Subject 3. Society as social system

Occupation purpose: studying of society as systems; acquaintance to the main categories of the system analysis; to compare valuable installations and the organizational principles of traditional and modern societies; to discuss basic provisions of theories of modernization.

Basic concepts: social system, integration, a tseledostizheniye, adaptation, latency, subsystems of social action, traditional society, modern society, the modern person, postindustrial-ny society, post-economic society, modernization, the late modernization, recidivous modernization.

Plan:

1. Concept of society of sociology. Main signs and characteristic features of society.

2. System approach to the analysis of society.

3. Theory of modernization.

Questions for reflection, self-examination, repetition:

1. What is the social system?

2. What, in your opinion, acts as basic structural unit of social system?

3. What is "society"? Why the person can't exist out of society?

4. What features of society as systems, its structure?

5. What factors define specifics and tendencies of development of person-chesky society? What separates society by nature, the antroposotsiogeneza is a source?

6. What historical types of society you know?

7. Formulate essence of civilization approach in the analysis of society. In what its difference from the formational consists?

8. Formulate the main system signs and foundations of modern society of the western type.

9. What criteria of social progress?

10. Explain sociological sense of the concept "present".

Tasks and exercises:

1. Apply signs of society to the following associations of people: the enterprise, the city area, bank, labor union, the village, the union of writers, on - uchno-research institute, military unit, a religious community, the autonomous region, school, a family. Define, to what criteria correspond and to what there don't correspond these associations?

2. Find in dictionaries definition of concepts "system", "social system", "social communication", "social interaction", "social life". What unites them, and what distinguishes?

3. The social system consists of set of subsystems: economic system, political system, system of a sotsiyetalny community and system of socialization. Open the maintenance of each of specified subsystems.

4. Compare basic provisions of system approach of T. Parsons and R. Merton. In what the scientific contribution of R. Merton to development of the theory of social systems consists?

5. Characterize a modern situation in Kazakhstan in terms of the system analysis of society. What, from the point of view of the sociologist, the main system sign of modern Kazakhstan society?

6. In what distinction between obvious and latent functions of social structures consists? Give examples of these functions for various structures.

7. Carry out accurate differentiation between the following concepts: world system, world community, world empire, civilization, world economic system.

8. In what degree, in your opinion, the world system included Kazakhstan? What place Russia takes in it? Reason the answer.

9. Specify differences between the countries of a kernel, the semi-periphery and the periphery. And where Kazakhstan, Russia belongs? Where the former USSR belonged?

10. How you think, current world leaders – the USA and the countries of Western Europe – impose the will to other countries thanks to the financial or political power? And maybe, they have other channels of influence?

11. Influence of the developed countries on the underdeveloped affects negatively, in addition, also in the sphere of consumption. In the USA, Japan or France the level of consumer inquiries of the population the quite high: bad production isn't bought there. But it after all is made. How you think where it goes? How the consumer boom influences a way of life and valuable orientations of natives?

12. In Kazakhstan, despite preservation of free state education (along with commercial), very many it is necessary to pay for study. How it is necessary to interpret these and the phenomena similar to them – as functions, dysfunctions, obvious or latent functions of institute of education? Reason the answer.

13. In what similarity and distinction of two processes – an urbanization and industrialization consists? Find pluses and minuses at that and another.

Definitions:

1) set of the standard relations of carriers of roles;

2) the system formed by a state and processes of organized social interaction between the acting subjects;

3) process of formation of steady models of interaction between social figures;

4) the transformation to the organizations of society happening eventually, the examples of behavior and thinking making it groups and individuals;

5) the concept according to which modern industrial society is succeeded by society where the knowledge (information) will be the major economic factor, and the main sphere of production – the sphere of production of knowledge (information);

6) the concept explaining process of transition from stable traditional society to continuously changing modern society;

7) society which characteristic features are readiness for change, development; the market as the mechanism the individuals regulating and organizing behavior, rationalism and individualism.

8) the theoretical direction developing idea that in human history other, qualitatively excellent era has to succeed an era of the present. Work overcoming as utilitarian activity and replacement with its creative activity which isn't motivated with material factors becomes its major line;

9) the efforts of underdeveloped countries directed on social and economic growth under the influence of welfare contacts with already existing centers of market and industrial culture;

10) society which characteristic features are high structural stability, the dominating status of individuals and groups, a regulation of social behavior concrete instructions and a ban, dogmatism and ethnocentrism in outlook;

11) set of steady interactions between people;

Creative and problem tasks:

1. Discussion: Antiquity in modern society.

Analyse two opposite theses:

1) Magic and semi-magic customs and beliefs, thirst for sorcerers and psychics are peculiar strategy of a survival during the periods of social crisis, they protect individuals and groups from fear of accident. A modern era didn't develop more durable alternatives to traditional strategy, especially that is psychological adaptation to social crisis.

2) Magic and semi-magic customs and beliefs, thirst for sorcerers and psychics is a barbarity, ignorance, hysteria of one and aspiration to earn on it others. It is necessary to expose and deride these phenomena in our life.

What your position on this problem?

2. Analyse the biography of the person, famous in the history of Kazakhstan, which activity, in your opinion, essentially affected on political (scientific, cultural, religious or other) development of our country. Allocate the conditions which allowed it to be created in the social figure.

Literature:

1. Волков Ю.Г., Мостовая И.В. Социология: Учебник для вузов/Под ред. В.И. Добренькова. М., 2006.

2. Кравченко А.И. Общая социология: Учебное пособие для вузов. М., 2001.

3. Социология. Наука об обществе: Учебное пособие/Под ред. В.П.

Андрющенко и В.П.Горлача. Харьков, 1996.

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