Society in a broad sense should be understood as a set of ways of interaction and forms of bringing people together. Any society has an internal structure. In the modern world, the internal structure of society is quite complex. This is due to the variety of options for the interaction of people and the forms of their association.
Subsystems
They stand out depending on the forms of association of people and their interaction. The main social subsystems are: political, economic and spiritual.
Depending on the subjects involved in the interaction, a professional, family, class, settlement, demographic form of people's association is distinguished.
There is also a classification of subsystems according to the type of public relations. On this basis, such social forms of association of people as groups, communities, institutions, organizations are distinguished. These subsystems are considered the most important links of the social system. The purpose of these forms of bringing people together isMeeting needs through coordinated joint action.
Community
It should be understood as a relatively stable form of bringing people together. It is characterized by the presence of more or less the same features of the image and living conditions of the individuals included in it, mass consciousness, the unity of norms, interests, values.
Communities are not consciously formed by people. They are formed in the process of objective social development. At the same time, the basis of these forms of uniting people differs. The following examples can be cited: the production team, the socio-professional group, the social class. These subsystems are formed by people with a common industrial interest. There are forms of association of people that have arisen on an ethnic basis. For example, they include nations, nationalities. Another criterion for association is the demographic factor (gender, age).
Types of communities
There is the following classification of these forms of bringing people together:
- Statistical. They are generated for statistical analysis.
- Real. These communities are distinguished by the features that actually exist.
- Massive. These forms of association of people are distinguished on the basis of differences in behavior. However, the differences are not fixed and depend on the situation.
The first two categories include the city. In statistical terms, this form of association of people will be a commonality in terms of registration at the place of residence. If residents use the city infrastructure, then the community will already bereal. The third category is the crowd and the public.
Mass communities
It is believed that society is the totality of all forms of association of people. Meanwhile, if any of the forms is absent or periodically disappears, the society does not cease to be such. The fact is that the totality of forms of unification of people is a mobile system. It can change its structure under the influence of various factors. An example is the first forms of unification of people - tribes and their unions. Under the influence of various factors, other communities began to emerge, while the former ones disappeared. However, in the modern world there are territories where tribes live.
Today, the public and the crowd are considered to be changeable forms of association. The latter is a short-term accumulation of individuals. They gather in one place and have common interests.
There is no group structure in the crowd, which provides for the distribution of statuses and roles of individuals. There are no common habits and norms of behavior in it. There is no experience of previous interaction in the crowd. If the interest that united people in the crowd disappears, it disperses.
Characteristic features of this form of association are: suggestibility, anonymity, imitation, physical contact. In a crowd, individuals interact with each other not as acquaintances or close people, but as outsiders.
The public is a spiritual community. In it, people are physically dispersed, but there is a spiritual connection between them. It is formed on the basis of unity of opinion.
As G. Tarde believed, the public as a form of association arose in secular salons of the 18th century. Its true heyday fell on the period of active development of the print media. Thanks to newspapers, and later to television and radio, a huge number of people can actively participate in cultural and political life, express their personal opinion about certain events.
Social Group
This concept is defined in different ways. In a broad sense, it is understood as the whole society on the planet, that is, all of humanity. In a narrow sense, the term "social group" is used to highlight in the structure of society a relatively large population of people. They interact with each other and work together to achieve social, collective and individual goals.
In simple terms, a social group should be considered an association of people who have common views and connections with each other in relatively stable patterns of interaction.
Key features of groups
According to R. Merton, the distinctive features of these forms of association are:
- Identity.
- Membership.
- Interaction.
A social group is characterized as an association of people who enter into certain social relations, are aware of their belonging to this group and are its members from the point of view of others.
Such sets of individuals are more stable, stable,relatively high level of homogeneity, cohesion. At the same time, they, as a rule, are included in other, broader social associations as their structural units.
Social institutions
They are relatively stable forms of association of individuals. They are formed to organize social life, ensure connections and relationships in the structure of society.
A distinctive feature of social institutions is a clear delineation of powers and functions of the subjects entering into interaction. At the same time, the actions of individuals are coordinated. In addition, there is a rather tight control over the interaction of subjects.
Characteristics of institutions
Each such union has:
- More or less clearly formulated tasks and goals of the activity.
- A set of specific roles and statuses that are assigned to subjects.
- A set of sanctions through which the behavior of individuals is controlled.
- Private and specific functions. They are aimed at meeting existing needs.
According to the Russian sociologist Frolov, social institutions are characterized by:
- Models and behavior settings.
- Set of cultural symbols. With their help, an idea of the institution is formed.
- Cultural utilitarian traits.
- Codes of conduct (written, oral).
- Ideology. It is a system of ideas according to which individuals are prescribed anda certain attitude to certain actions is justified.
Any social institution has formal and substantive sides. In terms of content, the association is considered as a system of standards for the behavior of status-bearing individuals. In a formal sense, a social institution is a set of subjects endowed with material means for the implementation of a certain social function.
Varieties of institutions
Classification is carried out depending on the tasks that this or that association performs. Institutions are considered to be the main ones:
- Family and marriage. Within the framework of this association, new individuals, members of society, are reproduced.
- Education. Within the framework of this institute, the accumulated knowledge and cultural values are assimilated, which are subsequently passed on to the next generations.
- Economy. Its tasks include providing individuals and the whole society, reproduction and distribution of services and benefits.
- Political institutions. Their functions are related to establishing agreement between subjects, groups, collectives, controlling the behavior of individuals in order to maintain order, prevent and resolve conflicts.
- Cultural institutions. They ensure the preservation of the accumulated spiritual values.
Social organization
It is understood as a set of subjects and their groups, united to implement any tasks based on the division of labor and duties, as well as a hierarchical structure.
Organization should be seen as a tool for solving social problems, a means to achieve personal or collective goals. In the latter case, it becomes necessary to create a hierarchical structure and management system.
Any organization can be characterized by a set of elements. Among them:
- Target.
- Hierarchy type.
- The nature of management.
- Level of formalization.
The goal is the image of the result in which the organization is interested. This model can be represented as a task, orientation, related to the interests of the subjects. There are also systemic goals, the achievement of which ensures the existence and reproduction of the organization.
The hierarchical structure involves the division of roles into 2 groups: those who give power and put the subject in a subordinate position. In hierarchical terms, non-centralized and centralized organizations are distinguished. In the latter, coordination and integration of efforts take place.
Control system - a set of measures aimed at influencing the individual to encourage him to commit behavioral acts in which the social organization is interested. At the same time, the subject himself may not have an interest in committing such actions. The main means of management are incentives and tasks (orders).
Formalization of relationships is associated with the formation of standard models of behavior of subjects. It is expressed in the documentary consolidation of norms and rules. Formalization overcomes organizational problems.
Methods of interaction
Forms of association of people and their groups, as can be seen from the above information, are diverse. At the same time, in each set of individuals, their characteristic connections are established. You can define the following main ways of interaction between subjects:
- Cooperation. It involves people working together to solve a common problem.
- Competition. It represents a struggle (group or individual) for the possession of goods (scarce, as a rule).
- Conflict. It is a clash of opposing (competing) parties. The conflict can be closed or open.
Interaction as a whole should be considered the process of the impact of individuals and their associations on each other. In it, each action is conditioned both by the previous action and by the intended result on the part of other individuals or groups.
All interactions must have a minimum of 2 participants. From this it follows that interaction can be considered a kind of action, the characteristic feature of which is the focus on another subject or another association.
