Concept of social connection and relationship

Typology of social connections

Regulation of social connections

1 . Individuals, carrying out their actions, enter into connections (interconnections) and relationships (relationships) among themselves. Social connection is the actions of people taking into account the possible actions of other people. Otherwise it is called interaction. Social connection is determined by the collectivity of human life, the dependence of people on each other. It can be expressed as follows: “I depend on others when the objects, benefits, conditions that I require are at the disposal of others. And vice versa". For example, I get on the bus, pay the fare, and the driver takes me along the designated route.

Main elements social connection are:1) different people(for example, passengers and drivers) with their motivational mechanisms (needs, values, norms, beliefs, roles); 2) the situation of social connection (objects, money, state power, law, status of people, etc.); 3) coordinated actions, the performance of roles (for example, passengers and drivers), the result (the benefit received and the associated satisfaction or dissatisfaction) of people. Thus, a social connection is a connection between the actions of people in a certain situation, prompted by some needs, motives, incentives.

People(needs, values, norms, beliefs) People

Statuses, roles, actions Communication results

People(motivation mechanism) People

Scheme of social connection (interconnection)

By joining a social connection, a subject specifies his needs, values, norms in relation to a situation consisting of objects (consumption, tools, transport, etc.), other subjects, and their actions. The elements of the situation acquire a specific meaning (meaning) for the acting subject, i.e. the acting subject actualizes his system of needs and expectations of the actions of others in a given situation with the help of mentality.

By becoming a participant in a social connection, a person acquires a certain status – role – function. For example, in a family people become husbands, wives, children, etc. In their interaction they form a familial bond (family). In social terms, a person’s objective position is determined by the nature of the social connection in which he finds himself. At the same time, each person in a social connection is focused on other people and their roles. He acts at his own discretion and implements a model of behavior in a given situation.

Social connection includes, on the one hand, social relations(internal), and on the other hand, external conditions. Social relations(relationships) form the conscious (subjective) essence of social connections: needs; values; norms (programs of action within the framework of social communication); state of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. External (objective) conditions social connections include the needs of other people, objects and conditions, roles and actions of participants, results social interconnection in the form of some kind of benefit. "WITH “social connection” we will use in the unity of “interconnection” and “relationship”.

The most important feature of a social connection (educational, labor, army, etc.) is responsibility and coordination actions of people. It is ensured by the general needs, values, norms, beliefs of people, as well as external regulators (orders, laws, government power, etc.), which turn people’s actions into a social connection. Military communications include actions to defend the country (military training, shooting, attacks, etc.); it is regulated by orders. In scientific communications, where there is greater freedom of opinion, the regulator is beliefs scientists. The law of social relations is maintaining mutual role expectations: if this does not happen, i.e. mutual role expectations are not confirmed, then the social connection disintegrates. For example, if passengers do not pay and the driver does not stop at stops, then the transport ceases to function.

The effectiveness of a social relationship depends on the degree to which the needs of its participants are satisfied. The more satisfied they are, the more stable the social connection. Further, it is determined by the degree to which people assimilate the roles that form a social connection (in our example, the roles of the driver and passengers). And, finally, a social connection must be socially useful and must correspond to the values, norms, and beliefs accepted in society. A change (increase or sharp decrease) in the number of communication participants also affects its effectiveness, requiring new ways of regulating it.

Social system T. Parsons is a form of social connection and is formed by “states and processes social interaction between acting subjects” and is qualitatively greater than their sum. It includes four types independent variables: 1) values–ideas about the desired type of social system in people’s heads; 2) norms– specific ways (rules) of orienting people’s actions in specific situations; 3) teams– groups of people implementing a common goal based on values ​​and norms; 4) roles

– programs for coordinated behavior of people. 47

2. In light of the above, society is a complex and interconnected social connection, the structural elements of which are numerous social systems (subsystems) and the relationships between them. Social connection can be either direct, simple, or complex, indirect. When direct connections, subjects coordinate their actions visually, in words, by physical action. An example of such a connection could be a person’s behavior on a bus, greeting, providing assistance, etc. This social connection has the formsocial contact, V

which we enter every day: we learn from a passer-by how to get to such and such an address, etc. Contacts can be sporadic (contact with a passerby) or regular (with a cloakroom attendant). During contact, the connection between people is superficial; it lacks a system of coordinated actions of partners in relation to each other.

With the development of society, the network of indirect social connections, as well as the needs, values, and norms manifested in them, becomes more complex; the number of intermediaries and the number of nodes through which it must pass increases. The impulse of communication, “making its way” through these steps, loses its individual characteristics , turns into a bundle of social energy and motivation. Such deindividuation creates the illusion of an impersonal network of social connections, the absence of the need and will of specific people. But this is not so: as a social one, it is regulated by orientation towards others, the expectation of a partner’s response.

Depending on the time and frequency, the social connection is divided into (1) random and (2) necessary ( sustainable. This affects the nature of social regulation, the degree of obligation and responsibility of its participants. You behave differently with your neighbor on the bus than with your housemate. With the latter you behave more obligatorily, i.e. taking into account all the various motivations towards him, since the neighbor’s attitude towards you is determined by your attitude towards him.

Social communication can be formal or informal. Informal the relationship is characterized by a lack of subordination, a natural division of its participants into statuses and roles that express their needs, values, norms, beliefs, embodied in traditions. Such a social connection is characteristic of a traditional (agrarian) society, family ties. Within its framework, participants are not regulated legal and administrative norms, there is no governing body or leader. This is also a friendly conversation, scientific discussion, team work, etc.

Formal communication presupposes legal and administrative norms as its regulation; it divides those participating in it into statuses and roles that subordinate them. In such a social connection there is a governing body that develops norms, organizes people, controls implementation, etc. Such a body can be both the church and the state. Formally, impersonal communication is the basis of industrial society - capitalist and Soviet.

Exchange(D. Houmans) - a form of social communication in which people interact based on their experience, weigh possible profits and costs. Exchange occurs during purchase and sale, provision of services to each other, etc.

Conflict – form of social connection , representing the struggle of opposing motives (intrapersonal), people (interpersonal), social formations (social institutions, organizations, communities) - social.

Competition- a form of social connection in which people enter into a struggle for favorable working conditions and sales of their goods, for political programs and power, for new ideas and organizations. As a rule, it is conducted within the framework of moral and legal rules, is a source of wealth (A. Smith), and represents the process of cognition, learning and discovery of new knowledge, as well as new goods, markets, technologies (Hayek).

Cooperation - a form of social connection in which the statuses, roles, and actions of people are clearly coordinated, for example, families, factories, shops, etc. In cooperation, social communication takes the form of a social institution and organization, i.e. present a system of stable, direct and indirect, formal and informal social connections. This cooperation can be of a forced (administrative) or voluntary (democratic) nature. Social cooperation is characterized social capital its participants, representing a set of such informal values ​​and norms as.

truthfulness, honesty (fulfillment of obligations), cooperation Social connection (exchange, competition, conflict, cooperation, etc.) can be demographic, economic, political, spiritual, etc.

3 depending on the subject, nature, subject of communication. For example: the subject of economic interaction is an economic good (money, profit, wealth, cost, shares, etc.); the nature of the interaction is financial and economic in nature and requires certain knowledge, actions, and experience; an economic subject has an economic need, a motive, a value orientation that prompts it to economic interaction. The forms of social interaction in European types of societies are cooperation, competition, conflict, exchange. . The essence of social connection forms regulation mechanism . It is formed both from the subjectivity (worldview, mentality, motives) of people, and from social control

The mechanism for regulating social communication has a genetic and social origin. Genetically, a person has the makings of language, consciousness (cognition, memory, will), and activity. But his needs, values, norms are the result of socialization. F. Fukuyama writes: “..the statement that people are by nature social animals does not mean that they congenital peacefulness, willingness to interact, honesty, since there is no doubt that they are often cruel, aggressive, and deceitful. Rather, it means that they have special capabilities for detecting apostates and scammers and the ability to deal with them accordingly, as well as inclination to communicate with those aimed at cooperation and following moral rules. As a result, people adopt cooperative norms much more easily than more individualistic hypotheses about human nature would predict.” 48

The regulator of social connections is, first of all, language, which expresses the subjective world of needs, values, and norms. It typifies human experience; elements of individual and historical experience in the form of language acquire subjective and objective reality; language imposes a system of restrictions on human experience (knowledge and skills), as a result, a contradiction arises between them, which becomes the reason for the development of language; language connects various zones of everyday life into a single whole, based on the classification of these zones; it ensures the accumulation, storage, transmission, selectivity of socially significant information (knowledge and skills), as a result of which their stock (memory) is created.

Plays a major role in the regulation of social communication reward. Most often it is money, which is the equivalent of human effort. In Soviet societies, the reward was public recognition: certificates of honor, awards, etc. In a social connection, a person’s status, his role, is also a reward for which he must pay with his actions, which others count on. Statuses in social connections capture not just the rights and responsibilities of a person, but also their balance. What is owed to me is balanced by my responsibility to others.

By entering into a social relationship, a person seeks to satisfy his needs, increase rewards and reduce costs. What is mutually rewarded tends to be regular and vice versa. Social connections continue as long as the rewards outweigh the costs. Social environment as networks social ties are recognized by a person as rational if the costs that he bears for its maintenance provide sufficient reward. People are constantly searching for measures of costs and rewards. There is a difference in the criteria for assessing the need for social connection: what is cheap for one may be expensive for another. This is especially obvious in political intrigues, military operations, etc. The result is a search for a compromise that suits everyone. It provides equilibrium social connections are a sign of the regulation of relations between communication subjects.

The condition for the stability of a social connection is social control mechanism, including moral, political, legal, etc. regulators. It allows you to eliminate the elements of inconsistency in social communication that accompany it. In particular, social connection can go beyond the limits of value and normative standards due to the weakness of people (drinking, illness, laziness, self-interest, etc.). Mechanism for preventing, mitigating and combating deviant actions - the most important condition stability and normal functioning of social communication.

Moral regulators ( values ​​and norms) allow us to distinguish between good and evil, justice and injustice. They are different for different social classes of society: rich and poor, bureaucrats and citizens, intellectuals and commoners. Only general system Moral regulators hold society together and make sustainable social connections possible. Moral regulators act through the conscience of individuals and public opinion.

An important regulator of social communication is economic benefits: money, credit, wealth, etc. Thanks to economic benefits and the market can objectively evaluate the contribution of any member of a given social connection. Without resorting to direct contact and exchange of goods, each of us, thanks to money (of course, if it functions reliably), can easily be included in any socio-economic connection of the country.

Power(political value and norm) and right(legal value and norm) turn people into accomplices in the management of society, its systems, institutions, and the political and legal connections of people stabilize all social connections in society, making each member of society equal to others regarding obligations to society.

It is very difficult to achieve complete harmony in the action of all regulators of social communication. Detected inconsistency mechanisms social regulation at the micro and macro level, as well as moral, economic, political, scientific, artistic. The wider, more hierarchical and more coordinated the system of social regulators, the more cohesive the society. Otherwise, it will disintegrate, as happened with post-Soviet Russia. Focus on free people after the centuries-long reign of authoritarianism in Russia, led to anarchy, the collapse of old social ties and the slow formation of new ones, along with new mechanisms of social regulation.

Thus, we can draw the following conclusions: a) the most important condition for social connection is the motivational mechanism - the mechanism of subjective regulation (needs, values, norms, beliefs), which determines the social connection of people; b) the social connection must be mutually effective for partners; c) a single criterion of payment and remuneration must be applied to all participants in a social connection; d) balance in social ties is not achieved automatically, but through conflicts, the resolution of which marks the establishment of a new equilibrium, but according to a new agreed criterion.

Values ​​and norms (moral, economic, political, religious, etc.) distinguish this society from others. In this regard, there was a fundamental difference between the Soviet (USSR) and Western (USA) types of societies. The values ​​of the United States were: federal state, separation of legislative and executive powers, independent justice, separation of church and state, property rights, civil rights individuals, freedom of assembly, media, etc. These universal human values ​​have not yet been achieved in Russia, as a result of which the quality of life of Russians leaves much to be desired.

In democratic and totalitarian societies, the mechanism for regulating social connections is different. IN democratic In societies, it, in the person of a democratic state and law, is the determining mechanism of regulation, which is why sociology arose there, in particular. IN totalitarian(Soviet, Nazi, fascist) societies, administrative-command violence becomes the leading regulator of social relations. In such societies, sociology turned out to be unnecessary: ​​where direct violence rules the roost, there is no place for motivational mechanisms.

Each type of society is characterized by a stable system of social connections. In totalitarian societies, this stability is achieved due to the low standard of living of workers, social equality, job security, ideological indoctrination, administrative-command violence, etc., coordinating the actions of people. In democratic societies, it is carried out through freedom of enterprise, a growing standard of living, competition of actions, freedom of opinion, administrative and legal regulation, etc., coordinating the actions of people.

Keywords:

social connection, social attitude, needs, values, norms, regulatory mechanism, statuses, roles, competition, cooperation.

Self-test questions:

Concept of social connection and relationship?

Relationship social status and roles?

The concept of social regulation?

What is the norm of social control?

What is the relationship between norms and values?

The concept of deviant behavior?

Types of control in social communication?

Social connection is not just a set of various kinds of relationships and dependencies, it represents organized system relationships, institutions and means of social control that unite individuals, subgroups and others constituent elements into a functional whole capable of sustainability and development. The establishment of a social connection does not depend on the personal characteristics of the individual; it is objective. Their establishment is due social conditions, in which individuals live and act, and the essence of these connections is manifested in the content and nature of people’s actions.

Different types of contacts (spatial, mental, social), social action, social interactions, social relationships, social control, social organizations and social institutions- act, on the one hand, as components of a social connection, and on the other hand, with a certain degree of convention, as stages of its formation.

The following types of contacts are distinguished: spatial, mental and social contact.

• Spatial contact. Any relationship between people begins with some kind of contact in space, i.e. mutual observation of individuals occurs, as a result of which it becomes clear whether one of them has those traits and properties that may interest the other. Spatial contact can be direct or indirect. Direct - when the observation and meeting of two individuals is carried out directly, and indirect, when, for example, a worker is looking for a job and, by reading advertisements, finds out whether the proposed job is suitable for him or not. So, the first condition and element for the emergence of a social connection is direct or indirect contact in space and time, thanks to which mutual observation of the traits existing in individuals occurs. Of course, not all spatial contacts lead to social connection. Every day we meet in the subway, bus, on the streets, in shops with big amount people with whom nothing will connect us in the future, but at the same time, these contacts, which allow us to observe what traits another individual has, make it possible for the next stages of contact to appear.
• Psychic contact. The first element of mental contact is interest. This interest arises from the already existing needs of the observer. That is, after the individual has realized that some traits of another individual can satisfy his needs in some way (biological, economic, cultural, etc.). Interest can be mutual or one-sided. For example, a young man saw on the subway a girl who met all his needs and whom he had been looking for for a long time and with whom he would like to connect his life. The girl, in turn, realizes the interest that she has awakened in the boy, and mutually evaluates him for his possession of traits that correspond to her needs. Such mutual interest leads to elementary psychic contact. Mental contact in itself does not create any connection; it is only a condition and mandatory element for the emergence of a stable connection, relationships between people.
• Social contact. Mental contact can develop into social contact. Social contact is a specific system that includes: at least two persons, some value that is the basis of the contact, and some interactions regarding this value. It occurs if two individuals meet and begin to interact in order to achieve an exchange of values, which can be either polite words or any objects or situation that have special meaning for both. The simplest example social contact - buying newspapers. First, spatial contact is established - you find out whether the newspaper you are interested in is available, then mental contact - you find out the seller’s readiness to sell, i.e. you observe his interest in you as a buyer, and as a result, based on all this, social contact occurs - you buy a newspaper.

Depending on the frequency and duration of existence, contacts can be temporary (fleeting, transient) and stable (durable).

Depending on who is interested in the contact, contacts can also be formal or informal. Formal - if the interest that led to the contact is based on the needs of the team, if it arose in the process of implementing institutionalized interests, and informal - based on the individual needs of the person.

Depending on what underlies interest, personal and subject contacts are distinguished. Personal ones express interest in the personality traits or position of the partner, and object ones express interest in some subject that the partner has.

Depending on the nature of communication between the individuals between whom a social connection has arisen, social contacts can be immediate (direct) and indirect. Direct are contacts established visually, and indirect - through various means of communication (writing, radio, television, etc.).

The listed contacts can be formed in various combinations, for example, direct substantive stable contacts are buying a newspaper from the same seller every morning.

It must be emphasized that personal contacts are an important factor public life. If there is no direct, constant personal contact, this leads to isolation from society and loneliness. Loneliness and the limitation of social contacts to only specific ones underlie many negative phenomena modern society and lead to serious mental disorders of the individual.

Regulation of social connections

The essence of social connection is regulation mechanism. It is formed both from subjective factors (worldview, mentality, motives of people) and from social control of society (opinions, law, power, etc.). It is impossible to exclude people themselves from the social connection, as is sometimes done in sociological works.

The mechanism for regulating social communication has a genetic and social origin. Genetically, a person has the makings of language, consciousness (cognition, memory, will), and activity. But his needs, values, norms are the result of socialization. Fukuyama writes: “...the statement that people are by nature social animals does not mean that they are congenital peacefulness, willingness to interact, honesty, since there is no doubt that they are often cruel, aggressive, and deceitful. Rather, it means that they have special abilities to detect apostates and scammers and deal with them accordingly, as well as inclination to communicate with those who are cooperative and follow moral rules. As a result, people adopt cooperative norms much more easily than more individualistic hypotheses about human nature would predict.”

The regulator of social connections is, first of all, language, which expresses the subjective world of needs, values, and norms. It typifies human experience; elements of individual and historical experience in the form of language acquire subjective and objective reality; language imposes a system of restrictions on human experience (knowledge and skills), as a result, contradictions arise that become the reason for the development of language; language connects various zones of everyday life into a single whole based on the classification of these zones; it ensures the accumulation, storage, transmission, selectivity of socially significant information (knowledge and skills), as a result of which their stock (memory) is created.

Plays a major role in the regulation of social communication reward. Most often it is money, which is the equivalent of human effort. In Soviet society, public recognition was also a reward: certificates of honor, awards, etc. In a social connection, a person’s status, his role is also a reward, it must be paid for with actions that others count on. Statuses in social connections not only fix a person’s rights and responsibilities, but also balance them. What is owed to me is balanced by my responsibility to others.

By entering into a social relationship, a person seeks to satisfy his needs, increase rewards and reduce costs. What is mutually rewarded tends to be regular, and vice versa. The social connection continues as long as the rewards outweigh the costs. Social environment in the form networks social ties are recognized by a person as rational if the costs that he incurs to maintain them provide sufficient rewards. People are constantly searching for measures of costs and rewards. There are different criteria for assessing the need for social connection: what is cheap for one may be expensive for another. This is especially obvious in political intrigues, military operations, etc. The result is a search for a compromise that suits everyone. It provides equilibrium social connections are a sign of the regulation of relations between communication subjects.

The condition for the stability of a social connection is social control mechanism, which includes moral, political, legal, etc. regulators. It allows you to eliminate the elements of inconsistency in social communication that accompany it. In particular, social connection can go beyond the limits of value and normative standards due to the weakness of people (drunkenness, illness, laziness, self-interest, etc.). The mechanism for preventing, mitigating and combating deviant actions is the most important condition for the stability and normal functioning of social communication.

Moral regulators(values ​​and norms) allow us to distinguish between good and evil, justice and injustice. They are different for different social classes of society: aristocrats and commoners, rich and poor, bureaucrats and citizens. Only a common system of moral regulators holds society together and makes stable social connections possible. Moral regulators act through the conscience of individuals and public opinion.

An important regulator of social communication is economic benefits: money, credit, wealth, etc. Thanks to economic benefits and the market, it is possible to relatively objectively assess the contribution of any member of a given social connection. Each of us, thanks to money (of course, if it functions reliably) can easily, without resorting to direct contact and exchange of goods, be involved in any socio-economic connection.

Power(political value and norm) and right(legal value and norm) turn people into accomplices in the management of society, its systems, institutions, and the political and legal connections of people stabilize all social connections in society, making each member of society equal with others regarding obligations to society.

It is very difficult to achieve complete harmony in the actions of all regulators of social communication. Detected inconsistency mechanisms of social regulation at the micro- and macro-level, as well as mechanisms of moral, economic, political, scientific, artistic. The wider, more hierarchical and more coordinated the system of social regulators, the more cohesive the society. Otherwise, it will disintegrate, as happened in post-Soviet Russia. The focus on free people after the centuries-long reign of authoritarianism in Russia led to anarchy, the collapse of old social ties and the slow formation of new ones along with new mechanisms of social regulation.

Thus, the following conclusions can be drawn:

• the most important condition for social connection is the motivational mechanism - the mechanism of subjective regulation (based on needs, values, norms, beliefs), which determines the social connection of people;
• the social connection must be mutually effective for partners;
• for all participants in a social connection it is necessary to apply a single criterion of payment and reward;
• balance in social ties is not achieved automatically, but through conflicts, the resolution of which marks the establishment of a new equilibrium, but according to a new agreed criterion.

Values ​​and norms (moral, economic, political, religious, etc.) distinguish a given society from others. In this regard, there was a fundamental difference between the Soviet (USSR) and Western (USA) types of societies. American values ​​- a federal state, separation of legislative and executive powers, independent justice, separation of church and state, property rights, civil rights of the individual, freedom of assembly, media, etc. Many of them have not yet become values ​​in Russia.

In democratic and totalitarian societies, the mechanism for regulating social connections is different. IN democratic In societies, the determining mechanism of regulation is the democratic state and law - which is why, in particular, sociology arose there. IN totalitarian(Soviet, Nazi, fascist) societies, administrative-command violence becomes the leading regulator of social relations. In such societies, sociology turned out to be unnecessary: ​​where direct violence rules the roost, there is no place for motivational mechanisms.

Each type of society is characterized by a stable system of social connections. In totalitarian societies, such stability is achieved due to the low standard of living of the population, social equality, job security, ideological indoctrination, administrative-command violence, and the coordinating actions of people. In democratic societies, it is ensured through freedom of enterprise, a growing standard of living, competition of actions, freedom of opinion, administrative and legal regulation, etc.

In the process of life, people, satisfying their needs and interests, achieving their goals, solving emerging problems, become dependent on each other.

Dependence can be simple, complex or indirect. Among the latter we must include the dependence of our individual life on the level of development of society, the effectiveness economic system, the effectiveness of the political organization of society, the state of morals. Dependence realized through social action How action consciously carried out with a focus on others, With expectation of the partner's response, forms a social connection.

Social connection, no matter what forms it appears in, has a complex structure.

Its main elements will be:

• subjects of communication (there may be two or thousands of people);
• subject of communication (i.e. about what communication is being made);
• what is especially important is mechanism conscious regulation of relationships between subjects(let's call it ϶ᴛᴏ for now rules of the game. Moreover, the first two elements are also characteristic of social dependence.

All these elements are closely connected and coordinated with each other. A change (increase or sharp decrease) in the number of communication participants may affect the nature of regulation. Economic ties between neighbors may well be regulated on the basis moral principles good neighborliness, sympathy (antipathy), direct commodity exchange. Economic ties between neighboring factories will most likely be indirect, where the main regulator will be money, economic laws, etc.

Do not forget that it is important to take into account the subject of communication, that is, about what it is being carried out.

There is another important circumstance that influences the nature of the relationship: whether the connection formal or informal character. Informal communication scientists traditionally do not recognize subordination. What is more important here is the scientific achievements of the scientist, the reasoning of his position, and the depth of his thought. Formal communication, i.e. the connection established within scientific institutions, departments, etc.

Breeding is of particular importance immediate And indirect connections. During direct communications, contacts are most often established visually, at the interpersonal level. In the course of the development of a social organism, the network of social connections and dependencies becomes sharply more complex, everything higher value indirect connections play a role in an individual’s life. In this case, dependence and connection between people doesn't disappear, but the number of intermediaries is increasing, the number of steps, nodes through which it must pass, say, between the President of Russia and students of a university.

Analyzing social connection, we found out that in many ways the decisive role in its implementation is played by regulation of relationships between subjects. Without it, if the subjects were unable to agree on mutually acceptable terms, communication is not established. It is regulation that is affected by the specifics of what the connection is established about, what the nature of the connection is, etc.

What does it represent regulatory mechanism of social connections? This unique rules of the game. But in essence - system of criteria, standards, on basis on which the subject evaluates for himself the effectiveness of communication, and control system to ensure that these criteria, rules games were respected.

Availability of a single criterion, coincidences values ​​represent the basis of any social connections and interaction. But if coordination, selection of a single criterion in direct contact, communication occurs at the level of satisfying personal needs and interests, then at macro level϶ᴛᴏ is possible solely on the basis of developing uniform criteria, standards of behavior of people in relation to each other. It is worth noting that they bring people together and make interaction possible.

We are talking about a unique language that would be understandable to all participants in a given system of social connections. T. Parsons called symbolic intermediaries such equivalents, criteria that are understandable to everyone and everyone is ready to use them. Among them he included first of all value system, money, power (law), which provide the opportunity to regulate social connections regardless of their complexity and mediation on the basis of sociocultural, economic and political criteria.

Values ​​arm us with moral criteria: what is good and what is evil. Why you can be pardoned and why you can be punished; what you are most likely to find support from any person, and what you won’t. one system moral values ​​hold society together, makes it possible to have stable interaction at home and at work, on vacation and at a political rally, etc. with any person with whom fate brings you together.

Society, through norms and values, “announces” a certain set of social characteristics, which any participant in public life should have, regardless of his individual characteristics, etc.

Let us note that the system of values ​​that arose to regulate relations in society as a whole, at the macro level, asserts this priority, and largely subordinates the social mechanisms of regulation interpersonal relationships. Of the latter, specificity, targeting, and individualization of the principles of relationships are largely replaced, and norms, rules, values, etc. accepted by society are increasingly being introduced.

Thanks to money (and the market), the contribution of any member of a given society can be valued by anyone else. Without resorting to direct contact or exchange of goods, each of us, thanks to money (of course, if it functions reliably), can easily be involved in any economic transaction at any end of the country.

Exactly values, money, power in this unity in many ways distinguish this society from others, isolate it as a special system of social connections, regulated by moral, economic and political criteria. In this system of connections, I speak a language of morals that is understandable to me and others. Here I receive remuneration in proportion to my labor contribution to the affairs of the entire community. Here I undertake to carry out the instructions of the authorities and hope to receive protection from them.

People are in search of that measure, that form of organizing social relationships, at which costs would be minimized and would not exceed the positive effect.

The initial round of analysis of social regulation brings us to the first conclusion: social connection is established, is carried out regularly only if if it corresponds to personal expediency, and the fee does not exceed the remuneration.

Balance is a sign of regulated relations between communication subjects, but it is not achieved automatically, often through conflicts. What are the conditions for achieving it?

First of all, the connection must be mutually effective for both the actor and the partners. This is the key to its stability and regularity.

Secondly, a single criterion of payment and reward must be applied to all participants in a social connection (system of connections). Without this unity of criteria (values, norms), social connection is impossible. If two factories do not agree on a price acceptable to both parties, cooperation will not be established.

Establishing and maintaining a strong, effective social connection requires certain activities that ensure interaction.

Regulation of social connections

The essence of social connection is regulation mechanism. It is formed both from subjective factors (worldview, mentality, motives of people) and from the social control of society (opinions, law, power, etc.) It is impossible to exclude people themselves from the social connection, as is sometimes done in sociological works .

The mechanism for regulating social communication has a genetic and social origin. Genetically, a person has the makings of language, consciousness (cognition, memory, will), and activity. The material was published on http://site
But his needs, values, norms are the result of socialization. Fukuyama writes: “..the statement that people are by nature social animals does not mean that they are congenital peacefulness, willingness to interact, honesty, since there is no doubt that they are often cruel, aggressive, and deceitful. Rather, it means that they have special capabilities for detecting apostates and fraudsters and the ability to deal with them in a special way, as well as inclination to communicate with those who are cooperative and follow moral rules. As a result, people come to norms of cooperation much more easily than predicted by more individualistic hypotheses about human nature.”

The regulator of social connections is, first of all, language, which expresses the subjective world of needs, values, and norms. It is worth noting that he typifies human experience; elements of individual and historical experience in the form of language acquire subjective and objective reality; language imposes a system of restrictions on human experience (knowledge and skills), as a result, contradictions arise that become the reason for the development of language; language connects various zones of everyday life into a single whole based on the classification of these zones; it ensures the accumulation, storage, transmission, selectivity of socially significant information (knowledge and skills), as a result of which their stock (memory) is created

It is important to know that a major role in the regulation of social communication is played by reward. Most often it will be money, which is the equivalent of human effort. In Soviet society, public recognition was also a reward: certificates of honor, awards, etc. In a social connection, a person’s status, his role is also a reward, it must be paid for with actions that others count on. Statuses in social connections not only fix a person’s rights and responsibilities, but also balance them. What is owed to me is balanced by my responsibility to others.

By entering into a social relationship, a person strives to satisfy his needs, increase rewards and reduce costs. What is mutually rewarded tends to be regular, and vice versa. The social connection continues as long as the rewards outweigh the costs. Social environment in the form networks social connections are recognized by a person as rational if the costs that he incurs to maintain them provide sufficient rewards. People are constantly searching for measures of costs and rewards. There are different criteria for assessing the need for social connection: what is cheap for one may be expensive for another. This is especially obvious in political intrigues, military operations, etc. The result is a search for a compromise that suits everyone. It is worth noting that it provides equilibrium social connections are a sign of the regulation of relations between communication subjects.

The condition for the stability of a social connection will be social control mechanism, which includes moral, political, legal, etc. regulators. It is worth noting that it allows us to eliminate the elements of inconsistency in the social connection that accompany it. In particular, a social connection can go beyond the limits of value and normative standards due to the weakness of people (drunkenness, illness, laziness, self-interest, etc.) The mechanism for preventing, mitigating and combating deviant actions is the most important condition for the stability and normal functioning of a social connection.

Moral regulators(values ​​and norms) allow us to distinguish between good and evil, justice and injustice. It is worth noting that they are different for different social classes of society: aristocrats and commoners, rich and poor, bureaucrats and citizens. Only a common system of moral regulators holds society together and makes stable social connections possible. Moral regulators act through the conscience of individuals and public opinion.

We should not forget that an important regulator of social communication will be economic benefits: money, credit, wealth, etc. Thanks to economic benefits and the market, it is possible to relatively objectively assess the contribution of any member of a given social connection. Let us note that each of us, thanks to money (of course, if it functions reliably) can easily, without resorting to direct contact and exchange of goods, be involved in any socio-economic connection.

Power(political value and norm) and right(legal value and norm) turn people into accomplices in the management of society, its systems, institutions, and the political and legal connections of people stabilize all social connections in society, making each member of society equal with others regarding obligations to society.

It is very difficult to achieve complete harmony in the actions of all regulators of social communication. Detected inconsistency mechanisms of social regulation at the micro- and macro-level, as well as mechanisms of moral, economic, political, scientific, artistic. The wider, more hierarchical and more coordinated the system of social regulators, the more cohesive the society. Otherwise, its disintegration sets in, as happened in post-Soviet Russia. The focus on poor people after the centuries-long reign of authoritarianism in Russia led to anarchy, the collapse of old social ties and the slow formation of new ones along with new mechanisms of social regulation.

Based on all of the above, we come to the conclusion that the following conclusions can be drawn:

• the most important condition for social connection will be a motivational mechanism - a mechanism of subjective regulation (based on needs, values, norms, beliefs), which determines the social connection of people;
• the social connection must be mutually effective for partners;
• for all participants in a social connection it is extremely important to apply a single criterion of payment and reward;
• balance in social ties is not achieved automatically, but through conflicts, the resolution of which marks the establishment of a new equilibrium, but according to a new agreed criterion.

Values ​​and norms (moral, economic, political, religious, etc.) distinguish a given society from others. In this regard, there was a fundamental difference between the Soviet (USSR) and Western (USA) types of societies. American values ​​- a federal state, separation of legislative and executive powers, independent justice, separation of church and state, property rights, civil rights of the individual, freedom of assembly, the media, etc. Many of them have not yet become values ​​in Russia.

In democratic and totalitarian societies, the mechanism for regulating social connections is different. IN democratic In societies, the determining mechanism of regulation will be a democratic state and law - which is why, in particular, sociology arose there. IN totalitarian(Soviet, Nazi, fascist) societies, administrative-command violence becomes the leading regulator of social relations. In such societies, sociology turned out to be unnecessary: ​​where direct violence rules the roost, there is no place for motivational mechanisms.

It is worth saying that each type of society is characterized by a stable system of social connections. In totalitarian societies, such stability is achieved due to the low standard of living of the population, social equality, job security, ideological indoctrination, administrative-command violence, and the coordinating actions of people. In democratic societies, it is ensured through the freedom of entrepreneurship, a growing standard of living, competition of actions, freedom of opinion, administrative and legal regulation, etc.

Social connections- connections between the interaction of individuals and groups of individuals pursuing certain social goals in specific conditions of place and time. The study of the system of social connections that develop in the process of human life requires the study of his interests and orientation, as well as social actions and interactions with other people, communities, etc. Social connections can express the dependence between two or more social phenomena and the characteristics of these phenomena. The mediating elements of this dependence are situational factors and personal characteristics of individuals, as well as the system of institutional social norms and means of social control that impose certain restrictions on the nature of social actions and interactions of people.

The starting point for the emergence of social connections is the interaction of individuals or their groups to satisfy certain needs. Social connections as interaction represent any behavior of an individual (or group) that has significance for other individuals (or their groups, or society as a whole) as in this moment, and in the future.

Under social interaction refers to any behavior of an individual, group of individuals, society as a whole
both at the moment and in the future. Category "interaction" expresses the nature and content of the relationship
between people and social groups as permanent carriers of high quality various types activities,
i.e., relationships that differ in social positions (statuses) and roles (functions).

Social interaction has objective and subjective sides. The objective side of interaction- these are connections that do not depend on individuals, but mediate and control the content and nature of their interaction. Subjective side- this is the conscious attitude of individuals towards each other, based on mutual expectations of appropriate behavior. This interpersonal (or socio-psychological) relationships, which represent direct connections between individuals that develop under specific conditions of place and time.

The mechanism of social interaction includes: individuals committing
certain actions; changes in the external world caused by these actions; the impact of these changes on other individuals; their backlash.

23. Social action: structure and types. Theories of social action.

The concept of “social action” was first introduced by M. Weber. It was this researcher who defined the new sociological term and formulated its main features. Weber understood by this term the actions of a person, which, according to the assumption of the actor, are meaningfully correlated with the actions of other people or oriented towards them. Thus, the most important features of social action according to Weber are the following:

1) the subjective meaning of social action, i.e. personal understanding possible options behavior;

2) a major role in an individual’s action is played by a conscious orientation towards the response of others and the expectation of this reaction.

Weber identified four types of social action. This typology was made by analogy with his doctrine of ideal types:

1) goal-oriented action - the behavior of an individual is formed exclusively at the level of the mind;

2) value-rational - the behavior of an individual is determined by faith, the acceptance of a certain system of values;

3) affective – an individual’s behavior is determined by feelings and emotions;

4) traditional actions - behavior is based on habit, pattern of behavior.

Significant contributions to the theory of social action were made by T. Parsons. In Parsons' concept, social action is considered in two manifestations: as a single phenomenon and as a system. He identified the following characteristics:

1) normativity – dependence on generally accepted values ​​and norms;

2) voluntarism – dependence on the will of the subject;

3) the presence of sign regulation mechanisms.

Social action, according to Parsons, performs certain functions in a person’s life that ensure his existence as a biosocial being. Among these functions, four can be distinguished depending on the subsystems of the individual’s life in which they are carried out:

1) at the biological level the adaptive function of social action is performed;

2) in the subsystem of assimilation of values ​​and norms, social action performs a personal function;

3) totality social roles and statuses are provided social function;

4) at the level of assimilation of goals and ideals, the cultural function is carried out.

Thus, social action can be characterized as any behavior of an individual or group that has meaning for other individuals and groups social community or society as a whole. Moreover, the action expresses the nature and content of relations between people and social groups, which, being constant carriers of qualitatively different types of activity, differ in social positions (statuses) and roles.

An important part of the sociological theory of social action is the creation of a theoretical model of behavior. One of the main elements of this model is the structure of social action. This structure includes:

1) actor(subject) – a bearer of active action, possessing will;

2) object – the goal towards which the action is directed;

3) the need for active behavior, which can be considered as a special state of the subject, generated by the need for a means of subsistence, objects necessary for his life and development, and thus acting as a source of activity of the subject;

4) method of action - a set of means that is used by an individual to achieve a goal;

5) result - a new state of the elements formed during the action, a synthesis of the goal, properties of the object and the efforts of the subject.

Any social action has its own mechanism of implementation. It is never instantaneous. To trigger the mechanism of social action, a person must have a certain need for this behavior, which is called motivation. The main factors of activity are interest and orientation.

Interest is the subject’s attitude to the necessary means and conditions for satisfying his inherent needs. Orientation is a way of distinguishing social phenomena according to the degree of their significance for the subject. In the sociological literature there are different approaches to the analysis of motivation for social action. So, within one of them, all motives are divided into three large groups:

1) socio-economic. IN this group includes, first of all, material motives that are associated with the achievement of certain material and social benefits (recognition, honor, respect);

2) implementation of prescribed and learned norms. This group includes motives that have social significance;

3) optimization life cycle. This group includes motives associated with and conditioned by a certain life situation.

After the subject’s motivation arises, the stage of goal formation begins. At this stage, the central mechanism is rational choice.

Rational choice is the analysis of several goals in terms of their availability and suitability and their gradation in accordance with the data of this analysis. The emergence of a goal can occur in two different ways: on the one hand, the goal can be formed as a kind of life plan that is potential in nature; on the other hand, the goal can be formulated as an imperative, i.e., have the character of obligation and obligation.

The goal connects the subject with the objects of the external world and acts as a program for their mutual change. Through a system of needs and interests, situational conditions, the external world takes possession of the subject, and this is reflected in the content of goals. But through a system of values ​​and motives, in a selective attitude towards the world, in the means of achieving goals, the subject strives to establish himself in the world and change it, that is, to master the world himself.

Social actions act as links in a chain of interactions.