Since ancient times, man has tried to understand the structure of society and reproduce its structure on paper. However, society has a very complex organization, which cannot be depicted in the form of a single diagram. In this article we will talk about one of the classifications based on the spheres of society.
Spheres of life of society
A person, being a member of society, interacts with its other representatives, entering into certain relationships with them: he sells and buys, marries and divorces, votes in elections and joins the ranks of public organizations. Such stable relationships are called spheres of social life.
According to the generally accepted classification, there are four main spheres of society:
- political. Affects everything that is related to politics: state structure, the formation of political parties, political processes in the state;
- economic. It is a system of relationships associated with the production, sale and consumption of goods and services;
- social. Covers the division of society into nations, peoples, classes, social groups, etc .;
- spiritual. This area covers issues of morality, religion, art, education, science, etc.
The spheres of activity of society cover all processes that take place in the state, as well as people who are participants in these processes. Buying groceries in a supermarket, you join the economic sphere of society, marrying - to the social, going to a meeting - to the political, and going to the Tretyakov Gallery - to the spiritual.
Spiritual and social spheres of society
The dispute about which of the spheres of society is dominant has been going on for a long time, but the answer has not yet been found. Karl Marx considered the economic sphere of activity to be the defining one; in the Middle Ages, the spiritual sphere stood out as the main one. Let's take a closer look at each and decide which one is more important.
Spiritual sphere of society
The spiritual sphere of society is a set of relationships that arise in the course of the formation, transmission and development of intangible (spiritual) values. These include beliefs, cultural traditions, norms of behavior, artistic assets, etc.
The spiritual sphere of society includes morality, science, art, religion, education and law. When a child is taught to respect his elders in childhood, he is introduced to the spiritual sphere of society. Studying at school and university, attending exhibitions and concerts, traveling the world and studying the traditions of national culture, we get involved in the spiritual sphere.
Social sphere of society
The social sphere of society is a set of relations arising from the activities of a person as a member of society. Each of us occupies a certain position in society, which is determined by our age, marital status, education, place of residence, gender, nationality and social status. All this characterizes the place of the individual in the social sphere of society.
For example, registering a child at the place of residence, getting a job and retiring, we enter into social relations, and, therefore, become subjects of the social sphere of society.
Economic sphere
The economic sphere of society is a huge layer of human relations associated with the creation and movement of material goods. Working in production and releasing products, providing paid services and consuming them, you become a member economic sphere life of society.
But what about the children? - you ask. - They do not work and do not buy, it turns out that kids and schoolchildren fall out of this area of \u200b\u200bsocial development. No, they are also its participants. Parents buy clothes and food for them, pay for attending sports clubs and clubs, receive benefits and benefits for them. Thus, children are also indirectly involved in the economic sphere of life.
Political sphere
Everything that political science studies refers to the political sphere of society. The structure of the state and the functioning of local authorities, the holding of elections and the formation of parties, the formation of political trends and ideologies - all these are elements of the political sphere of society.
When do we become members of it? Joining the ranks of the party, contacting the city administration for information, casting our vote for one of the candidates in the elections, changing citizenship and even simply participating in polls related to assessing the activities of political power, we come into contact with the political sphere of activity.
Interaction of various spheres of society
The question of identifying the priority sphere of society belongs to the category of rhetorical, although, as we wrote above, there have been attempts to answer it. This resembles a situation when you need to determine who is in charge of the family: dad, who brings money to the house, mom who buys food for this money, prepares food and feeds the household, or a child, without whom parents cannot imagine their life?
The spheres of development of society are closely intertwined and cannot exist in isolation from one another. Judge for yourself: is it possible to conduct an election campaign without funding, without studying public opinion and not taking into account the traditional foundations of the inhabitants of the area where it is taking place?
The life of each of us is a vivid illustration of the interpenetration of the spheres of society: social, when we receive a citizen's passport, economic when shopping, political during elections, and spiritual, when we bring up love for the Motherland in our children.
We live unaware that various spheres of society become an integral part of our existence. This is one of the rules of society, which no one can break.
We offer you to watch a video on the topic "Spheres of society and directions of its development":
Within which people enter into different relationships. Elements of society are components of the spheres of society... Another name for a social element is social subject, that is, it is a separate individual, group or organization that is fundamental in each, specific area. So let's look at the main areas and elements.
Economic sphere.
The economic sphere includes the processes of production of something, consumption, exchange. If society is an organism, then the economic sphere is its physiological processes, the successful course of which guarantees its normal existence. The main sphere in the process of entrepreneurial activity, as well as in relations between the state and the economy. Its main elements are markets, banks, money, taxes, production of goods, etc.
Political sphere.
The political sphere is the sphere of managing society, national relations, relations between a person and the state. The vital activity of other spheres largely depends on the political sphere. In a modern society, it is easy to notice the influence of politics on culture and art, on education and on the economy. For example, sanctions strongly affect trade and entrepreneurship, and the wrong assessment by some states of the events of World War II caused a response in the works of performers, writers, journalists, that is, it influenced the spiritual sphere of society. Key elements are politics, state, political parties, law, courts, parliament, army, etc.
Social sphere.
The social sphere includes the relationship between different social and age groupsas well as the principles of these relationships. This area is the first indicator of the level of well-being and comfort of living in the state. In short, it is an indicator of the well-being and stability of public life. Elements -
- What are the spheres of public life?
- What are the spheres of public life?
- How interconnected different areas life of society?
The structure of society has always interested people. Have you thought about it? For many centuries, scientists have tried to create a model, an image, with which it was possible to reproduce a human society for study. It was represented in the form of a pyramid, a clockwork, likened to a branchy tree.
Spheres of life of society
Society is intelligently organized. Each of its areas (part) performs its functions, satisfies certain needs of people. Remember what needs are.
Spheres of public life - areas of public life in which the most important needs of people are met.
Scientists identify four main spheres of public life: economic, political, social and spiritual. This division is arbitrary, but it helps to better navigate the diversity of social phenomena.
The economic sphere includes firms, enterprises, factories, banks, markets, mines, etc. That is, everything that allows society to produce such a quantity of goods and services that satisfy the vital material needs of people - food, housing, clothing, leisure, etc. .d.
The main task of the economic sphere is to organize the activities of large groups of people for production, consumption (buying and using what was bought for their own purposes) and distribution of goods and services.
The entire population participates in economic life. For the most part, children, pensioners, and the disabled are not producers of material wealth. But they participate in exchange - when they buy goods in the store, distribution - when they receive pensions and benefits, and, of course, in the consumption of material goods. You do not yet create material goods, but you actively consume them.
The political sphere includes the state and public authorities and administration. In Russia, these are the President, government, parliament (Federal Assembly), local authorities, army, police, tax and customs services, as well as political parties... The main task of the political sphere is to ensure order in society and its security, resolve social conflicts, adopt new laws and monitor their implementation, protect external borders, collect taxes, etc.
The social sphere includes the everyday relationships of citizens, as well as the relationships of large social groups of society: peoples, classes, etc.
The social sphere also includes various institutions for ensuring the life of people. These are shops, passenger transport, utilities and consumer services (housing management companies and dry cleaners), catering (canteens and restaurants), health care (clinics and hospitals), communications (telephone, post office, telegraph), as well as leisure and entertainment facilities (parks cultures, stadiums).
An important place in the social sphere is occupied by the bodies of social protection and social security. They are called upon to provide social assistance to those in need: pensioners, the unemployed, large families, disabled people, low-income people. You learned about how social assistance is provided to families in grade 5.
The spiritual realm includes science, education, religion and art. It includes universities and academies, research institutes, schools, museums, theaters, art galleries, cultural monuments, national art treasures, religious associations, etc. It is in this area that the accumulation and transfer of the spiritual wealth of society to the next generations is carried out, and people and entire societies find the answer to the question of the meaning of life and their existence.
What areas of public life are shown in the photographs? Give reasons for your answer.
The relationship of the four spheres of society
So, we have identified four main areas of modern society. But this does not mean that they exist separately from each other. On the contrary, they are closely related and influence each other. For example, if the country's economy does not fulfill its tasks, does not provide the population with a sufficient amount of goods and services, does not expand the number of jobs, then the standard of living drops sharply, there is not enough money to pay salaries and pensions, unemployment appears, and crime increases. Thus, successes in one, economic, sphere affect well-being in another, social.
The economy can strongly influence politics, there are many examples in history.
Additional reading
The Byzantine Empire and Iran fought with each other for many years over which of them would collect duties from merchants who drove caravans along the Great Silk Road. As a result, they exhausted their forces in these wars, and the Arabs took advantage of this, who seized most of their possessions from the Byzantine emperors, and conquered Iran entirely.
Explain how this example illustrates the relationship between the economic and political realms.
The social sphere is directly related to political life... Changes in the political sphere, for example, the change of power, the arrival of other politicians in government, can worsen the living conditions of people. But feedback is also possible. The reason for the change of power was often the indignation of the masses at the worsening of their situation. For example, the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist also because the taxes imposed by the emperor were unbearably high for his subjects and they preferred the power of the barbarian kings to the imperial.
Let's sum up
There are four spheres of public life: economic, political, social and spiritual. The spheres of public life satisfy the basic needs of people and are closely interrelated with each other.
Basic terms and concepts
Spheres of social life: economic, political, social, spiritual.
Test your knowledge
- What spheres can a society be divided into? Give a brief description of each area of \u200b\u200bsociety. What is their significance for society?
- Explain how the different spheres of society influence each other. Use the diagram on p. 20.
- In your opinion, which of the spheres of society is the most important? Explain your answer.
Workshop
My quiet homeland!
Willows, river, nightingales ...
My mother is buried here
In my childhood ...
Where I swam for fish
Hay is rowed into the hayloft:
Between river bends
People dug a channel.
Tina is now a swamp
Where he loved to swim ...
My quiet homeland
I haven't forgotten anything.
New fence in front of the school
The same green space.
Like a funny crow
I'll sit down on the fence again!
My wooden school! ..
The time will come to leave -
The river behind me is foggy
Will run and run ...
As already noted, society is a systemic education. As an extremely complex whole, as a system, society includes subsystems - "spheres of social life" - a concept first introduced by K. Marx.
The concept of "the sphere of public life" is nothing more than an abstraction that allows one to isolate and study individual areas of social reality. The basis for identifying the spheres of public life is the qualitative specificity of a number of social relations, their integrity.
The following spheres of social life are distinguished: economic, social, political and spiritual. Each sphere is characterized by the following parameters:
This is the area of \u200b\u200bhuman activity necessary for the normal functioning of society, through which their specific needs are satisfied;
Each sphere is characterized by certain social relations that arise between people in the course of a certain type of activity (economic, social, political or spiritual);
As relatively independent subsystems of society, the spheres are characterized by certain patterns according to which they function and develop;
In each sphere, a set of certain institutions is formed and functions, which are created by people to manage this social sphere.
The economic sphere of the life of society -defining, named by K. Marx basissociety (that is, its foundation, foundation). It includes relations about the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material goods. Its purpose is meeting the economic needs of people.
The economic sphere is the genetic basis of all other spheres of social life, its development is the cause, condition and driving force historical process. The importance of the economic sphere is enormous:
It creates the material basis for the existence of society;
Directly affects the social structure of society (for example, the emergence of private property led to the emergence of economic inequality, which, in turn, became the cause of the emergence of classes);
Indirectly (through the social-class sphere) affects the political processes in society (for example, the emergence of private property and class inequality became the cause of the emergence of the state);
Indirectly affects the spiritual sphere (especially legal, political and moral ideas), directly - on its infrastructure - schools, libraries, theaters, etc.
Social sphere of public life- This is an area where historical communities (nations, peoples) and social groups of people (classes, etc.) interact about their social position, place and role in the life of society. The social sphere covers the interests of classes, nations, social groups; relations between the individual and society; working and living conditions, upbringing and education, health and leisure. The core of social relations is the relationship of equality and inequality of people according to their position in society. The basis of the different social status of people is their attitude to ownership of the means of production and the type of labor activity.
The main elements of the social structure of society are classes, strata (social strata), estates, urban and rural residents, representatives of mental and physical labor, socio-demographic groups (men, women, youth, pensioners), ethnic communities.
The political sphere of society- the area of \u200b\u200bfunctioning of politics, political relations, the activities of political institutions (primarily the state) of organizations (political parties, unions, etc.). This is a system of public relations about the conquest, retention, strengthening and use of state authorities in the interests of certain classes and social groups.
The specificity of the social sphere is as follows:
It develops as a result of the conscious activity of people, classes, parties striving to seize power and management in society;
To achieve political goals, classes and social groups create political institutions and organizations that act as a material force for influencing the state, power, economic and political structures in society.
The elements of the political system of society are: the state (the main element), political parties, public and religious organizations, trade unions, etc.
The sphere of the spiritual life of society -it is the sphere of production of ideas, attitudes, public opinion, customs and traditions; the sphere of functioning of social institutions that create and disseminate spiritual values: science, culture, art, education and upbringing. This is a system of social relations about production and consumption. spiritual values.
The main elements of the spiritual life of society are:
Activities for the production of ideas (theories, views, etc.);
Spiritual values \u200b\u200b(moral and religious ideals, scientific theories, artistic values, philosophical concepts, etc.);
The spiritual needs of people, which determine the production, distribution and consumption of spiritual values;
Spiritual relationships between people, exchange of spiritual values.
The basis of the spiritual life of society is public consciousness- a set of ideas, theories, ideals, concepts, programs, views, norms, opinions, traditions, rumors, etc., circulating in a given society.
Public consciousness is associated with the individual (with the consciousness of an individual), because, firstly, it simply does not exist without it, and secondly, all new ideas and spiritual values \u200b\u200bhave as their source the consciousness of individuals. Therefore, a high level of spiritual development of individuals is an important prerequisite for the development of social consciousness. , public consciousness cannot be regarded as the sum of individual consciousnesses if only because a separate individual does not assimilate the entire content of social consciousness in the process of socialization and life. On the other hand, not everything that arises in the mind of an individual becomes the property of society. Public consciousness includes knowledge, ideas, representations, are common for many people, therefore, it is viewed in an impersonal form as a product of certain social conditions, enshrined in the language and cultural works. The bearer of social consciousness is not only an individual, but also a social group, society as a whole. In addition, individual consciousness is born and dies together with a person, and the content of social consciousness is transmitted from one generation to another.
In the structure of public consciousness, there are reflection levels(ordinary and theoretical) and forms of reflection of reality (law, politics, morality, art, religion, philosophy, etc.)
Reality reflection levels differ in the nature of their formation and by the depth of penetration into the essence of phenomena.
The ordinary level of public consciousness(or "social psychology") is formed as a result of everyday life people, covers superficial connections and relationships, giving rise, at times, to various delusions and prejudices, public opinion, rumors and moods. It is a shallow, superficial reflection of social phenomena, so many ideas that arise in the mass consciousness are erroneous.
The theoretical level of public consciousness(or "social ideology") provides a deeper understanding of social processes, penetrates into the essence of the studied phenomena; it exists in a systematized form (in the form of scientific theories, concepts, etc.) In contrast to the ordinary level, which develops mainly spontaneously, the theoretical level is formed consciously. This is the area of \u200b\u200bactivity of professional theorists, specialists in various fields - economists, lawyers, politicians, philosophers, theologians, etc. Therefore, theoretical consciousness not only more deeply, but also more correctly reflects social reality.
Forms of public consciousness differ among themselves in the subject of reflection and in the functions that they perform in society.
Political consciousnessis a reflection of political relations between classes, nations, states. It directly manifests economic relations and interests of various classes and social groups. The specificity of political consciousness is that it directly affects the sphere of state and power, the relationship of classes and parties to the state and government, the relationship between social groups and political organizations... It most actively affects the economy, all other forms of social consciousness - law, religion, morality, art, philosophy.
Legal consciousness- is a set of views, ideas, theories expressing people's attitude to existing law - a system of legal norms and relations established by the state. At the theoretical level, legal consciousness acts as a system of legal views, legal doctrines, codes. At the ordinary level, these are people's ideas about legal and illegal, just and unfair, due and optional in relations between people, social groups, nations, and the state. Legal consciousness performs a regulatory function in society... It is associated with all forms of consciousness, but especially with politics. It is no coincidence that K. Marx defined law as "the will of the ruling class, raised to law."
Moral consciousness (morality) reflects the attitude of people to each other and to society in the form of a set of rules of conduct, moral norms, principles and ideals that guide people in their behavior. Everyday moral consciousness includes ideas about honor and dignity, about conscience and a sense of duty, about moral and immoral, etc. Everyday moral consciousness arose in the primitive communal system and performed there the function of the main regulator of relationships between people and teams. Moral theories arise only in a class society and represent a coherent concept of moral principles, norms, categories, ideals.
Morality performs a number of important functions in society:
Regulatory (regulates human behavior in all spheres of public life, and, unlike law, morality is based on the strength of public opinion, on the mechanism of conscience, on habit);
Evaluative-imperative (on the one hand, it evaluates the actions of a person, on the other, it commands one to behave in a certain way);
Educational (actively involved in the process of socialization of the individual, the transformation of “person into person”).
Aesthetic consciousness- artistic, figurative and emotional reflection of reality through the concepts of the beautiful and the ugly, the comic and the tragic. Art is the result and the highest form of manifestation of aesthetic consciousness. In the process artistic creation the aesthetic ideas of artists are "reified" by various material means (paints, sounds, words, etc.) and appear as works of art. Art is one of the most ancient forms of human life, but in pre-class society it was in a single syncretic bond with religion, morality, cognitive activity (primitive dance is both a religious rite that embodies moral norms of behavior and a method of transferring knowledge to a new generation).
Art in modern society performs the following functions:
Aesthetic (satisfies the aesthetic needs of people, forms their aesthetic tastes);
Hedonistic (gives people pleasure, pleasure);
Cognitive (in an artistic-figurative form it carries information about the world, being a fairly accessible means of enlightenment and education of people);
Educational (affects the formation of moral consciousness, embodying the moral categories of good and evil in artistic images, forms aesthetic ideals).
Religious consciousness -a special type of reflection of reality through the prism of belief in the supernatural. Religious consciousness doubles the world, as it were, believing that in addition to our reality ("natural", obeying the laws of nature) there is a supernatural reality (phenomena, beings, forces), where natural laws do not work, but which affects our life. Belief in the supernatural comes in various forms:
Fetishism (from the Portuguese "fetiko" - made) - belief in the supernatural property of real objects (natural or specially made);
Totemism (“to-tem” in the language of one of the North American Indian tribes means “his kind”) - belief in supernatural blood relations between people and animals (sometimes - plants) - the “ancestors” of the genus;
Magic (translated from ancient Greek - witchcraft) - belief in supernatural connections and forces that exist in nature, using which you can achieve success where a person is really powerless; therefore, magic encompassed all spheres of life (love magic, harmful magic, fishing magic, military magic, etc.);
Animism - belief in ethereal spirits, in an immortal soul; arises at the later stages of the tribal system as a result of the disintegration of mythological thinking, which has not yet distinguished between living and nonliving, material and non-material; ideas about the spirits of nature became the basis for the formation of the idea of \u200b\u200bGod;
theism (Greek theos - god) belief in God, which originally existed as polytheism (polytheism); the idea of \u200b\u200ba single god - monotheism (monotheism) was first formed in Judaism, and later was adopted by Christianity and Islam.
Religion as a social phenomenon besides religious consciousness includes cult (ritual actions aimed at communication with the supernatural - prayers, sacrifices, fasts, etc.) and one or another form of organization of believers(church or sect) .
Religion in the life of a person and society performs the following functions:
Psychotherapeutic - helps to overcome the feeling of fear and horror in front of the outside world, eases feelings of grief and despair, allows you to relieve the feeling of helplessness and uncertainty in the future;
World outlook; like philosophy, it forms a person's worldview - the idea of \u200b\u200bthe world as a single whole, of the place and purpose of a person in it;
Educational - affects a person through the system of moral norms that exist in every religion, and through the formation of a special attitude towards the supernatural (for example, love for God, fear of ruining an immortal soul);
Regulatory - affects the behavior of believers through a system of numerous prohibitions and prescriptions covering almost the entire daily life of a person (especially in Judaism and Islam, where there are 365 prohibitions and 248 prescriptions);
Integrative-segregative - uniting co-religionists (integrative function), religion at the same time opposes them to the carriers of a different faith (segregative function), which is, to this day, one of the sources of serious social conflicts.
Religion, therefore, is a contradictory phenomenon and it is impossible to unequivocally assess its role in the life of a person and society. Since modern society is polyreligious, the basis for a civilized solution to the problem of attitudes towards religion is principle of freedom of conscience, which gives a person the right to profess any religion or be an unbeliever, prohibiting insults to the religious feelings of believers and open religious or anti-religious propaganda.
Thus, the spiritual life of a society is a very complex phenomenon. Forming the consciousness of people, regulating their behavior, political, moral, philosophical, religious and other ideas have an impact on all other spheres of society and on nature, becoming a real force that changes the world.
As parts, not only social subjects are distinguished, but also other formations - spheres of society. Society is a complex system of specially organized human life. Like any other complex system, society consists of subsystems, the most important of which are called spheres of public life.
Sphere of life of society - a certain set of stable relations between social subjects.
Spheres of public life are large, stable, relatively independent subsystems of human activity.
Each area includes:
- certain types of human activities (for example, educational, political, religious);
- social institutions (such as family, school, parties, church);
- established relations between people (i.e., connections that have arisen in the process of human activity, for example, relations of exchange and distribution in the economic sphere).
Traditionally, there are four main spheres of public life:
- social (peoples, nations, classes, gender and age groups, etc.)
- economic (productive forces, production relations)
- political (state, parties, socio-political movements)
- spiritual (religion, morality, science, art, education).
Of course, a person is able to live without satisfying these needs, but then his life will be little different from the life of animals. Spiritual needs are met in the process spiritual activities - cognitive, value, predictive, etc. Such activities are aimed primarily at changing the individual and social consciousness. It manifests itself in scientific creativity, self-education, etc. At the same time, spiritual activity can be both productive and consuming.
Spiritual production the process of formation and development of consciousness, worldview, spiritual qualities is called. The product of this production is ideas, theories, artistic images, values, the spiritual world of the individual and the spiritual relationship between individuals. The main mechanisms of spiritual production are science, art and religion.
Spiritual consumption is called the satisfaction of spiritual needs, the consumption of products of science, religion, art, for example, visiting a theater or museum, gaining new knowledge. The spiritual sphere of society's life ensures the production, storage and dissemination of moral, aesthetic, scientific, legal and other values. It covers various consciousness - moral, scientific, aesthetic,.
Social institutions in the spheres of society
In each of the spheres of society, the corresponding social institutions are being formed.
In the social sphere the most important social institution, within which the reproduction of new generations of people is carried out, is. The social production of a person as a social being, in addition to the family, is carried out by such institutions as preschool and medical institutions, schools and other educational institutions, sports and other organizations.
For many people, production and the presence of spiritual conditions of existence are no less important, and for some people even more important than material conditions. Spiritual production distinguishes humans from other beings in this world. The state and nature of development determine the civilization of mankind. The main in the spiritual realm are institutions,. This also includes cultural and educational institutions, creative unions (writers, artists, etc.), the media and other organizations.
At the heart of the political sphere there are relationships between people that allow them to participate in the management of social processes, to take a relatively safe position in the structure of social relations. Political relations are forms of collective life that are prescribed by laws and other legal acts of the country, charters and instructions regarding independent communities, both outside the country and within it, by written and unwritten rules of various. These relations are carried out through the resources of the corresponding political institution.
On a national scale, the main political institution is . It consists of many of the following institutions: the president and his administration, government, parliament, court, prosecutor's office and other organizations that ensure general order in the country. In addition to the state, there are many organizations in which people exercise their political rights, that is, the right to manage social processes. Social movements are also political institutions that seek to participate in the governance of the entire country. In addition to them, there may be regional and local organizations.
Interrelation of spheres of public life
The spheres of public life are closely interconnected. In the history of the sciences, there have been attempts to single out any sphere of life as determining in relation to others. So, in the Middle Ages, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe special importance of religiosity as part of the spiritual sphere of society's life prevailed. In modern times and the era of the Enlightenment, the role of morality and scientific knowledge was emphasized. A number of concepts assign the leading role to the state and law. Marxism asserts the decisive role of economic relations.
Within the framework of real social phenomena, elements of all spheres are combined. For example, the nature of economic relations can influence the structure of the social structure. A place in the social hierarchy forms certain political views, opens up appropriate access to education and other spiritual values. The economic relations themselves are determined by the country's legal system, which is very often formed on the basis of the people, their traditions in the field of religion and morality. Thus, at different stages of historical development, the influence of any sphere may increase.
The complex nature of social systems is combined with their dynamism, that is, mobile, character.