All people together, their various groups, as well as each person individually interact daily with the outside world. As a result, certain images are embodied in material objects, and certain human needs are satisfied.
Activity is such an interaction with the environment, which is aimed at achieving goals set consciously. In addition, as a result of it, values that are significant for society should be created, or social experience should be mastered.
General description of activity
Each person, like a group of people, show various kinds of activity during their life. However, not all of its manifestations are called "activity". Characteristics and evaluation of it should be:
- socially conditioned as it is a productthe historical development of society as a whole;
- purposeful, since the purpose of the activity is chosen by the individual consciously;
- subjective, i.e. conditioned by personality characteristics;
- objective, as society develops methods and norms of actions that people direct to objects of spiritual and material culture;
- planned, because all its elements are subject to a clear system and well-thought-out order.
Activity really exists in various forms, is embodied in culture and reflected in art.
Elements, manifestations and methods of implementation
The characteristic of activity also includes the concepts of "act", "behavior", "operation".
The element of activity is an act. This is some kind of action that has a pronounced social meaning.
Psychic activity outwardly manifests itself in behavior. This is either a certain facial expressions and postures of an individual, or a series of actions performed. There is not always a definite plan or goal here.
Operation is a special way of carrying out some action under certain conditions. With the help of them, the main tasks are solved. In most cases, operations are automated, often unconscious.
Characteristics of activities
Differentiating activities by type, there are three main ones.
| Type of activity | The essence of the process andactivity description | Result of activity |
| Labor | Objects of nature, spiritual and material culture are noticeably changing. | Needs are satisfied, a product recognized as socially significant is created. |
| Teaching | The acquisition of knowledge. Skills and abilities can be obtained in specially organized institutions, along the way as a by-product of other activities, in the process of self-education. | Psychological development of the individual, mastering the knowledge and experience developed by society. |
| Game | A view with typical ways of human actions and interactions fixed in the course of history. | Socialization of the individual, mastery of all the experience of mankind, personal, cognitive and moral development of children. |
Different stages of personality development require different leading activities. Leading is not the type of activity to which the subject devotes the most time, but the one that determines the most important mental characteristics of a person.
Work is for adults
The forms of division of labor known today are as follows:
- general (all social production consists of different areas: industry, transport, communications, the agricultural sector and others);
- private (the emergence of relatively independent industries within the spheres of the general division of labor);
- single (how labor is divided in each particular enterprise).
All three forms are connected by strong bonds. Both the general and the individual forms of the division of labor can influence the particular. All three are affected by technological progress, which sets new technological and organizational challenges and changes the characteristics of the activities of participants in the production process.
This happens, for example, by automating production. It frees the workers, leads to a different division of labor than before, and changes the overall structure of workers.
Social activities
Man produces and reproduces something as a social being. He purposefully and constantly changes both the natural and the social world through social activities.
It has two initial elements: current and accumulated activity.
The characteristic of social activity also highlights two of its main sides. This is public consciousness and directly practice.
In addition, there are two factors of this type of activity: social information and organization.
The two regulators here are social management and, in contrast to it, social dismanagement.
Reflection of social activity in scientific literature
Science studies activity, considering it one of the fundamental tasks. Great minds in the fieldphilosophies and sociologists, deeply imbued with natural science and social science, are struggling with this problem.
In an effort to classify social activity according to its characteristics, scientists offer various options.
For example, M. S. Kvetnoy describes the division into four elements:
- interests and needs;
- goals and motives;
- means and actions;
- products.
M. S. Kagan is based on three main elements of social activity, but in a different context:
- subject;
- object;
- activity.
According to B. A. Grushin, there are also three classification series.
- by the nature of the energy expended (muscular, mental, psychic forces);
- by composition (objective activity, informational and "play of physical or mental forces");
- general (production, consumption, communication).
Professional activities
Labor psychology considers professional activity to be its main object.
She is characterized externally and internally.
- Externally (through the object and the subject, the object of labor, the means for conducting activities and its conditions).
- Internally (describes the mechanisms and processes of mental regulation, the structure itself, all the content and operations necessary for the implementation of professional activities).
It is worth clarifying the meaning of some concepts related to the internal characteristics of professional activity.
The subject of laborname those things, as well as phenomena and processes with which the worker interacts (both mentally and practically).
Those tools that enhance the subject's ability to recognize the specifics of the object of labor and change it are called means of labor.
Working conditions are made up of four characteristics of professional activity:
- social;
- psychological;
- hygienic;
- physical.
Economic performance evaluation
A well-composed economic description of the enterprise's activities includes several sections.
| Section name |
Contents section |
| General information | According to what law it was created, legal form, full company name, location, postal address. The authorized capital is estimated, the founders, the terms and objectives of the activity, the form of ownership are described, the charter is considered. |
| Enterprise management structure | It is given on the basis of three main production management systems: linear, functional and mixed. Indicates whether the enterprise is a legal entity, describes the management hierarchy. |
| Characteristics of labor resources and wages | Total number of employees, production and technical base. Review of personnel policy, qualitative and quantitative analysisstaff. |
| Key economic performance indicators | Growth rates of production and sales. Review of production assets, means and objects of labor, the study of rationality and economy. General description of the financial results of the enterprise. |
Paying attention to all these points, you can make a completely detailed portrait of any enterprise, find out its distinctive features and characteristics of the activity process.
Rich food for science
Both the content and the structure of the activity are quite complex. It has a large number of varieties and a great many specific manifestations. You can describe them endlessly.
From the eighties of the last century to this day, activities have not ceased to be deeply studied by representatives of various sciences.
Activity is studied by various methods. For example, K. Levin proposed a sociopsychological study. It involves getting to the heart of the problem, first making the necessary changes, and then observing its consequences. This method is considered effective in prison programs or discussions between victims of racism and people with racial prejudice.
Activity is studied by many sciences, for example, geography. After all, a person does not adapt, like an animal to any environment. He adapts it to his own needs. Working in this field for a long time toimprove conditions and prevent cataclysms.
Psychology studies human activity from the point of view of mental reflection of reality in it.
The article describes only the main characteristics of the activity and considers some of its types.
