Civilization theory of the development of human society and its theorists. Concepts of civilizational development of society
Society is a system of relationships and living conditions and activities of people, uniting them into sustainable coexistence. Thus, society is what unites people into a system of certain relationships.
However society unites not just in yourself separate human individuals in its pure form, it unites these individuals V the composition of such stable associations as “people”, “nation” and “state”.
The people are the entire population, as such, involved in life together in any system society.
A nation is a community of people united by a common language communication , joint territory residence, similar psychological make-up, common system spiritual values and a specific awareness of their inseparability with each other.
The nation is part of the people, and the people are part of the state.
A state is a system of power that spreads its own way of organizing the life of the people over a certain territory.
Thus, society, as a stable form of interaction between people, includes a nation, people and state.
Society is understood more broadly than the concepts of nation, people and state, because it includes not only these three social objects, but also generally contains all the countless relationships that exist, both between them and between various objects in their composition and between all these objects in all their possible intersections.
Consequently, society is a unified system of interaction between many different subsystems: social, industrial, political, spiritual, ethnic, economic, legal, property and others.
The special specificity and special complexity of society lies in the fact that its main semantic element is man, as a result of which society, in contrast to natural systems of interaction, has high degree unpredictability of its development.
Due to this, social development is a process so complex that its research analysis and theoretical description cause enormous difficulties and are accompanied by non-stop conceptual discussions, as a result of which a variety of approaches arose and are emerging to the development of hypotheses that explain, one way or another, the history of origin and development society.
Most thoroughly developed two approaches to the development of society:
1.Formational approach.
The formational approach was developed within the framework of Marxism (historical materialism) and is characterized by the idea that society in its development passes through certain, naturally replacing each other historical stages– socio-economic formations.
A socio-economic formation is a historical type of society based on a certain method of production, which is the basis, the foundation of this type of society, that is, it determines its main features.
The method of production itself represents the unity of two elements - productive forces and production relations.
PRODUCTIVE FORCES include:
1.Means of production, consisting of:
- objects of labor (what labor is directed towards - land, raw materials, materials),
– means of labor (what is used to process objects of labor: tools, machinery, equipment, buildings).
2. Of people.
PRODUCTION RELATIONSHIP – these are relationships that arise in the production process and depend on the form of ownership of the means of production.
According to historical materialism, there is a pattern:
productive forces develop faster than production relations, because the means of labor, knowledge and skills of a person engaged in production are improved, and production relations lag behind their new level.
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.
The socio-economic formation changes according to certain historical stages, following each other in a natural sequence:
– slave system,
– feudalism,
– capitalism,
– communism.
Society is steadily moving along the path of progress, since each subsequent socio-economic formation is more progressive than the previous one due to the fact that the change of formations is associated with the improvement of productive forces and production relations.
2.Civilization approach.
Civilization is the state of society in its specific historical period in terms of its achievements in the material and spiritual fields.
In the civilizational approach, civilization is considered as the main element of history, through the features and characteristics of which it itself the history of society is understood as the history of human culture.
In this concept, the development of society is understood as a process of changes over time in the following factors:
– material life(production, technology, living conditions, level of nutrition and level of consumption of material goods, etc.),
– social life(state orders, class-class structure of society, family, healthcare, education, political movements etc.) and
– spiritual culture(science, religion, art, philosophy, morality, etc.).
There are a variety of civilization development concepts, among which two main blocks can be distinguished:
1. Theories staged development civilization.
The theories of this block consider civilization as a single process of the general progressive development of mankind, in which certain stages are distinguished.
A stage in the civilizational approach is understood as the global state of human culture at any historical period in the aspect of general macro-characteristics of society - the level of knowledge, the degree of independence from nature, the main forms economic activity, social and spiritual aspects of life, reflecting the main, pillar features of the social structure.
That is, when determining a particular stage, not just any one characteristic is taken into account (the level of scientific knowledge or the degree of social freedom, political organization or religious attitudes, etc.), by which one could conceptually or chronologically outline the stage, but take general signs, characterizing the state of all aspects of society.
From the point of view of the stage approach, the history of human culture is a universal and unified process, within which stages are replaced under the influence of universal laws of development, extending their influence in one form or another to absolutely all nations.
Despite significant differences in the lifestyle and level of culture of different peoples, and despite completely different rates and forms of civilizational processes among different peoples, all nations each in his own way, but go through the same stages of development.
The list of such stages varies depending on a particular concept. In particular, the following classification of stages is significantly common:
1. Wildness stage, on which the person made first steps from savagery to culture: began to domesticate animals, acquired the first crafts, began to make tools for labor and hunting, mastered primitive methods of construction, established some rules of living, created the first forms of art, religious beliefs, customs and began to use fire.
2. The stage of barbarism, which is characterized by a transition to agriculture or animal husbandry, which radically changes the state human society, making it quite independent from nature and stimulates the development of knowledge and crafts - obtaining and processing metal, astronomical knowledge, irrigation, cooking, complex religious views and cults, mythology, rich social hierarchy, division of responsibilities in society, political associations extending beyond the family or tribe, etc.
3. Directly civilization. Begins with the invention of writing, since writing is a tool for preserving, distributing and transmitting knowledge and spiritual values to descendants.
With the advent of such a tool (writing), the process of accumulating intellectual and spiritual values became possible. Since the immediate meaning of human culture is its elevation above nature, above its physical laws, civilization, as a culture, begins only when mental laws acquire strength and the ability to develop with the advent of writing to various degrees of their elevation above physical laws.
As a result of development processes, civilization changes its state and acquires certain new dominant characteristics, that is, the very stage of civilization in human history takes one form or another, depending on the prevailing social conditions and cultural development.
So, according to the classification sometimes used humanity has passed the stage of agriculture, then the stage of industrial production, then the technogenic stage and is now moving into the stage of information civilization.
2. Theories local civilizations.
A block of these theories is based on the fact that in the history of mankind, individual civilizations arise and develop, that is, certain large historical communities of people that occupy a certain territory and have their own peculiarities of socio-economic, political and cultural development that are unique to them.
Local civilizations constitute the general flow of human history, remaining separate elements in it. They can be confined to the borders of individual states (Chinese civilization, Russian civilization, Indian civilization), or they can include several states (Western European civilization, Latin American civilization, Arab civilization).
Local civilizations change over time, both under the influence of internal development processes and in response to external challenges from other local civilizations, but in them there remains a certain basis, a certain “core”, thanks to which each local civilization fundamentally different from the other.
Thus, the stage theory sees in history the action of development laws that are common to all mankind, and the local theory concentrates on the individual diversity of the historical process of individual societies.
But both of these civilizational theories consider man to be the main factor in the development of society. his intellect and his spiritual development.
That is, the civilizational approach is characterized by the fact that the creator of human history is only the person himself, and not any inexorable laws that a person is forced to obey.
At the same time, everything Civilization theories divide civilizations by form and content into two main types:
1. Traditional type. Societies of this type are aimed not at transforming nature, but at adapting to it. Professing a measured and leisurely path of development that does not affect age-old traditions and values, these civilizations do not encourage the desire to purposefully change the production, social, religious, ethnic and other forms of their condition. Customs and value-spiritual priorities in these societies are placed above economic ones(third world countries, mainly in Asia, the Middle East and Africa).
2. Western type. Societies of this type are aimed at subjugating nature, developing mass production, accelerating the pace of development, and constantly transforming social relations, traditions and customs of life. Value-spiritual priorities are subordinated to economic ones, and the absolute value is scientific knowledge and scientific and technical improvement.
If in the traditional type of society agrarian and natural economy, then in the Western type the economy is based on the division of labor, on the specialization of forms of production, on the mechanization and automation of industry, on the subordination of all achievements of society to the development of the industrial industry and the financial sector.
Predominant type modern society Western type appears industrial society, which is moving into its post-industrial stage, where the decisive factors of development - money and access to raw materials - are added to such factors as a high level of management, knowledge and management systems.
In the future, as expected, the post-industrial stage of the Western type will be replaced by an information civilization characterized by the dominance of systems information management everyone's life important systems society.
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 + work force. According to this approach, the driving force of historical development is the contradictions between dynamic, constantly evolving productive forces and production relations that are not prone to change. Controversies 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.
The highest stage of development of society in this approach is 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, periodization is proposed world history and the history of individual countries.
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. Eastern civilizations are characterized by:
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 entities.
Spheres of public life are 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. as well as international economic cooperation. Here the economic consciousness of people, their material interest in the results of their production activities, as well as their Creative skills. The activities of economic management institutions are also implemented here.
Social sphere- this is the sphere of relationships existing in society social groups, 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 space political activity classes, other social groups, national communities, political parties and movements, various kinds of 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.
To develop an objective picture of the historical process, science needs to rely on certain general principles and methodology. This will make it possible to organize all the material accumulated by researchers and create effective descriptive models. Next, we will consider the formational and civilizational approaches (a table briefly describing them will be given at the end of the article).
General information
For a long period, subjectivist or objective-idealistic methods of studying history were used. From the standpoint of subjectivism, the process was explained by the activity of great people: kings, kings, leaders, emperors and other major political figures. In accordance with this, mistakes or, conversely, smart calculations provoked one or another event. The interrelation of such phenomena ultimately determined the course and result of the historical process. According to the objective-idealistic concept, the decisive role was assigned to the influence of superhuman forces. In particular, we're talking about about providence, the will of God and so on. With this interpretation, the historical process acquired a purposeful character. Under the influence of these superhuman forces, society steadily moved towards a predetermined goal. In this case, major figures acted only as an instrument, a means of these impersonal factors.
Periodization
It was determined by the solution to the question of the nature of the driving forces of the process. The most common periodization was according to historical eras. In particular, they highlight Ancient time, Antiquity, the periods of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, as well as New and Contemporary times. In this sequence, the time factor was quite clearly expressed. At the same time, the periodization lacked qualitative substantive criteria for identifying these eras.
New concept
Marx tried to overcome the shortcomings of the methods of studying history and to put the process, like other humanities, on a scientific basis in the mid-19th century. He formulated a new concept of materialistic description and explanation. It was based on 4 main principles:
- The unity of humanity and, as a consequence, the historical process.
- Patterns. In this matter, Marx was based on the recognition of the influence in the process of stable, general, repeated, significant connections, as well as human relations and the results of human activity.
- Determinism. This principle presupposes the recognition of the existence of dependencies and relationships of a cause-and-effect nature. According to Marx, from the whole variety of phenomena it is necessary to single out the defining, fundamental ones. He considered one of the basic methods of producing various material goods.
- Progress. Marx believed that historical development represents the progressive improvement of society, which rises to a higher level.
Materialistic Explanation: Description
Its basis is a formational approach to history. Marx, in his reasoning, proceeded from the fact that with the progressive, natural development of humanity as a single whole, it all needs to go through certain stages. Thus, the key position in describing and explaining the driving factors of the process and periodization is occupied by the socio-economic formation. Actually, it represents the stages that Marx defined. In accordance with the thinker’s definition, a socio-economic formation is presented in the form of an association of people at a certain level of development. At the same time, society is characterized by peculiar features. The term "formation" was borrowed by Marx from natural science.
Formational approach to history: a framework
As mentioned above, Marx gave a key place to the method of production of various material goods. This or that technique is distinguished by a certain degree and nature of the development of productive forces and corresponding interactions. In the latter, Marx called property relations as the basis. The complex of production relations forms their basis. Legal, political and other interactions and institutions are built on top of it. These, in turn, correspond to forms of social consciousness. These include, in particular, morality, art, religion, science and others. Thus, the socio-economic formation contains all the diversity of human life at different stages of development.
The main stages of human development
According to the formational approach, there are five stages of human progress:
- communist (in which socialism acts as the first phase);
- capitalist;
- feudal;
- slaveholding;
- primitive communal.
Transitions are carried out on the basis of a social revolution. As her economic basis there is a deepening conflict between production forces, released on new level and a conservative, outdated system of relations. This confrontation manifests itself in the form of increased social antagonism, an intensification of the struggle between the oppressed, demanding an improvement in their lives, and the dominant, interested in ensuring the safety of existing system, classes.
Result of the revolution
As a result, the conflict leads to a change in the dominant layer. The winning class begins transformation into various areas life of society. As a result, the prerequisites for education are formed new structure legal, socio-economic and other relationships, new consciousness and so on. As a result, a new formation appears. Based on this, in his theory Marx attached significant importance to revolutions and class confrontation. The struggle was recognized as the main driving force of history. At the same time, the revolution was characterized by Marx as the “locomotive” of progress.
Positive features
The concept described above has been dominant in Russia for the past 80 years. The advantages of the formational approach are that it forms a clear model that explains development, using certain criteria, makes it clear driving forces. As a result, the process becomes natural, objective, and progressive.
Flaws
However, the formational approach to explanation and cognition also has disadvantages. Both domestic and foreign critics point out its shortcomings. First of all, they say that history with this approach takes on a unilinear character. Marx formulated the theory as a generalization of the European path of development. However, he saw that some states did not fit into it. However, he did not carry out detailed development. He simply classified such countries as the “Asian mode of production.” On its basis, as Marx believed, a new formation is being formed. However, in Europe itself there are states that are not always possible to correlate with such a scheme. In addition, the formational approach is characterized by a strict link between events and the production method, the economic system of relations. The decisive role is given to extrapersonal, objective factors. At the same time, the approach places man as a subject of history on a secondary level. As a result, the personal content of the process is diminished.
Secondly, within the framework of the formational approach, the importance of conflict relations, including violence, is absolutized. The description of the process is carried out mainly through the prism of the struggle between classes. Opponents of this concept, when comparing the formational and civilizational approaches, for example, say that social conflicts, being, undoubtedly, an integral component of the life of society, do not play a leading role in it. This situation, in turn, requires a reassessment of the place of political interactions. The structure of the formational approach contains elements of social utopianism and providentialism. In accordance with the above diagram, the development of the process must inevitably pass through specific stages. Marx and his students spent a lot of effort proving the inevitability of the arrival of the communist era. It assumes that each person contributes his wealth according to his abilities and receives material benefits according to his needs. The utopian nature of this concept is reflected in the last decades of the existence of the socialist system and Soviet power.
Civilizational approach to history
It is to a certain extent opposed to what was described above. A civilizational approach to history began to take shape in the 18th century. But it reached its most complete development only towards the end of the 19th and 20th centuries. The most prominent supporters of this approach include Weber, Spengler, and Toynbee. Among Russian supporters, Sorokin, Leontiev, and Danilevsky stand out. The features that distinguish the formational and civilizational approaches are quite obvious. The philosophy and concepts of these systems are aimed at slightly different areas of people's lives.
Characteristic
Formational and civilizational approaches have structural differences. In particular, the main element of the latter is the cultural level of development of society. The word “civilization” has Latin roots and in translation means state, civil, urban. Initially, this term was used to designate a certain level of social development that occurred in folk life after a period of barbarism and savagery. The distinctive features of civilization are the presence of writing, the formation of cities, statehood, and social stratification.
Advantages
The relationship between formational and civilizational approaches in this sense is unequal. The latter undoubtedly has much more advantages. In particular, the following are worth noting:
- The ability to apply the principles of a civilizational approach to historical development any state or groups of countries. They are focused on understanding the development of society in accordance with the specifics of the regions. Thus, the formational and civilizational approaches differ in the level of their applicability. IN in this case the latter can be called universal.
- Presenting history itself as a multivariate, multilinear process.
- The presence of certain highlighted criteria. Thanks to them, researchers have the opportunity to assess the level of progress in a particular state, region, or nationality, as well as analyze their contribution to global development.
The civilizational approach presupposes the integrity of human history. At the same time, the systems formed in the process of development can be compared with each other. Thanks to this, it becomes possible to widely apply comparative historical research methods. This, in turn, involves considering the development of a region, a people, a state not as an independent unit, but in comparison with others. Thus, formational and civilizational approaches have different depths of understanding of processes. The latter allows us to more clearly record the features of development.
Finally
The formational and civilizational approaches were described in detail above. The table below briefly illustrates their features.
Name | Distinctive features |
Formational approach |
|
Civilizational approach |
|
Formational and civilizational approaches are placed in leading positions different systems and values. In the second case, social organization, culture, religion, political system. These elements have a close relationship with each other. Each component reflects the uniqueness of a particular civilization. It should be noted that, despite the changes occurring due to external and internal influences, the base and core remain unchanged. The civilizational approach to the study of human development identifies certain cultural types. They are established communities that occupy a particular area and have features of social and cultural progress that are unique to them.
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, 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 modern definitions This concept is: 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 social system bound by common cultural values (religion, culture, economic, political and social organization etc.), which are consistent with each other and 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.
The civilizational approach, according to modern social scientists, has 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, underscore important religion, culture, mentality to characterize and evaluate 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 which cultural traditions The image of cyclical time dominates, but is little acceptable for Western societies in which Christianity has taught 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, and historian of the twentieth century, Walt Whitman Rostow, created a theory of the stages of 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, a new type of activity is emerging - entrepreneurship and the corresponding new type enterprising people. Foldable centralized states, 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 different components interact with each other: geographical environment, economics, political system, 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 considered the driving forces of civilization to be: 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: origin, growth, breakdown and disintegration, ending with death and complete disappearance 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 - the individual, diversity of the historical process.
In general, the civilizational approach represents man as the leading creator of history, paying great 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.
Is " civilization" It is most often used in modern science and journalism and comes from Latin word"civilis", which means "state, civil, political".
In modern scientific literature civilization interpreted:
- as a synonym for the concept ;
- a type of society that differs from savagery and barbarism in the social division of labor, writing and a developed system of state-legal relations;
- a type of society with characteristics characteristic only of it.
Modern social science gives preference to the latter interpretation, although it does not contrast it with the other two. Thus, the concept of “civilization” has two main meanings: How separate company And How stage originated in ancient times and continues today in the development of mankind. The study of the history of society based on this concept is called civilizational approach to the analysis of human history.
Within the framework of the civilizational approach, there are several theories, among which two main ones stand out:
- local civilizations;
- world, universal civilization.
Theory of local civilizations
Theory of local civilizations studies historically established communities that occupy a certain territory and have their own characteristics of socio-economic and cultural development. Local civilizations may coincide with the borders of states, but there are exceptions, for example, Western Europe, consisting of many large and small completely independent states, is usually considered one civilization, since with all the originality of each state, they all represent one cultural-historical type.
The theory of the cyclical development of local civilizations was studied in the 20th century. sociologist P. A. Sorokin, historian A. Toynbee and others.
Thus, A. Toynbee identified more than 10 closed civilizations. Each of them went through the development stages of emergence, growth, breakdown, and decomposition. The young civilization is energetic, full of strength, helps to better meet the needs of the population, has a high rate of economic growth, and progressive spiritual values. But then these possibilities are exhausted. Economic, socio-political mechanisms, scientific, technical, educational and cultural potentials become obsolete. The process of breakdown and disintegration begins, manifesting itself, in particular, in the escalation of internal civil wars. The existence of civilization ends with death, a change in the dominant culture. As a result, civilization completely disappears. Thus, humanity has no common history. No existing civilization can be proud of what it represents highest point development in comparison with its predecessors.
The main civilizations include:
- western;
- Orthodox Christian in Russia;
- Iranian and Arabic (Islamic);
- Hindu;
- Far Eastern.
This also includes such ancient civilizations as the Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Hellenic and Mayan civilizations. In addition, there are minor civilizations. Unlike more early life modern civilizations, according to Toynbee, are longer, they occupy vast territories, and the number of people covered by civilizations is usually large. They tend to spread through the subjugation and assimilation of other societies.
Theory of universal civilization
IN theories of world, universal civilization its individual stages (stages) are distinguished. Famous American scientists D. Bell, O. Toffler, Z. Brzezinski and others call three main stages in the global civilizational process:
- (agricultural);
- , which began with the first industrial revolution in Europe;
- (Information society), arising with the transformation of information technology into a determining factor in the development of society.
Character traits pre-industrial (agrarian) civilization:
- the predominance of agricultural production and natural exchange of products;
- the overwhelming role of the state in social processes;
- strict class division of society, low social mobility of citizens;
- the predominance of customs and traditions in the spiritual sphere of society.
Character traits industrial civilization:
- the predominance of industrial production with the increasing role of science in it;
- development ;
- high social mobility;
- the increasing role of individualism and the initiative of the individual in the struggle to weaken the role of the state, to increase the role civil society in the political and spiritual sphere of society.
Post-industrial civilization(information society) has the following characteristics:
- automation of the production of consumer goods, development of the service sector;
- development of information technology and resource-saving technologies;
- development of legal regulation public relations, the desire for harmonious relations between society, the state and the individual;
- the beginning of attempts to intelligently interact with the environment, to solve global diverse problems of humanity.
Formational approach to historical phenomena
Analysis from the perspective of the theory of global civilization is close to formational approach, formed within the framework of Marxism. Under formation is understood as a historically specific type of society that arises on the basis of a specific method of material production. Plays a leading role basis - totality economic relations, developing between people in the process of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material goods. The totality of political, legal, religious and other views, relations and institutions constitutes superstructure
Social consciousness
One of the elements of the superstructure is the totality of views of a given society on various aspects of the structure of the world and social life.
This set of views has a certain structure. Views are divided into two levels. First level consists of empirical (experienced) views of people on the world and their own lives, accumulated throughout the history of a given society, second- theoretical systems of ideas developed by professional researchers.
In addition, views are divided into groups depending on the area of \u200b\u200bthe issues being addressed. These groups of ideas are usually called. These forms include: knowledge about the world as a whole, about nature, about social life, legal knowledge, morality, religion, ideas about beauty, etc. These ideas at the theoretical level appear in the form scientific disciplines: philosophy, political science, legal sciences, ethics, religious studies, aesthetics, physics, chemistry, etc. The state and development of social consciousness are determined by the state of social existence, i.e., the level of development of society and the nature of its economic basis.
Social revolution
The source of development of society is considered contradictions between productive forces and production relations, resolved during the social revolution.
According to this theory, humanity develops through a number of stages (formations), each of which differs in its basis and corresponding superstructure. Each formation is characterized by a certain basic form of ownership and a leading class that dominates both the economy and politics. Stages of primitive society, slave society and feudal society correspond to agrarian civilization. The capitalist formation corresponds to industrial civilization. The highest formation - communist - with its best principles of social structure from the point of view of Marxism, is built on the most developed economic basis.
The following are usually called disadvantages of the formational approach:
- predetermination, the rigid inevitability of the development of the historical process;
- exaggeration of the role economic factor social life;
- underestimation of the role of spiritual and other superstructural factors.
Currently, formation theory is experiencing a crisis; the civilizational approach to the study of the historical process is becoming more widespread. The civilizational approach has a more specific historical nature, taking into account not only the material and technical aspects of social development, but also the influence of factors arising in other spheres of society.
Generally formational and civilizational approaches do not exclude, but complement and enrich each other.
IN social sciences There have long been discussions on a fundamental question: is the world moving towards a single civilization with universal human values, or is the trend towards cultural and historical diversity being realized and humanity will be a collection of locally developing civilizations? Supporters of the first point of view refer to the indisputable facts of the spread of values that originated in European civilization: ideological pluralism, humanization, democracy, modern technologies etc. Supporters of the second position emphasize that the basis for the development of any viable organism, including a social one, is interaction opposite sides, diversity. The spread of common values and cultural ways of life that are common to all peoples, and the globalization of the world community supposedly entail the end of human development.
Different theories provide the opportunity to see history differently. In formational and general civilization theories, the laws of development common to all humanity come to the fore; in the theory of local civilizations, the individual diversity of the historical process comes to the fore. Thus, different approaches have their own advantages and complement each other.
