the initial concept in American sociology. As Sorokin wrote: “The interaction of two or more individuals is a generic concept of a social phenomenon: it can serve as a model for the latter. Studying the structure of this model, we can learn the structure of all social phenomena. Having decomposed the interaction into its component parts, we will thus decompose the most complex social phenomena into parts ”. “The subject of sociology,” says one of the American sociology textbooks, “is direct verbal and non-verbal interaction. The main task of sociology is to achieve a systematic knowledge of social rhetoric. Interview as a form of rhetoric is not just a sociological tool, but part of its subject of study. "

However, social interaction by itself still explains absolutely nothing. To understand the interaction, it is necessary to find out the properties of the interacting forces, and these properties cannot be explained in the fact of interactions, no matter how they change due to it. The very fact of the interaction of knowledge does not add. It all depends on the individual and social properties and qualities of the interacting parties. That is why the main thing in social interaction is content side. In modern Western European and American sociology, this side of social interaction is considered mainly from the standpoint of symbolic interactionism and ethnomstodology. In the first case, any social phenomenon appears as a direct interaction of people, carried out on the basis of the perception and use of common symbols, meanings, etc .; as a result, the object of social cognition is considered as a set of symbols of the human environment included in a certain "behavioral situation". In the second case, social reality is viewed as "a process of interaction based on everyday experience."

Everyday experience, meanings and symbols, which are guided by interacting individuals, give their interaction, and it cannot be otherwise, a certain quality. But in this case, the main qualitative aspect of interaction remains aside - those real social phenomena and processes that appear for people in the form of meanings, symbols, and everyday experience.

As a result, social reality and its constituent social objects act as a chaos of mutual actions based on the “interpreting role” of the individual in “determining the situation” or on everyday consciousness. Without denying the semantic, symbolic and other aspects of the process of social interaction, it must be admitted that its genetic source is labor, material production, and the economy. In turn, everything derived from the basis can and does have an opposite effect on the basis.

Interaction method

The way the individual interacts with other individuals and the social environment as a whole determines the "refraction" of social norms and values ​​through the individual's consciousness and his real actions based on understanding these norms and values.

The interaction method includes six aspects: 1) information transfer; 2) obtaining information; 3) reaction to the information received; 4) processed information; 5) receiving processed information; 6) reaction to this information.

Social relationships

Interaction leads to the establishment of social relationships. Social relations are relatively stable ties between individuals (as a result of which they are institutionalized into social groups) and social groups as permanent carriers of qualitatively different types of activity, differing in social status and roles in social structures.

Social communities

Social communities are characterized by: the presence of conditions of life (socio-economic, social status, vocational training and education, interests and needs, etc.) common to a given group of interacting individuals (social categories); the way of interaction of a given set of individuals (nations, social classes, socio-professional groups, etc.), i.e., a social group; belonging to historically established territorial associations (city, village, town), that is, territorial communities; the degree of restriction of the functioning of social groups by a strictly defined system of social norms and values, the belonging of the studied group of interacting individuals to certain social institutions (family, education, science, etc.).

Formation of social relationships

Social interaction is an invariable and constant companion of a person who lives among people and is forced to constantly enter into a complex network of relationships with them. Gradually emerging connections take the form of permanent ones and turn into social relations- conscious and perceptible sets of repetitive interactions, correlated in their meaning with each other and characterized by appropriate behavior. Social relations, as it were, are refracted through the inner content (or state) of a person and are expressed in his activities as personal relationships.

Social relations are extremely diverse in form and content. Each person knows from personal experience that relationships with others develop in different ways, that this world of relationships contains a variegated palette of feelings - from love and irresistible sympathy to hatred, contempt, hostility. Fiction, as a good assistant to the sociologist, reflects in its works the inexhaustible wealth of the world of social relations.

When classifying social relations, they are primarily divided into one-sided and mutual. One-sided social relationships exist when partners perceive and evaluate each other differently.

One-sided relationships are common. A person experiences a feeling of love for another and assumes that his partner also experiences a similar feeling, and orients his behavior towards this expectation. However, when, for example, a young man marries a girl, he may unexpectedly receive a refusal. A classic example of one-sided social relations is the relationship between Christ and the Apostle Judas, who betrayed the teacher. World and domestic fiction will give us many examples of tragic situations associated with one-sided relations: Othello - Iago, Mozart - Salieri, etc.

Social relations that arise and exist in human society are so diverse that it is advisable to consider any one aspect of them, proceeding from a certain system of values ​​and the activity of individuals aimed at achieving it. Recall that in sociology under values understand shared views and beliefs about the goals people strive for. Social interactions become social relationships precisely because of the values ​​that individuals and groups of people would like to achieve. Thus, values ​​are a necessary condition for social relations.

To determine the relationship of individuals, two indicators are used:

• value expectations (expectations), which characterize satisfaction with a value model;
• value requirements that the individual puts forward in the process of distributing values.

The real possibility of achieving a particular value position is value potential. Often it remains only an opportunity, since the individual or group does not take active steps to take value-wise more attractive positions.

All values ​​are conventionally subdivided as follows:

• the values ​​of well-being, which include material and spiritual benefits, without which it is impossible to maintain the normal life of individuals - wealth, health, safety, professional skill;
• all others - power as the most universal value, since its possession allows one to acquire other values ​​(respect, status, prestige, fame, reputation), moral values ​​(justice, kindness, decency, etc.); love and friendship; also distinguish national values, ideological, etc.

Among social relationships, relationships stand out social dependence, because they are present to one degree or another in all other respects. Social dependence is a social relation in which the social system S 1, (an individual, group or social institution) cannot perform the social actions necessary for her d 1 if the social system S 2 will not take action d 2... In this case, the system S 2 is called dominant, and the system S 1 - addicted.

Suppose the mayor of Los Angeles is unable to pay utility wages until the governor of California, who manages the funds, allocates money to him. In this case, the mayor's office is a dependent system, and the governor's administration is seen as the dominant system. In practice, dual interdependent relationships often arise. So, the population of an American city depends on the leader in terms of the distribution of funds, but the mayor also depends on voters, who may not elect him for a new term. The line of behavior of the dependent system must be predictable for the dominant system in the area that concerns the relationship of dependence.

Social dependence is also based on the difference in status in the group, which is typical for organizations. Thus, individuals with a low status are dependent on individuals or groups that have a higher status; subordinates depend on the leader. Addiction arises from differences in the possession of meaningful values ​​regardless of official status. For example, a manager may be financially dependent on a subordinate from whom he borrowed a large amount of money. Latent, i.e. hidden, dependencies play an important role in the life of organizations, teams, groups.

Often in an organization, a leader relies on the opinion of a relative working here in everything; to please him, decisions are often made erroneously from the point of view of the interests of the organization, for which the whole team then pays. In the old vaudeville "Lev Gurych Sinichkin", the question of who will play the main role in the premiere performance instead of the sick actress can only be decided by the main "patron" of the theater (Count Zefirov). Cardinal Richelieu actually ruled over France instead of the king. Sometimes a sociologist, in order to understand a conflict situation in a team where he was invited as an expert, must start by looking for a “gray cardinal” - an informal leader who actually has real influence in the organization.

Power relations arouse the greatest interest among researchers of social addiction. Power as the ability of some to control the actions of others is of decisive importance in the life of a person and society, but until now scientists have not developed a consensus on how power relations are carried out. Some (M. Weber) believe that power is primarily associated with the ability to control the actions of others and overcome their resistance to this control. Others (T. Parsons) proceed from the fact that power must first of all be legalized, then the personal position of the leader makes others obey him, despite the personal qualities of the leader and subordinates. Both points of view have a right to exist. Thus, the emergence of a new political party begins with the emergence of a leader with the ability to unite people, create an organization and begin to lead it.

If the power is legalized (legitimate), people submit to it as a force to resist which is useless and unsafe.

In society, there are other, not legalized aspects of the manifestation of power dependence. The interaction of people at the personal level often leads to the emergence of power relations, paradoxical and inexplicable from the point of view of common sense. A person of his own free will, not prompted by anyone, becomes a supporter of exotic sects, sometimes a real slave to his passions, which make him break the law, decide to kill or commit suicide. An irresistible attraction to gambling can deprive a person of his livelihood, but he returns again and again to roulette or cards.

Thus, in a number of spheres of life, constantly repeating interactions gradually acquire a stable, ordered, predictable character. In the process of this ordering, special bonds are formed, called social relations. Social relations - these are stable ties that arise between social groups and within them in the process of material (economic) and spiritual (legal, cultural) activities.

Practical lesson number 3.

Topic: Social relations in society

Target: systematization of knowledge and skills on the topic "Social relations in society"; fostering a culture of communication, a conscious attitude towards the participation of a citizen in the social life of society; the formation of the ability to analyze and critically interpret educational information, compare, identifying the common features and differences of various types of social groups, recognize and correctly use the terminology of sociology in various contexts, draw conclusions, rationally solve cognitive and problematic tasks, work with documents.

Equipment: Man and Society: Social Studies: a textbook for students of 10-11 grades. general education. institutions / ed. L. N. Bogolyubov and A. Yu. Lazebnikova. - Part 1 10 class., Part 2. - 11 cl. - M., 2012; Methodical instructions for students for practical exercises.

Course of the lesson:

Theoretical part

Interconnected social groups formsocial structure of society .

Social groups are different in nature, scale, and the role they play in society.

There is no generally accepted typology of social groups. One of the principlesclassification - conditional division of socialgroups by the number of participantsbig andsmall (up to 30 people).

Family, educational, labor associations, interest groups, etc. are distinguished as small groups. A small group differs from a large one in that all its members are united by common activities and are in direct communication with each other.

Large groups are aggregates of people who, as a rule, are united by one socially significant feature (for example, religious affiliation, professional affiliation, nationality, etc.). The members of a large group may never come into contact with each other.

Often, along with social groups, groups of people are distinguished, united by natural characteristics: race, gender, age. They are sometimes calledbiosocial groups ... Under certain conditions, natural differences between people can acquire social qualities. For example, in any society there are people of advanced age, but only at a certain level of social development does a social group of pensioners arise.

Each person belongs to any of the social groups or occupies some kind of intermediate, transitional position.

An intermediate, borderline state is characterized bymarginal (from lat.; line-height: 100% "> These include immigrants, the unemployed, the disabled, persons without a fixed abode and certain occupations (homeless people). A sign that testifies to the transition to a marginal state is the rupture of economic, social and cultural ties with the former social community and attempts to establish them with a new one. However, having lost contact with their former social group, the marginalized for a long time cannot accept new values ​​and rules of behavior. A striking example of such a state is people who have moved in search of work from the countryside to the city, cut off from the peasant environment, but have not yet accepted the values ​​and way of life of the townspeople. Having found themselves without roots (kindred, friendly, cultural), they seem to "hang in the air." As a rule, they do the simplest, unskilled, often temporary work, and the loss of it threatens them with becoming vagabonds and beggars.

The absence of certain stable ties and norms contributes to the manifestation of social activity and initiative by marginalized people in search of their new place in life. However, the state of uncertainty, "in-between" from time to time causes tension, discomfort, anxiety and even aggressiveness. That is why marginal individuals can become both the social support of progressive transformations in society and the bearers of various anti-democratic tendencies.

Word"norm" of Latin origin and literally means "a leading principle, a rule, an example." The norms are developed by society, social groups that are part of it.

Social norms guide the behavior of people, allow it to be controlled, regulated and evaluated. They guide a person in questions of how to act, what can be done, what cannot be done, how one should behave, how one should not behave, what is acceptable in the activities of people, what is undesirable. With the help of norms, the functioning of people, groups, the whole society becomes orderly. In norms, people see standards, models, standards of proper behavior. Perceiving them and following them, a person is included in the system of social relations, gets the opportunity to normally interact with other people, with various organizations, with society as a whole.

There are many norms in society. This is, first of all,customs andtraditions , in which habitual patterns of behavior are fixed (for example, wedding or funeral rites, household holidays, etc.). They become an organic part of people's lifestyles and are supported by the power of public authority.

Further,legal regulations ... They are enshrined in laws issued by the state, clearly describing the boundaries of behavior and punishment for breaking the law. Compliance with legal norms is ensured by the strength of the state.

Thenmoral standards ... In contrast to law, morality mainly carries an evaluative load (good - bad, fair - unfair). Compliance with moral rules is ensured by the authority of the collective consciousness, their violation meets with public condemnation.

There are alsoaesthetic norms ... They reinforce the idea of ​​the beautiful and the ugly not only in artistic creation, but also in the behavior of people, in production and in everyday life. They are manifested, for example, in judgments that a person “lived his life beautifully”, that such and such “behaves ugly”. In this case, negative assessments are combined with moral censure.

Political norms regulate political activity, the relationship between the individual and power, between social groups, states. They are reflected in laws, international treaties, political principles, moral norms.

Finally,religious norms ... In terms of content, many of them act as norms of morality, coincide with the norms of law, and consolidate traditions and customs. Compliance with religious norms is supported by the moral consciousness of believers and religious belief in the inevitability of punishment for sins - a deviation from these norms.

There are other types of norms, for example, the rules of etiquette, etc. Social norms differ from the norms of biological, medical, technical, establishing the rules for handling natural (natural) and artificial (technical) objects. For example, the rule prohibiting standing under the boom of a crane is aimed at the safety of a person in his relationship with a technical device. And the medical rule, requiring compliance with the dose of drugs prescribed by the doctor, protects human health from dangerous consequences, and fixes the procedure for handling chemicals.

As for social norms, they are allregulate relations in society itself : between people, groups of people, organizations created by them. The impact of social norms on personality behavior presupposes, firstly, knowledge of the social norm and its awareness, secondly, the motive (the desire to follow this norm) and, thirdly, the action itself (real behavior).

Social norms constitute one of the elements of the mechanism for regulating relations between the individual and society, which is calledsocial control .

The purposeful influence of society on people's behavior in order to strengthen order and stability is provided by social control.

Any activity includes a variety of actions, and each person performs many of them, entering into active interaction with the social environment (with society, social communities, public institutions and organizations, the state, and other individuals). All these actions, individual actions, human behavior are under the control of the people around him, groups, society. As long as these actions do not violate public order, existing social norms, this control is invisible, as if it does not exist. However, it is worth violating the established customs, rules, deviating from the patterns of behavior that are accepted in society, and social control manifests itself.

One person ran across the street in front of a moving vehicle, the second lit a cigarette in the cinema, the third committed theft, the fourth was late for work ... In all these cases, the reaction of other people may follow: comments and other manifestations of discontent from others, the corresponding actions of the administration, police, court ...

Expression of dissatisfaction, reprimand, imposition of a fine, punishment imposed by a court - all these are sanctions; along with social norms, they are an essential element of the mechanism of social control.

Sanctions means either approval and encouragement, or disapproval and punishment, aimed at maintaining social norms.

Formal positive sanctions - public approval from official organizations (government, institution, creative union): government awards, awarded titles, academic degrees and titles, etc.

Informal positive sanctions - public approval that does not come from official organizations: friendly praise, compliments, glory, honor.

Formal negative sanctions - punishments provided for by legal laws, government decrees, administrative instructions, orders: deprivation of civil rights, imprisonment.

Informal negative sanctions - punishments not provided for by the official authorities: censures, remarks, ridicule.

Society evaluates the individual, but the individual also evaluates society, the state, and himself.

Thus, along withexternal control on the part of society, group, state, other people, it is of paramount importanceinternal control , orself-control , which is based on norms, customs, role expectations, assimilated by the individual.

In the process of self-control, an important role is played byconscience , that is, the feeling and knowledge of what is good and what is bad, what is fair and what is unfair, the subjective consciousness of compliance or non-compliance of one's own behavior with moral norms. In a person who has committed in a state of excitement, by mistake or succumbing to the temptation of a bad deed, conscience evokes feelings of guilt, moral feelings, a desire to correct a mistake or atone for guilt.

The ability to exercise self-control is the most valuable quality of a person who independently regulates his behavior in accordance with generally accepted norms. Self-control is one of the most important conditions for the self-realization of a person, for her successful interaction with other people.

So, the most important elements of the mechanism of social control are social norms, public opinion, sanctions, individual consciousness, self-control. By interacting, they ensure the maintenance of socially acceptable patterns of behavior and the functioning of the social system as a whole.

Social stratification - This is the division of society into layers.

Social mobility Is the transition of people from one social group to another.

TOhorizontal mobility include the processes of transition from group to group without changing social status.

Processesvertical mobility associated with the transition up or down the steps of the social ladder. Distinguishascending (pointing up) anddownward (downward) social mobility.

Practical part

Task number 1. Establish a correspondence between concept and definition.

Concepts

Definitions

1. Social differentiation

A) the division of society into layers.

2. Social stratification

B) conscious actions of a person or groups, caused by their needs, associated with the actions of other people.

3. Social mobility

C) systematic, fairly regular, interdependent social actions of subjects aimed at each other.

4. Social action

D) a special mechanism of social regulation of behavior and maintenance of public order.

5. Social interaction

E) the transition of people from one social group to another.

6. Social relationships

E) a stable system of everyday non-production ties between people regarding the satisfaction of their primary needs.

7. Social control

G) the culture of our place of residence.

8. Household relationships

H) a type of public relations, characterized by duration, stability and characterizing the mutual position of social groups and their people.

9. Deviant behavior

I) the division of society into social groups that occupy different positions in society.

10. Topos culture

K) behavior that does not comply with the norms.

Task number 2. Fill out the diagram:

Task number 3. Chart using the following concepts: biosocial groups, types of social groups, unemployed, small groups, family, marginalized groups, classes, large groups, race.

Task number 4. Arrange the sanctions in the required columns.

Objection, government awards, refusal to maintain relationships, benevolent disposition, defamation, government scholarships, jail time, degrees, unflattering nickname, friendly praise, dismissal, fame, fine, applause, confiscation of property, monument erection, ridicule, disenfranchisement, compliments , demotion, honor, presentation of certificates of honor.

Formal positive

Informal positive

Formal negative

Informal negative

Task number 5. Specify the type of social mobility (horizontal, vertical ascending, vertical descending):

A) transition from one state-owned enterprise to another;

B) promotion of a person in position;

C) the ruin of the average entrepreneur and his transformation into a hired worker;

D) mastering a more prestigious profession;

D) moving from one city to another.

Task number 6. Read a quote from a famous 19th century philosopher. VS Solovyov and answer the questions after the text.

V.S.Soloviev: “The division of people into tribes and nations, weakened to some extent by the great world religions and replaced by the division into broader and more mobile groups, revived in Europe with renewed vigor and began to assert itself as a conscious and systematic idea from the beginning of the expiring (XIX ) centuries ... After the Napoleonic wars, the principle of nationalities became a common European idea ...

The national idea deserves all respect and sympathy when, in its name, the weak and oppressed nationalities were defended and liberated: in such cases, the principle of nationality coincided with true justice ... But, on the other hand, this is the excitement of national well-being in every people, especially in peoples larger and stronger, favored the development of popular egoism or nationalism, which already has nothing to do with justice ...

Every nationality has the right to live and freely develop its forces, without violating the same rights of other nationalities. "

Questions:

1. Remember the material on the history of the XIX century. What events allowed the author to assert that "the principle of nationalities has become a common European idea"?

2. How, according to the author, does the essence of the national idea change? In which case is it positive and in which negative?

Task number 7. Read statements about marriage and family and answer the questions.

G. Hegel: “The family ends in the following three directions: a) in the image of its immediate concept as marriage; b) in external existence, in the property and property of the family and taking care of it; c) in the upbringing of children and the disintegration of the family. "

F. Adler: “The family is a miniature society, on the integrity of which the safety of the whole large human society depends”.

V. Hugo: “Any social doctrine that tries to destroy the family is useless and inapplicable. The family is the crystal of society. "

SN Parkinson: “When the Victorian family sat around the dinner table, one rule was observed: the elders talk, the younger listen. Some topics were not touched upon in the conversation, some issues were discussed in French, but the younger ones had a lot to learn. Moreover, they had the opportunity to realize their own ignorance and learn to express their thoughts more coherently. Nowadays, children are ranting, and parents are listening - there is no benefit for anyone, and the harm is quite obvious. "

S. Smith: "Marriage is like a pair of scissors - the halves can move in opposite directions, but will teach a lesson to anyone who tries to stand between them."

R. Stevenson: "Marriage is a long conversation interrupted by arguments."

A. Tennyson: "As the husband is, so is the wife."

G. Hegel: “Marriage is legal love; with such a definition, everything that is transitory, capricious and subjective in it is excluded from the latter ”; “The first necessary relationship that an individual enters into with others is family relationships. These relations, however, also have a legal side, but it is subordinated to the moral side, the principle of love and trust ”; “The bond of two persons of different sex, called marriage, is not just a natural, animal union and not just a civil agreement. and above all a moral union that arises on the basis of mutual love and trust and turns spouses into one person. "

I. Kant: "In a married life, a couple must form, as it were, a single moral personality."

K. Marx: “If marriage were not the basis of the family, then it would not be the subject of legislation, like, for example, friendship”; “Almost any dissolution of marriage is a dissolution of the family and ... even from a purely legal point of view, the position of children and their property cannot be made dependent on the arbitrary discretion of the parents ... Thus, only the individual will is taken into account, or rather, the arbitrariness of the spouses, but the will of the marriage, the moral substance of this relationship, is not taken into account. "

L. Feuerbach: “Only husband and wife together form the reality of man; husband and wife together is the being of the clan, for their union is the source of many, the source of other people. "

A. Schopenhauer: "To get married means to halve your rights and double your responsibilities."

Questions:

1. What is the importance of the family in society?

2. What problems of family relations do the authors highlight?

A person is a social being, therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the properties of a person in the system of social relations, since important features of a human character will manifest themselves here. And if so, then it is worthwhile to figure out what socio-psychological relations are and what they are.

Public (social) relations are various forms of interdependencies that arise when people interact with each other. A feature of social relations that distinguishes them from interpersonal and other types of relations is that people appear in them only as a social “I”, which is not a complete reflection of the essence of a particular person.

Thus, the main sign of social relations is the establishment of stable relationships between people (groups of people), which allow members of society to realize their social roles and statuses. Examples of social relationships include interactions with family members and work colleagues, and communication with friends and teachers.

There are various classifications of social relations, and therefore there are many types of them. Let's look at the main ways of classifying relationships of this kind and characterize some of their types.

Social relationships are classified according to the following criteria:

By the amount of power (horizontal or vertical relations);
on the ownership and disposal of property (estate, class);
by spheres of manifestation (economic, religious, moral, political, aesthetic, legal, mass, interpersonal, intergroup);
by regulation (official and unofficial);
by the internal socio-psychological structure (cognitive, communicative, conative).

Some of the types of social relationships include groups of subspecies.

For example, formal and informal relationships can be:

Long-term (friends or colleagues);
short-term (casual acquaintances);
functional (contractor and customer);
permanent (family);
educational;
subordinate (bosses and subordinates);
causal (victim and perpetrator).

The use of a particular classification depends on the goals and objectives of the study, and in order to characterize a particular phenomenon, one or several classifications can be used. For example, to characterize social relations in a team, it would be logical to use a classification based on regulation and on the internal socio-psychological structure.

As mentioned above, a specific type of social relations considers only one of the aspects of a person's personality, therefore, when it is required to obtain a more complete description, it is necessary to take into account the system of social relations. Since this system is at the heart of all the personality traits of a person, it determines his goals, motivation, and the direction of his personality. And this gives us an idea of ​​the attitude of a person to the people with whom he communicates, to the organization in which he works, to the political and civil system of his country, to forms of property, etc. All this gives us a "sociological portrait" of the individual, but one should not consider these attitudes as some kind of labels that society sticks on the individual. These traits are manifested in the actions, deeds of a person, in his intellectual, emotional and volitional properties. Psychology here is inextricably linked with psychology, therefore, the analysis of the psychological properties of a person should be carried out taking into account the position of a person in the system of social relations.

Human social relations

Social relations in their content correspond to the activities in the course of which they arise (trading activity - trade relations, pedagogical activity - pedagogical relations, sports activity - sports relations, etc.).

Social tensions can lead to conflicts. In this regard, within the framework of philosophy and sociology, a special theory of social conflicts (conflictology) is being developed. Conflicts can be resolved or, consistently developing, transfer public relations to some new phase.

A positive resolution of the conflict is possible in two ways:

Through consensus - (from the Greek con - the same, sen - feeling), i.e. through the achievement of like-mindedness, unanimity, when the conflicting parties develop a common, third position;
- through a compromise - when the parties make mutual concessions, steps towards each other, while maintaining their specificity, originality.

The negative development of the conflict is also possible in two ways:

Through confrontation - when the parties maintain confrontation for a long time, do not take steps towards each other, do not accept the "outstretched hand";
- through a catastrophe - when in mutual confrontation, in the inability to dialogue, but in an orientation towards violent methods of struggle, both sides of the conflict destroy each other.

Modern society, which has experienced many social upheavals and wars, is increasingly developing various options for precisely positive ways of resolving conflicts, i.e. compromises and consensus.

Culture is a public domain, but it is created thanks to the creativity of individuals, personalities, poets, artists, sculptors, scientists, actors, directors, turners, designers, cooks, fashion designers, doctors, etc. Not all of them are included in history, but their potential remains in the “baggage of culture” and sooner or later is included in its actual being. Each person has the opportunity to realize himself in social culture as a professional, that is, in professional activity, as a citizen, in his socio-political functions and as a person, in his universal, diverse activities.

The richer a person's own internal potential is, the more profound is his contribution to the common cause, to the aggregate social potential.

In this regard, the creation of specialized (mathematical, language, economic, etc.) schools looks very controversial, because they do not seem to prepare a person for universal social activity, they do not ensure the reliability of a person's social survival in a difficult transitional era, when closed, reduced, liquidated, transformed some spheres of activity and created, opened, predicted new spheres. In such conditions, the chances for advancement are greater for a versatile or even comprehensively developed person. And this is the basis for predicting the development of the entire education system of society. The time of narrow specialists, professionals has passed. The time is coming for multi- and diversified personalities. Universally developed people will be required in the 21st century.

System of social relations

System parameters that characterize society as a social system:

Hierarchy,
- Self-regulation,
- Openness,
- Informational content,
- Self-determination,
- Self-organization.

Society is an artificial reality separated from nature and built on top of it ("second nature"). Genetically, society “comes” from nature and cannot ignore the laws, but, once separated from it, then develops on its own basis and according to its own logic.

In the course of activity, a person enters into various and multidimensional relationships with other people. At the same time, relations, being a product of activity, are its necessary social form. In general, any interaction between people inevitably takes on a social character. Social relations can be defined as forms of interaction and relationships that arise in the process of activity between social groups, as well as within them. These relationships are both material and spiritual.

And activity, and interaction, and social relations are aimed at creating the necessary conditions and means for the functioning of society, the reproduction and development of its constituent people as generic beings.

As a system, society has:

First, a complex and hierarchical structure, since it includes various elements and levels;
secondly, an integrative system-forming quality - the relations of active people;
thirdly, the property of self-control, which distinguishes only highly organized systems.

The social sphere of a society is an integral totality of all communities functioning in it, taken in their interaction. Such communities (taken on different grounds and dimensions) include peoples, nations, classes, estates, strata, castes, socio-demographic and professional groups, labor collectives, informal formations, etc. In this area, interaction is carried out regarding the conditions of life, everyday life, production; problems of health care, education, social protection and security; observance of social justice; regulation of the entire complex of ethnic, national, social-class and group relations.

Socialization is a process of integration, “embedding” a subject into society in accordance with the rules adopted in it. In the course of socialization, the individual connects to social experience - symbolic-semiotic, communicative, cultural.

An important role in the functioning of the social sphere of the life of society is played by such a phenomenon as social justice. It acts as an important point in comparing the capabilities of individuals and society. The term "fairness" originally meant correctness and equity in the division of basic livelihoods. However, people from birth are not equal in their abilities - and this is not their fault or merit. Therefore, social justice acts as a measure of equality and inequality in the life situation of various social communities and individuals.

Justice implies the requirement of correspondence between the practical role of a person or a social group in the life of society and their social position, between their rights and obligations, deed and retribution, work and remuneration, crime and punishment, people's merit and their social recognition.

Justice always has a historical character, it is rooted in the living conditions of people (classes).

And in different eras, the criteria for the distribution of benefits were different:

By birth status (aristocrat, free plebeian, slave);
- by position (official, commoner);
- by property (owner, proletarian);
- according to work;
- by eaters (in the peasant community in Russia).

Aristotle in "Ethics" divided 2 types of justice: 1. Distributing and 2. Equalizing.

Currently, there are three main criteria of social justice in the public mind:

1.equalizing,
2.market (distribution of income by factors of production),
3. and labor.

They are in different countries, in different periods, combined in different ways. The fact is that economic efficiency is a method of action that ensures the maximum (best) result is obtained as a result of the efforts being made and the expenditure of resources. In principle, it contradicts social justice in such areas as the redistribution of resources in favor of the poor, maintaining universal employment, solving environmental problems, etc. The contradiction between economic efficiency and social justice is a reflection of the contradiction between production and consumption. Therefore, especially in times of crisis, the role of the state in the distribution and redistribution of benefits is great (is the degree of state intervention in these processes also important?). Power can smooth out the contradictions of life, can act in the interests of certain social groups ...

Social justice is realized mainly through the redistribution of income between different groups of the population, which limits the spontaneous action of the mechanisms of the market economy.

Historically known forms of redistribution are diverse: through the system of kinship, religious duties and offerings, tribute, robbery, donations, taxes, awards, salaries, wages, etc.

Social public attitude

In everyday life, people are connected with each other and society by many invisible threads: they interact with each other on personal, educational, economic, political, legal and other issues.

Social ties are formed on the basis of direct contacts between people.

Social connection is a set of dependencies between people, realized through social actions, their mutual relations, which unite people into social communities. The structure of social communication is as follows: subjects of communication (two or more people); the subject of communication (about what it is being carried out); relationship regulation mechanism.

Types of social connections:

Social contacts are simple, elementary connections between individuals.
- Social actions - actions that are focused on other individuals and rational, that is, they are meaningful and pursue a specific goal.
- Social interactions are systematic, fairly regular, interdependent actions of subjects aimed at each other.
- Social relations - relations between people (or groups of people), carried out in accordance with the laws of the social organization of society.

Contacts between people can be sporadic (for example, a trip on the bus with other passengers) and regular (for example, a daily meeting with a neighbor at the entrance). Social contacts are characterized, as a rule, by a lack of depth in the relationship between the subjects: a contact partner can be easily replaced by another person. Social contact is the first step towards establishing social relations, rather participation, but not yet interaction. Social ties arise when contact causes mutual interest. The variety of these connections constitutes the structure of social relations.

In sociology, a special term has been adopted to denote social interaction - interaction.

Social actions immediately follow contacts if the individual wishes to continue social connections.

German sociologist, philosopher, historian M. Weber proposed the following classification of social actions.

Types of social action:

Goal-rational - an action that involves a clear awareness of the goal, correlated with rationally meaningful means of achieving it.
- Value-rational - an action focused on certain values ​​(ethical, religious, aesthetic, etc.), adopted by the individual.
- Traditional - an action formed on the basis of imitation of certain patterns of behavior, enshrined in the cultural tradition and not subject to criticism.
- Affective - an action, the main characteristic of which is a certain emotional state of the individual.

The main characteristic of social interactions is deep and close coordination of partners' actions.

Conditions for the emergence of social interaction: the presence of two or more individuals, determining the behavior and experiences of each other; the performance by individuals of some actions that affect mutual experiences and actions; the presence of conductors transmitting the influences and influences of individuals on each other; the presence of a common basis for contacts, contact.

The following types of social interaction are distinguished:

By types:
- physical;
- verbal (verbal);
- gestural.
By areas:
- economic (individuals act as owners and employees, entrepreneurs);
- professional (individuals participate as drivers, bankers, professors, etc.);
- family-related (people act as fathers, mothers, sons, grandmothers, etc.);
- demographic (includes contacts between representatives of different genders, ages, nationalities and races);
- religious (implies contacts between representatives of different religions, one religion, as well as believers and non-believers);
- territorial settlement (clashes, cooperation, competition between local and newcomers, urban and rural, temporarily and permanently residing, emigrants, immigrants and migrants).

It is customary to distinguish between two main forms of social interaction - cooperation and rivalry.

When interactions become a stable system, they become social relationships.

Social relations are determined by the nature of society itself, reproduce it, maintain social order. Social relationships develop between groups of people.

Unlike social interaction, social relations are a stable system, limited by certain norms (maybe even informal ones).

In this system, the following elements are distinguished:

Subjects - the parties between which relationships arise;
- objects - something about which relationships arise;
- needs - the relationship between subjects and objects;
- interests - subject-subject relationship;
- values ​​- the relationship between the ideals of interacting subjects.

Social relations function within the framework of the system of social institutions and are regulated by the mechanism of social control.

Development of social relations

Today, the problems that hinder stable and long-term social growth are clearly visible - this is the low efficiency of public administration. One of the most serious obstacles to social growth in Russia today is a weak institutional environment, including an insufficiently high level of protection of citizens' rights. At the same time, the state does not ensure the provision of a sufficiently high quality of services. There are no effective mechanisms of civil control over decision-making in the main areas of socio-economic development. The demographic situation in the country is characterized by an extremely low birth rate, which does not ensure simple reproduction of the population, a high mortality rate, and an ineffective use of the migration potential, which does not correspond to the strategic interests of the Russian Federation and poses a threat to Russia's national security.

The decline in the population will not allow to ensure the formation of qualified labor resources necessary for the development of the material and intellectual potential of the Russian Federation, and contributes to the strengthening of Russia's technological dependence on foreign states.

In order to ensure and improve the quality of medical, social and educational services, modernization of healthcare, education and the social sphere is required, aimed at ensuring the compliance of state guarantees of medical care, educational standards, and forms of social support with available financial resources.

Uneven implementation of reforms at the regional and municipal levels imposes restrictions on the interregional movement of factors of production associated with the independence of the housing markets, capital and transport infrastructure, reduce the effectiveness of socio-economic ties between regions of the Russian Federation.

The concept of “quality of life” is used very widely, but it does not have a generally recognized formalized structure and a standard set of indicators. Priorities depend on the needs of people closely related to the level of development of countries and regions; therefore, the criteria for assessing the quality of life do not coincide for developed and developing countries.

The most complete list of quality of life components used in international comparisons and national assessments of developed countries includes the following blocks:

Population income;
poverty and inequality;
unemployment and labor utilization;
dynamics of demographic processes;
education and training;
health, food and nutrition;
the condition of the dwelling (settlements), infrastructure, communications;
resources and state of the natural environment;
culture, social ties, family values;
political and social stability (security);
political and civic institutions (democracy and participation).

Assessments of the quality of life are difficult not only because of the multidimensionality of this concept. For different groups of the population, ideas about the quality of life are different, and they are revealed through subjective assessments. Western studies combine objective (statistical) and subjective measurements based on regular mass polls of the population or expert assessments. Components such as social ties, family values, political and social stability can be assessed only subjectively, since there are no objective criteria. For the regions of Russia, the use of subjective assessments is not yet possible - this requires regular sociological surveys that are representative for each constituent entity of the Russian Federation. We have to use objective (statistical) data, although not all components of the quality of life can be measured with their help. Another problem of integral assessments is the determination of the significance (weight) of individual components of the quality of life; it remains insoluble. The majority of foreign and domestic studies are aimed at the fullest possible reflection of all components, but at the same time, the effect of the “average temperature in the hospital” often arises - the more indicators, the more difficult it is to explain the result obtained. For many regions of Russia, this effect is almost programmed due to a combination of indicators with opposite values ​​(minimum and maximum), as well as problems of reliability of measurements of most indicators.

The dynamics of the distribution of regions according to the quality of life index shows that the most noticeable positive changes occurred in the first years of economic growth, when more than half of the regions in the group with low values ​​of the index (0.50-0.59) moved into the “middle” group. These changes are associated not only with the growth of the economy, but also with the increased interregional redistribution of financial resources, which led to an increase in the income of the population and a reduction in poverty. However, the own resources of such regions were and remain insufficient for a significant improvement in the quality of life. For this reason, the shift of underdeveloped regions towards more favorable indicators of the quality of life has clearly slowed down.

In addition to expanding the “middle” group, the number of subjects of the Russian Federation with a higher index also doubled, the growth in the quality of life in them was provided by their own resources. The group of leaders (more than 0.800), previously represented only by Moscow, moved the oil and gas autonomous districts of the Tyumen region. Increased values ​​of the index (0.700-0.800) were reached not only by St. Petersburg, which is quite expected given the special attention of the federal authorities to the second capital, but also by several economically developed regions with a stronger social policy (the republics of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Komi, Samara, Lipetsk, Sverdlovsk, Yaroslavl and Vologda regions).

In the groups with values ​​below 0.600, mainly the eastern regions remained with the worst indicators of the standard of living and health of the population, and from the regions of the European part - the republics of Mari El, Kalmykia and the Ivanovo region. The least developed regions of the Russian Federation (the republics of Ingushetia, Tyva, the Buryat Autonomous Okrugs and the Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug) are “stuck” in the group with extremely low indicators (index less than 0.500), despite the increased volumes of federal aid. As a rule, it is precisely these most lagging regions of the Russian Federation that some researchers and politicians refer to, arguing that the growth of regional inequality can lead to the disintegration of the country.

Regulation of social relations

The constitutional principles of social relations (in the narrow sense of the word) are set out in Sec. VIII of the Constitution "Social structure". According to Art. 193 the social structure is based on the primacy of labor, and the goal is welfare and social justice. This is a beautiful slogan, the normativeness of which is rather abstract. It is concretized in the provisions of a number of chapters, some of which have as their subject really social guarantees, and the other part - spiritual and cultural relations, which we consider somewhat below.

First of all, we are talking here about social protection (a Seguridade Social), which is defined in Art. 194 as an integral set of acts of initiative of public authorities and society, designed to ensure the rights related to health, social security and social assistance.

The public authorities must ensure social protection based on principles such as:

Universality of coverage and care;
- uniformity and equivalence of benefits and services for the urban and rural population;
- selective and distributive nature of the provision of benefits and services;
- the irreducibility of the cost of benefits;
- fairness in the way of participation in covering expenses;
- a variety of funding bases;
- the democratic and decentralized nature of administration on a quadripartite basis with participation in collegial bodies of workers, entrepreneurs, pensioners and the Government.

Social security in accordance with Art. 195 is financed directly and indirectly by the whole of society in accordance with the provisions of the law from funds provided by the budgets of the Union, states, federal districts and municipalities, as well as from social contributions from employers and workers and from proceeds from gambling (concursos de prognosticos).

Health is characterized in Art. 196 as the right of all and the duty of the state, which are guaranteed by socio-economic policies aimed at reducing the risk of diseases and other health disorders and ensuring universal and equal access to measures and services designed to improve, protect and restore health. The importance of the state in this area is confirmed by the Constitution (Article 197). She believes that the conduct of health service activities is of public importance; the public authority has the right, on the basis of the provisions of the law, to issue norms on regulation, supervision and control; such events and services may be carried out directly or entrusted to third parties or carried out by individuals or legal entities of private law. In the latter case, we mean the use of private initiative. However, there are some restrictions on it. Private institutions can act as complementary to the unified health system; in accordance with the directions of the latter, through the conclusion of public law contracts or agreements, preference should be given to organizations of a philanthropic and non-profit nature. It is prohibited to use public funds to provide assistance or to provide subsidies to private institutions with the aim of making a profit.

In this most important social sphere, again, restrictions are imposed on foreign capital, since the direct or indirect participation of foreign enterprises or capital in the provision of medical care provided in the country is prohibited, with the exception of cases provided for by law. The newest problem concerning the transplantation of human organs is also reflected in the stated Art. 199 of the Constitution. The law should establish conditions and requirements facilitating the removal of organs, tissues and human substances for the purpose of transplantation, research and treatment, as well as for the collection, treatment and transfusion of blood and substances derived from it; in these cases, any form of trade for the purpose of generating income is prohibited.

Social security is regulated in great detail by Art. 201 and 202 of the Constitution. It uses the term "a previdencia social", which literally means "social foresight." It is a statutory general regime based on contributions and compulsory participation that balances funding and services.

Its principles are:

Coverage of cases of illness, disability, death and old age;
- protection of motherhood, especially pregnancy;
- protection of the worker in situations of forced unemployment;
- payment of family allowance and allowance to dependents of insured prisoners with low income;
- payment of a pension on the occasion of the death of an insured breadwinner, be it a man or a woman, to a spouse or cohabitant and dependents.

The Constitution prohibits the establishment of dissimilar requirements and criteria for the awarding of service pensions, except in special cases provided for by a complementary law. Payments replacing the insured's wages or other remuneration for work must not be lower than the minimum monthly wage. Indexation of payments is provided in necessary cases. The Christmas Compensation for Seniors and Retirees is calculated based on the monthly payment in December each year.

Participation in the general social security regime on the terms of optional insurance is prohibited for persons who participate in their own security regime.

Long-service pensions in the general security regime are assigned to men who have paid contributions for 35 years and women who have paid for 30 years, if they have reached 65 and 60 years, respectively, and for rural workers and farmers, as well as for miners and employed by fishing, the age limit is reduced by five years.

As in health care, the use of public funds to subsidize private, commercial social security institutions is prohibited.

Special regulation is established by the Constitution in relation to social assistance (Articles 203 and 204). It is provided to those in need, regardless of social security contributions, and aims to protect families, motherhood, childhood, adolescents and the elderly, especially infants and adolescents in need, to promote employment, provide training and retraining for people with physical and mental disabilities, and promote their integration into public life, to guarantee a minimum monthly wage to such persons and elderly people who do not have a livelihood or are unable to provide for their families. Social assistance for children and adolescents - Indians is specially discussed; people with disabilities can also expect benefits. Funding for such assistance comes from the social budgets of the Union, states, federal districts and municipalities, as well as from other sources.

A separate chapter of the section on social structure contains norms on the environment (Art. 225). The basic principle has been established: everyone has the right to an ecologically balanced environment, the public use of which is essential for a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, its protection should be carried out by public authorities and society in the interests of present and future generations. The Constitution provides for a series of measures that must be taken by public authorities to realize this right. In particular, when developing mineral resources, the law regulates the fulfillment of the obligation to restore the disturbed environment, which is monitored by the competent public authorities. Five regions (jungles of the Brazilian Amazon, swamps in the state of Mato Grosso, the Coastal Zone, etc.) are declared national treasures, and their use is regulated by law, which must ensure their safety. The location of nuclear reactors is determined by federal law.

Also, a separate chapter in the Constitution regulates the problems of marriage, family, the position of certain demographic groups (adolescents and the elderly).

The constitution declares that the family, the foundation of society, enjoys the special patronage of the state. The marriage is civil and is contracted free of charge. Religious marriage has civil consequences provided for by law. A stable union of a man and a woman is considered a family community and is formalized as a marriage in a facilitated manner. G. Dezen in his commentary indicates that the law recognizes the union as stable if it lasts two years. A family community is one that consists of two parents and their descendants. The rights and obligations of a man and a woman in marriage are the same, however, according to G. Dzen, the still acting Civil and Civil Procedure Code gives a man a clear advantage. The constitution places family planning at the discretion of the spouses and guarantees that mechanisms are in place to curb violence in the family. Divorce is somewhat complicated, because it involves preliminary separation for one or two years.

The duty of the family, society and the state is to provide children and adolescents with the absolute priority of the right to life, health, food, education, leisure, obtaining a profession, familiarizing with culture, dignity, respect, living together with others in the family and society, them from any form of neglect, discrimination, exploitation, violence, cruelty and oppression. The Constitution sets out in detail the relevant legal guarantees, instructions are given to the legislator.

Another constitutional obligation of the family, society and the state is to protect the elderly, ensuring their participation in public life, protecting their dignity and well-being, and the guaranteed right to life. In particular, persons over 65 years of age are guaranteed free travel on public transport.

Following the Constitution of Canada, the Brazilian Constitution in Art. 231, 232 regulates relations with the aborigines of the country - the Indians, recognizing their "social organization, customs, languages, beliefs and traditions, as well as the original right to the land traditionally occupied by them." The government must set the boundaries of these lands. Indians can use land, rivers and lakes in designated areas. However, the Constitution immediately provides for exceptions to the general rule: the exploitation by third parties of river resources, including the production of electricity, as well as the extraction of mineral resources and exploration of lands inhabited by Indians, can take place with the prior permission of the National Congress, which gives such permission after consultation with interested Indian tribes. In such cases, the tribes are given a share of the profits derived from the exploitation of the resources.

Indians, their communities and organizations are a legal party in the court in the protection of their rights and interests, and in these cases, the prosecutor's office is involved in the consideration of the case at all stages of the process.

With regard to the volume of constitutional regulation of social policy, its detailing, the Constitution, as we see, surpasses other similar documents of recent times; its entire social block, including social rights, could be called a social constitution.

Social organization relations

A group must meet several prerequisites to be considered an organization. These include:

1. The presence of at least two people who consider themselves part of this group.
2. The presence of at least one goal (ie the desired end state or result), which is accepted as common by all members of the group.
3. The presence of group members who deliberately work together to achieve a goal that is meaningful to all.

Combining these essential characteristics into one, we get an important definition: "an organization is a group of people whose activities are deliberately coordinated to achieve a common goal or goals." The above definition is valid not just for an organization, but for a formal organization. There are also informal organizations, groups that arise spontaneously, but where people interact with each other quite regularly. Informal organizations exist in all formal organizations, with the possible exception of very small ones. Although they do not have leaders, informal organizations are very important.

Thus, when the word organization is used, formal organization is meant. It follows from the definition that an organization always has at least one common goal shared and recognized as such by all its members. But formal management rarely deals with organizations with only one purpose. Management is the management of complex organizations. Complex organizations have a set of interrelated goals.

Their main features:

Realization of potential capabilities and abilities of a person;
- the formation of the unity of interests of people (personal, collective, public). The unity of goals and interests serves as a system-forming factor;
- complexity, dynamism and high level of uncertainty.

Social organizations can be:

Governmental and non-governmental;
- commercial and non-commercial;
- budget and non-budget;
- public and economic;
- formal and informal.

In addition, social organizations are distinguished by industry affiliation (industrial, agricultural, transport, trade, etc.); independence of decision-making (parent / maternal, subsidiary and dependent).

Subject of social relations

The sociological approach identifies the socially typical in the personality. The process of the formation of a personality and the development of its needs in the inextricable connection between the individual and society, the individual and the group, the regulation and self-regulation of the social behavior of the individual. Personality is an individual who is a bearer of not only biological and psychological characteristics, but also socially significant qualities. Personality is the integrity of a person's social properties, a product of social development and the inclusion of an individual in the system of social relations through active objective activity and communication. An individual becomes a person in the process of mastering social functions and developing self-consciousness, i.e. awareness of their self-identity and uniqueness as a subject of activity and individuality, but precisely as a member of society. Personality is a set of socially significant features integrated in it, formed in the process of direct and indirect interaction of a given person with other people and making him, in turn, a subject of labor, cognition and communication.

They become a person, not born. A person can be considered as a typical bearer of norms, values, traditions of a certain social group (or several social groups). However, refusal to accept values ​​does not negate the fact that someone is a person. Consequently, both the acceptance of norms and values, and the protest against them are personality traits. It is formed in the process of socialization (the individual learns the skills, patterns of behavior and attitudes inherent in his social role).

The inclusion of an individual in society is carried out through various social communities, which each specific person personifies through social groups, social organizations, social institutions, norms and values ​​prevailing in society, i.e. through culture. As a result, the individual is included in a large number of social systems of different levels: family, circle of friends, social organizations, working group, national communities, etc. Thus, a person becomes an element of this system.

Personality as a subject of social relations, first of all, is characterized by autonomy, a certain degree of independence from society, capable of opposing itself to society.

Personality acquires traits due to the specifics of the life of special social communities. The mastery of the traits inherent in these diverse communities, as well as social roles, is expressed in the social-typical manifestations of behavior and consciousness, and gives the personality a unique individuality, tk. these socially conditioned qualities are structured into a stable integrity based on the psychophysical properties of the subject.

Basic sociological concepts of personality:

1. The theory of the mirror "I" (Cooley, Mead): the core of the personality - self-consciousness - is the result of social interaction, during which the individual learns to look at himself through the eyes of others.
2. Role theory (Moreno, Linton, Parsons): personality is a function of the totality of social roles associated with a person's stay in social groups (personality is a function of social groups).
3. Non-behaviorism: personality is the result of a person learning the rules of life and behavior in society, a simple set of socially acceptable responses to social incentives.
4. Theories of social attitude: personality is the result of those sometimes unconscious attitudes that form society by the very fact of constant daily impact on the individual; a person gets used to being a person, he has an attitude to be a person.

The essence of social relations

Some authors see the essence of social relations only in the fact that they connect people in social communities. As an example that embodies such a position, the author gives the following, in his opinion, a rather awkward definition: “Social relations are one of the types of social relations, the specificity of which is that they connect people in social communities ... based on the same conditions. life ", and further it is said that these conditions, together with factors of a subjective nature," ensure the joint life of people. " The fact that the same conditions form communities of people is, of course, true (although joint vital activity is generated not by them and not by factors of a subjective nature, but, as they say, due to the very "nature of things"), but the main thing is that it remains unclear about what social relations are formed (which, according to this definition, are a type of social relations).

The idea is quite widespread that social relations are relations that develop about equality-inequality. This, says one reference publication, is "a specific type of social relations that expresses the activities of social actors regarding their unequal position in society and their role in public life." Here, too, there is an indisputable point - that social relations arise from differences in the status of subjects. But, I think, this is by no means the only basis for the emergence of this kind of relationship. Especially if we turn to the real problems arising in society, which in practice are called social. In addition, the absolutization of equality-inequality problems can lead to very dubious consequences. It is obvious that, for example, the authors of the dictionary published in Belarus, precisely because of this absolutization, assert that "social relations are generated by a class society."

The closest approach to understanding the essence of social relations is the approach according to which, together with the social status of people and their associations, the conditions and way (way) of their life are called as the forming basis for them. (Such ideas are also contained in some of the works already mentioned - in addition to the other provisions that are present there and we have considered.) But even this view does not fully clarify the essence of the phenomenon under consideration, since it remains unclear how it actually looks like - that social relations develop about living conditions. Without giving other examples (and their number can be multiplied), we can make the following considerations regarding the above judgments and definitions, which will lead to an understanding of the essence of the phenomenon under consideration.

First, in the structure of social life, even, as they say, with the naked eye, to see a special kind of relationship between people, which cannot be reduced to economic, political, spiritual, connected with the latter, but by no means being some kind of their “cut”, “ aspect ", etc. For example, the relationship between people who form some kind of one social, socio-professional or socio-demographic group, which express the community of interests of people united by the corresponding features and aspirations to defend them. Such a group may be a class, but there may also be a completely different kind of community, and interests may in some cases be associated with economics or politics, or may be of a completely different nature. For example, relations that unite people as consumers, expressing their interests and aspirations to resist manufacturers and traders so that they do not impose low-quality goods, do not cheat, etc. In this, as in many other manifestations of the vital activity of individuals and different social groups, it is easy to see social relations completely different from others, which form their special variety and can be called social.

Socio-psychological relations

Social psychology is both general scientific knowledge about the laws of social behavior of people and entire groups, and methods of empirical research of this behavior, and a set of effective means and technologies of social impact on such behavior.

The next area that we will pay close attention to is management psychology. Its main subject is the production of psychological knowledge used in solving problems of managerial activity.

The personality of the employee as a constituent unit of the work collective is studied by a number of branches of psychology, such as general psychology, labor psychology, engineering psychology, etc. The collective (or group) itself, in turn, is the subject of study of social, military, educational psychology, etc.

A distinctive feature of management psychology is that its object is the organized activity of people. Organized activity is understood not just the joint activity of people united by common interests or goals, sympathies or values, but the activity of people united in one organization, obeying the rules and norms of this organization, performing the joint work assigned to them in accordance with economic, technological, legal, organizational, corporate and a whole range of other requirements.

The rules, norms and requirements of the organization presuppose and generate special psychological relationships between people that exist only in the organization - such relationships are called managerial.

Socio-psychological relations act as human relationships, mediated by the goals, objectives and values ​​of joint activity, that is, its real content.

Management relations constitute an organized joint activity, make it organized. In other words, it is not a relationship in connection with the activity, but a relationship that forms a joint activity.

In social psychology, the individual worker acts as a part, as an element of the whole, that is, a social group, outside of which his behavior cannot be understood.

In the psychology of management, both the individual worker, and the social group, and the collective act in the context of the organization they belong to and without which their analysis in terms of management is incomplete.

Studying the personality of an employee in an organization, analyzing the influence of the organization on the socio-psychological structure and development of the team - these are the main questions facing specialists who study the problems of management psychology.

Unlike labor psychology, management psychology is relevant, for example, not the problem of the employee's compliance with his profession, not the problem of professional selection and vocational guidance, but the problem of the employee's compliance with a specific organization, the problem of selecting people for this organization and their orientation in relation to the features of the activity of this organization ...

The object of management psychology is people included in independent organizations, whose activities are focused on corporate goals.

The approaches to understanding the subject of management psychology are diverse, which, to a certain extent, testifies to the complexity of this phenomenon.

It is customary to single out the following management problems characteristic of the subject of this branch of psychology:

Socio-psychological issues of production groups and collectives;
- psychology of the leader's activity;
- personality psychology of the leader;
- psychological problems in the selection of leading personnel;
-psychological and pedagogical problems of training and retraining of leading personnel;
- functional and structural analysis of management activities;
- socio-psychological analysis of production and management teams and the relationship between people in them;
- psychological problems of the relationship between the manager and subordinates, etc.

Specialists in the field of management psychology, among all the variety of psychological problems today, distinguish a number of the most relevant for the organization:

Improving the professional competence of managers at all levels, that is, improving management styles, interpersonal communication, decision-making, strategic planning and marketing, overcoming stress, etc.;
- increasing the efficiency of methods of training and retraining of management personnel;
- search and activation of human resources of the organization;
- assessment and selection (selection) of management specialists for the needs of the organization;
- assessment and improvement of the socio-psychological climate, rallying personnel around the goals of the organization.

It is not by chance that a whole section is devoted to the psychology of management in this textbook, since the study of its problems and issues is designed to provide psychological training for managers, managers of various levels, to form or develop their psychological management culture, to create the necessary prerequisites for theoretical understanding and practical application of the most important problems of the sphere of management, which should include:

Understanding the nature of management processes;
- knowledge of the basics of the organizational structure;
- a clear understanding of the basic principles and styles of management and leadership, as well as ways to improve management efficiency;
- knowledge of information technology and communication tools required for personnel management;
- knowledge of heuristic methods for solving creative problems;
- the ability to verbally and in writing to express their thoughts;
- competence in people management, selection and appropriate training of specialists, in optimization of formal and informal relationships among employees of the organization;
- the ability to assess their own activities, draw adequate conclusions and improve their qualifications, based on the requirements of the current day and projected changes;
- a clear understanding of the structural features of the organization, motives and mechanisms of behavior.

Socio-political relations

The success of the policy of conquest (expansion) of the Arabs is largely due to the effectiveness of their social policy. Islam was presented as an egalitarian religion, i.e. a religion of equality, high morality, justice and order.

On the basis of the provisions of Islam and the common law of the Arabs (adat), a set of laws - Sharia (in Arabic - "a clear path to follow") was formed. Muslim law does not provide for preliminary investigation and thorough trial. It was believed that a speedy judgment as divine predestination is always right. The indisputable merit of the medieval Sharia was the recognition of the equality of all citizens before the courts.

The structure of state power was built on the basis of religious norms. The Caliph was the supreme secular and spiritual leader in a state with unlimited powers. An authoritative Muslim from the Quraish clan can become the Caliph. The ruling caliph proposes his successor, approves the community or the council of representatives (famous sages). An agreement is concluded between the community and the caliph, which is the basis of the state system.

In theory, the caliph does not enjoy any privileges, he monitors the observance of laws and himself obeys the norms of Muslim law. Feature - the head of state is elected by the majority of the Muslim population, he fulfills not his will, but the unshakable laws of Sharia.

Despite the existence of the election procedure, power is actually inherited, and the main struggle in Islam was unfolded between the supporters of two clans - the Umayyads and the Muhammads. Shiites added sura 115 - the right to rule for the clan of Ali (the prophet's cousin, married to his daughter Fatima). Shiites formed their sacred tradition - Akhbar. Sunnis - Sunnah, a clan of the Umayyads. The sect of Kharijites - caliphs should be elected only for their personal qualities, without taking into account kinship and social status.

Local officials were completely dependent on the caliph and at the same time were controlled by the relevant religious bodies (community). However, from the 9-10th centuries. as a result of the development of separatism, the power of the caliphs began to weaken, and government officials increasingly deviated from the principles of the "Islamic order".

The hierarchy and the mechanism of governing society are separated from the bearers of power. Not only from the tribal aristocracy, but also from Muslims in general. The military and administrative hierarchy consisted of Mamluks or Janissaries, the educated and trained children of slain enemies and slaves. For example, educated Orthodox aristocrats and priests were employed in the diplomatic service in the Ottoman Empire after the fall of Byzantium. Their progress on the hierarchical ladder was not limited, but controlled: a faithful servant could reach any heights, but death threatened for any offense. The position of the conquerors themselves remained unshakable and was not associated with any service. The collapse of civilization Toynbee associates with the involvement of the state. service of free Muslims.

Islamic civilization, according to Toynbee, can be attributed to civilizations "detained", that is, fixed in a certain state. Long lifespan. The essence of the culture of pastoralists, according to Toynbee, is not in their ability to use goats, sheep, cows, i.e. herds, and in the ability to use (train) dogs to manage the herd, horses and camels for riding.

For the first 10-15 years of the 7th century. about 100 thousand Arabs moved from Arabia to other countries. But this relatively small Arab "landing" for several decades carried out the implementation of two major ethnocultural processes - Arabization and Islamization.

Arabization is the process of assimilation of the language and culture of the Arabs by the conquered peoples. The Arabs did not seek to speed up this process, believing that people of other nationalities should not receive equal rights with them. Therefore, at the beginning of the expansion, knowledge of the Arabic language and the adoption of Islam did not make the citizens of other countries equal to the Arabs. The Abbasid dynasty (750) decided to equalize the rights of all Muslims. In the Caliphate, the differences between the Arab and non-Arab populations were gradually erased, and a single, but rather peculiar, Arab-speaking ethnos with a complex synthesized culture was formed.

Islamization - the process of spreading a new religion among the conquered peoples also took place gradually. Muslims were tolerant of Christians and Jews, but the Gentiles had to pay a much higher tax to the Caliph. In general, the attitude towards the Gentiles is contradictory: on the one hand, it is believed that the mission of the prophet is addressed only to the Arabs as to God's chosen people; on the other hand, the prophet ordered to convert "the unbelievers to the true faith." This allows you to change the policy depending on the moment.

Thus, thanks to the implementation of the policy of Arabization and Islamization, social and political cohesion of the population of the entire Caliphate was achieved, the spread of a single language of communication, which contributed to the formation of an integrating Arabic-speaking culture.

Social relationships of the individual

In the event that we consider social psychology as a science that primarily deals with the analysis and study of the laws of human activity, and a person is considered as part of a certain social group, then the first meaning that this science faces is communication and interaction of people.

The most basic task that is solved by social psychology is to reveal the mechanism of the introduction of the human individual into a certain social mass or reality. The need to solve this problem proceeds from the fact that we need to find out what is the impact of social conditions on the activity of the individual. But there are some nuances here, the difficulty of solving this problem lies in the fact that we cannot interpret the result of the influence of social conditions in such a way that from the very beginning there is some kind of “non-social” behavior of the individual, which then flows into the “social” one. This implies that we cannot, at the beginning of the study, first study the personality, and then consider it in the system of social connections. Personality is at one time both the creator of social ties and the result of the activity of these ties.

It should be understood that the personality and the system of social ties are by no means independent and isolated from each other structures. In any case, when we investigate personality, we investigate society as well. It follows from this that it is very important to first consider the individual in the general system of social relations, and not to forget that the system of social relations is society.

The study and fixation of relationships, works on a more general methodological principle, namely the study of natural objects and their relationship with the environment. In this connection, a person acts as a subject and therefore his roles in connection with the objects of the surrounding world are strictly distributed.

But the most interesting thing is that a person's relationship with the world is very different in content and level. Each person (individual) enters into a relationship with another person, thus, groups are formed, in turn, these groups enter into relationships with other groups, thus a network of a large number of diverse relationships is formed. In this variety of relationships, there are only two general types of relationships: social relationships (public) and psychological relationships of the individual.

The structure of social relations is investigated by a science called sociology. In the theory of this science, a certain subordination of various types of social relations, such as economic, political, ideological and other types of relations, in aggregate, representing a system of social relations, is highlighted.

The specificity of social relations of the individual lies primarily in the fact that in them individuals relate to each other not only as an individual to an individual, but also as individuals, representatives of certain social groups (for example, people of different professions, or political parties). The basis of such relations is not sympathy or antipathy, but a certain definite position occupied by each individual in society.

From this we can conclude that social relations are determined by objective factors, such as relations between social groups or representatives of these groups, as well as they are impersonal, their essence lies in the interaction of specific social roles, and not in the interaction of specific individuals.

Formation of social relationships

Social interaction is an invariable and constant companion of a person who lives among people and is forced to constantly enter into a complex network of relationships with them. Gradually emerging connections take the form of constantly acting and turn into social relations - conscious and sensually perceived sets of repetitive interactions, correlated in their meaning with each other and characterized by appropriate behavior. Social relations, as it were, are refracted through the inner content (or state) of a person and are expressed in his activities as personal relationships.

Social relations are extremely diverse in form and content. Each person knows from personal experience that relationships with others develop in different ways, that this world of relationships contains a variegated palette of feelings - from love and irresistible sympathy to hatred, contempt, hostility. Fiction, as a good assistant to the sociologist, reflects in its works the inexhaustible wealth of the world of social relations.

When classifying social relations, they are primarily divided into one-sided and mutual. One-sided social relationships exist when partners perceive and evaluate each other differently.

One-sided relationships are common. A person experiences a feeling of love for another and assumes that his partner also experiences a similar feeling, and orients his behavior towards this expectation. However, when, for example, a young man marries a girl, he may unexpectedly receive a refusal. A classic example of one-sided social relations is the relationship between Christ and the Apostle Judas, who betrayed the teacher. World and domestic fiction will give us many examples of tragic situations associated with one-sided relations: Othello - Iago, Mozart - Salieri, etc.

Social relations that arise and exist in human society are so diverse that it is advisable to consider any one aspect of them, proceeding from a certain system of values ​​and the activity of individuals aimed at achieving it. Recall that in sociology, values ​​are understood as shared views and beliefs about the goals that people strive for. Social interactions become social relationships precisely because of the values ​​that individuals and groups of people would like to achieve. Thus, values ​​are a necessary condition for social relations.

To determine the relationship of individuals, two indicators are used:

Value expectations (expectations), which characterize satisfaction with a value model;
value requirements that the individual puts forward in the process of distributing values.

The real possibility of achieving a particular value position is the value potential. Often it remains only an opportunity, since the individual or group does not take active steps to take value-wise more attractive positions.

All values ​​are conventionally subdivided as follows:

The values ​​of well-being, which include material and spiritual benefits, without which it is impossible to maintain the normal life of individuals - wealth, health, safety, professional skill;
all others - power as the most universal value, since its possession allows one to acquire other values ​​(respect, status, prestige, fame, reputation), moral values ​​(justice, kindness, decency, etc.); love and friendship; also distinguish national values, ideological, etc.

Among social relations, the relations of social dependence stand out, since they are present to one degree or another in all other relations. Social dependence is a social relation in which the social system S1 (an individual, group or social institution) cannot perform the social actions d1 necessary for it if the social system S2 does not perform actions d2. In this case, the S2 system is called dominant, and the S1 system is called dependent.

Suppose the mayor of Los Angeles is unable to pay utility wages until the governor of California, who manages the funds, allocates money to him. In this case, the mayor's office is a dependent system, and the governor's administration is seen as the dominant system. In practice, dual interdependent relationships often arise. So, the population of an American city depends on the leader in terms of the distribution of funds, but the mayor also depends on voters, who may not elect him for a new term. The line of behavior of the dependent system must be predictable for the dominant system in the area that concerns the relationship of dependence.

Social dependence is also based on the difference in status in the group, which is typical for organizations. Thus, individuals with a low status are dependent on individuals or groups that have a higher status; subordinates depend on the leader. Addiction arises from differences in the possession of meaningful values ​​regardless of official status. For example, a manager may be financially dependent on a subordinate from whom he borrowed a large amount of money. Latent, i.e. hidden, dependencies play an important role in the life of organizations, teams, groups.

Often in an organization, a leader relies on the opinion of a relative working here in everything; to please him, decisions are often made erroneously from the point of view of the interests of the organization, for which the whole team then pays. In the old vaudeville "Lev Gurych Sinichkin", the question of who will play the main role in the premiere performance instead of the sick actress can only be decided by the main "patron" of the theater (Count Zefirov). Cardinal Richelieu actually ruled over France instead of the king. Sometimes a sociologist, in order to understand a conflict situation in a team where he was invited as an expert, must start by looking for a “gray cardinal” - an informal leader who actually has real influence in the organization.

Power relations are of the greatest interest among researchers on social addiction. Power as the ability of some to control the actions of others is of decisive importance in the life of a person and society, but until now scientists have not developed a consensus on how power relations are carried out. Some (M. Weber) believe that power is primarily associated with the ability to control the actions of others and overcome their resistance to this control. Others (T. Parsons) proceed from the fact that power, first of all, should be legalized, then the personal position of the leader makes others obey him, despite the personal qualities of the leader and subordinates. Both points of view have a right to exist. Thus, the emergence of a new political party begins with the emergence of a leader with the ability to unite people, create an organization and begin to lead it.

If the power is legalized (legitimate), people submit to it as a force to resist which is useless and unsafe.

In society, there are other, not legalized aspects of the manifestation of power dependence. The interaction of people at the personal level often leads to the emergence of power relations, paradoxical and inexplicable from the point of view of common sense. A person of his own free will, not prompted by anyone, becomes a supporter of exotic sects, sometimes a real slave to his passions, which make him break the law, decide to kill or commit suicide. An irresistible attraction to gambling can deprive a person of his livelihood, but he returns again and again to roulette or cards.

Thus, in a number of spheres of life, constantly repeating interactions gradually acquire a stable, ordered, predictable character. In the process of this ordering, special bonds are formed, called social relations. Social relations are stable ties that arise between social groups and within them in the process of material (economic) and spiritual (legal, cultural) activities.

Levels of social relations

There are three levels of social and labor relations:

Individual, when the employee and the employer interact in various combinations;
- group, when associations of employees and associations of employers interact;
- mixed, when workers and the state interact, as well as employers and the state.

The subject of social and labor relations are various aspects of a person's working life: labor self-determination, vocational guidance, hiring-dismissal, professional development, socio-psychological development, vocational training and personal training, assessment of work and its remuneration, etc.

All their diversity is usually reduced to three groups:

1) social and labor relations of employment;
2) social and labor relations associated with the organization and efficiency of labor;
3) social and labor relations arising in connection with remuneration for work.

Social and labor relations characterize the economic, psychological and legal aspects of the relationship between individuals and social groups in the processes caused by labor activity.

The subjects of social and labor relations are:

- an individual is an employee;
- employer - enterprise (firm), entrepreneur;
- state.

An employee is a citizen who has entered into an employment contract (written or oral) with an employer (head of an enterprise or a private person). An important role is played by such qualities of an employee as age, gender, health status, education, qualification level, professional and industry affiliation. But, first of all, the employee must be ready and capable of personal participation in social and labor relations, have a certain mindset on the preferred ways of participating in these relations. A high degree of development of social and labor relations is usually characterized by the creation of special institutions acting on behalf of employees - trade unions and other organizational forms of associations of employees.

An employer as a subject of social and labor relations is a person who independently hires one or many persons for work. Usually, in world practice, he is the owner of the means of production. This practice is not typical for Ukraine, since in our country the head of a state enterprise is also an employer.

The state, as a participant in social and labor relations, plays the role of legislator, defender of rights, employer, arbitrator, etc. The role of the state in social and labor relations can change and is determined by the historical, political and economic conditions of its development.

Form of social relations

The form of social relations, characterized by the ability to influence the nature and direction of activities and behavior of people, social groups through economic, ideological and organizational and legal mechanisms, as well as through authority, traditions, violence. The essence of the. are the relationship of leadership, domination and submission. The most important species in the. is the political, that is, the real ability of a class, group, individual to carry out their idea.

The content of the institution of ownership is determined by the concepts of ownership, use and disposal, which the subject possesses over the object. This is not just about the actual possession, use and disposal, but about the right, i.e. a legally authorized opportunity to own, use and dispose of, recognized not only by the subject of property itself, but also by the society in which he lives. It is because of this that property acts as a form of social relations.

General and private social connections take place in different areas of life; we observe them, for example, in the economy, and it is inseparable from legal relations. Thus, the conclusion of an agreement between people is a typical example of a private or general legal relationship. Property is also a typical example of a legal relationship. Anyone who has the right to own something - a piece of land, a house, etc., believes that every other person or society as a whole must refrain from interfering with his power over what he owns. Thus, property is not a purely individual relationship of a citizen to a thing or through this thing to another person, say, to a buyer. If someone living, like Robinson, on an uninhabited island, considers his property as his property, then only imagining an indefinite number of some persons who are obliged to respect his right, not to interfere with him, to endure domination and disposal of objects belonging to him. But since there is no society on a desert island, then there are no legal relations. Therefore, in this case, it makes no sense to talk about property in the true sense of the word.

Property acts as a social phenomenon not in the sense that it presupposes the real presence of at least a few people, but in the deeper sense that the very idea of ​​property logically includes the assumption of a certain social connection, without which it is generally impossible to conceive of either the idea of ​​property or the existence of the latter. ...

Ownership presupposes a moment of public law limitation, i.e. implies a number of social responsibilities that society imposes on the owner, since it cannot tolerate the owner's obvious abuse of his right, harming the interests of society, or failure to fulfill the obligations of the owner. At the same time, the state can interfere with the rights of the owner, can restrict his freedom and even deprive him of this right, for example, when the environment is polluted.

Types of social relationships

The term social relations is understood as social relations between classes, groups, communities and other subjects, as well as their members. Social relations, or as they are also called - social relations, arise in all spheres of society. They are formed on the basis of lifestyle, social status and equality, and the degree of satisfaction of human needs. The various types of social relations and their differences from each other will be discussed in this review.

There are several types of social relations, which are divided by subject or carrier into: aesthetic, moral, mass, intergroup and interpersonal, individual, international.

The types of social relations according to the object are divided into: economic, political, legal, religious, family and household.

By modality, social relations are subdivided into: cooperation, rivalry, subordination and conflicts.

According to the degree of formalization and standardization, social relations can be divided into: formal and informal, formal and informal.

Economic relations are manifested in the sphere of ownership, consumption and production, representing the market, of any product. Such relations are divided into market relations and smooth distribution relations. The former are formed due to the freedom of economic relations, and the latter due to strong state intervention. Normal relationships are self-regulated by competition and supply and demand.

Legal relations are a type of social relations that is consolidated in society by legislation. As a result, legal affairs guarantee, or in no way guarantee the effective performance of the role of a socially functional person. These rules carry a great moral burden.

Religious relations reflect the interaction of people in the worldly processes of life and death, about the impeccable properties of the nervous system, spiritual and highly moral foundations of life.

Political relations center around the difficulties of power, which automatically lead to the superiority of those who wield it and the obedience of those who are deprived of it. Power created to organize social relations is realized as leadership functions in human societies. Its excessive impact, like its complete absence, has a detrimental effect on the livelihoods of communities. Aesthetic relationships appear on the basis of the sensual and emotional charm of people in relation to each other. What is attractive to one person may not be attractive to another at all. Ideal samples of aesthetic appeal are based on a psychobiological basis associated with the biased side of human consciousness.

Official and unofficial types of social relations are:

1. long-term (friends or co-workers);
2. short-term (may be random people);
3. functional (this is the contractor and the customer);
4. permanent (family);
5. subordinate (subordinate and boss);
6. educational (teacher and student);
7. causal (perpetrator and victim).

The priority social relations in the system of management functioning are the relations of power, dependence, domination and subordination.

That is, until one subject does the expected actions, the second is not able to make any decision or take action.

Social interpersonal relationships

Interpersonal relationships are social and psychological relationships of specific, "living" people who construct their behavior or at the individual or intergroup level of organizing their behavior.

The most important specific feature of interpersonal relationships is the emotional basis.

According to the set of feelings, two large groups can be distinguished:

1) conjunctive - this includes all sorts of bringing people together, uniting their feelings. The parties demonstrate their readiness for cooperation, for joint actions.
2) disjunctive feelings - this includes feelings that separate people, there is no desire for cooperation.

The task of interpersonal relations is to contribute to the unity of the social system and the desire to transform it and form a new system.

The formation of interpersonal relations occurs in the process of communication between subjects, which, in fact, is the main goal of communication, in contrast to activities aimed primarily at transforming the object of external reality.

The interactive side of communication is a conventional term denoting the characteristics of those communication components that are associated with the interaction of people, with the direct organization of their joint activities. We considered the principles of such an organization when studying the problem of interaction.

The problem of psychophysiological compatibility of individuals also plays an important role in the formation of interpersonal relations. But this applies to other branches of psychological science.

A person always enters into communication as a person and is perceived by a communication partner as well as a person. When communicating, the formation of an idea of ​​oneself through the idea of ​​another takes place, and each individual "correlates" himself with the other not abstractly, but within the framework of the social activity in which their interaction is included. This means that when building a strategy for interaction, everyone has to take into account not only the needs, motives, attitudes of the other, but also how this other understands my needs, motives, attitudes. That is, interpersonal relationships are necessarily mutual.

The main mechanisms of self-awareness through another are identification and reflection.

Identification means assimilating oneself to another. People use this method in real situations of interaction, when an assumption about the internal state of a communication partner is based on an attempt to put oneself in his place.

A close connection has been established between identification and another phenomenon similar in content - empathy. It is also defined as a special way of understanding another person. Only here there is not a rational understanding of the problems of another person, but, rather, the desire to emotionally respond to his problems, i.e. the situation is not so much “thought out” as “felt”.

Our interaction will also depend on how the communication partner will understand me, i.e. the process of understanding each other is "complicated" by the phenomenon of reflection. In social psychology, reflection is understood as the awareness of the acting individual of how he is perceived by a communication partner. This is a kind of doubled process of mirroring each other's relationship, a deep, consistent relationship, the content of which is the reproduction of the inner world of the interaction partner.

People not only perceive each other, but they also form certain relationships in relation to each other, which give rise to a diverse range of feelings - from rejection of a particular person to sympathy, even love for him. The field of research related to the elucidation of the mechanisms of the formation of various emotional attitudes towards the perceived person is called the study of attraction. It is mainly associated with interpersonal relationships. It is not investigated by itself, but in the context of the perceptual side of communication. Attraction is the process of forming the attractiveness of a person for the perceiver, and the product of this process, i.e. some quality of attitude.

Attraction research is mainly devoted to elucidating those factors that lead to the emergence of positive emotional relationships between people.

Most works show that, we begin to feel gravitation towards others, if, comparing ourselves with other people, we find similarities (and not vice versa).

Fundamentals of Social Relations

Social relations include relations in the field of work; interethnic relations; family-state relations; relations related to social security, education, health care, ecology, etc.

The social structure of a society is characterized by its social, national, confessional composition, that is, the division of society into numerous social groups, taking into account various criteria.

In accordance with Article 14 of the Constitution, the state regulates relations between social, national and other communities on the basis of the principles of equality before the law, respect for their rights and interests.

Labor relations between government bodies, employers' associations and trade unions are based on labor legislation. In this area, the state creates conditions that enable the employee to provide himself and his family with a decent standard of living, takes measures for labor protection, develops the social security system, etc.

In order to regulate interethnic relations, the Law "On National Minorities" was adopted. According to Article 1 of the Law, persons belonging to national minorities are understood as persons permanently residing in the territory of Belarus and having citizenship who, in their origin, language, culture or traditions, differ from the main population of the republic. Belonging to a national minority is a matter of individual choice of a citizen.

The state guarantees citizens who consider themselves to be national minorities equal political, economic and social rights and freedoms, exercised in accordance with the established procedure. Any direct or indirect restriction of the rights and freedoms of citizens of the Republic of Belarus in connection with their belonging to a national minority is prohibited. No one can be forced to determine and indicate their nationality, as well as to prove or renounce their nationality.

Any actions aimed at discrimination on ethnic grounds, creating obstacles in the exercise of their rights by national minorities, inciting ethnic hatred or hatred are punishable by law.

Culture of social relations

Social culture (culture of social relations) is determined by the regulations, values ​​and ideals that determine the behavior of people in society and their social relationships. This culture characterizes the activities of civil society, the state and other social institutions. The main forms of social culture include moral, legal and political culture.

Social values ​​cannot be achieved alone. For example, mercy, equality, humanity, democracy, civil liberties are realized only in relations between people. The values ​​and ideals of social culture are “designed” to try to implement them in reality. Society demands moral and law-abiding behavior from its members. Compliance with these rules and regulations is monitored by public opinion, law enforcement agencies, and the state.

There is a close connection between spiritual and social culture. On the one hand, the social culture of a society provides material for religious teachings, philosophical concepts, and works of art. They reflect, generalize and promote the ideas of social culture. On the other hand, in religion, philosophy, art, new moral, legal, political ideas are developed and developed, which are then embodied in the social culture of society.

Law, like morality, governs the behavior and attitudes of people. But if morality is an “internal” regulator of human actions, then law is an “external”, state regulator. The implementation of legal norms is monitored by public authorities. Morality is older than law in its historical age.

Legal culture is a set of values ​​and regulations, on the basis of which, in all areas of life that fall under the rule of law, the practice of relationships and actions of people, as well as various kinds of organizations, is built. Rules of law are legal laws. Obedience to the law is what is called the rule of law. The rule of law is the enforceable law enforcement.

People's ideas about law form their legal consciousness. It is expressed in judgments about what the norms of law and the rule of law should be, how they should be understood and interpreted, how one should relate to the legal laws in force in the state and to law enforcement agencies, etc. Law and legal awareness are two main components of legal culture ...

Political culture is understood as a set of regulations and values ​​that determine people's participation in political life. Political culture is strongly dependent on the political system of the state, which, in turn, is built in accordance with the nature of the national culture and takes root in society.

Culture and society. Culture and society do not correlate as a part and a whole, but interpenetrate each other. Society is a subject of cultural activity, and culture is a product of society's activity and a characteristic of the level, technology of its functioning, i.e. how people act, what they create and pass on from generation to generation. That is, culture is a characteristic of the technology of the way of life of a society. Thus, culture makes possible the very existence of society, and social relations, i.e. relations between people and social groups are an indicator of the development of a person and culture.

Features of political culture in totalitarian and democratic states.

Features of political and legal culture in a totalitarian state:

Monopolization of state power by the ruling party and its concentration in the hands of the leader;
- the state is actually not legal, the role of legal norms is significantly diminished: total control over the behavior and thinking of citizens, the rights and freedoms of the individual are significantly limited, dissent is severely punished;
- the use of administrative-command methods of management, centralized management of all spheres of society, political oversight of private life;
- the domination of a single nationwide ideology;
- strict control over the media, censorship;
- the priority of collective interests over individual human rights.

Specificity of political and legal culture in a democratic state:

State power is controlled by the population, its representatives are elected and replaced on the basis of popular vote; the activities of state bodies are strictly regulated by law and are under the control of society;
- the principles of the rule of law are being implemented; the legal system ensures peaceful rivalry of various political forces in the struggle for power; open nature of political life;
- priority of the interests of society over the interests of the state; favorable conditions for high public activity of citizens;
- non-interference of the state in the sphere of culture, in the activities of non-state organizations, in the private life of citizens;
- freedom of the press, no censorship; guarantees of civil rights and freedoms;
- individual human rights are placed above group rights.

In Russia, according to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, there is a democratic political system. However, it will be able to function normally only when a democratic political culture is strengthened in our society.

Features of social relations

The most characteristic feature of social relations is that in most cases they are not symmetrical:

First, the sympathy, respect or love experienced by one person in relation to another person may come across a contradictory attitude (antipathy, disrespect, hatred, etc.) of this other person;
secondly, a certain person can relate in a certain way to the president of the country, the chairman of parliament or the head of government, but at the same time he in most cases (except for people who are personally interacting with these political leaders) cannot count on any of them relationship to oneself, to mutual relationship;
thirdly, referring in a certain way to the society in which he lives, a given person can count on a certain, personally oriented attitude of society towards him only in the case when he gains wide recognition in society by his activities, as is happened in cases with prominent political leaders;
fourthly, social relations bind individuals and their groups in a certain way when their fundamental interests and needs (economic, social, etc.) become the object of these relations and when, in the process of developing these relations, people act as carriers of certain social statuses and roles, for the most part, they are neither mutually replaceable nor symmetrical, for example, a boss and his subordinate.

Thus, social relations are manifested in certain types of interactions between people, in the process of which these people realize their social statuses and roles, and the statuses and roles themselves have fairly clear boundaries and regulations, especially tough in management activities.

People constantly enter into more or less stable ties with each other. To this they are forced by material and spiritual needs, the satisfaction of which alone is impossible. The variety of social needs leads to the formation of a large number of social strata and communities in society. Some populations of people can be combined into social organizations and institutions. The named elements form a social system.

Social relations are various forms of coexistence of people and their associations. The nature of associations, their position in society, the nature of the activity of individuals and communities is the subject of this section.

Social structure of society

The concept of "social structure" is one of the key concepts in the theory of social relations. The fact is that it describes the fundamental phenomenon of social life. Various communities throughout the history of mankind have always been divided into castes, estates, classes, groups, strata, etc.

In classical sociology, the social structure was understood as a characteristic of the connections between the elements of society, its constituent people in terms of age, gender, profession, national and religious affiliation, territory of residence and other features. Although initially the social structure was understood as the class structure. The concept of "class" was introduced by French historians of the 18th century, then developed in Marxism.

Classes are large groups of people whose main distinguishing feature is their relationship to the means of production.

This implies their place and role in the system of social organization of labor, methods and sizes of obtaining a share of national wealth. Other researchers also referred to this concept, but in the second half of the last century it became clear that the class approach to social structure had significantly exhausted itself.

Therefore, the emergence of new concepts is natural: "Social community", "social group"And others. This topic is devoted to the consideration of these concepts.

Social structure is the totality of all relationships between individual elements of a social system. The elements are individuals, social communities of different types and social institutions.

A social institution is a historically established stable form of organization and regulation of people's common life.

The concept of "social institution" is used in most sociological theories to denote a stable complex of formal and informal norms, rules, principles that regulate various spheres of human life and organize them into a system of social statuses and roles. The structure and essence of social institutions are described in more detail in topics 1.6. and 4.10.

A social community is a collection of individuals characterized by the integrity and independence of social action.

People unite in communities for various reasons, for example:

• similarity of living conditions;
• solidarity based on common needs and interests;
• joint activity and exchange of activity;
• general system of cultural norms;
• joining one organization (for example, students or applicants);
• own assignment of people to certain communities (fans, fishermen, etc.).

Thus, there are many possible commonalities, so they are divided into two broad subclasses: group communities and massive communities.

Group communities are characterized by the following signs: clear structure, boundaries and a clear principle of entering them; stability in the time of emergence and existence; the ability to act as an element of wider communities (for example, family, group of friends, work collective). Mass communities do not possess these characteristics (fans of pop stars, philatelists, passengers of ground transport, etc.). One of the forms of mass communities is the "crowd".

A crowd is a mass community that briefly emerged in one place based on the similarity of needs and emotions.

The crowd has no single behavioral habits or prior interactions. When the need disappears, the crowd dissipates (fans leave the stadium, customers leave the store, passengers leave the vehicle). The concept of the crowd covers a wide range of forms, therefore, there are four main types of crowds.

The random crowd it is a collection of people who have nothing in common with each other, except that they observe the same phenomenon, for example, looking at the window of a department store.

Conventional crowd is a group of people who come together for a specific purpose and usually follow established rules, such as fans at a football match or spectators in a concert hall.

Expressive crowd is a collection of people who come together for personal moral satisfaction, such as at a religious meeting or a rock festival.

Active crowd- it is an excited gathering of people exhibiting forms of aggressive behavior where accepted norms are of no value.

Physical contact, overcrowding causes psychological and physical discomfort. Often there is a crush, which is characterized by negative social interaction - swearing, insults, conflicts, fights. These phenomena, as a rule, refer to unorganized mass actions. Other phenomena that characterize the crowd include mass hysteria, panic, pogroms and others.

Mass hysteria- a state of collective nervousness, increased excitability and fear. It can be triggered by rumors and gossip. Rumors and gossip are a collection of information that arises from anonymous sources and is disseminated through unofficial channels. They differ from each other in that gossip are usually based on fear or apprehension of some event, and gossip- on curiosity, envy, etc.

Panic - it is a form of uncoordinated mass actions of people facing danger. As a result, people prevent each other from getting out of a dangerous situation, often getting injured, and they themselves injure others. A pogrom is a collective act of violence taken by a mob against property or an individual.

Another type of mass community is public. Unlike the crowd, whose unity is created by physical contact, the audience is a spiritual community. Its representatives may not physically be together. This community is based on similarity of beliefs, rational views. If in the crowd a person becomes poorer, regresses, then in the public she gets the opportunity to enrich herself and progress. Thanks to the media, millions of people can have similar opinions without ever contacting each other. Any advertisement, including political, is addressed to the public.

As noted above, the main form of social communities is social groups.

Society acts as a set of many social groups. The number of groups on earth exceeds the number of individuals. This is possible because one person is able to belong to several social groups at once. The whole life of an individual takes place in these groups: family, school, college, company, friends, etc. A social group is an intermediary between an individual and the whole of society. There are many economic, demographic, ethnic groups that are formed objectively, regardless of the will and consciousness of members of society. They are divided for various reasons. Distinguish, for example, primary and secondary, large and small, formal and informal, etc.

Primary group- a social community, which is formed on the basis of emotional closeness. They are called primary because it is in them that individuals get the first experience of social unity.

Secondary group- a social community, the interaction in which is impersonal, functional. In these groups, individual personality traits do not really matter, the main thing is the ability to perform certain functions and achieve certain goals. This is how production teams and other organizations are formed. Emotional connections (friendship, love) can arise here, but all this should be set aside for the sake of the cause ("friendship is friendship, and service is service").

Secondary groups by the number of people are divided into large and small.

Small group- the social community in which individuals are v personal contact. The minimum number of such a group is two people. The maximum can be up to three dozen (team or training class). However, in sociology, it is believed that the optimal composition is a small group of five to seven people. Optimality lies in the fact that with sufficient resources of the group, stable social contact is maintained. The larger the number of people in a group, the less likely it is to be stable joint activity; even a dozen people begin to split into small groups.

There are two initial forms of the small group - a dyad and a triad. The basis of interactions in a dyad (a group of two) is an equivalent exchange. Exchange can be values ​​of the same quality (for example, physical actions), or it can be different (physical actions instead of spiritual activity, feelings, ideas). In such relationships, subjective predilections can dominate. In a triad, two can oppose one, then one is dealing with the opinion of the majority. Here the basis for an objective attitude to events arises. Thus, truly social relations arise in the triad.

Outwardly, it may seem that small groups and primary are one and the same. However, in a small group there may not be emotional unity (for example, an unfriendly class), but at the same time it may have a very specific practical purpose (training, watch, concert, etc.). Thus, a small group can be either primary or secondary.

A large group is a stable collection of people working together, but not in direct contact. They can include millions of people who are separated in time and space. Therefore, large groups can only be secondary.

Depending on the availability of an official legal status, social groups are divided into formal and informal.

Formal group is a social community, the attitude of individuals of which is regulated by legal norms. Such groups are created to solve certain problems in which society is interested. (For example, a school is for the training and socialization of the younger generation; the army is for the defense of the country; a factory is for the production of some product, etc.). These groups have a strict structure, ordered hierarchy, distribution of functions. The formal group is a secondary group. It can be either large (army) or small (pharmacy).

An informal group is a social community formed on the basis of trusting relationships. There is no strict separation of functions in these groups. Cohesion factors are the sympathies, habits and interests of its members. Relationships are built on respect and authority. The informal group is the primary group; it can only be small. These groups often arise within formal groups and influence their functioning.

All groups have similar features. First of all, it is group solidarity. The group has its own identity from the point of view of outsiders. Associated with this is a certain way of relations between group members between themselves and other people. Group members tend to communicate with “friends” in a manner that is different from communicating with other people. The group influences its member, and his actions are carried out under the pressure of other members of the group.

Depending on the sign of division in the social system, various communities can be distinguished:

• demographic (segregation by sex, age, family);
• economic (peasants, industrial workers, entrepreneurs, etc.);
• professional (teachers, doctors, lawyers, law enforcement officers, etc.);
• territorial (residents of cities, villages, suburbs, rotational camps and other settlements);
• national (Russians, Armenians);
• confessional (parishioners of the Orthodox Church, Muslims).

Currently, there is a complication of the social structure, fragmentation of traditional and the emergence of new communities.

Review questions:

• 1. What is the content of the concept of "social structure"?
• 2. What is a social community?
• 3. What is the difference between a group and a mass community?
• 4. What are the types of group and mass communities?
• 5. What is the difference between primary and secondary groups?
• 6. What is the difference between large and small groups?