Social processes

Social processes are homogeneous series of phenomena arising in connection with the interaction of people; causing a change in the state and elements of the social system.

A series of phenomena can be perceived as a process only if:

• identity is preserved over time, allowing it to be distinguished from many other series;
• there is a relationship between previous and newly arising phenomena;
• previous phenomena should cause a homogeneous state of things.

Social processes can take place in 3 possible forms, namely:

• subjective, expressed in sequential actions of participants in social relations ;
• object, expressed in a sequential change in the state of a social phenomenon;
• technological, expressed in compliance, implementation of a certain technique.

Sociologists E. Burgess and R. Park created one of the classifications of the main social processes. In particular, they identified the processes of cooperation, adaptation, competition, assimilation, conflict, amalgamation.

1. The process of cooperation can occur between two people, as well as in small and large groups. Its basis is the concerted actions of people aimed at achieving common goals;
2. The process of adaptation, in which the individual adapts to new conditions, accepts the values ​​and cultural norms of the new environment, since the old does not satisfy the existing needs. A prerequisite for the process of adaptation is submission;
3. The competition process means the struggle between people, their groups or societies for obtaining certain values ​​of power, money, love, etc.). Competition stimulates the activity of people, allowing to achieve high results;
4. Conflict means a conflict of interests of people, various groups and societies. One of the most negative examples of conflict is war, when, in order to acquire any values, a clash of interests occurs that leads to loss of life.
5. The process of assimilation, that is, mutual cultural penetration, in which different groups or societies come to a common culture.
6. The process of amalgamation, that is, the biological mixture of ethnic groups and peoples, after which they become one.

Social processes and their types

1) Unidirectional (single-line) processes. In their development, they go the same way or a certain (similar) sequence of stages. An example is the civilizational approach to the development of the state, where slaveholding, feudal and capitalist types of the state are distinguished , which successively replaced each other;

2) Multilinear social processes suggest the existence of several alternative development paths;

3) Non-linear processes when breakouts or jumps occur after a long period of growth. An example here is the formation approach to the development of society. The transition to a new formation occurred as a result of a qualitative leap in the development of the economy, which leads to a radical transformation of the state;

4) Non-directional processes that occur randomly and are random in nature;

5) Wave-like social processes that repeat or are similar to previous models;

6) Cyclical processes occur (are repeated) at certain intervals;

7) Spiral processes are similar to each other, however, they vary in level of complexity. In this case, the cycle can be progressive and regressive;

8) Random social processes - individual special cases when changes occur not according to a certain well-known pattern;

9) Stagnation - for some time in the state of the system does not occur any changes.