Globalization of socio-cultural processes in the modern world. Modern global problems: concept, causes, criteria and types. The place and role of the Russian Federation in solving global problems. Globalization of social and cultural processes in the modern world Globalization of social

Despite the difference in the theoretical positions of different schools, the idea of ​​establishing a single socio-cultural community on our planet has received wide recognition. Its strengthening in science and public consciousness was facilitated by the awareness of the globalization of social and cultural processes in modern world. Globality is understood as the universal nature of the vital problems of mankind, the solution of which depends on survival. The hallmarks of globality are:

The universal nature of the problems, their correlation with the interests of the world community;

Global character, that is, the importance for all regions and countries of the world;

The need to unite the efforts of all mankind to solve them, the impossibility of a solution by a group of countries;

Urgency and urgency, since refusal to decide, procrastination pose a real threat to social progress.

However, the globalization of social, cultural, economic and political processes in the modern world, along with the positive aspects, has given rise to a number of problems (their list reaches 30 or more), which are called "global problems of our time". The founder of the international research center "Club of Rome", studying the prospects for the development of mankind, A. Peccei notes: "The true problem of the human species at this stage of its evolution is that it turned out to be completely culturally incapable of keeping pace and fully adapting to those changes that he himself brought into this world.

In the model of M. Mesarovich and E. Pestel "Humanity at the Turning Point" (1974), the world is described not as a homogeneous whole, but as a system of ten interconnected regions, the interaction between which is carried out through export-import and population migration.

The region is already a socio-cultural object, distinguished not only by economic and demographic criteria, but also taking into account values ​​and cultural characteristics. Development management is provided. The authors of this model came to the conclusion that the world is threatened not by a global catastrophe, but by a whole series of regional catastrophes that will begin much earlier than the founders of the Club of Rome predicted.

In the 1980s, the leaders of the Club of Rome began to move on to putting forward various programs for the transformation of social systems, the improvement of political institutions of power, changes in the "cultural ethos", i.e. actively engaged in the problems of the theory of modernization.

Geopolitical and socio-economic aspects of globalization. After the Second World War, global interaction was built on the basis of a balanced geopolitical system of the "three worlds". This system did not allow the dominance of any of them, provided a certain harmony of interests and stability. The unifying idea of ​​the system, which contributed to its democratization, was the elimination of socio-economic backwardness and poverty throughout the world as main task the world community. This task was put at the forefront of its central organization - the UN. Thus, prerequisites were created for the harmonious development of the world community, for the weakening and prevention of confrontation between the rich "North" and the poor "South". The Soviet Union played a key role in the creation of this system.

Of course, the developed capitalist countries dominated the world market as a whole. It was they who determined the nature and rules of international economic relations, which poorly took into account the interests of other countries. Therefore, at the initiative of developing countries, the world community began to actively discuss the issue of establishing a New International Economic Order, which would eliminate neo-colonial relations and help overcome socio-economic backwardness and poverty. This was resolutely opposed by the developed capitalist countries and transnational corporations, which felt threatened by their unreasonably high incomes.

The scale of income of the "golden billion" (15% of the inhabitants of developed countries) only due to non-equivalent exchange is colossal. The protectionism of the labor market of industrialized countries costs the "third world", according to the UN, 500 billion dollars a year. As stated in the Davos report in 1994, industrialized countries employ 350 million people with an average wage of $18 an hour. At the same time, China, the CIS countries, India and Mexico have a similarly skilled workforce potential of 1,200 million people with average price below $2 (in many industries below $1 an hour). Opening up the labor market for this workforce, in line with Western-proclaimed economic human rights, would mean savings of nearly $6 billion an hour!

Raw materials and energy, which on average account for two-thirds of the cost of goods, are bought up mainly from third world countries at fabulous prices. low prices. They are forced to do this by huge external debts and the military-political pressure of the West. The prices take into account only the labor to extract irreplaceable resources from the storerooms of the Earth, and not the real cost. The result is not only a robbery of future generations, but also a careless squandering of what should belong to everyone, but goes to a few. According to UN statistics, the "golden billion" consumes about 75% of the planet's irreplaceable resources and emits about 70% of all waste products into the world's oceans, atmosphere, and soil. At the same time, the gap between the first and third worlds is constantly deepening.

At the end of the 1980s, the geopolitical system of the three worlds collapsed, as the former countries of the socialist community and the USSR embarked on the path of modernization with a unilateral reorientation to the role of subordinate partners of the developed capitalist countries. Under the declaration of a multipolar world (new centers of power), humanity begins to move towards a unipolar world. Even US sociologists call the theory of a “multipolar world” a comforting tale, since such a world is beneficial to America, which deals with disunited subjects. international relations.

The goal of the "new world order" is to establish the omnipotence of the "big seven" over the rest of the world. At the same time, Russia is viewed by Western, especially American, politicians as part of this "rest of the world", subject to enslavement and control, and not as a "strong strategic partner."

Let's take a look at the facts. According to the World Bank, in the 1990s, the world gross domestic product (GDP) increased annually by an average of 2.2%, and industrial production - by 2.3%. At the same time, the highest rates of development among major states demonstrated by China (respectively 11.6% and 16.3%) and India (6% and 7.2%). Among the developed countries, the US economy developed most successfully (3% and 4.3%). Russia's performance was among the worst: annually, GDP decreased by 7.7%, and industrial production - by 9.3%. In terms of GNP, Russia is inferior not only to the G7 countries, China, India, but also South Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia. According to forecasts, Australia, Turkey, Iran, Argentina will overtake Russia in the next decade. In terms of the production of GDP per capita in dollar terms, the Russian Federation ranks 96th in the world. It accounts for less than 0.01% of the world market capitalization (investments in other countries). Such failures in economic policy did not know any government in the twentieth century.

Transnational corporations and the states protecting their interests have a real opportunity to establish their complete economic and political dominance in the world, to subordinate its evolution to their interests.

New global trends are reflected in the works of sociologists and geopoliticians. Many scientists recognize the correctness of S. Huntington, who back in 1993 in his work “The Clash of Civilizations” stated that the next century will be the era of the clash of two civilizations, conventionally called the “West” and “Not the West”. He draws the line delimiting them as follows: the border of Russia with Finland and further with the Baltic countries, then this line separates Belarus, most of Ukraine from Western civilization, further in the south it cuts off Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia from the West. It is easy to see that the line dividing the two civilizations exactly coincides with the western border of the former socialist camp. It is along this fault line that, according to Huntington, the global confrontation of the 21st century will take place. Only the leader of "Not the West" is now becoming not Russia, but other countries.

Huntington predicts a relative weakening of the West. Signs of this are the economic rise of China, the population explosion in the Islamic world, the effectiveness of socio-cultural models of behavior and organizational culture of Japanese firms, etc.

Comparing the economic opportunities of the two civilizations, we see that over the past 50 years, the gross domestic product of the West has declined from 64% in 1950 to 50% in the late 90s. According to the forecasts of economists and sociologists, in 20 years China will move to the 1st place in the world, the USA will move to the 2nd place, and the subsequent places will be occupied by Japan, India and Indonesia. Today, there is not a single American in the top ten leading banks in the world, only three American transnational corporations: General Motors, Ford, Exxon - belong to the world industrial elite, occupying 4th, 7th and 9th places, respectively. in the world ranking table, and Japanese transnational corporations top this list.

It is these emerging symptoms of economic weakening that are pushing the United States and its strategic allies to use force. The main step in this direction is the expansion of NATO to the East, the withdrawal from the indefinite ABM treaty, the demonstration of force in Iraq, Libya and Yugoslavia.

The main focus of the UN's activities is also changing. Instead of an organization directing the efforts of the world community to overcome backwardness and poverty, they are trying to turn the UN into a kind of world policeman. Increasingly, NATO is coming to the fore, replacing the UN as the main body that determines the world order.

As a justification for the refusal of the UN from its proclaimed goals, the argument is given that the limited natural and ecological potential of the Earth will not allow developing countries to reach the level of development and consumption of the "golden billion".

The growing population of the planet remains a serious global problem. In the autumn of 1999, the 6 billion milestone was overcome and the annual population growth remains at the level of 3%. Such exponential rates mean a 922% increase in population in the new century. It is obvious that the resources of the planet are simply not enough for such a large number of people. Moreover, population growth rates are higher in the poorest countries and regions, where not only social processes such as marginalization, the growth of drug addiction, emigration to other countries and regions are activated, but centers of international terrorism, weapons of mass destruction are being developed.

Thus, the globalization of socio-economic and political processes is extremely multifaceted and makes its way through contradictions, the aggravation of which can destroy humanity.

Globalization of cultural processes. The aggravation of global problems reflects the crisis of culture associated with the gap in the cognitive and value orientations of human activity. Mass consciousness lags far behind the awareness of the global scale of the consequences of human activity. Mass ecological culture is especially low in third world countries. Mankind has come to a point where new values ​​and principles of relationships must be found, designed to become regulators of the economic, social, and political activities of the peoples of the Earth.

The globalization of culture is a contradictory process of the struggle between two trends: the development of national, regional cultures, religious denominations and their integration, internationalization.

The formation of a single world market, the standardization of lifestyles in various countries create the prerequisites for the unification of culture, and given the political and economic dominance of a certain group of countries - the dominance of the mentality and values ​​of the West. However, attempts to impose one's sociocultural values ​​often lead to confrontation and increase the closedness of society. Laws are being passed to protect against the destructive influence of a foreign culture. These defensive reactions are not always progressive, but they are well founded.

For example, the influential US magazine "Foreign Policy" publishes a program article by Professor D. Rothkopf, an employee of the H. Kissinger Foundation. It is called: “Why not glorify cultural imperialism?” Rothkopf sets the following task: “The central task of US foreign policy in the information age should be victory in the struggle for world information flows ... We are not only the only military superpower, but also an information superpower. In economic and political interests The United States to ensure that the world moves towards a single language and that it becomes English, that a single network of telecommunications, security, legal norms and standards is created, and that they are all American; so that common life values ​​mature and that they are American. We need a single global culture like the American one, and then there will be no unnecessary religious and ethnic conflicts ... Americans should not deny the fact that of all peoples in world history, our society is the most just, the most tolerant, the most progressive, and therefore it is the best model for the future ".

That is why the governments of many countries resist the cultural expansion of the West. Singapore and Thailand do not allow pornographic films to be shown on television, even at night. In all Islamic countries it is forbidden to have satellite dishes. Television broadcasts are tightly controlled in China and Vietnam. France, where the rate of showing foreign films cannot be more than 40%, is resisting active legislation of the American expansion in the field of electronic media. Sociologists in Western European countries note the growth of anti-American sentiments, primarily due to the Americans' lack of knowledge of European culture and their disdainful attitude towards it.

As a form of dissemination of Western values ​​for another final stages During the Cold War, the Internet, the worldwide computer network, was created. Since the West itself was the source of production and distribution of network technologies, it also retains control in this process. The base language of the network is English. It is known that the language to a large extent predetermines what will be expressed in it, through it the way of thinking, the way of life are transmitted. In addition to Anglophony, the "world wide web" imposes other important features of the Western model. The one who defines the norms and establishes the rules of the network exchange of information receives huge advantages over those who passively participate in the network. Unprecedented databases of information accumulate in think tanks without much effort.

A particular danger in the context of information globalization is the change in the value orientations of young people. Geeks live in virtual reality. This is not only about cyberpunks - people for whom the meaning of life has become immersion in the worlds of computer simulations and "vagrancy" on the Internet. Pornography, advertising, video clips, virtual church, cyber cafes, etc. create a special spiritual world away from the sad realities of life. Computer and other technologies are actively changing the meaning of the consumption of material goods and services. Advertising creates the image of a product. The status of a product is determined not by its real properties and labor costs, but by an advertising image.

The virtualization of the economy has also captured the money. It is impossible to immediately claim all deposits in banks and all insurance payments, because banks are solvency simulators. They do not have money available - material substitutes for goods. Attempts to purchase real goods for 225 billion cash dollars walking around the planet (60 billion dollars in Russia) would inevitably lead to the collapse of the US economy. It turns out that the rest of the world has provided the United States with a long-term and interest-free loan for a gigantic sum.

Income from trade deals in the network in 1994 amounted to 240 million dollars, in 1995 - 350 million, in 1998 - 1 billion dollars. Indeed, information networks, including the Internet, make it possible to transfer huge amounts of information, hundreds of billions of dollars, etc., to anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds. However, the cream of this achievement of civilization is being skimmed off by international financial structures.

The World Wide Web, as a cultural and ideological weapon of the West, involves the imposition of its values. On the other hand, the principle of interactivity presupposes a certain share of equality and issues of information transfer, so the West may not receive an entirely adequate answer in other languages.

Sociologists believe that the importance of such important factors of global confrontation for the 20th century as the type of socio-political system, class ideology will decrease, while the role of ethnic, religious, civilizational ones will increase. One thing is certain - the cultural unification of mankind in the foreseeable future is not expected.

Strategy of sustainable development of modern civilization. The term "sustainable development" became widespread at the turn of the 1990s. Sociologists, economists, ecologists used them to designate the type of development aimed at maintaining peace on the planet, preventing regional conflicts, preserving natural environment and improving the quality of life, the elimination of glaring disproportions in the standard of living, education and culture.

The concept of sustainable development has received international recognition in international conference UN Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro at the level of Heads of State and Government (1992). Scientists and politicians have come to the conclusion that overcoming the existing and growing social inequality on a global scale is a necessary prerequisite for changing the nature of the relationship between society and nature, for the transition of humanity to sustainable development as a special type of development of world civilization, which should ensure the preservation of conditions habitation of human society and their further improvement. The ideas of sustainable global development are not new. According to the Russian sociologist V.K. Levashov, they can be found even in the works of the classics of Marxism.

The concept assumes the following directions of activity of the world community.

In the economic sphere: a reasonable combination of state, public and private property, contributing to economic efficiency and social development; demonopolization and free market competition; the production of food and industrial products in sufficient quantities to meet the basic needs of all the inhabitants of the planet; sustainable economic growth based on the integration of the demographic factor into economic strategies; eradication of poverty, fair and non-discriminatory distribution of benefits from economic growth.

In the social sphere: expanding access to knowledge, technology, education, medical care for all segments of the population; strengthening solidarity, social partnership and cooperation at all levels; strengthening the role of the family, community and civil society in achieving social peace and stability; caring for the elderly, sick and children; development of a public network of educational institutions.

In the field of information and culture development: avoidance of isolation, observance of religious and cultural pluralism; stimulation of the development of science and technology; wide dissemination of best practices through the media; promotion of information resources to a priority place over material and energy resources.

In the political sphere: wide participation of civil society in the development and implementation of decisions that determine the functioning and development prospects; public policy aimed at overcoming social and ethnic antagonism; ensuring the freedom and equality of all people before the law; a favorable and rational political and legal structure that guarantees the development of democracy.

In the field of international relations: the struggle for peace, the prevention of regional conflicts, the solution of emerging problems by political means; active assistance of the UN in peacekeeping activities; ensuring partnership of all countries on the basis of bilateral and multilateral cooperation; providing comprehensive assistance to underdeveloped countries.

In solving environmental problems: ensuring the co-evolution of society and nature; scientific and theoretical development and practical implementation of methods for the effective use natural resources; ensuring environmental safety of production and consumption; development alternative species obtaining energy and non-waste technologies; improvement of administrative and international legal methods of nature protection; constant concern for the conservation of species diversity of the biosphere; development of ecological culture of the population.

Unfortunately, many principles and plans for sustainable development remain declarations due to social inertia, lack of financial resources, boycott by developed capitalist countries. Industrial civilization, represented by transnational corporations and political institutions of developed countries, has created a social order that is characterized by a high degree social security and socio-political stability within the countries of the West, and at the same time resource exploitation of poor countries. The transition to sustainable development involves, for example, the forgiveness of most of the debt of developing countries, which today amounts to an astronomical amount of several trillion dollars.

Gallup conducted a survey of public opinion around the world to find out in what ways industrialized countries are ready to help developing countries embark on a path of sustainable development. The proposal on environmental education turned out to be the most acceptable. The second is the provision of technological assistance. Debt relief is in last place. Only Ireland and Norway strongly supported this measure.

Thus, globalization and awareness of the inevitability of the sustainable development of modern civilization are developing extremely contradictory. But there is no alternative to sustainable development. Either - awareness of the need to combine efforts to save the planet, and the transition to resource-saving technologies, birth control, equalization of social conditions for development, or - the destruction of mankind.

The twentieth century was characterized by a significant acceleration of sociocultural change. A gigantic shift has taken place in the “nature-society-man” system, where culture now plays an important role, understood as an intellectual, ideal, and artificially created material environment, which not only ensures the existence and comfort of a person in the world, but also creates a number of problems . Another important change in this system was the ever-increasing pressure of people and society on nature. For the 20th century The world's population has grown from 1.4 billion to 6 billion, while over the previous 19 centuries of our era it increased by 1.2 billion people. Serious changes are taking place in the social structure of the population of our planet. Currently, only 1 billion people (the so-called "golden billion") live in developed countries and fully enjoy the achievements of modern culture, and 5 billion people from developing countries suffering from hunger, disease, poor education, form a "global pole of poverty", opposing the "pole of prosperity" . Moreover, the trends in fertility and mortality make it possible to predict that by 2050-2100, when the world's population reaches 10 billion people. (Table 18) (and this, according to modern ideas, is the maximum number of people that our planet can feed), the population of the "pole of poverty" will reach 9 billion people, and the population of the "pole of well-being" will remain unchanged. At the same time, each person living in developed countries exerts 20 times more pressure on nature than a person from developing countries.

World population (million people)

Source: Yatsenko I. E. Explanatory dictionary of "social science" terms. St. Petersburg, 1999. P. 520.

Sociologists associate the globalization of social and cultural processes and the emergence of world problems with the presence of limits to the development of the world community.

Sociologists-globalists believe that the limits of the world are determined by the very finiteness and fragility of nature. These limits are called external (Table 19).

For the first time, the problem of external limits to growth was raised in a report to the Club of Rome (a non-governmental international organization created in 1968) "Limits to Growth", prepared by the leadership of D. Meadows.

The authors of the report, using a computer model of global changes for calculations, came to the conclusion that the unlimited growth of the economy and the pollution caused by it by the middle of the 21st century. lead to economic disaster. To avoid it, the concept of "global balance" with nature was proposed with a constant population and "zero" industrial growth.

According to other sociologists-globalists (E. Laszlo, J. Bierman), the limiters of the economy and the socio-cultural development of mankind are not external, but internal limits, the so-called socio-psychological limits, which manifest themselves in the subjective activity of people (see Table 19) .

The limits of human development

Table 19

Supporters of the concept of internal limits to growth believe that the solution to global problems lies in the ways of increasing the responsibility of politicians who make important decisions, and improving social forecasting. The most reliable tool for solving global problems, according to

E. Toffler, one should consider the knowledge and ability to withstand the ever-increasing pace of social change, as well as the delegation of resources and responsibility to those floors, levels where the relevant problems are solved. Of great importance is the formation and dissemination of new universal values ​​and norms, such as the security of people and societies, of all mankind; freedom of activity of people both within the state and outside it; responsibility for the conservation of nature; availability of information; respect for public opinion by the authorities; humanization of relations between people, etc.

Global problems can be solved only by the joint efforts of state and public, regional and world organizations. All world problems can be differentiated into three categories (Table 20).

The most dangerous challenge to mankind in the XX century. there were wars. Only two world wars, which lasted more than 10 years in total, claimed about 80 million human lives and caused material damage of more than 4 trillion 360 billion dollars (Table 21).

Global problems

Table 20

Table 21

The most important indicators of the First and Second World Wars

Since the Second World War there have been about 500 armed conflicts. More than 36 million people died in local battles, most of them were civilians.

And in just 55 centuries (5.5 thousand years), humanity has survived 15 thousand wars (so that people lived in peace for no more than 300 years). More than 3.6 billion people died in these wars. Moreover, with the development of weapons in combat clashes, an increasing number of people (including civilians) died. Losses especially increased with the beginning of the use of gunpowder (Table 22).

Table 22

Nevertheless, the arms race continues to this day. Only after the Second World War, military spending (for 1945-1990) amounted to more than 20 trillion dollars. Today, military spending is more than $800 billion a year, that is, $2 million per minute. More than 60 million people serve or work in the armed forces of all states. 400 thousand scientists are engaged in the improvement and development of new weapons - these studies absorb 40% of all R & D funds, or 10% of all human costs.

Currently, the environmental problem comes first, which includes such unresolved issues as:

• ? land desertification. Currently, deserts occupy about 9 million square meters. km. Every year, deserts "capture" more than 6 million hectares of land developed by man. A total of 30 million sq. km of inhabited territory, which is 20% of all land;
• ? deforestation. Over the past 500 years, 2/3 of forests have been cleared by man, and 3/4 of forests have been destroyed in the entire history of mankind. Every year, 11 million hectares of forest land disappear from the face of our planet;
• ? pollution of reservoirs, rivers, seas and oceans;
• ? "Greenhouse effect;
• ? ozone holes.

As a result of the combined effect of all these factors, the productivity of land biomass has already decreased by 20%, and some animal species have become extinct. Mankind is forced to take measures to protect nature. Other global problems are no less acute.

Do they have solutions? The solution to these acute problems of the modern "world" can lie on the paths of scientific and technological progress, socio-political reforms and changes in the relationship between man and the environment (Table 23).

Table 23

Ways to solve global problems

Scientists under the auspices of the Club of Rome are engaged in the search for a conceptual solution to global problems. In second report(1974) of this non-governmental organization (“Humanity at the Crossroads”, authors M. Mesarevich and E. Pestel) talked about the “organic growth” of the world economy and culture as a single organism, where each part plays its role and enjoys that share of common goods, which correspond to its role and ensure the further development of this part in the interests of the whole.

In 1977 was published third report Club of Rome under the title "International Order Revisited". Its author J. Tinbergen saw a way out in the creation of global institutions that would control global socio-cultural and economic processes. According to the scientist, it is necessary to create a world treasury, a world food administration, a world administration for technological development and other institutions that would resemble ministries in their functions; on a conceptual level, such a system presupposes the existence of a world government.

In the subsequent works of the French globalists M. Guernier "The Third World: Three Quarters of the World" (1980), B. Granotier "For a World Government" (1984) and others, the idea of ​​a global center governing the world was further developed.

A more radical position in relation to global governance is taken by the international public movement of mondialists (International Registration of World Citizens, IRWC), which was created in 1949 and advocates the creation of a world state.

In 1989, the report of the UN International Commission on Environment and Development chaired by G. H. Brundtland "Our Common Future" created the concept of "sustainable development", which "satisfies the needs of the present, but does not jeopardize the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

In the 1990s the idea of ​​a world government is giving way to projects of global cooperation among states with the vital role of the UN. This concept was formulated in the report of the Commission on Global Governance and Cooperation of the United Nations "Our Global Neighborhood" (1996).

Nowadays, the concept of “global civil society” is gaining more and more importance. It means all the people of the Earth who share universal human values, who actively solve global problems, especially where national governments are not capable of doing this.

Federal Agency for Education

State educational institution

Supreme vocational education

Tula State University

Department of Sociology and Political Science

Test on the topic of:

"Globalization of social processes in the modern world"

Completed: stud. gr.631871

Golubtsova T.N.

Checked by: Makhrin A.V.

Introduction

1. The emergence of globalization

2. Society and processes of globalization

3. Manifestations of globalization

4. Challenges and threats posed by globalization

5. Globalization: challenges for Russia

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

On present stage development of mankind, a single civilization is formed on the entire planet. The rooting of this idea in science and public consciousness contributed to the awareness of the globalization of processes in the modern world.

What is globalization? Globalization is a process of worldwide economic, political, social and cultural integration and unification. The main consequence of this is the global division of labor, global migration of capital, human and production resources, standardization of legislation, economic and technological processes, as well as convergence of cultures of different countries. This is an objective process that is systemic in nature, that is, it covers all spheres of society.

However, the globalization of processes is not only their ubiquity, not only that they cover the entire globe. Globalization is connected, first of all, with the internationalization of all social activities on Earth. This internationalization means that in the modern era all mankind is included in a single system of social, cultural, economic, political and other connections, interactions and relations.

Nevertheless, the globalization of social, cultural, economic and political processes in the modern world, along with the positive aspects, has given rise to a number of serious problems that are called "global problems of our time": environmental, demographic, political, etc. All these problems are very important for the present and future of mankind, the possibilities and prospects for the survival of mankind.

1. The emergence of globalization

The process of globalization is far from new. We can trace some beginnings of globalization already in the Age of Antiquity. In particular, the Roman Empire was one of the first states that asserted its dominance over the Mediterranean and led to a deep interweaving of different cultures and the emergence of a local division of labor in the regions of the Mediterranean.

The origins of globalization lie in the 16th and 17th centuries, when strong economic growth in Europe was combined with advances in navigation and geographical discoveries. As a result, Portuguese and Spanish traders spread throughout the world and began to colonize the Americas. In the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company, which traded with many Asian countries, became the first genuine multinational company. In the 19th century, rapid industrialization led to increased trade and investment between the European powers, their colonies, and the United States. During this period, unfair trade with developing countries had the character of imperialist exploitation. In the first half of the 20th century, globalization processes were interrupted by two world wars and a period of economic recession that separated them.

After 1945, two important processes unfolded simultaneously in the world economy. On the one hand, due to mutual investments and the mutual exchange of technologies, the introduction of organizational innovations, the developed countries began to converge in terms of technical and economic, as well as socio-structural and political indicators. On the other hand, the collapse of colonial empires, the conscious choice in favor of modernization, the spread of "flexible" methods of managing social processes were important prerequisites for a qualitatively new stage of globalization. This was also facilitated by the improvement of transport and means of communication: contacts between peoples, regions and continents were accelerated, consolidated and simplified.

2. Society and processes of globalization

In the 1990s the concept of globalization has become an essential element of the international political process. It is understood as a gradual transformation of the world space into a single zone, where capitals, goods, services, new ideas move freely, modern institutions and mechanisms of their interaction develop. Globalization can be viewed as integration at the macro level, that is, as the convergence of countries in all areas: economic, political, social, cultural, technological, etc.

Globalization has both positive and negative features that affect the development of the world community. The positive ones include the rejection of the obedient subordination of the economy political beginning, a decisive choice in favor of a competitive (market) model of the economy, the recognition of the capitalist model as an "optimal" socio-economic system. All this, at least theoretically, made the world more homogeneous and allowed us to hope that the relative uniformity of the social structure would help eliminate poverty and poverty, and smooth out economic inequality in the world space.

The collapse of the USSR to some extent confirmed the thesis about the unidirectional historical process. It was in the early 1990s. many followers of the idea of ​​global liberalization appeared in the West. Its authors believe that globalization is one of the forms of the neoliberal development model that directly or indirectly affects the internal and foreign policy all countries of the world community.

In their opinion, such a model of development may turn out to be "the end point of the ideological evolution of mankind", "the final form of human government, and as such represents the end of history." Preachers of such a course of development believe that "the ideal of liberal democracy cannot be improved," and humanity will develop along this only possible path.

Representatives of this trend in political science and sociology believe that modern technologies allow unlimited accumulation of wealth and satisfy ever-growing human needs. And this should lead to the homogenization of all societies, regardless of their historical past and cultural heritage. All countries that carry out economic modernization on the basis of liberal values ​​will become more and more like each other, drawing closer with the help of the world market and the spread of a universal consumer culture.

This theory has some practical evidence. The development of computerization, fiber optics, the improvement of the communication system, including satellite, allows humanity to move towards an open society with a liberal economy.

However, the idea of ​​the world as a homogeneous socio-economic space, driven by a single motivation and regulated by "universal values", is largely simplified. Politicians and scientists in developing countries have serious doubts about the Western model of development. In their opinion, neoliberalism leads to a growing polarization of poverty and wealth, to environmental degradation, to the fact that rich countries are gaining more and more control over the world's resources.

Inequality in the development of various countries can be traced in all spheres, primarily in the economic sphere. Thus, one of the first results of globalization was the integration of markets. However, the share of rich countries at the end of the 20th century accounted for 82% of export trade, and the share of the poorest - 1%.

Global inequalities are also evident in the distribution of foreign direct investment: 58% of these investments were placed in industrialized countries, 37% in developing countries and 5% in the transition economies of Eastern Europe and the CIS.

The United States and Japan are achieving 90% of GDP growth through the introduction of modern scientific and technological advances, and in terms of its production per capita, they have no equal. In Russia, this figure is only 15% of the US level, 33% below the world average and provides our country with only 114th place in the world.

Thus, globalization in its current form is in the interests of rich industrialized countries that are leading the way in advancing the latest technologies to the world market, and divides countries into those that use its opportunities for their development, and those that are deprived of it.

In the social sphere, globalization involves the creation of a society that should be based on respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, on the principle social justice. However, the number of people living in poverty around the world at the end of the 20th century was more than 1 billion people, more than 800 million (30% of the active population) were unemployed or underemployed. Over the past 15 years, per capita income has declined in more than 100 countries around the world, according to the World Bank and the United Nations. Until now, half of the world's 6 billion people live on less than $2 a day; 1.3 billion on less than $1 a day, including 150 million citizens of the former Soviet Union; 2 billion people are deprived of sources of electricity; nearly 1.5 billion lack access to safe, clean water; 1 out of 7 school age children does not go to school. More than 1.2 billion people in developing countries do not have the basic conditions that would enable them to live beyond 40 years.

Developing countries (India, China) and countries with economies in transition (Russia) do not have the opportunity to achieve the level of material well-being of rich countries. The neoliberal model of development does not allow even the basic needs of the vast masses of the population to be met.

The growing socio-economic and cultural gap between the upper and lower strata of the world community becomes even more evident when comparing the incomes of individual the richest people planets with the income of entire countries. The combined wealth of the 200 richest people on Earth in 1998 exceeded the combined income of 41% of the world's population. Only three super-rich people in the world own more than their annual income

3. Manifestations of globalization

In the political sphere:

1) the emergence of supranational units of various scales: political and military blocs (NATO), imperial spheres of influence (US sphere of influence), coalitions of ruling groups (the "Big Seven"), continental or regional associations (European Community), world international organizations (UN) ;

2) the emergence of the contours of the future world government (European Parliament, Interpol);

3) the growing political homogeneity of the world community (democratization of social and political life).

In the economic sphere:

1) strengthening the importance of supranational coordination and integration (EU, OPEC), regional and global economic agreements;

2) global division of labor;

3) the growing role of multinational and transnational corporations (TNCs) (Nissan, Toyota, Pepsi-Cola);

4) the formation of a universal, unified economic mechanism covering the whole world;

5) lightning speed with which financial markets react to events in individual countries.

In the field of culture:

1) the transformation of the planet into a “global village” (M. McLuhan), when millions of people, thanks to funds mass media almost instantly become witnesses of events taking place in different corners globe;

2) involvement of people living in different countries and on different continents, to the same cultural experience (Olympiads, rock concerts);

3) unification of tastes, perceptions, preferences (Coca-Cola, jeans, soap operas);

4) direct acquaintance with the way of life, customs, norms of behavior in other countries (through tourism, work abroad, migration);

5) the emergence of the language of international communication - English;

6) widespread distribution of unified computer technologies, the Internet;

7) "erosion" of local cultural traditions, their replacement by mass consumer culture of the Western type

4. Challenges and threats posed by globalization

It should be noted that in Lately In globalization, economic aspects are becoming increasingly important. Therefore, some researchers, speaking of globalization, have in mind only its economic side. In principle, this is a one-sided view of a complex phenomenon. At the same time, an analysis of the process of development of global economic ties makes it possible to identify some features of globalization as a whole.

Globalization has also affected the social sphere, although the intensity of these processes largely depends on the economic capabilities of the integrated components. Social rights, previously available to the population of only developed countries, are gradually being adopted for their citizens by developing countries. In an increasing number of countries, civil societies, a middle class are emerging, and social norms for the quality of life are being unified to some extent.

A very noticeable phenomenon over the past 100 years has been the globalization of culture based on the enormous growth of cultural exchange between countries, the development of the mass culture industry, the leveling of the tastes and predilections of the public. This process is accompanied by erasure national characteristics literature and art, the integration of elements of national cultures into the emerging universal cultural sphere. The globalization of culture was also a reflection of the cosmopolitanization of being, linguistic assimilation, and the spread of in English as a global means of communication and other processes.

Like any complex phenomenon, globalization has both positive and negative effects. negative sides. Its consequences are associated with obvious successes: the integration of the world economy contributes to the intensification and growth of production, the mastering of technical achievements by backward countries, the improvement of the economic condition of developing countries, and so on. Political integration helps prevent military conflicts, ensure relative stability in the world, and do many other things in the interests of international security. Globalization in the social sphere stimulates huge shifts in the minds of people, the spread of democratic principles of human rights and freedoms. The list of achievements of globalization covers various interests from a personal nature to the world community.

However, there are also a large number negative consequences. They manifested themselves in the form of the so-called global problems of mankind.

Global problems are understood as universal difficulties and contradictions in the relationship between nature and man, society, the state, the world community, having a planetary scale in scope, strength and intensity. These problems partially existed in an implicit form earlier, but mainly arose at the present stage as a result of the negative course of human activity, natural processes and, to a large extent, as the consequences of globalization. In fact, global problems are not just the consequences of globalization, but the self-expression of this most complex phenomenon, which is not controlled in its main aspects.

The global problems of mankind or civilization were truly realized only in the second half of the 20th century, when the interdependence of countries and peoples, which caused globalization, increased sharply, and the unresolved problems manifested themselves especially clearly and destructively. In addition, the realization of some problems came only when mankind had accumulated a huge potential of knowledge that made these problems visible.

The presence of unresolved global problems characterizes the high risk of the existence of modern civilization, which took shape at the beginning of the 21st century.

Now global problems have attracted the attention of international organizations, states, public associations, scientists, ordinary citizens. In May 1998, the summit of the leaders of the "Big Eight" states paid special attention to this issue. The leaders of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, Russia, the United States, France and Japan at a meeting in Birmingham (UK) were looking for ways to solve global problems, which, as they said, "in many ways determine the lives of people in each of our countries."

Some researchers distinguish the most important from global problems - the so-called imperatives - urgent, immutable, unconditional requirements, in this case - the dictates of the times. In particular, they name the economic, demographic, environmental, military and technological imperatives, considering them to be the main ones, and most of the other problems are derived from them.

Currently, a large number of problems of a different nature are classified as global. It is difficult to classify them because of mutual influence and simultaneous belonging to several spheres of life. Sufficiently conditionally global problems can be divided into:

Natural character - natural disasters and changes in cyclicity natural phenomena;

Environmental - problems of the crisis of the natural environment due to anthropogenic impact, or rather, a whole range of problems associated with pollution of the land, hydrosphere and atmosphere, climate change, depletion of the ozone layer of the atmosphere, deforestation, desertification, the disappearance of certain biological species, resulting in a violation of the biogeochemical a cycle leading to a possible ecological catastrophe;

Technogenic disasters (technogenic safety), which has a mixed socio-economic and technological character;

Global problems of mankind

Social character - the demographic imperative with its many components, the problems of interethnic confrontation, religious intolerance, education, healthcare, organized crime;

Socio-biological - problems of the emergence of new diseases, genetic safety, drug addiction;

Socio-political - problems of war and peace, disarmament, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, information security, terrorism;

Economic character - problems of stability of the world economy, depletion of non-renewable resources, energy, poverty, employment, food shortages;

Spiritual and moral sphere - the problems of the decline in the general level of culture of the population, the spread of the cult of violence and pornography, the lack of demand for high examples of art, the lack of harmony in relations between generations, and many others.

From the above classification it is clear that it is indeed conditional in many respects. After all, poverty and employment are not only economic, but also social problems, and the given socio-political and socio-biological problems are dual and require the same dual designation for their groups.

The same can be said about the problem of man-made disasters. It is directly related to the issues of design, production, operation in industry, energy, transport and agriculture. On the other hand, this problem has a significant economic component due to damage, restoration costs and lost profits. And, finally, its character is largely due to severe social and environmental impact every disaster.

A characteristic feature of the state of affairs with global problems is the growth of their number, the aggravation or manifestation of new, quite recently unknown threats. Among the relatively new problems can be named: global climate change, the AIDS epidemic, etc.

Recently, in connection with the growing danger of major industrial accidents at potentially hazardous facilities (nuclear power plants, chemical plants, dams, etc.), the already mentioned problem of technogenic safety is beginning to be recognized as a global one. It can be attributed, due to its diversity, to various groups of global problems (for example, economic or environmental) or singled out as an independent problem.

The listed global problems demonstrate the widest range threats faced by humanity at the turn of the century paint an alarming picture. The unresolved nature of these problems gives rise to dangers that pose serious threats to civilization, which can manifest themselves in various areas of human life, corresponding to the nature of the progenitor problems. Knowing the nature of these threats allows us to take preventive measures to reduce the potential danger of global problems and prevent possible emergencies caused by them.

The bulk of global problems currently do not find their solutions. This is primarily due to the natural and severe limitation of earthly resources, their fatal finiteness. In addition, a radical solution to global problems cannot be found because of their colossal complexity, huge scale and the lack of necessary resources and political will in individual countries and the world community as a whole; because of the opportunistic burning needs of the current life, distracting from more distant prospects; due to contradictions between countries and inequality between them.

Mankind is looking for ways out of the global crisis. The main existing approach approved by the world community is sustainable development. Its main idea is optimal self-restraint, fair and equitable distribution of resources, stopping the unlimited growth of consumption, and ensuring environmental safety. However, like any “beautiful” idea, it is very difficult to implement it in a competitive world.

5. Globalization: challenges for Russia

There are supporters and opponents of globalization in Russia as well. At the same time, the former, as a rule, share the ideas of neoliberalism, while the latter gravitate towards the notorious “soilers”. Unfortunately, very often the arguments of both of them are inherently speculative. Thus, the processes of globalization are sometimes identified with our future accession (non-entry) to the WTO, while it represents only one of the numerous institutional structures of globalization.

The process of globalization should be restrained by legally established social constraints, the need for the formation of which is the first of the most tangible challenges that globalization "addresses" Russia. The fact is that a significant part of the country's population still remembers the social paternalism of a planned economy. Unfortunately, in today's market economy, the number of jobs that are effective in terms of wages, occupying which you can not think about the social guarantees provided by the state, is not enough. For the majority of workers, especially in the public sector, their size and composition are still important.

The way out is seen in the formation of a regulatory and legal framework in the country that would anticipate the social consequences of globalization and orient the power structures towards making decisions that take these consequences into account. In addition, it is necessary to convince the world community of the need to create such a base at the global level.

The second challenge to Russia's globalization is the changing prospects for its labor market. According to a number of specialists and managers, the immediate consequence of globalization will be a simple restructuring of jobs, when the departure of those that today produce products that are not competitive by world standards will be combined with the emergence of new ones - in the non-material sphere; they will be used to meet the solvent demand of workers employed in newly created efficient jobs in the real sector of the economy. Modern employment trends seem to confirm that restructuring in the country has begun. Thus, in 1990, 55.5% of all employees worked in industry, construction, agriculture and forestry, in 2000 - 43.6%; at the same time, the share of employees in the wholesale and retail, public catering, health care, physical culture and social security, education, culture and art, science and scientific services, management, finance, lending and insurance increased from 29.1 to 40.1%, respectively. Nevertheless, one should not forget about the overall reduction in the number of people employed in the country's economy: if in 1990, on average, 75.3 million people worked, then in 2000 - 64.3 million, or 15% less. In other words, the departure of jobs in stagnating industries is not compensated by their entry into dynamically developing ones: if in 1990-2000. the number of employed in industry as a whole decreased by 8.3 million people, while in wholesale and retail trade and public catering it increased by only 3.6 million people.

It is important to give a detailed forecast of the exit and entry of jobs in Russia in relation to different scales of globalization processes. Knowing the quantitative results, it will be possible to assess the budgetary consequences of the expected changes in the labor market of the country and its individual regions. We are talking about the calculation of the need for financial resources for the payment of unemployment benefits, active employment promotion programs, vocational training and retraining of workers.

Accordingly, changes in the amount of necessary social support for the population can be predicted. Most likely, the economic benefits of globalization will go to the citizens most adapted to the current socio-economic situation. At the same time, data on the distribution of incomes of the population indicate the inevitability of protecting the poor in Russia in the context of globalization. Thus, in the first quarter of 2002, the ratio between the total amount of monetary income received by the top 20% of the population, on the one hand, and the bottom 20%, on the other hand, was 8.3:1. globalization would be shortsighted.

It is also possible to restructure workers and households according to their income level. Some will lose their usual income from employment and will need support from budgetary funds, i.e. in poverty benefits; others, as a result of the growth of income from employment, will cease to be clients of the authorities social protection. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that with spontaneous globalization, the incomes of the rich will increase, while the poor will become even poorer.

Among the challenges of globalization is the possible loss by states and their populations of national sovereignty, the independence of governments, and falling into complete economic dependence on TNCs. This is perhaps one of the most frequently exploited slogans by anti-globalists. The answer to this challenge, in contrast to those considered above, is ambiguous. It all depends on what coordinate system it is analyzed in. The absolute priority of the traditional (conservative) system is political and, to a lesser extent, economic independence of the country; and globalization, which objectively limits it, is perceived negatively.

However, if a country accepts globalization without imposing a legislative ban on the processes associated with it, then it will be impossible to preserve all national attributes without exception. In this regard, it is important to determine a set of criteria that are crucial for maintaining Russia's self-sufficiency, on the one hand, and those elements of the economy and the social sphere that can be abandoned without harming it, on the other.

Conclusion

The processes of globalization are an indisputable fact that is changing the face of the modern world. They open up new perspectives, but also pose serious dangers. This is rightly noted by S.M. Rogov: “There is no doubt that globalization opens up enormous opportunities for mankind associated with the rapid expansion of the exchange of goods, services and information and the emergence of a fundamentally wider field of interaction between people than before. However, it should also be borne in mind that globalization gives rise to new socio-economic phenomena that may be negative in nature or require painful adaptation of society to them by changing social institutions, culture, consciousness and stereotypes of economic behavior.

In fact, a global market has been formed information technologies, which ensures the free movement of computer and telecommunications equipment, services, information. All countries benefit from this. But at the same time, several gigantic super-multinational corporations located in developed countries are able to control this market, extract fabulous profits, impose on other countries and civilizations not only their goods and services, but also their worldview, views in the undeniable advantage of Western civilization and its value system, which should serve as a role model. This is the ideological basis for the formation of a unipolar world.

Globalization synchronizes the cyclical dynamics of different countries and civilizations, contributes to the rapid spread of financial, economic, environmental, socio-political crises across the planet, determines the need to combine the efforts of governments of different countries and interstate associations in the search and implementation of ways to overcome crises. The space of the planet is becoming more and more integral, permeated with tens and hundreds of global networks and interconnections, which requires the world community to develop and comply with a common agreed, mutually acceptable strategy that makes the benefits of globalization available to all.

Consequently, the processes of globalization in all their contradictory guises are the reality of the modern world, which must be reckoned with. They form an inevitable, objectively and subjectively determined, contradictory factor in the formation of a post-industrial society, a world civilization of the 21st century.

Literature

1. Textbook "Sociology" 2003 (http://vor-stu.narod.ru/posob-2.html).

4. Yakovets Yu.V. Globalization and interaction of civilizations. - M., 2001.

The twentieth century was characterized by a significant acceleration of sociocultural change. A gigantic shift has taken place in the “nature-society-man” system, where culture now plays an important role, understood as an intellectual, ideal, and artificially created material environment, which not only ensures the existence and comfort of a person in the world, but also creates a number of problems . Another important change in this system was the ever-increasing pressure of people and society on nature. For the 20th century The world's population has grown from 1.4 billion to 6 billion, while over the previous 19 centuries of our era it increased by 1.2 billion people. Serious changes are taking place in the social structure of the population of our planet. Currently, only 1 billion people (the so-called "golden billion") live in developed countries and fully enjoy the achievements of modern culture, and 5 billion people from developing countries suffering from hunger, disease, poor education, form a "global pole of poverty", opposing the "pole of prosperity" . Moreover, the trends in fertility and mortality make it possible to predict that by 2050-2100, when the population of the Earth reaches 10 billion people. (Table 18) (and according to modern concepts, this is the maximum number of people that our planet can feed), the population of the "pole of poverty" will reach 9 billion people, and the population of the "pole of well-being" will remain unchanged. At the same time, each person living in developed countries exerts 20 times more pressure on nature than a person from developing countries.

Table 18

World population (million people)

Source: Yatsenko N. E. Explanatory dictionary of social science terms. SPb., 1999. S. 520.

Sociologists associate the globalization of social and cultural processes and the emergence of world problems with the presence of limits to the development of the world community.

Sociologists-globalists believe that the limits of the world are determined by the very finiteness and fragility of nature. These limits are called external (Table 19).

For the first time, the problem of external limits to growth was raised in a report to the Club of Rome (a non-governmental international organization established in 1968) "Limits to Growth", prepared under the leadership of D. Meadows.

The authors of the report, using a computer model of global changes for calculations, came to the conclusion that the unlimited growth of the economy and the pollution caused by it by the middle of the 21st century. lead to economic disaster. To avoid it, the concept of "global balance" with nature was proposed with a constant population and "zero" industrial growth.

According to other globalist sociologists (E. Laszlo, J. Bierman), the economic and socio-cultural development of mankind is limited not by external, but by internal limits, the so-called socio-psychological limits, which manifest themselves in the subjective activity of people (see Table 19).

Table 19 Limits of human development

Supporters of the concept of internal limits to growth believe that the solution to global problems lies in the ways of increasing the responsibility of politicians who make important decisions, and improving social forecasting. The most reliable tool for solving global problems, according to E. Toffler, should be considered the knowledge and ability to withstand the ever-increasing pace of social change, as well as the delegation of resources and responsibility to those floors, levels where the relevant problems are solved. Of great importance is the formation and dissemination of new universal values ​​and norms, such as the security of people and societies, of all mankind; freedom of activity of people both within the state and outside it; responsibility for the conservation of nature; availability of information; respect for public opinion by the authorities; humanization of relations between people, etc.

Global problems can be solved only by the joint efforts of state and public, regional and world organizations. All world problems can be differentiated into three categories (Table 20).

The most dangerous challenge to mankind in the XX century. there were wars. Only two world wars, which lasted more than 10 years in total, claimed about 80 million human lives and caused material damage of more than 4 trillion 360 billion dollars (Table 21).

Table 20

Global problems

Table 21

The most important indicators of the First and Second World Wars

Since the Second World War there have been about 500 armed conflicts. More than 36 million people died in local battles, most of them were civilians.

And in just 55 centuries (5.5 thousand years), mankind has survived 15 thousand wars (so that people lived in peace for no more than 300 years). More than 3.6 billion people died in these wars. Moreover, with the development of weapons in combat clashes, an increasing number of people (including civilians) died. Losses especially increased with the beginning of the use of gunpowder (Table 22).

Table 22

Nevertheless, the arms race continues to this day. Only after the Second World War, military spending (for 1945-1990) amounted to more than 20 trillion dollars. Today, military spending is more than $800 billion a year, that is, $2 million per minute. More than 60 million people serve or work in the armed forces of all states. 400 thousand scientists are engaged in the improvement and development of new weapons - this research absorbs 40% of all R & D funds, or 10% of all human expenditure.

Currently, the environmental problem comes first, which includes such unresolved issues as:

land desertification. Currently, deserts occupy about 9 million square meters. km. Every year, deserts "capture" more than 6 million hectares of land developed by man. A total of 30 million sq. km of inhabited territory, which is 20% of all land;

deforestation. Over the past 500 years, 2/3 of forests have been cleared by man, and 3/4 of forests have been destroyed in the entire history of mankind. Every year, 11 million hectares of forest land disappear from the face of our planet;

pollution of reservoirs, rivers, seas and oceans;

"Greenhouse effect;

ozone holes.

As a result of the combined action of all these factors, the productivity of land biomass has already decreased by 20%, and some animal species have become extinct. Mankind is forced to take measures to protect nature. Other global problems are no less acute.

Do they have solutions? The solution to these acute problems of the modern world may lie on the paths of scientific and technological progress, socio-political reforms and changes in the relationship between man and the environment (Table 23).

Table 23 Ways to solve global problems

Scientists under the auspices of the Club of Rome are engaged in the search for a conceptual solution to global problems. The second report (1974) of this non-governmental organization (“Humanity at the Crossroads”, authors M. Mesarevich and E. Pestel) spoke of the “organic growth” of the world economy and culture as a single organism, where each part plays its role and uses that share of common goods, which correspond to its role and ensure the further development of this part in the interests of the whole.

In 1977, the third report to the Club of Rome was published under the title "International Order Revisited". Its author J. Tinbergen saw a way out in the creation of global institutions that would control global socio-cultural and economic processes. According to the scientist, it is necessary to create a world treasury, a world food administration, a world administration for technological development and other institutions that would resemble ministries in their functions; on a conceptual level, such a system presupposes the existence of a world government.

In the subsequent works of the French globalists M. Guernier "The Third World: Three Quarters of the World" (1980), B. Granotier "For a World Government" (1984) and others, the idea of ​​a global center governing the world was further developed.

A more radical position in relation to global governance is taken by the international public movement of mondialists (International Registration of World Citizens, IRWC), which was created in 1949 and advocates the creation of a world state.

In 1989, the report of the UN International Commission on Environment and Development chaired by G. H. Brundtland "Our Common Future" created the concept of "sustainable development", which "satisfies the needs of the present, but does not jeopardize the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

In the 1990s the idea of ​​a world government is giving way to projects of global cooperation among states with the vital role of the UN. This concept was formulated in the report of the Commission on Global Governance and Cooperation of the United Nations "Our Global Neighborhood" (1996).

Nowadays, the concept of “global civil society” is gaining more and more importance. It means all the people of the Earth who share universal human values, who actively solve global problems, especially where national governments are not capable of doing this.

Questions for self-control

List possible ways of development of society.

Name the main theories of progress.

Indicate the main, essential features of the Marxist view of the development of society.

What is a Formative Approach?

How does W. Rostow's approach differ from the Marxist one?

List the main stages of economic growth in the theory of W. Rostow.

Describe an industrial society.

What approaches exist in the theory of post-industrial society?

What are the signs of a post-industrial society (according to D. Bell)?

How has its social structure changed (according to D. Bell)?

List the features of Z. Brzezinski's technotronic society and compare them with the features of D. Bell's post-industrial culture.

How does O. Toffler's approach to the study of the "third wave" society differ from the approaches of his predecessors?

How do proponents of cyclical theories see social life?

What is a civilizational approach?

What is the essence of the theory of N. Ya. Danilevsky?

What is common and what is the difference between the theories of N. Ya. Danilevsky and O. Spengler?

What new things did A. Toynbee introduce into the theory of "cyclism"?

What are the main criteria for the development of society?

What criterion is used in their theories by N. Berdyaev and K. Jaspers?

What is the essence of the theory of "long waves" N. D. Kondratiev?

Compare the wave theories of N. Yakovlev and A. Yanov.

What are the criteria for fluctuations in social life in the theories of A. Schlesinger, N. McCloskey and D. Zahler?

What is the essence of P. Sorokin's concept of changing socio-cultural supersystems? How did R. Ingelhart supplement it?

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In the literature, one can come across discrepancies about the origin of the science of sociology. If we are talking about science, then the most accurate date of its foundation should be considered 1826, when Comte began to read public lectures in the course of positive philosophy. Most authors point to 1830 as the beginning of the publication of the “Course ...”, others consider (for example, A. Radugin and K. Radugin) the year of the birth of sociology in 1839, since then the 3rd volume of the “Course ...” was published, in which Kont first used biltermin "sociology".

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