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14Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences 1 (2008) 91-103
УДК 301
Some Aspects of the Universum Theory of Man's Socialization
Dmitri D. Nevirko*
Siberian Law Institute Rokossovski st., 20, Krasnoyarsk, 660131 Russia 1
Received 1.09.2007, received in revised form 1.12.2007, accepted 15.01.2008
The problem of man's socialization is a problem of tremendous importance at the present time. Although there is considerable research on its different aspects, there is no research based on the post-nonclassical approach which analyzes this phenomenon. This article sets forth the universum conception of a man and the bases of human socialization theory on the principal of the minimal universum. The universum itself is the development matrix of any material system.
The process of socialization is here considered to be the active self-identification of a personality with society in the unity of their natural, social and inner links and displays.
Keywords: human socialization, methodological principle of minimum universum, self-identification of personality, post-non-classical sociology.
The traditional sociology pays great attention to the problem of personality. As it is known there are dozens of definitions of the concept «personality» which greatly differ from one another. Even in the 1930s the American psychologist G.Allport numbered about fifty definitions of «personality» in different sciences. Nowadays they are much more in number. But the vast majority of sociologists are unanimous in one and the same thing: in general, «personality» can be defined as a combination of social or person's features, which reveal themselves in social activity.
However, we can't understand, study, and characterize a person using only the concept «personality». This concept is lack of physical
(natural), psychological and spiritual essence. And it's impossible to solve this problem only by the existing classical scientific approaches. That's why scientists try to study the problem of a person with the help of post-classical approaches and particularly with universum one.2
In accordance with its subject of research, universum sociology considers the problem of a person much broader and in a unity of not only social but natural and spiritual features, connections and elements.
A man is a being embodied the highest level of life development on the Earth and a subject of social-historical activity. As the subject and the product of labour activity in the society a man is a system where physical, psychological, genetically
* E-mail address: [email protected]
1 © Siberian Federal University. All rights reserved
2 Nemirovsky V. Sociology: classical and non-classical approaches to the analysis of social reality. / Nemirovsky V.G., Nevirko D.D., Grishayev S.V. - M., 2003.
caused and while living de-veloped, natural and social form the indissoluble unity.
Some typologies of a person are singled out in psychology. The most important of them are the following: «a person: ontogenesis»; «a person: orientation»; «a person: biotype» and «a person: complex ap-proach».1
At the end of the 20-th century new approaches to a person were formed. They were not restricted by the ideas of his/her biological es-sence. A person in this approaches is regarded as an integrity having multy-demension structure. The unanimous essence are revealed in the form of closely connected elements: cosmological, spiritual-moral, so-cial, psychological, biological and ecological. 2
The most important methodological approach to the analysis of development of personality in the universum paradigm is the principle of the minimum universum expressing the less number of characteris-tics which are necessary for the description of the developing material system.3 Briefly, its essence can be expressed the following way: two elements, three levels, five stages, and seven layers.
Let's examine the way this combination had appeared.
Any developing system should have at least two polar elements. Contradictions between these elements are the basis of the develop-ment of the system. It shows the famous dialectical law of unity and struggle of opposites. Any dialectical opposites are usually studied in the form of binary opposites, e.g. object - subject, man - woman, pro-ductive forces - relations of production and so on.
Any developing system in the process of its change forms mini-mum three hierarchical levels, three conditions where the law of nega-tion of
negation is realized. The latter is expressed in the dialectics through the triad « thesis - antithesis -synthesis». Similar triads are known to mankind: hard - liquid - gaseous, body - soul - spirit, youth
- maturity - old age and so on.
The hierarchical levels through which any material system passes during its development may be defined as substantial-energetic, functional
- organizing and informative. Such model coordinates with the ideas existing in the history of human culture.
Any developing system passes through minimum five stages: birth, formation, change, fading, disappearance. This approach has ancient roots (ancient Greece, ancient India, Japan, China). These ideas were mostly expressed in the conception «five phases of movement» - «U-sin» (China).
Thus, any material system has minimum two polar elements and in the process of its development it forms three hierarchical levels, passing five stages in each of them and it also includes seven layers. Taking into account the spiral character of the development it's possi-ble to say that owing to the contradictions between polar elements the development is carried out at every level from birth till disappearance. After that the process enters a new level.
The logical process of consecutive development of minimum universum conditions of developing system is presented in figure 1: 1 -disassembled protosystem; 2 - apportionment of polar elements; 3 - formation of three hierarchical levels; 4 - mutually superposition of elements and levels; 5 - passing through five stages; 6 - formation of seven levels; 7 - minimum universum: two elements, three levels, five conditions, seven layers.
1 Dictionary of practical psychologist by Golovin S.. - Mn., 1997.
2 Society - state - man. A book for reading / Grigoryev S. - Barnaul, 1999.
3 Nemirovsky V., Nevirko D. Theoretical Sociology: non traditional ap-proaches. - Krasnoyarsk, 1998.
7
Fig. 1. Scheme of logical process of consecutive development of minimum universum conditions in developing system
Thus, expressing the most common laws of the development of the matter, minimum universum principle presents itself matrix on the basis of which the process of development of any system is carried out. This matrix may be put on any society or any of its elements for the definition of their structure and dynamics.1
Let's consider some universum paradigma categories which are the basis in the man's socialization process.
Society is inalienable part of highly organized Universe connected with other elements. Social reality is the reflection of spiritual reality in which the sources of many events in social life lie. Society is a selfor-ganized system which evolves in accordance with common material regulations
expressed in the principle of minimum universum. Society appears in the form of a great number of social objects correlating with their environment. The latter represents a number of variants of behav-ior in the frame of which they have free choice. Making one's choice, subjects influence environment as well as other social elements.
In accordance with the minimum universum principle and based on the K. Jung and S. Grof works and modern national psychologists and esoteric M. Chsherbakov, E. Tsvetkov, A. Sviyash and others we can imagine the process of personality socialization in a new way.
Firstly, it's necessary to single out two main elements in the structure of personality: consciousness and unconsciousness. Accord-ing to
1 Nemirovsky V., Nevirko D. Theoretical Sociology: non traditional approaches. - Krasnoyarsk, 1998.
Fig. 2. The structure of consciousness
the minimum universum principle consciousness includes seven main layers (figure 2). Their names are different depending on the ap-proach which is realized by this or that authors as well as on the spe-cific character of esoteric science. One of the most acceptable scien-tific terminologies is the model created on the basis of the cluster the-ory of integration.1
The upper layer may be named as motivational or adaptive one - it is those part of consciousness which is responsible for behaviour, motivation and social adaptation. The deep layers - archetypical and transpersonal - contain inborn (innate) archetypes and they are inac-cessible for the consciousness in common conditions.
The layers of consciousness connected with prenatal and perina-tal information are between the upper and deep layers. Particularly, basic perinatal matrix in the S. Grof model may be regarded as layers in perinatal structure.
All layers except upper adaptive one are inaccessible for direct awareness by research. Methods for studying public opinion are di-rected exactly to the adaptive layer. Other deeper layers are beyond the sociological methods.
As for information contained in subsurface layers we may inter-act with it only in our dreams
or in changeable conditions of con-sciousness. As for deeper layers we may interact with its information only in specific conditions of deep meditation, clinic death or occur-ring before death.
The deepest layer - the level of universal unity - is the unified integral structure. It's important to note that the access to the deep layers of consciousness in common conditions is absent, they influ-ence the personality structure, surface adaptive layer and its social behaviour. The division of consciousness layers into surface and deep ones and the presence of energetic barrier between them are con-nected with peculiarities of brain's evolution: energetic barriers di-vides layers.
Havingbeen mentioned above the dependence of personality structure on the anatomic brain's structure allow to describe not only energetic barriers between structures, but to single out the elements which are connected with right and left hemispheres. As V. Nemi-rovsky says, brain are characterized by peculiar specialization: if left hemisphere carries out processing of information, choice of activity means and formulation of exact tasks in the frame of existing model then the tasks of right hemisphere are search for information, working out of new goals and models of activity.
Chsherbakov M. Seven Trips into the Structure of Consciousness. - M., 1998.
Moreover the work of left hemisphere relies on rational logical thinking but the right one - on senses and intuition. Psychologists name it as functional asymmetry rationalism, pragmatism, optimism, aspiration to self realization in the frame of existing social system - appear to be peculiarities of left hemisphere consciousness.
As for right hemisphere consciousness it is characterized by irra-tionalism, inclination to superstitions, search for alternative valuable guiding lines as well as pessimism.1
Taking into account B. Dodonov's idea of emotion's function not only of estimation but of a value V. Nemirovsky worked out the con-ception of emotional orientation of personality, which later had be-come one of the most important elements of universum sociology.
According to his conception the orientation of a personality is bipolar: from the one hand its objects are verbally expressed values, from the other hand - they are complexes of emotional feelings ex-periences. Such emotional experiences may be of different degree of intensity - from weak hesitation of mood till all consuming ecstasy. The stronger emotions are the happier a person feels himself. Such emotions even appearing not so often, give a person feeling of pun-gency of life, joy being (existence). V. Nemirovsky called it life emo-tional experiences full of meanings. Specific character of such emo-tional experiences depends on what need is in its basis.
In order to determine the essence of the socialization of person-ality we make use of M. Chsherbakov's idea that consciousness is closely connected with (self) identification,2 which is regarded by classical psychologists as «the process through which a subject has qualities and attributes of another person, and transforms
himself, completely or partially, into this image. The construction and isolation of personality is realized through self-identification»3.
In other words, personality, identifying himself/herself with some (large or small) social group or community, adopts its goals and values forming appropriate qualities which are approved by the people around and realizes himself/ herself as a member of a group or com-munity. In psychoanalysis we point out primary (self) identification, which is considered the first method of constructing a subject with the help of another image; projecting/ descriptive (self) identification pre-scribes that another person possesses some traits or even common likeness with the subject; (self) identification with the aggressor when the subject attributes himself/ herself to the act of aggression, imitat-ing a physical or moral image of the aggressor or borrowing some symbols of power.
The inner base and prerequisite of (self) identification of person-ality and social community is the mechanism of identification, which also includes the prerequisite for the forming of personal conscious-ness. Karl Marx believed that «to some extent a man is like goods. As he is born without a mirror in his hands and not a philosopher: «I am me», firstly the man looks at another man as if he looks into the mir-ror. When he treats a man Pavel as someone like he himself, a man Pe-ter begins to treat himself as a man»4.
From this statement we see (self) identification includes two dif-ferent elements. First of all it assumes the identification with another person (treating Pavel as someone like he himself). At the same time it is realized through imitating another person (a man Peter begins to treat himself as a man).
1 Nemirovsky V. The basis of theoretical Socialization. - Krasnoyarsk, 1994.
2 Chsherbakov M. Seven Trips into the Structure of Consciousness. - M., 1998.
3 Laplansh J., Pontalis J. Dictionary on Psychoanalysis. - M., 1996.
4 Bazhov N. Dialectics of Production and Consumption of Spiritual Values. - Sverdlovsk, 1979.
Here (self) identification begins with the subject imitating the object (himself to another one). It does not neglect another model of (self) identification: from the primary subject's imitation of the object (himself to another) and the following subject's approach to the object (another to himself).
(Self) identification of personality in society is carried out in various directions which reflect main spheres of expression man's na-ture: socio-professional, family/ clan, national/ territorial, religious/ ideological, sexual, evolutional and spiritual.
Proceeding from this definition and using the principle of mini-mum universum, let us point out the layers of social (self) identifica-tion connected with the structure of consciousness. They are socio-professional, family/ clan, national/ territorial, religious/ ideological, sexual, evolutional and spiritual.
The socio-professional layer implies person's belonging to vari-ous social groups, depending on status, welfare level, education, pro-fession and other aspects of socio-professional sphere.
The family-clan layer is characterized by its correlation with a primary social unit - a family, clan, tribe.
The national-territorial layer characterizes person's identifica-tion with various national and territorial communities.
The religious-ideological layer defines the attitude to a religious or ideological group and its system of values.
The evolutional layer defines correlation with archetypes and «evolutional memory».
The sexual layer of identification means belonging to one or an-other sex. This is one of the deepest layers. It should be mentioned that the definite aspect of the sexual layer of (self) identification is connected with family/clan layer.
The spiritual layer is connected with the system of values, com-ing from the personal spiritual experience and with the system of val-ues offered by a church, community or social group.
Nowadays the studies of (self) identification is one of the most current problems of our contemporary society, because of the crisis condition of the main sphere of its vital activity. According to the universum paradigm the phenomenon of (self) identification directly reflects the existence of egregor (nonmaterial formation which ap-pears from some person's psychic peculiarities of mankind above large communities such as tribes, states, parties and religious groups) which cooperate with a man for all his life. As a result during the cri-sis of identification some egregors appear and another disappear, and a man accepts them.1 This approach helps to develop the effective so-cial technologies
Fig. 3. The layers of social (self) identification
1 Nemirovsky V. The basis of theoretical Socialization. - Krasnoyarsk, 1994.
which can overcome the crisis of identification and provide one's appropriate socialization.
As D. Rediar writes: « ... an individual is only an abstract struc-ture, a formula, which must be filled with life, collective elements». The first stage of the man development (life process or a person) is born in the structure of the conscious «ego» again - the soul functions as a real organism. But before it was only a recollection of the monad as an ancient prototype and archetype. process is «appearance of life» - that is a clan energy of physiological nature. When psycho/ mental development begins and conscious «ego» confirms - «the light pene-trates into this abstract structure. The «light» is regarded here as the essence of civilization, the synthesis of the things that were created by the truly talented individuals of the humanity. With the help of this «light» a soul is created as a complete psycho mental individual or-ganism. But the most people have a potential soul with no life. Only when a monad (a life process or a person) is born in the structure of conscious ego again, the soul functions as a real organism.1
As we have already mentioned, in the universum paradigm so-cialization regarded as (self) identification of person with social environment in the unity of its natural, social and spiritual connections.
In order to show the mechanism changing the social sphere (pub-lic relations) into the inner structure of a person - we use the active approach.
The peculiarity of it is that the essence of a man is viewed through his/her vital activity. In such a context the most important is that a person's activity influences his/her coming-to-be (formation). Consequently, a person finds his/her particularly expression in activity and by activity.
Rediar D. Person's Astrology. - M., 1991.
The main thing of the mechanism lies in the process of materi-alization of an object through idea in public relations by a person and vice versa. Just here public relations penetrate into the inner structure of a person and - become an essential part of it. But the research of this mechanism is not easy, it requires supplementary theoretical instruments of analysis, which we'll try to review below.
No doubt, that the active approach, which we use to study a per-son, do not contradict to the principle of public relations analysis, it gives to it a concrete expression. Therefore in the 80-th of the XX century the efforts to contrast these two principles were failed. As for the present day the connection between a person's activity and public relations means an activity of historical subject which exists only in the definite concrete historical system of public relations and ex-presses their side. The public relations are a kind of activity exchange in the historical common forms; in this way the activity serves as their content. In their part the historical common forms contain the preva-lent base which defines methods, ways and means of the activity. Thus, public relations can be considered as a form and content of so-cial activity at once. At the same time the activity is an indispensable condition of preservation and recreation of public relations. It is their source and generator.
Those authors are right who think that the research of a person requires only the dialectic principle of inseparably linked social activ-ity and public relations. Taking into consideration the individual pecu-liarities of a person this approach can reveal his major sides. They can define a connection and a direct dependence on assimilated and real-ized public relations and also his main structural elements, taking place in the process of his activity.
Using this dialectic principle of inseparably linked social activ-ity and public relations we find the distinctive feature of the next approach analyzing the essence of a person and his structure.
The following principle is concretized and expressed in the no-tion: «the Personal Form of Public Relations» (PFPR). PFPR repre-sents personality's assimilated public relations and his/ her activity which produces and reproduces them.1 Other words, PFPR - are the relations where a person is an active, autonomous personality in the production process of material and spiritual conditions of his life. As a result PFPR includes the personality's activity as the content of public relations where he/she is their subject. Hence, in PFPR we have the dialectic correlation of public relations and person's activity. Within the process of such correlation a personality materializing object through the idea of his/her real powers creates them, taking away the object of social conditions of his/her being. It means that PFPR hides both the social mechanism of social influence on a personality and the mechanism of the activity
PR - DC - | - -
Here PR - a system of all the public relations in the given soci-ety which considered as the general determinants of his behavior.
DC - conditions of a person's activity in the whole, which con-tain more or less favorable opportunities of his vital activity. These relations are expressed in the forms of a person's intercourse and sub-jective relations. In practice the examples
concretizing the motives of social develop-ment on a personal level.
The personal relations are divided into two kinds: interpersonal relations or intercourse as «the influence of people by people and the relations which can be called subjective» (Karl Marx). The latter in-cludes a person who cooperates with people and the whole community with the help of social institutes and other results of human activity. The boundary between these two kinds of personal relations are condi-tional and inconstant. The relations of the concrete people turn out to be that particular social substance, in the movement of which the pro-duction and reproduction of public relations are realized on the per-sonal level.
The structure of PFPR shows the mechanism of a «swap» of pub-lic relations in the inner personal structure, where it is the process of correlation of public relations and a person through his/her active, purposeful activity. It can be presented with the help of the following row of the elements:
■S
J PR DR
^ He He
of this component are: per-son's social position in society, his social status and others.
The NEEDS regarded as an energetic base of his activity and therefore form the most important component of a person's structure and his activity.
We can add to the sociological research the empiric classifica-tions. So, we distinguish the following parameters: 1) a character of need
T
motivational field
Grishanin D., Lebedev B. To a question of a personal form of public relations // Personality and Society, Issue 5. - Kaliningrad, 1961.
depending on a person's orientation on one or another kind; 2) a form of activity (leading need); 3) a degree of satisfaction; 4) means of their satisfaction; 5) time of their realization and others;
One of the essential elements of sociological structure is con-sciousness including subjective/ psychological and ideological sides of person's activity. The major qualities of the consciousness are feelings, emotions, interests, opinions and knowledge, ideological purposes, val-ues which as the case can stimulate a person's behaviour. In that way in the sphere of PFPR we find aims and interests of a person on the one hand and the different elements of motivational field: aims, values on the other hand.
The result of a person's activity lies in the created PR which sometimes serve as a condition and means of DC of personal activity. In such a way the cycle continues again: to see an opportunity of changes in public relations; feel it as one's own need; realize it as an interest and an aim, reach as an result - that is the mechanism of PFPR (fig. 4).
As for the stages in the process of socialization, originally this problem was being learnt by the psychoanalytic theories. In the system of psychoanalysis socialization is considered as a process chronologi-cally coinciding the period of infancy. So, Z. Freud singles out four stages of socialization; each of them connected with the definite ero-genic zone: oral, anal, phallic and the stage of puberty. E. Erikson as a supporter of freudism, distinguishes eight stages of personality forma-tion: infancy, early childhood, playing age, school age, juvenile age, youth, middle age and maturity. Especially E.Ericsson differentiates the early childhood period of socialization.
The distinctive feature of Russian social psychology is social experience within labor
activity. According to this the stages are: pre-labor, labor, post-labor.
However, we think that the first stage of socialization (pre-labor) has some differences and peculiarities, it may be divided into three other stages: 1) the stage of primary socialization: from a birth to a school admission; 2) the stage of school education: from a school ad-mission to leaving a school; 3) the stage of professional education. No doubt, that this division is relative, the boundaries of the stages are individual for each person.
In our opinion the process of socialization is divided into 5 stages:
• primary socialization;
• school education;
• professional education;
• social maturity;
• final stage of life cycle.1
The formation of social person's qualities, development of his life potential in society are realized in his production/economic, spiri-tual/ cultural, social powers as an ability to produce and improve his/her economic/social/ political, spiritual/cultural life. The given process takes place within the bounds of different social institutes. These insti-tutes are the historical common forms of joint person's activity.
In figures 5 an 6 we'll see the scheme and model of person's sociali-zation, where the basic principle is the principle of the minimum univer-sum, like a matrix realizing the process of development of any system.
In conclusion we must take on account that the peculiarity of the universum approach is the integrity of person's socialization process.
Thus according to the main definitions of the universum para-digm and the active approach, socialization of personality can defined as an active (self) identification of a person with social environment in the unity of its natural, social,
1 Nevirko D. Peculiarities of person's socialization in authority institutions in Russia of 90-th. - Krasnoyarsk, 1999.
PFPR
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~ CS S O
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Public C 05 "S 05 I
g g .0
Relations - - ^ - ^ - - - | - Public Relations
™ "ir I " s I
s
u 01
R « ©
S s
R H
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to
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Subjective structure of personality
Fig. 4. The Mechanisms of PFPR. The Dynamic structure of personality
Fig. 5. Thje scheme of person's socialization on the base of the minimum universum principle
Fig. 6. The model of man's socialization on the base of the minimum universum principle
spiritual connections and elements which show the logical process of the development of:
• two elements: consciousness and unconscious;
• three levels: physical body, astral body (soul, emotional sphere) and mental body (spirit, thinking);
five stages: primary socialization, school education, profes-sional education, social maturity, final stage if life cycle; seven layers of (self) identification: socio/professional, fam-ily/clan, national/ territorial, religious/ideological, evolutional, sexual, spiritual.
