Natural patterns of development of man and society. Advances of modern natural science. Laws of social development

"Patterns" social development

The authors of statements about the regularity and repeatability of historical events tried to find some General characteristics in multi-temporal realities (Hegel, Marx, Spengler, Toynbee), meaning the repetition of basically the same phases, periods, etc., and trying to predict further events on this basis. The differences between the authors are more of a terminological nature and do not fundamentally change the point of view on the existence of repeatability of historical periods.

Others come to the conclusion made by Bertrand Russell: ... Those generalizations (of the historical process) that have been proposed, excluding the sphere of economics,for the most part so unfounded that they are not even worth refuting. And further Russell writes: I value history for the knowledge it gives about people in circumstances very different from our own, (it is) not primarily analytical scientific knowledge, but the kind of knowledge that a dog lover has about his dog.

A similar view of the “philosophy of history” is expressed in the anniversary publication dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Bakhmetyev Foundation. Discussing patterns and accidents in history, Bakhmetyev cited his conversation with the famous historian of antiquity M.I. Rostovtsev. Rostovtsev spoke based on his 50 years of experience studying history: ... There is nothing inevitable about it. Most events are completely random.

Many understood sociocultural cyclicity as simply alternating stages of ups and downs, flourishing and fading, acceleration and deceleration. In this case, the process is considered as a two-phase one. However, the cycle is often divided into a larger number of phases - from three to one and a half dozen. The duration of the studied cycles ranges from several years to several centuries. In his main work, “The Decline of Europe,” Oswald Spengler (1880-1936) identifies eight cultures in world history: Egyptian, Indian, Babylonian, Chinese, Greco-Roman, Byzantine-Arab, Mayan and Western European. Each culture is treated as an organism isolated from other cultures. The lifespan of a culture is about a thousand years. Dying, culture is reborn into a “civilization”, which no longer needs artistic creativity.

Influenced by Spengler, the English historian and sociologist A.J. Toynbee (1889-1975) developed his concept world history, not to mention thirteen relatively closed civilizations. Every civilization goes through four stages in its development: emergence, growth, breakdown and decay. Toynbee tried to derive empirical laws of recurrence of social development phenomena, remaining extremely subjective in his assessments. Marx also spoke about the natural change of socio-economic formations, the highest stage of which should be communism. William Strauss and Neil Howe, the authors of the popular bestsellers “Generations” and “The Fourth Revolution”, published at the beginning of the 21st century, also devoted their books to the cyclical nature of history. According to their idea, history can be divided into 4 turns, which are constantly repeated one after another. In 2005, the next round ends, which the authors called the “unraveling era” - it lasted 21 years, which is always marked by the death of established traditions and values, as well as changes leading to a crisis. Society will reap the fruits of these changes in the next 22-year cycle, which is called the “era of crisis.” This is a time of brutal wars and radical changes in politics, after which peoples accept a more traditional lifestyle and establish common values that they will adhere to until the next “unraveling era.”

All this is nothing more than “adjustment” to the desired result, and not a word is said about the reasons for the “cyclical nature of history”, except for discussions about some kind of mystical “passionarity” of Lev Gumilyov.

Everything is simpler. Under the “patterns” of the historical process they adjust the same, constantly noted contradictions between the expediency of humane socialization of humanity and the real development of civilization, the stimulus of which is human egoism. The behavior of humanity is similar to the behavior of a child walking along a road that comes to a dead end, but the next time he tries, the child chooses not a roundabout path, but the same road again and, naturally, again comes to a dead end. Therefore, the idea of “laws of social development” can be explained by the fact that humanity is at the childhood stage of development and is not able to realize that natural egoism cannot be the basis for the progressive development of society.

Just as an adult is not fully capable of understanding the reasons and motives of a child’s behavior, voluntarily or involuntarily endowing him with his own experience, so we, living on the continuously moving crest of human history into the future, do not always understand that the behavior, actions and interpretation of events by our ancestors corresponded to children’s period of humanity. A child does not yet have the wisdom and knowledge of an adult, and therefore, driven by the instinct of recognition and his imperfect understanding of the world around him, he repeats the same mistakes without realizing it. But these are only stages of recognition of the environment in which the “child” will live, as well as those real reasons that determined life in the prehistoric period. One religious leader, who spent his entire life listening to the confessions of parishioners, answered very briefly when asked what he thought about people in general: no adults. We must be guided by similar considerations - the “immaturity” of our ancestors and many contemporaries - when assessing numerous phenomena, events and views on history (prehistory) characteristic of the childhood of humanity.

Sometimes “historical laws” are even credited with the meaning of laws in the natural scientific sense, which are objective, i.e. independent of human will. Under the same initial conditions, natural scientific laws determine the same behavior and state of the system. The laws of nature - whether we are talking about dynamic or statistical laws - have been fulfilled, are fulfilled and will always be fulfilled, regardless of whether a person exists at all. It is obvious that when analyzing the behavior of a community of thinking beings, it is fundamentally impossible to talk about the “same” conditions - objects of living nature endowed with consciousness have memory and content, determined by previous experience of existence, and not simply “ state" Therefore, in the history of mankind, i.e. in the history of the “system-society”, there can be no analogues of reproducible and repeatable physicochemical characteristics.

The illogicality was also manifested in the fact that the assumption of “laws of social development” is equivalent to the assumption of the existence of a development program: only those types of behavior that are either programmed or are the result of the same motives or mistakes can be repeated. Motives and errors are a trivial case, hence programming. But then someone must be a “programmer” of the emergence of civilization and its future. This is already obvious religiosity, which has nothing to do with science.

Some historians are inclined to explain their models of patterns by the fact that they appear only on average, as a result, due to the immutability of human natural instincts, which remain the same at different levels technological development. The instincts, indeed, remain the same, but this has never prevented their awareness and the development of ever new rules of behavior and moral standards, i.e. progress of society. There are no natural prohibitions for continuation this process - the development of new rules of behavior. The statement about the existence of “historical patterns” is equivalent to the statement that humanity suddenly loses the ability to change the rules of behavior! A “regularity” is good if it rests on such an assumption!

From the above it follows that the regularity of the historical process is a myth that does not really correspond to any regularities. And it’s good that this is a myth! If this were not so, then it would be pointless to think about a consciously constructed future. After all, humanity would then be doomed to follow a path determined by obscure laws, no matter what speculative pictures of the future we build. Letting go of this myth should demonstrate another lesson learned in humanity's journey of maturation.

If we return to general biological laws, then in all eras the primary biological instincts: reproduction, care for offspring, self-defense, hunger, were of an enduring and objective nature. But as soon as the presence of reason is included in the consideration, human behavior becomes unpredictable, arrhythmic and irregular. Thus, it is obvious that if a person is considered only from the point of view of instincts, i.e. biological nature, then its behavior is indeed, to a certain extent, predictable and will obey general biological laws. However, these will not be “historical patterns”, but a rhythmic reproduction of the same stages of the animal’s life, determined by innate instincts.

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Spiritual life and social consciousness.

The spiritual life of humanity, the spiritual wealth of civilization and culture, social life is a specific “place of being” of the objectified spiritual, which determines its place in holistic existence.

A special role in this area is played by spiritual and moral principles, norms, ideals, values, such as, say, beauty, justice, truth. They exist in the form of both individualized and objectified spirituality. In the first case, we are talking about a complex set of motives, motives, and goals that determine the spiritual structure of the individual; in the second case, we are talking about ideas, ideals, norms, and values embodied in science, culture, mass consciousness (their documents). Both of these types of spiritual and moral existence play a significant role in the development of personality (as individualized spiritual) and in the improvement of culture (as objectified spiritual).

But this is the meaning of the problem of being, that all existential aspects have equal value, for each of them highlights being as a whole - as an indissoluble, indissoluble unity, as integrity.

As noted above, the attention of mankind and, accordingly, the interest of philosophy in the problem of being intensifies in crisis, turning-point eras. And since our time - the 20th and the coming 21st century - is marked by many threats and dangers, it is not surprising that the question of existence by a number of major thinkers was recognized as the most significant in philosophical “questioning”. M. Heidegger, author of the book “Being and Time,” emphasized: only a person is capable of asking about being, asking the question of what is the specificity of human existence; in this sense, the fate of existence is entrusted to him. And from here stems, perhaps, the most important responsibility and the highest task of humanity.

The materialist understanding of history comes from the recognition of the primacy of social existence and the secondary nature of social consciousness. Material and spiritual sides public life are not identical simply because the real life process of individuals is not fully realized and not fully embraced by public consciousness. Production activity and labor are not only the basis of individual life, but also the basis on which individual and social consciousness is formed and developed. Although the formation of social being and social consciousness occurs simultaneously, the main sources of the emergence and development of consciousness lie not in itself, but in social being, in the historical practice of people.

The most general laws of the development of social consciousness express its secondary nature, its derivativeness from social existence in the life of society. These include three basic laws: 1) the dependence of social consciousness on social existence, 2) the relative independence of social consciousness, 3) the active influence of social consciousness on material processes.

1. The law of dependence of social consciousness on social existence.

Since social consciousness reflects social existence, it depends on it. As is known, social consciousness does not have its own absolutely independent history; the stages of its development must be derived and explained from the stages of social existence.

Since social existence is not homogeneous, but is divided into unequal sides - labor and relationships, the dependence of social consciousness on social existence is dual: it depends on labor as such and on the production relations that have developed on its basis. Therefore, to a certain extent, it is possible to directly translate the content of social existence into certain spiritual principles (labor and moral, ethical and other principles corresponding to its nature) and indirect (labor, economic basis and moral, aesthetic and other principles corresponding to them)

The dependence of social consciousness on social existence has two sides. The qualitative side of this dependence is their substantive similarity, or correspondence; quantitative – the degree of this similarity, correspondence. Consciousness reflects social existence not completely, not accurately, at best approximately correctly. Moreover, it always contains illusions, delusions, and errors that arise due to ignoring the real basis of the historical process, sliding along its surface, and directly translating economic principles into spiritual ones. The views of classes as a whole are also the same as their real position in the system of production. The most important pattern of social consciousness is the continuous growth of universal human content.

2. The law of relative independence of social consciousness.

As a derivative, secondary social consciousness has not absolute, but relative independence. When the division of material and spiritual labor appears, its separation from social existence becomes possible, and it becomes possible to imagine social consciousness as completely independent of material existence. The relative independence of social consciousness means that, being dependent on social existence, it at the same time has its own laws inherent in its own nature and expressed in a number of tendencies: 1) lag, ultimately, from social existence, 2) continuity, 3 ) uneven development of levels and forms of consciousness.

The lag of social consciousness from social existence is largely due to conservatism, the vitality of ideas, traditions, feelings, their ability to be active even when they are already outdated and do not correspond to a radically changed reality.

The relative independence of social consciousness is expressed in the continuity of ideas, traditions, feelings, etc.

The retention and accumulation of spiritual culture at the same time depends on the goals or objectives set by one or another class, which, in turn, depend on the depth of awareness by this class of the objective processes occurring in society, and, accordingly, on the possibility and ability to achieve their goals. goals.

The relative independence of social consciousness is also manifested in the uneven development of forms of social consciousness: economic, environmental, political, legal, moral, aesthetic, religious, scientific and philosophical. This unevenness depends on the degree of proximity of one or another form of consciousness to purposeful activity and the economic basis. Economic, political, and legal consciousness are most closely related to labor and economic relations, and therefore they change faster than other forms of consciousness.

3. The law of the active influence of social consciousness on material processes.

Being derived from social existence, social consciousness is not passive, but has an active influence on non-material, including economic, processes and, under certain conditions, can play a decisive role.

From the position of Marxism, social consciousness is active, but it is not it that is most active, but social being, material labor. The role of ideas is the higher, the closer they are to reality, the more closely they are connected with life, the more fully and accurately they reflect it, and they are the property of not just individuals, but of the masses. Moreover, the activity of scientific ideas is one thing, and religious ideas are another. The greater the role religious ideas play in society, the less room there is for the influence of scientific ideas, and vice versa.

The greatest activity of consciousness in general, and social consciousness in particular, is manifested in its ability to anticipate existing existence and anticipate the future. In its ability to anticipate the future, consciousness realizes its relative independence, for it only discovers the elements, the germs of the future. It is ahead not of social existence, but of the present, not of the deep tendencies contained in it, but only of the realized ones. The idea is ahead of the realized part of being, and not the deep tendencies inherent in it. E. Fromm came to the conclusion that social character is shaped by economic conditions. This character, which is a set of traits characteristic of a particular social group, determines its thoughts, feelings, and actions. The economic factor, as the leading one, has the greatest independence, because the economy develops according to its own objective laws. However, being dependent on the economy, psychology and ideology have an active influence on it.

The laws that determine the course of the social process are as objective as the laws of society or nature. Because of this, we can say that laws work independently of the will or consciousness of people, exclusively independently. It should be noted that the laws of society are limited by social time and space. This is due to the fact that they appear and begin to function only from a certain moment in the development of the universe. From the moment when society reaches its highest material system.

Laws of society

Social laws differ greatly from the laws of nature. The laws of society are based on the activities of people. They exist purely within society and its activities; outside these conditions, such laws cannot function. There is a direct relationship between how deeply and consciously a person understands the laws of society, as well as their methods of work and permanent development, to the extent that his level of awareness increases when using them. Moreover, this also affects how historical and social processes proceed, as well as how society progresses.

Knowledge of the laws of nature and processes occurring in environment, allows a person to use natural resources quite efficiently. In the same way, knowledge of social laws allows people, namely the ruling stratum of the population who decide the destinies of people, to consciously approach the process. What is meant here is that the ruling elite must use progressive methods of leadership and management, because history is in their hands. Leaders of any country must first understand and then use social laws. This helps them build a ruling policy not spontaneously, but carefully measured down to every step. At the same time, relying on scientific knowledge and concepts, they develop programs in all areas of human activity. It should be noted that all processes occur based on the achievement of certain goals.

Social laws are different character and degree of manifestation. By nature they are divided into:

Laws of structure.
Laws of functioning.
Laws of development.

According to the degree of manifestation they are divided into:

Universal laws.
General laws.
Private laws.

At their core, the laws of structure reflect the social and public organizational-structural dynamics that are inherent in a certain historical moment.

The laws of functioning serve as a certain impetus, which creates the conditions for the transition from one state of relative stability to another. In addition, the laws of functioning preserve this stability of the social system.

The laws of development create the prerequisites for the formation of conditions conducive to a change in measure and transition to a new state.

The degree of manifestation of universal laws is reflected in a peculiar triad of laws of philosophy or laws of dialectics, which operate both in nature and in society.

There are the following types of general laws:

The law of the influence of the method of production on the nature of the social process. This refers to the influence on the formation, activity and development of areas of social life and spheres of production, the structure of society.
A law that determines the functions of social existence in relation to social consciousness, subject to feedback connections.
A law that determines the level of personification of an individual from the state of the system of social relations.
The law of socialization or in other words the law that determines the level of social and public continuity.
The law of the priority of universal human values over group ones.

Speaking about private laws, it should be noted that they include laws that relate to a certain area of human life or area of society.

Example 1

The following laws work in the political sphere or the sphere of management: the law of separation of powers, the law of political pluralism, the law of the priority of human rights over the rights of the state, the law of the emergence and development of political needs, etc.

Social laws often appear to be tendencies rather than laws in their original form. This happens due to certain dialectical necessities, and sometimes even completely by accident. These tendencies are formed in subjective and objective conditions, passing through the obstacles of social collisions and the chaos that arises when opposing social trends collide. In turn, these collisions serve as the basis for the formation of the possibilities of their existence in various historical periods. Therefore, the conscious creation of conditions for the existence of such trends makes it possible for society and society to realize opportunities into existing reality in different spheres of life and areas of production.

It should be noted that there are certain conditions and accompanying factors for trends to become laws. Among these factors are achievements scientific and technological progress. However, we should not forget that, at its core, scientific and technological progress is a pattern of social development. Based on this judgment, we can safely conclude that one of the laws social activities stands for the law of combining the real capabilities of society with the discoveries of scientific and technological progress. This law has its roots in the distant historical past, in other words, it is historical. It has objective characteristics in time and space, which are based on social needs and abilities associated with the subject synthesis of science and technology.

Due to its functionality, the law manifests itself in all spheres of human life individually and society as a whole.

Note 1

The law of connecting the real capabilities of society with the achievements of scientific and technological progress was discovered at the end of the 20th century. V.P. Petrov proposed to separate it into a separate law. In modern times, based on the knowledge of the law described above, we can talk about innovative progress, the conditions for which are created in society.

Returning to the question of what is the true difference between the laws of nature and the laws of society, we can conclude that they have different mechanisms of implementation.

It is obvious that the laws of nature, as well as the laws of society, are objective. The connection between processes and phenomena in laws is necessarily stable, periodically repeated, significant and necessary. However, the differences also lie in the fact that in nature all these connections occur by inertia. For example, a ball that is thrown up will definitely fall to the floor under the influence of gravity. In society, the objectivism of laws depends only on the individual. Provided that the development of personality influences the course of history, since a person can contribute to both the progress of social life and regression. The laws of society are historical in nature and can arise and function in different historical conditions as certain factors manifest themselves for their discovery and activity.

Social laws are effective only when society and the people and its components have goals and strive to achieve them. In a divided society or a society consisting of passive individuals, social laws do not appear.

K. Marx expressed the opinion that the natural historical process is determined precisely by the similarities and differences between the laws of society and the laws of nature. This fully characterizes social development. The natural historical process is necessary, natural, objective and natural, like all natural processes. At the same time, it is also historical. Due to the fact that it is the result of the activities of many generations of people.

The implementation of the laws of the social process is characterized by the concepts of “objective conditions” and “subjective factor”.

Definition 1

Objective conditions are circumstances and phenomena of a socio-economic nature that do not depend on the will and consciousness of people, necessary for the formation of a certain historical phenomenon (for example: a change in the form of socio-economic direction). But these conditions are inherently incomplete.

Only in conjunction with a subjective factor can a specific historical or social event occur or not. Objective conditions completely depend on the subjective factor.

Definition 2

The subjective factor is a purposeful, conscious activity of society, social groups, socio-political movements, the ruling elite, individuals, which is aimed at transformation, maturation or the preservation of the objective conditions of social existence.

It should be noted that the subjective factor may not always be progressive; a regressive nature is also inherent in it.

The consistency of objective conditions and the subjective factor is manifested in the fact that history is created by people, but this does not happen according to their desires and views, but in accordance with certain conditions dictated by specific historical conditions.

Example 2

Napoleon, F. Roosevelt, V. Lenin, A. Hitler, I. Stalin, of course, determined the properties of one historical period, but it was precisely this historical period that gave birth to these individuals and created the conditions for the formation of certain qualities and characteristics in them. If these individuals did not exist, there would be others, with different names, but with approximately the same abilities, needs and personal qualities, who would still have created what is characteristic of that historical era.

Society Development Concepts

Complex and contradictory social process may have the character of progressive development and spasmodic movement. Some scientists express the opinion that social development occurs according to a sine wave. This means that at first there is a rise to the peak of perfection, and then the process declines back to the beginning, thus again the decline of social development begins.

Due to all the factors identified, we can conclude that the concepts of social development are formational and civilized in nature.

Formation concept

Socio-economic formation is a concept that is used in Marxism. The basis of the formation is a method of producing material goods.

Definition 3

A socio-economic formation (according to Marx) is a historically formed society in a specific period of its economic development.

Each formation is a social organism with its own characteristics, which is formed and develops on the basis of its inherent patterns. At the same time, a socio-economic formation is a certain stage in the development of society.

K. Marx put forward the opinion that social development is a harmonious order of several formations that contribute to changes in the mode of production, and this, in turn, entails changes in production relations. Because of this opinion, K. Marx identified five socio-economic formations in the history of society:

Primitive communal.
Slaveholding.
Feudal.
Bourgeois.
Communist.

The scientist says that changes in formations occur at a time when contradictions intensify at a certain moment in social development. The maturation of these contradictions is characterized by a discrepancy between the method of production and the existing relations of production. This creates conditions for the change of one social formation to another. Moreover, each subsequent formation becomes more progressive in relation to all previous ones.

Today we can safely say that K. Marx’s division of social history into formations is imperfect. But one cannot help but recognize the fact that this was an undoubted contribution to the science of society and social philosophy precisely during the 19th century.

From the modern standpoint of understanding the concepts of formation, some points should be clarified. Definitely K. Marx did not say anything about transition periods from one formation to another, moreover, he did not characterize these stages of social development in any way. In addition, not all countries and not all peoples were able to go through all levels of social formation.

Example 3

In Russia there was no slave system; in Mongolia, bourgeois society did not reach high level development, China moved from feudal relations to a convergent plane.

In addition, in the formations proposed by K. Marx, there is an understatement regarding the determination of the measure of the productive forces of a slave-owning and feudal society. There are specific judgments regarding the phase of socialism, which is part of the communist formation. Moreover, the communist formation is utopian in nature.

The problems of the interformation period are not described in any way and there is no judgment that during the transition from one formation to another there is the possibility of returning to the stage of the previous formation or repetition characteristic features during a period of time that is in no way designated from a historical point of view.

Based on these reasons, we can say that the civilized concept of social development seems quite objective.

Civilization concept

The author of the civilizational concept, with a small reservation, is the British scientist A. Toynbee. "A Study of History" is his work, which includes twelve volumes, where he attempted to explain the meaning of the historical process, using the method of systematizing many facts, resorting to general scientific classification and using philosophical and cultural concepts.

What's the caveat? The fact is that long before A. Toynbee, the Russian sociologist N. Ya. Danilevsky tried to reveal the problems of periods of socio-historical development. In his course of lectures, he outlined his position on this issue. In addition, in his work “Russia and Europe”, back in the 19th century. spoke about the theory of “cultural-historical types,” or in other words, civilizations that develop like living organisms.

N. Ya. Danilevsky identifies eleven civilizations:

Egyptian.
Chinese.
Assyro-Babylonian-Phoenician.
Chaldean.
Ancient Semitic.
Indian.
Iranian.
Jewish.
Greek.
Roman.
New Semetic or Arabian.
Romano-Germanic or European.

This division into civilizations, proposed by N. Ya. Danilevsky, is certainly a serious contribution to the development of social science and philosophy, so it is naturally unfair to ignore his contribution to science.

Definition 4

Civilization is the totality of spiritual and material achievements of society.

Modern ideas about the concept of “civilization,” one way or another, are based on the judgment that the world is an integral object or a single whole. Very often, but very erroneously, the concept of “civilization” is correlated with the concept of “culture”. However, culture has a wider application and is in a “common-individual” relationship with civilization.

Philosophy has its own concept of civilization. In a general philosophical sense, it can be defined as a measure of a certain stage of social development. In turn, in the socio-philosophical sense, the world-historical process is characterized through the prism of civilization and determines the specific type of development of society.

Definition 5

Civilization is a social form of the movement of matter.

A. Toynbee's concept is an analysis of human history through the alternation of a number of civilizations.

Definition 6

Civilization according to A. Toynbee is a stable unity of people who choose the same religious customs and geographical boundaries.

World history is a collection of civilizations:

Sumerian.
Babylonian.
Minoan.
Hellenic.
Orthodox Christian.
Hindu.
Islamic.

A. Toynbee expresses the opinion that in the history of mankind there have been at least two dozen different local civilizations.

The basis of A. Toynbee’s worldview were two hypotheses:

The process of development of human history cannot extend to all civilizations at once; it happens locally.
Civilizations are not interconnected, unlike the components that make them up.

A. Toynbee says that each civilization has its own path of development, different from the path that is inherent in another civilization. Because of this, the scientist decides to analyze the historical factors of social development. First of all, he raises the question of the “law of call and response.” This refers to the very emergence of civilization and the process of further development and progress, which is determined by the ability of society and individuals to give an appropriate response to the challenge that was formed in certain historical conditions. Both natural and human factors are taken into account.

Here it is very correct to recall the theory that says that society develops according to the example of a sine wave. Because if society is unable to adequately respond to the challenge of historical conditions, the social organism will face decline. To prevent this from happening, and to ensure that the reaction fits into history, it is correct to develop the conditions for the formation of a “creative minority.” These are scientists, politicians and the creative elite who are able to generate new ideas and implement them, involving the global community in this process.

The development of civilization always entails decline. Of course, it can be delayed, pushed back and even avoided, but for this it is necessary to rationally manage their powers, first of all, the ruling elite.

Note 2

Toynbee Arnold Joseph (1889-1975). English historian, diplomat, public figure, sociologist and philosopher. A native of London. O. Spengler had a huge influence on his activities. Due to this, A. Toynbee strives to give new meaning ideas of socio-political development of humanity through the theory of the circulation of local civilizations.

At the beginning of his research, he talks about twenty-one local civilizations, but after reflection and deep analysis he leaves only thirteen. The creative elite, in his opinion, determines the nature of responses to historical conclusions. Moreover, it is those whose opinions are innovative that attract the inert majority. The features of these answers determine the specifics of each civilization.

Analysis of social development concepts

Analyzing all the properties that are inherent in both concepts - formational and civilizational, we can conclude that they have both common and different. In addition, when comparing them, advantages and disadvantages are visible.

The truth is that the dialectical nature of the socio-historical process is subject to certain patterns and trends in the development of society.

Concept analysis involves:

Application of the system principle. The meaning of which is to describe and disclose social phenomena, as well as study the elements and connections that unite them.
Application of a multidimensional principle, which implies that all components of the development of society can represent subsystems of others: economic, managerial, environmental, scientific, defense, etc.
Application of the principle of polarization, which is based on the research and study of opposing trends, characteristics, parameters, properties of social phenomena. This means: actual – potential, material – personal.
Application of the interrelated principle. Its essence is to analyze each social phenomenon and its properties in relation to other social phenomena and their properties. Moreover, these relationships can be built on the principles of subordination and coordination.
Application of the hierarchical principle of existence of social phenomena, as well as the connections that are formed with these problems - local, regional, global.

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Social consciousness is a multifaceted dynamic process supported by the activity of individual consciousnesses. The public consciousness contains stable ideas associated with a certain system of norms and principles, theories that try to generalize the features of various aspects of social life. When they talk about social consciousness in the proper sense of the word, they mean, first of all, how the consciousness of people united in certain groups differs from the purely individual consciousness of a person, aimed, say, at solving his personal problems, at organizing individual life. In this sense public consciousness- this is consciousness, always aimed at solving general problems of the structure of social life as a whole and at studying such properties of the surrounding world that are of general significance.

Social consciousness- a set of feelings, moods, ideas, theories, artistic and religious images, various views arising from the social practice of people, their production, family, household and other activities, reflecting all the diversity of existence.

Social consciousness arose simultaneously with the emergence of social existence. The essence of consciousness is that it can comprehend social existence only under the condition of its simultaneous active and creative transformation. In the early stages of the development of society, social consciousness was formed under the direct influence of being, later this influence acquired an indirect character - through the state, political, legal, moral, religious relations, and the reverse influence of social consciousness on being takes on a direct character (the ability of consciousness to correctly reflect being) . Social consciousness can contribute to the restructuring of existence.

Social consciousness is not the consciousness of an individual, but spiritual life in general, a universal spiritual state recorded in language and other forms of culture. Not every individual consciousness in its objective form is included in the general array of social consciousness.

The elements of public consciousness are:

Ordinary and theoretical consciousness;

Social ideology and psychology;

Forms of social consciousness.

Development

Ordinary consciousness is the lowest level of social consciousness, its integral part, a subsystem of social consciousness. It reflects simple, visible relationships between people, between people and things, man and nature.
Theoretical consciousness makes people's lives more conscious, contributes to a deeper development of social consciousness, since it reveals the natural connection and essence of material and spiritual processes.
Social psychology is a set of feelings, emotions, unsystematized views, moods, customs, traditions, habits that developed under the influence of direct social existence.
Ideology is a set of ideas, views, theories that reflect social relations in a more or less coherent system.

Thanks to the presence of a common consciousness among people and the consolidation in the consciousness of stable images of only those ideas that turn out to be promising in a practical sense, society functions as an integral organism, that is, it represents not just relationships that spontaneously developed in the process of production, but contains connections consciously organized by people.

Ideas that become consolidated in the public consciousness are not just a reflection of reality, they are also a reorganization of reality, a person’s practical adaptation to the world. Such adaptation is carried out due to the fact that new forms of social connection are developed, new social norms and those ideas that turn out to be necessary for their reproduction are approved.

Social consciousness is represented in various forms, in which the specific orientation of the reflection of reality is expressed. It depends on the object of reflection and its goals. Among forms of social consciousness can be distinguished:

1. Politics

2. Art

4. Philosophy

5. Ideology

8. Mythology

9. Religion

In all forms of social consciousness, each individual person is united with a certain community of people or with the whole society as a whole, and such an association is built on the basis general solution specific issues of life organization, structure social institutions, organization of the process of cognition, etc. Forms of social consciousness, therefore, are always closely related to a certain type of social relations: economic, political, moral, aesthetic, relations between members of the scientific community, etc.

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Introduction

Conclusion

Introduction

Modern ideas about human society are largely based on a systematic approach to its analysis. In the philosophical aspect, a systems approach means the formation of a systemic view of the world, based on the idea of integrity, complex organization and self-movement of the systems under study. A system is usually understood as a set of its constituent elements that are in stable connections and relationships with each other.

The system has special systemic qualities: order, organization of the system as a whole is higher than its individual elements. Important system principles are also structurality - the possibility of describing a system through the establishment of its structure, i.e., the network of connections and relationships of the system, the conditionality of the functioning of the elements of the system by the properties of its structure. All these characteristics are met by human society, which is a complexly organized system of the highest “organic” type, a supersystem, or societal system, which includes all types of social systems and is characterized by structural and functional integrity, stability, balance, openness, dynamism, self-organization, self-reproduction, evolution .

From a systemic point of view, society is a certain collection of people connected by joint activities to achieve common goals. In the process of joint activity, diverse hierarchically structured relationships develop between people, which are the structure of society. Society as a system has one more important characteristic- integrity, that is, it has properties that cannot be derived from the properties of individual elements. People pass away, generations change, but society constantly reproduces itself. The mechanism of reproduction presupposes the presence in the structure of society of such particularly stable relations (invariant of the system), which have significant independence in relation to individual elements and even structural links.

Society, like any living system, is open system, which is in a state of continuous exchange with its surroundings natural environment, exchange of matter, energy and information. Society has more high degree organization rather than its environment. And in order to preserve itself as an integrity, it must constantly satisfy its needs, first of all, the needs of people, who are objective and at the same time historically changeable in nature.

The greatest thing that pre-Marxist sociology achieved was the introduction into science of the concept of “social organism” (O. Comte). The value of such a discovery is undeniable. However, society is not reduced to an organism. In a broader sense, i.e. not only sociologically, but also philosophically, human society acts as a specific type of objective reality and as a special stage in the cosmic process.

Social life within the framework of Marxism was understood as the highest form of movement of matter, which arose at a certain stage of its development (self-development) and has its own logic of existence. The latter means that, although human society is a living system, it is qualitatively different from other living systems and acts both as an object and as a subject of material reality. Moreover, the objective is not equal to the material, and the subjective is not equal to the ideal.

1. Laws of social development and their specificity

philosophical materialist marxism society

1.1 History of the development of views on the development of society in philosophical thought

In modern sociology, there is the following definition of society: “Society is a historically developing integral system of relations and interactions between people, their communities and organizations, emerging and changing in the process of their joint activities.”

The first and essential sign in this definition are the words “historically developing”. What is the development of society?

In the most general sense, development is a process of movement from the lower (simple) to the higher (complex), the main characteristic feature of which is the disappearance of the old and the emergence of the new.

When reflecting on the historical process, the following questions arise: is the development of society, that is, history, progress and improvement, or regression and decline? Or perhaps it is a periodic or even randomly fluctuating cyclical process, in which eras of prosperity and decline succeed each other, sometimes almost regularly, sometimes completely unsystematically? Or is it the result of the superposition of all these components, so that periodic or disorderly fluctuations are superimposed on a certain unambiguous tendency?

At different times there were different views on the development of society. Thus, Aurelius Augustine believed that the development of society was based on a certain divine force.

Hegel argued that changes in social reality are determined by the Absolute Idea and its self-development.

A. Toynbee, P.A. Sorokin, N.A. Berdyaev recognized the spiritual basis of social development.

The historical process has its own logic and laws - some scientists say: these are objective historical patterns, the unity of world history, progress in the development of society. Others believe that this is not the case - all phenomena and processes are unique and inimitable. Therefore, there are no patterns, no single world history.

Proponents of the first approach include the German philosopher G. Hegel. Based on previous achievements in the study of the development of society and, in particular, on the theory of social progress, the idea of the unity of the historical process and the diversity of its forms, Hegel put forward and substantiated, however, from the standpoint of objective idealism, a fundamentally new and original concept of history as a natural process , in which each period and era, no matter how unique and unusual they may be, nevertheless, taken together, represent a certain logical step in the development of human society. Hegel's views were very progressive for his time.

1.2 Dialectical-materialistic concept of social development

Despite some correct thoughts expressed by various philosophers in ancient times, the science of society and the laws of its development was not created before Marxism. Ultimately, philosophers remained idealists in their views on society, and their philosophical teachings suffered from a number of significant shortcomings.

The authors of various concepts, at best, considered only the ideological motives of the historical activity of people, without examining what causes them, without grasping the objective pattern in the development of the system of social relations, without seeing the roots of these relations in the level of development of material production. Consequently, they stopped at the surface of phenomena, while the task of science is to penetrate beyond the often deceptive appearance and surface of events into their essence, to discover their determining causes.

Pre-Marxist sociologists saw a gap between the surrounding nature and society, not seeing and not understanding that man and, in a certain sense, human society, although specific, are still part of a single material world, and, consequently, the patterns of development of society are also objective, despite their specificity.

Only by overcoming shortcomings in views on the development of society could it be possible to substantiate a scientific, dialectical-materialist understanding of history. This was done by Marx and Engels.

The social concept of Marxism is based on the fundamental principle that in society, as in nature, there are laws in accordance with which social changes occur. This, of course, does not mean that the activities of an individual and society as a whole are completely determined by these laws. Neither man nor society can change these laws, but they have the power to understand these laws and use the knowledge gained either for the benefit or harm of humanity. The main provisions of these laws were formulated at the dawn of the formation of historical materialism. Their essence is that “In the social production of their lives, people enter into certain, necessary, relations independent of their will - production relations that correspond to a certain stage of development of their material production forces. The totality of these production relations constitutes the economic structure of society, the real basis on which the legal and political superstructure rises and to which certain forms of social consciousness correspond. The method of production of material life determines the social, political and spiritual processes of life in general. It is not the consciousness of people that determines their existence, but, on the contrary, their social existence determines their consciousness. At a certain stage of their development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with existing production relations, or - which is only the legal expression of the latter - with property relations within which they have hitherto developed. From forms of development of productive forces, these relations turn into their fetters. Then comes the era of social revolution. With a change in the economic basis, a revolution occurs more or less quickly in the entire enormous superstructure. When considering such revolutions, it is always necessary to distinguish the material revolution, stated with natural scientific precision, in the economic conditions of production from the legal, political, religious, artistic or philosophical, in short, from the ideological forms in which people are aware of this conflict and are fighting for its resolution. Just as one cannot judge an individual person on the basis of what he thinks about himself, in the same way one cannot judge such an era of revolution by its consciousness. On the contrary, this consciousness must be explained from the contradictions of material life, from the existing conflict between social productive forces and production relations. None social formation does not perish before all the productive forces for which it provides sufficient scope have developed, and new higher relations of production never appear before the material conditions of their existence have matured in the depths of the old society itself. Therefore, humanity always sets itself only such tasks that it can solve, since upon closer examination it always turns out that the task itself arises only when the material conditions for its solution are already present, or at least are in the process of becoming.”

The Marxist doctrine of society - historical materialism - is the result of the extension of the laws of materialist dialectics to society. So, for example, the dialectical law of unity and struggle of opposites, which points to the internal source of all development, in relation to society means that the source of its self-development is social contradictions. The law of the transition of quantitative changes to qualitative ones and vice versa indicates the mechanism of development. The development of productive forces occurs in an evolutionary manner (quantitative change), while production and economic relations are replaced by a leap. The leap occurs precisely through revolutions (qualitative change). The law of negation indicates the general direction of development - the negation of the previous socio-economic formation.

In addition, the classics of Marxism discovered a number of sociological laws: the determining role of social existence in relation to social consciousness; the priority role of the economic base in relation to the superstructure; compliance of production relations with the level and nature of the productive forces; progressive change of socio-economic formations; social revolutions; the increasing role of the masses in history; increased needs, etc. At the same time, feedback connections operate everywhere, and therefore the laws appear: the relative independence of social consciousness and its active influence on social existence; active role of the superstructure in relation to the base; the reverse impact of production relations on the productive forces; along with the formational actions of general civilizational processes; the functioning of natural evolutionary self-adjusting processes in the life of society; against the backdrop of the growing role of the people, the increasing importance of its individual subjects, right down to personalities, both outstanding and ordinary. The emphasis on feedback, civilizational and natural evolutionary processes is an achievement mainly of modern socio-philosophical thought.

Nowadays, the concept of the law of society as a philosophical and sociological category to designate the essential, general, necessary, stable, systemic relations of social existence, the formation, functioning and reproduction of which take place in the process of human activity, has received wide recognition.

The laws of society, like the laws of nature, are objective in nature; their qualitative difference is that they are laws of human activity and social relations.

The problem of the laws of society and their use continues to be among the most pressing. However, there are also contradictory situations here. Thus, a significant part of political scientists, political economists, sociologists, and philosophers in the West now prefer not to use the concepts of “law of society” or deny its scientific status. At the same time, many of them professionally analyze significant, necessary, recurring relationships in various spheres of social life (i.e., the actual laws of society) and conclude their studies with recommendations that are not so much of an apologetic nature, but rather have theoretical and practical value.

P. Samuelson considers as laws the recurring, necessary connections and relationships in the economic process of the life of society, solving the problems of what, how and for whom to produce. J. Keynes, V. Leontiev, J. Galbraith, P. Sorokin, T. Parsons, D. Bell, A. Toffler and others explore the laws of society, analyzing essential, necessary, recurring relationships not only in economic but also in other spheres social life, and often formulate practical recommendations. G.S. Gurvich believes that sociological laws are an integrative characteristic of existing combinations of real ensembles; they cannot claim universality and immutability, therefore it is necessary to focus on microsociology, on the study of a person in specific situations of his activity. Society, Gurvich believes, is a product of collective creativity and strong-willed efforts of people. Society should strive to develop mechanisms that block the growth of negative trends in it (this is led to by centralization, bureaucratization, technocratization of social life). Gurvich's ideal is pluralistic democracy, decentralized economic planning, "pluralistic collectivism" on the principles of self-government.

Dialectical-materialist philosophy distinguishes the laws of society according to the degree of coverage of spheres of social life (social space) and the degree of duration of functioning (social time). In this regard, three main groups of laws are distinguished. These are the most general laws, they cover all the main spheres of social life and function throughout human history (for example, the law of conditionality of the method of production of material life, the existence and development of society, the law of interaction of the economic base and superstructure). Further, these are general laws - they function in one or several spheres and over a number of historical stages (the law of value, the law of correspondence of production relations to productive forces, etc.). Finally, these are specific, or private, laws inherent in individual spheres of social life and operating within the framework of a historically specific stage of development of society (the law of surplus value, etc.).

It is a mistake to believe that all social laws are open. As conditions change, some laws die out, others arise. For example, the laws of natural exchange were replaced by the laws of commodity-money relations.

Similarities between the laws of nature and the laws of society were discovered. Thus, the behavior of an individual particle in physics is described in a probabilistic manner; similarly, a sociologist describes the behavior of an individual. Behavior large number particles and people are subject to statistical laws. At the same time, unlike natural ones, social regularity has specific features. The development of society contains not one, but several opportunities, so the task of determining the real opportunity that expresses the dominant trend in development always remains relevant.

Social relations and forms of culture are more mobile and transitory than changes in nature. Peaks and declines, returns, slowdowns and accelerations of historical movement are natural.

Thus, from the point of view of materialist philosophy, social laws have a number of specific features.

1. Social relations take the form of public interests, needs, goals, feelings and moods of people, which means that social laws are laws not only of material, but also of spiritual activity.

2. Since society is both an object and a subject, social laws are the laws of human activity. Without human activity, which is genetically primary, there is and cannot be a social pattern. History is nothing more than the activity of a person pursuing his goals. G.V. Plekhanov wrote: “Unfortunately, not everyone is still clear about the absurdity... of contrasting individuals with the laws of social life; the activities of people - the internal logic of the forms of their community life."

3. Social laws are statistical in nature, i.e. laws-trends. Laws of this type function where massive random actions and phenomena (stochastic processes) take place. History is “made” in such a way that the final result always results from the collision of many separate expressions of will, which are ultimately determined by specific life circumstances.

Whatever the course of history, people make it this way: everyone pursues their own, consciously set goals, and the overall result of this multitude of aspirations acting in various directions, their resultant, is the historical events that make up the course of history.

4. The specificity of social laws is their historicity. Due to the fact that social evolution proceeds at a faster pace than the evolution of nature, social relations and forms of culture are more mobile than geological periods. That is why utopian projects should not be created, history should not be constructed in its own way, and social laws should not be considered given once and for all. The social organism is extremely dynamic, and its laws make it possible to grasp only the general line of development, the trend, and this creates a low probability of establishing strict timing for the occurrence of events.

Social laws reflect the presence of social necessity and the objective course of social life.

The actions of social laws are specified, first of all, by general philosophical categories, which, when applied to society, acquire a social connotation. They are conditioned social form movement of matter. These are the categories “social matter”, “social time”, “social space”, “social contradiction”, “social negation”, “social revolution”, as well as “social being” and “social consciousness”. In social philosophy, new pairs of categories arise - “freedom” and “necessity”, “base” and “superstructure”, “objective conditions” and “subjective factors”, as well as “social formation”, “mode of production”, etc.

The objectivity of the historical process is most clearly manifested in the dependence of society on nature and astrophysical factors, which has always been emphasized by representatives of the philosophy of cosmism.

The criterion for the objectivity of social life, and therefore social laws, lies in the presence of social continuity, since each generation begins with the real basis that it inherited.

Modern philosophy, using the ideas of synergetics, emphasizes that the action of sociological laws manifests itself gradually, based on its own forms of education, own strength, abilities, potentials. At the same time, in the dynamics of society, the elemental-spontaneous principle is intertwined with the purposeful-volitional principle, the objective predetermination of processes and states is connected with the subjective aspirations of people. A person gives additional energy to certain conditions, treats others neutrally, i.e. allows them to flow without his intervention, and tries to stop other directions of flow. Understanding the place and role of man in the mechanism of social regularity overcomes simplified ideas about the automaticity of the action of laws and their unidirectionality.

2. The nature and functions of social contradictions and conflicts

The dialectical-materialist concept considers the resolution of social contradictions and conflicts to be the main source of development of society. What are the concepts of “contradiction” and “conflict”, what are their contents and types?

Social contradiction in modern social philosophy and sociology is understood as the interaction of social strata and groups associated with the discrepancy between their interests and goals. Its nature and essence is that in the process of striving to satisfy and realize one’s needs, goals and interests, the actions of some social subjects do not correspond, do not agree with the actions of others. The causes of social contradictions and problems can be: lack of funds and conditions; obstacles on the way to the goal; inconsistency of goals between subjects, etc. Being different in level of significance, contradictions at a certain stage often lead to social conflict.

Conflict (from the Latin confliktus - clash) is usually called the highest stage of contradiction, when the opposites existing in the contradiction turn into extreme opposites, reaching the point of denying each other. Social conflict is always associated with people’s awareness of the contradictions between their interests as members of certain social groups and the interests of other subjects. Aggravated contradictions give rise to open or closed conflicts.

Contradictions permeate all spheres of society: economic, political, social, spiritual. The aggravation of certain contradictions creates zones of crisis. The crisis manifests itself in a sharp increase in social tension, which often develops into conflict. Sociologists of Marxist and non-Marxist orientation note that conflict is a temporary state of society that can be overcome by rational means.

Conflict from the point of view of philosophy is a category that reflects the stage (phase and form) of development of the category “contradiction”, when the opposites existing in a contradiction turn into extreme opposites, reaching the moment of denying each other and removing the contradiction.

Most scientists are inclined to believe that the existence of a society without conflicts is impossible, because conflict is an integral part of people’s existence, the source of changes occurring in society. Conflict makes social relationships more mobile. Under the influence of conflicts, society can be transformed. The stronger the social conflict, the more noticeable its influence on the course of social processes and the pace of their implementation.

The origins of conflict research go back to ancient times. Even Chinese philosophers in the 7th-6th centuries. BC. saw the source of the development of nature and society in the struggle of opposites. Thinkers Ancient Greece created the doctrine of opposites and their role in the emergence of things.

N. Machiavelli paid great attention to the study of conflicts. In his works on Roman history, he examines conflicts at various levels and notes their positive role in social development.

However, the conflict was examined more thoroughly by A. Smith. In 1776, his work “Research on the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” was published, in which he wrote that the conflict was based on the division of society into classes and economic rivalry between them. The latter was seen as the driving force for the development of society.

G. Hegel made a great contribution to the understanding of social conflicts. He considered one of their reasons to be the social polarization between the “accumulation of wealth” and the “labor-bound class.”

Already in the last century, many thinkers assumed that conflict is a reality, an inevitable phenomenon in the life of society and a stimulus for social development. These views were held by the German sociologist M. Weber, the Austrian sociologist L. Gumplowicz and others.

From the standpoint of historical materialism, K. Marx and F. Engels considered social conflict, who believed that conflicts are generated, first of all, by social inequality and manifest themselves in the class struggle. It is the class struggle that is not only inevitable, but also necessary for identifying and resolving the contradictions of the capitalist system.

Marx was the first philosopher who viewed society as an objective, self-developing reality. The source of this self-development is contradictions and conflicts, primarily in material life. “At a certain stage of their development,” he writes, “the material productive forces of society come into conflict with existing production relations, or—which is only the legal expression of the latter—with the property relations within which they have hitherto developed. From forms of development of productive forces, these relations turn into their fetters. Then the era of social revolution begins... Consciousness must be explained from the contradictions of material life, from the existing conflict between social productive forces and production relations.”

You should pay attention to three fundamental ones. The driving force behind the development of society is the contradiction between productive forces and production relations. Social revolution is not a political accident, but a natural manifestation of historical necessity. People's consciousness reflects real life contradictions. In other words, regardless of the subjective desires of individual people, the ruling elite, the masses think and act depending on the nature of the contradictions, primarily in material life. Contradictions and conflicts change—the forms of people’s thinking change accordingly, and values are reassessed. If the material interests of the masses are constantly not taken into account, if contradictions grow and deepen, then revolutionary consciousness arises, setting the masses in motion, and through social revolution There is a radical change, a qualitative renewal of social relations.

Critics of Marxism note that the problem of conflict in Marxism has not received a comprehensive justification, because conflicts were considered by this teaching only as a clash between antagonistic classes. In addition, the Marxist concept absolutized economic relations, which were considered the main cause of conflict between classes and other social groups.

The modern concept of “social conflict” was first introduced into scientific circulation by the German philosopher Georg Simmel, who gave this name to one of his works published in the first quarter of the 20th century.

The problem of conflict received its further theoretical justification in the 20th century. At the same time, the theory of conflict is opposed to the theory of structural-functional analysis of society. Representatives of functionalism adhere to an equilibrium, conflict-free model of society. According to the views of supporters of this direction, society is a “system”, the vital activity and unity of which are ensured through the functional interaction of its constituent elements, such as the state, political parties, industrial associations, trade unions, churches, families, etc.

Ralf Dahrendorf created the theory of the conflict model of society based on the fact that any society is constantly subject to social changes and, as a result, experiences social conflict every moment. The scientist saw a conflict of interests as the basis for the formation and development of social conflicts. Any society, in his opinion, is based on coercion. Members of society are initially characterized by inequality of social positions (for example, in the distribution of property and power), and hence the difference in their interests and aspirations, which causes mutual friction and antagonism. Dahrendorf comes to the conclusion that social inequality and the social contradictions generated by it create social tension and conflict situations. The interests of the subjects directly influence the formation of the conflict. Therefore, in order to understand the nature of the conflict, it is necessary, first of all, to understand the nature of interest and the ways in which the subjects of the conflict perceive it.

According to Dahrendorf, social conflicts are often based on political factors: the struggle for power, prestige, authority. Conflicts can arise in any community where there are dominant and subordinate people. Inequality of social positions means unequal access to development resources of individuals, social groups or communities of people. And hence the contradictions of their interests. The inequality of social positions is reflected in the power itself, which allows one group to control the results of the activities of other groups of people.

The struggle for the possession and disposal of resources, for leadership, power and prestige make social conflicts inevitable. Conflict is perceived not as a good thing, but as an inevitable way to resolve contradictions.

Dahrendorf argues that conflicts are pervasive components of social life. They cannot be eliminated just because we do not want them; they must be taken into account as a reality. Conflicts are sources of innovation and social change. They do not allow society to stagnate, as they constantly create tension. According to Dahrendorf, suppressing and “cancelling” a conflict leads to its escalation. Therefore, the task is to be able to control the conflict: it must be legalized, institutionalized, developed and resolved on the basis of the rules existing in society.

The general theory of conflict is also developed by the American sociologist Kenneth Ewart Boulding, who wrote the work “Conflict and Defense: general theory” (1963). He states that in modern societies it is possible and necessary to regulate social conflicts. Boulding believes that conflict is inseparable from social life. The idea of the essence of social conflicts allows society to control and manage them, to foresee their consequences. According to K. Boulding, a conflict is a situation in which the parties understand the incompatibility of their positions and strive to get ahead of the enemy with their actions. Conflict acts as a type of social interaction in which the parties are aware of their confrontation and their attitude towards it. And then they consciously organize themselves, develop a strategy and tactics of struggle. But all this does not exclude the possibility that conflicts can and should be overcome or limited.

All conflicts can be classified on different grounds.

According to their functions, conflicts are usually divided into destructive (disintegrative) and creative (integrative).

Destructive. Many social conflicts are highly destabilizing in social systems. Internal conflict destroys group unity. Strikes could leave thousands of people unemployed and cause serious damage to industry; a nuclear conflict threatens to destroy humanity.

Even when conflicts reach a new equilibrium, when new structures are formed, the price for this can be very high. Thirty Years' War(1619-1648) established the principle of religious tolerance, created new social structures, but it reduced the population of Germany by at least a third, brought destruction, and left a lot of abandoned lands.

Speaking about the integrative, positive sides of the conflict, it should be noted that a limited, private consequence of the conflict may be an increase group interaction. As a result of social conflict, rapid implementation is possible new policy and new norms. Conflict may be the only way out of a tense situation.

Modern dialectical-materialist philosophy also pays considerable attention to clarifying the role of conflicts in the development of society. The laws of social development inevitably lead to the emergence of a divided (structured) society. Society is stratified into social groups with differing, even difficultly compatible, interests and claims reaching the point of antagonism. The intensity of the struggle between individuals, groups, classes, states, etc. is tempered by their interest in preserving common resources for the preservation and further development of human civilization. The division (differentiation) of society becomes a source of serious conflicts, and the need to eliminate or localize these conflicts becomes a source of new tensions. To avoid this, social and spiritual mechanisms must be formed in society to smooth out and mitigate inevitable contradictions based on the use of reasonable compromises.

Conclusion

Thus, modern philosophy views society as a collection of various parts and elements that are closely related to each other and constantly interact, therefore society exists as a separate integral organism, as a single system.

Modern social philosophy identifies four main characteristics of society: initiative, self-organization, self-development, self-sufficiency.

The development of society occurs according to certain laws. Social laws are necessary connections between certain parties and spheres of social life.

From the point of view of materialist philosophy, social life is determined, but, unlike natural life, social laws have a number of specific features.

The application of the dialectical-materialist method to the analysis of social life and its history made it possible to discover a number of general sociological laws. What are these laws?

1. The law of the determining role of the method of production in relation to other areas of activity.

2. The law of the determining role of the economic base in relation to the superstructure.

3. The law of correspondence of production relations to the level and nature of productive forces.

4. The law of progressive change of socio-economic formations.

5. The law of social revolution.

6. The law of the growing role of the masses in history.

7. The law of relative independence of social consciousness.

8. The law of increasing needs, etc.

The world of social laws has many faces. As conditions change, some of them die off, others are formed. (For example, the law of shape change). Therefore, it is absurd to believe that all social laws have already been discovered and social science has reached completion.

Exists a large number of private social laws that operate in certain areas of society and are studied by specific social sciences (political economy, demography, political science, jurisprudence, art history, linguistics, etc.). But in any case, regardless of the scale of action, social laws reflect the presence of social necessity and the objective course of social life.

The source of development of society is social contradictions and conflicts. Conflict from the point of view of philosophy is a category that reflects the stage (phase and form) of development of the category “contradiction”, when the opposites existing in a contradiction turn into extreme opposites, reaching the moment of denying each other and removing the contradiction.

There is a fluid relationship between the tendencies of society to move towards stability and towards conflict. These two lines of social dynamics constitute a unity of intersecting and complementary opposites.

List of sources used

1. Babosov E.M. General sociology: Textbook. manual for university students. - Mn.: TetraSystems, 2002.

2. Barulin V.S. Social philosophy: Textbook. -- Ed. 2nd. -- M.: FAIR PRESS, 2000.

3. Volchek E.Z. Philosophy: Textbook. manual with textbook extracts - Mn.: Interpresservis, 2003.

4. Kalmykov V. N. Fundamentals of Philosophy: Textbook. allowance - Mn.: Higher. school, 2003.

5. Marx K. Towards a critique of political economy /Marx K., Engels F. Works. - 2nd ed. - T.13.

6. Philosophy: studies for students of institutions providing higher education / Yu. A. Kharin - Mn. : TetraSystems, 2006.

7. Philosophy: Course of lectures: Proc. aid for students higher textbook institutions / Under the general editorship. V.L. Kalashnikov. - M.: Humanit, ed. VLADOS center, 2003.

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