We live and work in a society characterized by a frantic rhythm of unprecedented changes, conceptualized by analysts in the simple phrase “post-modern or post-industrial society”. Unfortunately, for society as a whole and for each of its citizens, these changes are not always positive.
Global social crisis
Moreover, the significance and intensity of individual cases indicate that the consequences are predominantly negative. Global society is currently facing a spectrum of economic and financial crisis that leads to unemployment, inflation, declining incomes, uncertainty about tomorrow and a sense of concern for most citizens. It is not surprising that the concept of a social crisis appears more and more often in public discourse, whether it is a crisis of faith, fertility, migration, or decline in values.
The science of social transformation
Sociology is the science of society, which was born from the need to explain and interpret deep social transformations, especially during periods of crisis caused by the transition from traditional to modern society.
Although some sociologists postulated the “axiological neutrality of sociology and sociologist”, in most cases, sociologists did not go beyond the scope of their subject, but nevertheless took a direct part in the reform and transformation of modern society.
Emil Durkheim, the father of scientific sociology, expressed the view that "sociology is not worth the effort if it is not involved in the evolution of human society."
By virtue of these traditions, modern sociology cannot remain neutral with respect to what is happening in the society she studies, especially since thanks to the media, many phenomena and social processes are experienced and felt at the same time and most directly by the majority of the world's citizens.
Crisis as a phenomenon
Although the press presents daily tragic events: from natural disasters and cataclysms to social unrest and armed conflict, from economic disasters to human dramas (terrorist attacks, air and rail accidents, massacres) - all this is described as crisis situations, not always this definition accurately reflects what is happening.
A crisis is defined as any situation that threatens the life and well-being of people and causes or can cause significant damage to property, moral and mental condition of people. It can lead to negative social impact.
The crisis is associated with unwanted events caused by human or natural causes that cause severe emotional trauma and material damage at the individual, institutional and social levels. The crisis itself is a deterioration of human, economic, political, social and human relations and systems.
Social crises
The vision of sociologists reveals the phenomenon of crisis as a malfunction of important social systems, which leads to undesirable consequences, for example, a lack of motivation and interest in participating in building a community. In the presence of visible social inequality, the reaction of society against the authoritarian system is increasing in order to resolve the failures that manifest themselves in the mechanisms of social control. In narrower social areas, conflict is manifested as an expression of the interests of smaller, secular or theistic groups, which leads to a decline in family, social, civil, religious heritage.
From the point of view of other sciences
From a historical and social point of view, crises are perceived more “comfortably”, as a rule, after their conclusion. In this case, the thoughts of specialists about the social crisis are concentrated either on important political and social components, or on military-political issues. Thus, the phenomenon in question is perceived as the difference between a crisis situation and a conflict, whether it is armed or unarmed. It turns out that from a historical point of view, crisis and war are two subcategories of a broader phenomenon - an international dispute.
As for the socio-political crisis, political scientists are zealously looking for ways of political settlement and conflict prevention. Moreover, they rely both on the conclusions of historians and on the conclusions of sociologists.
The synthetic definition of the crisis of social systems in this case is as follows: the crisis is a gap in the usual, a kind of undesirable situation that disrupts the normal functioning of society and affects its image at the social level. That is why there is a need for a global crisis management strategy and an adequate communication policy at a tipping point.
Threats of social crisis
Threatening the fundamentals of the system, accompanied by a series of unpredictable events, the crisis is often caused by inattention to the problems and vulnerabilities of the system as a specific structure. Suddenly manifested social crises of social work threaten the stability of the system and the usual way of functioning of all its components.
Often the entire social structure is so affected by stress that danger threatens its very physical existence. In addition, the core values of system members are at risk to the point that individuals either choose to misinterpret these values or develop defensive mechanisms against these values. For example, the struggle for gender equality or the demand for social equality of classes. A crisis often physically affects the system as a whole and threatens its basic principles, self-awareness and the core of its functioning and existence.
Conflict management
Among the characteristics of the social crisis, experts pay special attention to a narrower, “interdisciplinary” perspective, according to which “the conflict should not be regarded as something malignant, which should be avoided and warned. Many social conflicts should not be perceived as a natural phenomenon inherent in many social movements. Such phenomena are due to the diversity of people and the uniqueness of each person.
Thus, as experts in this field say, not all manifestations of a social crisis are destructive, some of them may be functional in nature, playing an important stimulating, competitive, dynamizing role in society. Conflicts often lead to the development of thought and decision-making that may turn out to be positive.
What is not a crisis?
It is necessary to identify the differences between crises and incidents, where the latter are events that affect only the subsystem of the organization, and not its entire functionality. It is also important to distinguish a crisis from an extremely incident. An emergency can affect the system as a whole or partially, but its consequences are most often not permanent, that is, the system is able to recover in its previous form.
There are fundamental differences between crises and conflicts. The consequences of conflicts most often affect only elements of the system, without prejudice to fundamental values.
Analysis of social crises
Analyzing the socio-political crises of the past and the present, it is possible to distinguish certain stages or phases that characterize the course of a critical situation within the analyzed social system:
- Disagreement is the first stage when there is a likelihood of both pseudo-relationships and false conflicts, as well as minor discrepancies that can quietly develop into serious conflicts.
- Confrontation is a moment of tension, anxiety and confusion, when the effective connection between the parties is broken, when the belief becomes “law”, and emotional expression strongly dominates the logical arguments. Moreover, the speed and effectiveness of communication drops sharply, exacerbating the state of stress, frustration and a tense atmosphere.
- Escalation - represents the maximum point of conflict when the people involved do not restrain hostility and aggression. At this stage, it is extremely difficult to intervene without exacerbating the situation.
- De-escalation is the stage when efforts are made to reach an agreement between the parties to the conflict. The success of these attempts is due to concessions and the provision of reasonable requirements for participants. At the end of these attempts, a moment comes when negotiations, compromises and the desire for communication drive out conflicting ghosts and strengthen relations between the parties.
Causes
The researchers concluded that most of the social conflicts are caused by three types of “causes” of social crises:
- The first reason is the manifestation of identity. This usually happens in a society where individualization of groups is observed. In such processes, some members of society consider themselves to belong to a “separate group”, and the voice of the group replaces the individual’s self-expression. For example, Italian fascism, radical Islam, LGBTQ.
- The second reason for the crisis of social relations is the presence and emphasis on the differences between members of society, when a kind of “organization within the organization” is created, which claims a unique space with a specific character that personalizes it. For example, apartheid, racism, oligarchy. In fact, a conflict cannot break out without a certain ability of an individual to identify himself as part of a group and observe differences from other groups.
- The complex reasons arising from the fact that the achievement of the goals of one group determines the impossibility of realizing the goals of another group. For example, the Holocaust, feudalism, slavery.
It is worth noting that the timely identification of factors and appropriate actions can lead to the elimination of the causes of such intergroup conflicts, which eventually grow into crises in the socio-economic development of society.
Factors for the development of crisis situations
The analysis shows that there are a number of contextual and organizational factors on which the work of the social system is based and which lead to direct and indirect consequences in society. Among the main factors in the formation of social crises, it is important to note:
- An environment that is not limited by natural factors. This includes the quality of life and working conditions of segments of the population. Differences in the environment are manifested because each social system seeks to establish the most profitable and functional process of organizing society, and history shows that the absolutely equal position of all segments of society is practically unattainable.
- The number and effectiveness of groups is determined by the increase in the number of individuals in society and its diversification. The more people, the more groups with different goals and aspirations. This leads to the formation of “barriers” (class, cultural, linguistic) that impede communication, which negatively affects the achievement of common social goals and leads to a social crisis in the country.
- The organization structure of society also often becomes a factor in the development of a crisis.
Positive aspects of the phenomenon
Under the right circumstances, a crisis in social development is a source of new opportunities, including:
- The appearance of heroes. For example, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.
- Under the pressure of the crisis of the socio-economic system, social foundations are emerging from a state of inertia and conservatism is being replaced by accelerated growth and change.
- In a crisis, it is easier to cope with ignorance, indifference and inaction of the main segments of society.
- The crisis indirectly contributes to political and economic change. As a result of social crises, new political figures are elected, draft laws are supported.
- A crisis stimulates communication and can lead to new, simpler and more effective development strategies.
Consequences of crisis situations
The crises of social systems stimulate the development of new, improved systems of social organization. For this:
- one should consider the previous failure as an opportunity to recognize a potential crisis and prevent it in the future;
- social crises can be avoided by learning from the mistakes and crises of other social systems;
- By abandoning outdated and ineffective public settlement procedures, effective crisis management strategies can be developed.