What changes are taking place in modern society. Social changes. The role of technological factors in social change
Explained by the interaction of both natural and social factors.
Physical environment. A person is a physical being living in a certain environment. In order to survive, people need to interact with their environment. The main adaptive mechanisms at their disposal include social organization and technology.
However, helping people adapt to one environment, they are not necessarily suitable for adaptation to any other. If the environment changes for some reason, its inhabitants, who have developed a certain type of adaptation to it, must respond to these changes - carry out appropriate institutional changes, develop new forms social organization and new technical inventions. Droughts, floods, epidemics, earthquakes and other natural forces force people to make changes in their lifestyles. Moreover, human beings themselves have a significant impact on their physical environment. Dumping of hazardous waste, acid rain, water and air pollution, depletion of water resources, erosion of topsoil and encroachment of deserts are the damage caused by humans to the ecosystem. Consequently, man is connected with his environment by a chain of complex mutual changes.
Population. Changes in population size, structure and distribution also affect the culture and social structure of a society. For example, the baby boom generation has had a significant impact on the musical tastes and political climate of Western societies. The "aging" of society creates serious problems, in particular, more and more people are waiting for their chance for promotion, but there are fewer vacancies than people willing to fill them.
Conflicts- a form of interaction between people in the struggle for resources or values. The interests of individuals and groups conflict with each other; their goals are incompatible. It is not surprising that conflict becomes a source of social change. To achieve their goals during such a struggle, group members must mobilize their resources and capabilities. For example, during a war the population is forced to abandon their usual way of life; one has to endure the inconveniences of martial law. Of course, conflict also involves negotiation, compromise or adaptation, which leads to the emergence of new institutional structures. However, history shows that the result of such interaction is rarely the complete achievement of the goals of the parties involved in the struggle. Usually the final result is expressed in the formation of a qualitatively new integral structure. Foundations of the old social order are constantly being undermined, and it gives way to something new.
Values and norms accepted in society, act as a kind of “censor”, allowing or prohibiting some innovations; they can also act as stimulants. As a rule, a person is ready to accept technical innovations, but resists changes in economic theory, religion or family patterns. This cultural tension is reflected in our use of the word “inventor.” For us, an inventor is someone who creates new material things, while someone who is the author of intangible ideas is often called a “revolutionary” or “radical”—words that have a negative connotation.
Every society has a value system that is more or less stable, combining values of different ranks and natures (traditional/innovative). The value systems of society develop over a long period of time historical development society, and therefore their structure quite adequately reflects the peculiarities of people’s perception of reality and attitude towards it. Accordingly, a change in public perception is necessarily associated with changes in the value system of society, which allows us to consider the historical process as a consistent change of value systems.
Innovation. Discovery increases knowledge by adding new ones to existing ones. For example, A. Einstein’s theory of relativity and G. Mendel’s genetic theory are discoveries. In contrast, the invention is a new combination of known elements. Thus, a car using liquefied gas as fuel is six well-known elements in a new combination: an engine running on liquefied gas, a liquefied gas cylinder, a gearbox, an intermediate clutch, a drive shaft and a body.
Innovations - both discoveries and inventions - are not single acts, but a cumulative sequence of increasing knowledge passed on from generation to generation, plus a number of new elements. Therefore, the more cultural elements on which innovation can be based, the higher the frequency of discoveries and inventions. For example, the invention of glass gave rise to the creation of lenses, glasses, window glasses, laboratory tubes, X-ray tubes, light bulbs, radio and television lamps, mirrors and many other products. Lenses, in turn, contributed to the appearance of glasses, magnifying glasses, telescopes, cameras, etc. This type of development is based on the exponential principle: as the cultural base expands, the possibilities of new inventions tend to grow exponentially.
Diffusion is the process by which cultural characteristics spread from one social system to another. Each culture contains a minimum number of unique features and patterns that are unique to it. For example, the Slavic alphabet (Cyrillic) is based on the Greek alphabet, which in turn arose under the influence of the Phoenician. The Russians received the Christian faith from the Greeks of the Byzantine Empire, and they - from the Jewish sects of the first centuries AD. e., who believed in Jesus Christ as the messiah. We proudly talk about what other nations took from us, but we often forget about what we received from them.
A group of factors that can be roughly called ideological and political also contribute to social change. For example, O. Comte considered the development of society along an ascending line as the progress of ideas. M. Weber considered religious ideas to be the most important factor in economic development, assigning the individualistic ethics of Protestantism a decisive role in the formation of the spirit of entrepreneurship and the subsequent economic leap in Western societies.
Change of idea - not a purely intellectual process. It is accompanied by the formation of new social movements, which in themselves can be considered a factor of social change. Social movements produce charismatic leaders, thanks to their outstanding personal qualities, they are able to mobilize masses of people for social protests that undermine the established order in society and can lead to revolutionary changes.
Political processes events occurring in societies can themselves also become a factor of social change. According to modern theories political revolution, the functioning of the state apparatus and the nature of interstate relations are factors that can cause a revolution. But the actions of revolutionaries have a chance of success only when the state is unable to fulfill its basic functions of maintaining law, order and territorial unity.
Each of the presented factors is influenced by the others and itself influences them.
The difficulties that explanatory theories face are related to their own shortcomings - determinism and reductionism: they try to reduce the whole variety of interactions of factors to one determinant. Moreover, social processes are so interconnected that it is a mistake to consider them in isolation. For example, there are no clear boundaries between economic and political processes, economic and technological processes. Technological change itself can be seen as a special type of cultural change.
The cause-and-effect relationships between various social processes are changeable and cannot be schematized once and for all. Therefore, the possibilities for any causal explanation of social change are very limited. The most general way of theoretical explanation is to construct a model of the operating mechanisms of such changes.
In relation to unidirectional development processes, the following mechanisms of implementation are distinguished: accumulation, choice, differentiation.
Accumulation mechanism consider some evolutionary theories. For example, they emphasize the cumulative - accumulative - nature of knowledge. A person is capable of innovation, and he constantly makes additions to the existing system of knowledge, discarding outdated and incorrect knowledge and replacing them with more adequate ones. Because he learns from his mistakes, he constantly selects new useful ideas and skills obtained through trial and error. The expansion and dissemination of knowledge is possible only as a result of specialization and differentiation. The growth of technical and technological knowledge stimulates the accumulation of capital, which in turn leads to an increase in labor productivity. Population growth can also be included in the cumulative development model, since people can increase their numbers without reducing their standard of living only through the accumulation of technical knowledge and means of production, and population growth itself stimulates new innovations.
Saturation and exhaustion can be considered mechanisms of curvilinear and cyclic change. Models of unidirectional development assume that a change in a certain direction entails further changes in the same direction. Models of development along a curve or a closed cycle assume that changes in one direction create conditions for further changes in other, including opposite, directions. For example, population growth will threaten the state of the ecological environment and often leads to the depletion of natural resources and a decline in economic levels.
Conflicts, competition and cooperation can also be seen as mechanisms of social change. For example, Marxists imagined the life of capitalist society as a constant struggle between the ruling class, trying to maintain its dominant position, and the oppressed, trying to radically change the existing system, and social change was seen as a product of this struggle. Similar ideas underlie the conflictological model of R. Darsndorff. The concept of conflict becomes more productive in explanatory terms if it is supplemented with the concept of competition. There are many competing groups in society. Their competition stimulates the introduction and spread of innovation. For example, the leaders of non-Western states are politically opposed to the West, but strive to borrow Western science and technology, because they understand that only in this way will they achieve independence and economic power. In addition, competition entails the consolidation and complexity of competing organizations. Even K. Marx showed that capitalism has an inherent tendency to form monopolies that are invulnerable to competition. Finally, the concept of competition is used by theories that explain social change through the actions of individuals pursuing their own interests. But under certain conditions, competition encourages individuals to cooperate in the pursuit of their goals, as has been shown using game theory and other mathematical methods.
Tension and adaptation are considered in structural functionalism as mechanisms of social change. Change is understood as an adaptive response to tension that has arisen in the system. When a change occurs in any element of the system, tension arises between this element and the rest, which is resolved through spontaneous adaptive changes in other parts of the system. For example, the American sociologist W. Ogborn showed that the accelerated development of technology causes a discrepancy between the technological level of society and its sociocultural components, which develop more slowly.
Targeted and long-term social planning may be, to some extent, the cause of social change. In modern societies, the possibilities for such short-term planning are increasing. Often planned goals are not achieved, and in those cases where planning is successful, it always entails unplanned consequences. The longer the period for which planning is carried out, the more difficult it is to achieve the goal and avoid unforeseen consequences. This was especially evident in the experience of communist societies.
Planning involves institutionalizing change, but institutionalization does not involve planning. Modern societies have institutionalized many unplanned changes. Most often this happens in the field of science and technology: this or that innovation becomes institutionalized, causing social changes that were not planned at all or only partially anticipated.
The mechanisms of social change are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, some of them are clearly interrelated. For example, innovation is driven by competition. Several mechanisms can be combined in one explanatory model of social change.
Social structure and social change are central theoretical concepts in sociology, relating to the basic complementary characteristics of social life as a whole. On the one hand, social life is characterized by repetition, constancy and continuity, and on the other hand, dynamism and variability. Both concepts are interrelated. Social structure cannot be studied without taking into account actual or potential changes, and social change as a more or less regular process is unthinkable without the concept of structure. The separation of these concepts from each other entails misconceptions. But in different theories the emphasis may be mixed - sometimes on the constancy of structure, sometimes on the dynamism of change. In recent decades, it has noticeably shifted towards change. Sociologists of different directions have focused on changes at various levels - the social dynamics of current life, short-term transformations, long-term changes in society as a whole.
In modern sociology there is a clear tendency to recognize the plurality of types of social change. Strictly speaking, the changes are so diverse that the very expression “theory of social change” can be considered outdated and superseded by the very development of sociology. To talk about social change and the theory of social change means either to believe that one can find the root cause of change, or to believe that it is enough to define the form of change, calling it cyclical, linear, evolutionary. Apparently, modern sociology has realized that the only methodology for studying social change is the analysis of specific processes tied to place and time. All other types of approaches, to one degree or another, suffer from ideologism, which impedes scientific objectivity.
Factors and sources of social change
Marxist methodology, which dominated Russian social science for a long time, required looking for the ultimate causes and sources of social change in changes in the economic conditions of material production. Indeed, in many cases it is possible (and necessary) to trace the dependence of social changes on changes in the economic sphere. Currently in Russia, for example, there are huge structural changes in economic relations. On this basis, groups of owners are formed, which form certain social communities with their own interests and positions. In other words, to a large extent, modern social changes in Russia are the result of changes in the economic sphere.
However, a large amount of empirical material accumulated by sociology shows that the causes and sources of real social changes cannot be reduced only to economic factors, these causes and sources are much more complex, diverse, and sometimes even do not lend themselves to strict deterministic explanation. Moreover, in many cases it is changes in social structures, institutions, and their functions that serve as the impetus for economic, political and other changes.
Apparently, it can be argued that the sources of social change can be both economic and political factors, as well as factors located within the sphere of social structures and institutions. The last type of factors include interaction between different social systems, structures, institutions, as well as communities at the level of groups, parties, classes, nations, entire states, etc. One of the forms of such interaction is competition. Thus, competition between firms often leads to an increase not only in net economic efficiency, but also to the solution of many social issues for workers, especially highly qualified ones. Healthy competition in economics, technology, politics, science, and other spheres of public life serves as an important source of social change in general and in these areas in particular.
To an even greater extent, the solution of many social, economic and political problems was facilitated by the class struggle, primarily of the working class, as well as the peasantry, employees, and other layers of society for their economic and civil rights. This struggle reached its greatest extent in the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. To a large extent, its result in many countries of Europe, America and other regions was an increase in the standard of living of the working class and other workers, a reduction in working hours, and numerous measures social protection low- and even middle-paid segments of the population.
It is especially important to highlight and consider in more detail the technological, ideological, and scientific factors of social change.
The role of technological factors in social change
The most obvious influence of technological factors, i.e. scientific and technological progress, on the social life of society and changes in it has become since the industrial revolution of the 17th-18th centuries. The steam engine, and with it locomotives and steamships, almost all factory production driven by a steam boiler, and somewhat later by electricity, radically changed the life of Europeans and Americans, and after them the entire world that used these machines and mechanisms. On the one hand, this led to consolidation and integration within various communities - social groups, classes, professional communities, as well as to changes in the nature of the relationships between them, the exacerbation of conflicts and struggles between groups and classes, between states (Napoleonic wars, Franco-German, Anglo-Boer, Russian-Japanese and a number of wars that were fought in the Western Hemisphere United States of America, World Wars I and II, military-technical confrontation between the USSR and the USA during the “ cold war"). On the other side, new technology has unprecedentedly expanded the possibilities of communication, exchange of information and cultural values, essentially changed the entire nature of communications between people, was the basis on which the entire system was formed mass media. From now on, processes such as horizontal and vertical have acquired a different quality. social mobility, all social movements. Such scientific and technological achievements as the invention of the telephone and television, the automobile and the airplane, the computer and the ballistic missile had the deepest social consequences.
In the literature, there are several attempts to classify the ways and forms of the impact of scientific and technological achievements on changes in people’s social lives. American sociologists K. K. Kammeier, G. Ritzer And N. R. Yetman in his Sociology, he identifies three ways in which technology determines social changes in society.
First: Changes in technology create social problems that require certain actions from the people. Significant technological changes entail the formation of new social norms, the roles of individuals and entire work teams, professional groups, and often new values. This is how it is formed cultural lag, t.s. the gap between existing values, norms, roles and new requirements caused by new technology. People must constantly change their intangible culture in order to adapt it to the material, i.e., to the requirements of rapidly changing technology. In this case, the authors base their reasoning on the concept of an American sociologist of the first half of the 20th century. W. Ogborn, who put forward the idea of a cultural lag, arguing that material culture changes much faster than intangible culture.
Second: new equipment, new technologies create new opportunities for individuals and groups in their activities, communication, etc. Thus, new opportunities social communication created thanks to telephone installation and the spread of television. The computer radically changes the nature of the workplace, the number of workers required, the qualifications of workers, and makes it necessary to form a set of new knowledge and skills that were not previously required. Computerization significantly changes approaches to education, methods and methods of teaching many disciplines. It has a significant impact on the functioning of virtually all social institutions. In general, the computer opens up great new possibilities, but not all of them can serve the well-being of people.
Third: New technologies often create new forms of interaction between individuals and various kinds of communities. Thus, the widespread use of cargo transportation by car individualizes the work of a significant part of workers and changes the forms of their interaction in the production process with other workers. In some respects, robotization has similar social consequences technological processes. Communication through telephones, televisions, and other technical means (now the Internet) has become commonplace not only within production process, but also beyond.
The ways in which technological change influences social change described above overlap in some ways, but overall they provide a useful picture of the transformation of one type of change into another.
Nowadays, scientific and technological progress has reached such a scale that it requires new understanding, new assessments of its social prospects. Firstly, the created and accumulated weapons of mass destruction (in particular, nuclear missiles), even if partially used, can destroy not only humanity, but also all life on our planet. Secondly, scientific and technological progress has led to an unprecedented aggravation of the environmental problem. The state of the natural environment surrounding humans is now such that it can have a catastrophic impact on the very existence of society. Third, unbridled growth industrial production in the last two or three centuries, especially in the 20th century, leads to the depletion of natural sources of raw materials and energy. Some time ago, a relative way out of the current situation was found - the industry must switch to so-called high technologies, which are based on resource- and energy-saving principles. High tech began to spread widely in the most developed countries of the world. Unfortunately, nowadays in our country they are talked about less and less.
Ideology as a factor of social change
Ideology has become the most significant factor in social change in different countries of the world in the last two or three centuries. Ideological doctrines, ideals, programs were the program of action, the direct impulse that guided many political parties and social movements that carried out radical changes in all spheres of society. The most significant in world history were the Great French Revolution of the 18th century, the struggle for independence and the establishment of the independence of the United States of America in the 18th century, the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia, and the Chinese revolution of the late 1940s. etc. It is generally accepted that all of them were carried out under the banner of the struggle for the implementation of certain ideological principles and values (liberal-bourgeois, Marxist-Leninist, Maoist).
However, not only such social revolutions of world-historical significance, but all social changes caused by socio-economic and political reasons are ideological in nature. You just need to keep in mind that the larger, more fundamental, and deeper the changes are made, the more noticeable is the role of ideologies in them, which are always aimed at changing the existing social reality or at preserving and protecting it. By their nature, ideologies cannot be neutral with respect to social change. Through ideologies, social groups and classes either demand change or resist it. However, this role of ideologies in social change is not always clearly visible. It is noticeable when larger, deeper and more fundamental changes in society are carried out, and less noticeable when relatively small, shallow changes are carried out.
It must be said that, in principle, there is nothing wrong with recognizing the ideological nature of socio-political and economic transformations. (Note that now in Russia there is a lack of a national ideology that could serve as a basis for formulating long-term strategic goals of the social transformation of society.) The main practical and theoretical problem lies on a completely different plane and lies in the fact that often in the process of political struggle and all kinds of political games, which almost always accompany periods of social transformation, the so-called particular ideology turns out to be dominant, i.e., an ideology that expresses the interests not of the majority of the population, but of relatively narrow groups, and these interests can be selfish. Then a conflict arises between these groups and the rest of society, which manifests itself in the ideological, social and political spheres. The conflict can reach such a level of severity that there will be temptations to resolve it by violent means. That is why a well-developed program of social change and transformation must be based on the fundamental interests of the broadest layers and groups of the population, be guided by national goals and objectives, and not succumb to the temptation of particularistic, narrow party ideologies. It is important to find ways and forms of combining a promising national program, the ideals of which could consolidate and inspire the vast majority of the people, and specific developments based on a strictly scientific, objective analysis of reality, taking into account socio-psychological, cultural, and spiritual characteristics.
In the development of society at the turn of the third millennium, such profound social changes took place that to a person from the recent past, modern society might seem like some other, completely unearthly civilization. At the same time, he would be shocked not only by the material attributes of the life of modern people, no matter how unusual and complex they may be, but by the very structure of the social system. Even, say, two hundred years ago, the nature of society was fundamentally incomprehensible and was considered mainly as a divine given. At the same time, stability and sustainability, the absence of change, were perceived by many peoples as the greatest good. Against this background, current human civilization appears to be a bizarrely changing and constantly renewed social phenomenon. Sometimes there is a fairly clear feeling of the presence of a certain life-giving power, giving a certain form to the formless, a harmonious structure to the structureless, permanent movement to the almost dead. And, surprisingly, such a very self-sufficient force is precisely social technology, planning, designing, updating, designing, structuring and creating new problems that it itself has to resolve.
What is currently happening in the field social technologies, can be unambiguously defined as a technological revolution brought to life by a combination of constantly gaining strength factors that are increasingly covering the global social space. These, as the analysis shows, include the following very important factors in the technologization of modern society.
1. All spheres of social life of a significant part of the planet’s population are rapidly being updated, civilization is acquiring the dynamics of social change, and the zones of traditionalism are constantly narrowing. Almost before our eyes, social innovations from sporadic, discrete and relatively rare characteristics of modern society are turning into its immanent property, which becomes permanent, total and irreversible. At the same time, social cognition algorithms and practical activities people have ceased to be “long-lasting”, and general change and permanent renewal are now turning into the main means of ensuring sustainable social development.
2. The worldwide process of global democratization social systems, which unfolded especially intensively from the beginning of the seventies of the XX century. and called the “third wave”, rapidly leads society to an increase in the importance of the individual, the establishment of a pluralism of opinions, tolerance for the position of others, the fall of totalitarian and authoritarian forms of organization of society and, accordingly, to the destruction of rigid and established dogmatic social and activity systems. The era of technology determinism and its monism is being replaced by an era of technological freedom and pluralism.
3. There is a dynamic process of transition of the avant-garde of modern societies (i.e., highly developed Western countries) into an informational, higher phase of development. Industrial civilization is thus gradually becoming a thing of the past. And although this process is still quite contradictory and uneven, information, its flows, institutions and a virtual reality they penetrate more and more deeply into all spheres of modern society and not only determine its essence, but also become a vital and necessary resource for its further development. Social cognition and practice are increasingly turning into the processing of huge arrays of diverse social information, which are mediated by the subjects of social activity from its objects.
4. The so-called tertiary sphere of modern society is developing rapidly, which includes science, culture, education, healthcare, recreation, services and the protection of human rights. By the end of the 20th century. very large-scale changes have become apparent in the sphere of employment of people, associated with the fact that for the first time in the history of mankind the majority of the population of the most developed countries is actively leaving the sphere Agriculture and industry and moves into the service sector. Industrial technologies, thus, are gradually losing their former significance, and the main object of technologization is increasingly becoming not only social sphere society, but also social space as a whole.
5. The humanitarization of public life is accelerating, the importance of the humanitarian factor in the development of society is increasing, social and humanitarian aspects are relegating purely technical and production-technological ones to the background. Significant changes in the social structure of modern society ensure entry into its active and social meaningful activity the humanitarian part of the population, which in the coming years will dominate the social composition of the population of most countries of the world.
6. There is a clear sense of reaching a planetary limit in the development of civilization, when real obstacles arise to its development in breadth, and the possibilities of space, in fact, still pioneering, activity have not yet fully developed. Humanity is already becoming cramped within the current boundaries of the planet. But we have to put up with this for now, and also restrain cognitive and practical expansion and direct the main efforts to deepening social cognition and more effectively transforming the limited social space. In this regard, there is a change in emphasis in social activities - moving them from macro processes to micro processes.
7. Significantly worsen global problems modern civilization, which actually call into question the very existence of modern society and can only be resolved through the joint efforts of all countries and peoples. Humanity is more like a “bull in a china shop,” whose rapid vital activity can lead not only to “broken dishes and the destruction of the shop,” but also to its own death. Therefore, global expansion inevitably is replaced by global constructivism, and creative prowess is replaced by creative caution.
8. The processes of social integration and diffusion of civilizations, social and cultural systems are also intensifying. These processes make it possible to ensure the interaction of the rational and irrational, knowledge and assessment, assessment and practice, practice and knowledge. In addition, mutations and borrowings of technological systems are occurring at a noticeable pace, and the possibilities for using social technologies are expanding.
It should be especially emphasized that social technologies, the place and role of which in the life of modern society have increased so much, have themselves become the subject of study of various scientific disciplines, such as sociology, philosophy, psychology, political science, praxeology, etc. Moreover, these sciences have become so “heavy” from technological knowledge that there is an urgent need to form an independent sphere of scientific knowledge - the theory of social technologies, which should, first of all, become theoretical basis social engineering activities.
Along with this, in countries moving from totalitarianism to democracy, from a command economy to a market economy, the problem of social technologies acquires special significance. In essence, there is a historical change in paradigms (or types) of socio-technological activity. The main challenges facing these countries in modern stage, consist primarily in the rejection of technologies that lead to the suppression of the individual through authoritarian (totalitarian) social mechanisms, and the development of the vast experience accumulated by world social science and practice in the design, development and implementation of socio-humanistic technologies, the need for which is becoming more acute and obvious.
Overcoming the total crisis in Ukrainian society is, not without reason, associated with a radical increase in the efficiency and quality of social management, a large-scale expansion of the processes of self-organization and self-government, which makes it possible to fill the idea of a legal, democratic and social state with real content, as well as to give it modern and civilized forms. In short, life itself puts on the agenda the development and implementation of innovative social technologies in general and technologies of social management and self-government in particular as the main problems.
At the same time, in the conditions of the transition period, mastering not only the technologies of social adaptation, adaptation to new market conditions and methods of survival of both groups and individuals, but above all the technologies of updating the social system and all its constituent elements, becomes extremely important. Such a broad socio-technological approach corresponds to the maximum extent to the essence and goals of the current phase of transformation of our society. There has been a fairly clear positioning of society for constructive changes. The era of national liberation and people's democratic revolutions with their destructive, critical, largely spontaneous processes has practically ended. The country is beginning, albeit slowly, but more and more confidently, to move towards creative and constructive forms of social modernization. Under these conditions, the socio-technological approach begins to significantly and increasingly actively influence the mechanisms of renewal of society and its subsystems. Now it is becoming clear to everyone that the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of a “good law” or the publication by the President of Ukraine of a “good decree” does not automatically lead to the necessary social changes. On this path, first of all, a serious technological study of one or another area of social reform is needed, and everywhere we need effective and practice-verified social technologies based on the principles of rationalism and humanism.
Thus, a kind of “breakthrough” has emerged in the development of social technologies, which will continue to grow. In all likelihood, social technologization has already begun to turn into one of the leading trends in global social development. At the same time, the expansion of the scope of application of diverse social technologies inevitably brings to the fore the rather complex problem of training highly qualified specialists - social managers, engineers and technologists who are able to develop, design, construct, implement social technologies and ensure their effective functioning at all levels of organization of the social system. Here we're talking about not only about knowledge in the field of the theory of social technologies, which is dynamically updated, but about a special type of socio-technological culture of modern specialists, which consists in mastering them new paradigm scientific thinking and vision of social reality as dynamic, multidimensional, nonlinear and stochastic.
Proposed tutorial, although pioneering in domestic socio-pedagogical practice, in a concentrated form reflects the developing and strengthening trend towards the technologization of modern society and the transformation of sociological science from a means of simply recording what is happening into an active factor in the humanization of society, its comprehensive social transformations. the main objective teaching this course in higher education educational institutions is to help students understand the content, nature, structure and main aspects of the technological function of sociology, master social technologies as a system of knowledge, the principles of technological thinking and attitude to social reality, as well as methods of its scientifically based change. This entails a whole range of tasks: mastering the conceptual and categorical apparatus of the theory of social technologies, its principles, methodology and basic concepts; familiarization with the history of social technologies, domestic and foreign achievements in this area; mastering the methods of social design, forecasting and planning, as well as testing and implementing social technologies and developing social engineering thinking skills on this basis; studying the species diversity of social technologies, levels and methods of technologization of modern social systems; understanding the most important patterns, trends, problems and contradictions of the technologization of society and its subsystems, a responsible and realistic attitude towards it.
At the same time, it is necessary to emphasize the particular complexity of this training course, since its study requires preliminary in-depth knowledge in the field of scientific disciplines such as sociology, political science, psychology, cultural studies and the theory of social management, elements of which are present in all sections and topics of this course. It is also important that this training course you can’t just memorize and adequately reproduce it in an exam. It requires the formation of a fundamentally new style of thinking characteristic of social technologies, which is based on a desire for innovation and reform, the desire to see modern society systematically and in all the diversity of its essences. And, of course, the socio-technological paradigm presupposes, first of all, a careful and humanistic attitude towards the objects of social technologies - society, its various structures and people.
When presenting educational material presented in this manual, the authors made extensive use of the works of not only domestic but also foreign researchers published in recent years.
Society does not stand still; it is constantly changing, progressing or degrading. To describe these processes the concept is used social change. Social change is one of the main problems in sociology.
Social changes refers to various changes that occur over a period of time within social systems, in society as a whole.
Social change- this is a transition social object from one state to another, any modification in the social organization of a society, its social institutions and social structure.
First of all, social structures are subject to social changes - social institutions and organizations, social groups and communities.
Technological changes. The emergence of machines, electricity, new types of energy, computers and other manifestations of scientific and technological progress leads to the emergence of some and the disappearance of others social and professional groups, the aggravation of conflicts, the formation of new social values, etc.
The emergence of new ideologies, doctrines, programs that guide many political parties and social movements that carry out significant social transformations.
Adaptation of various social groups to changing socio-economic and political conditions within the framework of existing social systems.
Social change can be short-term and long-term, partial and societal. Vary structural, procedural, functional, motivational social changes. The creation or breakdown of a family, the transition to multi-level education are examples of structural changes. Any transformation in relations between social groups or people refers to process changes. Redistribution job responsibilities in a team refers to functional changes. The shift in value and motivational attitudes from socially significant to personally significant is an example of motivational changes . N.I. Lapin, A.I. Prigogine highlight innovation process as a type of social change.
Innovation - the complex process of creating, disseminating and using a new practical means to satisfy human needs and the changes associated with this innovation in the social and material environment.
There are gradual (reformist) and spasmodic (revolutionary) social changes.
Revolutions There are: scientific (change the picture of the world as a whole), technical, political, economic, social (change certain aspects of the life of society).
In everyday life, the term “revolution” has different interpretations. For example, a coup d'etat, consisting of a simple change from one group of leaders to another without any change in political institutions and the system of power, cannot be considered a revolution in a strict sociological sense.
Revolution Only those events that satisfy the following conditions are named:
1. Revolution leads to large-scale reforms or changes. John Duney points out that, according to this principle, the people who rise to power must actually be more capable of governing a given society than those whom they overthrow; the leaders of the revolution must achieve some of the goals they have set.
2. Revolution involves threat or use of violence by participants in the mass movement. A revolution is a political change that occurs under the opposition of the ruling circles, which cannot be forced to give up their power except under the threat of violence or through its actual use.
Hence, revolution - This is the seizure of state power through violence, carried out by the leaders of a mass movement, the resulting power is used in the future to initiate radical social reforms.
Revolutions are different from armed ones uprisings, that involve the threat or use of violence but do not lead to significant change. Almost all mass uprisings that took place before the 17th century were not revolutions, but uprisings.
Historical experience shows that revolutionary changes often contribute to more effective solutions to pressing economic, political and social problems. This is evidenced by the French Revolution of 1789 and the American Revolution of 1776.
What happens after a revolution depends in part on huge amount events that led to the revolution. After the end of the revolutionary struggle, the country may be exhausted and severely fragmented. Remnants of the overthrown regime or other groups claiming power may regroup their forces and start over. If the surrounding countries are hostile to the new government (as was the case with the Russian Revolution of 1917), its success in achieving social change may be much more limited than with the active support of the environment. Finally, although revolutions can have far-reaching consequences for the societies concerned, these consequences are extremely difficult to isolate against the background of other factors of progressive development.
According to sociologist James Davis, revolutions are most likely to break out after a long period of social and economic improvement, followed by a period of sharp reversal. People are afraid of losing what they have managed to achieve with such difficulty, and they acquire a revolutionary spirit. Davis illustrates his hypothesis with facts such as the Pullman strike of 1849, the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the Egyptian Revolution of 1953.
Social revolution- a comprehensive change in all or most aspects of social life. This is a qualitative change affecting the foundations of the existing system. Social revolution- This is a radical, qualitative revolution in the entire structure of society. Such a revolution is impossible without a political revolution - the conquest of state power by a progressive class capable of carrying out revolutionary transformations of the entire society.
Reform- partial improvement in some area of life, a series of gradual changes that do not affect the foundations of the existing social system. Reform is the process of gradual accumulation of some new elements, properties, as a result of which the whole social system or its important aspects. As a result of the process of accumulation, new elements are born, appear and strengthen. This process is called innovation. Then comes the selection of innovations, consciously or spontaneously, through which elements of the new are fixed in the system and others are, as it were, “culled out.”
Social reform concerns the transformation of those spheres or aspects of public life that are directly related to the level and way of life of people, affect health, access to social benefits, participation in public life (the introduction of universal secondary education, health insurance, unemployment benefits, etc.).
Privatization, a new tax system are examples of economic reforms. Changes to the constitution, the transition from a monarchy to a republic, changes in voting forms, etc. are examples of political reforms.
Terrorism can be defined as the use of force against persons or property for the purpose of intimidating and coercing a government, formal organization or civilian population to fulfill their political, religious and social plans. For many years, sociologists and historians have viewed terrorism primarily as a violation public order. However, recently they have become increasingly inclined to believe that terrorism is new way incitement to war with far-reaching social consequences. The attack by Chechen militants on Dagestan confirms this assumption.
Very often, terrorist acts are not aimed at their actual victims, but at masses of innocent people.
The concept of social movements covers a fairly wide range various types behavior. But why do social movements arise? What factors motivate people to take joint action for a cause? Sociologists have differing opinions on this issue. Some scholars see the roots of social movements in the plight of the people, and more specifically in social and economic powerlessness. Others do not find this argument convincing enough. They note that in many societies there is a significant “reserve” of social dissatisfaction and that oppression and poverty are widespread, but social movements are rare.
9.2.Theories of social change
Among the theoretical models that have been used to understand the general mechanisms of change throughout human history, several stand out in terms of their importance and significance.
Social evolutionism, a concept that attempts to establish connections between biological and social changes. According to evolutionism(O. Comte, G. Spencer, E. Durkheim) , society goes through certain stages in its development, progressing from simple forms to more complex ones.
Deprivation theory. K. Marx was of the opinion that capitalist exploitation leads to the gradual impoverishment of the working class; over time, conditions will become so intolerable that the workers will be forced to recognize the social nature of their plight and overthrow their oppressors. However, Marx also recognized that extreme impoverishment and exploitation do not necessarily lead to a revolutionary explosion. He pointed out that the suffering of representatives of the lower classes (proletarians) could be so intense, and social alienation so significant, that it would be able to “suppress” their entire social and revolutionary consciousness. Although Marx's writings contained evidence of “progressive impoverishment,” or absolute deprivation, he also recognized the existence of relative deprivation, admitting that as capitalism developed, the condition of the working class could improve. However, he believed that the gap between owners and workers would widen and create among the latter an ever-increasing sense of their comparative disadvantage.
Structural functionalism(T. Parsons, R. Merton) considers social change as an evolutionary process of adaptation of a system to the environment on the basis of differentiation.
Representatives technological determinism D. Bell, O. Toffler assign a decisive role in social changes to technological changes that occur during technological revolutions (scientific and technological revolution of the 50-60s of the 20th century, information and computer revolution of the end of the 20th century).
Sociologists G. Lenski and J. Lenski believe that changes in the social organization of society do not always bring happiness or satisfaction to humanity. In their opinion, the evolution of society, first of all, depends on the level of development of technology and the method economic production. These changes subsequently affect other aspects of social life, including the system of stratification, the organization of power and family structures.
Related information.
Social change - fundamental social process, causing dramatic changes in public health. Although social changes are realized in the structural elements of society, the changes are based on cultural transformations in the spiritual life of society.
Over the past three centuries, the world has seen only one direction of social change - Westernization, i.e. the assimilation by societies undergoing change of values and patterns of social behavior originally inherent in Western societies. Social change is an objective process; the will of individual individuals, including political leaders, can only slow it down or speed it up, and distort the flow to one degree or another.
The impact of social change on the health of any society is universally damaging. Examples from many societies, including Russia, clearly demonstrate the damaging effects of Westernization on public health. This:
- a decrease in population as a result of a decrease in the average age of survival (mortality), a decrease in the birth rate and an increase in interstate migration;
- an increase in general and neuropsychiatric morbidity, a change in its structure towards the predominance of diseases with more severe courses and outcomes, primarily psychosomatic diseases;
- an increase in infectious morbidity due to the collapse of the system of control over infectious diseases and intrastate migration;
- an increase in occupational morbidity and industrial injuries due to decreased attention to labor protection and safety due to the need to reduce production costs and the consent of people to work in harmful and dangerous conditions;
- the emergence of significant marginalized social groups - refugees, homeless, unemployed;
- growth of all types of social deviations: crime, alcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution, suicide - and morbidity and mortality for related reasons (murder; deaths from acute alcohol poisoning, drug overdose; sexually transmitted and injection diseases);
- economic (material) deprivation of large groups of the population, leading to impoverishment associated with a lack of funds for adequate food, clothing, medicine, personal hygiene products, and housing costs;
- the inability of control institutions to neutralize the negative impact of social changes on public health in their fields of activity (economics, law, industry, etc.).
Factors acting on the health of the population in the context of sociocultural transformation of society cause in large masses of the population a condition called stress of social change. It is possible to distinguish moral, psychological and economic components.
Periods of sociocultural transformation are characterized by a loss of the regulatory significance of social norms (anomie according to E. Durkheim). Previous social norms are losing their adaptive function, and new ones have not yet been formed or have not been internalized (not internalized) by the majority of members of society. According to M. Opler, there is a parallelism between sociodynamic processes in society and psychodynamic processes in the individual psyche. Hence, rapid social changes lead to a state of demoralization among large sections of the population.
It has been shown that social catastrophes such as wars have less demoralizing effects than social changes. This is due to the fact that social changes are characterized by a sharp property stratification of the population, while in conditions of social disasters the phenomenon of “shared grief” arises. The vast majority of people have a negative attitude towards social change - the “conservative syndrome” - and not only because of the threat to their socio-professional and material status, but also because of the violation of the sense of historical and cultural continuity - site. Therefore, the formation in the process of primary socialization of readiness to live in conditions of change is important factor resistance to the damaging effects of the stress of social change. The orientation towards stability inherent in the Russian culture of education, in contrast to the American orientation towards change, is emphasized by T. Parsons.
The perceived economic situation itself serves as the main source of change internal to society and is manifested in the political pressure that society exerts on the government. According to B. Strumpel's model, under the influence of such pressure, governments begin economic reforms. Since such reforms always require structural macroeconomic changes, including the redistribution of society's resources from the sphere of consumption to the sphere of production, high level economic stress of the population - website. People can either agree or disagree to endure economic stress, which determines the success of reforms. Unsuccessful economic reforms further increase levels of economic stress.
Social changes are reflected in the social structure of society as follows. Some representatives of high-status groups maintain and strengthen their positions. In addition to them, some previously low-status minority groups - religious and/or national - are also represented in the elite. Material difficulties, as studies show, are experienced most severely, in terms of health, by representatives of the upper classes, since, unlike representatives of the lower classes, they do not have the skills to live in poverty.
The distribution of intrafamily roles is changing in the direction of abolitionism, i.e. liberation of women from unskilled domestic work and equal distribution of power functions in the family group. The social prestige of representatives of the older age group is declining, as younger generations lose the value of life and social experience acquired in other social conditions.
Social changes are most clearly manifested in territorial communities, since they are the main type social communities, where changes are implemented. Social organizations are undergoing profound transformations; Even relatively small sociocultural changes require extremely pronounced changes in organizations.
Despite these severe population effects of social change, historical analysis shows a remarkably rapid recovery in population size and health after the implementation of socially necessary changes. In the last decade, specialists World Organization health care talk about the possibility of avoiding the negative consequences of Westernization on the health of the population through acculturation, i.e. a balanced combination of elements of Western and own (native) culture.
From Natalia Kotelnikova:
This article may give you peace of mind in the wrong places. ALL OF THE SYMPTOMS THAT ARE LISTED COULD BE AN ACTUAL DISEASE THAT WOULD ACTUALLY SUFFER YOU SEVERELY, SUCH AS PULMONARY. Keep your nose to the wind, stay informed latest news, but remember that channelings are written mainly by people over 50, and they sometimes tend to wishful thinking - their real ailments as symptoms of transition. I want to say that I have never had such symptoms. But if you can’t explain your physical condition in any way and the doctors say that everything is fine with you, then this may also be a symptom of transition.
I join in the loss of memory and disorientation, also names and numbers have always been difficult for me, but now it has become more difficult, because I conduct seminars... Those who connect with the Teachers, with the Great Goddess and their own mentors often meditate and are in the higher channels , is practically freed from the instability of one’s own energy, because constantly undergoes harmonization and attunement of the body and psyche with higher vibrations. Our ascension process is gentle and unnoticeable.
Everything in the world vibrates at the nanolevel. These vibrations are of different frequencies, and, if we talk about people, then it is by your individual vibrations, by the set of vibrations of the organs of your body, that you can create your true ID (identification number), which will not be repeated in any living creature.
The objective world also vibrates - planet Earth, Space, the Sun are in a state of continuous vibration.
Life in our era is such that we will have to experience a moment of change in the vibrations of our planet, the Sun and the entire Solar System.
With the increase in vibrations of the planet and the Sun, it is assumed that living beings included in this System should also evolve in frequency. But alas, not everyone succeeds. Therefore, those who do not conform become uncomfortable.
Everything in the Universe is interconnected. We are connected with our planet Earth, just as it is connected with the Solar System, just as the entire Solar System is connected with the Galaxy, and the Galaxy with the Universe. It's all one living organism.
The planets of the Solar System are changing their vibrations, and this is happening now. Changes in vibrations lead to changes in the magnetic field. You can accept it or not, but the facts are this: the pole shift is already underway.
DNA undergoes dramatic changes.
Attention! A very important article related to solar flares!
THE SUN HELPES US TRANSFORM DNA.
The changes are not discussed publicly because the scientific community believes it might scare the public. However, people change at the cellular level. Most people know and feel this. Many religions talked about change and knew it would happen in different ways. This is a positive mutation, although physically, mentally and emotionally you may experience fear and confusion..."
Today, human DNA has begun to mutate under the influence of solar activity. I am writing this because many are scared, try to look for doctors, unable to recognize the process of changes in their physical body on a deep level. But the treatment does not work, government medical proposals do not work, all this does not correspond to the challenges that the Sun offers to man.
These symptoms come and go unexpectedly, appear for no reason, and go away on their own. These are good signs: the body is sending you a message that it is freeing itself from old biology and old thinking, do not lag behind it.
Symptoms that occur when DNA mutations and body changes at the cellular level:
- Feeling tired or exhausted with little exertion.
- The desire to sleep longer or more often than usual.
- Flu symptoms are high fever, sweat, pain in bones and joints, etc., and all this cannot be treated with antibiotics.
- Dizziness
- Ringing in the ears
- An important symptom is pain in the heart, cardiac arrhythmia, which occurs due to the heart adjusting to new energies.
Now is the time to open the 4th chakra, the chakra of love and compassion, it is often blocked, and its activation can be accompanied by attacks of melancholy and fear. The 4th chakra is associated with the thymus gland. This organ is located in the front of the lungs and is in its infancy for most. When the 4th chakra begins to open, the thymus begins to grow. At a later stage, it may even be visible on tomography. The growth of the thymus gland is associated with chest pain, suffocation, and again there may be symptoms of bronchitis - pneumonia, in which doctors will mistakenly diagnose influenza or pneumonia.
- Headaches, migraines, runny nose, with sneezing, from morning to evening, for days and months.
- Diarrhea.
- A feeling that the whole body is vibrating - especially when a person is in a relaxed state.
- Intense muscle spasms.
- Tingling - in the arms or legs.
- Loss of muscle strength - in the arms, caused by changes in the circulatory system.
- Sometimes difficulty breathing, need to breathe deeper, feeling of lack of oxygen
- Changes in the immune system
- Changes in the lymphatic system
- Nails and hair grow faster than usual.
- Attacks of depression without any real reason.
- Tension, anxiety and high levels of stress - you feel that something is happening, but you don’t know what it is.
Sometimes signs of diseases that you thought were healed long ago may appear. these are the roots of ailments that have survived on others information levels your body. The disease may even proceed acutely, perhaps in reverse, but faster than it progressed when you were sick. This means that the body gets rid of the disease on a deeper level.
Our body is very intelligent, and often smarter than ourselves!
Now what to do:
Take a walk. Move.
Homeopathy.
Use of essential oils.
Shiatsu massage.
Stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch.
Stretch your muscles.
Do exercises for your neck - head up, down, left and right, put your ear on your shoulder, then on the other...
Breathe, if you feel like it's coming - breathe deeply, as much as you can, as slowly as you can. AND remember this advice for the situation when day X comes(and he will come!) automatically: if anything happens, breathe deeply. If you feel a mental or physical rabbit hole - breathe, remember. If you have time, study pranayama.
Here are some psychophysical symptoms and an attempt to explain how to approach this.
1. Feeling like you are in a pressure cooker of intense energy, stress.
Remember, to adapt to a higher vibration, you must eventually change. Old patterns of behavior and beliefs come to the surface in a conflicting form.
2. Feeling of disorientation, loss of sense of place. You're not in 3D anymore (you're in the army now).
3. Unusual pain in different parts of the body. It is the released previously blocked energies that vibrate in 3D while you vibrate in a higher dimension.
4. Waking up at night between 2 and 4 o'clock. A lot happens to you in your sleep. Therefore, you may sometimes even need a break during these intense processes and wake up.
5. Forgetfulness. You notice how some details fall out of your memory. the fact is that from time to time you are in the border zone, in more than one dimension, hanging back and forth, and physical memory can simply be blocked at these moments.
Besides. The past is part of the old, and the old is gone forever.
6. Loss of identity. You are trying to access your past self, but it is no longer possible. You may sometimes catch yourself feeling like you don't know who it is when looking at yourself in the mirror.
7. Out-of-body experience. You may feel as if someone is talking, but it is not you. This is a natural defense mechanism for survival. When you are under stress, the body experiences a lot of pressure, and you feel as if you are leaving the body at the moment. So you shouldn't experience what your body is going through right now. It lasts moments and passes.
8. Increased sensitivity to the environment. Crowds, noise, food, box, voices - you can hardly stand it all.
You easily fall into a state of depression and, conversely, easily become excited and hyperexcited.
Your psyche is being adjusted.
9. You don't feel like doing anything. This is not laziness or depression, this is a ‘reboot’. Your body knows what it needs.
10. Intolerance to lower 3D vibrational phenomena, conversations, relationships, public structures etc. They literally make you feel sick. You grow and no longer coincide with much and much of what surrounded you. It will fall away on its own, don’t worry.
11. Sudden disappearance of friends, changes in habits, work and place of residence. You are evolving and these people no longer match your vibration. The new one will come soon and will be much better.
12. Days or periods of extreme fatigue. Your body loses density and undergoes intense restructuring.
13. If you feel low blood sugar attacks, eat more often. On the contrary, you may not want to eat at all.
14. Emotional destabilization, tears. all the emotions that you experienced before and accumulated in yourself come out.
15. Feeling like the roof is moving. It's OK. You open up out-of-body experience and experience of other frequencies - that is, realities. Much has become more accessible to you now. You're just not used to it. Your inner knowledge and intuition grow stronger and barriers disappear.
16. Anxiety and panic. Your ego loses most of itself and is afraid. Your physiological system is experiencing overload. Something is happening to you that you cannot understand.
17. You are also losing the low vibration behavior patterns that you have developed for yourself to survive in 3D.
This can make you feel vulnerable and helpless. You will soon no longer need these patterns and patterns of behavior. Just wait.
18. Depression. The outside world does not correspond to your needs and emotions.
You are releasing dark energies that have been inside of you. Go this way.
19. Dreams. Many people are aware that they are experiencing unusually intense dreams.
20. Unexpected sweat and temperature fluctuations. Your body changes the “heating” system, burns the remnants of the past.
21. Your plans suddenly change in the middle of the journey and you start going in a completely different direction. Your soul is trying to balance your energy. Your soul knows more than you, trust it.
In your CONSCIOUSNESS there are suppressed, unmet needs for KINDNESS, PERFECTION, INTEGRITY, LAW, JUSTICE AND ORDER. Perhaps because of this, you have or may experience such PATHOLOGIES as ANTIPATY, DISTRUST, RELIANCE ONLY ON YOURSELF AND FOR YOURSELF, DISINTEGRATION, ANGER, CYNISM, TOTAL EGOISM.
