Social structure of society - to help students. Sociology

The company consists of a large number of different elements that are in constant interaction - ranging from individual, social institutions and ending with great communities. All this is included in the structure. In other words, speaking, this is from what parts, the elements are the society and in what relationships and interactions they are. In sociology, for the first time, the concept of the structure of society was applied by the city of Spencer, who understood under this term sustainable relationships between the social organism and its individual parts. He, in general, likened the society of the body. According to social structure, this is the order, the location of the interconnected functionally elements and the dependences between them forming the internal system of the object.

There are several definitions of this term. Here, for example, one of them: Social Structure - a certain way of interconnection and interaction of elements, that is, individuals that occupy public positions (statuses) and perform specific functions (roles). It can be seen that the main thing in this definition is the elements, their connections and interaction. Or, for example, such a definition that takes into account the strata or layers of the structure is a combination of social positions, interrelated and interacting among themselves, ordered hierarchically in terms of their stratification.

Properties of the public structure can be considered depending on the following variables:

1. Interdependence.

2. Constance.

3. Fundamental measurement.

4. Determining effects after an empirically observed phenomenon.

The social structure of society as a system is a way to interrelation of subsystems that interact in it and ensure its integrity. What subsystems are included in the public system? The social structure includes individuals, groups of people (generality), combined according to any sign, their relationship, relationships and interaction, various organizations and institutions, groups, generality, norms, values, and other. Each of these elements, parts of the structure may be in a certain relationship with others, take some position and play a specific role in society.

The most detailed analysis of the social structure was given by K. Marx, which showed that the political, cultural and religious side of life depend on the method of production. He believed that the economic basis determines the ideological, cultural superstructure in society. The followers and students of K. Marx proposed several other relations, considering cultural, political and ideological organizations with respect to autonomous and dependent on the economic component only ultimately.

But the look of K. Marx and his followers on the structure of society was not the only one. So, E. Durkheim wrote, in particular, about the fact that they play a very significant role in the integration of society, combining the various parts of it into a one. It highlighted two forms of structural relations: mechanistic and organic solidarity. M. Weber studied and conducted an analysis of organizational mechanisms in society: market, bureaucracy and politics.

T. Parsons believed that society is a special type that possesses a high level of specialization and self-sufficiency. The functional unity of society as the system is determined by the social subsystems to which he referred to the economy (adaptation), policies (sacrification), culture (maintenance of the sample). The integrative is determined by the system of "societal community" containing mainly regulatory structures.

Under the social (stratification) structure is a stratification and hierarchical organization of various sections of society, as well as a set of institutions and relations between them The term "stratification" leads its origin from the Latin word Stratum - layers, layers. Strats are large groups of people who differ in their position in the social structure of society.

All scientists agree that the basis of the country's country and social inequality of people is the basis of the country's country's structure. However, in the question, what exactly is the criterion of this inequality, their opinions are diverged. Studying the stratification process in society, K. Marx called such a criterion the fact of possessing by man property and its income level. M. Weber added to them the social prestige and belonging to the subject to political parties, to power. Pitirim Sorokin considered the cause of stratification unevenness of the distribution of rights and privileges, responsibility and responsibilities in society. He also argued that the social space also has many other differentiation criteria: it can be carried out by citizenship, classes, nationality, religious affiliation, etc. Finally, supporters of the theory of structural functionalism as a criterion were offered to rely on those social functions that perform Those or other social layers in society.

Historically, stratification, i.e., inequality in income, power, prestige, etc., arises from the nasal imports. With the advent of the first states, it is tightened, and then, in the process of the development of society (first of all, European) is gradually softened.

There are four main types of social stratification in sociology - slavery, caste, class and classes. The first three characterize closed societies, and the last type is open.

The first system of social stratification is slavery, which arose in antiquity and in some backward regions continued until now. There are two forms of slavery: Patriarchal, in which the slave has all the rights of the younger family member, and the classic, in which the slave has no rights and is considered the property of the owner (speaking tool labor). Slavery was based on direct violence, and social groups in the Racking Epoch were allocated for the presence or absence of civil rights.

The second system of social stratification should be recognized by custom stroy. Pascast calls such a social group (stratum), membership in which is transferred to man only by birth. The transition of a person from one caste to another in life is impossible - for this he needs to be born again. An example of a caste society is India. In India, there are four main castes that have occurred, according to legend, from various parts of the brahma god:

a) Brahmins - priests;

b) kshatriya - warriors;

c) Vaishi - merchants;

d) Studs - peasants, artisans, workers.

Special position is occupied by the so-called untouchable, which do not enter any Casta and occupy a low position.

The following form of stratification is estimated. The estate is a group of people who are enshrined in the law or the usual rights and duties transmitted by inheritance. Custom-but in society there are estimates privileged and unprivileged. For example, in Western Europe, the nobility and clergy attributed to the first group (they were called them in France - the first co-word and second estate) to the second - handicrafts, merchants and peasants. In Russia, until 1917, in addition to privileged (nobility, clergy) and unprivileged (peasantry) there were semiconductive estates (for example, Cossacks).

Finally, another stratification system is class. The most complete definition of classes in the scientific literature was given by V.I. Lenin: "Classes are called large groups of people who differ in their place in a historically defined system of social production, by their relationship (mostly enshrined and decorated in laws) to the means of production, Their roles in the public organization of labor, and therefore, according to the methods of obtaining and sizes of the share of public wealth, which they have. " The class approach is often contrasted with a stratification, although in fact the class membership is only a special case of social stratification.

Depending on the historical period, the following classes are allocated in society as the main:

a) slaves and slave owners;

b) feudal and feudal dependent peasants;

c) bourgeoisie and proletariat;

d) the so-called middle class.

Since any social structure is a combination of all functioning social communities taken in their interaction, the following elements can be allocated in it:

a) ethnic structure (genus, tribe, nationality, nation);

b) the demographic structure (the allocation of groups is produced by age and sex);

c) settlement structure (city inhabitants, rural residents, etc.);

d) class structure (bourgeoisie, proletariat, peasants, etc.);

e) vocational education structure.

In the most general form, three stratification levels can be distinguished in modern society: the highest, medium and lowest. In economically developed countries, the second level is the predominant, giving society a certain stability. In turn, within each level there is also a hierarchically ordered set of various social layers. A person who occupies a place in this structure has the ability to move from one level to another, increasing or lowering its social status, or from one group located at a level to another, located at the same level. Such a transition is called social mobility.

Social mobility sometimes leads to the fact that some people turn out to be at the junction of some social groups, while experiencing serious psychological difficulties. Their intermediate position is largely determined by the inability or reluctance for any reason to adapt to one of the interacting social groups. This phenomenon of person finds between two cultures associated with its movement in social space is called marginality. The marginal is an individual, in the morning of the swap former social status, deprived of the opportunity to engage in the usual business and, in addition, which has become unable to adapt to the new sociocultural environment of the strata, in which it formally exists. The individual system of values \u200b\u200bof such people is so stable that it is not amenable to displacing new standards, principles, rules. Their behavior is distinguished by extremes: they are either excessively passive, or very aggressive, easily step over moral norms and are capable of unpredictable actions. Among the marginals can be et-nomariginal - people who have fallen into someone else's environment as a result of migration; Political marginals are people who do not suit the legal opportunities and legitimate rules of the socio-political struggle: religious marginals are people standing outside the denomination or not decisive to carry out a boron between them, etc.

Qualitative changes occurring in the economic basis of modern Russian society entailed serious changes in its social structure. Currently, the current social hierarchy is distinguished by inconsistency, instability and a tendency to significant changes. Representatives of the state office, as well as the owners of large capital, including their top - financial oligarchs can be attributed to the highest strategy (elite). The middle class in modern Russia includes representatives of the class of entrepreneurs, as well as employees of mental labor, highly qualified managers (managers). Finally, the lower stratus constitutes workers of various professions employed by the work of medium and low qualifications, as well as stationery employees and employees of the budget sector (teachers and doctors in state and municipal institutions). It should be noted that the process of social mobility between these levels in Russia is limited, which can be one of the prerequisites for future conflicts in society.

In the process of changing the social structure of modern Russian society, the following trends can be distinguished:

1) social polarization, i.e., bundle on the rich and poor, deepening social and property differentiation;

2) mass downward social mobility;

3) Mass change to the place of residence by employees of mental labor (the so-called "brain leak").

In general, it can be said that the main criteria that determine the social position of a person in modern Russia and its belonging to a particular stratification level are either the size of its wealth, or belonging to the power structures.

Social structure is A sufficiently constant relationship of social elements, for example, a socially class structure of society. Social structure of society - This is a relatively permanent model of social classifications in a specific society, for example, the social structure of modern Russian society.

The main elements of the social structure of society: Social groups, social sections, social community and social institutions are related to the social relationships whose carriers are people. There is also a classification that allocates such components of the Social Structure of the Company As: class, caste, classes.

11. Social ties and relationships.

Social communications - Social action, expressing the dependence and compatibility of people or groups. This set of special dependencies of some social actors from others, their mutual relations that combine people into relevant social community and indicate their collective existence. This concept denoting any sociocultural duties of individuals or groups of individuals Regarding each other.

Social relations - These are relatively sustainable links between individuals and social groups, due to their unequal position in society and roles in public life.

Social relations are actuated by various social community and individual individuals.

1 - social relations of socio-historical communities (between countries, classes, nations, social groups, city and village);

2 - social relations between public organizations, institutions and labor collectives;

3 - Social relations in the form of interpersonal interaction and communication within labor collectives

Allocate various types of social relations:

in terms of powerful powers: relations horizontally and vertical relationships;

according to the degree of regulation: formal (certified) and informal;

according to the method of communication of individuals: impersonal or indirect, interpersonal or direct;

behind the subjects of activity: between organizational, intorganization;

by level of justice: Fair and unfair

The basis of the differences between social relations are the motives and needs, the main of which are primary and secondary needs.

As a result of the contradiction of social relations with one of the forms of social interaction, social conflict is becoming

12. Social groups: Essence and classification.

Social Group - This is a set of individuals interacting in a certain way based on the expectations of each member of the group in relation to others.

In this definition, you can see two essential conditions necessary in order for the totality to be considered by the Group: 1) the availability of interactions between its members; 2) the emergence of shared expectations of each member of the group relative to its other members. The social group is characterized by a number of specific features:

stability, existence;

certainty of the composition and boundaries;

general system of values \u200b\u200band social norms;

awareness of its belonging to this social community;

the voluntary nature of the unification of individuals (for small social groups);

association of individuals by external conditions of existence (for large social groups);

the ability to enter as elements to other social communities.

Social Group - relatively stable set of people associated with general relations, activities, its motivation and norms Classification of groupsAs a rule, based on the subject area of \u200b\u200banalysis, in which the main feature is allocated, which determines the stability of this group education. Seven main signs of classification:

based on ethnic or racial affiliation;

based on the level of cultural development;

based on the types of structure that exists in groups;

based on the tasks and functions performed by the Group in wider communities;

based on the prevailing types of contacts between the members of the group;

based on various types of connections that exist in groups;

on other principles.

13. Social institutions: entity, typology, functions.

Social Institute - Historically established sustainable form of organizing joint activities and relationships of people performing socially significant functions.

Typology Social institutions can be made on the basis of the idea that each institute meets one or another fundamental social need. Five fundamental social needs (in the reproduction of the kind; safe and social spin; in the mining of existence; in the socialization of the younger generation; in solving spiritual problems), five main social institutions are in accordance with the Institute of Family, Political Institute (State), Economic Institute (Production) , education, religion.

Function of fixing and reproduction of social relations. Each social institution is created in response to the emergence of a certain social need to develop certain standards of behavior from their members.

The adaptation function is that the functioning of social institutions in society provides adaptability, adaptability of society to the changing conditions of the internal and external environment - both natural and social.

The integrative function is that social institutions existing in society with their actions, norms, registry prescriptions, interdependence, mutuality, solidarity and cohesion of individuals and / or all members of this society within their composition.

The communicative function is that the information (scientific, artistic, political, etc.), produced in one social institute, is distributed both within this institution and beyond, in cooperation between institutions and organizations operating in society.

The socializing function is manifested in the fact that social institutions play a decisive role in the formation and development of the individual, in the assimilation of social values, norms and roles, in orientation and implementing its social status.

The regulatory function is embodied in the fact that social institutions in the process of their functioning ensure the regulation of interactions between individuals and social communities through the development of certain norms and standards of behavior, the incentive systems for the most effective actions that meet the norms, values, the expectations of society or community, and sanctions (punishments ) For actions deviating from these values \u200b\u200band norms.

With the appearance of people, their union in tribes and childbirth began, of which peoples and societies were formed after a thousand years. They began to settle and master the planet, leading at the beginning of a nomadic lifestyle, and then, axial in the most favorable places, organized social space. Further filling of its labor objects and life activity has become the beginning of the fields of policies and states.

For tens of thousands of years, social society has been developed and developed to gain those features that it has today.

Definition of social structure

Each society goes its way of development and formation of the foundations, of which it consists. To understand what social structure is, it should be borne in mind that this is the complex relationship of elements and systems functioning in it. They constitute a kind of skeleton, on which society stands, but it tends to modify, depending on the conditions.

The concept of social structure includes:

• elements, filling it, that is, various types of generality;
• social ties affecting all the steps of its development.

Social structure consists of a society divided into groups, layers, classes, as well as on ethnic, professional, territorial and other elements. At the same time, it is a reflection of the relationship between all its members based on cultural, economic, demographic and other types of connections.

It is people who create not arbitrary, and constant relationships with each other form the concept of social structure as an object with established relationships. Thus, a person is not completely free in his choice, being part of this structure. It is limited to the social world and the relationship in it, in which he enters constantly in various fields of its activities.

The social structure of society is its framework, within which there are various groups that unite people and nominate some requirements for their behavior in the system of role relations between them. They can have some framework that cannot be broken. For example, a person working in the team, where they did not make tough requirements for the appearance of employees, hitting another job, where they are, will perform them, even if he does not like it.

Distinctive features of the social structure are the presence of real actors who create certain processes in it. They can be both separate individuals and various segments of the population and social community, regardless of their size, for example, the working class, religious sect or intelligentsia.

Structure of society

Each country has its own social system with the traditions inherent in it, the norms of behavior, economic and cultural ties. Any such society has a complex device based on the relationship between its members and relationships between the crescentations, classes, layers and layers.

It makes up large and small social groups that are customary to call the associations of people who are united in common interests, labor activity or the same values. Major community is allocated to the size of income and methods for obtaining it, according to social status, education, the nature of activity or other features. Some scientists call them "strata", but more often there are the concepts of the "layer" and "class", for example, the workers that constitute the largest group in most countries.

Society at all times had a clear hierarchical structure. For example, 200 years ago in some countries there were estates. Each of them corresponded to their privileges, property and social rights that were enshrined by law.

The hierarchical division in such a society is valid by vertical, passing through all available types of relationships - policies, economy, culture, professional activities. As it develops, groups and estates are changing in it, as well as the internal relationship between their members. For example, in medieval England, the impoverished Lord was more respecting than a very rich trader or merchant. Today in this country, the old noble families are reading, but more admire successful and rich businessmen, athletes or people of art.

Flexible social system

A society in which there is no caste system is mobile, since its members can move from one layer in another as horizontally and vertically. In the first case, the social status of a person does not change, for example, he simply passes with one position to similar on other work.

Vertical transition implies an increase or decrease in social or financial status. For example, a middle-weight person takes a governing post, which gives revenues, much more than the previous one.

In some modern societies there are social inequality, which is based on financial, racial or social differences. In such structures, some layers or groups have greater privileges and capabilities than others. By the way, some scientists believe that inequality is a natural process for modern society, since it gradually arises a large number of people who are distinguished by outstanding abilities, talents and leadership qualities, which are becoming its basis.

Types of social structures of the ancient world

The formation of society throughout the history of human development directly depended on the division of labor, the level of development of people and socio-economic relations between them.

For example, during the time of the primitive-free system, the social structure of society was determined by how representatives of the tribe or kind were useful to the rest of its members. Patients, old people and hips did not contain if they could not make at least some kind of contribution to the well-being and security of the community.

Another thing is a slave-ownership system. Although he was divided into only 2 classes - slaves and their owners, the society itself was scientists, merchants, artisans, army, artists, philosophers, poets, peasants, priests, teachers and representatives of other professions.

On the example of ancient Greece, Rome and a number of countries of the East, you can trace how the social society of that time was formed. They had well developed economic and cultural relations with other countries, and the layers of the population were clearly divided into representatives of various professions, on free and slaves, to the power of direct and legitimi.

Types of social structures from the Middle Ages to this day

What is the social structure of a feudal society can be understood by tracing the development of European countries of that period. It consisted of 2 classes - feudalists and their serfs, although the Society was also divided into several classes and representatives of the intelligentsia.

Clauses are social groups that occupy their position in the system of economic, legal and traditional connections. For example, in France there were 3 classs - secular (feudal motion, to know), clergy and the largest of society, which included loose peasants, artisans, merchants and merchants, and later - bourgeoisie and proletariat.

In the capitalist system, especially a modern, more complex structure. For example, the concept of the middle class, in which the bourgeois was used to be, and today it is merchants, and entrepreneurs, and highly paid employees and workers, and farmers, and representatives of small businesses. Belonging to the middle class is determined by the income level of its members.

Although this category includes most of the population in highly developed capitalist countries, representatives of large business are the greatest impact on the development of economics and politics. Separately is the estor of intelligentsia, especially creative, scientific and technical and humanitarian. Thus, many artists, writers and representatives of other intellectual and creative professions have income peculiar to large businesses.

Another type of social structure is the socialist system, which is based on equal rights and opportunities for all members of society. But an attempt to build in Eastern, Central Europe and in Asia of developed socialism has led many of these countries to poverty.

A positive example can be called a public system in countries such as Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and others, which are based on capitalist relations with the full social protection of the rights of its members.

Composite parts of the social structure

To understand what social structure needs, you need to know which elements are included in its composition:

1. Groups uniting people associated with the generality of interests, values, professional activities or goals. More often they are perceived by others as communities.
2. Classes are large social groups that have their financial, economic or cultural values, based on the Code of honor inherent in the Code, the manner of behavior and the interaction of their representatives.
3. Social layers - intermediate and constantly changing, emerging or disappearing public groups that are not expressly pronounced communication with the means of production.
4. Strats are social groups limited by any parameter, such as profession, status, income level or other feature.

These elements of the social structure determine the composition of society. The more of them, the more difficult its design, the clearer the hierarchical vertical is traced. The division of society to various elements is noticeable in relation to people to each other, depending on the criteria inherent in their class. For example, the poor do not like the rich because of their financial superiority, while the latter despise them for the inability to make money.

Population

The system of various types of communities having strong internal connections between their members is what is the social structure of the population. Hard criteria that have separated people in them do not exist. It can be both basic and non-mining classes, layers, layers inside them and public groups.

For example, before the arrival of the Soviet power to Ukraine, artisans and soles peasants were most of its population. Third represented landowners, wealthy peasants, merchants and workers, while employees were extremely small. After collectivization, the population of the country has already consisted of only three layers - workers, employees and peasants.

If we consider the historical stages of the development of countries, then the lack of the middle class, namely entrepreneurs, representatives of small business, free artisans and wealthy farmers, led them to impoverishment and sharp economic contrast between the society layers.

The formation of "middle peasants" contributes to the rise of the economy, the emergence of a whole class of people with a completely different mentality, goals, interests and culture. The poorer layer thanks to them receives new types of goods and services, jobs and higher salary.

Today in most countries the population consists of the political elite, clergy, technical, creative and humanitarian intelligentsia, workers, scientists, farmers, entrepreneurs and representatives of other professions.

The concept of social system

If for the wise men who lived 2500 years ago, this term meant the ordering of life in the state, today the social system is a complex education, which includes the primary subsystems of society, such as economic, cultural and spiritual, political and public.

• The economic subsystem implies the adjustment of human relations in solving issues such as production, distribution, use or exchange of material goods. It must solve 3 tasks: what to produce, as for whom. If one of the tasks is not performed, then the entire economy of the country collapses. Since the environment and the needs of the population are constantly changing, the economic system is obliged to adapt to them to satisfy the material interests of the whole society. The higher the standard of living of the population, the more needs, and therefore, the economy of this society is better functions.
• The political subsystem is associated with the organization, establishment, work and change of power. Its main element is the social structure of the state, namely its legal institutions, such as courts, prosecutors, electoral bodies, arbitration and others. The main function of the political subsystem is to ensure social order and stability in the country, as well as the rapid solution of the vital problems of society.
• The social (public) subsystem is responsible for the prosperity and welfare of the population as a whole, regulating the relationship between its various classes and layers. This includes health care, public transport, utilities and household service.
• The cultural and spiritual subsystem is engaged in the creation, development, distribution and preservation of cultural, traditional and moral values. Its elements include sciences, arts, upbringing, education, morality and literature. Its main responsibilities - the upbringing of young people, the transfer of spiritual values \u200b\u200bof the people to the new generation, enrichment of the cultural life of people.

Thus, the social system is a fundamental part of any society, which is responsible for even development, prosperity and safety of its members.

Social structure and its levels

Each country has its own territorial divisions, but most of them are about the same. In modern society, social structure levels are distributed to 5 zones:

1. State. She is responsible for making decisions regarding the country as a whole, its development, security and international situation.
2. Regional social space. Applies to each region separately, taking into account its climatic, economic and cultural features. It may be independent, and may depend on the higher state zone in the issues of subsidies or redistribution of the budget.
3. The territorial zone is a small subject of regional space, which has the right to elections to local councils, on the formation and use of its own budget, to solve issues and objectives of the local level.
4. Corporate zone. It is possible only in the conditions of a market economy and is represented by farms leading their work with the formation of the budget and the local government, such as shareholders. It obeys territorial or regional zones according to the laws formed at the state level.
5. Individual level. Although it is at the bottom of the pyramid, is its basis, as it implies the personal interests of a person who are always above public. The needs of the individual may have a wide range of desires - from a guaranteed decent salary before self-expression.

Thus, the formation of a social structure is always based on the elements and levels of its components.

Changes in the structure of society

Every time the countries passed to a new level of development, their structure changed. For example, a change in the social structure of society of the time of serfdom was associated with the development of industry and the growth of cities. Many serfs managed to work on plants, moving to workers.

Today, such changes relate to pay and productivity. If another 100 years ago, physical labor was paid higher than the mental, today everything is the opposite. For example, a programmer can get more than a highly skilled worker.

1. The concept of the social structure of society.

2. Social status and social roles of personality.

3. The concept of social stratification.

4. The concept of social mobility.

1. Society is not a mechanical aggregate of individuals, but a complex system of social interactions in which individuals enter into each other, guided by certain values \u200b\u200band regulating the relationship with the help of social norms. In the process of social interaction, people form social groups, generality, belonging to which determines the position of a person in society and is called social status. Individual belongs to some groups from birth and as a representative of this group occupies the relevant position in society, entering into cooperation with other people. Such social statuses are called congenital. These include gender, age, nationality, racial affiliation, family positions (daughter, son, sister, brother), some social characteristics (nobleman, aristocrat, representative of the royal family, son of academician). In other groups, the individual seeks to get, applying efforts, acquiring relevant social qualities, achieving a certain position in society. Such statuses are called acquired (husband, wife, student, engineer, participant of a mug of amateur activities, a member of a football team, graduate student, professor). Sometimes a person falls into the category of people to whom he does not want to belong, but forced due to the circumstances of the circumstances and in connection with the established system of relations: the unemployed, homeless, black-workers, the garbagers, childless, diluted, etc. Such social statuses are mixed. In accordance with its position in society and expectations on the part of people interacting with him, the individual performs certain social functions, satisfies its interests that are characteristic of its social status, called a social role. Each social status in society prescribed a certain social role. A specific individual to a greater or lesser extent corresponds to its social role.

Thus, in the process of social interaction, individuals are combined into social groups and communities associated with a challenging network of social relations. The combination of various and social status in the system of social relations of social groups and sustainable forms of their relationships forms the social structure of society. In other words, the social structure of society form a collection of all social statuses in society and the system of functional relations between them, i.e. social roles.

2. Social status is called a position occupied by a person in society and related to the relevant rights and obligations. Status determines the personality site in the social structure of society and in the system of public interactions, the nature of human activity in various spheres of public life. The status fixes the position of the person or group in society in accordance with the profession, economic well-being, political preferences, floors, age, interests, marital status. It affects the attitude towards a person of other people and society as a whole, expressed in such indicators as authority, prestige, influence, privileges, level of income, salary, premiums, awards, titles, glory, honor, benefits, etc.

A real person occupies in society at the same time several positions, for example: a man, family man, father, engineer, climber, a communist. Sometimes these statuses come in contradiction with each other and the person is forced to fulfill the prescriptions of one status, ignore the requirements of the other. Stressing the multi-faceted personality activity in society, expressing in several statuses inherent in it, the American sociologist Merton introduced the concept of "status set" to denote the entire set of statuses of this individual.

Among the diverse statuses of the person, the following types are distinguished.

A. Status main and blackout. The main thing is that the status is most characteristic of this individual, according to which you

they divide others and with which they first identify. This may be a profession (banker, president), the sphere of the most significant results (climber, traveler) or the most characteristic type of activity (mother, housewife, concluded).

B. Status social and personal. Social status characterizes the objective position of a person in the social structure of society: a profession, nationality, marital status. Personal status characterizes the person's place in a small group of familiar people and is determined primarily by his individual qualities (the captain of the football team, friend, rival)

B. Status congenital and acquired. The first person occupies in accordance with his inherited signs (Paul, Race, Nationality), the second is achieved through their own efforts (student, professor, husband, engineer).

There are statuses that cannot be unambiguously attributed to any particular type. For example, the status of the unemployed is neither congenital or acquired, since no one seeks to take it. This kind of statuses are called mixed.

Social status shows the position of a person in society and demonstrates his rights and obligations. Since rights and obligations relate to social positions and expectations of other people, each person seeks to preserve or increase social status.

Each status position in society is associated with other status positions and for conflict-free interaction involves the fulfillment of relevant duties, the implementation of a certain type of behavior characterized by the concept of a social role. A social role should be considered as a dynamic side of social status, its function determining the set of norms is adequately to behave in certain situations personality. These norms dictate the types of behavior that a person with this social status can be carried out in relation to a person with another social status. Social role allows to coordinate social expectations (expectations) and the real behavior of individuals. If a person performs the action expected from him, he is accompanied by an understanding, partnership, respect, willingness to interact on the part of other people. If it behaves inappropriately, it meets from the surrounding misunderstanding, opposition, resistance.

Social role, thus, is called the expected on the part of other people and society as a whole regularly repeated and for a long time reproduced in certain circumstances the behavior characteristic of one or another social status. Social roles are executed by specific individuals. Reflecting an identity personality, they have a certain range of various behavioral stereotypes characteristic of this social status. In general, any social role, performed by people in cooperation with each other, personifies the dominant social relations, is socially determined. Each social status suggests several social roles in which he is in one way or another is implemented to the best. Merton introduced into sociology the concept of "role-playing" to characterize the set of different roles inherent in one status.

Characteristics of the social structure of society as a set of social statuses and social roles allows you to submit society in the form of a complex system of social interactions in which individuals enter, guided by certain norms and implementing specific goals.

3. The diversity of social statuses is an indicator of the complexity and differentiation of public life. Statuses are distinguished by role and position in society, the number of rights, opportunities and responsibilities. There is a concept of a rank parameter to determine the height of social status in the social structure of society. Thus, social inequality (the difference in statuses in its position) is a universal characteristic of society and its social structure.

People who occupy social statuses similar in their rights and duties form a social layer, in sociology to call stratum. The distribution of individuals in social sections (strata) is called social stratification. Stratists are distinguished by the level and methods of obtaining income, education, degree of power, prestige and the possibilities of the profession they are engaged in.

Social strata (layers) are hierarchically located social groups, i.e. the highest and lower layers. Possessing the greatest income, power, wealth, education, social layers are a privileged minority (know the rich, ownership, etc.), the most infringed in any respect layers (low-income, uneducated, unqualified) form social bases. The most numerous part in a steadily developing society is the middle class, as a rule, the most typical representatives of this society from the point of view of the methods of obtaining income, education, national and religious affiliation, lifestyle, etc.

P. A. Sorokin (1889-1968), who developed the doctrine of social stratification, allocated three main types of stratification -Economic (wealth), political (power) and professional (prestige) - and identified the following criteria for distinguishing social layers: 1) income (rich and poor); 2) political influence (having and not having power); 3) Professional status (doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers). These types are used in our time as the main criteria of social stratification. Additional criteria have been added to them, allowing more subtly to distinguish between social positions and their hierarchical location. American sociologist T. Parsons (1902-1979) complements the main stratification criteria by the following indicators: 1) the essential characteristics that people have from birth (nationality, age of age, origin, relatives, personal qualities and abilities); 2) the characteristics associated with the performance of social roles in society (position, level of knowledge, professionalism); 3) characteristics of the possession of certain material and spiritual values \u200b\u200b(property, privileges, means of production, works of art).

In modern sociology, basic and additional criteria are combined into a single multidimensional model, which allows for social stratification as a stratification of individuals and groups in society on signs of ownership (or not possession) by property, wealth, ways to receive income, education and training, extent of power of authority , I prestite in the eyes of public opinion, classes and lifestyle, as well as sociocultural characteristics, ethno national and age-age.

One of their first integrative models of the company's stratification analysis was proposed in the 1930s American researcher L. Warner (1898-1970). With additions and variations, it is successfully used in modern sociology to describe the social structure of modern society. Initially, Warner offered a simple three-star social division system of society: the highest class, the middle class and the lower class. According to the results of a specific empirical study of the social composition of the provincial American cities of the first half of the twentieth century. He considered appropriate inside each of these large classes to highlight intermediate. As a result, the Warner model includes six hierarchically located social strata.

1. The upper highest class is representatives of large business, prominent politicians, cultural figures, whose wealth and public influence has developed over several generations and significantly across the state.

2. The lower higher class on wealth is often not inferior to the upper highest, but represents large businessmen, politicians, famous athletes who have achieved social success in the first generation and have no sufficient impact in all areas of the Company's activities.

3. The upper middle class includes succeeding businessmen, top managers, prominent doctors, lawyers, scientific elite. Representatives of this class do not claim influence on the scale of society, but in their fields of activity they have a wide influence and prestige, occupy a very sustainable position in society due to their skills and professionalism.

4. Lower middle class includes educated people of hired work - engineers, officials, teachers, scientists, managers, highly skilled workers. Representatives of this class are interested in improving their social status, aimed at a professional career and the life success, which depend on their own efforts and hard labor. This social layer is more interested in economic, social and political stability in society and is therefore supporting the existing power. In modern developed countries, this class is the most numerous and is the basis of the social structure of society.

5. The upper lower class is mostly hired workers who create a basic surplus product in this society. Being in relation to the mining of funds to life dependent on the highest classes, this social layer is forced to

standing to defend their social rights and fight for improving the conditions of existence.

6. The lower lower class form beggars, unemployed, homeless, foreign workers without constant employment and other marginal groups. These are the most disadvantaged segments of the population, which are sometimes called the Social Dream.

Other authors, making up a social stratification model, rely on the Warner model, often adding additional strata to it, which reflect the complex differentiation of modern society, for example, the average highest, medium average, the average lower classes.

In Russia, the Soviet period, the social structure of society was different. Soviet authors viewed the structure of the Soviet Society in the framework of class theory (two friendly classes - the working class and the peasantry and one layer -intelligentsia). Foreign authors have repeatedly created alternative stratification models of Soviet society. For example, an American researcher A. Inkels owns the following model, including nine layers:

1st layer - the ruling elite: party leaders, government, higher military leadership, "production commander", who had almost uncontrolled power and huge social privileges;

The 2nd layer is the highest layer of intelligentsia: various laureates, prominent scientists, famous artists and writers. They have a lot less power than representatives of the first layer, but material remuneration compared to ordinary citizens is significant, as well as privileges regarding working conditions and life;

The 3rd layer - the aristocracy of the working class: Herkers of the five-year plan, Stakhanov, delegates of party congresses and authorities. They have a high salary and considerable prestige in society, however, unlike two higher layers, they cannot count on the relief of legal sanctions or special legal protection;

4th layer - intelligentsia, managers, heads of medium enterprises. Their salary and position in society make it possible to maintain a sufficiently secured standard of living;

5th layer - employees, minor managers, people with an average level of education. Their salary barely allows you to maintain the average standard of living;

The 6th layer is the successful employees of advanced collective farms and state farms. Along with not very high salaries have significant

help from the state (agricultural machinery, fertilizer, assistance of urban workers), as well as income from household plots, which makes it possible to maintain a decent standard of living;

7th layer - medium- and unqualified workers in cities; their standard of living and income is very modest;

8th layer - medium layers of the peasantry; They are characterized by severe physical work, low salary, lack of comfortable rest;

The 9th Layer - the army of prisoners of labor camps - the most deprived layer of Soviet society.

Since the 1990s, political, economic and social transformations are taking place in Russian society, radically changing the social structure of society. To analyze modern Russian society, you can apply the stratification model of Warner with the necessary changes, which demonstrate, for example, the study of the sociologist N. M. Rimashevskaya. It allocates the following social strata in modern Russian society:

1) all-Russian elite groups connecting possession of property comparable to the largest Western states, and powerful influence in the all-Russian scale;

2) regional and corporate elites with significant states and influence in the level of regions and real sectors of the economy;

3) the Russian "Upper Middle Class", which has property and income providing a high standard of living, as well as claims to increase their social status, influence and prestige;

4) the Russian "dynamic middle class", which has incomes to provide high consumption standards, achieving sustainable social positions, manifestations of significant social claims and motivation, which has social activity and oriented to legal methods of its manifestation;

5) "Outsiders", characterized by low adaptation and social activity, low incomes and orientation for legal methods for their preparation;

6) marginals for whom are characterized by asocial and antisocial attitudes in socio-economic and political activities;

7) criminality with high social activity and adaptation, but choosing illegal forms of economic activity.

The Belarusian researcher E. M. Babosov offers a model of social stratification, characteristic of all post-Soviet societies:

1) The highest layer is a new elite, which includes rich entrepreneurs (owners of banks, large firms) and senior officials;

2) Higher Middle Layer - Middle and Small Entrepreneurs, Director Corps, Popular Artists, Artists, Telecommators, Large Scientists, Famous Lawyers, Doctors, etc.;

3) Middle Middle Layer - Professome, Protential doctors, lawyers, managers of services of successfully working enterprises, senior officers, officials.

4) the lowest middle layer - teachers, ordinary engineers, employees of cultural institutions, junior officers, skilled workers;

5) the lower layer - unqualified workers, peasants, employees, sergeant composition of the armed forces and law enforcement;

7) Arginal layer - sowned on a social bottom from various social groups of beggars, bums, refugees, streets.

A characteristic feature of the social structure of modern Russian society is the fact that rich and secured groups of the population are together 8 ... 10%, medium and low-income - 15. 17%, the poorest - about 7%, and the remaining 60. 65% form poor Layers that inhibits the country's translational development and is fraught with social conflicts and shocks. In a normally developing society, another relationship is considered to be optimal, where 60. 65% of the population forms a middle class, which has good education and constant income and interested in social stability and sustainable development.

4. The executive location of the social strata in society is not eternal and unchanged. In the course of the life of society, they may vary in places, new strata appear, the old, individual individuals are moved from one social layer to another. P. A. Sorokin The set of such changes called social mobility, i.e. the mobility of social layers and individual individuals.

Social mobility is a change in an individual or a group of space in the social structure of society, moving them from one social situation to another. The main characteristics of social mobility are spatial parameters, speed and density of stratification changes.

According to spatial parameters, social mobility is divided into horizontal and vertical. Horizontal mobility is a movement of an individual or group from one social position to another, located on the same stratification level. For example, the transition from one company to another to the same or similar position, the translation of the student from one university to another, the transition from one family to another with marriage or divorce. A variety of horizontal mobility is geographical mobility, i.e., moving the individual to another city or country.

The vertical mobility involves the transition of an individual or group from one social formation to another, located in the stratification hierarchy above or below the first. There are two types of vertical mobility: ascending and descending. Ascending mobility means the rise from one social layer to another, higher. For example, a worker, having received a higher education, becomes an engineer, and then the head of the workshop and the director of the plant or opens its company and becomes an entrepreneur. Downward mobility represents social descent, i.e. social descent, degradation. For example, an engineer, becoming unemployed, is arranged to work a guard or a painter, and it becomes homeless.

The speed of stratification changes are highlighted fast and slow. For example, one graduate of the university for five years takes the same position of the engineer or teacher, the other - after three years it becomes the head of the department, and in a year it opens the company and turns into an entrepreneur. In the second case, we are dealing with faster social mobility. It is also possible to allocate inter-floor and inside-generated mobility. In the first case, we are talking about changing the social status of children compared to the status of their parents, in the second - about the transformation of the social status of a person compared to its peers, the generation, that is, about the social career of the individual.

By density, stratification changes are divided into single and group. In the first case, individual people are moved from one layer (schoolboy, student, engineer, entrepreneur, minister), in another - a whole social group (overthought in the social bases of nobility and bourgeoisie after the October Revolution or the elevation of professional groups of cooperators, accountants, economists in Perestroika period). Allocate voluntary and forced social mobility. In the situation of voluntary social mobility, the individual or the group applies conscious efforts to achieve a higher social status, forced mobility forces participants in the stratification movements to reckon with circumstances and adapt to change. And the other may be a consequence of the objective development of public life (the emergence of new industries, a change in the socio-economic principles of economic activity), and can be purposefully managed by the state (the consolidation of the villages, the closure of enterprises, technical re-equipment of industries). In the second case, they are talking about organized social mobility, in the first - on structural mobility.

Used literature: Sociology. Course of lectures: studies. Manual / I.A. Akimova
N.G. Bagdasaryan, E.A. Gavrilina, V.G. Gorokhov, A.V. Litvintseva,
I.E. Motorina, G.V. Panina, Yu.P. Poluktov, A.V. Chernyshev;
near Ed i.A. Akimova - M.: Publishing House MSTU NM. AD Bauman.
2010. - 95. |2|.

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