The concept of civil society, the structure of civil society, functions

Civil society - a phenomenon that is actively explored by scientists of various fields - economics, sociology, law. And there is still no generally accepted understanding of its essence. What are the concepts that explain what civil society is? The concept, principles, structure of it - how they are interpreted by the researchers?

Definition of civil society

The first aspect that we will consider is the definition of the term in question. There are many approaches to determining what civil society is (concept, structure, its characteristics ). There are concepts proposed by philosophers of antiquity and the Middle Ages, there are theories of sociologists and economists of the 19th and 20th centuries, there are modern ideas.

But even if we try to investigate what constitutes civil society in the modern sense, then again we will face a huge number of interpretations of this phenomenon, which may be very dissimilar among themselves. Therefore, when examining certain interpretations of the term in question, one should realize that none of the points of view can be considered universally accepted even in narrow scientific circles. These are just versions of individual researchers.

Free People Society

In accordance with one of the most common concepts, civil society should be understood as the unification of free individuals. In the aspect of the economic component, this means that every person included in the structure of society is the owner. Depending on the volume of personal investment, knowledge and skills, he can increase the volume of his property, as well as dispose of it at his own discretion. A person in a modern civil society is free to choose a profession, place of residence, and build a family relationship.

Another aspect of human freedom is political. A person can delegate power and administrative powers within the framework of democratic mechanisms, participate in elections himself, organize local self-government, and demonstrate public activity. This aspect of freedom is also expressed in the citizen's right to choose political preferences, to form part of certain parties and associations.

The social aspect of human freedom in modern society is expressed in the fact that no one has the right to impose a certain model of behavior on him. He himself, guided by personal morality, will determine how to behave in a relationship with other people. This aspect of freedom is complemented by the availability of opportunities to express their views publicly - at meetings, rallies, on the pages of the media.

Mutual consideration of interests

Using those or other channels of expressing one's own interests, a person in modern civil society must at the same time take into account the interests of the surrounding people. In this sense, his freedom is limited where the priorities of other citizens are affected. One of the criteria for the maturity of society is that all its participants are aware of the fact that they have not only rights, but also duties (which directly flow from them).

The dialectical totality

Actually, for the first time the term "civil society", concept, structure, its features were introduced into public circulation by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in the book "Philosophy of Law". The great German thinker considered that civil society is a dialectical combination of various relationships - family, social, as well as those in which the state participates. In accordance with Hegel's concepts, society is an environment that represents a set of needs. Also its key components are religion, state, law, family, culture and other elements. Civil society in Hegel - one of the highest levels of human development. People who are not cultivated culturally before him are wild, undeveloped communities.

In the concept of Hegel, the classical bourgeois society stands closest to the civilian. The central element of society in this theory is a person, his activities, aimed at the realization of various needs. An important nuance of the concept is that individuals can achieve their goals only if they interact with other people.

Karl Marx supplemented the teachings of Hegel with economic categories based mainly on production relations, as well as components such as the basis and superstructure. This concept was largely guiding for the Soviet school of social science. On its basis, the principles of political economy were formed, which became widespread in the scientific environment of the USSR.

Build Communism

The concept of civil society, the structure of civil society in the communist interpretation are interesting because they do not assume the significant role of the economic factor in its capitalist understanding. The fact is that with the appropriate formation, private property disappears, and the opportunities for realizing one's personal priorities largely depend on the need to follow principles and norms determined at the state level.

The theory of non-interference

In accordance with one of the modern interpretations, civil society should be understood as an environment that develops independently of the state and subject to non-interference on its part. This theory as a whole is close to the one that we considered at the beginning of the article, where human freedom is the first criterion for the existence of the society. However, this interpretation, which determines what civil society is, the concept, structure, its features, has a pronounced economic connotation.

That is, the state allows the subjects of the society to act independently with the expectation that they will be able to provide for themselves, for example by opening a business or receiving a demanded profession in order to find work without problems. In turn, in societies where individuals can not maintain their economic viability, a strong state can not be dispensed with. But if the society is ready to do business and study, then the authorities can limit themselves to minimal interference with relevant communications, for example, by legislative regulation in key economic spheres in the interests of the citizens themselves.

Priority of personal interest

The concept of civil society, the structure of civil society in modern theories is often supplemented by ideas that it is natural for a person to interact with other individuals, mainly because of personal interest. But this mechanism is unusual in that the realization of the priorities of the individual (and in this the similarity of the theory under consideration with the Hegelian concept) can not be carried out without communication with other actors.

What is the civil society in Russia? Many researchers try to answer this question, but it is not much easier to do this than to formulate a universal definition of what a society is in principle. There is a huge number of interpretations of the Russian model of civil society. It is especially difficult to give an unambiguous answer to researchers, if only because the Russian Federation is a country that has changed several social formations in a short period of time: under the Empire, bourgeois accents began to predominate in society, later they were replaced by a socialist model of communications, after the collapse of the USSR, neoliberal approaches to Development of the economy and society.

Structure of civil society

We have studied one of the interpretations of the term "civil society" (concept, essence). The structure of the corresponding social phenomenon is the next aspect of interest to us. Just as with the definition of what civil society is about its structure, we can say that there are a large number of options for understanding it, presented in the scientific and expert environment.

The structure is a set of constituent elements of civil society. It is assumed that, in spite of the possible dissimilarity, they generally interact with the necessary balances ensuring the stability of the society, as well as its development.

Above we considered the version according to which human freedom is the main criterion on the basis of which the concept of civil society is built. The structure of civil society, of which it consists - are questions that can also be considered in relation to the concept we have explored. That is, the constituent elements of society can be studied through their activities, suggesting compliance with a key criterion - ensuring the guarantees of human freedom.

The concept of civil society, the structure of civil society - a phenomenon that can be studied in a variety of scientific approaches. Many modern sociologists prefer to distinguish four main elements that form the structure of society. Let's consider their essence.

The first element of civil society, if we follow the interpretation in question, is the social system. It is an environment in which individuals, interacting with each other, express, on the one hand, their own interests, exercise their rights, on the other - combine them with the priorities of other people and fulfill the duties prescribed by these or those norms.

In the social system, a variety of relationships can take place, but the key ones are the family ones. Among the main incentives for people to interact with each other is their desire to find a person with whom they can build a family. Another important factor in the communication of individuals in society is their objective need for communication. Man, according to a common point of view, is a social subject by nature. It's hard for him to live alone.

The second element of civil society is the economic system. The institutions that form it form the basis of life support for the society. Within the economic system, a person also realizes his own interests, predetermined by needs, and also helps, when possible or necessary, to ensure the priorities of other people.

When getting a job, a citizen, on the one hand, does this because of the need to support himself and his family, on the other hand - it helps his employer develop and make a profit. Among the key components of the economic system of modern civil society are property relations. A person can own something, exchange something, sell, buy, and in most cases it is connected with the realization of personal or family needs.

The third element of modern civil society is the political and legal system. It is a set of institutions that help to manage the state and more localized administrative units - subjects of the federation, if to speak of Russia, municipalities. The political system ensures the stability and sovereignty of society. Absence or weakness of state institutions, as a rule, is accompanied by a decrease in the quality of social communications. However, the extent to which the political and legal system will be stable determines the society itself through elections or the organization of various forms of self-government.

The fourth element of modern civil society is the spiritual and cultural system. It can be considered one of the most important from the standpoint of the stability of the society, as well as the historical continuity of its key values, which is one of the main criteria for the stability of society. The spiritual and cultural component of social communications can play an indispensable role when, for example, in the economic or political arena there are crisis phenomena. Also, the relevant social values are able to give guidance on how to build mechanisms for balanced interaction of individuals in conditions where most of them tend to act primarily on the basis of their interests.

These are examples of concepts in accordance with which the concept of civil society, the structure of civil society can be defined. As we noted at the beginning of the article, there are a lot of interpretations concerning the topic under consideration. Therefore, the interpretations given by us are only versions, but, we note, they are quite logical and reflect in general the specificity of building communications in modern societies.

Functions of civil society

We explored how civil society (concept, structure) is understood in different interpretations. The functions of the corresponding category are the following interesting aspect to us. Again, it should be said that there are a large number of dissimilar theories concerning the study of the corresponding characteristics of the society.

According to one of them, civil society is responsible for the successful implementation of the person's priorities, talents, vocations. People always strive for something. And if civil society will contribute to their desires, it means that the corresponding social institution is working normally.

Many researchers, trying to answer the question of what constitutes civil society and its functions, come to the conclusion that this environment is a necessary condition for the development of the state. If the society does not meet the necessary criteria for sustainability, then the political power will soon lose the ability to solve the tasks assigned to it. In this sense, the state and society are characterized by mutual dependence, one complements the other.

Another interpretation of the term suggests that the main function of the society is the protection of the interests of citizens. People should feel confident that the resources available to them for the realization of their personal needs will not disappear due to the will of other actors that can occur in the framework of direct intervention in the private life of a person.

How civil society is formed

The next important aspect that can be considered after we explored concepts that explain what civil society is (a concept, a structure) is the formation of a society. Under the influence of what factors does the corresponding interaction environment of people form?

Researchers distinguish their following list:

• Economic;
• Legal;
• Technological;
• Cultural.

That is, as each of the marked spheres develops in the society, mechanisms are developed, within which individuals begin to interact, forming on a systemic basis various relationships.

So, we studied the basic concepts in which scientists consider what constitutes a civil society (concept, structure, functions), what it is in the vision of classical scientists, adherents of communist views, modern experts. We were convinced that the phenomenon under consideration is a factor in the formation of active discussions. If we try to summarize what civil society is (a concept, structure, functions), we can briefly describe this phenomenon: it is an environment in which individuals motivated by personal interest, spiritual, cultural orientations or state will, carry out various communications with the aim of Protection of their interests, as well as ensuring the stability of the political and social system.