All people together, their various groups, as well as each person individually, interact daily with the outside world. As a result, certain images are embodied in material objects, and certain human needs are satisfied.
Activity refers to such interaction with the environment, which is aimed at achieving the goals set consciously. In addition, as a result, it must create values that are significant for society, or master social experience.
General characteristics of activities
Each person, like a group of people, exhibits a different kind of activity throughout life. However, not all its manifestations are called “activities”. Characteristics and its assessment should be:
- socially determined, as it is a product of the historical development of society as a whole;
- purposeful, because the goal of the activity is chosen by the individual consciously;
- subjective, that is, due to personality characteristics;
- substantive, since society develops ways and norms of actions that people direct to objects of spiritual and material culture;
- planned, because all its elements are subject to a clear system and thoughtful order.
Activities really exist in various forms, embodied in culture and reflected in art.
Elements, manifestations and methods of implementation
The characteristics of the activity also include the concepts of "act", "behavior", "operation".
An element of activity is an act. This is a certain action that has a pronounced social meaning.
Mental activity externally manifests itself in behavior. This is either a certain facial expression and posture of the individual, or a series of committed acts. Here, the presence of a certain plan or goal is not always observed.
An operation is a special way of carrying out an action in certain conditions. With their help, the main tasks are solved. In most cases, operations are automated, often unrecognized.
Description of activities
Differentiating activities by species, there are three main ones.
Kind of activity | The essence of the process and characteristics of activities | Activity result |
Work | The objects of nature, spiritual and material culture are noticeably changing. | Needs are met, a product is created that is recognized as socially significant. |
Teaching | The acquisition of knowledge. Skills and skills can be obtained in specially organized institutions, along the way as a by-product of other activities, in the process of self-education. | The psychological development of the individual, the development of knowledge and experience developed by society. |
| The game | A view with typical methods of human actions and interactions fixed in the course of history. | Socialization of the personality, mastery of all the experience of mankind, personal, cognitive and moral development of children. |
Different stages of personality development imply different leading activities. Leading is not called the type of activity to which the subject devotes the greatest amount of time, but determines the most important mental characteristics of a person.
Labor activity - the lot of adults
The currently known forms of division of labor are as follows:
- general (all social production consists of different areas: industry, transport, communications, the agricultural sector and others);
- private (the emergence of relatively independent industries within the spheres of the general division of labor);
- single (how labor is divided in each particular enterprise).
All three forms are connected by strong bonds. Both the general and the unitary forms of the division of labor can affect the particular. All three are affected by technological progress, which poses new technological and organizational tasks and changes the characteristics of the activities of participants in the production process.
This happens, for example, due to automation of production. It releases workers, leads to a different division of labor than before, and changes the general structure of workers.
Social activities
Man produces and reproduces something as a social being. He purposefully and constantly changes both the natural and the social world through social activity.
It has two initial elements: actual and accumulated activity.
The characteristic of social activity also distinguishes its two sides, which are the main ones. This is public consciousness and practice itself.
In addition, two factors of this type of activity are distinguished: social information and organization.
The two regulators here are social governance and, in contrast to it, social mismanagement.
Reflection of social activity in the scientific literature
Science studies activity, considering it one of the fundamental tasks. Great minds in the field of philosophy and sociology, deeply imbued with natural science and social science, are struggling with this problem.
In an effort to classify social activity by its characteristics, scientists offer various options.
For example, M. S. Kvetnoy describes the division into four elements:
- interests and needs;
- goals and motives;
- means and actions;
- products.
M.S. Kagan is based on three main elements of social activity, but in a different context:
- subject;
- an object;
- activity.
In the opinion of B. A. Grushin, there are as many as three classification rows.
- by the nature of the energy expended (muscular, mental, mental forces);
- by composition (objective activity, informational and “play of physical or mental forces”);
- by general nature (production, consumption, communication).
Professional activity
Labor psychology considers professional activity to be its main object.
It is characterized externally and internally.
- Externally (through the object and subject, the subject of labor, means for conducting activities and its conditions).
- Internally (describes the mechanisms and processes of mental regulation, the structure itself, all the content and operations necessary for the implementation of professional activities).
It is worth clarifying the meaning of some concepts related to the internal characteristics of professional activity.
The subject of labor is those things, as well as the phenomena and processes with which the worker enters into interaction (both mentally and practically).
Those tools that enhance the subject's ability to recognize the specifics of the subject of labor and change it are called means of labor.
Working conditions consist of four characteristics of professional activity:
- social;
- psychological;
- sanitary and hygienic;
- physical.
Economic Performance Assessment
Properly compiled economic characteristics of the enterprise includes several sections.
Section title | Content section |
General information | In accordance with what law is created, the legal form, full company name, location, mailing address. The authorized capital is evaluated, the founders are described, the terms and objectives of the activity, the form of ownership, the charter is considered. |
Enterprise management structure | Given on the basis of three main production management systems: linear, functional and mixed. It indicates whether the company is a legal entity, describes the hierarchy of management. |
Characteristics of labor resources and remuneration | The total number of employees, production and technical base. Overview of personnel policy, qualitative and quantitative analysis of personnel. |
Key economic performance indicators | The growth rate of production and sales. A review of production assets, means and objects of labor, the study of rationality and economy. General description of the financial results of the company. |
Paying attention to all these points, you can make a completely detailed portrait of any enterprise, find out its distinctive features and characteristics of the activity process.
Rich food for science
Both the content and structure of the activity are quite complex. It has a large number of varieties and a great many concrete manifestations. You can describe them endlessly.
From the eighties of the last century to this day, activity has not ceased to be deeply studied by representatives of various sciences.
Activities are studied by various methods. For example, K. Levin proposed a sociopsychological study. It involves penetrating into the very essence of the problem, first making the necessary changes, and then observing its consequences. This method is considered effective in work programs with prisoners or in discussions between victims of racism and people with racial prejudice.
Activities are studied by many sciences, for example, geography. After all, a person does not adapt, like an animal to some kind of habitat. He himself adapts it to his needs. He has been working in this field for a long time to improve conditions and prevent cataclysms.
Psychology studies human activity in terms of the mental reflection of reality in it.
The article describes only the main characteristics of the activity and considers some of its types.