Social processes are homogeneous series of phenomena that arise in connection with the interaction of people; They cause a change in the state and elements of the social system.
A series of phenomena can be perceived as a process only if:
- The identity in time is preserved, which makes it possible to distinguish it from many other series;
- there is a relationship between the preceding and newly emerged phenomena;
- the preceding phenomena must cause a homogeneous state of things.
Social processes can take place in 3 possible forms, namely:
- subjective, expressed in the successive actions of participants in social relations;
- object, expressed in a consistent change in the state of social phenomena;
- technological, expressed in compliance, the implementation of certain techniques.
Sociologists E. Burgess and R.Park created one of the classifications of the main social processes. In particular, they identified the processes of cooperation, adaptation, competition, assimilation, conflict, amalgamization.
- The process of cooperation can occur between two people, as well as in small and large groups. It is based on coordinated actions of people aimed at achieving common goals;
- The process of adaptation, in which the individualadapts itself to new conditions, accepts the values and cultural norms of the new environment, since the old one does not satisfy the existing needs. An obligatory condition for the process of adaptation is subordination;
- The process of competition means a struggle between people,their groups or societies for receiving certain values of power, money, love, etc.). Competition stimulates people's activities, allowing them to achieve high results;
- Conflict means a clash of people's interests,different groups and societies. One of the most negative examples of the conflict is war, when in order to acquire any values, there is a clash of interests that leads to the death of people.
- The process of assimilation, that is, mutual cultural penetration, in which different groups or societies come to a common culture.
- The process of amalgamation, that is, the biological mixture of ethnic groups and peoples, after which they become one.
Social processes and their types
1) Unidirectional (single-line) processes.In their development they pass the same path or a certain (similar) sequence of stages. An example can serve as a civilizational approach to the development of the state, where the slave-owning, feudal and capitalist types of the state are distinguished, which successively replaced each other;
2) Multilinear social processes presuppose the existence of several alternative ways of development;
3) Nonlinear processes, when breakthroughs occuror jumps after a long period of growth. An example is the formational approach to the development of society. The transition to a new formation occurred as a result of a qualitative leap in the development of the economy, which leads to a radical transformation of the state;
4) Non-directional processes that arise randomly and have a random character;
5) Wavy social processes that are repeated or similar to previous models;
6) Cyclic processes occur (repeat) at regular intervals;
7) Spiral processes are similar, but differ in complexity. In this case, the cycle can be progressive and regressive;
8) Random social processes are individual particular cases, when changes do not take place according to a certain known pattern;
9) Stagnation - for some time in the state of the system there is no change.
