Social Spirit
Social Spirit (also genius of society) is the spiritual unity of people who feel themselves to be one at the level of thought (ideal); the power center of society, creating unity around itself and acting as a kind of pole of social activity and transformation;[1] an organ of collective unity capable for performing a number of important functions in the life of society.[2]
Development of the concept
The concept of Social Spirit did not play a significant role in philosophical and socio-political thought for a long time, and the phenomenon itself was little studied as something holistic and independent, if not to take into account the reasoning of
The concept of Social Spirit is constructed by analogy with the terms well known in the history of the development of humanitarian thought:
Structure
The structure of the Social Spirit consists of social consciousness (knowledge, norms, etc.) and the collective unconscious (values, ideals, etc., encoded in norms as storage units). These two basic parts do not have a sharp boundary, due to the presence of a special intermediate layer that communicates between social consciousness and the unconscious.[9]
In addition to the internal structure of the Social Spirit, an external structure is also distinguished, namely, two aspects of the latter one: supranational and subnational: the first unites people at the international level, the second differentiates in the National Spirit its constituent fragments, corresponding to various social groups within one nation or state. In the second case, we can talk about the structure of Social Spirits, united by a common National Spirit, for example, the Social Spirit of the elites and the Social Spirit of the masses:
- elitestend to strive to maintain their status in economic and political power, therefore they tend to defend their interests, even to the detriment of the majority, passing them off as the interests of the national society as a whole and considering themselves a more competent and significant part of it than "ordinary" compatriots;
- the massesare characterized by a desire to satisfy their needs, determined more by emotions and intuition than by rational considerations, which recede into the backside. This determines the difference in the essential characteristics of the Social Spirit of the elites and the Social Spirit of the masses: the first is more reasonable and intellectually balanced, the second is more irrational and subject to collective emotions, such as anger, delight, fear, etc.
In addition to the above-described elite-mass
- the Scial Spirit of laboratores is characterized by such qualities as partnership and constructive interaction, hard work and diligence in achieving results, practicality of thinking, simplicity and modesty in everyday life, priority of family and traditional family values, respect for church authorities;
- the Social Spirit of oratores is characterized by the following specifications — education and skill in public speaking, leadership qualities and the ability to coordinate the work of others;
- In the Social Spirit of bellatores, several different positive properties are manifested — patriotism, expressed in protection from external threats, honor and discipline, leadership and mutual assistance, a disposition to an active and dangerous life.
One of the particularly significant discoveries in the description of the characteristics of the Social Spirit is the detection in its structure of not only creative and constructive principles, but also destructive ones that determine disintegrative tendencies in national and civil societies.[10]
Functions
An approximate list of the functions of the Social Spirit includes the following points: firstly, it gives subjective unity to a certain group, when each individual member identifies himself with the group and considers its common goals to be his own; secondly, it acts as a repository of diverse information, experience and values that are the collective property of the social groups that make up national societies; thirdly, it acts as a source of mental (including sensory and volitional components) energy, giving people the ability to endure a wide variety of difficulties; fourthly, it encourages people to feel and express common joy from joint actions, that is, it promotes unity based on common feelings; fifthly, it sets the direction for the development of social groups; sixth, it performs an evaluative function, seventh — the prognostic one, etc.[11]
See also
- National Spirit
References
- ^ Shabalin I.V. The essence and nature of social spirit // Bulletin of Volgograd State University, Ser. 7, Philosophy., 2010, No. 1 (11), P. 113-118.
- ^ Smirnov P.I. Social spirit as a factor of social development: its functions and structure // CredoNew, 2015, №1 (81).
- ^ Gustave Le Bon La Psychologie des Foules. Édition, Félix Alcan, 9 e édition, 1905, 192 pp.
- ^ Weber, M. Die protestantische Ethik und der „Geist“ des Kapitalismus. In: Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik. 20, 1904, Р. 1–54.
- ^ Durkheim, Е. Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse : Durkheim Е. Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse. Paris, 1912, 647 р.
- ^ Montesquieu de Ch. De l’esprit des lois. Paris, 1769, 362 р.
- ^ Fabre d'Olivet A. Le Génie de la nation, ou les Moralités pittoresques, pièce héroïcomique en vaudevilles, 1789.
- ^ Dickens, Ch. The Spirit of Chivalry in Westminster Hall. Douglas Jerrold's Shilling Magazine, London : The Punch Office, 1845.
- ^ Smirnov P.I. Managing the evolution of society: necessity, means, guideline. Saarbrucken: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, 2012, Р. 318.
- ^ Lazarev A.I. Social spirit and geniuses of society as prerequisites for constructive interaction // Журнал философских исследований, 2023, Т.9, №3, С. 28-37.
- ^ Smirnov P.I. Social spirit as a factor of social development: its functions and structure // CredoNew, 2015, №1 (81).