Social science. Social differentiation is the division of society into groups occupying different social positions and differing in volume and character. Social differentiation Socially differentiated

Social differentiation is the division of society into groups occupying different social status and differing in scope and nature of rights, privileges and duties, prestige and influence. Types of differentiation Economic: - Level of income; - Standard of living; - Poor, rich, middle strata Political: - Governing and ruled; - Political leaders and mass Professional: - Professions; - Type of activity and occupation; - Prestigious and non-prestigious professions, occupations

Social groups are relatively stable aggregates of people who have their own interests, values ​​and norms of behavior that develop within the framework of a historically defined society. Social groups Large ____________________________ - Estates - Classes - Social strata - Ethnic communities - Professional groups - Other. Small (direct contact of its members) __________________________ - Family - School class - Dr.

Estates are large groups of people that differ in rights and obligations enshrined in custom or law and inherited. Estates of ancient societies Estates of medieval society Higher or noble Lower or ignoble ClergyNobility (knights or horsemen) Third estate (citizens) Modern social differentiation Class theoryTheory of stratification

Signs of classes according to V. I. Lenin (“The Great Initiative”) Classes are called large groups of people that differ: By place in the system social production In relation to the means of production According to the role in public organization labor According to the methods of obtaining and the size of the disposable social wealth The main feature

Main classes in socio-economic formations Primitive communal formation Slave-owning formation Feudal formation Capitalist formation Communist formation socialism communism Society without classes Slave owners and slaves Feudal lords and dependent peasants Bourgeoisie (capitalists) and proletariat Working class and peasantry Society without classes Exploiters and exploited (another point of view)

The theory of the emergence of classes, biological, distributive, organizational and technical violence, Marxist-Leninist Classes exist due to the age-old biological or psychological inequality of people, biologically inferior inevitably fall into submission to the strong, elected Classes exist due to various sources and amounts of income received (rent, profit, wages) Classes exist due to the division of people into “organizers” and “performers!”, i.e., due to their different roles in the social organization of labor. The division of society into classes occurred as a result of political, military violence. Class division is the result of the appearance ( different ways) private property which leads to property inequality

Strata - social strata that differ: By level and sources of income; By level of education; by profession; By living conditions; By involvement in power structures; In relation to property; By social prestige; By self-assessment of one's position in society; By quality of life. At the core: social distribution of the results of labor (i.e., social benefits). Theory of stratification

Upper upper class - chief executives of national corporations, co-owners of prestigious firms, senior officials, federal judges, archbishops, stockbrokers, medical luminaries, major architects Upper class - general manager of a medium firm, mechanical engineer, newspaper publisher, physician in private practice, practicing lawyer , College Teacher Upper Class

Upper middle class - bank teller, community college teacher, middle manager, high school teacher Middle middle class - bank teller, dentist, teacher elementary school, factory shift supervisor, insurance company employee, supermarket manager, skilled carpenter Lower middle class - auto mechanic, hairdresser, bartender, grocer, skilled manual worker, hotel clerk, postal worker, policeman, truck driver Middle class

What professions, positions and occupations are the most profitable? This question is the specialists of the All-Russian Center for the Study public opinion asked 1600 residents of Russia (the results are given as a percentage of the total number of respondents). Rating of professions in Russia according to the results of public opinion in 2000

Banker - 39.90 Criminal "authority" - 28.39 Pop star - 22.50 Deputy - 21.70 Minister - 15.39 Lawyer - 14.39 Governor - 13.50 Entrepreneur - 13, 39 Politician - 11.00 Prostitute - 9, 19 Photo model - 8.00 Image maker, election specialist - 3, 79 Doctor - 3.09 Occupation rating in Russia according to the results of public opinion in 2000 Priest - 2, 29 Artist - 2, 09 Journalist - 1, 79 Farmer - 1.39 Policeman - 1.29 Security officer - 1.20 Beggar - 1.10 Teacher - 0.89 Scientist - 0.89 Writer - 0.60 Sportsman - 0.50 Skilled worker - 0.50 Army officer - 0.10

Middle class (various approaches to definition) Western Europe: belonging is determined by the presence of savings USA: belonging is determined by the presence of debts, i.e. received loans A high level of consumption (certain products, services, cars, etc.) People who have already abandoned hopes for the state, that someone will help them. They rely on their own strengths, capabilities and resources. They have a fundamentally different attitude to life, work and family. A good financial and economic situation, measured not only by income, but also by property and savings. High educational level, professional status, position in the labor market. Self-Identification (People identify themselves as middle class because they feel that way)

Features of the middle class in Russia The middle class is extremely diverse: a small businessman, a bank clerk, a professor working on an international grant, a manager, etc. One can speak of the middle classes. The backbone of the middle class is made up of officials and managers - 60% (in the West - entrepreneurs). The share of small entrepreneurs in the Russian middle class is only 3%. Only where, in the composition of the population, the averages have a preponderance over both extremes or over one of them, can the state system count on stability .... Aristotle States without a middle class are condemned to eternal nonentity. V.G. Belinsky

Feudal lords are large landowners. In Russia they are called landlords. Social categories (general concepts) feudal lords peasants Spiritual (clergy class) Secular (noble class) As a class of feudal society (dependent or serfs) As a professional group (workers on the land, landowners)

The bourgeoisie is a class of owners of the means of production who use hired labor. Social categories (general concepts) Bourgeoisie by type of activity Industrial ____________ These are the owners of manufactories, factories, plants, and other enterprises Trading ____________ This is the merchant class Financial __________ These are the owners of banks and securities Rural _______________ These are the owners of the land. In Russia they are called kulaks (kurkuly)

The proletariat (from the Greek "proles" - deprived of everything) - hired workers. Social categories (general concepts)

Differences between the proletariat and the working class Signs of classes Proletariat Working class Place in the system of social production Subordinate (exploited class) Dominant (class friendly to the peasantry) Relationship to the means of production Deprived of the means of production under capitalism Owns the means of production under socialism Role in the social organization of labor Performer, direct producer Organizer , performer, producer Methods of obtaining and size of disposable social wealth At the cost of labor. A small part of the national income By work. Corresponding part of the national income

The intelligentsia is a social stratum, a stratum of people of intellectual labor. Distinctive features of intellectuals Having an education Lack of property The main condition for existence is mental labor intelligentsia Humanitarian Scientific Engineering and technical Creative Military

Outcasts - a social stratum of people who have fallen out of their traditional social environment (temporarily or permanently). Marginalization Negative ___________________________ PhD cleans snow; a physicist sells mayonnaise; other cases Positive ______________________ Candidate of Science – manager; a physicist who graduated from courses in floriculture; other cases

Lumpens (paupers) are people without a fixed place of residence, without a permanent income, without a permanent occupation. Social mobility is the movement of people from one social group to another. Social groups (social strata) Declassed elements Military personnel, students, schoolchildren, students, pensioners, disabled people, women, youth, single mothers, etc. Criminals, drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes, homeless people, etc.

Social mobility Horizontal _________________________ This is a transition to a group of the same level _____________________________ Transfer from one job to another, remarriage, other cases Vertical _________________________ This is a transition from one step of the social hierarchy (ladder) to another Rise ________________ From a worker to a factory owner, other cases Descent _________________ From the owner of the plant to the hired manager, other cases The higher the social mobility, the more open the society.

Social elevators are social mechanisms that move people from one social stratum to another. Social elevators, according to P. Sorokin (American sociologist of Russian origin) Army (G.K. Zhukov, Napoleon, J. Washington, O. Cromwell) Church (Patriarch Nikon, Pope Gregory VII) School (education) - M.V. Lomonosov, M. Luther Media (A. Kashpirovsky, A. Razin) Party or social activity(A. Hitler, I.V. Stalin) Marriage with representatives of the upper class (P. Kovaleva-Zhemchugova, Catherine II) New channels social mobility(additional social elevators)

Social structure is the internal structure of society, a set of interconnected and interacting human communities and relations between them. social relations- diverse connections between social groups, classes, nations, as well as within them, in the process of economic, social, political, cultural life and activity. The nomenklatura is a privileged, dominant and ruling, exploiting class that exercises dictatorship in hierarchical societies and owns collective property. Bureaucracy is a special social group of officials exercising state power.

Elite - the highest, privileged layer (layers) of the social structure of society, carrying out state, socio-economic and cultural policy. Elite Types of elites Political - exercises power and organizes public administration Economic - influences the authorities with material capabilities, participates in decision-making Intellectual - develops science and culture, has an ideological and moral influence on the authorities

Certain differences in the social status of people took place in the early stages of the development of the human community, but this was based not on social, but natural (natural) differentiation- natural physical-genetic and demographic differences between people. The social position of a person was determined by gender, age, the presence of certain physical and personal qualities.

However, the decisive moments that determine the actual structure of society are factors associated not with natural physical, genetic and demographic differences between people, but with the phenomena of social differentiation.

Social differentiation- a product of a higher level of development of civilization. This complex phenomenon is no longer generated by natural (natural), but social factors life and, above all, the objective need of society for the division of labor.

Differentiation of activities is manifested in the form of social differences between groups of people according to the nature of their labor activity and functions, and consequently, by lifestyle, interests and needs.

Social differentiation is often referred to as "horizontal differentiation". The parameters that describe horizontal differentiation are called "nominal parameters", in contrast to the "rank parameters" used to characterize people in a hierarchical way. Hierarchy (from the Greek hierarchia - literally sacred power) is a form of building complex social systems based on subordination and subordination, when social groups are, as it were, “above” or “below” on the social ladder.

Nominal differences are established in society in the process of natural differences between people and as an element of the social division of labor. Based on these differences between people in society, it is impossible to determine which of them occupies a “higher” and who is “lower” place in the social structure (example: you cannot put a man above a woman just because he is a man, just like people different nationalities).

Horizontal differentiation cannot give a complete picture of the social structuring of society. In full social structure Societies can be described only in two planes - horizontal and vertical.

Vertical structuring arises as a result of the unequal distribution of the results of the social division of labor among people. Where the structural differentiation of groups takes on a hierarchical character, determined on the basis of rank parameters, one speaks of social stratification.

Based on the above remarks, it can be said that social stratification means a form of differentiation of society that takes the form of a social hierarchy - the vertical differentiation of the population into groups and strata unequal in their social status. It is a hierarchically organized structure of social inequality.

American sociologist P. Blau developed a system of parameters that describe the position of an individual in society in the vertical and horizontal planes.

Nominal parameters: gender, race, ethnicity, religion, place of residence, area of ​​activity, political orientation, language.

Rank parameters: education, income, wealth, prestige, power, origin, age, administrative position, intelligence.

With the help of nominal parameters, the adjacent positions of individuals are studied; on the basis of rank parameters, a hierarchical or status structure is described.

On the present stage research in the field of social stratification has emerged a number of new paradigms. For decades after the Second World War, the main conceptual model of Western sociology was class theory. K. Marx and its modifications. This was due to the existence of a number of societies that built their organization on the basis of Marxist ideas. The failure of the socialist experiment on a global scale led to the loss of popularity of neo-Marxism in sociology and the massive turn of researchers to other ideas, such as theories M. Foucault and N. Luman.

N. Luhmann considers the very concept of social inequality as the result of an outdated discursive model of sociological thinking. In his opinion, social differences in modern Western society are not decreasing, but increasing, and there is no reason to expect that inequality will ever be eliminated. The negative meaning of the concept of inequality stems from the evaluative-discursive nature of the concept of social stratification. According to N. Luhmann, one should change the paradigm and consider society not as stratified, but as differentiated, that is, use the concept of functional differentiation instead of the concept of stratification. Differentiation- a value-neutral concept, meaning only that in society there are internal divisions, boundaries that it itself produces and maintains.

In addition, the class concept of stratification began to be increasingly criticized due to the emergence of other aspects of inequality - gender, racial, ethnic. Marxist theory considered all these aspects as derivatives of class inequality, arguing that with its elimination they would disappear by themselves. However, for example, feminists have shown that social inequality of the sexes existed long before the emergence of classes and persisted in Soviet society. Sociologists who study these aspects of inequality argue that they cannot be reduced to classes: they exist as autonomous forms of social relations.

Recognition of the fact that different types social inequality cannot be explained with the help of a unified monistic theory, leads to the realization of the complexity of the real phenomenon of inequality and the assertion new paradigm in sociology - postmodern paradigms.

American sociologist L. Warner proposed his hypothesis of social stratification. As the defining features of the group, he singled out four parameters: income, prestige of the profession, education, ethnicity. Based on these characteristics, he divided the ruling elite into six groups: the highest, the highest intermediate, the middle-highest, the middle-intermediate, the intermediate-highest, the intermediate-intermediate.

Another American sociologist B. Barber conducted a stratification according to six indicators: 1) prestige, profession, power and might; 2) income level; 3) level of education; 4) degree of religiosity; 5) the situation of relatives; 6) ethnicity.

French sociologist A. Touraine considers that all these criteria are already outdated and proposes to define groups on access to information. The dominant position, in his opinion, is occupied by those people who have access to most information.

Postmodern sociology in contrast to previous concepts, he argues that social reality is complex and pluralistic. It considers society as a set of separate social groups that have their own lifestyles, their own culture and behaviors, and new social movements as a real reflection of the changes taking place in these groups. In addition, she suggests that any unified theory of social inequality is more a kind of modern myth, something like a “great narrative”, than a real description of a complex and multifaceted social reality that is not subject to causal explanation. Therefore, in its context, social analysis takes a more modest form, refraining from too broad generalizations and focusing on specific fragments of social reality. Conceptual designs built on the application of the most general categories concepts such as "classes" or "sex" give way to concepts like "difference", "divergence" and "fragmentation". For example, representatives of poststructuralism D. Harway and D. Riley It is believed that the use of the category “women” indicates a simplified binary understanding of gender stratification and veils its real complexity. Note that the concept of fragmentation is not new. The recognition of the fact that classes have internal divisions goes back to the era of K. Marx and M. Weber. However, interest in studying the nature of fragmentation has now intensified, as it has become clear that it takes a variety of forms. There are four types of fragmentation:

1) internal fragmentation - intraclass divisions;

2) extrinsic fragmentation that arises from the interplay of different dynamics of difference, for example, when the gender practices of men and women differ according to their age, ethnicity and class;

3) fragmentation that grows out of processes of social change, for example, caused by the feminization of modern labor relations, when there is a polarization between young women who have education and career prospects, and older women with less high qualifications who do not have such prospects and are still engaged in low-paid simple labor;

4) fragmentation, which entails the growth of individualism, tearing a person out of the usual group and family environment, prompting him to greater mobility and a sharp change in lifestyle compared to his parents.

Fragmentation involves interactions between different dimensions of inequality. Many individuals exist, as it were, at the intersection of social dynamics - class, gender, ethnic, age, regional, etc. At the same time, they say that such individuals are multi-positional, which opens up scope for many ways of social identification. That is why, he claims F. Bradley, it is impossible to develop such an abstract general theory of inequality.

Another interesting concept related to the phenomenon of fragmentation is based on the concept of "hybridity". Under hybridity here we mean an intermediate state between different social loci. To understand what this is, let's look at an example that gives D. Harway. A social hybrid is a kind of cyborg, devoid of gender differences due to the fact that it is a half-mechanism-semi-organism. The concept of social hybridity can be very fruitful in the study of classes. It seems to challenge the tradition of class analysis, which consists in firmly anchoring individuals in social structures. In reality in modern society only a few feel their absolute identification with some particular class. Changes in the economy, rising unemployment and the expansion of the mass education system led to a high degree of social mobility. People very often change their class localization and end their lives not belonging to the class to which they belonged from birth. All such situations can be considered as manifestations of social hybridity.

the stratification of society into various, often warring groups on national, property, socio-cultural, religious, political and other grounds that can lead to rivalry and conflicts.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

DIFFERENTIATION SOCIAL

differences between macro- and microgroups, as well as individuals, distinguished for many reasons. Attitude to D.s. constitutes the specifics of different ideologies, political. currents and cultures At one extreme is the attitude towards D.s. as an independent value, a source of social diversity; many social environments, levels gives a person the opportunity to choose, encourages him to be active and at the same time provides complementarity or a constructive contradiction of different ways of life. Hence the dynamism and multivariance of societies. development. In this context, particular attention is given to individual differences. Recognition of the self-worth of each individual, its uniqueness, and hence the right to their own self-affirmation, to autonomy in a group, community, ethical. sense means high mutual tolerance, wide space for personal sovereignty. In the political in a sense, this means a developed freedom of vertical and horizontal mobility the special status of a minority, as well as the individual's acceptance of responsibility for his own destiny, for the risk of his own choice. At the opposite pole - the attitude towards D.s. as a vice about-va, a source of injustice and mass conflicts. Called D.s. property and status inequality inevitably leads to exploitation, the class struggle of the oppressed against the oppressors. Therefore, D.s. needs to be overcome, and about-in - in the alignment of any social. differences. The individual in this orientation acts as an element of the whole, his value is determined by his contribution to the whole (organization, common labor). Between both poles, intermediate variants of attitude towards D.s. Grounds for D.s. can refer both to objective signs (economic, professional, educational, demographic, etc.), and to signs of mass and individual consciousness. These grounds do not always coincide. So, certain groups of consciousness - macro- and micro-groups - cover different professional, age and other groups (for example, by ideology, cultural predilections). Analysis of D.s. very important for management of social. processes. Especially in the transition periods of development about-va. Such an analysis has great importance, for example, to determine the social. bases of reforms, i.e. search of that category of the population, on which this or that reform can be based. Let's say commercialization National economy requires the allocation of the so-called. social-active element of the society as a structural entity, which is the carrier of the innovative principle in the society. In process of development about-va one bases for D.s. may grow (for example, property, ideologies, etc.), while others are able to disappear (class), social. the value of the third is smoothed out (sex), and the variability of the fourth may increase (religious). See also Concepts of social differentiation. Lit .: Prigogine A.I. Perestroika: transitional processes and mechanisms. M., 1990. A.M. Prigogine

structural division of a relatively homogeneous social whole or part of it into separate qualitatively different elements (parts, forms, levels, classes). Social differentiation means both the process of dismemberment and its consequences.

The creator of the theory of social differentiation is the English philosopher Spencer (late 19th century). He borrowed the term "differentiation" from biology, considering differentiation and integration as the main elements of the general evolution of matter from simple to complex at the biological, psychological and social levels. In his work Fundamentals of Sociology, G. Spencer developed the thesis that primary organic differentiations correspond to primary differences in the relative state of the parts of the organism, namely, “being from within”. Describing the primary differentiation, Spencer formulated two patterns of this process. The first is dependence in interaction social institutions on the level of organization of society as a whole: a low level is determined by the weak integration of parts, a high level is determined by a stronger dependence of each part on all others. The second is an explanation of the mechanism of social differentiation and the origin of social institutions as a consequence of the fact that "in the individual, as in the social, the process of aggregation is constantly accompanied by the process of organization", and the latter is subject in both cases to one general law, which is that successive differentiation always proceeds from the more general to the more special, i.e. the transformation of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous accompanies evolution. Analyzing the regulatory system, thanks to which the aggregate is able to act as a whole, Spencer comes to the conclusion that its complexity depends on the degree of differentiation of society.

The French sociologist E. Durkheim considered social differentiation as a consequence of the division of labor, as a law of nature, and linked the differentiation of functions in society with an increase in population density and the intensity of interpersonal ties.

The American sociologist J. Alexander, speaking about the importance of Spencer's idea for Durkheim regarding social transformation as a process of institutional specialization of society, noted that the modern theory of social differentiation is based on Durkheim's research program and significantly differs from Spencer's program.

The German philosopher and sociologist M. Weber considered social differentiation as a consequence of the process of rationalization of values, norms and relations between people.

S. North formulated four main criteria for social differentiation: by functions, by rank, by culture, by interests.

In the taxonomic interpretation, the concept of "social differentiation" is opposed by the concept of social differentiation of theorists of the sociology of action and supporters of systems approach(T. Parsons, N. Luhmann, Etzioni and others). They considered social differentiation not only as the initial state of the social structure, but also as a process that predetermines the emergence of roles and groups that specialize in the performance of individual functions. These scholars clearly delineate the levels at which the process of social differentiation takes place: the level of society as a whole, the level of its subsystems, the level of groups, and so on. The starting point is the thesis that any social system can exist only on condition that certain vital functions are realized in it: adaptation to the environment, goal setting, regulation of internal teams (integration), etc. These functions can be performed by more or less specialized institutions and in Accordingly, there is a differentiation social system. With the strengthening of social differentiation, actions become more specialized, personal and family ties give way to impersonal object relations between people, which are regulated with the help of generalized symbolic intermediaries. In such constructions, the degree of social differentiation plays the role of a central variable that characterizes the state of the system as a whole and on which other spheres of social life depend.

In most modern studies, the source of the development of social differentiation is the appearance in the system new goal. The probability of the appearance of innovations in it depends on the degree of differentiation of the system. So, S. Eisenstadt proved that the possibility of the emergence of something new in political and religious spheres is the higher, the more they are separated from each other.

The concept of "social differentiation" is widely used by supporters of the theory of modernization. Thus, F. Riggs sees in "diffraction" (differentiation) the most general variable in economic, political, social and administrative development. Researchers (in particular, the German sociologist D. Rüschsmeyer and the American sociologist G. Baum) note both positive (increasing the adaptive properties of society, expanding opportunities for personal development) and negative (alienation, loss of systemic stability, the emergence of specific sources of tension) the consequences of social differentiation.

social community

Structural elements of society

One of the most common approaches to the formation of the social structure of society is the allocation of various types of social communities as the initial element.

social community- a really existing, empirically fixed set of individuals, distinguished by relative integrity and acting as an independent subject of social action. There is another definition of a social community, when it means all existing social associations, whose members are connected by common interests and are in direct or indirect interaction.

Social communities are distinguished by a variety of specific historical and situationally determined types and forms. Communities differ:

§ by the number of elements that make up the community (from two elements to many millions)

§ according to the duration of existence (from short-term, existing less than the long life of one generation of people, to long-term, existing for many generations)

§ according to the density of ties between members of the association (from closely knit teams to nominal associations)

According to the totality of features, social communities can be divided into two types - mass and group. Mass communities are different from group ones, first of all, by the quality and degree of interaction. Signs of mass community are the following features:

§ associations are amorphous formations with fuzzy dividing boundaries

§ to combine the nature of the uncertainty of the quantitative and qualitative composition, it is characterized by heterogeneity and intergroup nature

§ the association is characterized by a situational way of formation, the association is not stable, but rapidly changing

Mass communities are the crowd, political and social movements, various associations.

Due to the amorphous composition, mass generalities not considered as a structural social-group structure of society.

Group communities(social groups) differ from mass groups in closer interaction and act as the main elements of the structure of society.

[edit] Social group

Social group - a set of people who have a common socially significant feature, common interests, values ​​and norms of behavior that develop within the framework of a historically defined society.

According to Robert Merton: "A social group is a collection of individuals interacting with each other in a certain way, realizing themselves as part of a group and recognizing members of this group from the point of view of other people". In this case, belonging to a particular social group is considered as the basis for self-identification of a person.

Social groups, in turn, are divided by scale and degree of cohesion into large and small, primary and secondary.

Large groups - large associations of people, characterized by the presence of common interests and spatial disunity. Large groups include ethnic groups, classes, territorial communities, professional groups, social strata.

Small groups - small in composition associations whose members are connected common activities and are in direct, immediate, personal communication. The characteristics of small groups are small composition, spatial proximity of members, commonality of group values, norms and patterns of behavior, informal control over the behavior of group members. Examples of small social groups are a family, a school class, a student group, a sports team, a brigade, a gang.

Secondary groups - social groups whose members interact indirectly, as a rule - through membership in any institutions and organizations.

Primary groups are small social groups whose members are in direct direct interaction.

All large groups are secondary.

Small social groups can be both primary and secondary. Secondary small groups are usually united common function and are characterized by a lack of emotional contact.

The main elements of the social group structure can be various types of social groups, identified for various reasons. This complicates the formation of a unified social group structure of society, and gives rise to various approaches.

[edit] Approaches to the formation of the social group structure of society

Traditional approach includes several substructures:

§ demographic substructure (gender, age)

§ ethno substructure (tribe, nationality, nation)

§ territorial substructure (urban and rural population, region)

§ class substructure (classes and social groups)

§ family substructure

Socio-economic approach, defended, in particular, by Russian scientists Tatyana Zaslavskaya and Rozalina Ryvkina, understands the social structure of society as the people themselves, organized in different kind groups and performers in the system economic relations certain social roles.

As part of the approach, it also identifies a number of substructures:

§ ethno-demographic substructure

§ socio-territorial substructure

§ family-economic substructure

§ organizational and managerial substructure

§ social and labor substructure

§ professional and job substructure

Pitirim Sorokin's approach. Considering the social structure of society, Sorokin proposed a scheme for identifying the initial elements of the structure, depending on the nature of the values ​​that unite individual groups of communities that act as these elements.

The main forms of unorganized and semi-organized groups based on non-permanent values:

§ externally organized groups

§ crowd, public

§ nominal conglomerates

The most important one-sided groups built on the same set of values ​​are:

§ biosocial (racial, gender, age)

§ sociocultural (clan, territorial neighborhood, language group, trade union, economic group, religious group, political group, ideological group, elite group)

The most important multi-stakeholder groups built around a combination of two or more sets of values ​​are:

§ class

The series of values ​​that have developed in an organized group consolidate the rights and obligations of each member of the group in relation to others, the functions and roles of members, as well as prestige and social status.

Social differentiation

The word "differentiation" comes from a Latin root meaning "difference". Social differentiation is the division of society into groups occupying different social positions. Many researchers believe that social stratification is inherent in any society. Even in primitive tribes, groups were distinguished according to sex and age, with their inherent privileges and duties. There were also an influential and respected leader and his entourage, as well as outcasts living "outside the law". At subsequent stages of development, social stratification became more complicated and became more and more obvious. It is customary to distinguish between economic, political and professional differentiation. Economic differentiation is expressed in the difference in incomes, living standards, in the existence of rich, poor and middle strata of the population. The division of society into rulers and ruled, political leaders and the masses is a manifestation of political differentiation. Professional differentiation can be attributed to the allocation in society of various groups according to the nature of their activities, occupations. At the same time, some professions are considered more prestigious than others.

Thus, clarifying the concept of social differentiation, we can say that it means not just the selection of any groups, but also a certain inequality between them in terms of their social status, scope and nature of rights, privileges and duties, prestige and influence. Can we fix this inequality? There are different answers to this question. For example, the Marxist doctrine of society proceeds from the necessity and possibility of eliminating this inequality as the most striking manifestation of social injustice. To solve this problem, it is necessary first of all to change the system of economic relations, to eliminate private ownership of the means of production. In other theories, social stratification is also regarded as evil, but it cannot be eliminated. People should accept such a situation as an inevitability. According to another point of view, inequality is regarded as a positive phenomenon. It makes people want to improve. public relations. Social homogeneity will lead society to death. At the same time, many researchers note that in most developed countries there is a decrease in social polarization, an increase in the middle strata and a reduction in groups belonging to the extreme social poles. Reflect on the above points of view, try to correlate them with real socio-historical processes.

social stratification

social stratification(from Latin stratum - layer and facio - I do) - one of the basic concepts of sociology, denoting a system of signs and criteria social stratification, position in society; the social structure of society; branch of sociology. The term "stratification" entered sociology from geology, where it refers to the location of the layers of the earth. But people initially likened the social distances and partitions existing between them to layers of the earth, floors of arranged objects, tiers of plants, etc.

Stratification- this is the division of society into special layers (strata) by combining various social positions with approximately the same social status, reflecting the prevailing idea of ​​​​social inequality in it, built horizontally (social hierarchy), along its axis according to one or more stratification criteria (indicators social status). The division of society into strata is based on the inequality of social distances between them - the main property of stratification. Social strata line up vertically and in strict sequence according to indicators of wealth, power, education, leisure, consumption. In social stratification, a certain social distance is established between people (social positions) and a hierarchy is built from social strata. Thus, the unequal access of members of society to certain socially significant scarce resources is fixed by establishing social filters on the borders separating social strata. For example, the allocation of social strata can be carried out according to the levels of income, education, power, consumption, the nature of work, spending free time. The social strata identified in society are evaluated in it according to the criterion of social prestige, which expresses the social attractiveness of certain positions. But in any case, social stratification is the result of a more or less conscious activity (policy) of the ruling elites, who are extremely interested in imposing on society and legitimizing