"Social" is synonymous with the word "public." Therefore, any definition that includes at least one of these two terms implies the existence of a connected set of people, that is, society. It is assumed that all social phenomena are the result of joint labor. Interestingly, this does not oblige to participate in the reproduction of anything more than one person. That is, “joint” does not mean a direct relationship to the result of labor. Moreover, in sociology it is deliberately considered that any labor is social in one way or another.
Terminogy
Social phenomena are a product of human life. All phenomena, in principle, can be divided into created by people (man-made) and natural (natural). The former are considered social (public).
What is included in the concept of public? This word is cognate with "common." Between people there is always something that unites them: gender, age, place of residence, interests or goals. If there are more than two such people, they say that they form a society.
What are social phenomena?
Examples of social phenomena are any result of the development and labor of society. It can be the Internet, knowledge, education, fashion, culture and so on.
The simplest example resulting from the development of the economic system of commodity-market relations is money. Therefore, almost everything can be imagined as a social phenomenon. All that is somehow related to society. For example, culture is considered as a social phenomenon or that same society. These two aspects will be described in more detail below.
Why is even the labor of one person a social phenomenon?
It was indicated a little higher that the labor of one person can be defined as the term in question. Why it happens? Does not the concept of “social phenomenon” include a society that should consist of more than two people?
Here's the thing. Any activity of a person is affected by his environment: directly or indirectly. Relatives, acquaintances, or even strangers shape his activity or, rather, correct it. Relations with surrounding people and human actions correlate among themselves a complex system of relationships: causes and effects. Even creating something in loneliness, a person cannot unequivocally say that this is only his merit. I immediately recall the presentation of awards to media people who say thanks to their friends and relatives: this phenomenon has a sociological background.
What then is not relevant to the term in question? For example, you can take the characteristics of a person like height and weight, gender and age, which are given to him by nature, his relationship with people does not affect them, and therefore they do not fit the definition of "social phenomena".
Classification
In view of the diversity of social phenomena, it is customary to differentiate them by type of activity. It is problematic to give a complete classification: there are as many categories as there are areas of their application. It is enough to say that there are sociocultural, as well as socio-political, socio-religious, socio-economic and other social phenomena. Examples of each of them constantly surround a person, regardless of his activities. This is because a socialized personality is part of society, although the relationship between each individual and society can be different. Even antisocial personalities interact with him in a negative way. And antisocial behavior may occur as a result of an unsuccessful clash with society. Man never creates himself, all this is the result of long-term and fruitful cooperation with society.
Two sides
Social phenomena and processes have two sides. The first of them is intrinsic psychic, and it expresses the subjectivity of psychic experiences and feelings reflected in the phenomenon. The second is outwardly symbolic, objectivizes subjectivity, materializes it. Thanks to this, the social value of phenomena and processes is formed.
They themselves are closely interconnected by causal logic: a process is a creation of a phenomenon, and a phenomenon is created by a process.
Culture definition
The concept of culture comes from the concept of society. The first is a way to realize the goals and interests of the second. The main objective of culture is to be a link between people, to support existing societies and to promote the creation of new ones. A few more are distinguished from this function.
Culture functions
These include:
- adaptation to the environment;
- epistemological (from "gnoseo" - cognition);
- informative, responsible for the transfer of knowledge and experience;
- communicative, going inextricably with the previous one;
- regulatory and regulatory, which regulates the system of norms and morals of society;
- evaluative, due to which the concepts of "good" and "evil" are distinguished, is closely related to the previous one;
- delimitation and integration of societies;
- socialization, the most humane function that is designed to create a socialized person.
Personality and Culture
Culture as a social phenomenon is seen as a long-term, continuous reproduction by society of goods. But she has her own characteristics. Unlike other social phenomena, samples of culture and art are created by individuals and creators.
The interaction of man and culture takes on several forms. There are four main hypostases.
- The first represents a person as a result of culture, a product created from its system of norms and values.
- The second says that a person is also a consumer of culture - the remaining products of this activity.
- The third form of interaction is when the person herself contributes to cultural development.
- The fourth implies that a person is capable of fulfilling the informative function of culture himself.
Society is a unique social phenomenon
Society as a social phenomenon has a number of features that are not characterized by any other of the examples of this term. So, the very definition of a social phenomenon includes this concept. It is said, as already mentioned earlier, that one is the product of the other, the result of joint labor.
Therefore, society is notable for reproducing itself. It creates social phenomena, being, in fact, them. Culture, for example, which is very important to remember, is not capable of this.
It is also important (it is a logical conclusion from the definition given in this article more than once) that society is the key to any social phenomenon. Without it, neither culture, nor politics, nor power, nor religion is possible, which makes it the basis. From this point of view, you can see that the reproduction of himself is an example of the function of self-preservation.
The importance of society and social phenomena
The emergence of society was an important stage for progress in the development of mankind. Actually, it was he who was responsible for the fact that individual individuals began to be perceived as one, interconnected. The emergence of various social phenomena at different levels at different times testified and continues to testify to the progress of mankind. They help to control and predict development, are the subject of study of many social sciences, starting with sociology and ending with history.