Laws and patterns of social development. Development of society
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The patterns of social development testify to the gradual change of imperfect forms of community to more developed, democratic ones. The role of the supreme power in highly developed states is increasingly reduced to the role of a magistrate who only interferes in the course of socio-economic relations when the participants in these relations themselves cannot reach agreement on solving the most important problems.
Fearing an objective study of the laws of social development that doom capitalism to ruin, the bourgeoisie demands from its clerks to falsify its conclusions, to prove the eternity and inviolability of the capitalist system. That is why bourgeois partisanship is hostile to objectivity and scientific nature. However, the proletariat, called upon to free mankind from exploitation and being the legitimate successor of the entire cultural heritage of mankind, including that created by bourgeois society, cannot do without assimilating the culture of the past. The task of the Marxists, Lenin wrote, is to be able to assimilate and rework those gains that are being made by these clerks ... The fulfillment of this two-pronged task, set by Lenin, plays an important role in the struggle to build a communist society. In the process of building communism, since it is carried out in the conditions of the coexistence of two opposite public systems: socialism and capitalism, the second side of this task acquires special significance - the struggle against bourgeois ideology, a struggle in which crucial role the principle of revolutionary proletarian partisanship, developed by V.I.Lenin, plays.
Gradually, in the course of understanding the laws of social development, the concepts of industrial and household infrastructure were introduced into scientific circulation, the use of which was associated with the need to create conditions for the functioning of the production and non-production spheres. This division of the infrastructure was consolidated in practice, which had not only positive, but also negative consequences.
Lenin's brilliant statements about the laws of social development are an invaluable source of correct understanding of many modern phenomena. No, without Lenin you cannot understand them, without Lenin you cannot understand the current state of the world, the laws governing the development of decaying capitalism in the era of imperialism, the fate of the proletarian revolution and its victory, the ways of building socialism and communism.
This kind of reasoning is fair, since the laws of social development testify to the progressive movement of all states towards progressive forms of coexistence and economic cooperation, despite all the upheavals that they meet on their way.
The task of science is to investigate the laws of social development and, on their basis, to build real economic, socio-political concepts and programs that allow all participants in reproduction processes to develop steadily.
Nevertheless, the defense of history as a science of the laws of social development favorably distinguished K.
SOCIOLOGY is a science that studies society, social relations, laws of social development, social groups and their interaction.
There is a fundamental difference that underlies the approach to understanding the laws of social development in French and English sociology: English sociology associated with traditional views principles of life, was distinctly individualistic. Society for her is, first of all, a collection of individuals, and only understanding the nature of the individual himself provides the key to the study of the social whole. This is an important distinction as the research methodology was based on it. So, if Comte begins to study society as a system, then Mill, on the contrary, seeks to reduce the social, that is, the general, to the individual. For him, society is just a simple association of individuals, and social laws are completely reduced to the laws of individual human nature. According to Mill, uniting into a society, people do not turn into something else with different properties.
Mastering the revolutionary theory of the working class and all working people - Marxism-Leninism makes it possible to understand the laws of social development, party policy, the path of movement to communism, to be an active and conscious creator of a new life.
The current Party Program, as stated in the resolution of the Congress, on the whole correctly characterizes the laws of world social development, the goals and main tasks of the struggle of the Party and the Soviet people for communism. Its fundamental provisions have been confirmed by life. Much of what is written in the Program has already been accomplished. At the same time, some of its provisions - this must be said frankly - did not fully withstand the test of time, since they contained elements of detachment from reality, running ahead, and unjustified detailing. And, of course, over the past two decades, many important changes have appeared in the life of Soviet society, in the life of other socialist countries, and in world development as a whole. All this requires deep theoretical comprehension and should be taken into account when developing a long-term strategy of the party in the field of domestic and foreign policy.
The constant strengthening of the Armed Forces is an objective necessity for the successful construction of socialism and communism, arising from the laws of social development and the characteristics of the class struggle between capitalism and socialism.
It goes without saying that the prophets did not have the slightest idea about the driving forces and laws of social development.
Sociology as a science of society in general, based on certain positions, seeks to establish the laws of social development, in one way or another, understanding society as a product of mutual activity and communication between people. But in this striving, she cannot but be interested in the person himself as the main element of society. In other words, sociological laws that explain social phenomena based on the material basis, the production process should be considered in their connection with the laws that relate to man as a special being in the world. Man is a product of society and its laws, but society is what it is, precisely because it is a society of people, because people are united in it, and not other creatures ... This does not mean that society is completely determined by man or even primarily a person.
Indeed, on this basis it is easy to distinguish, let us prove, historians who comprehend general patterns social development, from people who received scattered information about historical facts.
The problem of the laws of social development is solved in different ways in different theoretical concepts. Not everyone recognizes the existence of objective laws in society. Indeed, on the surface social phenomena discover some stable, regular, necessary connections, independent of human consciousness extremely difficult. The fact that certain changes are taking place in society and these changes lead to significantly different states of society is quite obvious. Everyone admits it. But it is not at all obvious that these changes are natural. And yet, a deep theoretical analysis, penetrating the surface of phenomena, makes it possible to establish these regularities. What appears on the surface as random events, phenomena, actions caused by the will, desire of individual people, in its depths appears as objective, i.e. relationships that do not depend on the will and desires of people. Whether people like it or not, they are forced to enter into relationships to satisfy their needs, which are formed as a result of previous activities, i.e. predetermined by the activities of previous generations. And each new generation finds these established relationships as objective data (given by past activities), i.e. independent of their choice, desires, whims, etc. This is an objective factor in social development, allowing us to talk about the presence of objective and necessary connections (laws) in society.
The idea of regularity in society is most fully developed in the Marxist concept of society. According to this concept, material relations between people, primarily in the sphere of material production, in order to develop, do not require passing through the consciousness of people, i.e. are not recognized as such. This does not mean that people, entering into these relations (production, exchange, distribution), act as beings devoid of consciousness. This is, in principle, impossible. Simply, material production relations do not require their awareness as a kind of integral system of relations that have a structure, direction, functioning, obeying certain laws, etc. Ignorance of the laws of commodity production, ignorance physiological mechanisms childbearing has not prevented people for thousands of years from producing and exchanging goods, as well as giving birth to children. Material relations, according to the Marxist model, being initial, primary, determine other relations, the so-called ideological relations (political, legal, moral, etc.).
The specificity of the laws of social development lies in the fact that, in contrast to the laws of nature, where blind, spontaneous forces act, in society, regular connections and relations are realized, paving their way only through the activity of people, and not outside it and along with it in activity people, in addition to random, situational moments caused by various human desires or even whims, there are, as already noted, objective, necessary, i.e. natural moments. And this regularity, historical necessity does not exclude the conscious activity of people, being present in it as an objective, necessary factor. Historical necessity makes its way through a mass of accidents, i.e. has the character not of a strictly unambiguous predetermination, but of a certain tendency, a field of possibilities. In other words, within the framework of necessity, the polyvariety of development is carried out, which constitutes the space of human freedom. Making informed choices within different options(provided that the person has cognized these options, otherwise the choice will not be conscious), the person directs his efforts, his activities to the implementation of the chosen option, within the framework represented by this polyvariant necessity. Choice is associated with responsibility, an inalienable companion of human freedom.
The laws of social development and theory.
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The laws of social development are extremely important for understanding the life of society and for comprehending and projecting its future, incl. and for modernization theorizations.
In the latest philosophy, the laws of social development are actively studied, mainly in its two corresponding sciences: in modern political economy and in the social philosophy of the latest philosophy ( economic laws in social sciences, they are only declared and used, mainly as tutorial, and when analyzing the economy and, moreover, planning the socio-economic development of a particular country, they are not really taken into account, even strangely enough).
On the basis of the laws of social development, not only are general trends in the development of society traced and forecasts are made, but a combination of theoretical and practical is also carried out; most importantly, a theoretical foundation is created for this, which is very important for understanding and planning the development of society, especially for the implementation modernization design.
But the laws of social development also have epistemological significance: in particular, they are one of the theoretical provisions of the foundation of modernization theorizations.
The laws of social development are a rather complex theoretical proposition.
Firstly, sciences do not know what laws are, and reduce them and their diversity to repetitive phenomena, while finding themselves in an ambiguous situation: after all, if there are laws, then it is necessary to indicate where they are, and what they represent, and not reduce them only to their manifestation, to phenomena, i.e. it is necessary, at a minimum, to identify the self of laws and indicate their "location" - the sphere where they "exist", from which they "operate" - in order to understand their mechanisms, which is impossible to do on the basis of the materialistic paradigm. And the sciences need, in fact, to deny laws, which, on the other hand, is impossible and constitutes an insoluble contradiction.
Secondly, it is especially difficult for sciences with the laws of social development. It was all simple in the USSR: all the laws served to propagate the movement towards communism, but, however, since it was not known what a law was, and Marxism-Leninism was distorted, instead of laws, the slogans of the CPSU and salaried scientists were slipped. And the simplicity of the laws of movement towards communism ended badly for the USSR. But in fact, when discussing the laws of social development in the social sciences, great difficulties arose: you need to know what a law is, how to deal with its objectivity, especially regarding the replacement of the old by the new (including capitalism, which is absolutely unpleasant for bourgeois economics, which therefore boiled down to discussing trends and charts), etc. And worsening hunger, poverty, moral decline, crises, etc. against the background of the luxury of a small group of people and the statements of officials about caring for the population, the sciences also need to figure out how to explain. And etc.
["Modernizing the dialectical theory of functionality"].
Three Laws of Social Development Ilenov V.V. Today a feeling of anxiety hovers over the world: will there be a second wave of the crisis or will the economy recover? Foreseeing the future, understanding the present, knowing the past is possible when you know the laws of the development of society. Let's reveal the essence of the 3 laws of sociogenesis. The structure of society Members of society are divided into two categories: workers employed in production and non-workers (children, the elderly, etc.). In this regard, we divide consumption by necessary- the consumption of workers and secondary- the consumption of everyone else. Triad production - distribution - required consumption form the material basis. Above the base, a superstructure rises, consisting of a nucleus (social organization of society) and secondary elements (other relations). The base and superstructure form a formation. The formation is divided into controlling and controlled subsystems: the superstructure core acts as the controlling subsystem, subordinating to which are the basis and secondary elements of the superstructure. Law 1 The workers create products that contain the energy of consumption E. To recuperate, they need the energy of consumption A. If we subtract A from E, then there will be surplus energy in the remainder. The set of products that contains this energy is a surplus product. The surplus product is the source of the existence of the superstructure and the development of the base. Without additional energy, society is doomed to extinction. So the first law says - the existence of society is unthinkable without surplus energy . Act 2 The development of society can be accomplished in two ways: 1st (intensive) - transformation of the old basis into a new 2nd (extensive) - expansion of the basis due to an increase in the number of workers. The intensive path of development gives a sharp increase in the efficiency of production and consumption, as a result of which a significant amount of surplus product is created. Extensive, on the other hand, is so ineffective that by itself it does not even ensure the simple survival of society. Hence follows the content of the second law, the existence of society is possible only through the transformation of the old basis into a new one ... Society exists because it changes. Therefore, there are no eternal empires. Law 3 Basic relations can be of only two types, the nature of which is polar: 1) individual, private 2) general, collective. According to the third law the nature of the new basis is opposite to the old one that generates it ... So, we have outlined the content of 3 laws. Unfolding in time, they determine the inevitability and recurrence of events. The repetition is found in the change in the forms of social relations. Form changer Human society has existed for almost 5 million years. In its movement in time, there is a correlation between the considered laws and the division of the formation into a control and a controlled subsystem. Under the influence of the basic laws, there is a change in the forms of the governing and controlled subsystems, and these changes do not coincide in time. This discrepancy leads to the fact that the history of mankind is divided into formations, and the formation - by two stage. First stage ... At this stage, there are two bases: dominant and dying. On the basis of the dominant one, a control subsystem is formed, under the control of which the following occurs: a) expansion of the sphere of the dominant basis; b) development of the control subsystem; c) the development of secondary elements of the superstructure; d) the withering away of the old basis. At first, the reduction of the old basis does not affect the decrease in the surplus product, but over time, the compression factor begins to affect: 1. the extensive path begins to dominate, as a result, the size of the surplus product significantly decreases 2. there is a lack of means of subsistence 3. the rates of development of production and consumption decrease. The first stage ends when the old basis ceases to exist and further development is possible only through the transformation of the dominant basis into the newest one. The dominant basis, having absorbed the old basis, becomes the foundation for the formation of the next basis. Second phase ... The emergence of the elements of the new basis marks the beginning of the second stage. Note that the control subsystem is incapable of exerting a regulatory effect on controlled subsystems with polar properties, so the new basis turns out to be without control. As a result of the independent and uncontrolled development of a new mode of production and consumption, a disproportion arises between them. The growing disproportion causes a decrease in the value of the surplus product. Its decrease to certain limits becomes the cause of the deterioration of living conditions and social tensions, the extreme aggravation of which is removed through the conflict. In the course of the conflict, the following occurs: a) elimination of imbalances; b) accelerated development of a new basis; c) the development of secondary elements of the superstructure; d) narrowing the sphere of existence of the dominant basis; e) reduction of the functions of the control subsystem. At the second stage, conflicts are repeated until the newest basis takes a dominant position. The apotheosis is the last conflict, during which the old control subsystem is broken and a new one is formed. In the history of mankind, 8 formations are distinguished: 1,3,5,7 are of a private nature; 2,4,6,8 - general. Forecast of the future Now we are at the 2nd stage of the 8th formation (see Ilenov, The World History- modernity), which is characterized by crises of overconsumption. The first such crisis struck the countries of the socialist camp led by the USSR. The second is approaching the developed capitalist countries and their leader, the United States. Then the center of the world economy will move to the developing countries of Asia and South America facing the third crisis. Then Africa will flourish, which will become the center of economic domination, but not forever. This is how the future looks like for 100 years. You should not panic about crises, because panic only multiplies losses. We must consciously, taking into account the laws, change ourselves and our society.
The ratio of concepts by volume
Social Change - Difference Between Conditions social system in time.
Possible differences:
1. the composition of the system may change.
2.there may be a change in the functions performed by the elements of society
3. the boundaries of the system may change.
4. there may be changes in the environment of the system.
Social processes.
Social change is a single episode, a transition from one state of the system to another. The concept of a process is used to describe a course that occurs sequentially one after another and mutually conditioned changes in the system (in this case, we call them phases or stages).
Social development - This is a change in society, which leads to the emergence of new social relations, institutions, norms and values.
§ the direction of the process has positive character (the population is growing; social production is increasing).
§ endogenous (internal) mechanisms of development of a given society ... / exogenous factors that are outside the boundaries of the social system under consideration, for example: climate change, natural disasters, natural disasters. Processes called external factors are not called development, but rather reactive or adaptive processes. /
§ Irreversibility - this is the constancy of the processes of accumulation of quantitative and qualitative changes.
§ Regularity Is a necessary process of accumulating change.
Types of society development .
1. Development of society has linear upward character. It is assumed that society goes through a number of successive stages (O. Comte, G. Spencer, E. Durkheim, F. Tennis)and etc.
2. Hopping - Marx, S. Kuhn
2. The development of society has cyclical, repetitive nature. (N. Danilevsky, O. Spengler, A. Toynbee, P. Sorokin, L. Gumilev and etc.
3. Non-linear development of society (many options for the development of the society). - S. L. Frank, M. Hatcher, D. Callman-
Under reform understand gradual gradual partial changes in society, which can cover various spheres of society - economic, political, social, spiritual. Social reforms, do not affect the foundations of the social system of society, but only change its parts and structural elements.
Under social revolution understands relatively rapid, comprehensive, fundamental changes in society. Revolutionary changes are abrupt, violent.
Social progress- This is the direction of development, characterized by the transition from the lowest to the highest, to more perfect forms. Progress is a process that brings society closer to a state in which certain important social values are realized, to a state that is considered correct, fair, happy, worthy, etc.
To determine the progressiveness of a society in sociology, two of the most general criteria have traditionally been used:
1) the level of labor productivity and welfare of the population;
2) the degree of freedom and responsibility of the individual, etc.
Modernization- purposeful, planned approximation of society to the model of modernity, modeled on a society recognized as the most developed.
Modernization types:
The first type is organic modernization(classic chaotic modernization) - as a result of long internal development, typical for the USA and countries Western Europe, Australia
The second type is secondary ( inorganic, catching up, lagging ) modernization- typical for countries trying to catch up with advanced countries by using the experience of the latter. (Russia, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Balkans).
Forced option - newly industrialized countries (Asian tigers - South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore).
Patterns of social development
1. The law of acceleration of history. Each subsequent stage of the development of society takes 2-3 times less time than the previous one. (Primitive society -3 thousand years; feudal - approximately: from the 5th century to the 15th century = 1000 years; capitalist - from the 16th century to the 20th century -500 years; Information society -?
