Social changes in society occur as a result of purposeful human activity, which consists of individual social actions and interactions. The collection of unidirectional and repetitive social actions that can be distinguished from many other social actions is called a social process.

From the whole variety of social processes, some common features can be distinguished, R. Park and E. Burgess developed a classification of the main social processes... These are the processes of cooperation, competition (rivalry), adaptation, conflict, assimilation, amalgamation. To them are usually added two other social processes that manifest themselves only in groups - the maintenance of boundaries and systematic connections.

The word cooperation comes from two Latin words: "ko" - "together" and "operari" - to work.

Competition is one method of distributing insufficient rewards (that is, one that is not enough for everyone). Other methods are of course possible.

First, people themselves can reduce competition. If the conditions of the struggle are associated with unnecessary anxiety, risk and loss of a sense of certainty and security, they begin to protect themselves from competition.

Second, competition appears to be a stimulating agent only in some areas of human activity. Where the task facing people is simple and requires the implementation of elementary actions, the role of competition is very great and there is a gain due to additional incentives. But as the task gets more difficult, the quality of work becomes more important, competition is less beneficial.

Third, competition tends to turn into conflict.

Adaptation is the acceptance by an individual or a group of cultural norms, values and standards of action of a new environment, when the norms and values learned in the old environment do not lead to the satisfaction of needs, do not create acceptable behavior. For example, emigrants in a foreign country are trying to adapt to a new culture; schoolchildren go to college and must adapt to new requirements, to a new environment. In other words, adaptation is the formation of a type of behavior suitable for life in a changed environment.

Compromise is a form of accommodation, which means that an individual or group accepts changing conditions and culture by partially or completely accepting new goals and ways to achieve them. Each individual usually tries to reach an agreement, taking into account his own strengths and what forces the surrounding changing environment has in a particular situation. Compromise is a balance sheet, a temporary agreement; as soon as the situation changes, you have to look new compromise... In cases where the goals and ways of achieving them for an individual or a group cannot satisfy the individual, a compromise cannot be reached and the individual does not adapt to new environmental conditions.

Assimilation is a process of mutual cultural penetration through which individuals and groups come to a common culture shared by all participants in the process. It is always a two-way process, in which each group has the ability to penetrate its culture into other groups in proportion to its size, prestige and other factors. Assimilation can significantly weaken and extinguish group conflicts by mixing separate groups into one big one with a homogeneous culture. This is because social conflict involves the separation of groups, but when the cultures of the groups are assimilated, the very cause of the conflict is eliminated.

Amalgamation is the biological mixing of two or more ethnic groups or peoples, after which they become one group or people. Thus, the Russian nation was formed by biological mixing of many tribes and peoples (Pomors, Varangians, Western Slavs, Meri, Mordovians, Tatars, etc.). Racial and national prejudice, caste isolation, or deep conflict between groups can form a barrier to amalgamation. If it is incomplete, status systems may appear in society, in which status will be measured by "blood purity." For example, in Central America or in some parts South America to have high statuses, you need Spanish origin. But only the process of amalgamation ends completely, the lines between groups are erased and the social structure no longer depends on the "purity of blood".

Maintaining boundaries. The significance of the processes of assimilation and amalgamation is mainly in the erasure of boundaries between groups, the elimination of formal separation, in the emergence of a common identification of the members of the group.

The desire to preserve the boundaries of the group is supported by sanctions applied to those who do not respect such boundaries, and by rewarding individuals who seek to consolidate and preserve them. The reward may consist in access to certain positions through membership in associations, closeness in spirit in a friendly company, etc. Punishments, or negative sanctions, most often consist in the cancellation or deprivation of rewards

Creation of a system of connections. Every nation that has territorial boundaries needs international trade. In the same way, all social groups that are within certain boundaries also need to create some types of connections with other groups in a given society. If the absence of significant boundaries leads to the fact that a given group completely merges with society or any other group, then its lack of relationships with other groups leads to its isolation, loss of opportunities for growth, and performance of functions that are not characteristic of it. Even the hateful and highly insular clans in primitive societies have sometimes turned to a "silent barter" system with their enemies. Without coming into personal contact with them, they left in a certain place goods for exchange, which representatives of other clans exchanged for their goods.

The concept of "social process"

Remark 1

Any society is characterized by the interaction of internal and external forces, if this does not happen, then the society is doomed to death.

In the lives of people, certain changes occur, development is taking place, and some processes that have exhausted their potential are replaced by others. All social processes bring to life both subjective and objective circumstances, and social changes occur in the process of joint actions of people.

One way or another, people necessarily participate in social processes, when, for example, they correct their behavior, look for a way out of difficult situations, change their position in the economic and political spheres, therefore social processes in the life of society play a very important role.

The results of social processes can be both positive and negative.

As participants in social processes, people cannot always influence them for the reason that control is lost as a result of the inability to understand the internal mechanism of the changes taking place.

The social process is characterized by a rather pronounced time component - the time factor in the study of socio-economic processes is one of the criteria for formalizing processes.

Economic, political, cultural processes are constantly superimposed on each other, and people are constantly at their center. Some processes provide the background for people to solve everyday problems, while others may well be the subject of study.

This distinction divides the process into practical and cognitive. A person, in the course of practical actualization of the social process, which presupposes a low degree of reflection, is inclined to experience its consequences for himself either by complete ignorance, adaptation, open opposition or purposeful withdrawal.

Depending on his attitude to the process, a person chooses one or another strategy, and deliberately underestimating the importance of some and increasing the importance of other processes. Of course, in this case, he will be based on his own ideas about the process and simple life experience.

Subordinating the processes to his own line of behavior and his option of possible actions will be his priority task.

The factor of reflection in the context of cognitive actualization comes to the fore, the essence of which is to determine all the properties of the process and possible consequences.

Description, explanation, understanding and prognosis are the main functions of the cognitive actualization of the social process, and the identification of the causes and factors of influence is the goal.

Remark 2

Thus, the social process represents socially significant changes in society, which are caused by the desire of various groups to influence the conditions prevailing in society in order to satisfy certain interests.

When interests of different social groups collide, there is a domination of one over the other. The position of social subjects striving to achieve balance in relationships is heterogeneous, which determines the vector of the social process.

A social process is impossible without a structure that includes all the participants, factors and conditions, as well as dynamics, which is based on indicators of the strength and scale of changes, their duration and working rhythm.

The characteristics of the process are the scale, direction, intensity, composition, nature of stimulation.

The scale refers to the measurement of the degree of involvement of the subjects in it. A vector expressing the orientation of the process towards a particular outcome characterizes the direction of the process.

The perceived importance of the results of the process for the involvement of participants, speak about its intensity. Participants in the process, their social stratification, political orientation, place in the social division of labor, are the components of the process.

The nature of the stimulation is manifested in the policy of the subject, who directs and controls this process. Hence, the process can be steady or forced, impetuous or sluggish.

Types of social processes

Purposeful activity of people is the cause of social changes in society.

Despite the huge variety of social processes, sociologists were able to classify them and highlight the main social processes that have common features:

cooperation;
competition;
device;
conflict;
assimilation;
amalgamation.

Quite often, two more processes can be attached to them that have a group manifestation - the maintenance of boundaries and systematic connections.

Cooperation is an association of a large group of people working in one large organization. It is based on concerted actions and common goals, for the achievement of which mutual understanding and the establishment of rules for cooperation are necessary.

Sociologists believe that disinterestedness lies at the heart of people's desire to cooperate, but studies have shown that it is the cooperation of people that is more conducive to selfish goals. This means that mutual benefit is the main point of cooperation.

The second type of social processes is competition, which is a struggle between groups, communities or individuals for the mastery of some values. These may include money, status, love, power, etc. Since the stocks of values are limited and unevenly distributed, competition is a kind of struggle for reward, and for this it is necessary to outstrip or remove a rival who has the same goals.

Life in society presupposes acceptance by the individual of the established norms of values and standards of this environment. If these norms and values do not satisfy the needs of the individual, then it is necessary to accept the norms and values of the new environment, i.e. adapt.

Since the conditions of the external environment are constantly changing, the processes of adaptation or adaptation are continuous. The adaptation can be short-term or long-term.

In this complex process, submission, compromise, and tolerance stand out. Tolerance, or as they say today, tolerance to a new situation, new values, new samples of culture is a necessary and important condition for successful adaptation.

Changes taking place in the external environment require obedience or open opposition in order to defend their interests, i.e. coming into conflict.

The process of adaptation has an important condition - submission, because any resistance will make it difficult for the individual to enter the new structure. Submission in a conflict is impossible.

The fixture is shaped like a compromise. Accepting a compromise means that a group or individual agrees with the changed conditions and accepts new goals and ways to achieve them can be partially or completely.

Thus, a compromise is a temporary agreement, and when the situation changes, a new compromise will need to be found.

A social process such as assimilation is a process of mutual cultural penetration, as a result of which groups or individuals come to common culture, which is shared by all participants in the process.

This is a two-way process and the culture of each group, in proportion to its size and prestige, can penetrate other groups. Having the ability to mix groups into one big one with a homogeneous culture, assimilation, thus, extinguishes conflicts and eliminates their cause.

With the biological mixing of ethnic groups or peoples, one group or people arises - in this case we are talking about amalgamation or consanguineous mixing, for example, as a result of biological mixing of many tribes and peoples, the formation of the Russian nation took place.

Remark 3

An obstacle to amalgamation can be racial and national prejudice or deep conflict between them. Incomplete amalgamation may manifest itself in the fact that a person's position in society will be measured by the "purity of blood", for example, in some parts of South America, Spanish descent is required to have a high status.

All social processes occur simultaneously and are closely related to each other. They create opportunities for the development of groups or permanent changes in society.

Sociological research of social processes

The main purpose of the study of social processes is to explain and predict the behavior of subjects in certain conditions, to diagnose the nature of relationships within a social community, to determine the adequacy of social conditions within these communities.

There are three main types of sociological research:

An exploratory study based on a simplified program and compressed tools. This is a probing of public opinion and is often resorted to in order to assess the course and results of various socio-economic and political events;
The descriptive nature of the study makes it possible to obtain a relatively holistic idea of the phenomenon under study. The program for this research is deeply developed, and the basis is a methodically tested toolkit. The object of research can be districts, regions, cities, large enterprises;
The purpose of the analytical study is not only an in-depth study of the phenomenon, but also a comprehensive analysis of its structure and characteristics. The nature of analytical research is complex with various forms of collection and analysis of information. Social experiment is its variation.

Introduction

Social changes in society occur as a result of purposeful human activity, which consists of individual social actions and interactions. As a rule, disparate actions can rarely lead to significant social and cultural changes. Even if one person made a great discovery, many people should use it, implement it in their practice. Thus, significant social changes occur in the process of joint actions of people who are not isolated, but, on the contrary, are unidirectional, mutually linked. Moreover, this conjugation can often be unconscious due to the presence of motives and orientations in people.

The collection of unidirectional and repetitive social actions that can be distinguished from many other social actions is called a social process. People move from place to place, learn together, produce products, distribute and consume them, participate in political struggles, cultural transformations and many other social processes.

Social processes.

Social processes are a manifestation of social dynamics. Social process (from Lat. Processus - promotion) is a sequential change of states, stages of development of social systems, social phenomena; a set of sequential actions to achieve a result. For example, the educational process is a sequential change in the types of training sessions: lecture - independent work- seminar - individual interview. The result of this process is the assimilation of the topic by the trainees.

From the definition and the above example, it follows that the social process is the essence of human activity, as a result of which certain goals are achieved in the development of social objects, and in the objects themselves there is a sequential change of their states.

The structure of the social process includes the following elements:

1. The subject of social action. It can be a person or a social community, an organization that takes actions to achieve their goals.
2. The object of social action. This is a social system or social phenomenon, which are aimed at the social actions of the subject in order to change their state.
3. The living conditions in which the social action takes place. It is a micro and macro environment. The fact is that the social conditions in which the process takes place are an external factor that determines it. The social process is characterized not only by the influence of the subject on the object ( internal factor), but also the social environment in which it occurs (external factor).
4. Purposeful social action.
5. The result of a social action is those changes that have occurred in a social object as a result of the influence of the subject on it.
2. Regularities of the social process

Social processes proceed according to certain laws. Let us recall that a regularity is a manifestation of the operation of one or several laws, it is lawfulness. Acting in accordance with the law, we implement the requirements of objective laws.

In social processes, regularities (actions of objective laws) are manifested as tendencies, as a result of the contradictory development of social forces. The laws of the social process are:

1. Direction of movement and change of states. This means that the social process always expresses a certain direction, the expediency of activity. Its result is a change in the state of the object. Any activity not directed to a specific result is not a process. The purpose of the activity determines the content and structure of achieving the intended result. The end result gives a name to the process. There are no abstract nameless processes. For example, from such an end result as "cohesion" came the name of the process "team building". From discipline - discipline, from personality - the formation of personality, from democracy - democratization, etc.
2. The staging of the processes. This means that each social process develops in certain stages. Without the completion of the previous stage, without achieving its final result (state), the next stage cannot begin, the next stage cannot begin. A stage is a period, a phase, a step in a process that forms a new state. The stage is a kind of mini-process. She has her own, characteristic only of her, quantitative accumulations, which give a qualitatively new state, a new result. The initial state of the stage differs significantly from its final result. Take, for example, the educational process, its stages are: planning, organization, implementation, result. Each of these stages has a specific content and can be qualified as a social process. So, the planning of the educational process breaks down into stages such as: analysis of the initial data for planning; what specialist needs to be trained (his professiogram); how much study time is allocated for its preparation; what disciplines he should study, their volume, sequence of study, etc .; the next stage is the development of a curriculum and curriculum for disciplines. Then the developed documents are coordinated with higher authorities and approved by the relevant managers. From the given example, it is clear that the effectiveness of the social process will be the higher, the more clearly its stages, their content and the activities of the relevant officials to implement this content are defined.
3. Consistency. It characterizes the sequence of stages in the development of the social process. It is impossible to get ahead of ourselves until the conditions for subsequent actions are created. It is impossible to conduct work at the same time when the result of one of them is the starting point for the other. The sequence is determined by the goal of the social process, its optimality. Changing the order of the process changes its nature, and therefore affects its result. Let's continue our reasoning about educational process... Its sequence is manifested, firstly, in a strict order of changing stages: planning, organizing, conducting; secondly, in the distribution of academic disciplines by semester, courses in such a way as to provide students with general theoretical and methodological training for mastering special disciplines in senior courses.
4. Multifactoriality. This means that social processes are the result of many factors. There is not a single social change, movement, even the simplest one, that would be carried out under the influence of any one force. Since in the social process there is necessarily a subject, an object, a result, the conditions in which it occurs, this already speaks of its multifactorial nature. In turn, each of the listed elements can be multifactorial. Since the social process is a manifestation of the action of many factors, its direction is determined by the resulting influencing forces. For example, if democratic forces prevail in the development of a society, then this process is characterized as democratization.

These are the basic laws of social processes. Their knowledge predetermines, first, their correct assessment, understanding of the essence, the ability to take into account these patterns in their life; secondly, the ability to influence their course, especially if it is related to professional activities or family relationships; thirdly, regularities are the basis of principles, guided by which it is possible to influence the course of processes. These principles are: purposefulness, expediency, stages, the sequence of changing states, the preparedness of the subject, object and conditions of the course, the complexity of the assessment of factors. The organization and implementation of social processes involves the management of these principles.

From the whole variety of social processes, some common features can be distinguished, the totality of which allowed the sociologists R. Park and E. Burgess to create a classification of the main social processes. These are the processes of cooperation, competition (rivalry), adaptation, conflict, assimilation, amalgamation. To them are usually added two other social processes that manifest themselves only in groups - the maintenance of boundaries and systematic connections.

The word cooperation comes from two Latin words: "ko" - "together" and "operari" - to work. Cooperation can take place in dyads (groups of two individuals), small groups, as well as in large groups (in organizations, social stratum or society).

Any cooperation is based on concerted actions and the achievement of common goals. This requires such elements of behavior as mutual understanding, coordination of actions, and the establishment of rules for cooperation. Cooperation is primarily related to the desire of people to cooperate, and many sociologists consider this phenomenon based on selflessness. However, the conducted research and simply experience show that selfish goals serve to a greater extent the cooperation of people than their likes and dislikes, unwillingness or desires. Thus, the main meaning of cooperation is primarily in mutual benefit.

Cooperation among members of small groups is so common that the life history of most individuals can be defined mainly as their attempt to become part of such groups, as well as to regulate cooperative group life.

Cooperation in primary groups is important not only in itself, but also because it is invisibly linked to cooperation in secondary groups. Indeed, all large organizations represent a network of small primary groups in which cooperation functions on the basis of the inclusion of individuals in big number personal relationships.

Collaboration in secondary groups takes the form of many people working together in large-scale organizations. The desire of people to collaborate towards common goals is expressed through government agencies, private firms and religious organizations as well as through highly specialized interest groups. Such cooperation not only includes many people in a given society, but also leads to the creation of a network of organizations that cooperate activities at the level of state, regional, national and international relations.

Competition is a struggle between individuals, groups or societies for mastering values, the reserves of which are limited and unequally distributed between individuals or groups (this can be money, power, status, love, appreciation and other values). It can be defined as an attempt to achieve reward by removing or getting ahead of rivals seeking identical goals. Competition is based on the fact that people can never satisfy all their desires. Therefore, competitive relations flourish in an environment of abundance, just as competition for higher, higher-paying jobs exists in full-time employment. If we consider the relationship between the sexes, then in almost all societies there is also intense competition for attention from certain partners of the opposite sex. Competition can manifest itself on a personal level (for example, when two leaders are fighting for influence in an organization) or be impersonal (an entrepreneur is fighting for sales markets without personally knowing his competitors). In the latter case, competitors may not identify their partners as rivals. Both personal and impersonal competition is usually carried out in accordance with certain rules that focus on achieving and outrunning rivals, rather than eliminating them.

The advantage of competition can be considered the fact that it is widely practiced as a means of stimulating every person to the greatest achievements. They used to believe that competition always increases motivation and thus increases productivity. In recent years, competition studies have shown that this is not always true. So, there are many cases when different subgroups arise within the organization, which, competing with each other, cannot positively influence the efficiency of the organization. In addition, competition, which does not give any individual a chance of promotion, often leads to abandonment of the struggle and a decrease in his contribution to the achievement of common goals. But despite these caveats, it is clear that no stronger incentive has yet been invented than competition. It is on the stimulating significance of free competition that all the achievements of modern capitalism are based, the productive forces have developed unusually, opportunities have opened up for a significant increase in the standard of living of people. Moreover, competition has led to progress in science, art, and significant changes in social relations.

Adaptation - the acceptance by an individual or a group of cultural norms, values and standards of action of a new environment, when the norms and values learned in the old environment do not lead to the satisfaction of needs, do not create acceptable behavior. For example, emigrants in a foreign country are trying to adapt to a new culture; schoolchildren go to college and must adapt to new requirements, to a new environment. In other words, adaptation is the formation of a type of behavior suitable for life in the changed conditions of the external environment. To one degree or another, the adaptation processes proceed continuously, since the conditions of the external environment are constantly changing. Depending on the individual's assessment of changes in the external environment and the significance of these changes, adaptation processes can be short-term or long-term.

Adaptation is a complex process in which a number of features can be distinguished. This is obedience, compromise, tolerance.

Any change in the situation in the environment surrounding an individual or a group makes them either submit to him or enter into conflict with him. Submission is a prerequisite for the adaptation process, since any resistance significantly complicates the entry of an individual into a new structure, and conflict makes this entry or adaptation impossible. Submission to new norms, customs or rules can be conscious or unconscious, but in the life of any individual it occurs more often than disobedience and rejection of new norms.

Compromise is a form of accommodation, which means that an individual or group comes to terms with changing conditions and culture by partially or completely accepting new goals and ways to achieve them. Each individual usually tries to reach an agreement, taking into account his own strengths and what forces the surrounding changing environment has in a particular situation. Compromise is a balance sheet, a temporary agreement; as soon as the situation changes, a new compromise has to be found. In cases where the goals and ways of achieving them for an individual or a group cannot satisfy the individual, a compromise cannot be reached and the individual does not adapt to new environmental conditions.

A prerequisite for the successful course of the adaptation process is tolerance in relation to the new situation, new samples of culture and new values.

Assimilation. Assimilation is a process of mutual cultural penetration through which individuals and groups come to a common culture shared by all participants in the process. It is always a two-way process, in which each group has the ability to penetrate its culture into other groups in proportion to its size, prestige and other factors. The assimilation process is best illustrated by the Americanization of immigrants from Europe and Asia. The large numbers of immigrants who arrived between 1850 and 1913 mainly formed immigrant colonies in cities in the northern United States. Inside these ethnic colonies - Little Italy, Little Poland, etc. - they lived in many ways in accordance with the models of European culture, perceiving some complexes of American culture. However, their children begin to very sharply reject the culture of their parents and absorb the culture of their new homeland. They often come into conflict with their parents about following old cultural patterns. As for the third generation, their Americanization is almost complete, and the newly minted Americans feel the most comfortable and familiar American samples of culture. Thus, the culture of the small group was assimilated into the culture of the large group.

Assimilation can significantly weaken and extinguish group conflicts by mixing separate groups into one big one with a homogeneous culture. This is because social conflict involves the separation of groups, but when the cultures of the groups are assimilated, the very cause of the conflict is eliminated.

Amalgamation is the biological mixing of two or more ethnic groups or peoples, after which they become one group or people. Thus, the Russian nation was formed by biological mixing of many tribes and peoples (Pomors, Varangians, Western Slavs, Meri, Mordovians, Tatars, etc.). Racial and national prejudice, caste isolation, or deep conflict between groups can form a barrier to amalgamation. If it is incomplete, status systems may appear in society in which status will be measured by "blood purity." For example, in Central America or some parts of South America, Spanish descent is required to achieve high statuses. But only the process of amalgamation is completely over, the lines between groups are erased and the social structure no longer depends on the "purity of blood".

The concept of "social process"

Remark 1

Any society is characterized by the interaction of internal and external forces, if this does not happen, then the society is doomed to death.

The results of social processes can be both positive and negative.

The social process is characterized by a rather pronounced time component - the time factor in the study of socio-economic processes is one of the criteria for formalizing processes.

Subordinating the processes to his own line of behavior and his option of possible actions will be his priority task.

The factor of reflection in the context of cognitive actualization comes to the fore, the essence of which is to determine all the properties of the process and possible consequences.

Remark 2

When the interests of different social groups collide, some dominate over others. The position of social subjects striving to achieve balance in relationships is heterogeneous, which determines the vector of the social process.

The characteristics of the process are the scale, direction, intensity, composition, nature of stimulation.

The nature of the stimulation is manifested in the policy of the subject, who directs and controls this process. Hence, the process can be steady or forced, impetuous or sluggish.

Types of social processes

Purposeful activity of people is the cause of social changes in society.

Despite the huge variety of social processes, sociologists were able to classify them and highlight the main social processes that have common features:

cooperation;
competition;
device;
conflict;
assimilation;
amalgamation.

Quite often, two more processes can be attached to them that have a group manifestation - the maintenance of boundaries and systematic connections.

Since the conditions of the external environment are constantly changing, the processes of adaptation or adaptation are continuous. The adaptation can be short-term or long-term.

Changes taking place in the external environment require obedience or open opposition in order to defend their interests, i.e. coming into conflict.

The process of adaptation has an important condition - submission, because any resistance will make it difficult for the individual to enter the new structure. Submission in a conflict is impossible.

Thus, a compromise is a temporary agreement, and when the situation changes, a new compromise will need to be found.

A social process such as assimilation is a process of mutual cultural penetration, as a result of which groups or individuals come to a common culture that is shared by all participants in the process.

Remark 3

All social processes occur simultaneously and are closely related to each other. They create opportunities for the development of groups or permanent changes in society.

Sociological research of social processes

There are three main types of sociological research:

An exploratory study based on a simplified program and compressed tools. This is a probing of public opinion and is often resorted to in order to assess the course and results of various socio-economic and political events;
The descriptive nature of the study makes it possible to obtain a relatively holistic idea of the phenomenon under study. The program for this research is deeply developed, and the basis is a methodically tested toolkit. The object of research can be districts, regions, cities, large enterprises;
The purpose of the analytical study is not only an in-depth study of the phenomenon, but also a comprehensive analysis of its structure and characteristics. The nature of analytical research is complex with various forms of collection and analysis of information. Social experiment is its variation.

Social processes play a huge role in the life of society, bringing into it both positive and negative results for most people. They are based on the contradictions that arise between various social groups that have special corporate interests that do not correspond to the interests of other groups. This situation is absolutely natural and allows society to find the most effective way of development, capable of consolidating the interests of the majority of its members. As a consequence, problems arising in society cause change, from which some categories of people benefit, while others are harmed. People themselves, being direct participants in social processes, however, are not always able to influence them. The reason for this is that, by causing the corresponding changes in society, people lose control over them due to their unwillingness or inability to understand the internal mechanisms of these changes.

For example, changes in society leading to an increase in the share of the poor in the stratification structure of society may be due to imperfect economic mechanisms that do not provide optimal distribution. material resources between people. Comprehending the complex nature of pauperization (the process of impoverishment of certain segments of the population), scientists and politicians are trying to understand the cause of this process, the factors that form it, and the consequences to which it can lead. The solution of this problem, even theoretically, will make it possible to determine possible directions of restraining this process by creating the necessary conditions for its actual elimination.

Observing the changes taking place in society, assessing them, it is not always possible to accurately predict the consequences that these changes may lead to. The increase in the ability of society to assess and control the course of its changes becomes constituent element social culture and is the most important condition for its sustainability.

The social process should be distinguished from the social phenomenon - a concept that is more widespread in the sociological literature. P. Sorokin defined the content of this concept in the following way: “A social phenomenon is a social connection that has a psychic nature and is realized in the consciousness of individuals, at the same time acting beyond its limits in terms of content and duration. This is what many call the "social soul", this is what others call civilization and culture, this is what others call the world of values, as opposed to the world of things that form the object of the natural sciences. Any interaction, between whoever it occurs, since it has a mental character (in the above sense of the word), will be a social phenomenon. "

The social process has a more pronounced temporal component, which gives an objectified character to the object under study, allowing one to consider all the properties of the latter depending on time. The mental accompaniment of social processes fades into the background. The temporal conditionality of the process is especially interesting in the study of socio-economic and political processes where the time factor plays great importance and serves as one of the criteria for formalization, objectification of the process.

People are constantly in the focus of randomly overlapping processes: economic, political, social, environmental, cultural, innovative, etc. And if some processes can serve as the subject of their careful study, others create a background for people to solve their everyday problems. This difference determines the procedure for updating current processes, breaking it down into two forms: practical and cognitive.

Practical actualization of processes presupposes a low degree of reflection with an orientation towards value and situational ways of fixing these processes. In the course of the practical actualization of the social process, a person is inclined to experience its consequences for himself through a number of strategies: complete ignorance, adaptation, open opposition and purposeful withdrawal. Choosing one or another strategy of his attitude to the processes, a person deliberately underestimates the importance of some and, on the contrary, increases the importance of others, based on his own ideas about these processes, achieved on the basis of simple life experience. By setting personal goals, a person seeks to subordinate them to the logic of external changes.

Practical actualization acts as a kind of reduction of the complexity of the real world, reduction of the processes actualized by it to a limited list of changes, in relation to which it is necessary to build an optimal line of behavior. With such tactics, a person ignores the nature of the processes proceeding outside, the reasons that caused them, and even the consequences to which they can lead. The priority task is to subordinate these processes to their own line of behavior, to determine their own variant of possible actions in relation to some of them.

Under the conditions of cognitive actualization, the factor of reflection behind the processes taking place in reality comes out on top. The essence of cognitive actualization is to determine the entire infrastructure of the process, its properties, consequences, etc. an ordinary person seems insignificant and insignificant; for a scientist, who is the main subject of cognitive actualization, it acquires a special meaning that makes it possible to understand the nature of the process and, in the future, to learn how to control it. The main functions of cognitive actualization are description, explanation, understanding and prediction, serving as the leading tools of a scientific approach to reality. The purpose of the cognitive actualization of the social process is the formulation of its identification features, the identification of the causes and factors of influence. Such knowledge will make it possible to systematize information about current events in society, determine the degree of their influence on these events, and contribute to the creation of appropriate institutions designed to regulate and control objective processes.

In different periods of the formation of mankind, the ideas of society about the changes taking place in it differed significantly. Scientists have long sought to explain social phenomena from the standpoint of the leading science of their time. In the 17th-18th centuries, I. Newton's mechanics served as such a discipline, in the 19th century - Darwin's evolutionary theory, at the beginning of the 20th - A. Einstein's theory of relativity. Using the laws derived within the framework of these theories, general principles and terminology, science sought to give accuracy and conformity to the laws of those changes in which scientists themselves were participants as members of society. However, most researchers could not help but understand the more complex and ambiguous nature of social processes.

By the beginning of the 20th century, only history can be considered an established scientific discipline. As for economics, sociology, political science and psychology, they were able to acquire the status of scientific disciplines only by the second quarter of the 20th century. By this time, all these social disciplines sought to explain complex social changes exclusively within their own framework. The reason for this was the insufficient development of the methodological apparatus. This path undoubtedly enriched our knowledge of social processes in the context of the relevant disciplines, but did not make it possible to understand the logic of these changes, to combine the problems posed by these sciences.

The processes of globalization, which peaked in the 70s of the XX century, led to a qualitative transformation of the prevailing views on the nature of social change. As the Novosibirsk economist P. Oldak wrote:

“In the 70s. processes are unfolding that have led to an even greater destruction of the old ideas about the boundaries of economic analysis. The world is faced with phenomena of a new order - bundles of problems. They have a common economic basis, but they can no longer be explained from the standpoint of one science. It is primarily about global issues: ecological, raw materials, food, demographic. This is a bundle, a chain of problems. You start to study one problem, and the second, third, and fourth follow it ... Studying the factors of economic development, we can no longer isolate it from the system of peripheral connections. This is how we come to the idea of the metasystem - the highest integrity of the connections of all social structures ”.

In the context of the complication of the nature of social changes, the densification of the network of interconnections between social processes taking place in different parts of the planet, the growth of communication and cooperative capabilities of scientific knowledge, they are increasingly beginning to talk about the economic and political nature of these processes. The importance of the economic and political aspect of social processes began to increase as the priorities of the economic and political stability societies leading to best conditions to solve current social problems. The formation of economics and political science as scientific disciplines, their formulation of a number of basic laws and research principles for them made it possible to acquire a real methodological basis for studying the relevant processes, to find an opportunity to control and manage them.

A social process is socially significant changes in society caused by the desire of various groups to influence the conditions prevailing in society in order to satisfy a certain interest. In the process of the collision of interests of various social groups, the facts of the dominance of some groups relative to others are exposed, structuring relationships in society under the influence of various factors - social, economic, political, environmental, legal, etc.

The vector of the social process is determined by the heterogeneity in the position of social subjects striving to achieve equilibrium in their relationship with each other. As a result of the collision of people's interests, the action of some latent forces is manifested, the emergence of which is caused precisely by this collision. The expected result of such a collision determines the direction of the vector, the estimate possible consequences investigated process.

According to the famous Polish sociologist P. Sztompka, a procedural approach to social problems acquires in recent times dominant value. In accordance with this approach, society is presented not so much as an object (group, organization), but as a kind of “field of possibilities” of social subjects. The key unit of analysis is the “event” that reveals itself in the actions of social subjects, the consequences of which are multivariate.

The famous Russian scientist P. Sorokin was given classic definition social process: "A process is understood as any kind of movement, modification, transformation, alternation or" evolution ", in short, any change of a given object under study over a certain time, whether it be a change in its place in space or a modification of its quantitative and qualitative characteristics"

The process presupposes the presence of a structure and dynamics that provide it with a stable and directed nature, ordering the course of social changes that penetrate it. The structure of the process includes the totality of all its participants, contributing factors, conditions, etc. The dynamics of the process is based on indicators of the strength and scale of the changes occurring, their duration and working rhythm.

The process is characterized by the scale, direction, intensity, composition and nature of the stimulation.

The scale of the process involves measuring the degree of involvement of the subjects in it. The coverage of individuals or individual social groups involved in the process means a micro-level in the study of such processes. Whereas the acquisition of the status of a subject of processes by states, peoples, ethnic groups or cultures means a transition to the macro level with the reorientation of the observer to a fundamentally different coordinate system.

The orientation of the process is characterized by its vector, which expresses the orientation of the process towards a certain outcome.

The intensity of the process is set by the perceived meaning of its results for the participants involved in it. In fact, this value can be set through the coverage of this process in the media, publicity, awareness of the global nature of its consequences for a social subject (for example, due to population decline as a result of man-made disasters or military conflicts).

Compound process consists of its constituent participants, their social stratification, political orientations and place in the system of social division of labor.

The nature of the stimulation is manifested in the policy of the subject, who controls and directs this process. In accordance with this feature, the process can be forced or uniform, impetuous or sluggish.

The main elements of the social process are:

participants,
subject (initiator) of the process,
reasons and observer,
being a member of the scientific community.

The participants in the process include all active and passive members of society, whose interests are affected by the changes taking place in society. The number of participants in the process can be used to judge its nature, scope and level of coverage. The subject (initiator) of the process is one of its participants, who has significant resources to support the dynamics and direction of social changes for a long time. The initiator of the process is able to seriously influence the course of such changes by reproducing favorable conditions aimed at achieving the expected result. The influence exerted by the initiator on the process may not be conscious, causing certain changes contrary to the will and interests of the initiator. All this can stimulate widespread cases of initiators losing control over the changes they cause. The role of the initiator of the process can be multiplied in the case of his possession of broad powers, received by him both legally and illegally. Being the manager of funds, resources, exercising the right to legislative initiative, the subject of the process establishes the rules of the game for all its participants, setting the desired vector of direction for the process.

Social systems can also be the subject of social processes. Each evolving system has its own dynamics, represented in the form of either a continuous cumulative process, or a cycle.

Causes are an integral element of social change, acting as a factor in their manifestation. If the initiator of the process can be hidden from the attention of researchers, then the cause is organically inherent in the process and constitutes its internal source. Potential causes of social processes include:

natural causes - depletion of resources, pollution of the natural environment, cataclysms, etc.;
demographic reasons - population fluctuations, overpopulation, migration, generational change;
changes in the field of culture, economy, scientific and technological progress;
socio-political reasons - conflicts, wars, revolutions, reforms; addiction, satiety, thirst for novelty, increased aggressiveness, etc.

The most important element in the mode of perception and assessment of social processes is the scientific community - a community of scientists, specialists, practitioners who formulate key standards for assessing, measuring and regulating the processes under study. With the help of such standards and norms, the initiator of the process is able to control and model the course of events, and the observer is able to determine the criteria for assessing the deployment of processes in space and time.

The observer, being a formal or informal member of the scientific community, is the source of the cognitive parameters of the process. Cognitive meaning is given to the process in the act of its perception, cognition, explanation and understanding. By displaying the process, the observer, based on the approaches developed by the scientific community, seeks to recognize the logic of the process, actualizing the very fact of its course, and develops a kind of mental scheme for understanding and explaining the events obtained during the observation. By interpreting the results and course of social processes, the observer makes visible the sources, scale and direction of current processes, using reliable and generally accepted methods of analysis and information processing.

The observer is predominantly a passive participant in the process, constituting an idea of its nature, giving it a certain meaning and significance. In order to measure the processes under study, the observer proposes a coordinate system that is significant for all its participants.

Any process can be measured. The nature of the measurement of processes is arbitrary from the method of its structuring, the type and position of the observer. The main structural units that determine the direction and intensity of the ongoing processes are social systems.