Functions of social institutions and their violations. The concept, types and functions of social control

A social institution is understood as a system of social norms, connections, rules of conduct, a set of roles that satisfy basic social needs and act as regulators of social life.

The main ones include production, state and religion, education and culture. These are the main functions social institutions.

reproductive function

For the existence of society, this function is one of the most important. After all, it is obvious that without a constant replenishment of the population, society will soon cease to exist. The set of rules for the institution of the family suggests that members of society should unite in small groups, the so-called cells, or families. It is thanks to this function that the population is reproduced. After all, otherwise we could all continue to live Or we have been single for centuries. Institutions (mainly families, states, religions) regulate the processes of creating married couples, dissolution of marriages, and set the values ​​of having children.

Communication functions

Information produced by institutions should be disseminated primarily among individuals within the same institution, as well as between different social institutions. This is how communications arise when, in different situations, social institutions and their functions act either as distributors of information or as its consumers.

Broadcasting function

This function is to transfer the accumulated social experience. It can also be said that this is a function of socialization - the process of assimilation by the individual of social norms, values, rules of behavior.

Regulatory function

Thanks to the given standards, a person adopts patterns of behavior encouraged in society and plays the roles expected of him. Highest value in the performance of this function of social institutions have a family, education, religion.

Integrative function.

Since institutions are directly related to the formation of the norms and values ​​of society, in the end they provide mutual responsibility and interdependence of members of society. Which, in turn, increases the level of its cohesion and integrity of the structure of society.

and dysfunction of social institutions

In addition to the considered explicit (that is, those that are officially recognized), there are also hidden functions of institutions. They arise as a result of the natural interaction of institutions and individuals among themselves. For example, the institution of consumption can also perform the function of determining prestige. The institution of education to dictate The institution of religion can be used as a way to extort funds from individuals.

When the discrepancy between explicit and hidden functions becomes too great, there is a danger of improper functioning, or even the formation of parallel institutions: sects, criminal structures, the shadow economy, etc.

In addition, there is such a thing as the dysfunction of social institutions - that is, their refusal to function, the ambiguity of values, statuses and roles. This is possible as a result of the personalization of institutions, when their work begins to obey not the objective laws and needs of society, but adapts to the needs of certain groups or individuals. A vivid example of the dysfunction of the institution of religion - Crusades.

To correct dysfunction, it is necessary to completely change the social institution, or create a new one that will satisfy the necessary needs of society.

One of the hallmarks of the modern state is the loss of its rigid class organization. Various classes gradually dissolve into the general social organization of civil society, everything more possibilities to move people from one class to another. The state ceases to be an instrument for ensuring class domination, and, consequently, completely loses its exploitative character. The welfare state is coming to replace the exploitative state.

The essence of this type of state is the connection of all social groups of the population, nations and nationalities into a single whole, united in the concept of "civil society". Its fundamental difference from the previous types of the exploitative state is that its main goal is to ensure the protection and maintenance of the interests of the whole society as a whole, and not its separate part. Such a state is built on the recognition of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of a person as the highest value, the priority of human rights over the interests of other participants in public relations (economic entities, state bodies, officials, etc.).

An integral element of the welfare state is the parliament, in which all social groups of the population of a given state are equally represented.

One of the features of the modern state is increased concern for socially unprotected categories of citizens: children, the disabled, the elderly. In their interests, state benefits and subsidies, pensions and subsidies are established.

In turn, the problem of supporting socially unprotected categories of the population is directly related to the participation of the state in managing the country's economy. The fact is that the modern state is a market state. The essence of a market economy is reduced to free exchange of goods, recognition of the inviolability of private property and the legitimate interests of the owner, freedom of labor and private enterprise.

In a market economy, the main regulator of social relations are the laws of the market, and the main one is the law of supply and demand. In accordance with this law, prices for goods and services are formed, and ultimately, the standard of living of the country's population is determined. The fall in demand for individual goods forces the entrepreneur to improve the quality of products, reduce the cost of their manufacture, support the development of science and technology by creating new, more modern, products and products that are in great demand. An example of such a pursuit to satisfy consumer demand in a modern state is, for example, the development of the automotive industry in the leading countries of the world (USA, Japan, Germany, Italy, France, etc.).

But the paradox of modern society is that market relations develop the better, the less the state restricts the freedom of participants in these relations. However, not all members of society participate in market relations (private entrepreneurship). A significant part of the country's population continues to work in the so-called public sector of the economy, that is, in institutions and organizations supported by the state. In different countries, the number of people employed in this area is different. But there are such areas of public life that cannot be transferred to the area of ​​private interests: the protection public order and the fight against crime (the organization and maintenance of the police, courts, prisons), the defense of the country (the staffing of the army, the production of certain types of weapons) and some other areas of public life.

There are also categories of the population that cannot be participants in market relations, not because of their employment in the public sector, but because of their general inability to engage in productive labor along with other citizens. We are talking about the socially unprotected categories of the population mentioned above: children, the disabled, the elderly. In the interests of these people, as well as in order to maintain the budgetary sphere of production, the state intervenes in market relations, redistributing income from the most affluent categories of the population to the less affluent and withdrawing funds to replenish the state budget. Thus, in the conditions of a modern social state, the traditional internal function of the state is preserved - the collection of taxes and other obligatory payments to the budget.

Of course, the Russian Federation today can hardly be fully attributed to this type of state. However, the trend towards this can be traced at least in attempts to constitutionally consolidate many of the listed features of the state. of this type. Therefore, it seems legitimate to call Russia a country in transition to a welfare state.

It performs a welfare state and a number of traditional regulatory and security functions: maintaining public order, punishing criminals, resolving disputes and conflicts, protecting against external danger, etc. However, the ratio of security (suppression) and regulatory functions in comparison with the exploiting state is changing towards progress.

Thus, the modern welfare state is an institution aimed at organizing a normal life and development of the whole society as a whole, protecting the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of all citizens and peoples inhabiting it, a tool for resolving disputes and conflicts both within the state and outside it. . It should be noted that the state does not completely lose its punitive and repressive functions, but applies them only as a last resort, against a narrow circle of people who violate the rights and freedoms of citizens, as well as against aggressor states and despotic regimes that violate the rights and freedoms of their own peoples. .

In connection with the analysis of the essence of the welfare state, it seems necessary to turn to the consideration of the socialist state, which until recently existed in our country. Despite the etymological similarity of the names of these states, their essence is a striking contrast, although the historical roots of their origin have some similarity.

One of the signs of mankind's entry into the era of civilized development was the attempts to consciously transform the social and state structure in accordance with certain theoretical concepts created by scientists-philosophers, lawyers, theologians, etc. aimed at improving human life, eliminating shortcomings in the development of its main institutions.

One of the concepts of such development was the socialist doctrine. Having originated almost simultaneously in various countries (France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain), this doctrine has many schools, shades, independent branches and directions of development. One of the most peculiar models of social development within the framework of this doctrine in modern conditions is the so-called Swedish model of socialism. The so-called Soviet model, which existed for a long time in the USSR and the countries of Eastern Europe, was distinguished by a significant originality.

The theoretical model of a socialist state of the Eastern European type was laid down by the works of K. Marx and F. Engels, who defended the idea of ​​building a single planetary state of workers, the first steps of which were the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the overthrow of the power of the bourgeoisie, the abolition of private ownership of tools and means of production, and its replacement by public property , exclusion of the exploitation of man by man, egalitarian distribution of funds, collectivism in the organization of production and social life. The ultimate goal of social development, according to K. Marx, was the construction of communism, that is, such a social system, the basis of which would be the highest labor productivity, ensuring the distribution of life's blessings among people in accordance with their needs.

One of the fundamental shortcomings of this theory was that, having given a brilliant critique of their contemporary pre-monopoly capitalist society and state, K. Marx and F. Engels only general plan outlined the prototype of the future social structure, without showing the ways of its real achievement. Their theory also suffered from a number of significant shortcomings of a fundamental nature. Thus, these philosophers considered the existence of private property to be the reason for the exploitation of man by man. They had a negative attitude towards the federal structure of the state, preached the idea of ​​the withering away ("falling asleep", in the figurative expression of F. Engels) of the state, etc. The reason for these mistakes was their excessive enthusiasm for the theory of the class struggle, to the interests of which all the thoughts of these undoubtedly outstanding thinkers of the 19th century were subordinated.

A significant contribution to the development of the teachings of K. Marx and F. Engels was made by V. I. Lenin, who in practice embodied a number of ideas of the socialist doctrine, belonging to the extreme left views of the political spectrum. In particular, based on the possibility of the victory of socialism in one single country, V. I. Lenin created the theory of the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, brilliantly embodied it as a result of the October (1917) armed uprising in Russia "a country poorly prepared not only for socialist The building of socialism in the USSR was accompanied by the replacement of the dictatorship of the proletariat by the dictatorship of the party-state nomenclature, the introduction of an egalitarian distribution of income, the creation of a command and administrative system for managing the economy, the nationalization of property, the introduction of a mono-ideology, the restriction of democracy, etc. Further development countries followed the path of strengthening the authoritarian regime, vulgarizing socialist and communist ideas, strengthening the fiscal and punitive functions of the state, armed opposition to "ideological" opponents in the face of "capitalist" countries, turning the state into an authoritarian-exploiting one.

At the same time, most countries of the world are following the path of implementing socialist ideas, but not of the leftist, but of the liberal-democratic persuasion (lat. libere- free). The socialist idea itself is attracting more and more supporters, as can be judged by the expansion of the political representation of socialist parties in the parliaments and governments of the developed countries of the world. However, the essential difference between the social state described above and the socialist, especially the "Soviet" type, lies precisely in the presence of a liberal-democratic model of development.

Liberal-democratic society is based on non-interference of the state in the life of an individual and civil society as a whole. One of its principles is ideological and political pluralism, according to which citizens have the right to make their own democratic choice of the political regime and type of social structure that they most like. The possibility of such a choice makes it possible to correct the shortcomings that exist in any (not only in the socialist) model of social and state development, to subordinate the state through the institutions of direct and representative democracy to the interests of the whole society, the whole people.

Naturally, the more democratic and free a society is, the stronger, stable and stable the state should be, ensuring its normal existence and protection. However, such a state cannot but be social, democratic, legal (the listed signs will be discussed in more detail below).

Basic social institutions

TO main social institutions traditionally include family, state, education, church, science, law. Below is a brief description of these institutions and their main functions.

Family - the most important social institution of kinship, linking individuals with common life and mutual moral responsibility. The family performs a number of functions: economic (housekeeping), reproductive (childbirth), educational (transfer of values, norms, samples), etc.

State- the main political institution that manages society and ensures its security. The state performs internal functions, including economic (regulation of the economy), stabilization (maintaining stability in society), coordination (ensuring public harmony), ensuring the protection of the population (protection of rights, legality, social security) and many others. There are also external functions: defense (in case of war) and international cooperation (to protect the country's interests in the international arena).

Education is a social institution of culture that ensures the reproduction and development of society through the organized transfer of social experience in the form of knowledge, skills and abilities. The main functions of education include adaptation (preparation for life and work in society), professional (training of specialists), civil (training of a citizen), general cultural (introduction to cultural values), humanistic (disclosure of personal potential), etc.

Church - a religious institution formed on the basis of a single religion. Church members share common norms, dogmas, rules of conduct and are divided into priesthood and laity. The Church performs the following functions: ideological (defines views on the world), compensatory (offers consolation and reconciliation), integrating (unites believers), general cultural (attaches to cultural values), and so on.

Science is a special socio-cultural institution for the production of objective knowledge. Among the functions of science are cognitive (contributes to the knowledge of the world), explanatory (interprets knowledge), ideological (defines views on the world), prognostic (builds forecasts), social (changes society) and productive (defines the production process).

Right- a social institution, a system of generally binding norms and relations protected by the state. The state, with the help of law, regulates the behavior of people and social groups, fixing certain relations as mandatory. The main functions of law are: regulatory (regulates social relations) and protective (protects those relations that are useful for society as a whole).

All the elements of social institutions discussed above are covered from the point of view of social institutions, but other approaches to them are also possible. For example, science can be considered not only as a social institution, but also as a special form of cognitive activity or as a system of knowledge; The family is not only an institution, but also a small social group.

Types of social institutions

Activity social institution is determined by:

§ firstly, a set of specific norms and regulations governing the relevant types of behavior;

§ secondly, the integration of a social institution into the socio-political, ideological and value structures of society;

§ thirdly, the availability of material resources and conditions that ensure the successful implementation of regulatory requirements and the implementation social control.

The most important social institutions are:

§ state and family;

§ economics and politics;

§ production;

§ culture and science;

§ upbringing;

§ Mass media and public opinion;

§ law and education.

Social institutions contribute to the consolidation and reproduction certain things that are especially important for society social relations, as well as system sustainability in all major spheres of its life - economic, political, spiritual and social.

Types of social institutions depending on their field of activity:

§ relational;

§ Regulatory.

relational institutions (for example, insurance, labor, production) determine the role structure of society based on a certain set of features. The objects of these social institutions are role groups (insurers and insurers, manufacturers and employees, etc.).

Regulatory institutions define the boundaries of the independence of the individual (se independent actions) to achieve their own goals. This group includes institutions of the state, government, social protection, business, healthcare.

In the process of development, the social institution of the economy changes its form and can belong to the group of either endogenous or exogenous institutions.

Endogenous(or internal) social institutions characterize the state of moral obsolescence of the institution, requiring its reorganization or in-depth specialization of activities, for example, institutions of credit, money, which become obsolete over time and need to introduce new forms of development.

exogenous institutions reflect the impact on the social institution of external factors, elements of culture or the nature of the personality of the head (leader) of the organization, for example, changes occurring in the social institution of taxes under the influence of the level of tax culture of taxpayers, the level of business and professional culture of the leaders of this social institution.

Functions of social institutions

The purpose of social institutions is to to meet the most important needs and interests of society.

The economic needs in society are simultaneously satisfied by several social institutions, and each institution, through its activities, satisfies a variety of needs, among which stand out vital(physiological, material) and social(personal needs for work, self-realization, creative activity and social justice). A special place among social needs is occupied by the need of the individual to achieve - an attainable need. It is based on McLelland's concept, according to which each individual shows a desire to express, to manifest himself in specific social conditions.

In the course of their activities, social institutions perform both general and individual functions corresponding to the specifics of the institute.

General Functions:

§ Fixation and reproduction function public relations. Any institution consolidates, standardizes the behavior of members of society through its rules, norms of behavior.

§ Regulatory function ensures the regulation of relationships between members of society by developing patterns of behavior, regulation of their actions.

§ Integrative function includes the process of interdependence and mutual responsibility of members of social groups.

§ Broadcasting function(socialization). Its content is the transfer of social experience, familiarization with the values, norms, roles of this society.

Individual functions:

§ The social institution of marriage and the family implements the function of reproducing members of society together with the relevant departments of the state and private enterprises (antenatal clinics, maternity hospitals, a network of children's medical institutions, family support and strengthening agencies, etc.).

§ The Social Institute of Health is responsible for maintaining the health of the population (polyclinics, hospitals and other medical institutions, as well as state bodies organizing the process of maintaining and strengthening health).

§ Social institution for the production of means of subsistence, which performs the most important creative function.

§ Political institutions responsible for the organization of political life.

§ The social institution of law, which performs the function of developing legal documents and is in charge of compliance with laws and legal norms.

§ Social institution of education and norms with the corresponding function of education, socialization of members of society, familiarization with its values, norms, laws.

§ A social institution of religion that helps people in solving spiritual problems.

All their positive traits social institutions are realized only under the condition their legitimacy, i.e. recognition of the expediency of their actions by the majority of the population. Sharp shifts in class consciousness, reassessment of fundamental values ​​can seriously undermine the population's trust in the existing governing and managing bodies, disrupt the mechanism of regulatory influence on people.

In this case, instability increases sharply in society, the threat of chaos, entropy, the consequences of which can become catastrophic. So, intensified in the second half of the 80s. 20th century in the USSR, the erosion of socialist ideals, the reorientation of mass consciousness towards the ideology of individualism, seriously undermined the confidence of the Soviet people in the old public institutions. The latter failed to fulfill their stabilizing role and collapsed.

Leadership failure Soviet society bring the main structures in line with the updated value system predetermined the collapse of the USSR and subsequent instability Russian society, i.e., the stability of society is ensured only by those structures that enjoy the trust and support of its members.

In the course of the development of society from the main social institutions can separate new institutional formations. So, from the social institution of education, at a certain stage, the institution higher education. From the public legal system, the Constitutional Court was created as an independent institution. Such differentiation is one of the most important signs of the development of society.

Social institutions can be called the central components of the structure of society, integrating and coordinating the many individual actions of people. The system of social institutions, relations between them is the framework that serves as the basis for the formation of society, with all the ensuing consequences. What are the foundation, construction, bearing components of society, such are its strength, fundamentality, solidity, stability.

The process of streamlining, formalization, standardization of social relations within the framework of the old structure and the creation of new social institutions is called institutionalization. The higher its level, the better the life of society.

5. The problem of social control in public life.

social control- a special mechanism for maintaining public order through the use of power. The word "control" comes from the French controle, which literally means a secondary entry in order to check the first. Initially, this word was used mainly in accounting. However, the English word control has a different meaning: "domination", "power", "violence".

The term "social control" was introduced into scientific circulation by the French sociologist and social psychologist G. Tarde. He viewed it as the most important means of correcting criminal behavior and returning the criminal to "normal" society. Later, Tarde expanded the understanding of social control to one of the most important factors of socialization. In the works of a number of Western sociologists, the problem of social control was developed in close connection with the solution of the problem of ensuring control over deviant behavior and, in particular, aggressive forms of its manifestation.

The most developed theory of social control was developed by American sociologists E. Ross and R. Park. According to Ross, social control is the purposeful influence of society on the behavior of an individual in order to ensure a "healthy" social order. The latter depends on what type of individuals is most common in a given society, is the product of a long historical development and is possible only on the basis of universal respect for private property.

The park understands social control as a means of ensuring a certain relationship between social forces and human nature. He identifies three forms of social control:

1. elementary (mostly coercive) sanctions,

2. public opinion,

3. social institutions.

A detailed theory of social control was created by R. A. Lapierre, who considers social control as a means of ensuring the process of assimilation of culture by an individual and its transmission from generation to generation. At the individual level, social control acts as an intermediary between the individual and a particular situation. Lapierre comes to the conclusion that there are three universal mechanisms of K. s. operating in different types of society:

1. physical sanctions (punishment of an individual for violating group norms),

2. economic sanctions (“provocation”, “intimidation”, “fine”).

3. administrative sanctions.

T. Parsons defined social control as a process by which through the imposition of sanctions is neutralized deviant behavior and thereby maintaining social stability. He analyzed three main methods of exercising social control.

1. Insulation, the essence of which is to put impenetrable partitions between the deviant and the rest of society without any attempts to correct or re-educate him.

2. Isolation- limiting the deviant's contact with other people, but not complete isolation from society; such an approach allows for the correction of deviants and their return to society when they are ready to fulfill the generally accepted norms again.

3. Rehabilitation, considered as a process in which deviants can prepare for the return to normal life and the correct performance of their roles in society.

P. Berger believed that no society can do without social control. Even a small group of people randomly gathered together will have to develop their own control mechanisms so as not to fall apart into the most as soon as possible. According to P. Berger, a person stands in the center of diverging concentric circles representing different types, types and forms of social control. Each circle is new system control. The outermost and largest circle is the politico-juridical system, represented by the powerful apparatus of the state. The second circle is public morality, customs and mores. Third circle - professional requirements at work, the fourth is the informal norms of the small group, and the fifth is control in family and private life.

Social control acts as function social management, ensuring its expediency and practical effectiveness. In its most general form, social control means the process of measuring (comparing) the results actually achieved with the planned ones; this is a system of measures aimed at evaluating the work done, identifying deviations and their causes, preventing them, and eliminating the identified deviations. The task of social control is also a critical analysis of the causes of deviation, the development of measures to eliminate them. V common process social control acts as an element feedback, since according to its data, an adjustment is made earlier decisions taken plans, as well as rules and regulations.

Social control is considered in wide and narrow aspect. In the first case, it is a set of political, economic and ideological processes and methods designed to ensure the stability of society and political system maintaining social order. V narrow sense of social control is most often reduced to checking: decisions of higher organizations; compliance with economic, organizational and social norms assets; fulfillment of planned tasks; compliance with production and labor discipline, legal regulations, etc.

Social control in relation to society performs: protective and stabilizing functions. They are implemented through the use of power and include such concepts as social norms, regulations, sanctions, power. In modern sociology, there are several classifications of forms, methods and goals of social control on various grounds, they distinguish between flexible, rigid, weak social control; formal and informal; group and universal, etc.

Social sanctions - an extensive system of rewards for the implementation of norms, i.e. for conformity, for agreeing with them, and punishments for deviating from them, i.e. for deviance. Social norms are prescriptions, requirements, wishes and expectations of appropriate (socially approved) behavior. Norms are some ideal models (templates) that prescribe what people should say, think, feel and do in specific situations. Norms perform certain functions depending on the capacity in which they manifest themselves - as standards of behavior (duties, rules) or as expectations of behavior (the reaction of other people). Social prescriptions - prohibition or permission to do something, addressed to an individual or group and expressed in any form (oral or written, formal or informal).

The system of social sanctions existing in society is aimed at ensuring the proper execution by members of society of the prescriptions related to their social roles. Any institution, in addition to the principles, rules and norms governing a particular sphere of social life, usually includes the sanctions that will be imposed for non-fulfillment or violation of these rules on the individuals covered by the institution.

The typology of sanctions depends on the selected system-forming feature. First of all, distinguish positive sanctions- encouragement for committing actions that are approved, desirable for society or a group, and negative sanctions - punishments or censures for disapproved, undesirable, non-institutional actions, for various deviant actions. In addition, it is possible to divide sanctions into formal ones - imposed by officials or bodies specially created for this purpose by society, within the framework recorded in written sources, and informal - approval or censure expressed (or manifested in non-verbal forms) by unofficial persons, usually the inner circle.

Social control is divided into informal (intragroup) and formal (institutional). formal control based on the approval or condemnation of official authorities and administration. Informal control is based on approval or condemnation from a group of relatives, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, as well as from public opinion, which is expressed through traditions and customs or means mass media. Family, circle of relatives, friends and acquaintances can also perform informal control. They are called agents of informal control. If we consider the family as a social institution, then we should talk about it as the most important institution of social control. Formal control historically arose later than informal - in the period of the emergence of complex societies and states, in particular, ancient Eastern empires. If in a traditional society social control rested on unwritten rules, then in modern society it is based on written norms: instructions, decrees, decrees, laws. Social control has gained institutional support. Formal control is exercised by such institutions modern society like courts, education, army, production, media, political parties, government.

The consideration of groups as forms of the joint action of people leads to one of the central problems of sociology. Each group has a certain pattern of activity, which is manifested in the coordinated actions of the participants. But after all, each individual is physically separate from the others, each has his own desires and aspirations, and usually there is no physical or biological necessity that would force him to cooperate with others. Without postulating the existence of some kind of collective intelligence - and such an approach is now rejected by almost all sociologists - it becomes very difficult to explain coordination. How can independently motivated individuals organize their own line of behavior in such a way that their contributions come together in a coherent whole?

There are several hypotheses. The most common of these is related to the concept of "consent". Independently motivated individuals are able to coordinate their actions with each other to the extent that there is agreement between them. This concept refers to a kind of mutual understanding, to the fact that people have a common picture of the world for all of them. Consent, however, is neither absolute nor static. It is not absolute because even the closest of comrades is not able to share all the inner experiences of another, and it is not static because the orientation of each person in relation to his own world is constantly undergoing some kind of transformation. However, before mutual accommodation can be established, each participant must know something about the others in order to foresee with sufficient probability what they will do.

In repetitive and well-organized situations, people are able to act together and relatively easily because they have more or less the same idea of ​​how each participant should act. Cooperation is facilitated when people take the same things for granted. We eagerly wait for our turn at the grocery store, assuming that when our turn comes, others will not interfere with us and will also wait. We willingly receive pieces of paper for our work, which in themselves are of no value, assuming that the money can later be exchanged for any goods and services. There are thousands of such shared assumptions, and society is possible precisely because people believe in the willingness of other people to act in a certain way. Agreement refers to those common assumptions that underlie collaborative efforts.

Everyday life student group gives good examples actions based on consent. Why is the group attending a social psychology course? Some students were brought here by a theoretical interest in the subject of study; others are concerned about their personal problems and hope that science will help them find a solution; the professor advised others to do so; the fourth came because their friends were enrolled in this course; fifth - because they heard about the funny anecdotes that the teacher tells; and sixth - because they had free time between other lectures. Joint and purposeful action is carried out, despite the difference in intentions, because all participants share a certain minimum of common ideas. Everyone understands when and where he should appear and what, in principle, he will do.

It is also clear to him how, in this case, one should behave towards the professor and towards those around him. Therefore, most students make some effort to arrive on time and suppress their aggressive tendencies or desire to sleep. Such general representations can be regarded as group norms.

If students realize that they are in a competitive situation where high score only the most successful receive, other norms appear, which, however, have very little to do with education. In this case, there is a big concern about the fair distribution of points. It is believed that the mark should be proportional to the effort, and therefore those who are too lazy in learning should not receive high marks. When students accuse each other of cheating on exams, some of them oppose cheating on moral grounds. The most vigorous reproaches, however, are usually based on the fact that deceivers gain unfair advantages over their comrades. Teachers' arguments that dishonest students only harm themselves seem extremely unconvincing. All this shows that group norms can differ significantly from officially established ideals. In some situations, formally proclaimed goals mean little more than slogans.

W. Thomas noticed long ago that a person's actions depend on his definition of the situation. He emphasized that behavior is usually not a reaction to environmental stimuli, but constitutes a series of adaptations to how events are interpreted. In order to orient himself in a new situation, a person first establishes what his own interests are, and then does everything he can to master the circumstances. When there is agreement, the participants define the situation in a very similar way, even though each of them has a different point of view. Although there is a division of labor, each individual imagines the interaction as a whole and, therefore, the contribution that must be made by other members of the group. When people share common ideas, they all present each participant with rather definite and similar expectations. As a result, group activities are greatly facilitated.

The extent to which behavior can be organized by means of group norms can be seen from the way in which emotional states people. Although emotions are considered to be something completely spontaneous, in fact they are determined by ideas about standard situations in which certain norms of emotional behavior operate. When close people meet, everyone is supposed to be joyful, no matter how they really feel. At the funeral, everyone is obliged to be sad, even if one of the orphaned with exultation awaits the announcement of the will. When the professor makes an effort to cheer up the audience, the students are presented with expectations to have fun, and they usually fulfill them willingly. Adaptation to these norms creates a dominant mood, which, like the atmosphere, surrounds the collectives. Each participant contributes to this atmosphere to the extent that he exhibits the appropriate emotional reactions, and each is infected by this mood depending on how it corresponds to his condition.

Another situation where one can test the assertion that joint action is based on consent is the contact of different ethnic groups. Describing racial relations in the southern regions of the United States, Doyle shows that in the days of slavery, when the status of blacks was fixed by custom and law, cooperation between people of the two groups turned out to be quite effective. Although many Negroes were dissatisfied with the existing system, the question of their duties and rights was hardly raised. However, after the civil war, when these norms were destroyed, there was considerable tension, not so much because of conflicts of interest, but because of the inability of people to understand each other. Both blacks and whites often felt offended in completely harmless situations. Then, when the practice of discrimination against blacks was restored, relations again became stable. Hence, Doyle argues, ill will or violence increases when the system of ethnic stratification is in the process of being formed or broken, in situations in which both parties are not quite sure what to expect from each other. When the system of domination and exploitation is well established, coordinated action proceeds smoothly. This point of view is supported by the fact that from 1890 to 1940 tensions between different ethnic groups were most acute not in the South, but in northern cities, where the status of Negroes is not so clearly defined7. Similar manifestations of hostility were not observed in the South until the Second World War. On being drafted into the military, many Negroes found that they were no longer coerced into a subordinate status. The particular implication of these observations is that many people, especially in disadvantaged groups, may publicly support norms that they privately reject. As long as they do this, coordination continues relatively easily.

Some of the illustrations above may suggest that group norms are as definite as the policeman's prerogatives and the laws he enforces. Sometimes it happens so, but in many cases understanding them is only implied. People constantly interact on the basis of unwritten rules and often only intuitively select appropriate behavior. Some norms are so deeply rooted that, once formulated, they are difficult to understand. Lerico children use their native language, but as adults they experience difficulties in learning its grammar, although the latter is just a systematic presentation of the norms of linguistic behavior.

The more established norms are, the less likely people are to be conscious of them. At a high level of agreement, the assumptions are divided to such an extent that no questions arise in anyone's mind. What is important in any group is what is taken for granted, what is tacitly and unconsciously accepted by everyone. And precisely because so many important norms are only implied, it is often difficult for outsiders to settle into a new group for them. European intellectuals who moved to America to escape Nazi persecution read a lot about their host country and often knew its history, laws and customs better than Americans. However, these people had "knowledge" of American life, but not "acquaintance" with it. They were unable to understand much that any child raised in the United States would intuitively feel. To become familiar with such norms requires long-term and personal participation in the group.

Most norms have become so ingrained in life that we are not aware of them until some violation or misunderstanding is discovered. When the agreed action is violated, those who violated the norms try to justify themselves, while others, on the contrary, express dissatisfaction, insisting on their expectations. This suggests that sometimes the roots of resentment and resentment lie in what the participants take for granted. It is only when something unexpected happens that we begin to think about the premises that underlie our relationships with others.

Group norms are not just modes of action, they are appropriate modes. In a familiar environment, each participant intuitively chooses the appropriate course of action. Whenever someone does something inappropriate, there is a feeling of discomfort, as if something is not in place. The set of norms that underlie the various actions of any group can be considered as the culture of this group. In the social sciences, this concept is used in different ways. Following Redfield, culture can be defined as the totality of conventional beliefs, manifested in actions and artifacts, that characterize certain groups10. Speaking of ideas that manifest themselves in actions, they usually point to those beliefs and assumptions that underlie stable and repetitive behavior. Speaking about the representations that appear in artifacts, they point out that material objects are created and used in a certain way and that their meaning depends not only on the physical structure, but also on what way they are considered appropriate to use. Any group that has existed for a sufficiently long time develops a certain system of norms, and the concept of "culture" will be used to denote specific ideas shared by individuals in a specific group.

People with a common cultural background easily cooperate with each other, because they approach each other with the same assumptions. Each person limits his selfish interests and adapts to the expectations that he can easily attribute to others in relation to himself. The flexible coordination of human beings is therefore based on self-control.

Social control is a set of means and techniques by which society guarantees that the behavior of its members, individual subjects of management, social groups will be carried out in accordance with the established social norms and values. Order in society means that every person, every subject of activity, taking on certain duties, in turn has the right to demand that others fulfill them.

There are three ways of exercising social control.

1. Effective education and socialization, during which people consciously accept the norms and values ​​of society, its individual groups and social institutions.

2. Coercion - the application of certain sanctions. When a separate individual, group, subject of management do not follow the laws, norms, rules, society resorts to coercion, which is aimed at overcoming deviations from the norm, accepted values. In this sense, social control is closely related to the categories of freedom and responsibility. Indeed, effective management involves the manifestation of initiative and creativity, independence on the part of all subjects of management, but freedom is impossible without responsibility for social consequences activity that usually occurs after the exercise of social control.

3. Political, moral, legal, financial and other forms of responsibility. An increasing role is played by such forms of responsibility as group, collective, as well as cultural values, traditions, group norms. The effectiveness of social control depends entirely on the nature and extent of the country's progress towards civil society, whose institutions and organizations are able to support and realize the interests and needs of their members, to protect them outside and in addition to the state.

Functions of social control:

regulatory - control is the most important factor social regulation at all levels of society;

· protective - social control serves to preserve the values ​​existing in society and accepted by it and to suppress attempts to encroach on these values. Such values ​​that are certainly significant for modern society include: human life, property, honor and dignity, physical integrity, freedoms and rights of the individual, the established political system, national, state, religious priorities. This function of social control allows the transmission of social experience from generation to generation;

Stabilizing - social control, organizing behavioral expectations, ensures the predictability of people's behavior in standard situations and thereby contributes to the immutability of the social order.

social values- beliefs shared in society regarding the goals to which people should strive, and the main means of achieving them. Social values ​​are significant ideas, phenomena and objects of reality in terms of their compliance with the needs and interests of society, groups, and individuals.

Frankl showed that values ​​not only control actions, they play the role of the meanings of life and make up three classes: values ​​of creativity; experiences (love); relationship.

Classification of values. 1. Traditional (focused on the preservation and reproduction of established norms and goals of life) and modern (arise under the influence of changes in public life). 2. Basic (characterize the main orientations of people in life and the main areas of activity. They are formed in the process of primary socialization, then remaining fairly stable) and secondary. 3. Terminal (express the most important goals and ideals, meanings of life) and instrumental (approved in a given society means to achieve goals). 4. Hierarchy from the lowest values ​​to the highest is possible.

N. I. Lapin offers his own classification of values, based on the following grounds:

By subject content (spiritual and material, economic, social, political, etc.); By functional orientation (integrating and differentiating, approved and denied); According to the needs of individuals (vital, interactionist, socializational, meaningful life); By type of civilization (values ​​of traditional societies, values ​​of modernity societies, universal values).

main function social values- to be a measure of assessments - leads to the fact that in any system of values ​​it is possible to distinguish:

1) what is most preferred (acts of command approaching the social ideal - what is admired). The most important element system of values ​​is a zone of higher values, the value of which does not need any justification (that which is above all, which is inviolable, is “holy” and cannot be violated under any

circumstances);

2) what is considered normal, correct (as they do in most cases);

3) what is not approved is condemned and - at the extreme pole of the value system - appears as an absolute, self-evident evil that is not allowed under any circumstances.

social norms- a set of requirements and expectations that social community(group), organization, society to its members in their relationship with each other, with social institutions in order to carry out activities (behavior) of the established pattern. These are universal, permanent prescriptions that require their practical implementation.

The social norm in the sphere of people's behavior in relation to specific acts can be characterized by two main series of numerical, quantitative indicators. Such indicators include, firstly, the relative number of acts of behavior of the corresponding type and, secondly, an indicator of the degree of their correspondence to some average sample. The objective basis of the social norm is manifested in the fact that the functioning, development of social phenomena and processes takes place in the appropriate qualitative

quantitative limits. The totality of actual acts of action that form social norms is made up of homogeneous, but not identical, elements. These acts of action inevitably differ among themselves in the degree to which they conform to the average pattern of social norm. These actions, therefore, are located along a certain continuum: from complete conformity to the model, through cases of partial deviation, up to complete going beyond the limits of the objective social norm. In the qualitative certainty, in the content, sense and significance of the qualitative characteristics of social norms, in real behavior, the dominant system of social values ​​is ultimately manifested. The total number of homogeneous (that is, more or less corresponding to a certain feature) acts of behavior is the first quantitative indicator of a given set of acts.

social function the state is called upon to ensure the social security of the individual, normal conditions life for all members of society, regardless of their direct participation in the production of goods. In a rule of law state, the distribution of material goods is carried out in addition to free equivalent exchange between producers and consumers. The social policy of a rule of law assumes: life for all.2) The state allocates the necessary funds for health care, cultural recreation, education, housing construction, efficient transport and communications. This ensures the proper implementation of social rights, which should be used to the maximum extent by all citizens of the state. The formation of a social legal state goes through a difficult and long way. Initially, the development and enrichment of society leads to its stratification into classes. Formally, the proclamation of equality reproduces material inequality, which gives rise to a crisis and acute social conflicts in society. And only gradually the rule of law acquires the features of a social state, supplements the guarantees of free development of the individual with material guarantees of social security. This way of social regulation is enforced and supported by the coercive power of the totalitarian state. The opportunity for the top of society to have more high level consumption in comparison with the bulk of the population is created artificially by appropriating the results of someone else's labor, limiting material incentives for labor contribution to the production of social benefits. As a result, this leads to a decrease in social activity, a decrease in the level of scientific and technological progress, a decline in the culture and morality of the people, and leads society to a state of stagnation. Many states characterize themselves as social. This means that they consider it their important task to take care of all those citizens who, for whatever reason, are not able to provide for themselves a normal existence worthy of a person. The state takes measures aimed at protecting against unemployment, takes care of children and disabled people. Thus, in Article 39 of the Constitution Russian Federation in particular, it says: “Everyone is guaranteed social security by age, in case of illness, disability, loss of a breadwinner, for the upbringing of children and in other cases provided for by law. systems, activities that promote human health, develop physical education and sports, ecological and sanitary-epidemiological well-being (Article 41 paragraph 2). Voluntary social insurance, the creation of additional forms of social security and charity are encouraged (Article 39 paragraph 3). Thus, the state takes various measures to improve the living standards of citizens. Only in conditions of freedom and economic independence of producers of material and spiritual goods is the state able to pursue a fair social policy in relation to the population of the country.