INTRODUCTION

Sociology studies society as a system and the social processes taking place in it at different levels — micro, meso, and macro — analyzing both everyday interactions of people and the social structure, social communities and institutions.

Mastering the basics of sociological knowledge allows you to understand the nature of the processes and phenomena occurring in society, influences the formation of the civic position of people.

Because of this, it seems paramount in studying a course to overcome the widespread opinion about the “excessive” amount of social and political information for ordinary citizens. Lack of knowledge about society can turn a person into an object of manipulation and undermine his “civil” security.

Starting to study the course, it is necessary to take into account certain specifics that are inherent in sociology as one of the humanities as a whole.

The formation of social knowledge has a long tradition, the origins of which can be traced back to the period of ancient history. The emergence of sociology as an independent science occurred relatively recently - in the XVIII – XIX centuries. Its content is closely intertwined with problems analyzed by philosophers, political scientists, cultural scientists, and economists. Without the use of material, both concrete and theoretical, studied in previous periods of the humanitarian cycle, sociological constructions will not go beyond the framework of general, abstract schemes.

The relative youth of sociology and the objective complexity of the very subject of research leads to the fact that there are many different, sometimes contradictory and polar interpretations and concepts. It seems to us that their collision is extremely unproductive. Any sociological concept is, first of all, a theoretical tool, and as such it is more correct to speak only of its greater or lesser correspondence to the goals and objectives of the specific research situation. In addition, each concept has the right to focus on different aspects of multifaceted social phenomena, complementing others and enriching their holistic understanding. Therefore, in the field of sociology there are no absolute characteristics and rigid assessments.

In sociological theories intertwined as a statement of the objective characteristics of processes and structures, and their evaluation, i.e. In this area of ​​knowledge, unfortunately, it is impossible to completely eliminate the elements of subjectivism.

When analyzing the relationship between the objective and the subjective in sociological theories, it is important to see the logic underlying the various interpretations: what kind of social interests, preferences give rise to one or another assessment, how they relate to the positions of the subjects existing in our society, with their own social status. It is this kind of understanding that can give us guidance in developing a civic position, for which a purely emotional evaluation of “like - dislike” is not enough.

The specificity of social problems should be taken into account not only by professionals, but also by all who study these problems as academic disciplines.

Students are required not so much to learn and, if necessary, to reproduce standard theoretical constructions, as to show an ability to analyze phenomena, to compare various concepts, and motivations of their own opinions.

The Department of Humanities in the framework of the curriculum offers students the following scheme for the study of sociology and political science:

- independent in-depth study of one of the topics and presentation on it of a written, abstract in nature, report in the form of a test;

- preliminary acquaintance with the structure and content of the course, based on the State Standard, the general subject of examinations and basic educational literature;

- study of key topics during lectures and seminars during the session;

- protection of examinations as a form of admission to the exam (the defense involves answers to questions and comments on the text of the work, formulated by the testing teacher);

- final control (exam).

The number of the topic of the test is chosen in accordance with the last digit of the student’s grade book. For example, the number of the record book ends with the number “1” - it is necessary to choose the topic under the number “1”, etc.

Methodical recommendations and explanations of a general nature relating to the performance of examinations can be summarized as follows.

1. The proposed topic is mandatory, however, within each work, it is allowed to change the work plan depending on the wishes of the author. It is important to disclose key issues and concepts that reflect the main content of individual topics.

2. References are advisory in nature. The author of the test, depending on the topic and the stock possibilities of specific libraries, chooses the most appropriate publications. It is necessary to keep in mind a rather active publishing activity, implying the release of new titles, as well as regional features.

3. The content specificity of the course of sociology should be taken into account in practical work with literature:

- it is advisable to start the study of any topic with the introductory sections of relevant textbooks;

- special work on the conceptual apparatus is necessary;

- the use of reference and bibliographic literature is appropriate not only for the definition of concepts, but also for familiarization with the personalities and content of the theories and concepts mentioned in the relevant sections of the literature;

- besides the general literature it is necessary to use special works, articles, brochures, magazines;

- with the main focus on a meaningful start of work, the form should not be neglected - each test should contain mandatory design elements: plan, introduction and conclusion, list of references, reference and bibliographic apparatus. The amount of work written in a clear handwriting or typed on a computer should be 18-20 pages;

- students need to know that when evaluating work, the attention of inspectors is drawn not only to the content and compliance with formal requirements, but also to autonomy, originality. The student must demonstrate the ability to comprehend the realities of life on the basis of theoretical postulates and to prove his position convincingly. Equally, this refers to the defense of the test and the examination procedure.

When studying all the topics of the course we advise you to refer to the following publications:

1. Averyanov L.Ya. Sociology: what it knows and can. - M .: Sociologist, 1993.

2. Bourdieu Pierre. Sociology of politics: Trans. from franc - M., 1993.

3. Volkov Yu.G., Mostovaya I.V. Sociology: A textbook for university students. - M .: Gardarika, 1998.

4. Grechikhin V.G. Lectures on methods and techniques of sociological research. - M., 1988.

5. Zborovsky G.Е., Orlov G.P. Sociology: A textbook for students of humanitarian universities. - M .: Interpraks, 1995.

6. Komarov M.S. Introduction to sociology. - M, 1995.

7. Kravchenko S.A. Mnatsakanyan M.O., Pokrovsky N.E. Sociology: paradigms and topics: Textbook. 2nd ed. - M .: Ankil, 1998.

8. Kravchenko A.I. Applied sociology and management. - M .: Publishing House of Moscow State University, 1995.

9. Kravchenko A.I. Sociology of management. - M .: Unity, 1999.

10. Workshop on sociology / Ed. THEM. Slepenkova, N.I. Dryakhlova et al. - M .: Publishing House of Moscow State University, 1992.

11. Radugin A.A., Radugin K.A. Sociology. Lecture course. - Voronezh, 1994.

12. Dictionary of sociology and political science / Ed. E.V. Tadevosyana. - M .: Knowledge, 1996.

13. Sorokin P.A. Sociology system: In 2 tons. - M., 1993.

14. Sociology on the threshold of the XXI century. New directions in the study / Ed. S.I. Grigorieva and J. Cohenen-Hutter. - M: Intellect, 1998.

15. Toshchenko ZH.G. Sociology. General course: Tutorial. - M .: Prometheus, 1994, 2nd ed. additional - M .: 1998.

16. Frolov S.S. Sociology: Textbook for universities. 2nd ed. - M .: Logos, 1997.