аааааааааааа General theory of social organization asа
ааааааааааааааааа foundation of the modern theory of society

ааааааааааааааааааа (paper prepared for the 5 th European conference
аааааааааааааааааааааааа of sociology,Helsinki,August 2001)

Ladies and gentlemen.
As you all know,sociology is the sience about society. Kont,Spencer, Durkheim, Sorokin,Parsons examined society as whole social system and they believed, that their followers will continue the system (holos) approach.
ааа However,looking through proceedings of this and previous conferenses,Iа have not looked for any paper,where society examined as integral social unit.
Many colleagues,probably,are thinking,that by studing individual institutes and fragmentsа of society,they are learning society as a wholeness so much the better.
ThatТs right but only if somebody analysis separate knoweledges and compose of them general pattern (model) of society.
ааа In short,I call up to deal with not only separate institutions and fragments of society but society as a wholeness.
аа In accordance with that,I would like to pay your attention to the theory,that can be use as the basis of the modern theory of society as I think.
аа Gentral theory of social organization (GTSO) Ц is the new scientific stream in Russian sociology,calling to integrate knowleledges social siences for studying social organizations,their designing and improving.
аа We understand a social organization as a relatively stable and integral sosial unit which manifests reasonable behaviour like a live organism.In this definition reasonable behaviour means ability of organizations to adequately respond on challenges, orа ability to revealа and solve social problems.This ability lets the organization safegard its integrity (wholessness) and vitality over a long period of time.
аа So wide undestanding allows to widenа class of social organization and include in its not only as formal organizations of an artificial origin (firm, enterprise, establishment), but also as natural and mixed (natural-artificial) organization, including informal groups, families, settlements,cities, parties, public movements, and mostly, society.
аа Every human is born,lives,works and dies in social organizations (the family, kindergarten,school,college,working collective,city,nation etc.) which make him obey their laws,and the quality of human life depends on the humanism and democratism of these laws.Taking into consideration that the existing social organisations are far from perfection,the general possibilityа of improving the quality of human life lies in improving the existing organizations Ц artificial and natural Ц and also in creating new,more developed,organizations.This isа main task and goal of the GTSO.
ааа From the position GTSO,the boundaryа betweenа society and organization have got artificial character caused byа dividing of social siences,therefore GTSO can be used as basis of the modern theory of society.
ааа According to the GTSO, all species of societiesа have got general features, to which concern entirety and stability, presence of organizational culture, regulated behavior and activity of the members of organizations, ability to self-development and self-training, ability of organizationsа to reveal and to solve the social problems, understood as deviation from the standard socialа norms.

From the mentioned above features major is last.This feature is unique and at the same time least investigated,though it result in new understanding of principles of functioning of societies.

Depending on specificity of soluble social problems in societiesа the various means and ways of the decision of problems are used. So for the decision of ordinary problems there are enough of managerial means. For the decision of unordinary problems it is required to create and to enter new samples of social culture (SSC) as new social institutes, social norms, organizational systems and structures, values, innovations, technologies.

Analyzing the known concepts of social development (structural, institutional, innovational), and also taking into account, that the introduction of new SSC is connected to replacement old, we came to a conclusion, that the process of social development is expedient for considering as process of reproduction of social culture connected with replacement of old SSC by new ones. This process can be carried out natural, artificial (formal) and mixed way. In the first case the SSC fastening (consolidating) in social culture is carried out with the help of public opinion, in second Ч with the help of legitimacy authority. In real life the mixed development is observed, when one part SSC is fixed by a natural way, and another - artificial. In modern societiesа the significant part of organizational culture is reproduced by an artificial way, that confirm the thesis about managerial character of public development..

Proceeding from the accepted performance about society as the steady social integrity deciding the problems, is followed by new performance about social (public) administration confirming the thesis that social administrationа differs from management and is notа means of achievement of the purposes of organization, but means of its survival. It is provided first of all with the fact thatа society carries out functions connected to revealing of social problems by recognition, sorting, research, preparation of the decisions, control of realization of the decisions, analysis of results of the decisions.

As the development of the society can be controlled, therefore the functions of social (public) administration includes the functions of public development administration, connected with the reproduction of organizational culture, including legal regulation, structural regulation, value regulation, innovation management, international regulation, and also the classical functions of management and administration of law-enforcement activity.

The legal regulation means the ability to solve the problems with the help of the law and provides creation of new laws, correcting the old ones. It provides legislative consolidating or prohibition of the natural laws, and also changing or cancellation of the existing laws depending on the received results.

The structural regulation means the ability to solve problems with the help of creation and lounging the new or consolidating (or prohibition) the existing organizational structures, social institutes, specially created organizations, and provides the development of new organizational systems, and also change the old systems.

The value regulation consists in purposeful changing of social values with the aim to solve the social problems. It provides formation, fastening or prohibition of social values their correcting depending on the received results.

The innovation management means the development and lounging of their own innovations or using anotherТs to solve the social problems. It fastens and (or) prohibits the innovations.

The international regulation means the ability to solve the general problems by temporary or constant uniting of several societies. It assumes creation of the contracts, unions, associations and other kinds of communities.

From offered list of functions of social (public) administration follows, that the classical functions of management (planning, organization, guidance, coordination, supervision) make less than half of all functions of social (public) administration, that in many respects explains unsuccessful attempts of public administration with the help in basic these functions.

Some of the specified functions (in particular, function of management of social problems and the functions of development) have hidden (implicit, latent) or partly hidden character, that results in a conclusion about necessity institualisation latent functions of social administration and perfection of their performance.

The mentioned above functions of public administration provide surviveness of society with the help of the unique social mechanism, which can conditionally divide (share) into two parts:

- executive mechanism which is carrying out the current decision of problems with the help of functions and methods of management;

- mechanism of development which is carrying out management by problems and public development administration.
аа The similar performance about social mechanism well coordinated to performance about the state mechanism as sets of bodies representative (legislative) and executive, including judicial, authority. In difference from state mechanism, social mechanism has latent (latent, shadow) part. It has illegitimate character, however, it can play a main role in public administration.
ааа Taking into account complexity of societies and their social mechanisms, question on their origin and evolution is very interesting. Therefore there were made analysis of known conceptual models of social evolution (stage-formational,civilazational etc), were revealed there rational parts, on the basis of which synthesis the integrated concept named tectological is offered according to which the social evolution is considered as controlled process of organizational construction. In other words, the social evolution is offered to be considered not as smooth process of transformation of one species in another, and as the discrete process of speciesforming, at which each new species of society "grows" not from one previous, but from elements of all previous species.

Thus there is "assembly" of steadier structures from less steady. As this "assembly" is carried out at active participation of the man, hence there is a real opportunity to select for this purpose really useful SSC, making thus process of social evolution controlled. The given concept is development of tectological ideas of Empedokl-Bogdanov.

For improving working societies we offers three new methods: functional-diagnostically, cognitive government and лof the brain centre╗. The first method is connected to perfection of performance of latent functions of social administration, second - with introduction of new technology of social administration (technology of cognitive government), third - with creation in societies (organizations)а лbrain centers╗, providing their steady development.
УBrain centersФ (or centers of developmentФ) must unite sociologists,social administrators,social psychologists,lawyers,economiststs,politologists,and other specialists in order to cope with complicated social problems which society confront at different levelsа and in various spheres of activity.
аааааа Realizations of the offered approach need new generation of the social engineers and social administrators, which preparation is carried out in Academy of sociology and administration of the Moscow State Social University.

Thank you for attention.
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Franchuk V.I.(Russia,MSSU) General theory of social organization as foundation ofааа modern theory of societies

ааа Though the founders of sociology considered it as a science called to integrate social science (the economic and political theories, a history, law sciences, sciences about state), now it experiences deep crisis connected to a separation from historical roots, uncontrollable splitting, loss of the identity. The proceeding process of sociology splitting numerous branch sociologies and micro sociologies results in difficulty of mutual understanding between the sociologists, erects between them language barriers. Overcoming of sociology crisis needs reunderstanding of its past, reassessment of its purposes and tasks, object and subject of research, and also comprehension of the responsibility of sociology before a call of a history.

 

To be really лscience of sciences╗, integrating knowledge saved by public sciences, sociology should base on new theory of communities, which should be created, and, accordingly, on new models of public development. This theory should be "nucleus" of new sociology forming it and determining a directions of the further development.

The attempts of creation theories and models of societies were undertaken earlier (Kont, Spenser, Durkgeim, Marks, Weber, Luman, Sorokin), however they almost have stopped after T. Parsons, that can be explained by sharp increasing of complexity of integration of knowledge in conditions of uncontrollable differentiation of social sciences.

 

Below is examined opportunity of creation of the modern theory of societies on the basis of the general theory of social organizations (GTSO), from which position the society is social organization considered as rather steady social integrity (a social generality), showing reasonable behavior similarly to alive organism. Thus the reasonable behavior means ability to adequately respond on calls, or ability to solve the problems (to satisfy the needs) with the help of social institutes, innovation and other samples of organizational culture (SOC).

 

So wide understanding allows to understand social organizations not only as formal organizations of an artificial origin (firm, enterprise, establishment), but also as natural and mixed (natural-artificial) organization, including informal groups, family, settlement, city, parties and public movements, and also society.

Despite of essential distinctions between natural and artificial organizations, they are unite by general features, to which concern entirety and stability, presence of organizational culture, regulated behavior and activity of the members of organizations, ability to self-development and self-training, ability of organizations to respond on calls, or ability to reveal and to solve the problems, understood as deviation from the standard socialа norms.

From the mentioned above features major is last, cause it influence on it. This feature is unique and at the same time least investigated, though it results in new understanding of principles of functioning of organizations.

Depending on specificity of soluble problems in organizations the various means and ways of the decision of problems are used. So for the decision of ordinary problems there are enough of managerial means. For the decision of unordinary problems it is required to create and to enter new samples of organizational culture (SOC) as new social institutes, social norms, organizational systems and structures, values, innovations, technologies.

Analyzing the known concepts of organizational development (structural, institutional, innovational, cultural), and also taking into account, that the introduction of new SOC is connected to replacement old, we came to a conclusion, that the process of organizational development is expedient for considering as process of reproduction of organizational culture connected with replacement of old SOC by new ones. This process can be carried out natural, artificial (formal) and mixed way. In the first case the SOC fastening (consolidating) in organizational culture is carried out with the help of public opinion, in second Ч with the help of legitimacy authority. In real life the mixed development is observed, when one part SOC is fixed by a natural way, and another - artificial. As in artificial and natural - artificial organizations the significant part of organizational culture is reproduced by an artificial way, hence GTSO confirms a conclusion about basic ability of managment of organizational development, which concerns to public development.

Proceeding from the accepted performance about organization (society) as the steady social integrity deciding the problems, is followed by new performance about social (public) administration confirming the thesis that it differs from management and is not only means of achievement of the purposes of organization, but also means of its survival. It is provided first of all with the fact that the organization carries out functions connected to revealing of social problems by recognition, sorting, research, preparation of the decisions, control of realization of the decisions, analysis of results of the decisions.

As the development of the organization can be controlled, therefore the functions of social administration includes the functions of organizational development administration, connected with the reproduction of organizational culture, including legal regulation, structural regulation, value regulation, innovation management, interorganizational regulation, and also the classical functions of management and administration of law-enforcement activity.

The legal regulation means the ability to solve the problems with the help of the law and provides creation of new laws, correcting the old ones. It provides legislative consolidating or prohibition of the natural laws, and also changing or cancellation of the existing laws depending on the received results.

The structural regulation means the ability to solve problems with the help of creation and lounging the new or consolidating (or prohibition) the existing organizational structures, social institutes, specially created organizations, and provides the development of new organizational systems, and also change the old systems.

The value regulation consists in purposeful changing of social values with the aim to solve the social problems. It provides formation, fastening or prohibition of social values their correcting depending on the received results.

The innovation management means the development and lounging of their own innovations or using anotherТs to solve the social problems. It fastens and (or) prohibits the innovations.

The interorganizational regulation means the ability to solve the general problems by temporary or constant uniting of several organizations. It assumes creation of the contracts, unions, associations and other kinds of communities.

From offered structure of functions of social (public) administration follows, that the classical functions of management (planning, organization, guidance, coordination, supervision) make less than half of all functions of social administration, that in many respects explains unsuccessful attempts of management of a society with the help in basic these functions.

Some of the specified functions (in particular, function of management of problems of organization and the functions of development) have hidden (implicit, latent) or partly hidden character, that results in a conclusion about necessity institualisation latent and functions of management and perfection of their performance.

The mentioned above functions provide surviveness of social organization with the help of the unique social mechanism (SM), which can conditionally divide(share) into two parts:

- Executive mechanism which is carrying out the current decision of problems with the help of functions and methods of management;

- Mechanism of development which is carrying out management by problems and management by organizational development.

The similar performance about SM well coordinated to performance about the state mechanism as sets of bodies representative (legislative) and executive, including judicial, authority.

To the order by an apparent (official) part, SM has latent (latent, shadow) part. It has illegitimate character, however, it can play a main role in management of a society.

Taking into account complexity of modern social organizations, including a society, and their social mechanisms, question on their origin and evolution is very interesting. Therefore there were made analysis of known conceptual models of social evolution, were revealed there rational parts, on the basis of which synthesis the integrated concept named tectological is offered according to which the social evolution is considered as controlled process of organizational construction. In other words, the social evolution is offered to be considered not as smooth process of transformation of one species in another, and as the discrete process of speciesforming, at which each new species of society "grows" not from one previous, but from elements of all previous species.

Thus there is "assembly" of steadier structures from less steady. As this "assembly" is carried out at active participation of the man, hence there is a real opportunity to select for this purpose really useful SOC, making thus process of social evolution controlled. The given concept is development of tectological ideas of Empedokl-Bogdanov.

For designing modern organizations and perfection working GTSO offers three new methods: functional-diagnostically, cognitive government and лof the brain centre╗. The first method is connected to perfection of performance of latent functions of social administration, second - with introduction of new technology of social administration (technology of cognitive government), third - with creation in organizations лbrain centers╗, providing their steady development. Realizations of the offered approach need new generation of the social engineers and social administrators, which preparation is carried out in Academy of sociology and administration of the Moscow state social university.