The concept of civil society, the structure of civil society, functions

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Civil society is a phenomenon that is actively studied by scientists from various fields - economics, sociology, law. And there is still no generally accepted understanding of its essence. What are the concepts that explain what civil society is? The concept, principles, its structure - how are they interpreted by researchers?

Defining civil society

The first aspect we will look at is the definition of the term in question. There are quite a few approaches regarding the definition of what civil society is (concept, structure, signs of it). There are concepts proposed by philosophers of antiquity and the Middle Ages, there are theories of sociologists and economists of the 19th and 20th centuries, and there are modern ideas.

But even if we try to explore what civil society is in the modern sense, we will again encounter a huge number of interpretations of this phenomenon, which can be very different from each other. Therefore, considering certain interpretations of the term in questionspeech, one must be aware that none of the points of view can be considered universally recognized even in narrow scientific circles. These are just versions of individual researchers.

Society of Free People

According to one of the common concepts, civil society should be understood as an association of free individuals. In terms of the economic component, this means that every person included in the structure of society is an owner. He, depending on the volume of personal labor investments, knowledge and skills, can increase the volume of his property, as well as dispose of it at his own discretion. A person in a modern civil society is free to choose a profession, place of residence, and build family relationships.

Another aspect of human freedom is political. A person can delegate power and managerial powers within the framework of democratic mechanisms, participate in elections himself, organize local self-government, and be socially active. Also, this aspect of freedom is expressed in the right of a citizen to choose political preferences, to be a member of certain parties and associations.

The social aspect of human freedom in modern society is expressed in the fact that no one has the right to impose a certain model of behavior on him. He himself, guided by personal morality, will determine how to behave in relationships with other people. This aspect of freedom is complemented by the availability of opportunities to express their point of view publicly - at meetings,rallies, on the pages of the media.

Mutual consideration of interests

Using one or another channel of expressing one's own interests, a person in a modern civil society, at the same time, is obliged to take into account the interests of those around him. In this sense, his freedom is limited where the priorities of other citizens are affected. One of the criteria for the maturity of a society is that all its participants are aware of the fact that they have not only rights, but also duties (which directly follow from them).

Dialectical set

Actually, for the first time the term "civil society", the concept, structure, signs of it were introduced into public circulation by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in the book "Philosophy of Law". The great German thinker considered that civil society is a dialectical set of various relations - family, social, as well as those in which the state participates. According to Hegel's concepts, society is an environment that is a set of needs. Also, its key components are religion, state, law, family, culture and other elements. According to Hegel, civil society is one of the highest stages of human development. People who have not grown up culturally to him are wild, undeveloped communities.

In Hegel's concept, classical bourgeois society is closest to civil society. The central element of society in this theory is a person, his activities aimed at the realization of certain needs. An important aspect of the concept isthat individuals can achieve their goals only by interacting with other people.

Karl Marx supplemented Hegel's teachings with economic categories, which were based mainly on production relations, as well as such components as basis and superstructure. This concept was largely guiding for the Soviet school of social science. On its basis, the principles of political economy were formed, which became widespread in the scientific community of the USSR.

Build Communism

The concept of civil society, the structure of civil society in the communist interpretation is interesting because they do not assume a significant role of the economic factor in its capitalist understanding. The fact is that with an appropriate formation, private property disappears, and the possibility of realizing a person's personal priorities largely depends on the need to follow the principles and norms determined at the state level.

Non-intervention theory

According to one of the modern interpretations, civil society should be understood as an environment that develops independently of the state and subject to non-interference on its part. This theory is generally close to the one that we considered at the beginning of the article, where the primary criterion for the existence of society is human freedom. However, this interpretation, which determines what civil society is, the concept, structure, signs of it, has a pronounced economic connotation.

That is, the state allows the subjects of society to act independently with the expectation that they will be able to provide for themselves, for example, by opening a business or getting a profession in demand, so that later they can easily find a job. In turn, in societies where individuals cannot maintain their economic viability, a strong state is indispensable. But if the society is ready to do business and learn, then the authorities can limit themselves to minimal interference in relevant communications, for example, legislative regulation in key economic areas in the interests of the citizens themselves.

Priority to self-interest

The concept of civil society, the structure of civil society in modern theories is often supplemented by ideas that it is natural for a person to interact with other individuals, mainly due to self-interest. But this mechanism is unusual in that the implementation of the priorities of the individual (and this is the similarity of the theory under consideration with the concept of Hegel) cannot be carried out without communication with other subjects.

What is civil society in Russia? Many researchers are trying to answer this question, but it is not much easier to do this than to formulate a universal definition of what society is in principle. There are a huge number of interpretations of the Russian model of civil society. It is especially difficult for researchers to give an unambiguous answer, if only because the Russian Federation is a countrywhich in a fairly short period of time replaced several social formations at once: under the Empire, bourgeois accents began to prevail in society, later they were replaced by the socialist model of communications, after the collapse of the USSR, neoliberal approaches to the development of the economy and society became relevant.

Structure of civil society

We have studied one of the interpretations of the term "civil society" (concept, essence). The structure of the corresponding social phenomenon is the next aspect of interest to us. Just as in the case of the definition of what civil society is, regarding its structure, we can say that there are a large number of options for understanding it, presented in the scientific and expert environment.

Structure is a set of constituent elements of civil society. It is assumed that, despite their possible dissimilarity, they generally interact while maintaining the necessary balances that ensure the stability of society, as well as its development.

Above we considered the version according to which human freedom is the main criterion on the basis of which the concept of civil society is built. The structure of civil society, what it consists of - questions that can also be considered in relation to the concept we have studied. That is, the elements that make up society can be studied through their activities, which imply compliance with the key criterion - ensuring guarantees of human freedom.

The concept of civil society, the structure of civil society are phenomena that can be studied in a variety of scientific approaches. Many modern sociologists prefer to single out four main elements that form the structure of society. Consider their essence.

The first element of civil society, according to the interpretation in question, is the social system. It is an environment in which individuals, interacting with each other, express, on the one hand, their own interests, exercise their rights, on the other hand, they combine them with the priorities of other people and fulfill the duties stipulated by certain norms.

A variety of relationships can take place in a social system, but researchers consider family relationships to be the key ones. Among the main incentives for people to interact with each other is their desire to find a person with whom they can build a family. Another important factor in the communication of individuals in society is their objective need for communication. Man, according to the widespread point of view, is a social subject by nature. It's hard for him to live alone.

The second element of civil society is the economic system. The institutions that form it form the basis of the life support of society. Within the economic system, a person also pursues his own interests, predetermined by needs, and also contributes, when possible or necessary, to ensure the priorities of other people.

Getting a job, a citizen, on the one hand, does it indue to the need to support himself and his family, on the other hand, he helps his employer to develop and make a profit. Among the key components of the economic system of modern civil society are property relations. A person can own something, exchange something, sell, buy, and in most cases this is connected with the realization of personal or family needs.

The third element of modern civil society is the political and legal system. It is a set of institutions that govern the state and more localized administrative units - subjects of the federation, if we talk about Russia, municipalities. The political system ensures the stability and sovereignty of society. The absence or weakness of state institutions, as a rule, is accompanied by a decrease in the quality of social communications. However, how stable the political and legal system will be is determined by the society itself through elections or the organization of various forms of self-government.

The fourth element of modern civil society is the spiritual and cultural system. It can be considered one of the most important in terms of the stability of society, as well as the historical continuity of its key values, which is one of the main criteria for the sustainability of society. The spiritual and cultural component of social communications can play an indispensable role when, for example, crisis phenomena arise in the economic or political plane. Also, relevant social values can giveguidelines regarding building mechanisms for balanced interaction of individuals in conditions where most of them tend to act primarily based on their own interests.

These are examples of concepts according to which the concept of civil society, the structure of civil society, can be defined. As we noted at the beginning of the article, there are quite a few interpretations regarding the topic under consideration. Therefore, the interpretations given by us are only versions, but, we note, they are quite logical and reflect, in general, the specifics of building communications in modern societies.

Functions of civil society

We explored how civil society is understood in various interpretations (concept, structure). The functions of the corresponding category are the next aspect of interest to us. Again, it should be said that there are a large number of dissimilar theories regarding the study of the corresponding characteristics of society.

According to one of them, civil society is responsible for the successful implementation of a person's priorities, talents, vocations. People are always looking for something. And if civil society contributes to their desires, then this means that the corresponding social institution is working normally.

Many researchers, trying to answer the question of what civil society is and its functions, come to the conclusion that this environment is a necessary condition for the development of the state. If society does not complynecessary criteria of sustainability, then the political power will soon lose the ability to solve the tasks assigned to it. In this sense, the state and society are characterized by mutual dependence, one complements the other.

Another interpretation of the term suggests that the main function of society is to protect the interests of citizens. People should feel confident that the resources available to them for the realization of personal needs will not disappear due to the will of other subjects, which can occur as part of direct interference in a person's private life.

How civil society is formed

The next important aspect that can be considered after we have explored the concepts that explain what civil society is (concept, structure) is the formation of society. Under the influence of what factors is the appropriate environment for human interaction formed?

Researchers identify the following list of them:

• economic;
• legal;
• technological;
• cultural.

That is, as each of the marked spheres develops in society, mechanisms are developed within which individuals begin to interact, forming various relationships on a systematic basis.

So, we have studied the basic concepts in which scientists consider what civil society is (concept, structure, functions), what it is in the vision of classical scientists, adherents of communist views, modern experts. We have seen that the phenomenon under consideration is a factor in the formationactive discussions. If we try to summarize what civil society is (concept, structure, functions), briefly, then we can characterize this phenomenon as follows: it is an environment in which individuals, motivated by personal interest, spiritual, cultural guidelines or state will, carry out various communications with the aim of protecting their interests, as well as ensuring the stability of the political and social system.