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Formational and civilizational approach to the development of society. Civilizational approach to the development of society

The word “civilization” comes from the Latin “civis”, which means “urban, state, civil”. Already in ancient times it was opposed to the concept of “silvaticus” - “forest, wild, rough”. Subsequently, the concept of “civilization” acquired different meanings, and many theories of civilization arose. During the Age of Enlightenment, civilization began to be understood as a highly developed society with writing and cities.

Today there are about 200 definitions of this concept. For example, Arnold Toynbee (1889 - 1975), a proponent of the theory of local civilizations, called a civilization a stable community of people united by spiritual traditions, a similar way of life, and a geographical and historical framework. And Oswald Spengler (1880 - 1936), the founder of the cultural approach to the historical process, believed that civilization is highest level, the final period of development of a culture preceding its death. One of the modern definitions of this concept is this: civilization is the totality of material and spiritual achievements of society.

The main structural unit of the process of social development, from the point of view of this approach, is civilization. Civilization is understood as a social system bound by common cultural values ​​(religion, culture, economic, political and social organization, etc.), which are consistent with each other and are closely interconnected. Each element of this system bears the stamp of the originality of a particular civilization. This uniqueness is very stable: although certain changes occur in civilization under the influence of certain external and internal influences, their certain basis, their inner core remains unchanged. When this core is eroded, the old civilization dies and is replaced by another, with different values.

Along with the concept of “civilization,” supporters of the civilizational approach widely use the concept of “cultural-historical types,” which are understood as historically established communities that occupy a certain territory and have their own characteristics of cultural and social development, characteristic only of them.

Civilizational approach has, as modern social scientists believe, a number of strengths.

First, its principles apply to the history of any country or group of countries. This approach is focused on understanding the history of society, taking into account the specifics of countries and regions. True, the flip side of this universality is the loss of criteria for which specific features of this specificity are more significant and which are less significant.

Secondly, emphasizing specificity necessarily presupposes the idea of ​​history as a multilinear, multivariate process. But awareness of this multiplicity of options does not always help, and often even makes it difficult to understand which of these options are better and which are worse (after all, all civilizations are considered equal).

Thirdly, the civilizational approach assigns a priority role in the historical process to human spiritual, moral and intellectual factors. However, emphasizing the importance of religion, culture, and mentality for characterizing and assessing civilization often leads to abstraction from material production as something secondary.

The main weakness of the civilizational approach lies in the amorphous nature of the criteria for identifying types of civilization. This identification by supporters of this approach is carried out according to a set of characteristics, which, on the one hand, should be of a fairly general nature, and on the other, would allow us to identify specific features characteristic of many societies. As a result, just as there is a constant discussion between supporters of the formational approach about the number of main formations (their number most often varies from three to six), different adherents of the civilizational approach call absolutely different number major civilizations. N.Ya. Danilevsky counted 13 types of “original civilizations”, O. Spengler - 8, A. Toynbee - 26 (Fig. 4).

Most often, when identifying types of civilizations, a confessional criterion is used, considering religion to be a concentrate of cultural values. So, according to Toynbee, in the 20th century. There are 7 civilizations - Western Christian, Orthodox Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Confucian (Far Eastern), Buddhist and Judaic.

Other weak side civilizational approach, which reduces its attractiveness is the denial of progress in the development of society (or, at least, emphasizing its homogeneity). For example, according to P. Sorokin, society constantly revolves within the cycle “ideational culture - idealistic culture - sensual culture” and is unable to go beyond its limits (Fig. 4). This understanding of the development of society is quite organic for Eastern societies, in whose cultural traditions the image of cyclical time dominates, but is not very acceptable for Western societies, in which Christianity has accustomed them to the image of linear time.

Like formational concepts, the civilizational approach also allows for a “simplified” interpretation, and, in this form, can become the basis for the most odious ideologies and regimes. If formational theories provoke social engineering (the forced imposition by one country of another of its own, “more progressive” model of development), then civilizational theories provoke nationalism and xenophobia (cultural contacts supposedly lead to the destruction of original cultural values).

There are various theories of civilization. Among them, two main varieties can be distinguished.

Theories of the staged development of civilization (K. Jaspers, P. Sorokin, W. Rostow, O. Tofler, etc.) consider civilization as a single process of progressive development of humanity, in which certain stages (stages) are distinguished. This process began in ancient times, when humanity moved from primitiveness to civilization. It continues today. During this time, great social changes occurred that affected socio-economic, political relations, and the cultural sphere.

Thus, the prominent American sociologist, economist, historian of the twentieth century Walt Whitman Rostow created the theory of stages economic growth. He identified five such stages:

Traditional society. There are agrarian societies with rather primitive technology, a predominance Agriculture in the economy, the class-class structure and the power of large landowners.

Transitional society. Agricultural production is growing, the new kind activity - entrepreneurship and its corresponding new type enterprising people. Centralized states are taking shape and national self-awareness is strengthening. Thus, the prerequisites for society's transition to a new stage of development are maturing.

“Shift” stage. Industrial revolutions occur, followed by socio-economic and political transformations.

“Maturity” stage. A scientific and technological revolution is underway, the importance of cities and the size of the urban population are growing.

The era of “high mass consumption”. There is a significant growth in the service sector, production of consumer goods and their transformation into the main sector of the economy.

The theories of local (local from Latin - “local”) civilizations (N.Ya. Danilevsky, A. Toynbee) proceed from the fact that there are separate civilizations, large historical communities that occupy a certain territory and have their own socio-economic, political and cultural development.

Local civilizations are a kind of elements that make up the general flow of history. They may coincide with the borders of the state (Chinese civilization), or may include several states (Western European civilization). Local civilizations are complex systems, in which they interact with each other different components: geographical environment, economics, political structure, legislation, religion, philosophy, literature, art, people’s way of life, etc. Each of these components bears the stamp of the originality of a particular local civilization. This uniqueness is very stable. Of course, over time, civilizations change and experience external influences, but a certain foundation, a “core” remains, thanks to which one civilization is still different from another.

One of the founders of the theory of local civilizations, Arnold Toynbee, believed that history is a nonlinear process. This is the process of the birth, life and death of civilizations unrelated to each other in different parts of the Earth. Toynbee divided civilizations into major and local. Major civilizations (for example, Sumerian, Babylonian, Hellenic, Chinese, Hindu, Islamic, Christian, etc.) left a clear mark on human history and indirectly influenced other civilizations. Local civilizations are confined within a national framework; there are about thirty of them: American, German, Russian, etc.

Toynbee believed that the driving forces of civilization were: a challenge posed to civilization from the outside (unfavorable geographical position, lagging behind other civilizations, military aggression); the response of civilization as a whole to this challenge; the activities of great people, talented, “God-chosen” individuals. society civilization toynbee

There is a creative minority that leads the inert majority to respond to the challenges posed by civilization. At the same time, the inert majority tends to “put out” and absorb the energy of the minority. This leads to cessation of development, stagnation. Thus, each civilization goes through certain stages: birth, growth, breakdown and disintegration, ending with death and the complete disappearance of civilization.

Both theories - stage and local - make it possible to see history differently. In the stage theory, the general comes to the fore - the laws of development that are common to all mankind. In the theory of local civilizations - individual, diversity historical process.

In general, the civilizational approach presents man as the leading creator of history, great attention pays attention to the spiritual factors of the development of society, the uniqueness of the history of individual societies, countries and peoples. Progress is relative. For example, it can affect the economy, and at the same time, this concept can be applied to the spiritual sphere in a very limited way.

According to the formational approach, whose representatives were K. Marx, F. Engels, V.I. Lenin and others, society in its development passes through certain, successive stages - socio-economic formations - primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist and communist. A socio-economic formation is a historical type of society based on a specific mode of production. The mode of production includes productive forces and production relations. The productive forces include the means of production and people with their knowledge and practical experience in the field of economics. Means of production, in turn, include objects of labor (what is processed in the labor process - land, raw materials, materials) and means of labor (what is used to process objects of labor - tools, equipment, machinery, production premises). Production relations are relations that arise in the production process and depend on the form of ownership of the means of production.

How does society develop according to the formational approach? The fact is that there is a pattern: productive forces develop faster than production relations. The means of labor, knowledge and skills of people involved in production are improved. Over time, a contradiction arises: old production relations begin to hinder the development of new productive forces. In order for the productive forces to have the opportunity to develop further, it is necessary to replace old production relations with new ones. When this happens, the socio-economic formation also changes.

As noted above, the formational approach proceeds from the fact that the development of society, various countries and peoples proceeds along certain stages: primitive communal system, slave system, feudalism, capitalism and communism. This process is based on changes occurring in the production sector. Supporters of the formational approach believe that the leading role in social development is played by historical patterns, objective laws, within the framework of which a person acts. Society is steadily moving along the path of progress, since each subsequent socio-economic formation is more progressive than the previous one. Progress is associated with the improvement of productive forces and production relations.

The formational approach has its drawbacks. As history shows, not all countries fit into the “harmonious” scheme proposed by the supporters of this approach. For example, in many countries there was no slave-owning socio-economic formation. As for the countries of the East, their historical development was generally unique (to resolve this contradiction, K. Marx came up with the concept of the “Asian mode of production”). In addition, as we see, the formational approach provides an economic basis for all complex social processes, which is not always correct, and also relegates the role of the human factor in history to the background, giving priority to objective laws.

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There are two main approaches to the study of history - formational and civilizational. First you need to understand how these approaches differ.
Formational approach was developed by K. Marx and F. Engels. Its meaning lies in the natural change of socio-economic formations. They proceeded from the fact that the material activity of people always appears in the form of a specific mode of production. The mode of production is the unity of productive forces and production relations. Productive forces include the subject of labor, the means of labor and man. The productive forces are the content of the mode of production, and the relations of production are the form. As the content changes, the form also changes. This happens through revolution. And accordingly, various socio-economic formations change each other. According to these formations there are stage of development of society: primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist, communist.
Disadvantages of the formational approach it can be considered that many processes of cultural and spiritual life are sometimes considered in a simplified manner, little attention is paid to the role of the individual in history, the human factor, as well as the fact that the transition from one formation to another was absolutized (some peoples did not go through all formations and not always changes occur through revolutions).
Civilizational approach The main criterion implies the spiritual and cultural sphere. The concept of civilization has many different meanings. There are as many interpretations of this concept as there are authors. And therefore these authors highlight different quantities civilizations, classify the state differently. In general, the denial of the unity of human history and universal historical patterns is characteristic
Disadvantages of the civilizational approach is that it does not allow us to look at history as a holistic, natural process; using a civilizational approach it is difficult to study patterns historical development.
Since the beginning of the 90s, there has been a desire to “get rid” of the formational approach and everything related to Marxism. Therefore, a civilizational approach was actively introduced.
In themselves, these approaches are neither good nor bad. Each of them has both pros and cons. And both of these approaches have a right to exist. They simply look at history from different angles. If history is studied using these approaches, monographs and articles written using these approaches are published - this is good.
Something else is bad. It turned out to be wrong to introduce a civilizational approach to school without proper preparation. Firstly in historical science There was no consensus on which approach to take. Therefore, for now, the formational approach should be considered the most correct (subject to taking into account all its shortcomings). Secondly, the supporters of the civilizational approach have not even decided on the key concept of their concept of “civilization”. And all this led to the appearance of various textbooks - with a formational approach and different civilizational approaches.
History is a multifaceted phenomenon and it is necessary to study it from all sides. When studying history, it is useful to apply a variety of approaches - formational, civilizational, cultural,

sociological and others.
When teaching at school, it is advisable to focus on one approach. And in this moment This, apparently, should be a formational approach, because it allows us to understand the patterns of historical development.

7. Contours of the future society: basic conceptual approaches.

Post-industrial issues are becoming one of the leading ones in Western political science. A significant impetus for the further development of the ideas of a global post-industrial society was the publication in 1973 of the book by the American sociologist D. Bell “The Coming Post-Industrial Society. Experience of social forecasting." In it, the author divides the history of human society into three main stages: agricultural, industrial and post-industrial. The scientist sought to outline the contours of a post-industrial society, largely based on the characteristics of the industrial stage. Like T. Veblen and other theorists of industrialism, he interprets industrial society as a society in which main goal production of the maximum number of machines and things is aimed at. An essential feature of the post-industrial stage is, according to D. Bell, the transition from the production of things to the development of the production of services related to education, healthcare, research and management.

Essential theoretical knowledge assumes a central role in decision-making and coordination of the direction of change. “Any modern society lives through innovation and social control of change,” writes D. Bell. - It tries to anticipate the future and plan. It is the change in awareness of the nature of innovation that makes theoretical knowledge decisive.” Movement in this direction will gain momentum through a kind of convergence of science, technology and economics. The American scientist considers knowledge and information not only an effective catalyst for the transformation of post-industrial society, but also its strategic resource.

This book caused a general resonance and interest in the issues raised in it. Since its publication, numerous works have appeared devoted to understanding the historical boundary at which humanity finds itself.

One of the most interesting and developed philosophical concepts of post-industrial society belongs to the Japanese scientist I. Masuda. The basic principles and features of the future society are presented in his book “The Information Society as a Post-Industrial Society.” The foundation of the new society, according to the author, will be computer technology, the main function of which he sees as replacing or significantly enhancing human mental labor.

Another theorist of the coming post-industrial society, E. Toffler, offers his own scheme of the historical process. In his book “The Third Wave,” he identified three waves in the history of civilization: the first wave was agricultural (until the 18th century), the second was industrial (until the 50s of the 20th century), and the third was post-industrial (starting from the 50s). “The immediate historical frontier is as profound as the first wave of change set in motion ten thousand years ago by the introduction of agriculture,” he writes. The second wave of change was brought about by the Industrial Revolution. We are the children of the next transformation, the third wave.”

Post-industrial society, in his opinion, is characterized by such features as deconcentration of production and population, a sharp increase in information exchange, the prevalence of self-government political systems, as well as further individualization of the individual while maintaining solidary relations between people and communities.

The turn of the 1980s/90s can be designated as the beginning of a new stage in the development of ideas of a global post-industrial society. First of all, this period is associated with the results of research by Peter Drucker and Manuel Castells. P. Drucker, famous American economist, one of the creators modern theory management, took an active part in discussions in the early 70s. However, he made his direct contribution to the formation of a new look for existing concepts of post-industrialism later, publishing the book “Post-capitalist Society”.

The core of Drucker’s concept is the idea of ​​overcoming traditional capitalism, and the main signs of the ongoing shift are considered to be the transition from an industrial economy to an economic system based on knowledge and information, overcoming capitalist private property, the formation new system values modern man and transformation of the national state under the influence of the processes of globalization of the economy and society. The modern era, according to Drucker, is a time of radical restructuring, when, with the development of new information and telecommunication technologies, humanity has a real chance to transform capitalist society into a knowledge-based society.

M. Castells uses the global economy and international financial markets as the main signs of the emerging new world order. His fundamental study “The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture” is devoted to a detailed analysis modern trends, leading to the formation of the foundations of a society that he called “networked”

Over the past decade, the topic of global post-industrial society has been repeatedly addressed by domestic scientists, who have developed their own definitions of the new society. So, G.L. Smolyan and D.S. Chereshkin in the approach they developed includes the following as the main features of the new society: the formation of a single information space and deepening the processes of information and economic integration of countries and peoples; the emergence and further dominance in the economies of countries that have advanced most far towards the information society of new technological structures based on the massive use of network information technologies, advanced computer technology and telecommunications; increasing the level of education by expanding the capabilities of information exchange systems at the international, national and regional levels and, accordingly, increasing the role of qualifications, professionalism and creativity as the main characteristics of labor services.

Most The approaches to explaining the essence and features of the historical process developed in domestic historical and philosophical science are formational and civilizational.

The first of them belongs to the Marxist school of social science. Its key concept is the category “socio-economic formation”

Formation was understood as a historically specific type of society, considered in the organic interconnection of all his parties and spheres, arising on the basis of a certain method of production of material goods. In the structure of each formation, an economic base and a superstructure were distinguished. The basis (otherwise it was called production relations) is a set of social relations that develop between people in the process of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material goods (the main ones among them are relations of ownership of the means of production). The superstructure was understood as a set of political, legal, ideological, religious, cultural and other views, institutions and relations not covered by the base. Despite the relative independence, the type of superstructure was determined by the nature of the base. It also represented the basis of the formation, determining the formational affiliation of a particular society. Production relations (the economic basis of society) and productive forces constituted the mode of production, often understood as a synonym for socio-economic formation. The concept of “productive forces” included people as producers of material goods with their knowledge, skills and labor experience, and means of production: tools, objects, means of labor. Productive forces are a dynamic, constantly developing element of the method of production, while production relations are static and rigid, not changing for centuries. At a certain stage, a conflict arises between the productive forces and production relations, which is resolved during the social revolution, the breaking of the old basis and the transition to a new stage of social development, to a new socio-economic formation. Old relations of production are being replaced by new ones, which open up space for the development of productive forces. Thus, Marxism understands the historical process as a natural, objectively determined, natural-historical change of socio-economic formations.

In some of the works of K. Marx himself, only two large formations are identified - primary (archaic) and secondary (economic), which includes all societies based on private property. The third formation will be represented by communism. In other works of the classics of Marxism, a socio-economic formation is understood as a specific stage of development of a mode of production with its corresponding superstructure. It was on their basis that in Soviet social science by 1930 the so-called “five-member group” was formed and acquired the character of an indisputable dogma. According to this concept, all societies in their development alternately pass through five socio-economic formations: primitive, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist and communist, the first phase of which is socialism. The formational approach is based on several postulates:



1) the idea of ​​history as a natural, internally determined, progressive, world-historical and teleological (directed towards the goal - the construction of communism) process. The formational approach practically denied the national specificity and originality of individual states, focusing on what was common to all societies;

2) the decisive role of material production in the life of society, the idea of ​​economic factors as basic for other social relations;

3) the need to match production relations with productive forces;

4) the inevitability of transition from one socio-economic formation to another.

At the present stage of development of social science in our country, the theory of socio-economic formations is experiencing an obvious crisis; many authors have brought to the fore civilizational approach to the analysis of the historical process.

The concept of “civilization” is one of the most complex in modern science: Many definitions have been proposed. The term itself comes from Latin words"civil". In a broad sense Civilization is understood as the level, stage of development of society, material and spiritual culture, following barbarism and savagery. This concept is also used to designate a set of unique manifestations of social orders inherent in a certain historical community. In this sense, civilization is characterized as qualitative specificity (originality of material, spiritual, social life) a particular group of countries or peoples at a certain stage of development. The famous Russian historian M.A. Barg defined civilization this way: “...This is the way in which a given society resolves its material, socio-political and spiritual-ethical problems.” Different civilizations are fundamentally different from each other, since they are based not on similar production techniques and technology (as societies of the same Formation), but on incompatible systems of social and spiritual values. Any civilization is characterized not so much by its production base as by its specific way of life, value system, vision and ways of interrelating with the outside world.



In the modern theory of civilizations, both linear-stage concepts (in which civilization is understood as a certain stage of world development, contrasted with “uncivilized” societies) and concepts of local civilizations are common. The existence of the former is explained by the Eurocentrism of their authors, who represent the world historical process as the gradual introduction of barbarian peoples and societies to the Western European system of values ​​and the gradual advancement of humanity towards a single world civilization based on these same values. Proponents of the second group of concepts use the term “civilization” in plural and proceed from the idea of ​​the diversity of development paths for different civilizations.

Various historians have identified many local civilizations, which may coincide with the borders of states (Chinese civilization) or cover several countries (ancient, Western European civilization). Over time, civilizations change, but their “core,” which makes one civilization different from another, remains. The uniqueness of each civilization should not be absolutized: they all go through stages common to the world historical process. Usually, the entire diversity of local civilizations is divided into two large groups - eastern and western. The former are characterized by a high degree of dependence of the individual on nature and the geographical environment, a close connection between a person and his social group, low social mobility, and the dominance of traditions and customs among the regulators of social relations. Western civilizations, on the contrary, are characterized by the desire to subordinate nature to human power, the priority of individual rights and freedoms over social communities, high social mobility, a democratic political regime and the rule of law.

Thus, if a formation concentrates attention on the universal, general, repeating, then civilization focuses on the local-regional, unique, and peculiar. These approaches are not mutually exclusive. In modern social science there is a search in the direction of their mutual synthesis.

The initial methodological principle in economic sociology is the theoretical approach in views on the development of society

Modern society for the 21st century. has achieved results that are still insufficiently assessed by scientists. Attempts to explain what is happening have led to a variety of approaches to the periodization of economic progress, reflecting real processes in society.

Usually among them there are approaches of this orientation: formational, civilizational, world-system and the theory of post-industrial society.

With the formational approach, society is compared over time. It was dominant in the Western world and in Russian society throughout almost the entire 20th century. Currently, the number of its supporters has decreased significantly, which is primarily due to a change in the development paradigm in former countries socialism.

The formational approach is based on the theory of K. Marx. It assumes a five-link structure of human development, that is, the presence of such socio-economic formations as primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist and communist. The main thing in them is the method of production and the nature of property relations. In this regard, the basis of society is considered to be the production of material goods necessary for the existence of society and its further improvement. At the same time, the development of production methods is considered as the history of the development of society. Along with this, they recognize the process of successive replacement of one formation by another from lower to higher. The disadvantages of the formational approach usually include:

  • - simplified division of the structure of society into productive forces, production relations and superstructure;
  • - underestimation of the role of the human factor;
  • - a simplified structure, the weak point of which is the single-line approach (from simple to complex);
  • - its applicability to only one limited, although very important region Western Europe. The “Five Members” excludes Asian and other societies.

The civilized approach to the periodization of economic progress is characterized by a comparison of societies in space. It was quite popular in the Western world throughout the 20th century and in Russia before and after the collapse of socialism. New trends have emerged in connection with the concept that defines the civilization of the 21st century as fundamentally unified. However, the aggravation of contradictions between the Western and Muslim worlds has significantly weakened the arguments of supporters of a civilized approach. In the very general view Many approaches to civilized theory can be presented in the form of two main ones: complex materialistic and humanitarian. social wallerstein toynbee society

The defining principle of a comprehensive materialistic approach is material production, methods of management and the relationships generated by it. But in contrast to the formational approach, this concept reflects not only the diversity of the material world, but also reveals the patterns of phenomenal development of a number of societies. They allowed, in particular, some Western European countries not only to transform their societies, but also created opportunities for them to control the destinies of other peoples. This idea, in various modifications and at different times, was supported by L. Morgan, P. Armilss, K. Marx, F. Engels, G. Chaill, R. Redfill, M. Block, L. Fevre, F. Wrodel and others.

The humanitarian approach is characterized by the diversity of the world in its social and cultural dimensions. Within the framework of this concept, many historical processes and their trends were identified. The founders of the humanitarian approach are primarily called L. Danilevsky, M. Weber, O. Spengler, P. Sorokin, A. Toynbee. This concept is also supported by modern researchers N. Elias, S. Enzenstadt and others.

A. Toynbee’s concept became a huge event in intellectual history. Controversy about it caused a huge number of works written by scientists different countries. Currently, “toynbeana” is being replenished with new works. The popularity of the theory is due, firstly, to the author’s ability to give the most total reflection problems, secondly, by the fact that in an age of narrow specialization he solves questions of general history.

In its development, society goes through the stages of birth, growth, breakdown and decay. The birth of civilization is possible in the presence of two conditions: a creative minority and an environment that is neither too favorable nor too unfavorable. The mechanism of the emergence of civilization is based on the theory of calls and responses, which assumes their interaction. Any phenomenon in the history of human development is a response to someone else's challenge. For example, the environment poses a challenge to society. It, through a creative minority, responds to the challenge and successfully solves the problem. People achieve civilization not due to biological endowments or favorable geographical and natural conditions, but in response to a challenge in special situations, which inspires them to do unprecedented things. Society is constantly in motion, which leads it to civilization. Challenge and response theory has the following features:

  • - harmonization of interaction between personality and history;
  • - variety of answers with their completeness and intensity;
  • - constant repetition of unanswered calls;
  • - variety of calls and responses that determine different character societies;
  • - lack of answers means loss of vitality of society;
  • - the viability of society is characterized by the possibilities of using the living environment, its development and development of spiritual life. The growth of civilization represents “the continuous creative departure and return of the charismatic minority of society in a process of constantly renewed successful responses to new environmental challenges.” However, the growth of civilization is not associated with technological progress; it is not accompanied by either the geographical spread of society or increased dominance over the natural environment. A growing civilization realizes its potential, which is different for different civilizations. Thus, in ancient civilization, aesthetic potentials appeared, in Indian civilization, religious ones, and in Western civilization, scientific and mechanical potentialities emerged.

The fracture stage is characterized by such features as:

  • - insufficient level creation of a creative minority;
  • - refusal of the majority to follow and imitate the minority;
  • - the collapse of social unity in society.

To maintain their status, the creative minority uses force and resorts to the creation of a universal state like the Roman Empire. The ancient ruling minority came up with such a state in order to preserve civilization and themselves.

The decay of civilization can continue for centuries and even millennia. It manifests itself in a variety of forms, affecting types of human behavior. There are usually two types of human behavior: active and passive. However, both of them are not of a creative nature. Active type behavior involves “a form of curbing natural passions through a system of spiritual exercises.” Passive type means withdrawal, avoidance of activity. According to the current situation, there are four possible types of “rescuers”: the archaic, the ball rescuer, the emotionless stoic, and the transformed religious rescuer. However, nothing can stop the process of decay. The only exception to the rule is the only path - the path of transformation, which involves changing goals and values. Of the 26 previously existing civilizations, 16 ceased to exist. The rest are either under threat of liquidation or assimilation into Western civilization.

Considering the typology of civilizations, A. Toynbee notes that some of them are fully established, others - partially. He calls them “arrested” civilizations. Among them, two types are distinguished depending on the nature of the challenges: the natural environment (Polynesians, Eskimos, nomads) and the social environment (Ottomans, Spartans in the Hellenic world). At the same time, A. Toynbee believes that not a single society has passed the path of civilization to the end. All societies are incomplete. Therefore, their experience is not complete. IN modern society The following typology of civilizations has been adopted: European, Indian, Islamic, Latin American, Buddhist, Far Eastern. In its most general form, civilization theory is characterized by the following features:

  • - the uniqueness of the history of the economy and culture of different peoples and countries;
  • - lack of typification of the history of the peoples of different countries in the consistent development and methods of production of material goods;
  • - the existence and death of civilization is a process that does not have any regularities;
  • - many civilizations that have taken place both fully and partially.

Along with this, a number of shortcomings can be traced in the civilizational theory, among them:

  • - extreme uncertainty and vagueness of the concept of “civilization”;
  • - linking the criteria of civilization to the phenomena of world religion, mentality, etc.;
  • - reducing the priority of economic relations, which dissolve in the general set of criteria and values;
  • - detachment from reality modern life. The growth and development of civilizations is not determined by the development of scientific and technical progress and the accumulation of material wealth, which is one of the main factors in the development of most modern countries;
  • - the criterion of Western civilization with its liberal democratic values, which are often imposed on the universe, do not suit many countries and peoples. Although the West came to dominate in economic and political aspects, it was nevertheless unable to completely disarm its rivals and destroy their indigenous cultures;
  • - the incomplete nature of the historical experience of civilization.

Let's consider two main approaches to the development of society - formational and civilizational.

At the core formational approach lies in the Marxist doctrine of socio-economic formations (SEF) as stages of the historical process along which all of humanity successively ascends.

GEF is a type of society that arises on the basis of a certain method of producing material goods. O-EF = method of production (= base) + corresponding superstructure (= political structure+ spiritual sphere of society). Mode of production = productive forces + relations of production. Productive forces = means of production + labor power. According to this approach, driving force historical development are the contradictions between dynamic, constantly developing productive forces and production relations that are not prone to change. Contradictions lead to social revolution. There is a breakdown of the old basis (old production relations are replaced by new ones) and a transition to a new stage of social development - to a new EEF.

Highest level development of society in this approach - communism - a society in which there will be no social inequality, the slogan of which will be: “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” In total, K. Marx identified five socio-economic formations: primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist and communist (its first stage is socialism).

Disadvantages: no direct relationship between the base and the superstructure has been identified; the scheme of five OEFs does not work; it does not apply to eastern countries.

Advantages: - what was common in the historical development of various peoples is highlighted, the history of human society is presented as a single process, a periodization of world history and the history of individual countries is proposed.

Inside civilizational There are two directions of approach: the linear-stage theory of civilizations and the theory of local civilizations. Civilization is a level, stage of social development, material and spiritual culture.

Proponents of the linear-stage theory of civilizations, like supporters of the formational approach, distinguish certain stages of civilization: traditional, industrial and information or post-industrial civilizations. The difference between this approach and the formational approach is only that the determining criterion for stages is not material production, but a system of cultural values.

Proponents of the second direction within the framework of the civilizational approach - the theory of local civilizations - do not identify any single steps or stages in the history of mankind. Local civilization is characterized by a single space, a single system of values ​​and a certain archetype


Local civilizations are divided into two groups: eastern and western. For eastern civilizations characteristic:

Human dependence on nature;

The connection of a person with a social group;

Low social mobility;

The importance of traditions and customs.

Western civilizations are characterized by:

The power of man over nature;

Respect for individual rights and freedoms;

High social mobility;

Democratic political regime;

The advantage of the civilizational approach to the study of history is that it allows us to identify the originality and uniqueness of the historical development of each specific society.

38 The main spheres of social life.

The sphere of social life is a certain set of stable relations between social actors.

Spheres public life represent large, stable, relatively independent subsystems of human activity.

Traditionally, there are four main spheres of public life:

1 Economic sphere(unity of production, exchange, consumption and distribution)

2 Social sphere(ethnic community of people, different classes, social groups)

3 Political sphere ( power structures)

4 Spiritual Sphere ( various views of people, their ideas about the outside world)

Economic sphere acts as an economic space in which the economic life of the country is organized and the interaction of all sectors of the economy takes place. and international economic cooperation. Here the economic consciousness of people, their material interest in the results of their production activities, as well as their creative abilities are directly brought to life. The activities of economic management institutions are also implemented here.

Social sphere- this is the sphere of relationships between social groups existing in society, including classes, professional and socio-demographic strata of the population (youth, elderly people, etc.), as well as national communities regarding the social conditions of their lives and activities.

Political sphere there is a space of political activity of classes, other social groups, national communities, political parties and movements of various kinds public organizations. Their activities take place on the basis of existing political relations and are aimed at realizing their political interests.

Spiritual realm- this is the sphere of relations between people regarding various kinds of spiritual values, their creation, dissemination and assimilation by all layers of society. At the same time, spiritual values ​​mean not only, say, paintings, music or literary works, but also the knowledge of people, science, moral standards of behavior, etc., in a word, everything that constitutes the spiritual content of public life or the spirituality of society.

All spheres of society are inextricably linked and are in constant interaction with each other.