ON THE PROBLEM OF STUDYING THE CONCEPT OF "SOCIETY" IN SOCIOLOGY

Abstract

Aim. To analyze the history of studying the “society” concept in sociology. Methods. The method of documents, its variety classical analysis, was used for this article. Results. This article examines the development of the concept of "society" throughout the history of sociology since its founder A.Comte up to the contemporary period. The interpretation of the concept was influenced by sociological areas of the authors. Therefore, the article considers the concept of society from the point of view of different approaches and within these frames the specifics of its definition are featured. These approaches are macrosociological, microsociological and an attempt of combining them. Together with the examination of the concept within the framework of these approaches, the definition has been studied in terms of development stages of this concept, identifies by N.Luhmann. In addition, the article considers the concepts of not only foreign but also Russian sociology. To study the interpretation of society by the Russian sociologists the concepts division proposed by Zborowski G.E. was used. Scientific novelty. The article considers the concept of "society" of foreign and modern domestic sociology both from the perspective of different sociological approaches and of the term development stages. The author’s definition of "society" notion is also offered.