Socio-territorial structure of society. Socio-territorial communities in the context of the transformation of Russia olga evstifeeva

Territorial communities are aggregates of people characterized by a common attitude towards a certain economically developed territory, a system of economic, social, political and other ties that distinguish it as a relatively independent unit of the spatial organization of the population's life. Sociology studies the patterns of the impact of the corresponding socio-territorial community (city, village, region) on the social relations of people, their way of life, their social behavior.

The core of one or another unit of the socio-spatial organization of society, even in our age of intensive migration mobility, is quite stable. Therefore, it retains specific features acquired under the influence of the peculiar circumstances of the formation and development of a territorial community. Among these circumstances, it is necessary to name the following:

historical past. It is with the history of the territorial community that the persistent certain labor skills of the population, traditions, some features of everyday life, views, attitudes, etc., are associated;

economic conditions, namely the structure National economy, capital and power-to-labor ratio of labor, the duration of the functioning of industries and enterprises, the development of services, etc. They determine the social and professional composition of the population, the level of its qualifications and culture, education, the structure of leisure, the nature of life, etc .;

natural conditions that have a significant impact on working conditions, the content and level of material needs, the organization of life, forms of interpersonal communication and many other features of the population's lifestyle.

Each territorial community contains all the elements and relations of the general structure of a concrete historical social organism - productive forces, technological-organizational and production relations, classes and social strata, social relations, social management, culture and life, etc. Thanks to this, these communities can function as relatively independent social education.



The territorial community unites people who, despite all the diversity of class, professional, demographic and other differences, have some common social features. Taken together, the characteristics of all groups of the population living in a certain territory make it possible to judge the relative level of development of a particular community.

Territorial communities are of different levels. The highest is the Soviet people, a new historical community of people. It is the object of study of general sociological theory and scientific communism, and its individual components are studied by special sociological disciplines. The next level is national territorial communities, which are the object of ethnosociology and the theory of nations.

The initial in the system of territorial units is the primary territorial community, which has the properties of integrity and indivisibility according to the functional criterion. In other words, its constituent parts cannot perform those specific functions that are inherent in a given socio-territorial unit. Of the various functions of the primary, territorial community, the system-forming function is the function of sustainable socio-demographic reproduction of the population. The latter is ensured by the daily exchange of the main types of activities of people and thereby the satisfaction of their needs.

Social reproduction.

The concept of "socio-demographic reproduction" is specific in relation to the concept of "social reproduction". Social reproduction is a process of evolutionary development of a system of social relations and groups within a socio-economic formation in the form of their cyclical reproduction, it embodies the tendencies of changes in the social structure inherent in this formation.

The socialist process of reproduction is the process of homogenization of society, i.e. rapprochement of social, groups, erasing social and class differences from generation to generation and within the same generation. Social reproduction includes both the recreation of pre-existing elements of the social structure and relations between them, and the emergence and expanded reproduction of new elements and relations. In the course of this process, a changing and developing individual is formed.

If classes, social groups and strata, as well as relationships. between them reproduce - function and develop - on the scale of the whole society, then the process of reproduction of an individual proceeds directly in the primary territorial communities, which ensure its recreation as a living carrier of properties, characteristics of a class, group, layer.

Such primary cells of society as the production collective, the family, as well as various "sectoral" social institutions - education, health care, culture, etc., carry out only partial functions of the individual's reproduction. The specificity of the functions of territorial communities lies in the fact that, integrating the activities of social institutions, they ensure the satisfaction of the basic needs of the individual and thereby his reproduction.

The social reproduction of the individual acts as the social reproduction of the population living in a certain territory. It is inseparable from the processes of demographic reproduction and takes the form of socio-demographic reproduction, which ensures the preparation of new generations to perform socially necessary economic, political and other functions. Therefore, such components as demographic, professional qualification, cultural and other reproduction can be distinguished in it.

Socio-demographic reproduction is not reduced to the physical reproduction of the number of people. It is also a reproduction of the totality of certain social qualities necessary for the normal participation of the population in the functioning and development of society. Thus, in this reproduction, two aspects can be distinguished: quantitative (proper reproduction of individuals) and qualitative (formation - upbringing, recreation of social properties).

By its nature, reproduction is divided into simple, narrowed, expanded with quantitative and qualitative characteristics corresponding to each type. Reproduction of the population in the same number as before with unchanged Social qualities: qualifications, education, etc. is simple. Expanded reproduction is characterized by an increase in the number of new generations and (or) more high level development of their social qualities. Narrowed reproduction is characterized by a decrease in the number of new generations and (or) a decrease in their quality indicators.

The regularity of the development of socialist society is: extended social and, at least, simple demographic reproduction. However, this does not exclude the possibility of significant differences in the mode of reproduction in connection with such factors as the development of the living environment, the quality of management of reproductive processes, etc.

The core of social reproduction (on a society-wide scale) is the reproduction of the social structure, and the essence of the socio-demographic component of this process at the territorial level is the demographic renewal of the components of the social structure, including social displacement.

The condition for the existence and development of the primary territorial community is the relative self-sufficiency of the elements of the artificial and natural environment for the implementation full cycle social and demographic reproduction. In contrast to material production, socio-demographic (i.e., the production of a person himself) is by its nature stationary, territorially inseparable. Therefore, in the literature, the point of view that the increase in functional diversity and the universalization of the living environment are increasingly prevalent is the leading principle of the territorial organization of social production (and reproduction) under socialism (the principle of narrow specialization of settlements is opposite to it).

It is inadmissible to confuse such categories as “city”, “village”, “region”, on the one hand, and territorial community, on the other. The first are complex territorial formations that encompass natural and material-material complexes, as well as a set of people reproducing, i.e., functioning and developing, in the process of production and consumption on the basis of these interconnected complexes. Territorial communities are only these aggregates of people.

INTRODUCTION

The sociology of town and country is, in my opinion, relevant today, since only clearly representing the past of Russian society, its mentality, the peculiarities of life and economic development in history, it is possible to more or less correctly imagine the prospects for the further development of Russia.

The range of problems of the sociology of the city and the countryside includes:

1. determination of their place in society and the system of settlement;

2. the main reasons for the appearance and factors affecting their functioning and development;

3. social structure of the population;

4. features of urban and rural lifestyles;

5. connection with the environment;

6. urban and rural governance and the problems of reviving the traditions of self-government;

7.social factors and consequences of population migration (city - village, village - city), etc.

The work was written on the basis of newspapers and magazines: "Socio-political magazine", "Knowledge is power", "Free thought", "Sotsis".

SOCIOLOGY OF SETTLEMENT.

To understand the state of Russian society and the prospects for its development, it is important to analyze the sociology of settlement. The main thing in the sociological theory of settlement is the identification of a social community of essence different types settlement.

This approach means:

1. disclosure of the social conditionality of the emergence of settlement, its functioning and development;

2. definition of its functions, role in society;

3. the establishment of changes in this role in connection with the transition from one formation to another;

4. Clarification of the impact of resettlement, as well as social, industrial activities of people on the environment.

The sociology of settlement is an area of ​​sociological knowledge that studies the genesis (origin, process of education), the essence and general laws of the development and functioning of cities and villages as integral systems.

The genesis of settlement in the form of a city and a village is a long historical process, during which the organization of space acquires a socially conditioned character. The concept of "resettlement" reflects the entire socially determined spatial complex of living conditions of people, as well as disproportions in their territorial distribution, which determine the social differences of social groups and strata. Resettlement appears as a result reflecting, in a filmed form, the social structure of society.

"Settlement is the placement of people, determined by the method of production, in a correspondingly formed system of living conditions deployed in space and time in the aggregate of their material and spiritual components, aimed at satisfying basic human needs."

Resettlement is a complex and lengthy process that reflects the state of a particular era and presupposes, along with new social relations, a sufficient level of development of production forces.

In a primitive society, the nomadic way of life was the first form of human existence, this is mainly due to natural and geographical factors. Primitive society did not know the differentiation of settlement, for the very community of people was formed on a tribal, clan basis. The settlement took place on a dispersed basis, since consanguineous groups of people lived in caves scattered in the developed territory. Social beginnings in public life experienced their inception, separation from natural. Territorial differences were in the natural conditions of life and activities of people and did not have a social connotation, tk. were conditioned by nature. The process of the formation of settlements is especially intensified when the crisis of the hunting - collective economy occurs and the transition to agriculture is carried out, which tied people to a certain place. Qualitatively homogeneous economic activity the primitive communal system reproduced forms of settlement adequate to it. The relative originality was introduced by the density or sparseness of the territory in terms of its population by individual tribes. In general, due to the lack of a basis for the formation of isolated social groups of the population in a primitive society long time there was a similar settlement in the form of autonomous settlements close to the traditional rural. Further economic development gave the settlements the character of a system, subordinating their interests to its main elements (settlements), integrally polarized in the form of traditional dismemberment - "city - village".

In the period of antiquity, the city and the village had not yet been distinguished as independent settlements. Antiquity was characterized by a kind of symbiosis "city - village", which was ubiquitous, including territories with cities - centers. The cities were a group of settlements close to the rural, rural type.

During the formation of the slave system, the organization of space gradually acquires a stable character. Underdeveloped cities and villages give way to socially differentiated settlement. At this time, the formation of the first urban organisms, or, as they are more accurately called, proto-cities, takes place. In the evolution of settlement, the crystallization of urban and rural functions and the emergence of opposites between town and country become noticeable. This was largely due to the division of labor, which led to the separation of industrial and commercial labor from agricultural labor and thus - to the separation of the city from the countryside. Since then, the conditions and place of human activity are determined by his social status and economic capabilities.

Thus, "city" and "village" act in the aggregate of settlements rather as collective concepts, mainly covering the variety of existing forms of settlement and expressing the differences between settlements. The historical development of a city (village) cannot be a continuous process of evolution. There are many similarities between the ancient polis, the medieval and the modern city, but the layering of eras in the development of settlement is observed only in the inherited material - spatial material forms and architectural solutions, and not in their socio - economic content.

The differences between the city and the countryside of different eras lie in political, socio - economic, recreational, aesthetic and other functions. Behind the spatial transformations in the settlement network, there are changes in its structure and functional organization, which is determined by social political changes society.

SOCIOLOGY OF THE CITY.

The sociology of the city, in my opinion, should be considered open to science and practice, like all sociology, from the period when a person became a subject of the historical process, i.e. from the period of bourgeois revolutions. Until then, we have the right to talk about the history of the city, about modest local attempts to solve the social problems of its inhabitants. Until the 19th century inclusive, cities were created and emerged as symbols of power, as centers of trade, as port cities (as in ancient time, and in the Middle Ages). And with the onset of the era of capitalism, cities were created for a long time as a result of industrialization, as centers of development natural resources... It was only on the threshold of the 20th century that the concepts of the French architect T. Garnier and the English urbanist E. Howard appeared, in which the ideas of dividing cities into an industrial and residential zone, as well as a recreation, service and recreation zone were expressed. It is with this that the sociology of the city, urban agglomerations and all settlements that claim this name begins.

A special place is occupied by the city as a social - territorial entity, where the interests of society, labor collectives, institutions, organizations and the interests of the person himself as a resident are most closely intertwined. The 20th century can, in a sense, be called the century of the mass emergence of cities. The process of urbanization covered all countries, especially industrialized ones, which led to the fact that the majority of the population was concentrated in urban settlements. At the same time, the city-forming factors were not only the concentration of industry. But also science, recreation, processing of raw materials, including agricultural, etc.

This process is no exception for our country, in which the process of urban planning took place in huge scale... During the years of Soviet power (until 1989), 1481 cities were formed. A characteristic feature of the current period is their steady consolidation: in Russia 57 cities have a population of more than 500 thousand people, including 23 - more than 1 million inhabitants. Pungency social development cities at the present stage is explained primarily by the fact that at present they are home to the majority (71%) of the country's population.

The problematic and range of research in urban sociology is currently the subject of wide discussion in the sociological literature. The theoretical foundations of non-Marxist urban sociology were laid in the works of M. Weber (analysis of the city in the context of historical development society, its economic system, culture and political institutions), Tennis (contrasting urban and rural forms of social life) and Simmel (highlighting some characteristic features urban culture). Currently, spatial analysis of the city is used to study the social segregation of various social strata and ethnic groups in cities.

The city is a geographically concentrated form of settlement of people engaged mainly in non-agricultural labor. The city is characterized by a variety of labor and non-production activities of the population, social and professional heterogeneity, a specific way of life.

Urban culture is characterized by: the predominance of anonymous, business, short-term, partial and superficial contacts in interpersonal communication; a decrease in the importance of territorial communities; attenuation of neighboring bonds; the diminishing role of the family; variety of cultural stereotypes; instability of the social status of a city dweller, an increase in his social mobility; weakening the influence of traditions in the regulation of personality behavior.

The urban way of life in our country is determined and characterized by: employment of the population mainly by industrial forms of labor and the resulting social and professional structure; relatively high spatial, professional and social mobility; a wide range of types of work and leisure; significant distance between housing and places of work; the predominance of state and cooperative housing stock over private; a change in the role of a personal subsidiary farm (garden plot), its transformation from a source of livelihood into one of the forms of health-improving recreation; a large amount of information necessary for a person, which leads to psychological overload and requires new ways of organizing recreation; a significant degree of ethnic integration and socio-ethnic variety in family and friendships; high density of human contacts.

In connection with the development of the urban way of life, two kinds of problems come into play. Some of them are associated with the study and formation of mechanisms for creating new patterns of social relations in production and beyond, with the development of forms and norms of social and cultural consumption and the creation of mechanisms for the continuity of various norms of culture and social relations. Others are aimed at redistributing existing and freeing up additional resources to accelerate the development of these processes. The most important is the problem of mutual coordination of the city's jobs and professional qualities of the working population, on the one hand, and real discrepancies between its requirements and expectations for jobs and the existing structure of jobs in the city, on the other.

The extensive path of industrial development, reproducing the same far from the most efficient structure of jobs on an ever-expanding scale, thereby stimulates a regular influx of labor from the outside, which leads to excessive urban growth. This problem is most acute in small and medium-sized cities, especially with one dominant industry. The bottom line is that the monofunctionality of the city predetermines the predominant demand for labor of any one sex. For example, Ivanovo is the center of the textile industry, which employs predominantly female labor. As a result, during the formation of the city's population, there is a bias towards women, as a result of which the process of population reproduction is disrupted, divorces become more frequent, etc. In addition, the monofunctionality of the city makes it practically unrealistic to choose an activity, negates the conditions for a change in labor, which in turn leads to an increase in migration of the population, and especially of young people.

An increasing influence on the development of culture, politics and the entire way of life of mankind is exerted by the phenomenon of not only the growth of the planet's population, but also the concentration of people in individual large agglomerations. Large cities are growing rapidly, absorbing the surrounding villages, merging with each other, forming megalopolises. In our country, there are a number of large and super-large agglomerations: Moscow, Ural, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, which are fundamentally new social problems caused by the residence of a huge number of the population in a limited area. The very functioning of cities and agglomerations has both general and specific problems.

For all of them, the adaptation of visitors, the public and the environment, the development of modern housing, and rational organization have become paramount. Everyday life of people.

But there are also specific problems. In large cities, this is the streamlining of social infrastructure, bringing production and cultural and household needs into line, in small cities - efficient use labor resources, improvement, creation of a modern complex of amenities, housing and public services. A lot sensitive issues emerges in new cities. Experience in the design, construction and operation of Naberezhnye Chelny, Divnogorsk, cities of the Tyumen North suggests that the absence necessary conditions for the rational organization of the daily life of the population leads to dissatisfaction with the place of work and residence and, as a consequence, to migration. The solution to this problem may be to provide young Siberian cities with stable qualified personnel.

Transition to new high technologies leads not only to population shifts. Migration first from villages to workers' settlements, then from settlements to cities, and from cities to megacities is typical for most regions of the planet. Villages, and even more so farmsteads, are disappearing, this is due to the peculiarities of people's life and work. They are replaced by megalopolises with their problems and advantages, which include the following: it is more profitable to do business in large cities, organize production, trade, create educational complexes, etc.

Summing up, we can say with confidence that it is necessary to deal with the problem of cities today, and it is necessary to understand not only from the position of the municipal administrator, but from the position of science, for which the concentration of the population is a natural phenomenon that does not arise from someone's evil will and which became a natural consequence of the development of civilization, and hence the evolution of man.

SOCIOLOGY OF THE VILLAGE.

Like a city, a village as an object of sociology is a historically developed internally differentiated socio-territorial subsystem. It is characterized by a special unity of the artificial material and material environment, dominating over it natural and geographical conditions, a dispersed type of social and spatial organization of people.

A village differs from a city in a lesser degree of socio-economic development, a well-known lag in the level of people's well-being, their way of life, which accordingly affects the social structure and lifestyle of the population. It is characterized by a relative (in comparison with the city) paucity of types of labor activity, great social and professional homogeneity. The village is relatively stable independent system, which is a socio-spatial subsystem of society. In its main components, it is identical to the city and at the same time dichotomous to it; together with the city historically forms the integrity of the social and territorial structure of society.

The main differences between the rural lifestyle and the urban one are less developed labor in social reproduction, its lagging behind in mechanization and power supply, relatively weak differentiation in the sphere of labor application, less variety of jobs and weak opportunities for their choice, subordination of labor to the rhythms and cycles of nature, unevenness of labor. employment, more difficult working conditions, etc.

The rural way of life is also characterized by the necessity and labor intensity of work in the household and subsidiary plots; a small variety of leisure activities; poor labor mobility; great fusion of work and life. Interpersonal relations in the village are also specific. Here socially and nationally homogeneous families prevail, there is no anonymity of communication, social roles are weakly formalized. Strong social control of the community over the behavior of people, traditions, customs, local authorities are of great importance. The rhythm of life in the countryside is predominantly less stressful than in the city, a person experiences less psychological stress, uses more simple forms communication.

In many ways, the functions of a town and a village are similar, but each type of settlement has its own specific functions. The most important functions of the village include spatial and communication. Interest in this feature is growing these days. It is necessary to know it in terms of identifying further opportunities for the development of the country's territory and assessing the role of rural settlements in solving the food problem. Creation of reliable infrastructure (railway networks, highways, construction of airfields and runways, etc.) when deciding the translation Agriculture on the farming path of development is of utmost importance.

The next important aspect, closely related to this function, is the problem of satisfying spiritual needs, “satisfying” the information hunger of the villagers. This refers not only to the consumption of mass media - television, radio, newspapers. The question is much broader. The fact is that the activity of consumption and production of spiritual values ​​has sharply increased on the basis of a new higher educational level of the population and new spiritual needs.

The village has been performing a donor function for 100 years already. More resources are drawn from the village than are given in return. The reason is the steady migration from village to city. The cost of education, study, vocational training was largely borne by the village, and the income from the realization of the labor potential of people who left for the city went to the latter.

The city has always attracted the population of villages, farmsteads, villages, small towns. Thus, from the mid-1920s to the mid-1980s, the urban population increased by 80 million people. In modern large cities of Russia, the share of migrants is 2/3 of the urban population. This is how the problem of providing labor force cities. But it was solved by "pulling" resources, the best workforce from the countryside.

Since the 90s, the migration flow from city to village and city to village has increased. This is due to the deterioration in the life of the population in cities, especially unemployed pensioners, a significant rise in the cost of travel on rail, road transport and other reasons. Thus, by 1994 St. Petersburg had “lost” more than 200 thousand of its inhabitants, and their number for the first time in the last 15 years became less than 5 million people. This trend has not affected Moscow, which is home to more than 11 million people.

V last years the influx of migrants into the village from the Far North, from Murmansk to Anadyr, as well as from neighboring countries and hot spots of Russia has increased.

The village is aging more and more. The share of able-bodied people born in the village does not exceed 20%. Half of the migrants who came to the village are pensioners, insufficiently trained and incapable of productive intensive work.

Rural relationships in modern Russia are pretty specific. The central subjects of Russian peasant societies were and remain, on the one hand, large collective farms and, on the other, family peasant households. Selection is in progress now different possibilities and the rules for the socio-economic survival of the peasantry. The collective farm and joint-stock company often act in relation to the peasant as the most cruel exploiter of his labor. This manifests itself, in particular, in the form of non-payment of wages.

In the struggle of the subjects of the current peasantry, the initiative remains with the yard, the farmer, they are more decisive and agile. The connection between the collective farm, joint-stock companies and the peasant household is becoming weaker and more one-sided: the court seeks to take as much as possible and give as little as possible to the collective farm or joint-stock company. The peasants themselves feel the psychological discomfort of a double life: for themselves and for the collective farm.

Another specific feature of the economic, social and other relations that are developing in rural areas is not a course towards strengthening the production base and improving the economic mechanism for stimulating production development, but towards a hasty change in the forms of ownership and organization of farms.

The number of villages, as mentioned above, is invariably getting smaller and smaller. And this is not surprising, since in 1998 Russian agriculture suffered more losses than in 1997, by 10 billion rubles. 92% of all joint stock companies, collective and state farms, as well as farms are unprofitable.

There are several reasons for this. The main one is the government policy in relation to this critical area National economy. In all countries of the world that hold leading positions in the field of agricultural production, this industry is subsidized (the amount of subsidies is from 30 to 60% of the total volume of production). Agriculture in Russia contributes 2.2% of the annual GDP. In addition, residents of farms, villages, villages incur heavy losses from off-road conditions, from the lack of cars, machinery for processing agricultural products, etc.

So, in our time, it is not “the elimination of the village” that is important, but its social arrangement, the qualitative transformation of rural settlement, the establishment of closer, intensive social ties between urban and rural settlements, and so on.

CONCLUSION.

Summing up the above, I would like to emphasize the importance of considering this problem, since, despite its relevance, it does not attract the proper interest of scientists theorists and practitioners.

The problem of urban growth and the resulting problems must be addressed not from the standpoint of local officials, but from the standpoint of science. It is necessary to develop a plan for the design and creation of new cities rationally, since now, oddly enough, old cities are more convenient for living.

In addition, it is necessary to prevent the "impoverishment" of the village, its aging. It is advisable to change the policy of the state in relation to villages, farms, agriculture in general.

The problem of population migration should not be overlooked either. Earlier, the reasons for migration were highlighted. Proceeding from them, it is possible to find a solution to this problem, which, in my opinion, consists in creating a favorable ecological climate, i.e. carrying out comprehensive measures to protect environment... It would not be superfluous to create a sufficient number of jobs. It is essential that people have a sufficient number of different professions to choose from. In addition, wages and pensions should be in line with the price level. This will lead to a decrease in migration both from city to village and vice versa. In addition, the “aging” of villages will finally end.

It is necessary to create closer ties between town and country, in order to at least in this way establish the agricultural economy.

It may be worth introducing a number of new benefits in order to attract young people to villages, farms, villages, since at present it is considered extremely un prestigious to live and work there.

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K. Popper attributed both urban and rural communities to the settlement communities. The social problems of these communities are varied. Between people living in different types settlements (primarily in the city or village) there are very significant social. differences in terms of capabilities professional activity, comfort of life, prestige. Since in different settlements live from generation to generation long time, then gradually a community of people living there develops, who, in close connection with the natural, climatic, economic and social conditions, develop common traditions, values, and the specifics of language and culture are formed. A settlement community is being formed, uniting people with these common qualities... The most important system-forming signs of community are stable economic, social, political, spiritual, etc. ties.

It is these connections and relationships that distinguish this spatial organization of people and distinguish it from others. Relationships and connections between people in various spheres (economic, political and social) differ significantly, for example, in the city and the countryside, in a capital city and a small provincial town, i.e. territorial community is determined by the form of settlement of people. In sociology, such forms of settlement as the city, the village are complex territorial formations that unite the natural, material-material complex and the territorial community of people.

In modern conditions, a city and a village exist as historically formed territorial communities of people that have embodied huge qualitative changes. The city is a historically specific social and spatial form of the existence of society, which arose as a result of the social division of labor, i.e. separation of handicrafts from agriculture. The population is concentrated in the city, which is not employed in agriculture, but in production and in the non-production sphere (health care, education, science, banking, etc.). With the development of production, the population of cities becomes more diverse, the number and density of the population in a rather limited area increases. The urban community is viewed as a complex structure of various social strata. The spatial organization of the city is most often presented in the form of concentrated zones, each of which belongs to a special social community, a layer. In modern conditions, spatial analysis of the city is used to study social segregation, i.e. separation of part of the population, as well as various social strata and ethnic groups in cities (vivid examples are the Harlem area, the place of residence of the Negro population of New York, or the center of Moscow - a prestigious place of residence of high-ranking officials and businessmen). American sociologist Wirth believed that the size, density and heterogeneity of the population find their expression in a special urban culture, which is characterized by:

  • - the predominance of anonymous, business, short-term contacts in interpersonal communication;
  • - a decrease in the importance of a territorial community;
  • - attenuation of neighboring ties;
  • - a decrease in the role of families;
  • - increasing social mobility.

A village (village) is a historically specific social and spatial sphere of the existence of society, which arose as a result of the social division of labor, that is, the separation of handicrafts from agricultural production. The village - a place of concentration of the population, mainly engaged in agricultural labor, differs significantly from the city. The village is characterized mainly by a low population density, a small number of inhabitants in each settlement. The countryside is characterized by the subordination of the character and cycle of labor to the cycles of nature. The countryside is characterized by a small variety of work and leisure activities, uneven employment, more difficult working and living conditions, greater cohesion of work and everyday life, tension and labor intensity of work at home, in subsidiary farming. In the village, family ties are strong, homogeneous families prevail, there is no anonymity of communication, social roles are weakly formalized, all people are controlled by the rural social community. Traditions, customs, and local authorities play an important role in the life of rural residents. The rhythm is less tense than in the city, the person experiences less psychological stress.

Sociology of the city is a section of sociology that studies the genesis, essence and general laws of the development and functioning of the city as an integral system. The city as a settlement community acts as the subject of sociology. Sociology of the city develops problems:

  • - determining the place of the city in society and the settlement system,
  • - the main reasons for the appearance and factors influencing the development of the city,
  • - determination of the main subsystems of the city and the establishment of their interconnections,
  • - the social structure of the population,
  • - features of the urban lifestyle,
  • - features of urban culture,
  • - the nature, focus, reproduction cycles of urban subsystems and the city as a whole,
  • - links with the environment,
  • - the social nature of urbanization,
  • - the social and cultural role of large cities.

Sociology considers the city as a component of the social organism of the whole society, a component of a concrete historical society, an element of its structure.

Sociology of the city, within which there are also several sections that analyze the nature of the city, determine its type and how this city affects the position and life of people in them. Cities are small (up to 100 thousand), medium (up to 500 thousand), and large. There are separate statistics for millionaire cities and giant cities (Moscow, New York, Tokyo). How bigger city, especially wide choose he provides opportunities for work, recreation, housing. On the other hand, large cities increase the pace of life in them, more intensely. Transport problems are becoming more and more urgent, the level of anonymity of residence is increasing. Cities are also divided into metropolitan and peripheral cities. Each type has its own characteristics. Capital cities are more focused on world samples of culture, housing, communications, communication. Peripheral - more conservative, poor.

In modern society, migration from the countryside to the city predominates. As a result of moving to the city, most of the rural population masters more complex specialties and moves to higher social strata. The study of settlement communities came to the conclusion that as social progress develops, the role of cities is constantly increasing, and the process of urbanization is increasing. Urbanization is the process of increasing the role of the city in the development of society. The main content of urbanization consists in special urban relations, covering the socio-professional and demographic structure of the population, its way of life, culture, distribution of productive forces, and resettlement.

A socio-territorial community is a collection of people who permanently reside in a certain territory and carry out joint activities to meet their economic and social needs.

Socio-territorial communities have system-forming features, the main of which are stable economic, social, political, spiritual and ideological ties and relations. This makes it possible to single out a socio-territorial community as an independent system of spatial organization of human life.

Socio-territorial communities include the population of a city, village, town, village, a separate area of ​​a large city. More complex territorial and administrative entities - a district, region, territory, state, province, etc. also act as such communities.

Investigating socio-territorial communities, sociologists focus on the study of the city (sociology of the city) and the countryside (sociology of the countryside).

Town - it's big locality whose inhabitants are engaged in non-agricultural labor. The city is characterized by a variety of labor and non-production activities of the population, the specificity of its social composition and way of life.

The allocation of a city as a territorial unit in different countries has its own characteristics. Thus, in a number of countries, cities include settlements with a population of several hundred people, although the generally accepted indicator is from 3 to 10 thousand inhabitants. In the Russian Federation, a city is a settlement with a population of over 12 thousand people, of which at least 85% are employed outside the agricultural sector. Cities are divided into small (with a population of up to 50 thousand people), medium (50-100 thousand people) and large (over 100 thousand people). Cities with a population of over 1 million people stand out. At the same time, cities with a population of over 2 million people are considered to be megacities.

The development of cities is associated with urbanization, the main social content of which lies in special "urban relations" covering the socio-professional and demographic structure of the population, its way of life, culture, distribution of productive forces, and resettlement. Urbanization is characterized by an influx of rural population into cities, an increase in the proportion of the urban population, an increase in the number of large cities, an increase in the availability of large cities for the entire population, etc.

An important moment in the development of urbanization was the transition from the "point" to the "areal" structure of settlement. This meant the expansion not of the city itself, but of its zones of influence to more and more distant territories. A complex complex of social space, including a city, suburbs, settlements, was named agglomeration. Agglomeration becomes the main element of "areal" settlement. On this basis, a new phenomenon appears in the socio-demographic structure of the area - pendulum migration of the population, associated with the increasing mobility of residents of the city and the peripheral environment.

The urbanization process has both positive and Negative consequences... Among the former are the spread of new, improved forms of lifestyle and social organization; creation of favorable conditions for the development of science, technology, culture; choice of various types of education and professional activity; ample opportunities for more interesting spending of free time, etc .; among the latter - an exacerbation environmental issues; increased incidence; an increase in social disorganization, crime, deviation, etc.

According to a number of experts, the growth of large cities requires the establishment of certain restrictions. This concerns the planning of residential buildings, the location of industrial enterprises, the expansion of park areas, attitude to nature, etc.

Village - it is a small settlement, the inhabitants of which are engaged in agricultural work. This form of socio-territorial community is characterized by a direct connection of residents with the land, seasonal cyclic work, a small variety of occupations, relative social and professional homogeneity of the population and a specific rural way of life.

Historically, the name "village" originated in the north-east of Russia, from where it spread to other regions of the country. Another typical type of settlement was the village, which was different from the village. large size and the presence of a manor house or church. Smaller settlements were called settlements, farms, repairs, settlements, etc. On the Don and Kuban, large rural settlements are called stanitsa. In Central Asia, the main type of settlement is the kishlak, and in the mountainous regions of the North Caucasus - the aul.

Currently, in accordance with the town planning code, rural settlements include villages, stanitsa, villages, farmsteads, kishlaks, auls, camps, settlements and other similar socio-territorial communities. All these settlements can be summarized by the concept of "village", reflecting a specific complex of socio-economic, cultural, everyday and natural conditions of rural life.

Within the framework of the sociology of the village, the laws of the emergence, development and functioning of rural socio-territorial communities are investigated. Special attention is devoted to the study of issues such as employment of the population, its professional and socio-demographic structure, the organization of leisure in the countryside, lifestyle, culture and spiritual interests of rural residents.

Social community- this is a really existing, empirically fixed set of individuals, differing in relative integrity and acting as an independent subject of the historical process. Social communities are relatively stable aggregates of people, differing in more or less the same features of conditions and way of life, mass consciousness, a commonality of social norms, value systems and interests. Social communities are not created by people consciously, but are formed under the influence of an objective course social development, the joint nature of human life.

Different types of community are formed on a different objective basis. One kind of community - based on the territorial principle... it socio-territorial communities... Others arise ethnicallynational communities.



Territorial communities(from Lat. territorium - district, region) - communities that differ in belonging to historically established territorial formations. This is a collection of people who permanently reside in a certain territory and are linked by bonds of joint relations to a given economically developed territory. Territorial communities include the population of a city, village, town, village, or a separate area of ​​a large city. As well as more complex territorial and administrative entities - district, region, territory, state, province, republic, federation, etc.

Each territorial community has certain basic elements and relations: production forces, production and technological-organizational relations, classes, social strata and groups, management, culture, etc. Thanks to them, territorial communities have the opportunity to function as relatively independent social entities. In territorial communities, people unite, despite class, professional, demographic and other differences, on the basis of some common social and cultural features acquired by them under the influence of the peculiar circumstances of their formation and development, as well as on the basis of common interests.

Let's highlight territorial community criteria:

  • territorial concentration of the population;
  • spatial isolation and localization of most of the main functions for the reproduction of a territorial group of the population in a relatively compact territory;
  • the relative "self-sufficiency" of the production and non-production spheres to meet the basic needs of the population;
  • socio-economic integrity, manifested in a greater intensity of internal ties as compared to external ones;
  • the homogeneity of the conditions for the functioning of a local community and the specificity generated by their unity qualitative composition the population and the environment of its life;
  • awareness by the majority of residents of their belonging to a given territorial community, their social self-identification;
  • the members of the community have common interests that form certain types of behavior of the territorial group;
  • the presence of elements of self-government.

Any community is formed on the basis of the same living conditions of people from which it is formed. But the totality of people becomes a community only when they are able to realize this similarity of conditions, to show their attitude towards them. In this regard, they develop a clear understanding of who is "theirs" and who is "alien." Accordingly, there is an understanding of the unity of their interests in comparison with other communities. Awareness of this manifested itself among the tribal societies of the primitive communal system. This awareness is inherent in any nationality and nation.

Nationality- a term denoting belonging to a people or the presence of some of its qualities. People- this is a large group of people connected mainly by their place of residence. In the ethnic sense, this term refers to all historically formed types of ethnic communities: tribes, nationalities, nations. Translated from Greek, ethnos (ethnos) means people. Since the beginning of the 50s of our century, people began to call different kinds ethnos at the stage of development between the tribe and the nation. Thus, a nationality is an ethnic and social community that historically follows a tribe and precedes a nation.

Another ethnic community is the nation. Nation(from Lat. natio - people) - a type of ethnos that is historically formed and reproduced on the basis of common territory, economic ties, language, cultural characteristics, mental make-up and consciousness of unity and difference from similar formations (self-awareness). This definition is dominant in modern literature. However, at present, when defining a nation, they often focus not on ethnic characteristics, but on characteristics stadial and ethnosocial, distinguishing the nation from the historically preceding nationality. These signs include: language unification, mainly in the process of spreading its literary form through the education system, literature and the media; development of professional culture and art; the formation of a class and social composition corresponding to the level of industrial development, etc.

Nationality- This is belonging to a particular nation. At the same time, in Western European languages ​​this concept is mainly used to denote the nationality of people (citizenship), and the expression " ethnicity"(ethnic nationality).

Social processes (demographic, migration, urbanization, industrialization) as an undesirable result can have a destructive, disorganized effect on social communities. The phenomena of disorganization are reflected both on the external (formal) structure of communities and on their internal, functional characteristics. So, if from the outside, processes such as migration, urban development, industry, etc. lead to the disintegration of large families that formed earlier from two or three generations, in territorial communities - to an increase in the number of migrants as part of the indigenous population, to disruption of the natural age and sex structure, then the disorganization of the functions of such communities is expressed in the undermining of values, an increase in the inconsistency of standards and patterns of behavior, a weakening of the normative structure of the community, then in turn leads to an increase in deviations in the behavior of its members.

Among social reasons disorganizing the personality, one can attribute its participation either in several social communities that impose contradictory social values ​​and behavior patterns on it, or in those characterized by uncertainty social roles, i.e., the requirements for the individual, the absence social control, ambiguity of the criteria for assessing behavior. As a rule, this kind of phenomenon is associated with a weakening of the socio-psychological effect of community, which serves as a means of intragroup cohesion and mutual understanding.

Under these conditions, the so-called normal social communities are not in all cases able to ensure the performance of a number of their essential functions, that is, to provide the individual with a consistent, internally non-contradictory system of norms of behavior, to stimulate a sense of solidarity and belonging to it, to provide an ordered system of social stages. prestige and recognition, etc.