E. GIDDENS

Sociology offers a clear and highly comprehensive perspective on human behavior. The study of sociology involves the gradual abandonment of our personal view of the world, identifying the social influences that shape our lives. Sociology does not deny or minimize the authenticity of individual experience. Rather, through it we become more aware of our individual properties, and therefore the properties of other people, developing sensitivity to the wide universe of social activities in which we are all involved... The study of sociology is partly a research process. No one can study sociology without questioning some of their deeply held beliefs.

Sociology: problems and prospects

We live today - at the end of the 20th century. - in a world that is gripped by anxiety and still full of anticipation for the future. It is a world in constant change, threatened by nuclear war, and characterized by the destructive destruction of the environment by modern technology. Nevertheless, we can control our destiny, make life as it was never dreamed of by previous generations. How does the world work? Why are our living conditions so different from the living conditions of our ancestors? What will the future be like? These questions are the subject of sociology, a discipline that should play a fundamental role in modern intellectual culture.

Sociology is the study of human social life, social groups and societies. It is a dazzling and exciting enterprise, dealing with our own behavior as social beings. The interest of sociology is extremely wide - from the analysis of unexpected meetings of individuals on the street to the study of global social processes. ... Understanding the subtle, complex and profound ways in which our lives reflect the contexts of our social experience is the basis of the sociological approach. The special interest of sociology is social life "in the modern world - a world that has arisen as a result of the profound changes in human societies that have occurred during the last two hundred years.

The change in human life over the last two hundred years has been radical. The point is, for example, that the majority of the population no longer works on the land; lives in cities rather than small rural communities. This did not happen until the modern era. Throughout virtually all of world history, the vast majority of the population produced its own means of subsistence, living in small groups or small village communities. Even during the heyday of the most advanced traditional civilizations - Ancient Rome or traditional China - less than 10% of the population lived in cities, and each of them was still involved in agriculture. Today, in highly developed industrial societies, these proportions have become almost reversed: as a rule, more than 90% of the population lives in urban agglomerations and only 2-3% of the population is employed in agriculture.

Not only the external aspects of life have changed. Change has radically transformed and continues to transform the most personal and intimate aspects of our daily existence. To extend the previous example, the spread of ideals of romantic love was largely due to the transition from rural to urban, individual society. When people moved to the city and began to work in industrial production, marriage was no longer determined solely by economic considerations - the need to control the inheritance of land and cultivate the land with the whole family. “Arranged” weddings, concluded through agreements between parents and relatives, became increasingly rare. Individuals began to enter into family relationships based on feelings and the search for personal fulfillment. The idea of ​​"falling in love" as the basis of marriage was formed in this context.

Similarly, before the advent of modern medicine, European views on health and illness did not differ from those in non-Western countries. Modern methods of diagnosis and treatment, which arose with the recognition of the importance of hygiene in the prevention of infectious diseases, appeared only at the beginning of the 18th century. Our views on health and illness have formed part of broader social transformations that have influenced many aspects of approaches to biology and nature in general.

Sociology begins with attempts to understand the initial impact of the changes that accompanied industrialization in the West. It still remains the basic discipline that analyzes its nature. The world today is radically different from previous centuries. The task of sociology is to help understand this world and its likely future.

Sociology and "common sense"

The practice of sociology involves gaining knowledge about ourselves, the societies in which we live, and societies other than our own in space and time. Sociological research both interferes with and contributes to our everyday views of ourselves and others. Consider the following statements:

1. Romantic love is a natural part of the human experience and therefore exists in all societies and is closely associated with marriage.

2. Human life expectancy depends on physical health and is not affected by social differences.

3. In previous times, the family was a stable unit, but today the number of divorces has increased greatly.

4. In all societies, people are unhappy or oppressed, so the suicide rate should always and everywhere be approximately the same.

5. Most people always value material well-being and try to achieve it if circumstances are favorable.

6. Wars are an integral part of human history. If today we face the threat of nuclear war, it is because human beings have aggressive instincts that are always looking for a way out.

7. The spread of computers and automation in industrial production will dramatically reduce the average working day of the majority of the population.

Each of these statements is incorrect or dubious and sociologists are trying to prove it.

1. As we have already noted, the idea that the marital bond should be based on romantic love is relatively recent and did not exist in the early history of Western societies or in other cultures. Romantic love is unknown in most societies. 2. The duration of human life depends greatly on social conditions. Forms of social life act like "filters" for biological factors that cause disease, illness or death. The poor are, on average, less healthy than the rich, for example, because they tend to eat less well, exercise more, and have poor health care.

3. If we look back to the beginning of the 19th century, we see that the proportion of children living with only one parent was the same as now, since so many people died in their youth, especially women during childbirth.

Breakup and divorce are the leading cause of single-parent families today, but their total number is almost the same as before.

4. Suicide rates are not the same in all societies. Even if we take only Western countries, we will find that the percentage of suicides in them is different. In the UK, for example, he V four times higher than in Spain, but only a third of the level in Hungary. The number of suicides increases sharply during the main period of industrialization in Western countries - in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

5. The value that many people in modern societies place on wealth is largely a consequence of recent developments. It is associated with the rise of "individualism" in the West - the emphasis we place on individual achievement. In many other cultures, individuals are expected to place the good of the community above their own desires and inclinations. Material well-being is often not valued above other values, such as religious ones.

6. People not only do not have aggressive instincts, but are also completely devoid of instincts, if by the latter we mean fixed and inherited patterns of behavior. Moreover, for most of human history, when people lived in small tribal groups, war did not exist V the form it subsequently took. Only some of these groups were aggressive, most were not. There were no regular armies, and when skirmishes occurred, their causes were jointly eliminated or reduced to a minimum. The threat of nuclear war today is caused by the process of “industrialization of war,” which is the main aspect of industrialization in general.

7. The seventh sentence differs from the previous ones, since it refers to the future, V about which one should at least be careful. There are very few fully automated enterprises, and the jobs that disappear due to automation are created in other industries. It is still impossible to be sure of the truth of this statement. One of the tasks of sociology is to choose a clear approach to such processes.

It is obvious that sociological results do not always contradict generally accepted views. Common sense ideas are often the source of correct understanding of human behavior. What needs to be emphasized is the need for the sociologist to be prepared to ask whether - no matter how close to reality - our ideas about ourselves correspond to reality. In doing so, sociology also helps to clarify what constitutes “common sense” at a given point in time and place. Much of what we take for granted, what "everyone knows", such as that divorce rates have risen sharply since World War II, is based on the work of sociologists and other social scientists. Many regular studies need to be carried out in order to collect many years material about specific forms of marriage and divorce. The same is true for many other areas of our “common sense.”

4.1. Concept and types of social change

Social change is the fundamental changes that occur over time in people's behavior, structure, culture and other areas of society. Thanks to social changes, society becomes somewhat different, while remaining the same in a certain sense. Changes can occur gradually or quite quickly, affecting larger or smaller numbers of people, institutions, or even societies.

Social change is a broader concept than social development. They include emergence, formation, growth, decline, dying, transitional state, etc. Not all changes occurring in society are called social, but only those that have social consequences.

Social changes are various changes that occur over time within social systems, in the relationships between them, and in society as a whole.

Social changes differ in the time of operation (long-term or short-term), in scale (partial or general) and the level of participants (organizations, institutions, large and small groups, interpersonal relationships, societal level), etc.

Society is constantly undergoing certain social changes. Its elements, structures, their connections and interactions move from one state to another. Some changes occur at the micro level (i.e., they are associated with a change in the position or role of an individual), while others occur at the macro level (i.e., they are associated with certain changes in entire social groups and communities, and even in the whole society). Social changes vary in scale and depth. It is one thing when these changes occur within the framework of maintaining the quality of a given social system, and another when they go beyond the boundaries of this quality.

The concepts of “change” and “development” are often equated. Hence, any change in society is considered as its development, which is understood in a broad sense, i.e. like its movement, change. But the concepts of “movement” and “change” are broader than the concept of “development”. Social change in the system may lead to the development of society and its structural elements, but this may not happen.

Social development in the strict sense of the word is not any change in the system, but only one that is associated with more or less deep, structural changes leading to the emergence of new social relations, institutions, norms and values.

Changes in the system constitute the content of development, and its essence lies in changing the structure of the whole.

Features of modern social changes

are: the acceleration of the pace of social change, the enlargement of scale (can cover all of humanity) and the increasing difficulty of adapting to the changes taking place.

The main types of social changes are structural, processual, functional and motivational.

Structural social changes occur in the structure of society, power, economic, political, cultural components of society (family structure, state structure, structure of the educational institution, etc.)

Procedural social changes cover various social processes: mobility (long elevators of class societies), migration (brain drain from the USSR in the early 90s), etc.

Functional social changes concern changes in the functions of social institutions, organizations, social systems (changes in the functions of the president, the Constitutional Court, the family, justice, the institute of education, the tax police).

Motivational social changes reflect those processes that influence values, norms, and ideals. They most significantly influence human behavior. Thus, in modern Russia, the leading motive for labor is wages, income, and economic incentives.

4.2. Theories of social change

Changes in society can occur through reforms, evolutionarily. But often radical revolutions take place in society, which politicians and sociologists call revolution.

Revolution ( from late lats . revolutio - turn, revolution) - a deep qualitative change in the development of any phenomena of nature, society or knowledge (for example, the geological revolution, industrial revolution, scientific and technological revolution, cultural revolution, revolution in physics, revolution in philosophy, etc. ). The most widely used concept of “revolution” is to characterize social development. The dialectical concept of development reveals the internal mechanism of the law of transition of quantitative changes into qualitative ones. Revolution means a break in gradualism, a qualitative leap in development. Revolution differs from evolution - the gradual development of a process, as well as from reform, being in a complex relationship with it, the nature of which is determined by the specific historical content of the revolution and reform itself.

In the course of social development, there are both progressive, so and regressive processes, both long-term evolutionary transformations and rapid revolutionary leaps. History shows that society as a system changes and progresses both under the influence of reforms and revolutions. Progress is one of the most important characteristics of the development process itself. The development category is applicable only to objects that have an internal structure. Interesting in this regard is the theory of the American sociologist T. Parsons. He developed concept of social change from the standpoint system-functional analysis. The scientist divided social changes into “changes in equilibrium,” i.e. changes within the framework of maintaining a given social system and its basic structures, and “changes in structure”, i.e. changes, when the most important elements and structures of society are qualitatively transformed, and thereby society itself is transformed. T. Parsons identifies special “evolutionary universals”, the appearance of which indicates qualitative changes in society as a social system. A structural change in society is considered by a sociologist, in fact, not as a normal, natural state of the social system, but as a deviation from it, as an imbalance. A distinctive feature of social development is that the social changes occurring within its framework have a certain direction, excluding the chaotic, arbitrary accumulation of such changes. Historically, the direction of social development is a movement from lower to higher, from simple to complex.

Recognition of objectivity, regularity and progressive development of society lies at the basis of the theory of social evolution. It became widespread in the second half of the 19th century. The theory is largely based on the teachings of Charles Darwin. According to this theory, historical development occurs on the basis of gradual sociocultural changes up to radical, qualitative transformations of society in the direction of the transition from simple, homogeneous to complex, heterogeneous. This teaching was widely reflected, in particular, in the sociological views of G. Spencer. He was literally carried away social Darwinism. This theory had a somewhat smaller, although quite strong influence in the first half of the 20th century. Its role in modern sociology has seriously declined. The reason for this decline was the increasing complexity of social development processes. Nowadays, the principle of evolution is no longer considered universal and does not apply to all social phenomena. But in the second half of the 20th century. the ideas of classical evolutionism received some development in neo-evolutionism. Scientists in this direction use more complex and flexible ways of representing social evolution.

Recognizing the very fact of the objective, natural-historical nature of social development, sociologists of different schools had different ideas about the essence and main content of the historical process. For example, O. Comte saw them in the progress of knowledge, which was reflected in his “law of intellectual evolution.” This law implied intellectual and social evolution. As we noted, G. Spencer saw the essence of social evolution in the transition of society from homogeneity to heterogeneity, in its complication, internal differentiation while simultaneously increasing its integration. K. Marx and his followers associated the main essence and content of social development with the growth of productive forces and corresponding changes in production relations, with a change in socio-economic formations. The French sociologist E. Durkheim considered the basis of the movement of society to be the transition from mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity, based on the deepening division of labor and social differentiation. Russian-American scientist P.A. Sorokin basically theories of social dynamics laid down broad integral sociocultural factors that, according to the sociologist, determine economic and political development.

In modern science, the development of society is associated, first of all, with the level of industrial or scientific-technical, scientific-technological, scientific-information development. These indicators determine other aspects of social life. We see such approaches in the concept of the “stage of economic growth” by W. Rostow, in the theory of “industrial society” by R. Aron(1905-1983), “post-industrial (technotronic) society” by D. Bell(b. 1919), 3. Brzezinski(b. 1928), A. Touraine(b. 1925), Oh, Toffler(b. 1928) and others, including the newest the concept of “information society”.

Many concepts for understanding society, its structure and development are determined by the controversial solution in sociology to the question of the sources of social changes and their driving forces. Some scientists (a clear minority) transfer the source of social development outside of society (for example, the absolute idea of ​​Hegel’s objective-idealistic philosophy of history or the natural-geographical environment in the geographical direction in sociology - Montesquieu, Mechnikov, etc.). Most sociologists, economists, and political scientists see the sources of change in society itself. The causes and factors of change and development of society are sought by scientists in the interaction of its various aspects, spheres, and elements of the structures of social systems.

The authors of the theories paid the greatest attention to the problem under consideration and gave a clear and detailed answer to the question about the source of social changes conflictological directions in sociology. These scientists proceed from the recognition of the decisive or very important role of social conflict in the development of society. The founder of this trend, as is known, is K. Marx. Marxist sociology has done much to develop the theory of social conflict. Although it must be admitted that this school emerged only in the 50s of the 20th century. and its founders are considered to be L. Coser, R. Dahrendorf, D. Bell.

Marxism viewed the development of society as self-movement, and saw the main source of social change in the unity and struggle of opposites within any social system, phenomenon or process. In the economic sphere, this is a struggle between two sides of the mode of production: productive forces and production relations. In the socio-political spheres, this is a struggle between opposing classes and their parties; in the spiritual - the struggle of antagonistic ideologies, expressing the irreconcilability of the corresponding class interests, therefore almost the entire history of mankind is presented by Marx and his followers as the history of the struggle of classes - slaves and slave owners, serfs and feudal lords, proletarians and capitalists. Social contradictions, according to scientists of this school, have always been and will be (although they do not always take the form of class struggle). They conclude that the change and development of society, its spheres, elements is not an abnormal, but a normal state. Marx's ideas on the sources and forms of social change had a serious influence on the teachings of many sociologists, in particular G. Simmel and others. We see the influence of Marxism in schools of conflictology in the USA, Western Europe and Russia, although representatives of these schools try to disown this fact . For example, L. Coser, R. Dahrendorf and others, although they interpret the causes and essence of social conflicts differently, most often recognize social conflicts as an integral feature of any society, and if not the main, then one of the main driving forces of social development.

Conflict, according to most sociologists, prevents the conservation and decay of society. Thanks to conflicts, society is renewed. In “closed” societies, as a rule, social conflict leads to polarization of socio-political forces, a revolutionary explosion and destruction of the social system. In “open” or “pluralistic” societies, accumulated social tensions are promptly discharged. Thus, the question of the existence of the social system itself is removed. R. Dahrendorf believed that the suppression of social conflict for the most part only leads to its aggravation. And “rational regulation” leads to “controlled evolution” of the system. So, modern non-Marxist conflictology considers the regulation of social conflict, in fact, as a means of achieving social stability (harmony, order); the stability of the system is considered by it as an ordinary, normal state of society. The pinnacle of social conflict is social revolution. Revolutions should be distinguished from government or palace coups, which are carried out by people at the helm of government and leaving the institutions and system of power in society unchanged. The term "revolution" is sometimes applied to gradual, peaceful, large-scale changes, such as the "industrial revolution." But in this case we are dealing with a completely different meaning of this term.

A revolutionary movement attempts to overthrow, destroy the existing social system and establish a new social order, significantly different from the previous one. While reformers seek to correct only some of the shortcomings and defects in the existing social order, revolutionaries believe that the system does not deserve to be saved.

Historical experience shows that democracy in the full sense of the word does not serve as a breeding ground for revolutionary movements. This is because democracy is the basis of social reform, and reform inevitably rejects revolution. On the other hand, where authoritarian rule blocks various reform movements, reformers are forced to attack the government and other authoritarian institutions of society. At the same time, many of the failed reformers become revolutionaries. Thus, revolutionary movements flourish where reforms are blocked to such an extent that the only way to eliminate the shortcomings of the social system is through a revolutionary movement.

Any revolutionary movement develops gradually in an atmosphere of general social dissatisfaction. American researchers L. Edwards and K. Brinton were able to identify the most typical stages of the successful development of revolutionary movements:

1) accumulation of deep social anxiety and dissatisfaction over a number of years;

2) the inability of intellectuals to successfully criticize the existing situation in a way that the general population understands;

3) the emergence of an impulse for active action, rebellion and the formation of a social myth or belief system that justifies this impulse;

4) a revolutionary explosion caused by the vacillations and weakness of the ruling elite;

5) the period of rule by moderates, which soon boils down to attempts to control various groups of revolutionaries or to concessions in order to extinguish explosions of passions among the people;

6) the emergence of active positions of extremists and radicals who seize power and destroy all opposition;

7) period of the terror regime;

8) a return to a calm state, stable power and to some examples of the previous pre-revolutionary life.

The French, Chinese and, finally, Russian revolutions generally proceeded according to this pattern. It is difficult to classify a movement as purely reformist or purely revolutionary, since in both cases a wide range of its followers can take part in the movements: from moderate reformers to radical revolutionaries prone to violent actions.

Even Montesquieu in the middle of the 18th century. said that small states die, as a rule, as a result of interventions; large, powerful states die mainly as a result of the betrayal of their leaders. Now Russia needs genuine reforms to improve the lives of tens of millions of penniless pensioners and the unemployed. The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks Russia in 100th place out of 191 states in terms of overall indicators in the healthcare system. For example, she put Belarus in 53rd place, Ukraine in 60th place. According to the Human Development Index, Russia is in 63rd place, trailing Belarus by 10 points. Russia needs reforms not in the interests of millionaires, but in the interests of tens of millions of its ordinary citizens.

Reform ( French reforme, from Lat. . reformo - transform) - transformation, change, reorganization of any aspect of social life (orders, institutions, institutions), without destroying the foundations of the existing social structure. From a formal point of view, reform means innovation of any content. However, in political practice and political theory, reform is usually called a more or less progressive transformation, a certain step for the better.

In an antagonistic society, reform, since it is forced in nature (a concession on the part of the ruling class to its class enemy), is dual both in content and in the influence it has on the course of social processes. On the one hand, reform is a real step forward, improving in one way or another the situation of the working people, a prerequisite for their further struggle, on the other hand, reform is an opportunity for the ruling classes to maintain their dominance. In many countries of Western Europe, where social democrats have been in power for decades (Sweden, Norway, etc.), social reforms have made it possible to form a powerful middle class - the backbone of society.

4.3 World system theory and the process of globalization

P. Sorokin admitted the existence of progress in social development and noted certain features of a new emerging civilization uniting all of humanity. Currently, this idea of ​​​​the formation of a single civilization on our entire planet has become widespread and developed. Its strengthening in science and in the public consciousness was facilitated by the awareness of the globalization of social and cultural processes in the modern world. What is meant by the term “globalization of social and cultural processes”? The term “globalization” is associated with the Latin word “globe” - that is, Earth, globe, and means the planetary nature of certain processes. However, the globalization of processes is not only their ubiquity, not only the fact that they cover the entire globe. Globalization is associated, first of all, with the interpretation of all social activities on Earth. This interpretation means that in the modern era all humanity is part of a single system of socio-cultural, economic, political and other connections, interactions and relationships. Thus, in the modern era, compared with past historical eras, the planetary unity of humanity has increased immeasurably, which represents a fundamentally new supersystem, “welded” by a common destiny and common responsibility. Therefore, despite the huge socio-cultural, economic, and political contrasts of different regions, states and peoples, many sociologists consider it legitimate to talk about the formation of a single civilization.

Such a global approach is already clearly revealed in the previously discussed concepts of “post-industrial society”. Consequently, we can conclude that every technological revolution leads to profound changes not only in the productive forces of society, but also in people’s lifestyle. The peculiarity of the modern technological revolution associated with the informatization of society is that it creates fundamentally new prerequisites for more universal and global human interaction. Thanks to the widespread development of microelectronics, computerization, the development of mass communication and information, the deepening division of labor and specialization, humanity is uniting into a single socio-cultural integrity. The existence of such integrity dictates its requirements for humanity in general and for the individual in particular. In this society, the focus should be on information enrichment, acquisition of new knowledge, mastery of it in the process of continuous education, as well as its application. The higher the level of technological production and all human activity, the higher should be the degree of development of man himself and his interaction with the environment. Accordingly, a new humanistic culture should be formed, in which a person should be considered as an end in itself of social development. Hence the new requirements for the individual: it must harmoniously combine high professional qualifications, masterly mastery of technology, competence in one’s specialty with social responsibility and universal moral values.

However, the globalization of social, cultural, economic and political processes in the modern world, along with positive aspects, has given rise to a number of serious problems that are called “global problems of our time”: environmental, demographic, political, etc. The combination of these problems has confronted humanity with the global problem of “human survival.” The founder of the international research center “Club of Rome”, which studies the prospects of humanity in the light of modern global problems, A. Peccei formulated the essence of this problem as follows: “The true problem of the human species at this stage of its evolution is that it turned out to be completely culturally incapable of moving forward.” keep up and fully adapt to the changes that he himself has brought to this world." Since the problem that arose at this critical stage of its development is located inside, and not outside, the human being, then its solution, according to A. Peccei, must come from within himself. And if we want to “curb” the technical revolution and provide humanity with a decent future, then we need, first of all, to think about changing the person himself, about the revolution in the person himself, first of all, changing the social attitudes of the individual and society, reorienting humanity away from the ideology of progressive growth of production and consumption of material values ​​for spiritual self-improvement. The current situation suggests that people must limit the consumption of some resources and replace some technologies. On his initiative, by order of the Club of Rome, large-scale research was carried out and global models of the development of crisis trends in the interaction between society and its environment were built. Scientists have come to the conclusion that the contradictions between the limited resources of the earth, in particular, the limited areas suitable for agriculture and the growing rate of consumption of an increasing population, can lead to the middle of the 21st century. to catastrophic environmental pollution, a sharp increase in mortality, depletion of natural resources and a decline in production. As an alternative to such development, the concept of “global equilibrium” was put forward, according to which it is necessary to immediately stop the increase in the world’s population, limit industrial production, and reduce the consumption of the Earth’s resources by about a hundred times.

The models of Forrester and Meadows drew attention to real-life problems of a global nature and forced humanity to think about further ways of its development. However, the flaws inherent in these models have made it possible to question their conclusions. In particular, that when compiling the model, the selection of parameters was carried out according to specific scientific and applied criteria, allowing for mathematical processing: average values ​​of production and consumption, services and food were calculated on average per capita. Only for demographic parameters was differentiation introduced, different age groups were taken into account. However, no global models could predict the colossal changes that occurred in the second half of the 80s and early 90s. in Eastern Europe and the territory of the USSR. These changes significantly modified the nature of global processes, since they meant the end of the Cold War, the intensification of the disarmament process, and significantly influenced economic and cultural interaction. Despite all the inconsistency of these processes, the huge costs for the population of socio-economic and political transformations, it can be assumed that they will largely contribute to the formation of a unified global social civilization.

4.4. Social movements

Social movements often arise during periods of rapid social change. Both collective behavior and social movements can spark social change because both occur outside the structure of our daily lives and break through our habitual and ordered social structures. Of course, there is a very important difference between collective behavior and a social movement. Collective behavior is characterized by spontaneity and a lack of internal structure, while social movements, in contrast, are characterized by a significant degree of internal order and purpose. It is this organizational capacity that allows social movements to challenge formal institutions. Therefore, sociologists consider social movement as a more or less persistent and organized attempt on the part of a relatively large mass of people to introduce change or, conversely, to prevent change from being introduced.

People actively intervene in the process of social change. Instead of passively submitting to the flow of life or accepting the blows of fate, they try to change the course of history. Social movements are engines through which people try to exert a collective influence on the course of events occurring in society. It is therefore not surprising that history books have been written about social movements - stories about great leaders, about the rise and fall of political movements, about the social unrest and changes that revolutions entail. Christianity, Crusades, Reformation, French Revolution 1789 and the October Revolution in Russia of 1917, the anti-slavery movement, the labor movement, Zionism, fascism, as well as other social movements, had a profound impact on the societies affected by them, and sometimes on the entire world.

Ideology is crucial for a social movement. It gives individuals ideas about the goals of the movement, logically justifies their actions, criticizes existing conditions or structures, and outlines a program of action. Consequently, ideology plays the role of a glue that unites people in their “service” to a common idea, thereby strengthening solidarity. Ideology not only connects isolated and disconnected individuals, it also unites them for a common cause, a common goal. Thus preparing them for self-sacrifice in the name of the movement, to give their lives for the “true God”, the “new nation” or the “revolution”.

Social movements differ in the goals that their ideologies set for participants in social movements. Some movements aim to bring about change in society by challenging fundamental social values, while others try to bring about change within the existing value system. Revolutionary movements are aimed at the complete abolition of the existing value system.

Reformist, movements seek to make changes to this value system that promote more efficient functioning of this system. Reformative are abolitionist (movements for the abolition of any law), environmental (movements for environmental protection), feminist (for women's equality), etc.

Movements resistance- these are social movements that aim not only to achieve change, but also to block the introduction of changes or undo changes that have already been made. For example, the movement of blacks in the southern states for the introduction of civil rights caused a response from the white population - the organization of councils of white citizens and the Ku Klux Klan.

Social movements expressive type They are distinguished by their desire to implement not institutional changes, but the revival or renewal of people from within (often with promises of future salvation being made). An example of such a social movement is the Pentecostal religious sect. Such movements mainly arise among the most underprivileged population, but religious sects do not strive to achieve comprehensive social change; their goal is not to change the world.

There are two approaches to studying the structure of a social movement:

1.Functional (involves analysis of structural elements from the point of view of the functions they perform in motion). In accordance with it, we can distinguish 1) a system of values, norms, ideas, principles that form the ideology and worldview of the participants (humanism, feminism, altruism); 2) strategy and tactics of struggle that determine the general direction of the proposed social changes (revolution, reform, counter-revolution); 3) means and methods of achieving the set goal, resources and tools of the movement: rallies, strikes, picketing); 4) headquarters, ensuring the development of basic ideological and theoretical principles and leadership; 5) peripheral organizations that implement the strategic and tactical goals of the movement on the ground; 6) an information and communication system that ensures communication of all participants vertically (from management to ordinary members and back) and horizontally (between movement participants within the region, country, world).

2. Organizational (analysis of structural elements from the point of view of their role in the process of organizing the movement). This approach allows us to identify 1) “people of words” - intellectuals, creators of the ideology of the movement; 2) activists-agitators who transform ideological constructs into the mindset of the masses, into mass
actions; 3) “people of action” - practitioners involved in organizing the movement and consolidating its ranks; 4) convinced supporters - those for whom the goals of the movement coincide with their vital interests in life (African Americans participating in the movement for their civil rights); 5) ordinary members - those who are related to this movement, but do not experience this connection as their urgent need (African Americans, who, in principle, are satisfied with the existing state of affairs); 6) sympathizers - those who have nothing to do with the movement, but express sympathy for its goals (white
Americans are opponents of discrimination based on race); 7) random fellow travelers - people who joined the movement in the hope of acquiring something (wealth, prestige) if it wins.

Typology of social movements: I) according to the scale of expected changes: reformist, radical, revolutionary; 2) according to the quality of the proposed changes: progressive and reactionary (“retroactive”); 3) in relation to the goals of the proposed changes: socio-political (strive for changes in politics, economics, shifts in class and stratification structures), sociocultural (strive to change beliefs, values, norms, symbols); mystical (religious) (fighting for the salvation of their members and the general revival of the religious spirit), calling for self-improvement, mental and physical comfort (health groups, “walruses”); 4) according to the “vector” of changes: positive, negative and alternative (paired movements: left-right, atheists-fundamentalists); 5) according to the action strategy; instrumental (seek to gain political power and, with its help, bring about the intended changes: socio-political movements) and expressive (seek to achieve autonomy, cultural or political equality for their members or wider communities: ethnic feminist, gay rights movement); 6) by historical type: old (focused on economic interests, uniting people according to a strict class principle: workers, farmer movements) and new.

Review questions: 1. What are social changes and how do they differ from development? 2. What types of social changes do you know? Give examples of such changes. 3. How do representatives of progressive and regressive, evolutionary and revolutionary views explain the direction and sources of social change? 4. Provide evidence of the process of globalization in the modern world. 5. Describe the main types of social movements.

Bibliography

Aron, L. Ideas of revolution and revolutionary ideas [Text] / L. Aron // Questions of Economics. 2005. No. 11. P. 137-144.

Bagratuni, K. Yu. On the issue of the national strategy of the Russian Federation in the context of globalization (motivational aspect) [Text] / K. Yu. Bagratuni // Social and humanitarian knowledge. 2004. No. 6. P. 297-307.

Vidojevic, Z. Globalization, chaos and conflicts in the modern world [Text] / Z. Vidoevich // Socis. 2005. No. 4. P. 25-32.

Kostyuk, V. I. Social evolution over large time intervals [Text] / V. I. Kostyuk // Social sciences and modernity. 2007. No. 1. P. 157-166.

Kozyrev, G. I. Social processes and changes / G. I. Kozyrev // Socis. 2005. No. 3. P. 113-118.

Levashov, V. K. Society and globalization [Text] / V. K. Levashov // Socis. 2005. No. 4. P. 14-24.

Nartov, V. A. Sociology [Text]: textbook for university students / V. A. Nartov, V. Yu. Velsky. - M.: UNITY-DANA, 2005. P. 183-205, 417-449.

Nikiforov, A. A. Revolution as an object of theoretical understanding: achievements and dilemmas of subdiscipline [Text] / A. A. Nikiforov // Polis. 2007. No. 5. P. 92-104.

Petrosyan, V. K. Social evolution: a general theoretical model [Text] / V.K. Petrosyan // Social and humanitarian knowledge. 2005. No. 5. P. 314-323.

Sociology [Text]: textbook for universities / A. I. Kravchenko, V. F. Anurin. – St. Petersburg. : Peter, 2006. pp. 301-373.

Social transformations in Russia: theory, practice, comparative analysis [Text]: textbook / ed. V. A. Yadova. - M.: Flinta, 2005.- 584 p.

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Page creation date: 2017-04-03

From Natalia Kotelnikova:

This article may give you peace of mind in the wrong places. ALL OF THE SYMPTOMS THAT ARE LISTED COULD BE AN ACTUAL DISEASE THAT WOULD ACTUALLY SUFFER YOU SEVERELY, SUCH AS PULMONARY. Keep your nose to the wind, stay up to date with the latest news, but remember that channelings are written mainly by people over 50, and they sometimes tend to wishful thinking - their real ailments as symptoms of transition. I want to say that I have never had such symptoms. But if you cannot explain your physical condition in any way and the doctors say that everything is fine with you, then this may also be a symptom of transition.

I join in the loss of memory and disorientation, also names and numbers have always been difficult for me, but now it has become more difficult, because I conduct seminars... Those who connect with the Teachers, with the Great Goddess and their own mentors often meditate and are in the higher channels , is practically freed from the instability of one’s own energy, because constantly undergoes harmonization and attunement of the body and psyche with higher vibrations. Our ascension process is gentle and unnoticeable.

Everything in the world vibrates at the nano level. These vibrations are of different frequencies, and, if we talk about people, then it is by your individual vibrations, by the set of vibrations of the organs of your body, that you can create your true ID (identification number), which will not be repeated in any living creature.

The objective world also vibrates - planet Earth, Space, the Sun are in a state of continuous vibration.

Life in our era is such that we will have to experience a moment of change in the vibrations of our planet, the Sun and the entire Solar System.

With the increase in vibrations of the planet and the Sun, it is assumed that living beings included in this System should also evolve in frequency. But alas, not everyone succeeds. Therefore, those who do not conform become uncomfortable.

Everything in the Universe is interconnected. We are connected with our planet Earth, just as it is connected with the Solar System, just as the entire Solar System is connected with the Galaxy, and the Galaxy with the Universe. It's all one living organism.

The planets of the Solar System are changing their vibrations, and this is happening now. Changes in vibrations lead to changes in the magnetic field. You can accept it or not, but the facts are this: the pole shift is already underway.

DNA undergoes dramatic changes.

Attention! A very important article related to solar flares!

THE SUN HELPES US TRANSFORM DNA.

The changes are not discussed publicly because the scientific community believes it might scare the public. However, people change at the cellular level. Most people know and feel this. Many religions talked about change and knew it would happen in different ways. This is a positive mutation, although physically, mentally and emotionally you may experience fear and confusion..."

Today, human DNA has begun to mutate under the influence of solar activity. I am writing this because many are scared, try to look for doctors, unable to recognize the process of changes in their physical body on a deep level. But the treatment does not work, government medical proposals do not work, all this does not correspond to the challenges that the Sun offers to man.

These symptoms come and go unexpectedly, appear for no reason, and go away on their own. These are good signs: the body is sending you a message that it is freeing itself from old biology and old thinking, do not lag behind it.

Symptoms that occur when DNA mutations and body changes at the cellular level:

- Feeling tired or exhausted with little exertion.
- The desire to sleep longer or more often than usual.
- Flu symptoms are high fever, sweat, pain in bones and joints, etc., and all this cannot be treated with antibiotics.
- Dizziness
- Ringing in the ears
- An important symptom is pain in the heart, cardiac arrhythmia, which occurs due to the heart adjusting to new energies.

Now is the time to open the 4th chakra, the chakra of love and compassion, it is often blocked, and its activation can be accompanied by attacks of melancholy and fear. The 4th chakra is associated with the thymus gland. This organ is located in the front of the lungs and is in its infancy for most. When the 4th chakra begins to open, the thymus begins to grow. At a later stage, it may even be visible on tomography. The growth of the thymus gland is associated with chest pain, suffocation, and again there may be symptoms of bronchitis - pneumonia, in which doctors will mistakenly diagnose influenza or pneumonia.

- Headaches, migraines, runny nose, with sneezing, from morning to evening, for days and months.
- Diarrhea.
- A feeling that the whole body is vibrating - especially when a person is in a relaxed state.
- Intense muscle spasms.
- Tingling - in the arms or legs.
- Loss of muscle strength - in the arms, caused by changes in the circulatory system.
- Sometimes difficulty breathing, need to breathe deeper, feeling of lack of oxygen
- Changes in the immune system
- Changes in the lymphatic system
- Nails and hair grow faster than usual.
- Attacks of depression without any real reason.
- Tension, anxiety and high levels of stress - you feel that something is happening, but you don’t know what it is.

Sometimes signs of diseases that you thought were healed long ago may appear. these are the roots of ailments that have been preserved at other information levels of your body. The disease may even proceed acutely, perhaps in reverse, but faster than it progressed when you were sick. This means that the body gets rid of the disease at a deeper level.

Our body is very intelligent, and often smarter than ourselves!

Now what to do:

Take a walk. Move.

Homeopathy.

Use of essential oils.

Shiatsu massage.

Stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch.

Stretch your muscles.

Do exercises for your neck - head up, down, left and right, put your ear on your shoulder, then on the other...

Breathe, if you feel like it's coming - breathe deeply, as much as you can, as slowly as you can. AND remember this advice for the situation when day X comes(and he will come!) automatically: if anything happens, breathe deeply. If you feel a mental or physical rabbit hole - breathe, remember. If you have time, study pranayama.

Here are some psychophysical symptoms and an attempt to explain how to approach this.

1. Feeling like you are in a pressure cooker of intense energy, stress.
Remember, to adapt to a higher vibration, you must eventually change. Old patterns of behavior and beliefs come to the surface in a conflicting form.

2. Feeling of disorientation, loss of sense of place. You're not in 3D anymore (you're in the army now).

3. Unusual pain in different parts of the body. It is the released previously blocked energies that vibrate in 3D while you vibrate in a higher dimension.

4. Waking up at night between 2 and 4 o'clock. A lot happens to you in your sleep. Therefore, you may sometimes even need a break during these intense processes and wake up.

5. Forgetfulness. You notice how some details fall out of your memory. the fact is that from time to time you are in the border zone, in more than one dimension, hanging back and forth, and physical memory can simply be blocked at these moments.

Besides. The past is part of the old, and the old is gone forever.

6. Loss of identity. You are trying to access your past self, but it is no longer possible. You may sometimes catch yourself feeling like you don't know who it is when looking at yourself in the mirror.

7. Out-of-body experience. You may feel as if someone is talking, but it is not you. This is a natural defense mechanism for survival. When you are under stress, the body experiences a lot of pressure, and you feel as if you are leaving the body at the moment. So you shouldn't experience what your body is going through right now. It lasts moments and passes.

8. Increased sensitivity to the environment. Crowds, noise, food, box, voices - you can hardly stand it all.

You easily fall into a state of depression and, conversely, easily become excited and hyperexcited.

Your psyche is being adjusted.

9. You don't feel like doing anything. This is not laziness or depression, this is a ‘reboot’. Your body knows what it needs.

10. Intolerance of 3D lower vibrational phenomena, conversations, relationships, social structures, etc. They literally make you feel sick. You grow and no longer coincide with much and much of what surrounded you. It will fall away on its own, don’t worry.

11. Sudden disappearance of friends, changes in habits, work and place of residence. You are evolving and these people no longer match your vibration. The new one will come soon and will be much better.

12. Days or periods of extreme fatigue. Your body loses density and undergoes intense restructuring.

13. If you feel low blood sugar attacks, eat more often. On the contrary, you may not want to eat at all.

14. Emotional destabilization, tears. all the emotions that you experienced before and accumulated in yourself come out.

15. Feeling like the roof is moving. It's OK. You open up out-of-body experience and experience of other frequencies - that is, realities. Much has become more accessible to you now. You're just not used to it. Your inner knowledge and intuition grow stronger and barriers disappear.

16. Anxiety and panic. Your ego loses most of itself and is afraid. Your physiological system is experiencing overload. Something is happening to you that you cannot understand.

17. You are also losing the low vibration behavior patterns that you have developed for yourself to survive in 3D.

This can make you feel vulnerable and helpless. You will soon no longer need these patterns and patterns of behavior. Just wait.

18. Depression. The outside world does not correspond to your needs and emotions.

You are releasing dark energies that have been inside of you. Go this way.

19. Dreams. Many people are aware that they are experiencing unusually intense dreams.

20. Unexpected sweat and temperature fluctuations. Your body changes the “heating” system, burns the remnants of the past.

21. Your plans suddenly change in the middle of the journey and you start going in a completely different direction. Your soul is trying to balance your energy. Your soul knows more than you, trust it.

In your CONSCIOUSNESS there are suppressed, unmet needs for KINDNESS, PERFECTION, INTEGRITY, LAW, JUSTICE AND ORDER. Perhaps because of this, you have or may experience such PATHOLOGIES as ANTIPATY, DISTRUST, RELIANCE ONLY ON YOURSELF AND FOR YOURSELF, DISINTEGRATION, ANGER, CYNISM, TOTAL EGOISM.

Never before have changes in the life of society and the individual occurred so rapidly! Moral norms, relationships between people, family traditions, and educational standards are changing. New professions, social institutions, and political parties are emerging. Every day a person is bombarded with a huge flow of information. Not everyone can withstand the frantic pace of life. Many people are in a constant state of stress and feel fear or confusion about the future.

But life cannot be stopped. Development and transformation are integral characteristics of any society.

Concept and main reasons

Due to its abstract nature, there is no single definition of this concept in science. In a general sense, social change refers to changes that occur over a short or long period of time in social structures and society as a whole.

The following reasons for the transformations in modern times are identified:

Changes in the political, cultural, and social life of society can be realized gradually, smoothly, sometimes even imperceptibly for the average person, which makes it possible to characterize the ongoing changes as evolutionary.

Rapid transformation, leading to qualitative changes in one or more spheres of society, are called revolutionary.

Modern science, in addition to evolutionary and revolutionary, identifies cyclical changes in society, in which social phenomena (processes) are repeated at other times and under other conditions.

Views of scientists

Scientists presented the main reason for the changes taking place in society in different ways.

O. Comte saw it in the progress of the human mind, in the transition from a military society to an industrial one.

G. Spencer He considered the fundamental condition for transformation to be the complication of the structure of society, the growth of self-awareness and personal freedom.

K. Marx assigned the main role in the transformation of society to the productive forces.

The main reason for social change is M. Weber- social structures necessary for social development. When creating these structures, each person relies on his own moral and political attitudes, as well as religious views.

It was religion that Weber assigned a key role in the progress of humanity and recognized it as the driving force in the development of society.

Having subjected a deep analysis to the main world religions (Confucianism, Buddhism, Judaism), Weber came to the conclusion that it is beliefs that leave an imprint on the methods of farming, the structure of society, and the development of civilization as a whole. For example, immersion in one’s own feelings and the desire to acquire spiritual experience, characteristic of Confucianism and Buddhism, hinder the advancement of capitalism in the East.

The sociologist also sees the reasons for the rapid development of Western society in religious views and personal characteristics characteristic of Europeans: rational thinking, a tendency towards bureaucracy.

The change in the structure of society and the emergence of new social institutions in Weber's sociology is associated with the concept of charisma. It is this quality, inherent in some public leaders and generals, that distinguishes an outstanding personality from ordinary people. The owner of charisma is credited with exceptional, superhuman abilities (Buddha, Christ). A charismatic leader, according to the scientist, can make changes even to a stable social structure devoid of dynamism.

Factors promoting social change

With all their diversity, the main factors of social change can be combined into the following groups: social, economic, political, technological.

The characteristics of each group are presented in the table.

Table. Factors of change in society

What social changes are taking place in modern society

Transformation in one area of ​​social life entails changes in other areas. Transformations are taking place in the political (election of new government leaders, change of forms of government), cultural (revival of customs, rethinking of history), social sphere (emergence of new social groups, professions).

In modern society, close political and economic ties are being established between states and a unified information field is being created. World powers are becoming interconnected and interdependent. This process is called globalization. It has both positive (technological growth, creation of new jobs, free access to information) and negative (environmental problems, unprecedented increase in migration flows, uneven economic development of states) sides.

In modern Russia

When considering the transformations taking place in our country, we must not forget that the Russian Federation is not an isolated state. All processes characteristic of the world community also affect Russia.

Over the past few decades, serious changes have occurred both in the structure of society and in the worldview of Russians.

Many sociologists, characterizing trends in changes in the lives of Russians, attach particular importance to the process of computerization and the use of the Internet. The following main aspects are highlighted:

1. automation of some stages of the labor process, i.e., some of the functions previously performed by people are now performed by mechanisms;
2. the ability to quickly obtain diverse information. Optimistic researchers believe that access to the Internet will lead to an increase in population literacy. Unfortunately, having knowledge does not always mean its correct application;
3. changing forms and methods of communication between people. Friendly conversations are increasingly taking place through messaging via mobile applications or emails. To convey emotions, interlocutors use the language of ideograms and emoticons;
4. creation of information computer databases. Personal information provided by a person for one purpose (purchasing online, paying for goods with a bank card, etc.) can potentially be used for other purposes. Some researchers see this as a danger of unauthorized surveillance of the private lives of citizens.

A person living in constantly changing circumstances is forced to develop new qualities that help him adapt to the world around him. To feel comfortable and successfully adapt to any situation without being subject to constant stress, you need to have not only knowledge and skills, but also flexibility of thinking, mobility and the ability to critically evaluate incoming information.