Social norms and problems of deviant behavior. Social norms and deviant behavior

Economics concept. Economy- this is the sphere of social life that ensures the satisfaction of people’s needs for life’s goods. Without the goods of life - food, clothing, shelter - a person cannot exist. In order to have these benefits, people must work and produce everything necessary for life. Only in some areas of the planet can a person live practically without clothing and find sufficient quantities of varied, ready-to-eat food. In most regions of the world, in order to survive, a person must solve serious and varied economic problems. By producing the goods of life, a person overcomes the discomfort of his natural environment habitat, changes the surrounding nature. Production activity is the prerequisite and basis of all other types human activity, social life in general.

The concept of “economy” has two different, although interrelated, meanings. The first, which we have already talked about, relates to production and economic activity people, to the economic relations developing in society. The second meaning is the science of the economic life of society. Here you will get acquainted with some basic concepts and conclusions of this science.

Economic cycle and its phases. The influence of man on objects and processes of nature, as a result of which the vital benefits needed by people are created, is called production. The process of producing vital goods includes the following elements: human labor, object of labor, means of labor.

Work- This is a conscious, purposeful human activity to produce material and spiritual values. This activity is aimed at transforming natural objects, the human environment, and subordinating the living conditions of man to his needs. Thanks to work, not only these conditions change, but also the person himself, and ultimately the society in which he lives.

Subject of labor is everything towards which human labor is directed. Objects of labor can be given by nature itself, for example, trees, from which furniture will later be made, or gold, extracted from the bowels of the earth and used to make jewelry. Objects of labor that have previously been exposed to labor, such as wood in a furniture factory, are called raw materials or raw materials.

Means of labor- these are all the things with the help of which a person influences the objects of his labor and modifies them. The means of labor include tools of labor (equipment, machines, instruments, machines, etc.), as well as industrial buildings and structures, roads, pipelines, means of moving goods, means of communication, power supply, etc.

Objects of labor and means of labor together constitute means of production. The means of production themselves, if no one uses them, are a collection of useless things. In order for the production process to be carried out, labor power must be combined with the means of production, i.e. employees must ensure that they are used appropriately.

Labor force- this is a person’s ability to work, the totality of a person’s physical and spiritual forces, thanks to which he can produce the benefits of life. Labor force and means of production are productive forces of society.

Scheme: productive forces of society.

Production- This first phase economic cycle. This phase ends with the creation of objects intended for use or consumption.

Second phase economic cycle – distribution production goods. Distribution establishes the share of each person involved in production in the wealth created. This share depends on who is the owner of the main elements of the production process - the means of production and labor force.

Distributed goods are often unsuitable for personal consumption (such as, for example, newly created tools of labor) or in themselves are not very necessary for the person who received them as a result of distribution. Therefore, the economic cycle includes one more, third phase – exchange. Exchange relationships are established not only between individuals, but also between businesses. Money plays an important role in this relationship.

Finally, fourth, the final phase of the economic cycle is consumption, or the use of production goods. Consumption can be productive or personal. Productive consumption is the use of previously created values ​​in a new production process. At the same time, machines and equipment wear out, raw materials are consumed, and all this needs to be produced again. Personal consumption is the use by a person of goods received through distribution or exchange for his own needs, as a result of which they also wear out (clothes, shoes, household appliances, etc.) or are consumed (food, drink, etc.).

Therefore, the completion of one economic cycle requires the beginning of a new one. The constant renewal of the production process and the subsequent phases of distribution, exchange and consumption is called the process social reproduction.

Production and its types. Production always takes place within public connections between people, since isolated from other people, from society, an individual person cannot produce various benefits and cannot live at all. To work, he sometimes needs tools, materials, raw materials made or obtained by other people. At the same time, nowadays the product of a person’s labor is usually intended not only for himself, but also for other people, for society.

Production can exist in two main forms - natural and commodity.

Natural production(farm) assumes that the products of labor are produced to satisfy the producer’s own needs, for consumption within his farm. Examples of a natural economy include a primitive community, a patriarchal peasant economy, and a feudal estate. Subsistence farming prevails at a low level of development of technology. In such an economy, the quantity and range of products produced do not change for a long time. IN modern world subsistence farming is common in some developing countries.

In conditions commodity production, which is more typical for modern society, products are produced by separate, relatively separate manufacturers. Each of them usually specializes in the production of one or a few products, so that in order to satisfy the entire variety of people's needs, the purchase and sale of manufactured products on the market is necessary. This means that manufactured products become commodities.

Product is a product of labor intended for purchase and sale.

The two main conditions for the emergence and development of commodity production are the social division of labor and the economic isolation of commodity producers.

Social division of labor means that people specialize in the production of certain products, and then exchange the results of their labor. As they say, “a shoemaker should sew boots, and a cake maker should bake pies.” As a result of the division of labor, the skill and skill of the product manufacturer increases. Thanks to this, in a unit of time he creates everything more product. In other words, labor productivity increases.

The economic isolation of a commodity producer means that he owns the means of production with which he produces goods, as well as the product produced with their help.

Economic needs and resources. The purpose of production is to satisfy social and personal needs.

Need- this is a state of need, a lack of something necessary to maintain the life of an individual, social group or society as a whole.

Our needs are manifold and potentially limitless. Some of them are congenital, others are acquired. Needs can also be material and spiritual, permanent (stable) and situational (changeable). As human society develops, the composition of needs expands. A variety of resources are needed to meet these needs.

Resources- these are funds, supplies, sources of something (for example, water resources). The economic resources used by society in the production process are limited. These include labor, land or, more broadly, natural resources, as well as means of production and financial resources.

The labor force, considered on a societal scale, is called labor resources. They are made up of all people capable of working.

Earth, as an economic resource, includes everything that is given to man by nature on our planet and is used by him to produce the necessary goods of life. For example, a person extracts oil and produces gasoline and fuel oil from it; using arable land, he produces plant products; The world's oceans provide people with fish products.

Financial resources are cash that are available to society, the state, and individuals.

Under capital(from Latin capitalis - main) understand human-created resources that are used in production. Capital includes the means of production, as well as the financial resources used to organize the production process.

Questions and tasks

1. What is economics?

2. Why is the economic process cyclical? Name the main phases of the economic cycle.

3. What tools and objects of labor do you know used in agricultural production?

4. How do you think the workforce is different? beginning of the XXI century from the workforce of the 19th century?

5. Can the activity of a bee in collecting honey and creating honeycombs be considered labor? Why?

6. What does it contain? economic resources?

Money

The essence of money and its types. Money is one of greatest inventions humanity. Sometimes money seems to bewitch people. Because of them they suffer and rejoice, for them they work. Money is the only commodity that cannot be used except by being freed from it. Money will not feed or clothe a person until he spends it.

Money is more than an ordinary component of the economy. A properly functioning monetary system injects vitality into the economy. Conversely, a disorder in monetary circulation causes severe blows to the economy.

In the distant past, when man began to domesticate animals and cultivate the land, gathering and hunting gave way to cattle breeding and agriculture. Some tribes begin to primarily engage in cattle breeding, while others begin to engage in agriculture. Further on the quality of the special area labor activity people stood out for their craft. The exchange of produced goods becomes a necessary element of people's lives. Products begin to be produced specifically for exchange, like goods. The exchange becomes regular. Each product now needs to be correlated in value with many other goods and thereby streamline the exchange of goods.

Let's say a potter brought his pots to the market in the hope of exchanging them for grain. However, the grain seller does not need pots, but cloth. In addition, wool, poultry, dairy products and other products are available in the market. The potter will have to perform several acts of exchange before he exchanges goods that suit the grain grower and finally receives the desired grain.

Absence universal equivalent- a commodity that expresses the value of all other goods and can be exchanged for them, significantly complicates commodity exchange. In the process of social development, sooner or later there appears such a commodity - the chosen one, in which all other goods express their value. Such a commodity is money.

Money is a universal equivalent that expresses and measures the value of all goods. In other words, this is - special item, which has the ability to be exchanged for any other product. To serve as money, a particular commodity must be socially accepted by buyers and sellers as a universal medium of exchange.

Initially, the role of money was assigned to the goods that were the most important and popular in a given area. For example, many nations used livestock and grain as money. Gradually, the role of money was assigned to the so-called precious metals - gold and silver. They were the ones who had properties that facilitated the exchange of goods and contributed to social development. Thus, gold and silver are chemically resistant, i.e. well preserved. They have a high cost per unit weight. Their cost is relatively constant. In addition, they have wonderful physical characteristics– softness, malleability, ability to take any shape.

Noble metals mediate exchange relations in the form of ready-made, certified and state-guaranteed weight quantities - coins. The minting of coins becomes a privilege of the state and even receives a special name - coin regalia. The beginning of coinage dates back to the 7th century BC. In Belarus, the first information about its own coinage dates back to the end of the 15th century. The most famous coins in Belarus were produced by mints Russian state, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Subsequently, it was noticed that in circulation, along with full-weight coins, worn-out coins that have lost part of their original weight are quite successfully circulated. This circumstance, as well as the shortage of precious metals, led to the idea of ​​replacing gold and silver coins with paper money. Paper money is government-issued and legally accepted currency that replaces gold or silver.

So, they distinguish the following types money: natural (full) and symbolic.

Real money– these are some things that have value in themselves. These are all types of primitive money, as well as gold and silver money, since the metal they contain can be used, for example, to make jewelry.

Symbolic money– these are signs of value, substitutes for natural money. Symbolic money is, for example, paper money. IN modern conditions paper money cannot be exchanged for gold coins, although it can be used to buy gold items or bullion.

Nowadays, the so-called electronic money. They cannot be seen or touched, because they exist in the form of records on electronic media. You all know about their form, plastic cards. With their help, you can pay for goods non-cash, make payments for public utilities, top up your phone account when using mobile communications, get a loan, maintain accounts in various currencies. You can also make non-cash payments, receive money transfers, convert currencies while abroad. Electronic money plays a huge role in the implementation of modern economic relationships, in which the use of cash is becoming increasingly rare.

Basic functions of money. In economics, money performs the following functions: it acts as a measure of value, a medium of exchange, a means of payment, a means of accumulation; There is also world money.

Function measures of value means that the value of all goods is expressed in money. The value of a product expressed in money is called its at the cost. From antiquity to the beginning of the twentieth century. the owner of the goods set its price in a certain amount of gold or silver. Different amounts of labor were expended on the production of different goods, so their value was expressed in various quantities metal money.

Weight quantity noble metal, adopted in the country as a monetary unit, was called scale of prices. For example, the English pound sterling initially contained a pound of silver, but then, as gold began to replace silver, this name came to be applied to an equal amount of gold that was only a small fraction of the weight of a pound.

Currently, the price of a product is indicated not in grams of gold, but in national monetary units.

Function means of circulation means that money is used as an intermediary to effect payment for goods and services. The exchange of goods carried out with the help of money is called the circulation of goods. The circulation of goods is inextricably linked with the circulation of money itself: when a commodity passes from the hands of the seller to the hands of the buyer, money passes from the hands of the buyer to the hands of the seller.

As means of payment money appears in cases where the purchase or sale of goods is carried out on credit, that is, with deferred payment. The goods pass from the hands of the seller to the hands of the buyer without immediate payment for the purchased goods. When the payment deadline for the purchased goods arrives, the money is paid by the buyer to the seller without transfer of the goods, which took place earlier.

Money also serves a function store of value, as they are the embodiment of wealth. They can be stored in any quantity. This function is often performed by full-fledged money (gold or silver coins), bullion, as well as gold and silver products, since paper money can depreciate.

With the development of commodity circulation between different countries and peoples have a need for world money. For centuries, the function of world money was performed by gold. Currently, the world's currencies are the most developed countries with a strong and relatively stable economy, for example, US dollars, euros, British pounds, Japanese yen. However, financial and economic crises cast doubt on their stability.

Securities. For the first time in Europe, securities - in the form of certificates of participation in money in an enterprise, giving the right to receive part of the profit of this enterprise - were used by London entrepreneurs when creating at the end of the 16th century. East India Company.

Securities– these are those who have legal force documents of the established form that give their owner the right to receive certain sums of money upon presentation of these documents. Cash, lottery tickets, wills, etc. do not apply to securities. Securities are bank checks,bills,stock,bonds and some other documents.

Bearer bank check has the right to receive from the bank the amount of money specified in the check, and the bank is obliged to pay this amount if the check is drawn up correctly.

Bill of exchange- This is a monetary debt obligation drawn up in a certain form. A bill of exchange is issued by the borrower, who lends money, to the lender, by the one who borrows money. The bill specifies the repayment period and the amount of money to be returned by the creditor.

Promotion– a document confirming the rights of its owner to receive part of the profit joint stock company. A joint stock company is a company established by a number of persons and having a capital (authorized capital) determined by its charter, which is used for production or some other activity. This authorized capital is divided into a certain number of shares. The income received by the shareholder, or owner of the stock, is called a dividend.

Bond – security, which secures the right of its owner to receive a specified amount of money within the period specified in it. By buying bonds, people seem to lend money to the person who issued the bonds. The debt is returned within a certain period of time. Government bonds are the most reliable.

Inflation. Closely linked to the movement of money in the economy is the possibility of inflation, a serious economic disease. Inflation – This is the depreciation of paper (and therefore electronic) money, caused by the excess of the amount of money in circulation over its commodity coverage. As a result, the purchasing power of money decreases, i.e. prices for goods and services rise.

There are two types of inflation: demand inflation And cost inflation. In the first case, the monetary income of the population and enterprises grows faster than the real volume of goods and services produced. The demand for goods and services exceeds their supply (market entry), so their prices rise. This is how food prices rise in a lean year.

In the second case, with cost inflation, the costs of raw materials used in production and other production costs increase. For example, metals, energy resources, and building materials are becoming more expensive. As a result, prices for goods and services again rise.

Typically, inflation characteristics use such an indicator as inflation rate, which is measured by the percentage increase in prices over a certain period of time (month, quarter, year, etc.). In international practice, it is generally accepted that a safe level of inflation is approximately 3–5% per year.

When an economy is hit by inflation, losses are inevitable for most participants economic process. The first victims of inflation are consumers, whose personal savings depreciate, and current consumption also decreases, since consumers can purchase fewer goods and services for the same amount of money in the face of rising prices. Manufacturers of goods also suffer from inflation because they do not know what price to charge for the goods and services they produce. It becomes extremely difficult for manufacturers to plan their activities for the future. In conditions of strong inflation, everyone is trying to quickly get rid of money and convert it into reliable values; monetary circulation is destroyed.

Since, under conditions of inflation, money ceases to fulfill its functions, a crisis of mutual non-payments increases, because everyone expects further depreciation of money and tries to delay the fulfillment of financial obligations. The state does not receive the required amount of tax revenue and issues more and more money into circulation to pay for its expenses.

The main way to extinguish inflation is to regulate prices and reduce spending, including government spending.

Questions and tasks

1. Describe the difficulties of commodity exchange that arise due to the lack of a universal equivalent.

2. Name common features and the differences between natural (full-fledged) and symbolic money.

3. What functions does money perform when: setting the price of a product; purchasing goods for cash; payment for goods sold on credit; payment of debt; payment of wages; placement in a bank; payment for foreign trade transactions?

4. What is inflation? Why does it occur?

5. Describe the main types of securities.

In the course of his life, a person has to constantly solve pressing problems related to meeting needs - food, housing, gaining knowledge, self-realization and many others. For this purpose, an economic system has been created within which people interact and realize their needs. Let's learn briefly about the role of economics in the life of society.

Needs

Man and society are constantly evolving. They constantly need different things to satisfy their needs. All needs are usually divided into several groups:

• natural (in food, sleep, housing and others);
• social (in communication, friendship, love);
• spiritual (in acquiring new knowledge, mastering cultural values).

The peculiarity of human needs is that they have no limits. When some are satisfied, new ones will certainly arise.

An example of the unlimited nature of needs is the plot of A. S. Pushkin’s fairy tale “ Goldfish", in which the old woman, having received a new trough to replace the broken one, wanted a new hut, tower, and so on.

We must not forget that the Earth's resources, unlike its needs, are limited. These include minerals, forests, and fresh water. Therefore, it is important to organize people’s activities so that the use of resources simultaneously satisfies people’s needs and is carried out within reasonable limits. Economics serves to regulate this process.

Participants in economic relations:

• consumers (individuals, family and other groups);
• manufacturers (enterprises, government)

All participants have to choose which needs are more important and which can be reduced or abandoned.

That is, when entering into economic relations, the consumer evaluates what benefits he will receive and what funds he will have to spend. It is important for a manufacturer to create what society needs - economic benefits.

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The concept of good

Benefits are understood as those means that help a person satisfy his needs. They can be free and economic.

Free goods, as a rule, are available in nature in ready-made form. This is air, water, light and so on. And economic ones are created in the process of transformation of resources. For example, food, equipment, buildings, clothing.

The role of economics

Let's figure out what the role of economics is in the life of society.

Awareness of limited resources and the importance of uniting into a single economic system led to the fact that society, having begun its journey with stone processing, has now achieved a high development of science and technology, the creation of a well-coordinated, extensive trading network.

But with the rapid development of the production of consumer goods, the problem of rational use of resources is becoming increasingly acute. Fresh water, gas, oil, clean air- the destruction of all these benefits is irreversible, since a person cannot restore them.

What have we learned?

Having studied the topic for grade 10 about economics and its role in the life of society, we discovered that in his life a person is forced to constantly take care of satisfying various needs. The relations that arise in this case are called economic. In conditions of limited natural and other resources, participants economic relations one has to choose for oneself the most important needs and the most significant benefits for production. In general, the role of the economy is great, since the existence of such a system is designed to achieve a fair distribution of resources between people.

"Social Interactions"

P.172, h.3,4.

? – What do you understand by the word norm?

Norma from lat. “guiding principle, model, rule.”

Social norms – direct, control, regulate and evaluate the behavior of people in society.

Classification of social norms.

1. Customs and traditions(models of behavior, wedding ceremonies, everyday holidays, etc.)
2. Legal standards (laws that define the boundaries of behavior and penalties for violating them are ensured by the power of the state)
3. Moral standards (provided by the authority of collective consciousness, and for violation is condemned by society, good - bad)
4. Political norms(relationships between the individual and the authorities, between social groups, the state)
5. Aesthetic standards(ideas of beauty and ugliness)
6. Religious norms(act as norms of morality, law, reinforce traditions and customs, and those who do not follow them will face God’s punishment)

Social control– a mechanism for regulating relations between the individual and society.

? – How does the social control mechanism work?

Mechanism of social control.

D people's activities

Actions (deeds)

1. External control- society

State

Church

Organizations

Other individuals

COMPLIANCE VIOLATION

(positive) (negative)

SANCTIONS approval - remark

Encouragement - reprimand

Fine

Punishment (court)

Formal Informal

(state) (friends, neighbors)

1. Internal control - self-control(conscience - guilt, moral feelings). The most important condition for personal self-realization.

Deviant (deviant) behavior –These are negative behavioral deviations thatdo not correspond to the norms of human society.

They appear at the level:

Personalities;

Small social groups(discord, scandals);

- state and public organizations(bureaucracy, red tape, corruption);

- mass phenomenon(alcoholism, drug addiction, religious fanaticism, nationalism, terrorism - cause damage to all humanity)

Let's look at the example p.177 drug addiction

- ? What are the consequences of drug addiction for the individual, family and society?

Reasons for deviant behavior.

1. Biological explanation(predisposition, criminal gene).
2. Psychological explanation(value-normative ideas of personality, abnormal development)
3. Social explanation(closely related to the economy: crises, upswings, people lose orientation, which causes deviations in behavior).
4. Conflict between dominant culture and subculture(punks, goths, etc.)

Deviant behavior.

Weak forms Misdemeanors Crime

Cheating, absenteeism, theft

The rudeness of the late murder

Negligent violation of traffic rules,

Fire safety

Crime - an unlawful, guilty, punishable act, with the highest degree of public danger, prohibited by criminal law.

Types of crimes

Against the individual

In the field of economics

Against general security

Public order

Against state power

Military service

Against peace and security

Organized crime – an organized group of people regularly obtain funds through illegal means.Dangerous for:

PERSONALITIES OF THE STATE SOCIETY

pp. 180-181

Fighting crime -social regulatory activities aimed at ensuring that citizens do not commit offenses prohibited by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Crime control measures:

Eliminate conditions conducive to crime;

Develop legal awareness;

Preventive actions;

Application of criminal law to persons who have committed crimes.

What do we mean by social norms?

What types of social norms exist? Give examples.

How does the social control mechanism work? What is the meaning of self-control?

What does deviant behavior mean? What are the causes of deviant behavior?

What is a crime? What is the social danger of crime?

P.182 O.S. Osipova.

P.183, h.3,4

&16, p.182, h. 1 or 2 - mini essay, give facts from life

Social norms are usually understood as rules, patterns, standards of human behavior established in society that regulate social life. The following types of social norms are distinguished:

• 1) moral norms, i.e. those norms that express people’s ideas about good and bad, good and evil, justice and injustice, the implementation of which is ensured by people’s internal conviction or force public opinion;
• 2) norms of traditions and customs. A custom is a historically established rule of behavior that has become a habit as a result of its repeated repetition. The implementation of this type of norm is ensured by the force of people's habit;
• 3) religious norms, which include rules of behavior contained in the texts of holy books or established religious organizations(church). People follow these rules, guided by their faith or under the threat of being punished (by God or the church);
• 4) political norms. -- standards established by various political organizations. These rules of conduct must first of all be observed by members of these organizations. The implementation of such norms is ensured by the internal beliefs of people included in these organizations, or by the fear of being excluded from them;
• 5) legal norms - formally certain rules behavior established or sanctioned by the state, the implementation of which is ensured by its authority or coercive force.

Social norms define the boundaries of acceptable behavior of people in relation to the specific conditions of their life. As already mentioned above, compliance with these norms is usually ensured by the internal beliefs of people or by applying social rewards and social punishments to them in the form of so-called social sanctions. Under social sanction usually refers to the reaction of society or a social group to the behavior of an individual in a socially significant situation. In terms of their content, sanctions can be positive (incentive) and negative (punitive).

In reality, the behavior of people in society does not always correspond to established social norms and, on the contrary, they are violated. In this case, they talk about the subject’s deviant behavior. Deviant behavior is usually called behavior that does not meet the requirements of social norms accepted in society. Sometimes such deviations can be positive and lead to positive consequences. But in most cases, deviant behavior is spoken of as a negative social phenomenon that harms society. The most serious manifestations of this behavior are crime, drug addiction and alcoholism.

Alcoholism and drug addiction refers to the type chronic disease, which develops as a result of a person’s systematic use of alcoholic beverages or drugs.

A crime is a socially dangerous guilty act provided for in the Special Part of the Criminal Code. The set of crimes in sociology has a special name - delinquent behavior.

Detailed solution Paragraph § 14 in social studies for 11th grade students, authors L.N. Bogolyubov, N.I. Gorodetskaya, L.F. Ivanova 2014

Question 1. Is it true that the activities of each person are controlled by society? Is this good or bad? Are there rules of conduct for everyone? What kind of person can become a criminal? What are the dangers of alcohol and drugs?

Yes, this is good because society helps a person not to stray from the right path, not to make mistakes.

Social norms are general rules and patterns of behavior that have developed in society as a result of long-term practical activities of people, during which optimal standards and models of correct behavior were developed.

Social norms determine what a person should do, how he should do it, and finally, what he should be like.

The personality of a criminal differs from the personality of a law-abiding person in that it is a social danger; it is characterized by criminal needs and motivation, emotional-volitional deformations and negative social interests.

Alcohol does not solve problems, but on the contrary makes them even worse. In a state of intoxication, a person commits inappropriate actions, the normal functioning of many organs (including the brain) is disrupted, which leads to its gradual degradation, and relationships with other people are also destroyed. And if you don't stop in time, it ultimately leads to death.

Questions and tasks for the document

Question 1. Give your own examples of universal, racial, class, group norms.

Universal ones: raising children, helping the sick and the elderly, and biblical ones (thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery).

Racial: let’s say the Caucasian race has general democratic values ​​(equality before the law, elections of the head of state, freedom and personal value), while the Mongoloid race usually has a dictatorship of the head of state or ruling party, the value is not personal, but collective benefit.

Class: Courchevel for the oligarchs, Türkiye and Egypt for the middle class and a village for the poor.

Group: for students - study and, accordingly, everything connected with it, for athletes - training, for the military - exercises or combat operations.

Question 2. To what level of community can the norms be attributed: “don’t steal”, “before the New Year we go to the bathhouse together”, “separate education for blacks and whites”, “solidarity of workers of all countries”?

1. Universal.

2. Intragroup.

3. International

4. Group.

Question 3. What does a higher or lower level of norms mean? Why do the authors place natural human rights at the highest level?

A higher level of social norms are those norms that play the greatest role in society and the violation of which leads to significant negative consequences for the individual and society as a whole.

Lower level of social norms - the violation of which does not cause much harm to society and therefore informal social control.

Question 4. Why, in case of violation of norms, more high level Are the most decisive government actions necessary?

Because if high-level norms are violated, the consequences can be much more serious.

Question 5. How does social control manifest itself in the event of a violation of a lower level of social norms? Why?

It is expressed in informal pressure from society on the offender. Public censure, ostracism, etc. Because the norms of the lower level, although not written down as law, the implementation of these norms as a whole is socially justified in the environment.

Question 6. How can we explain that a more democratic society involves a shift in emphasis from external social control to internal self-control?

Self-control is the subject’s awareness and assessment of his own actions. Self-control is closely intertwined with the concepts of conscience and morality. Internal self-control is characteristic of societies with a high moral component, i.e. with conscience. Democratic society advocates weakening external control, relying on internal self-control, which results in an increase in deviance (deviation from generally accepted norms) of the social environment.

SELF-TEST QUESTIONS

Question 1. Give examples of each type of social norm.

Main types of social norms:

1. Rules of law are generally binding, formally defined rules of behavior that are established or sanctioned, and are also protected by the state. (Laws of the Criminal Code, AK).

2. Norms of morality (morality) - rules of behavior that have developed in society, express people’s ideas about good and evil, justice and injustice, duty, honor, dignity. The effect of these norms is ensured by internal conviction, public opinion, and measures of social influence. (We must respect elders and help the disabled).

3. Norms of customs are rules of behavior that, having developed in society as a result of their repeated repetition, are followed by force of habit.

4. Norms of public organizations (corporate norms) are rules of behavior that are independently established public organizations, enshrined in their charters (regulations, etc.), operate within their limits and are protected from violations by them through certain measures of social influence.

Question 2. What is social control?

Social norms constitute one of the elements of the mechanism for regulating relations between the individual and society, which is called social control. The purposeful influence of this system on people's behavior in order to strengthen order and stability is ensured by social control.

Any activity includes a variety of actions, and each person performs them repeatedly, entering into active interaction with the social environment (with society, social communities, public institutions and organizations, the state, other individuals). All these actions, individual actions, and human behavior are under the control of the people, groups, and society around him.

As long as these actions do not violate public order or existing social norms, this control is invisible, as if it does not exist. However, it is worth breaking the rules, deviating from the patterns of behavior accepted in society, and social control manifests itself.

People who reacted to the violation of social norms reflected the attitudes of public consciousness (or public opinion), which supports the order protected by norms. That is why their reaction was to condemn these actions. Expressing dissatisfaction, reprimanding, imposing a fine, punishment imposed by the court - all these are sanctions; Along with social norms, they are an essential element of the mechanism of social control.

Sanctions mean either approval and encouragement or disapproval and punishment aimed at maintaining social norms. In other words, sanctions can be either positive, which are aimed at encouraging, or negative, aimed at stopping undesirable behavior.

Society (large and small groups, the state) evaluates the individual, but the individual also evaluates society, the state, and himself. Perceiving assessments addressed to him from surrounding people, groups, state institutions, a person accepts them not mechanically, but selectively, rethinks them through his own experience, habits, and previously acquired social norms. And a person’s attitude to other people’s assessments turns out to be purely individual; it can be positive and sharply negative.

Thus, along with control from society, group, state, other people, it is of utmost importance internal control, or self-control, which is based on norms, customs, and role expectations learned by the individual.

Question 3. What is the meaning of self-control?

In the process of self-control, conscience plays an important role, i.e. the feeling and knowledge of what is good and what is bad, what is fair and what is unfair, the subjective consciousness of the conformity or inconsistency of one’s own behavior moral standards. In a person who, in a state of excitement, by mistake or succumbing to temptation, commits a bad act, conscience causes a feeling of guilt, moral worries, a desire to correct the mistake or atone for the guilt.

The ability to exercise self-control is the most valuable quality of a person who independently regulates his behavior in accordance with generally accepted norms. Self-control is one of the most important conditions for a person’s self-realization and his successful interaction with other people.

Question 4. What are the causes of deviant behavior?

Researchers have different points of view on this issue.

At the end of the 19th century. a biological explanation for the deviations was put forward: the presence in some people of an innate predisposition to violations of social norms, which is associated with the physical characteristics of the individual, criminal temperament, etc.

Other scientists have sought psychological explanations for the abnormalities. They came to the conclusion that a large role is played by the value-normative ideas of the individual: understanding of the world around him, attitude to social norms, and most importantly - the general orientation of the interests of the individual. The researchers came to the conclusion that behavior that violates established norms is based on a different system of values ​​and rules than the one enshrined in law.

For example, cruelty can be the result of a cold, indifferent attitude towards a child on the part of parents, and often the cruelty of adults. Research has shown that low self-esteem in adolescence is subsequently compensated by deviant behavior, with the help of which it is possible to attract attention to oneself and gain approval from those who will evaluate violation of norms as a sign of a strong personality.

The sociological explanation of deviant behavior, the causes of which the famous sociologist E. Durkheim saw as depending on the crisis phenomena occurring in society, has received wide recognition. During crises, radical social changes, in conditions of disorganization social life(unexpected economic downturns and upswings, decline in business activity, inflation) a person’s life experience ceases to correspond to the ideals embodied in social norms. Social norms are destroyed, people become disorientated, and this contributes to the emergence of deviant behavior.

Some scientists have associated deviant behavior with a conflict between the dominant culture and the culture of a group (subculture) that denies generally accepted norms. In this case, criminal behavior, for example, may be the result of an individual’s primary communication with carriers of criminal norms. The criminal environment creates its own subculture, its own norms, opposing the norms recognized in society. The frequency of contacts with representatives of the criminal community affects how a person (especially young people) learns the norms of antisocial behavior.

Question 5. What is the social danger of crime?

Organized crime poses the greatest danger to individuals, society, and the state. In the broadest sense of the word, it refers to any group of persons organized on a permanent basis to obtain funds through illegal means.

The danger to the individual lies in the suppression of his rights and freedoms through acts of violence and other means. This is manifested in the destruction of small entrepreneurs who refuse to pay money to obtain protection from criminals (racketeering); forcing women and teenagers into prostitution; spreading influence and control, for example, over trade unions; rising costs of goods and services; the possibility of complete suppression of the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens through physical and moral terror.

The danger to society lies in the interception of the rights to own and dispose of the material assets of the entire society by organized criminal communities and corrupt groups of officials (especially in the areas of trade, production and distribution of strategic raw materials, precious metals, production and circulation of weapons); the ability to manipulate significant capital, penetrate into areas of legitimate business and ruin their competitors through price controls; propagation of the ideology of the criminal world, its romanticization, cultivation of mafia and corrupt relations, violence, cruelty, aggressiveness, which creates conditions for “social contamination” by criminal customs and traditions.

The danger of organized crime for the state is manifested in the creation at the regional level of parallel illegal power structures, illegal armed forces; preparation, financing and organization of direct anti-constitutional actions in the form of inciting national hatred, organizing mass riots, conspiracies to seize power; promoting crimes such as banditry and smuggling; penetration into political parties and state apparatus of corruption; a desire to weaken federal power in order to facilitate the control of organized crime over entire regions.

Question 6. What are the consequences of drug addiction for the individual, family, and society?

The consequences of drug addiction for the family are catastrophic, as well as for the individual himself. The personality itself becomes completely asocial over time. Social attitudes are completely erased - social statuses such as professional, father, son, comrade, etc. The existence of the subject is reduced only to finding doses and use; as a rule, with longer use in a person’s life, there are no longer any other needs. The family constantly lives in stress, which in itself is called codependency, that is, the whole life of the family over time becomes focused only on the life of the drug addict. As a rule, the family begins to experience serious financial difficulties, and a lot of serious illnesses are recorded among codependent relatives of drug users.

TASKS

Question 1. How do you feel about the statement of the English historian G. T. Buckle (1821-1862): “Society prepares a crime, the criminal commits it”? Explain it with some example taken from newspapers.

I understand that any crime is conditioned social factors that formed the personality of the criminal, or created the situation that led to his commission. And the criminal, as it were, plays the role of a “performer” who resolves this situation in a negative way.

Question 2. Do you agree with the statement of the French playwright J. Racine (1639-1699): “Major crimes are always preceded by minor ones. Has anyone ever seen timid innocence suddenly turn into unbridled debauchery? Give reasons for your answer.

I agree, the reason for this is cause and effect. Many famous criminals They started with petty thefts and couldn’t stop.

Question 3. A discussion arose on the issue of fighting crime. One side argued: “Penalties need to be toughened. Look at Singapore. Caught with drugs - capital punishment, with illegal weapons, even if you didn’t use it, too. In some Muslim countries, the law requires the hand to be cut off for theft. And no one has been stealing there for a long time.” Another objected: “The cruelty of punishments will make crime more violent. The main thing is the inevitability of punishment. If everyone knows that any crime will be solved, crime will decrease dramatically.” What do you think about this issue? Give reasons for your answer.

Any court is not immune from errors, while it must make decisions. With capital punishment, an innocent person may suffer, and this cannot be corrected. The inevitability of punishment makes the chance of committing a crime minimal, because the criminal realizes that he will be found and punished.