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Features of social cognition.

A concrete historical approach to social phenomena

Option 1 Cognition - a process of human activity, the main content of which is the reflection of objective reality in his consciousness, and the result is the acquisition of new knowledge about the world around him. In the process of cognition there are always two sides: the subject of cognition and the object of cognition. In a narrow sense, the subject of knowledge usually means a cognizing person, endowed with will and consciousness; in a broad sense, the entire society. The object of cognition, accordingly, is either the cognizable object, or in a broad sense the whole the world

within those boundaries, individuals and society as a whole.The main feature of social cognition as one of the types cognitive activity

is the coincidence of the subject and object of knowledge. In the course of social cognition, society gets to know itself. Such a coincidence of the subject and object of cognition has a huge impact on both the process of cognition itself and its results. The resulting social knowledge will always be associated with the interests of individual subjects of knowledge, and this circumstance largely explains the presence of different, often opposing, conclusions and assessments that arise when studying the same social phenomena..

Social cognition begins with establishing social facts:

1. Types of Social Factsactions or deeds individuals or large;
2. social groups products material or spiritual
3. human activities; verbalsocial facts

: opinions, judgments, assessments of people.Selection and interpretation

(i.e., explanation) of these facts largely depend on the researcher’s worldview, the interests of the social group to which he belongs, as well as on the tasks that he sets for himself.

The purpose of social cognition, as well as cognition in general, is to establish the truth. Truthcall the correspondence of the acquired knowledge to the content of the object of knowledge.

1. However, establishing the truth in the process of social cognition is not easy because: an objectknowledge, and that is society, is enoughand is in constant development, influenced by both objective and subjective factors. Therefore, establishing social patterns is extremely difficult, and open sociallaws are probabilistic, because even similar historical events and phenomena are never completely repeated.
2. limited applicationsuch a method of empirical research as experiment (reproduction of the social phenomenon under study at the request of the researcher is almost impossible). Therefore, the most common method of social research is scientific abstraction.

The main source of obtaining knowledge about society is a social reality, practice. Since social life is changing quite quickly, thenin the process of social cognition, we can talk about establishing only relative truths.

Understand and correctly describe the processes taking place in society, discover laws social development only possible when usingconcrete historical approachto social phenomena.

The main requirements of the concrete historical approach are:

1. studying not only the situation in society, but also the reasons that resulted in it;
2. consideration of social phenomena in their interrelation and interaction with each other;
3. analysis of interests and actions of all subjects historical process(both social groups and individuals).

If in the process of cognition of social phenomena some stable and significant connections are discovered between them, then they usually talk about the discovery of historical patterns.

Historical patternsare called common features, which are inherent in a certain group of historical phenomena.

The identification of such patterns based on the study of specific social processes in specific societies in a certain historical period constitutesthe essence of the concrete historical approachand are ultimately the goal of social cognition

Option 2

Features of social cognition, a concrete historical approach to social phenomena

The term “social cognition” is interpreted as knowledge of society, social phenomena and processes occurring in it. In this sense, social cognition differs from the cognition of other (non-social) objects and has the following features:

1. society is the most complex of the objects of knowledge, therefore the essence of social phenomena and processes, the natural connections between them are discovered much more difficult than what happens when studying inorganic and organic nature within the framework natural sciences;
2. social cognition involves the study of not only material, but also ideal, spiritual relationships. These relationships are not only an integral part of the material life of society, but are also by their nature much more complex and contradictory than connections in nature;
3. in social cognition, society acts both as an object and as a subject of cognition, since people are the creators of their history, but they also know it. Consequently, the subject and object of knowledge coincide. This identity cannot be assessed unambiguously. On the one hand, it has positive value, since the processes occurring in society are closest to the cognizing subject and his immediate, personal and acquired life experience, which contributes to a deep understanding and correct knowledge of these processes. On the other hand, the total object of knowledge represents different, sometimes diametrically opposed wills, interests, and goals. As a result, a certain element of subjectivism is introduced into the historical processes themselves and into their knowledge;
4. Another feature of social cognition is limited opportunities observations and experimentation in the study of social reality. In this case, the main source of knowledge becomes historical experience and social practice.

Social cognition includes not only a description of social phenomena, but also their explanation and identification of their essence. The successful solution of this difficult task is associated with the use of a concrete historical approach to social phenomena, which involves the study of social phenomena in their diverse connections, interdependence and historical development. This approach makes it possible to understand a separate social event, identifying both its unique individuality associated with specific historical conditions, and something common to similar events occurring in different time, their objective patterns.

Option 3

Cognition is the process of human activity, the main content of which is the reflection of objective reality in his consciousness, and the result is the acquisition of new knowledge about the world around him. In the process of cognition there are always two sides: the subject of cognition and the object of cognition. In a narrow sense, the subject of cognition usually means a cognizing person, endowed with will and consciousness; in a broad sense, the entire society. The object of cognition, accordingly, is either the cognizable object, or in a broad sense the entire surrounding world within the boundaries within which individual people and society as a whole interact with it.
The main feature of social cognition as one of the types of cognitive activity is the coincidence of the subject and object of cognition. In the course of social cognition, society gets to know itself. Such a coincidence of the subject and object of cognition has a huge impact on both the process of cognition itself and its results. The resulting social knowledge will always be associated with the interests of individuals - subjects of knowledge, and this circumstance largely explains the presence of different, often opposing, conclusions and assessments that arise when studying the same social phenomena. Social cognition begins with establishing social facts. There are three types of such facts:
1) actions or actions of individuals or large social groups;
2) products of material or spiritual activity of people;
3) verbal social facts: opinions, judgments, assessments of people.
The selection and interpretation (i.e. explanation) of these facts largely depend on the worldview of the researcher, the interests of the social group to which he belongs, as well as on the tasks that he sets for himself.
The purpose of social cognition, as well as cognition in general, is to establish the truth. Truth is the correspondence of the acquired knowledge to the content of the object of knowledge. However, establishing the truth in the process of social cognition is not easy because:
1) the object of knowledge, and this is society, is quite complex in its structure and is in constant development, which is influenced by both objective and subjective factors. Therefore, the establishment of social laws is extremely difficult, and open social laws are probabilistic in nature, because even similar historical events and phenomena are never completely repeated;
2) the possibility of using such a method of empirical research as experiment is limited (reproducing the social phenomenon being studied at the request of the researcher is almost impossible). Therefore, the most common method of social research is scientific abstraction.
The main source of knowledge about society is social reality and practice. Since social life changes quite quickly, in the process of social cognition we can talk about establishing only relative truths.
It is possible to understand and correctly describe the processes occurring in society and discover the laws of social development only by using a specific historical approach to social phenomena. The main requirements of this approach are:
1) studying not only the situation in society, but also the reasons that resulted in it;
2) consideration of social phenomena in their interrelation and interaction with each other;
3) analysis of the interests and actions of all subjects of the historical process (both social groups and individuals).
If in the process of cognition of social phenomena some stable and significant connections are discovered between them, then they usually talk about the discovery of historical patterns. Historical patterns are common features that are inherent in a certain group of historical phenomena. The identification of such patterns based on the study of specific social processes in specific societies in a certain historical period constitutes the essence of the specific historical approach and is ultimately the goal of social cognition.

Social phenomenon- an element of social reality that has all the completeness social properties and signs; everything in social reality that reveals itself appears. Objects, people, their relationships, actions, thoughts and feelings (in other words, material and spiritual products) can act as a social phenomenon human activity), social institutions, institutions, organizations, needs, interests, individual aspects of processes, etc. Many social phenomena are latent in nature and express not only the obvious characteristics of social reality, but also its deeper processes, the connection of which with a given social phenomenon is not directly observed. This connection is detected in social practice, including through sociological research, when certain techniques, procedures and methods are used to obtain information about a social phenomenon.
There are social phenomena that express secondary, random connections and relationships, and those that indicate the essential characteristics of social objects. From the totality of social phenomena, sociology most often isolates the latter, i.e. those that characterize stable, repeating (mass) and typical connections and relationships of social reality. Each social phenomenon is distinguished by certain empirical characteristics that can be recorded in social indicators. Mass (repeating) social phenomena are studied using statistical methods. Quantitative study of the totality of social phenomena and the intensity of manifestation of their signs contributes to the awareness of the probabilistic nature social connections and relationships, allows us to record patterns-trends (see Social Law).
Any social phenomenon can be considered as a social fact if its repetition, mass character, typicality, and social significance are established, that is, if its signs and properties are recorded. In this case, social phenomena become the starting point of sociological analysis. Thus, a social fact included in the system of sociological knowledge turns into scientific fact as an element of empirical and theoretical knowledge, it becomes a fact of sociological science. IN complex process studying social life of society, a social phenomenon acts, on the one hand, as a certain stage on the path of cognition of its essential characteristics, on the other hand, as the simplest and most directly observable element of this process, the starting point of the movement of social cognition from simple to complex, from diversity properties of the manifestation of social life to its essential characteristics.

;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669">Ticket No. 9

;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669">1. Features of social cognition, a specific historical approach to social phenomena.

2. The state, its characteristics.

;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669">1, Cognition is the process of human activity, the main content of which is the reflection of objective reality in his consciousness, and the result is the acquisition of new knowledge about the world around him. In the process of cognition there are always two sides: the subject of cognition and the object of cognition. In a narrow sense, the subject of cognition usually means a cognizing person, endowed with will and consciousness; in a broad sense, the entire society is, accordingly, either a cognizable object, or, in a broad sense, the entire surrounding world within those boundaries. , in which individuals and society as a whole interact with it.

;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669">The main feature of social cognition as one of the types of cognitive activity is the coincidence of the subject and object of cognition. In the course of social cognition, society knows itself. Such a coincidence of the subject and object of cognition has a huge impact as on the process of cognition itself and on its results. The resulting social knowledge will always be related to the interests of the individuals who are the subjects of cognition, and this circumstance largely explains the presence of different, often contradictory, conclusions and assessments that arise when studying the same social phenomena. cognition begins with the establishment of social facts. There are three types of such facts: 1) actions or actions of individual individuals or large social groups; 2) products of material or spiritual activity of people; 3) verbal social facts: opinions, judgments, assessments of people. (i.e., explanation) of these facts largely depend on the researcher’s worldview, the interests of the social group to which he belongs, as well as on the tasks that he sets for himself. The purpose of social cognition, as well as cognition in general, is to establish the truth. Truth is the correspondence of the acquired knowledge to the content of the object of knowledge. However, establishing the truth in the process of social cognition is not easy, because: 1) the object of cognition, and it is society, is quite complex in its structure and is in constant development, which is influenced by both objective and subjective factors. Therefore, the establishment of social laws is extremely difficult, and open social laws are probabilistic in nature, because even similar historical events and phenomena are never completely repeated;

;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669">2) the possibility of using such a method of empirical research as experiment is limited (reproducing the social phenomenon being studied at the request of the researcher is almost impossible). Therefore, the most common method of social research is scientific abstraction. The main thing the source of knowledge about society is social reality, practice. Since social life changes quite quickly, in the process of social cognition we can talk about establishing only relative truths.

;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669">To understand and correctly describe the processes taking place in society and to discover the laws of social development is possible only by using a specific historical approach to social phenomena. The main requirements of this approach are:

;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669">1) study not only the situation in society, but also the reasons that resulted in it; 2) consideration of social phenomena in their interrelation and interaction with each other; 3) analysis of the interests and actions of all subjects of the historical process (both social groups and individuals). If in the process of cognition of social phenomena some stable and significant connections are discovered between them, then they usually talk about the discovery of historical patterns. Historical patterns are called common features. which are inherent in a certain group of historical phenomena. The identification of such patterns based on the study of specific social processes in specific societies in a certain historical period constitutes the essence of the specific historical approach and is ultimately the goal of social cognition.

;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669">2. The state is the most important institution political system society. IN political science There is still no consensus on the definition of the concept of state. Various theories highlight one aspect social essence state: either serving the common good, the interests of society and the individual, or organized coercion, suppression by the exploiting classes of the actions of the exploited. One of the most common is the idea of ​​the state as a political-territorial sovereign

;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669">an organization of power in society that has a special apparatus for carrying out its functions and is capable of making its orders binding on the population of the entire country. The state acts as a political, structural and territorial organization of society, as its peculiar outer shell Therefore, when. we're talking about about the state, we must keep in mind not so much the state as a special apparatus, a kind of “machine”, but rather a state-organized society (or, in other words, a politically, territorially and structurally organized form of society). The characteristics of the state that distinguish it from pre-state (primitive communal, tribal) forms of society are:

;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669">1) division of the population by territorial principle what gives rise to such an institution as citizenship (nationality); 2) the presence of a special public authority, separated from society; 3) the presence of a special layer. category of people” professionally involved in management (bureaucracy); 4) taxes intended to ensure that the state carries out its functions; state attributes (anthem, coat of arms. flag). Signs of a state that distinguish it from others political organizations modern society (political parties, trade unions, etc.), are: 1) sovereignty (i.e., the full power of the state within the country and its independence in the international arena); 2) law-making (only the state can issue regulations that are binding on the entire population of the country); 3) monopoly on the legal use of violence. The functions of the state are the main directions of its activities, expressing the essence of the state and corresponding to the main tasks of a certain historical stage development. According to the object of influence, the functions of the state can be divided into internal and external. Internal include: economic (coordination economic processes, and sometimes economic management),

;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669">social (system organization social security), cultural (creating conditions to satisfy the spiritual needs of the population), protective (maintaining the stability of existing social relations, protecting human rights and freedoms, protecting law and order). Among external functions implementation can be highlighted international cooperation and organization of defense

;font-family:"Arial";color:#5e6669">states. Attempts to turn the state into a comprehensive system that completely controls the life of society lead to the establishment of totalitarian dictatorships, the enslavement of the individual by the omnipotent state. Therefore, in democratic societies, only activities to protect the foundations of the existing order, protection of individual rights and freedoms. The state cedes many of its functions to self-governing and self-organizing ones. civil society, “leaving” the economy, social sphere, culture, losing ideological and educational functions. In new crisis moments of the country's development (for example, during years of economic recession, during social unrest and unrest), the state must come to the rescue by exerting a stabilizing external influence on social relations.

Page 1

Social phenomena are natural phenomena that obey natural laws. But they, depending on all other phenomena, are more complex.  

A social phenomenon or process occurs when the behavior of even one individual is influenced by another or their group (community), regardless of whether this individual or community is physically present.  

Basic social phenomena: religion, morality, law, economics, aesthetics - are nothing more than value systems, therefore, these are ideals. Sociology is thus initially situated in the realm of the ideal; she does not come to him gradually, as a result of her research, but proceeds from him.  

New economic, political and social phenomena of the Renaissance led to the formation of a new worldview, which had a beneficial effect on the development of natural sciences. The creation of various kinds of mechanisms with the rapid growth of industry and mining made it necessary to separate mathematics and mechanics from natural philosophy, which studies the most simple shapes movement - mechanical movement of bodies and their mechanical interactions.  

To interpret social phenomena as two things, the sociologist explained, means to recognize their existence independent of the subject and to study them objectively, the way natural spiders study their subject. The goal of sociological science is not limited to describing and ordering social facts through observable objective manifestations.  

After all, social phenomena can be adequately interpreted only as manifestations public life generally. Hence the question arose: is sociology capable of being a means for solving large practical problems? social problems as part of improving the life of society.  

The development of a social phenomenon towards the most complete expression of its social essence occurs in the interaction and mutual reinforcement of external and internal regulatory mechanisms. In the process of socialization, the individual internalizes (to a greater or lesser extent) the standards and ideals of his environment in such a way that they become effective motivational forces for his own behavior, regardless of external sanctions. The individual in this case acts as a conscious potential regulator of his mental activity and behavior, a transformer of the action of external social mechanisms into internal ones.  

The development of a social phenomenon occurs in the interaction of external and internal regulatory mechanisms. In the process of socialization, the individual internalizes the standards and ideals of his environment in such a way that they become effective motivational forces for his own behavior, regardless of external sanctions. The individual in this case acts as a conscious regulator of his behavior and transformer of the action of external social mechanisms into internal ones.  

The complexity of social phenomena leads to the fact that the successful formalization of any fragment of the reality of interest to a sociologist, as a rule, is not unambiguous.  

The diversity of social phenomena and problems, the desire of scientists to organize them in terms of significance for social life lead to the fact that different scientific schools and theories have different views on the subject of sociology. This fact is largely due to the process historical development various sociological schools, initially based on the methods of various social and even natural sciences: psychology, biology, philosophy, law, ethics, etc. The founders of sociology, who made a significant contribution to the process of its formation as a science, were not narrow subject specialists, but most often scientists with a wide range of philosophical, historical, ethical, legal, psychological and natural science knowledge that gave them the opportunity to see social world in its diversity and dialectics of the biosocial.  

Most social phenomena, their acceptability to society depends on their moral assessment.  

The study of social phenomena (through questionnaires, interviews with subordinates, personal observations, setting up a social experiment, etc.) provides specific and accurate information that facilitates the adoption of targeted management decisions and the use of optimal methods for their implementation.  

However, as a social phenomenon, conflict was first considered by A. In his work Research on the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, he wrote that the conflict is based on the division of society into classes and economic rivalry between them.  

However, some social phenomena cannot be attributed only to objective or only to subjective. In the sphere of social reality, they act simultaneously as both objective and subjective. So, the family, on the one hand, is an objective phenomenon, and on the other hand, it is based on a certain population norms, value orientations, social attitudes etc. Therefore, in sociology, many phenomena are considered as objective-subjective (objective-subjective continuum), and not as two mutually exclusive polar opposites. The objects of sociological research are mixed objective-subjective phenomena, which can be more or less objective or subjective.  

UNEMPLOYMENT is a social phenomenon that is inevitable under capitalism, conditioned by the action of objective economic laws of this socio-economic formation.  

What makes it possible not only to describe social phenomena, but also to understand them? spilstva, its history is the activities of people, then it is necessary to analyze how current activities, and its conditions, which are the result of the previous activity. It is impossible not to take into account activities that reproduce known products and methods of their creation, and creative activities. The first preserves stability, stability, established social forms. The second renews them, transforms them, paves the way for the new. It is also important to look at the relationship between material and spiritual activities. Finally, an analysis of the activities of its various subjects is also necessary: ​​how large groups people as well as individuals.

This approach allows us to understand the dependence of the present on the past, as well as the importance of the present as a condition for achieving the future. If you study, for example, manufacturing, then you can understand it only by turning to the craft production from which manufacture grew, and in the latter see the prerequisites for the transition to machine, factory production (think about what this approach does to explain social progress).

We let's understand better the essence and forms of the modern state in developed countries. Europe, if we trace the stages of its development from its inception to the present day. But knowledge modern role and the functions of the state in these countries helps to better understand its previous history. At the same time, knowledge of the past and present makes it possible to identify the trend of development of the state in the future, since the future exists in the present as if it were an embryo.

While demonstrating the general, we cannot forget that not only individual, unique individual events of history, but also the unique historical path of peoples, countries, regions

In any society there is a unique, unique combination of economic, spiritual, social, and political factors. Each society has only its own factors associated with the cult of the people, their historical experience and traditions, worldview, therefore, when studying one country, the knowledge gained from studying another can only be used using the method of analogy.

Analogy is similarity, the similarity of objects in some properties, characteristics, relationships, and of objects that are generally different. If any social process in a water country is similar to that in another, then we can only assume the presence of some common features. The analogy will not give a ready answer. Specific research needed this process in certain, specific conditions, taking into account the diversity of the historical process, the multivariate development of history.

From the above, the following important requirement of the scientific approach follows: the study of social phenomena in their diverse connections, in interdependence. We have already said that the interaction of many factors, various social forces pursuing their own interests, important feature social processes and phenomena. And only by studying these connections and interactions, the position and interests of the acting forces, can one correctly understand the object of study. So, gold itself is only a metal with certain properties. But in some conditions it becomes a material for decoration, in others - a component technological process, and at a certain stage - pennies. Or another example: the role of the state cannot be explained without taking into account the specific economic, social, cultural conditions in a given country at a certain historical stage.

Another requirement of the concrete historical approach is related to the problem of the recurrence of historical events. We said above that historical events are unique in their “pattern”. However, the divergence of individual types of events does not mean that they have nothing in common at all; if it were so, we could not unite them with the words “revolutions”, “peasant uprisings” and etc.. For example, no matter how different the flight of revolutions may be, they always have a displacement of the previous government. And no matter how different the peasant uprisings were, main force each of them were peasants who fought for their interests. If the various connections and interactions become clear during the analysis of the social process, identify the most stable, significant ones, i.e. such, without which the process does not occur, we will discover historical patterns. They and glass provide what is common to this group of phenomena (revolutions, the creation of centralized states, the industrial revolution, etc.). This general thing is repeated in all phenomena belonging to the added group.

The concrete historical approach allows us to understand a separate event, showing both its unique individuality and something common to similar events, their patterns. And if this is so, then the experience of, say, a revolution in one country can help in understanding a similar revolution in another. The concrete experience of history is the lessons of history, conclusions, generalizations brought by history. Comparison of the event under study with specific historical experience contributes to a correct understanding of this event.

So, considering social reality in development, studying social phenomena in diverse connections, identifying the general and the special based on the study of specific processes in specific historical conditions are important principles for the knowledge of social announcements.