Spiritual sphere of society. Levels and forms of social consciousness. The structure of social consciousness, its main levels and forms

The structure of public consciousness is distinguished by such levels as theoretical and ordinary consciousness. The first forms social psychology, the second - ideology.

Ordinary consciousness formed spontaneously in people's daily lives. theoretical consciousness reflects the essence, patterns of the surrounding natural and social world.

Public consciousness appears in various forms: socio-political views and theories, legal views, science, philosophy, morality, art, religion.

Consider the individual forms of social consciousness:

--political consciousness is a systematic, theoretical expression of public views on political organization society, forms of the state, relations between various social groups, classes, parties, relations with other states and nations;

--legal consciousness in theoretical form it expresses the legal consciousness of society, the nature and purpose of legal relations, norms and institutions, issues of legislation, courts, prosecutors. Sets as its goal the approval of a legal order corresponding to the interests of a particular society;

--morality- a system of views and assessments that regulate the behavior of individuals, a means of educating and strengthening certain moral principles and relationships;

- art- a special form of human activity associated with the development of reality through artistic images;

- religion and philosophy- forms of social consciousness that are the most remote from material conditions. Religion is older than philosophy and is necessary step development of mankind. Expresses the surrounding world through a system of worldview based on faith and religious postulates.

In the epistemological aspect structural components social consciousness differ mainly in levels, forms and ways of reflecting social life. Such components are ordinary consciousness and theoretical consciousness, which represent two levels of reflection of reality - knowledge of phenomena and knowledge of essence. Ordinary consciousness arises as an awareness of the daily needs and needs of people and is limited to immediate practical conditions the lives of people of different communities. It covers and generalizes mainly external relations and relations. public life, but, as a rule, does not reveal its essential aspects and is not able to foresee the long-term consequences human activity. This level of consciousness, not systematized as a whole, includes the experience of the masses and a variety of empirical knowledge developed in the process. historical development(folk knowledge in the field of production, everyday life, medicine, folklore and other types of folk art, ideas about natural phenomena, including prejudices, superstitions, etc.). At the same time, ordinary consciousness creates in the socio-historical plan the prerequisite and conditions for the emergence of theoretical consciousness, as well as its addition. The most profound generalizations and concepts of everyday consciousness pass to the highest level of knowledge and become the property of theory and science. Theoretical consciousness acts as a higher level of knowledge, which is characterized by the discovery of the essence of natural and social phenomena, their regular connections and relationships. This component of social consciousness exists in the form of systems of ideas, concepts, laws, etc. Theory, as a systematized consciousness, is represented by science and ideology, and ideological systems, in turn, can be distinguished as scientific and non-scientific. In addition, theoretical consciousness is differentiated and has gradations determined by the depth of penetration into essences of a different order.

However, at the level of everyday consciousness it is impossible to penetrate deeply into the essence of things, phenomena, to rise to deep theoretical generalizations. In the first period of people's lives, ordinary consciousness was the only and main thing. as society develops, a need arises for deeper generalizations, and ordinary consciousness becomes insufficient to meet the increased needs. Then there is theoretical consciousness . Arising on the basis of everyday consciousness, it directs people's attention to the reflection of the essence of the phenomena of nature and society, prompting a deeper analysis of them. Through ordinary consciousness, theoretical consciousness is connected with social being. Theoretical consciousness makes people's lives more conscious, contributes to a deeper development of social consciousness, since it reveals the natural connection and essence of material and spiritual processes. Ordinary consciousness is made up of ordinary knowledge and social psychology.

Theoretical consciousness carries scientific knowledge about nature and society. Ordinary knowledge is knowledge of the elementary conditions of people's existence, which allows a person to navigate in his immediate environment.

This knowledge about the use of simple tools, simple natural phenomena norms of relations with each other.

Forms of social consciousness are usually distinguished among themselves according to the following criteria:

roles in society;

reflection method;

social source.

The structure of social consciousness, its main levels and forms

Parameter name Meaning
Article subject: The structure of social consciousness, its main levels and forms
Rubric (thematic category) Story

In the structure of social consciousness, three interrelated levels are usually distinguished: everyday, social psychology and social ideology, as well as forms of social consciousness, which include political ideology, legal consciousness, morality (moral consciousness), art (aesthetic consciousness), religion, science and philosophy:

1. Ordinary consciousness arises spontaneously in the process of everyday practice, as a direct reflection of the external (domestic) side of people's life and is not aimed at finding the truth.

2. Public psychology- the emotional attitude of people to their social being, which is also formed spontaneously in the daily life of people. Its specificity and regularities are studied by social psychology. Social psychology includes unsystematized feelings and ideas of people, first of all, about their emotional life, certain states and some mental characteristics. It is the prevailing mood of feelings and ideas in a given social group (ʼʼsocio-psychological atmosphereʼʼ), in a given country, in a particular society.

3. Public ideology - conceptual and theoretical reflection of social life, expressed in forms of thinking (concepts, judgments, theories, concepts, etc.). Taken as a whole, it is defined as a system of political, legal, moral, aesthetic, religious and philosophical views, in which people's attitude to social reality is recognized and evaluated.

Τᴀᴋᴎᴍ ᴏϬᴩᴀᴈᴏᴍ, social ideology - systematized, theoretical background, the spiritual expression of the interests of various social groups or communities. Ideology is a complex spiritual formation, which includes a certain theoretical basis, the programs of action arising from it and the mechanisms for the dissemination of ideological attitudes among the masses.

In any of its manifestations, it is essentially or formally, correct or false, but always connected with the needs of the whole society, is an expression of its goals, values, ideals, its programs, contradictions and ways to resolve them. As such, a social ideology is always necessary, obligatory for any society - class, non-class, ʼʼopenʼʼ, ʼʼclosedʼʼ, etc. She always was, is and will be. For there is always a vital need for knowledge of the characteristics of the development of society, current problems and common tasks, stages of social change and prospects for social development.

Nowadays, some theorists (both in the West and in our country) came up with the idea of ​​the end of ideology (ʼʼpre-ideologizationʼʼ). They associate this either with the "natural falsity" of ideology, or with the end of the confrontation in the world of capitalism and socialism, or with its totalitarian class essence.

Forms of public consciousness are ways of spiritual development of reality. The main criteria for their differentiation:

1. On the subject of reflection - science and philosophy reflect reality, but at different conceptual and methodological levels (lower and higher).

2. By forms (types) of reflection- science reflects reality in the form of concepts, hypotheses, theories, laws, and art - in the form of artistic images.

3. According to the functions performed - art performs aesthetic and educational functions, science - cognitive, morality - moral, etc.

4. By public role. Science is the ʼʼlocomotiveʼʼ of progress, religion satisfies belief in the supernatural, art satisfies belief in the beautiful, morality elevates a person to the ʼʼvalue of goodʼʼ, and so on.

All levels and forms of social consciousness interact with each other and influence each other in the course of the interaction of social being and social consciousness.

In conclusion, we note that social consciousness is a reflection of social being, social reality as a whole. At the same time, public consciousness and each of its forms have a certain independence regarding social being, its own logic and special patterns of its development. This manifests itself in:

a) continuity, preservation of the rational, positive content of the old in the new;

b) mutual influence various forms public consciousness;

c) lagging behind or ahead of the forms of consciousness from social existence;

d) the active reverse impact of social consciousness and its forms on social existence (a vivid example of this is the active impact of science on the development of technology and technology of the modern information society).

Lecture 9: Consciousness and language. The problem of the unconscious

1. Language as a way of existence of consciousness.

2. Natural and artificial languages.

3. The role of language in society and its main functions.

4. Consciousness and the unconscious.

The structure of social consciousness, its main levels and forms - the concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Structure of public consciousness, its main levels and forms" 2017, 2018.

The concept of social consciousness. Forms and levels of social consciousness.

The concept of social consciousness.

Social consciousness is the views of people in their totality on natural phenomena and social reality.

Public consciousness has a complex structure and different levels, ranging from everyday, everyday, from social psychology and ending with the most complex, strictly scientific forms. The structural elements of social consciousness are its various forms: political, legal, moral, religious, aesthetic, scientific and philosophical consciousness, which differ from each other in the subject and form of reflection, according to social function, by the nature of the pattern of development, as well as by the degree of its dependence on social life.

The concept of social consciousness was developed by Marx and Engels in the process of materialistic explanation of history and is defined by them in a dialectical relationship with the concept of social being. The paired categories of "social being" and "social consciousness" are becoming scientific concepts and perform a methodological role only when they are considered in the system of other categories and laws covering material aspects and relations of society as a single social organism.

The development of consciousness occurs due to the growth of productivity and the division of labor, which at a certain stage becomes the division of material and spiritual activities. From that moment on, public consciousness acquires relative independence.

Analyzing social consciousness in connection with other aspects and processes of social life, the founders of Marxism define its essential features:

1) social consciousness is a reflection or awareness of social being, embracing both nature and society;

2) social consciousness interacts with social being, which plays a decisive role in this interaction.

Basic forms of social consciousness.

Forms of social consciousness are various forms of reflection in the minds of people of the objective world and social being, on the basis of which they arise in the process of practical activity. Public consciousness exists and manifests itself in the forms of political ideology, legal consciousness, morality, religion, science, artistic views, art, philosophy.

In the process of cognition, at first, actions are mainly performed with cognizable objects; in the process of performing actions, feelings, ideas, and living contemplation are formed; thinking is characteristic of the most developed stage of cognition. Of course, in the knowledge of a person, actions, feelings, thoughts are always in unity, but still, at different stages, stages of cognition, their correlative role, correlative meaning are different.

Accordingly, all forms of social consciousness exist in their unity. However, in general, the first group of forms of social consciousness (morality, politics, law) is most closely, closely connected with social being. More mediated, in general and as a whole, is the connection with the social being of the second group of forms of social consciousness (aesthetic consciousness, religious consciousness), and the connection with the social being of the third form of social consciousness (philosophy) is even more mediated.

All forms of social consciousness interact with each other. The more directly this or that form of social consciousness is connected with social being, the more directly it reflects the changes in social being. And vice versa, the further the form of social consciousness is from social being, the more indirectly social being is reflected in it.

The closer the form of social consciousness is to social being, the less, other things being equal, the reflection of social being in it is mediated by the reflection of social being in forms that are more remote from social being. And vice versa.

Levels of public consciousness.

Public consciousness has three levels - psychological, everyday (empirical) and spiritual (theoretical, intellectual, reasonable). Each level of social consciousness is characterized by its typical subjects, interests, methods of cognition, forms of knowledge, the nature of the reproduction and development of social life. Cognitive (reflection, imagination, evaluation) and managerial (design, regulation, correction) sides are closely intertwined in the levels of public consciousness.

The psychological, everyday, spiritual level of consciousness is characteristic of the individual, and the social group, and the people, and humanity. Speaking of social psychology, public everyday consciousness, public spiritual consciousness, we mean precisely social consciousness, i.e. the consciousness of a given society, which is made up of individual, class, national consciousnesses, each of which includes a psychological, everyday, spiritual level.

Social psychology is a set of feelings, sensory representations, moods, habits inherent in social communities, classes, people that make up the people of a given society. Social psychology is formed under the influence of social life and social education.

Public everyday consciousness (ordinary consciousness of society) is formed under the influence of social psychology and spiritual consciousness. The ordinary consciousness of a society is a set of views (judgments), conclusions, concepts, corresponding ways of thinking, exchange of opinions inherent in a given society of people. In the ordinary consciousness of society, one can single out the ordinary consciousness of groups, classes, strata, ruling elite etc., which together form the ordinary consciousness of the people (society).

Spiritual consciousness forms the highest level of consciousness of society, the subject of which is mainly the intelligentsia. It is a process of spiritual production (production of spiritual values), carried out within the framework of public division work of spiritual workers. Spiritual Level is divided into four branches - artistic (aesthetic), scientific, philosophical, ideological, educational.

So far, philosophy has been dominated by a general abstract definition of consciousness. Consciousness does not exist at all, it always belongs to someone, it cannot exist without a subject. There are some forms in our consciousness that do not belong to us. Unlike the psyche, consciousness has an outlet beyond the limits of a given individual. This exit is not a departure from oneself, but a way of realizing oneself. Consciousness allows you to go to other cultures, thoughts, etc. The boundaries of consciousness do not lie in the plane of physiology, but rather in the social plane. The social frontier of consciousness can turn into a psychological structure. It is important to raise the question: whose consciousness is created by whom? There is no single answer to this question. AT different types society can get different answers.

Gnoseological and ontological interpretation of consciousness. For the classical understanding of consciousness (from Aristotle to Hegel): consciousness is always associated with cognition; consciousness as a reflection of the world. The problem arises, how does a person know the world? Consciousness exists to properly map an object. For the development of consciousness, it is necessary to develop cognitive activity. The level of development of consciousness depends on the level of education.

At the end of the 19th century, the epistemological understanding of consciousness collapsed. Philosophy in general was under attack. There is a craving for things. Things give power over other people. Scientific knowledge is a means of competition, cooperation, power. The main question of consciousness is the question of people's struggle, cooperation, connection with other people. Consciousness passes into the realm of people's existence, into the form of interaction between people. The question of consciousness becomes ontological, that is, the question of SF.

Consciousness is always subjective; is always part of certain structures, differently distributed among different subjects.

The consciousness of society arises supra-individually, in the process of interaction between people. There are ideas that exist independently of the consciousness of an individual person, but are contained in it. That is, in our minds there are forms that do not belong to us (language, rules, laws, stereotypes, norms, morality) - collective ideas that are not invented by each person individually.

Different individuals can form different groups, the question is what ideas these groups bring to the public consciousness.

Conclusion: consciousness is always subjective, it is included in the interaction of various social subjects, groups. In the minds of society there is a struggle for collective ideas. Foucault: consciousness is the field of the struggle for power, so consciousness subjugates the mind, the will of man. Consciousness is a product certain activities, production. Consciousness is a product of human activity, a kind of communication tool that connects people.



Problems of the typology of consciousness: 2 models - classical and postclassical.

Classical: classical philosophy and science operate on the concept of abstract consciousness (it is not clear to whom it belongs) and society in general. There are several levels of consciousness:

lowest level

Highest level

Scientific consciousness is closer to the truth than ordinary. From the point of view of a classical philosopher, consciousness can be considered both in terms of relation to truth and in terms of relation to value. Therefore, consciousness is divided into 2 planes: epistemological and axiological (consciousness is a form of relationship between people). Ordinary and psychological consciousness appeals to the direct experience of a person, while scientific and ideological consciousness is systemic, indirect.

Scientific consciousness from the point of view of the classics is closer to reality, more systematic, more accurate. Forms scientific activity- experiment, theory. Ordinary consciousness exists as an observation, everyday experience, rumors, gossip, does not require experiment. Psychology is expressed in stereotypes, habits, norms, rules, needs, values. Ideology differs from all of the above in that it does not lie in ordinary experience, but is created specially by people; is universal; often disguised as a scientific theory with its justifications.

Non-classical: At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, classical ideas about consciousness begin to change. At the end of the 19th century, rationality, scientific character receives more and more criticism. Reasons: the onset of mass life, the development of industrial society. Life goes on under the influence of the masses, not ideologists. There is a realization that the daily practice of consciousness plays a huge role. Everyday life proved to be varied and complex. Science does not cope with the interpretation of ordinary consciousness.



There is an elevation of ordinary consciousness, knowledge. disappears in a way scientific knowledge(argumentation, logical proof). But the descent of science into the everyday realm leads to the study of everyday life by science. It turns out that everyday life is heterogeneous, rich, it cannot be interpreted in an abstract, general way. Each culture has its own everyday life, which requires a special, specific approach.

It turned out that the everyday consciousness of people is complexly structured, and not simply, as it was thought in the classics. A person develops his own norms, standards, ideas and positions. The worlds of everyday life are reproduced and constructed by people themselves.

The classics offered another view of society: to divide all consciousness into a number of forms according to the criterion of different reflections of the world by them in view of the different subject of the image, different means display, functions. (Pr: art and science are forms of social consciousness).

In an archaic society, the classical model is not applicable, since there were no forms of social consciousness, they have not yet been formed. There was a mythological form of consciousness, syncretic.

In a traditional society, a political form of consciousness appeared, a religious one, since myths could no longer serve the whole society. But there was no scientific consciousness yet.

In an industrial society, religion no longer dominates. Begins classical scheme+ interpenetration of various forms of social consciousness.

The concept of social consciousness. Forms and levels of social consciousness.

The concept of social consciousness.

Public consciousness is the views of people in their totality on natural phenomena and social reality.

Social consciousness has a complex structure and different levels, ranging from everyday, everyday, from social psychology to the most complex, strictly scientific forms. The structural elements of social consciousness are its various forms: political, legal, moral, religious, aesthetic, scientific and philosophical consciousness, which differ among themselves in the subject and form of reflection, in social function, in the nature of the pattern of development, and also in the degree of their dependence on social life.

The concept of social consciousness was developed by Marx and Engels in the process of materialistic explanation of history and is defined by them in a dialectical relationship with the concept of social being. The paired categories of "social being" and "social consciousness" become scientific concepts and fulfill a methodological role only when they are considered in a system of other categories and laws that cover the essential aspects and relations of society as a single social organism.

The development of consciousness occurs due to the growth of productivity and the division of labor, which at a certain stage becomes the division of material and spiritual activities. From that moment on, public consciousness acquires relative independence.

Analyzing social consciousness in connection with other aspects and processes of social life, the founders of Marxism define its essential features:

1) social consciousness is a reflection or awareness of social being, embracing both nature and society;

2) social consciousness interacts with social being, which plays a decisive role in this interaction.

Basic forms of social consciousness.

Forms of social consciousness are various forms of reflection in the minds of people of the objective world and social being, on the basis of which they arise in the process of practical activity. Public consciousness exists and manifests itself in the forms of political ideology, legal consciousness, morality, religion, science, artistic views, art, philosophy.

In the process of cognition, at first, actions are mainly performed with cognizable objects; in the process of performing actions, feelings, ideas, and living contemplation are formed; thinking is characteristic of the most developed stage of cognition. Of course, in the knowledge of a person, actions, feelings, thoughts are always in unity, but still, at different stages, stages of cognition, their correlative role, correlative meaning are different.

Accordingly, all forms of social consciousness exist in their unity. However, in general, the first group of forms of social consciousness (morality, politics, law) is most closely, closely connected with social being. More mediated, in general and as a whole, is the connection with the social being of the second group of forms of social consciousness (aesthetic consciousness, religious consciousness), and the connection with the social being of the third form of social consciousness (philosophy) is even more mediated.

All forms of social consciousness interact with each other. The more directly this or that form of social consciousness is connected with social being, the more directly it reflects the changes in social being. And vice versa, the further the form of social consciousness is from social being, the more indirectly social being is reflected in it.

The closer the form of social consciousness is to social being, the less, other things being equal, the reflection of social being in it is mediated by the reflection of social being in forms that are more remote from social being. And vice versa.

Levels of public consciousness.

Public consciousness has three levels - psychological, everyday (empirical) and spiritual (theoretical, intellectual, reasonable). Each level of social consciousness is characterized by its typical subjects, interests, methods of cognition, forms of knowledge, the nature of the reproduction and development of social life. Cognitive (reflection, imagination, evaluation) and managerial (design, regulation, correction) sides are closely intertwined in the levels of public consciousness.

The psychological, everyday, spiritual level of consciousness is characteristic of the individual, and the social group, and the people, and humanity. Speaking of social psychology, public everyday consciousness, public spiritual consciousness, we mean precisely social consciousness, i.e. the consciousness of a given society, which is made up of individual, class, national consciousnesses, each of which includes a psychological, everyday, spiritual level.

Social psychology is a set of feelings, sensory representations, moods, habits inherent in social communities, classes, people that make up the people of a given society. Social psychology is formed under the influence of social life and social education.

Public everyday consciousness (ordinary consciousness of society) is formed under the influence of social psychology and spiritual consciousness. The ordinary consciousness of a society is a set of views (judgments), conclusions, concepts, corresponding ways of thinking, exchange of opinions inherent in a given society of people. In the ordinary consciousness of society, one can single out the ordinary consciousness of groups, classes, strata, the ruling elite, etc., which together form the ordinary consciousness of the people (society).

Spiritual consciousness forms the highest level of consciousness of society, the subject of which is mainly the intelligentsia. It is a process of spiritual production (production of spiritual values), carried out within the framework of the social division of labor by spiritual workers. The spiritual level is divided into four branches - artistic (aesthetic), scientific, philosophical, ideological, educational.