Read the text: Psychology of society (Part I)

To begin with, as sociology interprets the notion of "society". Durkheim viewed society as a supra-individual spiritual reality based on the collective representations. According to Max Weber, the company - it is human interaction, which is a social product that is focused on other people's actions. Large American sociologist Talcott Parsons defined the society as a system of relations between people, connecting the beginning of which are norms and values. From the perspective of Karl Marx, a society - is a historically evolving set of relationships between people, emerging in the course of their joint activities.

It is obvious that all these definitions in a more or less pronounced approach to society as a whole system of elements in a state of close relationship. Such an approach to society is systemic. The main task of a systematic approach to the study of society is to bring together different knowledge about the society as a whole system, which could be a theory of society.

Social psychology - the science that studies the mechanisms and patterns of behavior and activities of people because of their involvement in social groups and communities, as well as the psychological characteristics of these groups and communities.

Why do we need social psychology, and what is its role in society?

It is known that in recent years to widespread euphoria associated with bright hopes for the scientific and technical progress and dominated the world for many decades, it's a realistic vision of the impacts that technological change has on human life and society.

One of the negative effects and costs of scientific and technological progress is the removal of the discrepancy, and from each other technical and humanities, the sciences of "dead" nature and the sciences of living man. Especially shortage of human knowledge and human culture is noticeable in the work of technicians. Engineering and Technical, scientific and technical experts are ready just in order to develop the technology and production. His intellect, skills, psychology and world view focused only on the field of solving technical problems. Knowledge of a living person for whom, apparently, and created all the equipment touched very superficially. As a result, flourished throughout the technical methods of teaching professionals, a technical way of thinking, and prepared by a specialist. Technicism manifested when there is absolutization any professional activity, professional knowledge and approaches. This leads to the fact that private needs and interests supersede the general and universal. Extreme expression of this was the tragic development of military and ecological situation in the world.

Finding ways to overcome the slide to disaster appeals to humanity humanization of relations in the world, to the humanization of education, a man as the highest value of life and the most important practical and scientific problems of modern science and culture. Strengthening humanitarian education will enable the technician to be able to find, say, non-professional, human, humanistic aspects of their special knowledge and deeds.

Among the various human sciences are particularly important sociological and humanities, in particular, social psychology.

On the one hand, socio-psychological knowledge, along with other social and human knowledge will contribute to the neutralization of technical approaches in the views, attitudes and activities of a technician; they will help to see the complexity and depth of real human relationships, not being able to look for simplistic answers and solutions.

On the other hand, the engineer's professional activities (cognitive, transformative, research, etc.) is not only contact with the object (construction, machinery, technology), but also includes a necessary element of a living human communication. In addition to goal setting and decision-making is manifested such socio-psychological components of thought, as the coordination of group goals and ideas, the ability to resolve conflicts within the group. We have to consider and resolve issues of conformity and collectivism, leadership. All these manifestations of interpersonal skills required by the engineer of socio-psychological knowledge and socio-psychological culture: a research engineer them to get together with professional knowledge in teaching in the institute.

Therefore, the role of social psychology at the first stage of the study is designed for you to give a systematic exposition of social psychology, to show the importance of social psychology to understand and address the specific problems of social development, young professionals to enrich the knowledge of the basic laws of the personal self.

Discussions on the subject of social psychology and its fate were a long time. But two important factors contributed to the new discussion of the problem.

First, the clinical setting. The solution of economic, social and political problems require a more careful analysis of relevant psychological processes. Mechanisms of interaction of a particular society and the individual had to be studied not only in sociology, but also on socio-psychological level.

Secondly, there have been changes in the general atmosphere of the spiritual life of society, which was due to some softening of ideological pressure that began "thaw" and allowed to discuss the fate of social psychology (as well, however, as, and sociology) is no longer as a "bourgeois science "but in fact the problem.

I. Answer the questions:

1. How did sociologists define society?

2. What definition of society does the author give to us?

3. What type of negative effects does scientific and technological progress cause?

4. Why does social psychology have an important meaning among the various human sciences?

5. What did two important factors contribute to the new discussion of the problem?

II. Write down the main idea of the text in 3-5 sentences.

Lesson 19