Contemporary Sociology

Modern sociology includes many scientific schools and individual exercises, each of which explains the essence of sociological science in its own way. There are also quite a few definitions of sociology at the present stage. The most common are such definitions as "the science of the laws of the passage and development of social processes and social communities, the mechanism of interrelations between people and society," "the science of the laws of the formation, development and existence of society and social relations."

Modern sociology calls its own subject society or individual social phenomena. Sociology studies not only the phenomena themselves, but their most general properties, which are not considered by other social sciences (history, philosophy, psychology, political economy, theory of law).

In this regard, we can conclude that modern sociology is a separate science about the general laws of social phenomena and their generic properties. In research sociology is not simply based on empirical experience, but also theoretically generalizes it.

Sociology studies not just a person in general, but explores the whole world of its existence, which includes the social environment, the community in which it is included, social connections, lifestyle, social activities. Sociology views the world as a system. Such a system is considered to it not only as a functioning and developing one, but also as a surviving crisis. Modern sociology seeks to study the causes of the crisis and is trying to find possible ways out of it, and one that will be the least painful for society and the most promising.

The features of modern science lie in the fact that it is trying to solve the most acute problem of our days - the survival of mankind for the possibilities of further renewal of civilization and its elevation to a more developed stage of relations. Sociology seeks solutions to these problems not only at the global level, but also at the levels of individual social communities, social institutions, by studying the social behavior of individuals. This science explores the stages of the formation, progressive development and real functioning of societies and communities of people. At the same time, the essence of phenomena and their causes is sought in deep social processes, between personalities and communities.

The directions of modern sociology differ according to two criteria. All schools of modern sociological science are divided into two groups. These are microsociological and macrosociological theories .

In the latter group, the greatest influence is exercised by the theory of social conflict and structural functionalism. All schools rely on the achievements of modern science.

Fundamentals of structural functionalism led Tolkott Parsons, who proposed to look at society as a system consisting of interrelated functional elements. To such elements he referred individuals, collectives, groups and other communities, between which there is a relationship. In this theory, the emphasis is on the stability of social systems and the evolutionary forms of their development.

The theory of social conflict (conflictological direction of sociology) has developed in contrast to structural functionalism. The most famous representatives of this direction are L. Kozer and R. Darendorf.

Kozer is the author of the theory of positive-functional conflict, which states that the stability of the social system presupposes the existence of an obligatory struggle of interests, manifested in social collisions and clashes. Darendorf developed the concept of a conflict model for the development of society. The main postulates of his theory boil down to the following: society is in a constant process of change, conflicts are inevitable, all the individual elements of society contribute to its changes and integration, in society, some members always dominate others.

Microsociological theories focus on studying the behavior of individuals in their social interrelations. The basic theories of microsociology include phenomenology, symbolic interactionism, the theory of social exchange, ethnomethodology.

Symbolic interactionism (George Herbert Mead) says that people act on the basis of symbolic meanings that need to be interpreted. Phenomenology (Alfred Schütz) explores social reality through the study of the everyday life of individuals. Ethnomethodology (Harold Garfinkel) considers reality as a result of the interpretive activity of people. The theory of social exchange (George Homans) is based on the principles of behaviorism to explain social processes.