As a result of mastering this topic, the student must:
know
- – concept and stages of development of primitive society;
- – basic patterns of the emergence and development of state and law;
- – features of power in primitive society;
- – the nature and purpose of social norms of primitive society;
- – the main ways of forming law;
- – characteristics of the main theories of the origin of state and law;
be able to
- – determine the type of social norms of primitive society;
- – highlight the features of law that distinguish it from the social norms of primitive society;
- – distinguish between the positions of scientists on the issue of the origin of state and law;
- – independently determine the advantages and disadvantages of the main theories of the origin of state and law;
own
- – skills of independent analysis of state-legal phenomena in the field of the origin of state and law;
- – skills in operating basic concepts and categories on this topic.
Social power in primitive society
According to modern scientific concepts, planet Earth was formed about 4.7 billion years ago from gas and dust matter scattered in the protosolar system. About 3–3.5 billion years ago, as a result of the natural evolution of matter, life arose on Earth and the development of the biosphere began. Human (homo habilis - skillful man) fiddling
to on Earth as a result of a complex and long historical and evolutionary process about 2 million years ago. Modern looking man (homo sapiens - Homo sapiens) appeared no later than 40 thousand years ago, and according to some data, even earlier. The first states on the planet began to emerge relatively recently. So, in Ancient Egypt it arose at the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, in China - in the 2nd millennium BC, in the territory of present-day Russia - just over one thousand years ago. In several countries in Africa and Latin America states arose in the 19th – early 20th centuries.
Thus, in the history of mankind there was a fairly long period when it existed and developed without a state and without law. In science this period is called primitive society - the first form of human life in human history, spanning the era from the appearance of the first people to the emergence of the state and law.
Man and human society were formed and separated from the kingdom of nature through labor and joint economic activity.
What are the characteristics of a person?
Firstly, a fairly high level of consciousness. Not just consciousness, since scientists have proven that animals also have some kind of consciousness. The level of human consciousness is much higher than that of animals, its evolution has a progressive, vertical orientation, and the consciousness of animals does not develop above a certain level.
Secondly, man, unlike animals, has the ability to create tools and use them. If animals produce changes in nature due to their presence in it, then man puts something indirect between himself and nature, namely tools. At the same time, he influences nature purposefully, consciously.
Thirdly, a person has a certain psychophysical constitution (structure, shape of the skeleton, has speech, etc.).
Fourthly, a person has a high degree of organization. Joint life activity, collective work presupposes the cooperation of people and thereby at least an elementary division of labor actions between its participants.
In the history of the development of primitive society there are three main stages :
- – primitive herd;
- – clan community;
- - decomposition of the tribal community.
For a significant time in their history, people existed in the conditions of a primitive herd. This was the period of the so-called appropriating economy (hunting, fishing, gathering). The tools were very primitive (stones and sticks), but their very presence raised man above the animal world. Power during this period was not much different from the power that exists in a herd of animals.
Gradually, as tools improved (in the evolution of man of this period we can distinguish stone Age, Bronze Age and iron age), with the discovery of methods for artificially producing fire, a more extensive and more firmly organized association of people, a clan, appeared than the primitive herd.
Genus - a historically established community of people based on blood kinship, having common property and leading a joint household.
The appropriating economy is gradually being replaced by the producing economy. In science, this period is called the “Neolithic Revolution.” Man begins to engage not only in hunting, fishing and gathering, but also in cattle breeding, agriculture and crafts. Promiscuous sexual relations were replaced by group marriage. However, given that it was almost impossible to establish the real father in such a relationship, the relationship was exclusively through the female line.
At a certain stage in the development of society, a natural division of labor occurred between men and women.
In the increasingly complex household, women began to occupy a dominant position. They played a leading role in such types of production activities as gathering and early hoeing agriculture. All this led to the promotion of women to first place in the clan community.
Dominance of the maternal family (matriarchy - from lat. mater - mother and Greek arche – beginning, power; literally the power of the mother) lasted several millennia.
Under matriarchy, kinship was counted through the mother's line (maternal clan), and the husband moved to live in his wife's ancestral settlement.
As a result of the development of cattle breeding, plow farming, metalworking, increasing the efficiency and importance of male labor, matriarchy is being replaced by patriarchy (from Greek pater father and arche - beginning, power) characterized by patrilineal (patriarchal) clan, in which the origin of kinship is through the male line and the man occupies a dominant position in production and in society.
It was high quality new stage in the development of human society. The group marriage is being replaced by a pair marriage, which places a reliable natural father next to the natural mother. In the future, paired marriage is replaced by marriage with male dominance, prohibiting extramarital affairs for women. This is how it appeared patriarchal family community which is characteristic of the final stage of the tribal system.
The stage of decomposition of the clan community precedes the emergence of the state and law and is characterized by the destruction of intraclan ties and the emergence of future state and legal institutions.
The distinctive features of the power of the clan community were the following.
Firstly, the source of power was the entire clan community as a whole. This was a period of so-called direct rule, when people directly exercised full power. It is clear that in relation to that period it is impossible to talk about the existence of legislative, executive and judicial powers in their modern understanding, but members of the clan community themselves established rules of behavior for themselves, ensured their implementation and themselves attracted violators established order to responsibility.
Secondly, the highest authority was the general meeting (council) of all adult members of the clan. The council decided all the most important issues in the life of the community, relating to production activities, religious rituals, resolution of disputes between individual clans, etc.
Thirdly, the day-to-day management of the affairs of the clan community was carried out by an elder, usually elected at a meeting by all members of the clan, both men and women. His power was not hereditary.
At any moment, the elder could be replaced by another member of the clan.
It is fundamentally important to emphasize that the elders and other “officials” of the clan (military leaders) participated in the production activities of the clan community on an equal basis with its other members. In the future, when considering the characteristics of a state, this circumstance will need to be remembered, since state officials, unlike elders, are exclusively engaged in management and take absolutely no part in the production activities of society.
Fourthly, power in primitive society was based on authority, respect, and customs. Coercion (sometimes quite severe) was applied to those who violated the order, but there were no special (law enforcement, punitive) bodies for this.
The compulsion came from the entire family. This is also an important circumstance, since state power carries out coercion with the help of special law enforcement agencies.
Fifthly, in social associations broader than the clan (for example, in Greece - phratries, in Russia - tribe) power was based on the same principles as in the clan community.
Thus, power during the period of clan organization of society was built on the principles primitive democracy, There were no special bodies dealing exclusively with management at that time. However, in place of primitive democracy due to various reasons inevitably comes the state, which represents a special form of organizing people’s life.
MINSK INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT
“I admit to defense”
civil and state ____________________Lebedev A.F.
"__"______________________2008
COURSE WORK
in the discipline: “General Theory of Law”
on the topic : « Power and social norms in primitive society»
Student of group No. 70201
Head Assoc. Departments Gr. and state rights _______A.F. Lebedev
Ph.D., Associate Professor
PLAN .
Introduction
Considering primitive society, social management (power) and normative regulation in it, different researchers adhere to different concepts on this issue. In this course work I will try to trace the evolution of views on this topic and will try to extensively cover the problems associated with the study of this period in the life of human society. In this presentation I would like to highlight the main points of the development and formation of primitive society, to give general characteristics and give a definition of basic concepts and definition.
Primitive society represents the pre-state stage of human history. Recent archaeological research suggests that Homo sapiens formed as a species about 200 thousand years ago. It is from this moment that we can talk about the history of primitive society.
Periods of development of primitive society:
1) early period(era of the ancestral community).
On at this stage the remnants of the animal state are overcome, biological development is completed, and social development begins. During this period, people lived in small related groups of 20-30 people and led a nomadic lifestyle. The main way to maintain material existence is hunting and gathering. Primitive tools.
2) the middle period (the era of the tribal community).
Gradual consolidation of society, formation of tribal communities. A tribal community is a social formation based on consanguineous ties, in which each member of the community performs a certain social function for the benefit of the entire community. A clan community is a group of relatives.
The clan community is characterized by gender and age specialization of labor. There is a transition from polygamy to exogamy (a ban on marriage within the clan), a ban on incest. The emergence of inter-tribal connections and related clans, united in tribes, phratia.
3) late period (era of the neighboring community)
There is a further complication of social life. The emergence of new forms of management (agriculture, cattle breeding, crafts). The prerequisites for the emergence of a state are being formed.
The transition to new forms of economic management - the emergence of agriculture, cattle breeding, and later crafts (three social divisions of labor). Formation of the rudiments of a producing economy. Transition to monogamy (the appearance of a family). Exchange relations and the beginnings of trade appear.
Governance bodies of the primitive community:
- a meeting of adult members of the clan (usually warriors)
- the leader (head of the clan) was elected at a clan meeting
- elders
- military leader
The gender-age division of labor assumes that each adult member of the community performed a certain socially useful function. This determined the well-known democracy of power relations.
In the era of the neighboring community, power acquires new characteristics, partly similar to state power.
A form of power appears as chiefdom.
Chiefdom - type social organization, consisting of a group of communal settlements, hierarchically subordinate to the central, larger one, in which the ruler (chief) lives.
Difference from military democracy:
1) the people are removed from direct control. The leader and his entourage organize the economic, distribution, judicial and religious activities of the society.
2) The hierarchy of settlements and clans (vertical subordination) is more clearly visible.
3) The emergence of the beginnings of a managerial apparatus and bureaucracy.
4) The tendency towards sacralization (deification) of the leader’s personality.
Already in primitive society, social norms regulating the behavior of community members began to form. These norms were characterized by the following features:
1) static social norms, their stability over a long period of time.
The constancy of social norms of primitive society is associated with the stability of social relations.
2) lack of differentiation of social norms.
The norms performed not only a regulatory, but also an evaluative function, and also had a sacred character. The norms of primitive society seemed to be at the same time customs, moral norms, and religious norms.
3) lack of written recording.
The oral nature of norms that were passed down from generation to generation, thereby maintaining continuity.
4) expressed public interest.
The norms of primitive society regulated mainly three circles of social relations:
1) relations within the clan, between the clan and the individual (relations of power, distribution of responsibilities, etc.)
2) inter-tribal relations (marriage and family, tribal unions, mutual assistance, etc.)
3) ecological relations (human actions in relation to nature). The totem system was consolidated. A totem is an idealized creature, the patron of a family, usually an animal.
The predominant methods of regulation are prohibition and permission. Obligation is in its infancy.
Among the prohibitions, TABOO prevailed.
Taboo is a prohibition supported by the fear of punishment by otherworldly forces, a sacred prohibition (murder, incest, cannibalism, etc.)
Forms of consolidating the norms of primitive society:
A) ritual is a rule of behavior in which the external form of performing certain actions contributes to the general mood for performing joint activities.
B) ritual is a rule of behavior consisting of symbolic actions that deeply penetrate the psyche of a particular person and pursue ideological (educational) goals (for example, a rite of passage).
C) myth - a legend, a legend about Gods, spirits, heroes, ancestors, explaining the existing world order and recommending certain behavior.
D) custom - a rule of behavior that has developed historically over the course of several generations, which has become universal and obligatory as a result of repeated repetition.
D) moral standards.
Chapter 1 . Characteristics of the development of scientific knowledge about primitive society and its periodization.
The science of primitive society arose in the second half of the 19th century, although attempts to penetrate into the distant past of man were made back in the era of ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The thinkers of this period carried out knowledge of the surrounding world in general and the archaic era of human society in particular within the framework of the then unified universal science - philosophy. For example, the Greek philosopher Democritus (5th century BC) said that people separated themselves from the animal kingdom. The need to get food for themselves and shelter from bad weather forced people to improve ways of fighting nature for their survival. Democritus reconstructed the picture of the primitive state of people based on an analysis of the life of the “barbarian” tribes contemporary to him (Term "barbarian" comes from Greek barbaros. This is how the ancient Greeks, and then the Romans, called all foreigners who spoke a language incomprehensible to them.) . The greatest Roman philosopher Lucretia Car (1st century BC) in her work “On the Nature of Things” criticizes myths and legends about the “divine nature of things” and argues that from stone tools man moved to copper and bronze, and then - to the iron ones. Lucretius
denies the immortality of the soul and the intervention of the gods in the development of the Universe.
However, the worldview of ancient thinkers was limited. They all agreed on the eternity of the system of slavery: everyone who is not Greek or Roman is barbarians, “slaves by nature.” In the ancient era, there was also an accumulation of specific ethnographic knowledge. Material of great value is contained in the piles of ancient authors (Herodotus, Strabo, Caesar, Tacitus, etc.). They, living in a slave-owning society, were struck by the lack of private property among a number of “barbarian” peoples, democracy, gentle treatment of slaves, determination of kinship through the female line, and the use of meager food and clothing. Ancient authors also conveyed other important sketches of the customs, life and social life of the “barbarian” tribes.
In the Middle Ages, despite the fact that science was put at the service of theology, rational ethnographic knowledge about the inhabitants of the Earth gradually accumulated. Useful information we find in Chinese and European chronicles, in reports of Western and Central Asian travelers of the 9th-15th centuries. The data of the Arab geographer and traveler of the 10th century are of great importance. Ion Fadlana, who visited East Africa, India, China, Java, Iraq, Syria, Eastern Europe. And for modern researchers, the descriptions left by Ion-Fadlan of the socio-political life of the states of the Caucasus, Crimea, Khazar and Bulgar kingdoms are of exceptional value.
Important information is contained in the ancient Slavic “Tale of Bygone Years” (early 12th century), which gives a specific description of the peoples who lived on the East European Plain.
From the end of the 15th century. an era begins geographical discoveries, which are a new stage in the accumulation of factual material about the life of people on Earth. Travel around the world and the penetration of Europeans into the interior of the continents provided extensive material about the primitive state of the inhabitants of the islands Pacific Ocean, America, Africa, Australia, etc.
With the accumulation of ethnographic material in modern times, the first works appear that recreate a picture of the life of people in the past. Among progressive Western European scientists of the first half of the 18th century. one should mention J. Lafitau, who wrote the work “The Customs of American Savages in Comparison with the Customs of Ancient Times” (1724). Lafitau, using the specific historical material available to him, gave a scientific description of the tribal system of the North American Iroquois and Hurons, noting their dominance of women. Through a comparative analysis of knowledge about the life activities of the named tribes, the scientist came to the conclusion that matriarchy was widespread among primitive people. But this unique work by Lafitau in the 18th century. was almost the only one.
In the 18th century The science of the history of primitive society began to develop in Russia. After the creation of the Academy of Sciences in Russian Empire A number of ethnographic expeditions are organized. The works of S.P. Krasheninnikov on the population of Kamchatka are of great value. His book “Description of the Land of Kamchatka” (1755) contains a realistic description of the life of the Itelmens. Krasheninnikov's work is the most important source on the material production, culture and history of the Kamchadals. She was highly appreciated by her contemporaries, in particular M.V. Lomonosov.
In 1775, a monograph by the famous lawyer and sociologist, professor of law at Moscow University S.E. Desnitsky, “A Tale on the Origin and Establishment of Marriage among the Primitive,” was published. In his work, the scientist closely linked the development of the family with the origin and development of property, which was a hundred years ahead of Western and American science.
Great importance was attached to the collection and study of ethnographic material by advanced Russian scientists of the 19th century, united in the Russian geographical society(K.M. Beer, P.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, N.M. Przhevalsky, N.N. Miklukho-Maclay and others). They collected material not only on the territory of the Russian Empire, but also abroad.
Along with the accumulation of ethnographic material, there was a gradual development of archaeological research, which played a huge role in the formation of the history of primitive society as a science.
In 1836, the Danish archaeologist H. Thomsen divided the entire primitive “preliterate” era into three periods, taking as a basis natural materials: stone, bronze, iron, from which tools were made. The division of primitive history into the Stone, Bronze and Iron periods was done before Thomsen, but these were guesses and assumptions (Lucretius Carus and others). Thomsen's merit lies in the fact that he proved the correctness of this hypothesis with extensive archaeological material. Another Danish archaeologist J. Worso expanded Thomsen’s system and also discovered a new method that allows one to determine the relative chronology of the objects found in burials based on burial rites. Thanks to the practical and historical research of Thomsen and Worso, archeology becomes a scientific discipline.
A follower of Charles Darwin, the French scientist G. Mortilier divided the Stone Age according to the type of tools (from simple to complex) into several periods (types of cultures), gave them names according to the place of finds (“Chelle”, “Acheuleur”, “Moustere”, “Solutre” ", "madeleine") and outlined the approximate dates of each period. Further discoveries forced additions and clarifications to Mortilier’s periodization.
In 1861, the book of the Swiss legal historian I. Bakhoven “Mother’s Right” appeared, in which the author for the first time proved that “mother’s right” preceded “father’s”, and thereby refuted Aristotle’s patriarchal theory, according to which the first people lived in families, where the rulers there were men. Bakhoven for the first time puts the problem of promiscuity on a scientific basis, substantiates the first stage of disordered relations between the sexes, or the era of “hetaerism,” as he called it, through which all peoples without exception passed.
In 1877, the work of the American scientist L. Morgan “Ancient Society” appeared. The author's merit lies in the fact that he discovered the clan organization that preceded the state and showed the place of the clan within the tribe. Morgan also proposed a periodization of primitive society according to the stages of culture. Remaining in the position of the evolutionary school, Morgan came close to materialism. He proved the universality of historical development from matriarchy to patriarchy, from collective forms of property to private. Morgan painted a picture of the development of family relationships, forms of marriage, and showed that monogamy appears at the final stage of development of primitive society. Subsequently, many of Morgan’s provisions became outdated (for example, periodization), some acquired local significance and applicability, some turned out to be erroneous;
The problem of the emergence of matriarchy and patriarchy is discussed. Nevertheless, Morgan's conclusions managed to take root in the minds of a number of subsequent generations of scientists, and we find traces of them everywhere. As for Marxism, here they have received undeniable recognition.
At one time, L. Morgan’s work “Ancient Society” was especially highly appreciated by F. Engels. “It is clear to everyone,” wrote the classic of Marxism, “that this opens a new era in the development of primitive history. The clan, based on maternal right, has become the core around which all this science revolves; Since its discovery, it has become clear in which direction and what should be studied and how the results should be grouped
F. Engels implemented these ideas in his book “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State” (1884), which was written on the basis of a generalization of scientific data of the late 19th century .
Important merit in the development of a number of issues of primitive history, including the origin of the state, belongs to Soviet scientists: P.P. Efimenko, A.I. Pershits, A.L. Mongait, S.P. Tolstov, A.P. Okladnikov, M M. Gerasimov and many others.
A large amount of ethnographic material, shedding light on the distant past, was also collected by Belarusian scientists of the second half of the 19th century- beginning of the 20th century Particularly noteworthy are the works of I.I. Nosovich, P.V. Shein, E.R. Romanov, E.F. Karsky, M.V. Dovnar-Zapolsky and others. For example, P.V. Shein and E.F. Karsky collected a large number of Belarusian folk songs. I.I. Nosovich and E.R. Romanov did a great job of compiling a dictionary of the Belarusian language and collecting folklore and ethnographic material. E.R. Romanov was simultaneously engaged in anthropological and archaeological research. In the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. Peter I AN Russian Federation there are over 2 thousand objects from the excavations of E.R. Romanov. M.V. Dovnar-Zapolsky was interested in socio-economic topics (work on the study of the “yards” of Belarusians is especially important). He studied family life, in particular Belarusian wedding rituals, as well as customary law, etc.
During the years of Soviet power, significant contributions to the study of primitive society and the emergence of the state on the territory of modern Belarus were made by A.N. Lyavdansky, K.M. Polikarpovich, L.D. Pobol, G.V. Shtykhov, V.K. Bondarchik and etc. Some of them are still working in the field of Belarusian science.
After a brief historiographical review, it becomes clear that to study primitive society, the origin of the state and law, scientists use a wide variety of sources, which are studied by various social and natural sciences. However, the most important of them are: archaeology, ethnography, anthropology, linguistics, folklore, geology, etc.
The first place among the named disciplines belongs to archeology- a branch of historical science that extracts and studies ancient and medieval material monuments, known as “cultures”. Archaeological culture is understood as a group of monuments (settlements, burial grounds, etc.), united by one time, common territory and the same characteristics . Based on the study of tools, remains of settlements and dwellings, utensils, burials and other finds, archaeologists reconstruct the life of ancient people, their social organization, and culture.
However, archaeological sources are insufficient for a comprehensive study of human history, since on the basis of them it is impossible to completely trace all aspects of the social and spiritual life of society. Data Fills This Gap ethnography(Greek ethnicity - people, grapho- I am writing, i.e. folk description, or folk studies). In recent years, in parallel with this name in the specialized literature, the term ethnology, which defines ethnography as a theoretical discipline as opposed to a descriptive one (ethnicity - people, logo ~ teaching, science). Both terms have the right to exist and can be used in different contexts as interchangeable synonymous words . Ethnography studies the life not only of culturally “backward” people, who retain signs of a primitive state, but also of highly developed peoples, whose economy, life and culture contain remnants of elements of a long-passed stage of development. Especially many remnants of the past have been preserved in wedding and religious ceremonies.
Anthropology(Greek anthropos- Human, logo- teaching) comprehensively explores biological nature person.
Linguists, studying the languages of peoples, establish etymology words (Greek etymon- truth, original meaning), the origin of individual names, their relationship with words of this language and the languages of other peoples. In this way, certain aspects of the historical past of people emerge.
For a researcher studying primitive society, it is important not only to find and analyze sources, but also to establish the place and time of their appearance. In other words, the history of primitive society, like all history in general, is unthinkable without chronology. In the course of the history of primitive society, researchers use two types of chronology: absolute and relative. Absolute chronology indicates with greater or less accuracy the time of a particular event (millennium, century, year, month). When studying the history of primitive society, relative chronology is of greater importance. It establishes the sequence of events, or their relationship in time. The units of measurement of relative chronology are large (hundreds and tens of millennia). According to relative chronology, for example, a periodization of history is compiled earth's crust and periodization of the history of primitive society. To study the process of decomposition of the primitive communal system and the origin of the state, knowledge of relative chronology is especially important, since it makes all the material easily visible. Periodization is established on the basis of analysis and systematization of all scientific material. For example, periodization, based on new archaeological data and identifying as one of the main milestones in the development of primitive society, is of particular methodological value for the theory of state and law. "Neolithic revolution" (Neolithic- New Stone Age).
In general, the question of periodization of the history of primitive society remains one of the most difficult in science today. With each decade, new material accumulates, which breaks the accepted schemes and constructions, gives rise to new hypotheses in solving the problem of primitive history.
Thus, Morgan's periodization with two large stages in the history of primitive society - “savagery” and “barbarism”, each of which is divided into three stages (lower, middle and highest) - played a big role in the development of science, but is now outdated and does not correspond new data from archeology and ethnography. It suffers from mechanicalness; new facts do not fit into its framework. Although L. Morgan based the division into periods on advances in the field of material production, as new material was accumulated, it turned out that some of them were not universal. For example, the bow and arrow, a characteristic feature (according to Morgan) of the “highest stage of savagery,” was not known to the Polynesians, although the latter were more developed than the Melanesians, who used these weapons. “The highest stage of barbarism”, i.e. the state of society on the eve of the state, Morgan was determined by such a basic feature as the smelting of iron ore. However, it is known that a number of peoples of the Ancient East came to statehood during the Copper-Bronze Age, i.e. before use in iron production.
However, some researchers are now adopting L. Morgan’s periodization scheme for primitive society, albeit filling it with largely different content.
Currently, the periodization of the history of primitive society is carried out in two directions. The first is based on establishing the stages of development of the means of production: Paleolithic (Old Stone Age); Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age); Neolithic (New Stone Age); Chalcolithic (Copper-Stone Age); Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. As we can see, the difference between eras lies in the method of making tools, the material used and the method of processing it.
The second direction of periodization of primitive society is based on the stages of development of the social organization of people: the primitive herd community, the maternal clan community, the patriarchal clan community and the decomposition of the clan system.
The primitive herd community dates back to the Eolithic (dawn of stone), Early and Middle Paleolithic. In the Late Paleolithic era, a maternal line appears, the further development of which occurs in the Mesolithic, Early Neolithic and full flowering in the Late Neolithic. In the Eneolithic, patriarchy arose, the heyday of which fell on the Bronze Age. The period of collapse of the clan system was called by L. Morgan and F. Engels the system of military democracy. The system of military democracy dates back to the Copper-Bronze Age for some peoples, and to the Early Iron Age for others.
The proposed periodization is used by a number of scientists as a working hypothesis, but not all researchers adhere to it. Some distinguish only the Early and Late Paleolithic, the Middle is referred to as the Early Paleolithic (P.I. Boriskovsky). Due to the fact that in the process of development of labor there was a process of formation of man as a biological individual, some scientists, in particular Yu.I. Semenov, call the era of the primitive herd the stage of emerging people, i.e. the period of formation of human society, and the period of the appearance of a person of a modern physical type in the Upper Paleolithic is called the era of the tribal system, or the beginning of the period of development of human society. D.A. Krainov, in contrast to this division, notes three stages in the development of man and society: the first stage is the era of the formation of man (corresponds to the beginning of Eolithic time); second stage - time of occurrence primitive man and society, this is a pre-natal primitive commune (archaeologically corresponds to the Lower and partly Middle Paleolithic); the third stage is the clan (tribal) organization of society from its beginning to the era of the decomposition of the clan system (the end of the Middle and the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic).
The period of decomposition of the clan system is also defined differently. Some researchers call it the era of the “neighborhood community”, and the system of “military democracy” as political organization societies are not considered a universal stage in the development of every nation.
All this testifies to the complexity of the problem of periodization of the history of primitive society and the efforts of scientists aimed at resolving it.
The latest data on the issues under consideration are presented in recently published works of Western and domestic researchers. In them, concrete historical material is presented not in a formational, but in a civilizational way. This is all the more important because the class-formational approach to the study of human society was the only one in our scientific and educational literature. Therefore, we should welcome and fully support those authors in whose works the civilizational approach to the study of the history of human society is gaining increasing recognition. ,
Chapter 2. Power in primitive society
Power in primitive society was not homogeneous. At the head of the family-clan group was the patriarch father, the eldest among the younger relatives of his generation and subsequent generations. The head of a family group is not yet the owner, not the owner of all its property, which is still considered common, collective. But thanks to his position as a senior and responsible leader of the economy and the life of the group, he acquires the rights of a manager. It is his authoritarian decision that determines who and how much to allocate for consumption and what to leave as a reserve, for accumulation, etc. He also determines how to dispose of the surplus, the use of which is closely related to relationships in the community as a whole. The fact is that the family unit, being part of the community, occupies specific place, and this place, in turn, depends on a number of factors, objective and subjective.
There is usually no problem of resources in a community at an early stage of its existence - there is enough land for everyone, as well as other lands. True, something depends on the distribution of plots, but this distribution is made taking into account social justice, often by lot. Another thing is subjective factors, which manifested themselves so noticeably in the local group and, perhaps, even more noticeable in the community, although in a slightly different way. Some groups are larger and more efficient than others; some patriarchs are smarter and more experienced than others. All this affects the results: some groups turn out to be larger and more prosperous, while others are weaker. The less fortunate pay the price by having their groups become even smaller, as their share does not go or goes fewer women– therefore, there are fewer children. In short, inequality inevitably arises between groups and households. It is not that some are full, others are hungry, because in the community there is a reliably functioning mechanism of reciprocal exchange, which plays the role of insurance.
In a community there are always several highest prestigious positions (elder, council members), the possession of which not only increases rank and status, the applicants seeking them, mainly from the heads of family groups, must either acquire considerable prestige in approximately the same way as was done in local groups, i.e. through generous distribution of surplus food. But if in a local group the applicant gave away what he himself had obtained, now the head of the group could distribute what was obtained by the labor of the entire group, the property of which he had the right to dispose of. (Vasiliev L.S.)
Thus, Vasiliev emphasizes that the elder had the right to dispose of the community’s resources at his own discretion, and this in turn speaks of the elder’s great authority. Vasiliev places the elder above other inhabitants of the community, and this is already an indicator of the manifestation of power.
When speaking about the social structure, power and management in a primitive society, it is necessary to keep in mind mainly the period of a mature primitive society, because during the period of collapse the primitive communal system and the power and management inherent in it undergo certain changes.
The social structure of a mature primitive society is characterized by two main forms of unification of people - clan and tribe. Almost all the peoples of the world went through these forms, in connection with which the primitive communal system is often called the tribal organization of society.
The clan (tribal community) is historically the first form of social association of people. It was a family-production union based on blood or presumed kinship, collective labor, joint consumption, common property and social equality. Sometimes the clan is identified with the family. However, this is not quite true. The clan was not a family in the modern sense. A clan is precisely a union, an association of people related to each other by family ties, although in in a certain sense a clan can also be called a family.
Another important form of social association of primitive people was the tribe. A tribe is a larger and later social formation that arises with the development of primitive society and the increase in the number of clan communities. A tribe is a union of tribal communities, again based on kinship ties, which has its own territory, name, language, common religious and everyday rituals. The unification of clan communities into tribes was caused by various circumstances, including such as joint hunting of large animals, repelling attacks from enemies, attacks on other tribes, etc.
In addition to clans and tribes, in primitive society there are also such forms of unification of people as phratries and tribal unions. Phratries (brotherhoods) are either artificial associations of several related clans, or the original branched clans. They were an intermediate form between clan and tribe and did not occur among all, but only among some peoples (for example, among the Greeks). Tribal unions are associations that arose among many peoples, but already during the period of decomposition of the primitive communal system. They were created either to fight wars or to protect against external enemies. According to some modern researchers, it was from tribal alliances that early states developed.
Clans, phratries, tribes, tribal unions, being various forms social association of primitive people, at the same time differed little from each other. Each of them is just a larger, and therefore more complex form compared to the previous one. But they were all the same type of associations of people, based on blood or presumed kinship.
Now let's see how Marx K. and Engels F. imagined power and control during the period of mature primitive society .
Power as the ability and opportunity to exert a certain influence on the activities and behavior of people using any means (authority, will, coercion, violence, etc.) is inherent in any society. It arises with him and is his indispensable attribute. Power gives society organization, controllability and order. Public power is public power, although public power often means only state power, which is not entirely correct. Closely related to public power is management, which is a way of exercising power and putting it into practice. To manage means to lead, to dispose of someone or something.
The public power of a primitive society, which, in contrast to state power, is often called potestar (from the Latin “potestas” - power, power), is characterized by the following features. Firstly, she was not cut off from society and did not stand above it. It was carried out either by the society itself or by persons chosen by it, who did not have any privileges and could be revoked at any time and replaced by others. This government did not have any special management apparatus, any special category of managers, which is available in any state. Secondly, the public power of primitive society was based, as a rule, on public opinion and the authority of those who exercised it. Coercion, if it took place, came from the entire society - clan, tribe, etc. - and any special coercive bodies in the form of the army, police, courts, etc., which again exist in any state , wasn’t here either.
In the clan community as the primary form of unification of people, power, and with it management, looked like this. The main body of both power and management was, as is commonly believed, the clan assembly, which consisted of all adult members of the clan. It resolved all the most important issues in the life of the tribal community. To resolve current, everyday issues, it chose an elder or leader. The elder or leader was elected from among the most authoritative and respected members of the clan. He did not have any privileges compared to other members of the clan. Like everyone else, he took part in production activities and, like everyone else, received his share. His power rested solely on his authority and respect for him from other members of the clan. At the same time, he could be removed from his position by the clan assembly at any time and replaced by another. In addition to the elder or leader, the clan assembly elected a military leader (military leader) for the duration of military campaigns and some other “officials” - priests, shamans, sorcerers, etc., who also did not have any privileges.
In the tribe, the organization of power and management was approximately the same as in the clan community. The main body of power and administration here, as a rule, was the council of elders (leaders), although along with it there could also be a popular assembly (meeting of the tribe). The council of elders included elders, chiefs, military leaders and other representatives of the clans that make up the tribe. The Council of Elders decided all the main issues of the life of the tribe with the broad participation of the people. To resolve current issues, as well as during military campaigns, a tribal leader was elected, whose position was practically no different from the position of an elder or leader of the clan. Like the elder, the leader of the tribe did not have any privileges and was considered only the first among equals.
The organization of power and administration in phratries and tribal unions was similar. Just as in clans and tribes, here there are people's assemblies, councils of elders, councils of leaders, military leaders and other bodies that are the personification of the so-called primitive democracy. No special apparatus of control or coercion, as well as power divorced from society, does not yet exist here. All this begins to appear only with the decomposition of the primitive communal system.
Thus, from the point of view of its structure, primitive society was a fairly simple organization of human life, based on family ties, collective labor, public property and social equality of all its members. Power in this society was truly popular in nature and was built on the principles of self-government. No special administrative apparatus, which exists in any state, existed here, since all issues of public life were decided by society itself. There was no special coercive apparatus in the form of courts, army, police, etc., which is also a property of any state. Coercion, if there was a need for it (for example, expulsion from a clan), came only from society (clan, tribe, etc.) and from no one else. In modern language, society itself was parliament, government, and court. (Marx K., Engels F.)
Below we see an interesting form of describing the power features of a tribal community. Unfortunately, the author is not specified.
The power features of the clan community are as follows:
1. Power was of a public nature, emanating from the entire society as a whole (this was manifested in the fact that all important matters were decided by a general meeting of the clan);
2. Power was built on the principle of consanguinity, that is, it extended to all members of the clan, regardless of their location;
3. There was no special apparatus of management and coercion (authority functions were performed as an honorable duty, elders and leaders were not exempt from productive labor, but carried out both managerial and production functions- therefore, power structures were not separated from society);
4. The occupation of any positions (leader, elder) was not influenced by either the social or economic status of the applicant; their power was based solely on personal qualities: authority, wisdom, courage, experience, respect of fellow tribesmen;
5. Performing managerial functions did not provide any privileges;
6. Social regulation was carried out using special means, the so-called. mononorm. [ 6, With. 32-70]
Chapter 3. Regulatory regulation in primitive society
Social norms included mainly customs - historically established rules of behavior that became habitual as a result of repeated use over a long time and became a natural need of people. Customs were a natural product of the primitive communal system itself, the result and a necessary condition his life activity. Customs arose in connection with the social need to embrace general rules daily repeating acts of production, distribution and exchange of products, to create an order in which the individual would be subject to the general conditions of production. In my opinion, it should be noted that some, and indeed very important, customs of primitive society could neither be discovered, nor invented, nor even generated by the repetition of known processes. The equality of all members of society, including women, which seems to be such an achievement now, stemmed from the existing relations of the primitive communal system, as a natural historical result of the formation of individuals into the original forms of the collective. Equality existed because there was no basis for inequality and the latter was not recognized as something possible, which did not exclude authority and recognition of special qualities, the promotion of some outstanding individuals. The same can be said about the custom of common land ownership.
Common ownership of land and tools, equality of members of society and blood ties underlying clans and tribes, i.e. that entire social structure that replaced the horde, together constitutes the real basis for the entire mass of customs, despite their diversity. The possibility of consolidating customs and instillations imposed on a person due to the mutual dependence of individuals among whom labor is divided gave rise to labor processes, forming a language with its ability to communicate and abstractions.
Many customs were at the same time norms of primitive morality and religion, and were associated with the administration of ingrained rites and rituals. For example, the natural division of functions in the labor process and even the simplest division of responsibilities between a man and a woman, an adult and a child are considered simultaneously as a custom, as a moral norm, and as a dictate of religion.
All significant events in a person’s life are also accompanied by solemn rites and ceremonies of a predominantly religious nature. The attitude of the ancients towards religion and morality was different than at the time of class inequality. While Christianity connects human behavior with rewards in the other world and thereby aligns people with the social system that it protects, the religion of the ancients, for example the mythology of the Greeks and Romans, directly and directly linked the conditions of earthly well-being (harvest, livestock production, etc.) d.) with the power and benevolence of a given god or a whole host of gods. Therefore, the ritual rite preceding the start of field work was not just a religious act, but also a production one. Direct benefits were expected from him, and therefore neglect of the details of the ritual was viewed as a social disaster.
Numerous prohibitions (taboos), which were a means of protecting custom, were of great importance. First discovered among Polynesians. The taboo was then discovered among all peoples at a certain stage of development. Emerging at the very dawn of history, taboo played a huge role in strengthening exogamous orders and in the social regulation of the sexual regime in general. Thanks to taboos, primitive society managed to achieve discipline that ensured the extraction and reproduction of life's goods. The taboo protected hunting grounds, bird nesting places and animal rookeries from excessive, unjustified destruction; it ensured this form of division of labor and these conditions for the existence of people in a collective. “The taboo system regulated, to one degree or another, almost all aspects of the life of primitive man, both personal and social. “The taboo-protected regulation was based on a rational character. “The motivation of such taboos by religious ideology is clear and coincides in content with the basic regulations of law and morality, but is dressed in the form of a religious prohibition. “Primitive man was very afraid of breaking a taboo, because, according to his ideas and beliefs, this would be punished by the spirits.” "That. a taboo is nothing more than a religious form that embodies real content, a special kind of sanction; following a deviation from the dominant ideology in society.” A taboo in itself does not create either custom or morality, but it reinforces custom with extraordinary force and protects it. [ 9, 68-75]
At the end of the 70s, the concepts of primitive mononorm and mononormatics were proposed in Russian ethnology. A mononorm was understood as an undifferentiated, syncrete rule of behavior, which cannot be attributed to either the field of law, or the field of morality with its religious awareness, or the field of etiquette, since it combines the features of any behavioral norm.
The concept of a primitive mononorm has received noticeable recognition and further development in Russian ethnology, archeology, and most importantly, in theoretical jurisprudence. Scientists began to distinguish two stages in the evolution of primitive mononormatics: classical and dating back to the time of its stratification.
A special opinion regarding the first stage of mononormatics was expressed by the largest Russian historian of primitiveness, Yu.I. Semenov. At the beginning of this stage, he identified tabooity - a set of not always understandable, but formidable instructions, punishable by death for such grave crimes as, for example, incest, violation of exogamy. As is known, violation of exogamy is one of the manifestations of sexual taboos, to which an impressive literature is devoted. (Dumanov, Pershits)
Were primitive customs law? Some modern researchers answer this question in the affirmative. However, one can agree with this only if law here is understood as natural law. But even in this case, it is hardly correct to call primitive customs law, since primitive religion and primitive morality found their expression in them to no less (if not more) degree. In this regard, primitive customs can just as easily be called religion or morality. In addition, these customs did not yet clearly distinguish between the rights and obligations of members of society. Therefore, it is quite justified to call them mononorms, as many modern researchers do, taking into account that in primitive customs it is syncretic, i.e. in unity, in an undivided form, legal, religious, and moral (moral) principles are expressed .
The system of normative regulation in primitive society is characterized by the following features:
1. Natural ( like the organization of power) character, historically determined process of formation.
2. Action based on the mechanism of custom.
3. Syncreticity, indivisibility of the norms of primitive morality, religious, ritual and other norms. ( Hence their name - “mononorms”, which was introduced by the Russian ethnographer A.I. Pershits.)
4. The prescriptions of mononorms did not have a providing-binding nature: their requirements were not regarded as a right or obligation, because they were an expression of socially necessary, natural conditions human life activity. F. Engels wrote about this: “Within the clan system there is still no distinction between rights and duties; for the Indian there is no question whether participation in public affairs, blood feud or the payment of a ransom for it is a right or an obligation; such a question would seem to him as absurd as the question whether food, sleep, hunting are a right or a duty? ( "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State", 1884). A member of the clan simply did not separate himself and his interests from the clan organization and its interests.
5. Dominance of prohibitions. Mainly in the form of a taboo, that is, an indisputable prohibition, the violation of which is punishable by supernatural forces. It is assumed that historically the first taboo was the prohibition of incest - consanguineous marriages.
6. Extension only to this tribal collective ( violation of custom is a “related matter”).
7. Normative and regulatory significance of myths, sagas, epics, tales and other forms of artistic social consciousness.
8. Specific sanctions - condemnation of the offender’s behavior by the clan group ( "public censure"), ostracism ( expulsion from the clan community, as a result of which a person found himself “without clan and tribe,” which was practically tantamount to death). Bodily injury and the death penalty were also used.
Law, like the state, arises as a result of the natural historical development of society, as a result of processes occurring in the social organism. At the same time, there are different theoretical versions of the origin of law. One of them is set out in great detail in the theory of Marxism. An approximate scheme is as follows: social division of labor and growth of productive forces - surplus product - private property - antagonistic classes - state and law as instruments of class domination. Thus, in this model, the political reasons for the emergence of law come to the fore.
Modern authors in explaining the genesis of law use the concept of the Neolithic revolution ( from the word “Neolithic” - new Stone Age), which occurs approximately in the VIII-III centuries. BC e. and consists in the transition from an appropriating economy to a producing one. There is a need to regulate the production, distribution and exchange of goods, to harmonize the interests of different social strata, class contradictions, that is, to establish general order, corresponding to the needs of the producing economy.
The formation of law is manifested:
a) in the recording of customs, the formation of customary law;
b) in bringing the texts of customs to the public;
c) in the appearance of special organs ( state), responsible for the existence of fair universal rules, their official consolidation in clear and accessible forms, and ensuring their implementation.
The judicial activity of priests, supreme rulers and persons appointed by them played an important role in sanctioning customs and creating judicial precedents.
Thus, a fundamentally new regulatory system arises ( right), which is distinguished by the content of the rules, methods of influencing people’s behavior, forms of expression, mechanisms for ensuring .
Conclusion
As noted in previous chapters, society moves from one stage of development to another. The emergence of state and law is one of the laws of history. As was traced in this course work, power in primitive society gradually developed, as did social norms, which passed their evolutionary path from customs and taboos to the first rudiments of law. And eventually this led to the creation of the state. After all, as noted above, the process of creating a state is one of the most important patterns of history, one of the last rounds of the activity of the human mind. At some stage in the development of primitive society, people realized that if they did not transform their activities, social norms and power, then the road to life, the road to the future was closed. And from this moment the transformation of social norms into law begins, and the transformation of power into the state.
In conclusion, we can say that this topic has not been fully studied and remains relevant to this day, because there are many different opinions on this issue that has not yet been fully clarified. The study of the problems of the emergence of state and law is the most important direction of science, since without awareness of what happened before us, we will not be able to fully understand what kind of world we live in now, and even more so, what the world will be like after us.
Bibliography
- Vengerov A.B. Theory of Government and Rights. Omega-L.2004.
- K. Marx and F. Engels. Op. T.22.
- . Shtow B.C. Etnagraf1chnaya spadchsha. Belarus. Krasha i lyudz1 Mn., 1996
- Ancient civilizations / S.S. Averintsev, V.P. Alekseev, V.A. Ardzinba and others; Under general editorship G.M. Bongard-Levin. M., 1989; Lamberg-Karlovski K., Sablov J. Ancient civilizations. Middle East and Mesoamerica /Trans. from English A.A. Ponomarenko and I.S. Klochkova. M., 1992; Berman G.J. Western tradition of law: the era of formation / Transl. from English M., 1994; Toynbee A.J. Comprehension of history / Transl. from English M., 1996
- A.F. Vishnevsky, N.A. Gorbatok, V.A. Kuchinsky. General theory of state and law. Minsk. "Theseus" 1999.
- Vasiliev L.S. History of the East // Reader on the history of state and law foreign countries. T.2. Krasnoyarsk, 2002.
- Dumanov Kh.M., Pershits A.I. Mononormatics and initial law // State and law, 2000, No. 1. With. 98-103
- Marx K. Engels F. Works 2nd edition T.21. With. 97-98
- I. L. Andreev. The origin of man and society. Thought 1988.
- V. P. Alekseev A. I. Pershits. History of primitive society. graduate School 1990
). A distinctive feature of social power and the norms of the primitive communal order is that they expressed and ensured the unity of the community of people, due to severe economic necessity. The tools of work were primitive, the productivity of work was low, and for people there was no other choice but to live together - in groups, clans, tribes, and jointly own and use the means of production. This served as the reason for the need for public ownership of the means of production and distribution of the products of work on the basis of equality.
The social power of the original society was characterized by a number of features:
Firstly, the basis of the organization of society was the clan (tribal community) - an association of people based on real or conditional blood relations, as well as community of property and work. Each clan acted as an independent economic unit. The clans were united into tribes or a union of tribes.
Secondly, social power was built on the principles of original democracy, public self-government and was based on authority, respect, and traditions. The authorities were the clan assembly, i.e. gatherings of all adult members of the clan and elders. Some functions of power were performed by military leaders. The general affairs of the tribe were led by a council formed from the elders and military leaders of the clans.
Thirdly, social power was united, since there was a kind of inherent mutual assistance; There were no groups with opposing interests within the clan organization, and therefore all issues were balanced relatively easily, without conflicts.
The rules for the circulation of people in the original society were customs - historically formed norms of circulation that became a habit as a result of repeated use over a long time. They regulated the work and life of members of the clan, family relationships etc. At the same time, these were the norms for the organization of social life, and the norms of original morality, and the norms of religion associated with the performance of rites and rituals.
What is characteristic of the social norms of the primitive communal order is that they were dictated by economic necessity, expressed the interests of all members of the primitive society, existed in the consciousness and circulation of people, did not provide for a clear distribution of rights and responsibilities, their implementation was ensured mainly by habit.
Power in primitive society personified the strength and will of a clan or a union of clans: the source and bearer of power (the ruling subject) was the clan, it was aimed at managing common affairs of the clan, all its members were subject to (the object of power). Here the subject and object of power completely coincided, therefore it was by its nature directly social, i.e. not separated from society and non-political. The only way to implement it was public self-government. Neither professional managers nor special enforcement bodies existed then.
The highest body of public power in the clan was the meeting of all adult members of society - men and women. The assembly is as ancient an institution as the clan itself. It solved all the main issues of his life. Here leaders (elders, chiefs) were elected for a term or to carry out certain tasks, disputes between individuals were resolved, etc.
The decisions of the meeting were binding on everyone, as well as the instructions of the leader. Although public power did not have special coercive institutions, it was quite real, capable of effective coercion for violations existing rules behavior. Punishment strictly followed for the committed offenses, and it could be quite cruel - the death penalty, expulsion from the clan and tribe. In most cases, a simple reproach, remark, or censure was enough. No one had privileges, and therefore no one escaped punishment. But the clan, as one person, stood up to defend its relative, and no one could evade blood feud - neither the offender nor his relatives.
The simple relationships of primitive society were regulated by customs - historically established rules of behavior that became habits as a result of upbringing and repeated repetition of the same actions and deeds. Already at the early stages of the development of society, collective skills acquire the importance of customs. labor activity, hunting, etc. In the most important cases, the labor process was accompanied by ritual actions. For example, hunter training was filled with mystical content and surrounded by mysterious rituals.
The customs of pre-state society had the character of undifferentiated “mononorms”; they were at the same time norms for the organization of social life, and norms of primitive morality, and ritual and ceremonial rules. Thus, the natural division of functions in the labor process between man and woman, adult and child was considered simultaneously as a production custom, as a moral norm, and as a dictate of religion.
Mono-norms were initially dictated by the “natural” basis of the appropriating society, in which man is part of nature. In them, rights and responsibilities seemed to merge together. True, a special place was occupied by such a means of ensuring customs as taboo (prohibition). Having emerged at the very dawn of the history of human society, taboos played a huge role in regulating sexual relations and strictly prohibited marriage with blood relatives (incest). Thanks to taboos, primitive society maintained the necessary discipline that ensured the extraction and reproduction of life's goods. The taboo protected hunting grounds, bird nesting places and animal rookery from excessive destruction, and ensured the conditions for the collective existence of people.
In a pre-state society, customs, as a rule, were observed by virtue of authority and habit, but when the custom needed reinforcement through direct coercion, society acted as a collective bearer of force - binding, expelling and even dooming the violator (criminal) to death.
3. Social power in primitive society.
It is well known that the state did not always exist among peoples; its formation was preceded by a primitive communal system - an ancient type of collective or cooperative production. Labor skills were just being formed, the tools of labor were primitive. However, from the moment of the natural emergence of collectivity, human labor becomes collective, i.e. the joint labor of all members of the community, which acted as an economic form of organization of people.
The nature of the property was common, in other words, all the tools of labor, as well as the means of subsistence obtained with their help (fruits, fish, animals, etc.) belonged to everyone. Since the tools of labor and means of subsistence were used collectively, the distribution of the products of labor was egalitarian. Such collectivity, community, was a kind of “communism”, not the result of any socialization, but the natural state of the originally emerging collectivity.
The form of social organization in that period (after the primitive herd) was the clan, not only as an association of people related by ties of kinship (descending from the same ancestor), but also as a social group formed for joint farming. During the Bronze and Iron Ages, production relations changed - the collective appropriation of natural products grew into the collective appropriation of labor products, and the common ownership of tools and consumer products was transformed into communal property.
The social organization became different - the primitive herd was transformed into a clan as a carrier and accumulator of collective labor experience, which was constantly being improved. The clans were united into tribes, and the latter into a union of tribes. A need arose to manage public affairs, that is, a need for power, but the state did not yet exist in the generic structure of society. Although coercive power already existed, it was non-political, because was not associated with the state.
Power is an ancient and ubiquitous, universal property of any social organization, in which the element of domination and the element of subordination are reflected in everything that, being composed of several parts, represents a single whole.
In its original, rudimentary form, the tribal organization is power exercised in the interests of the whole society. Its embodiment was general meetings of members of the clan, tribe, councils of elders as “first among equals”, the head of the clan, the leader of the tribe, who, by seniority, received the right to govern the clan and tribe in the interests of all relatives and fellow tribesmen.
At first, power did not provide any material advantages, but rested only on authority. Subsequently, it began to change and take on new forms that were not originally characteristic of it.
4. Social norms of primitive society.
In primitive society there were certain rules of behavior - social norms. Such norms were customs - historically established rules of behavior that became habits as a result of repeated use over a long time and became a natural need of people. They regulated the work, life of clan members, family relationships, i.e. served as a regulator of social relations. Many of them were at the same time norms of primitive morality and religion, and were associated with the practice of ingrained rites and rituals.
The characteristic features of primitive customs were as follows:
they came from the clan and expressed its will and interests;
they acted by force of habit, were performed voluntarily, and, if necessary, their observance was ensured by the entire clan. There were no special bodies protecting the inviolability of customs. If necessary, persuasion, and sometimes coercion, was applied to violators of customs, which came from the entire clan or tribe;
at that time there was no distinction between the rights and duties of members of the clan society: rights were perceived as duties, and duties as rights.
Consequently, public power and norms of behavior in the era of pre-state society corresponded to the level of its economic, social, and intellectual. cultural and spiritual development, the maturity of the person himself.
5. Functions of the state in early class societies.
6. General social and class essence of the state.
The essence of the state is to ensure, through the apparatus of political power, the integrity of society and its proper functioning in the era of civilization. Those. in a situation where society exists as a sovereign, independent organism and when democracy is established in it - democracy, economic freedom, personal freedom.
The highest social purpose of the state is to guarantee, on an authoritative basis, freedom in society, to create firm and stable conditions under which the integrity of society and its proper functioning are achieved mainly due to economic and spiritual factors.
The existence and strength of power in the state, based on the apparatus of coercion, are justified insofar as on its basis the administrative, provisional and protective functions of the state are carried out.
At the same time, power in the state can also be used as an independent, self-sufficient force, including for the implementation of group, narrow class, clan, personal and other interests that do not coincide with the needs of society, as well as for solving religious or other ideological problems, for example, to realize the communist utopia.
In such a situation, the state loses its social purpose, in many ways it becomes a group - class, nationalistic - entity, an instrument of political struggle, the achievement of narrow class or nationalist goals, and hence a negative force in society. The entire complex of state institutions does not receive development, and the state itself - despite the vastness, cumbersomeness, complexity and even refinement of the apparatus of power - remains undeveloped, authoritarian or totalitarian.
Institutions, “power” structures, etc. Discipline is a powerful remedy against disorganization in its various forms and degrees. 87 TOPIC 1: SUBJECT AND METHOD OF TGP 1 General characteristics of the science “theory of state and law”. TGiP refers to the general theoretical part of legal science (it should be noted that legal sciences do not include GiP, but namely the Theory of GiP, i.e. theoretical knowledge...
Re-officially published in full. 3. Contents of the legal relationship. Legal relationship is a strong-willed social relationship protected by the state, the participants of which are bound by mutual legal rights and obligations. The concept of “legal relationship” is one of the most important categories general theory of law. Signs of a legal relationship: 1. A legal relationship is a social relationship, that is...
Integration function. The rights and freedoms of the inhabitants of Russia are proclaimed in the Declaration of Rights and Freedoms of Man and Citizen, adopted by the Supreme Council, and enshrined in the Constitution 55. State law and economics 1. State legal impact on the economy. As an object of state and legal influence, the economy is a complex and developing phenomenon. Archaeologists have discovered...
It represents people’s psychological experiences about their rights and responsibilities, and official law is a set of norms. 47 Normativist theory of law Kelsen, Stammler – Law is a hierarchy of norms, a normative regulator of social relations; it is unthinkable without the state, and the state is unthinkable without law. 48 Forms (sources) of law... - ways of consolidating and expressing legal...
Home > Tutorial2.1.2. Primitive society: organization of power and norms of behavior
Primitive society became historically the first organization of human interaction and at the same time the pre-state stage of human development. It was a society of equal, but equal in poverty people. Reasons for the emergence of primitive society :difficult climatic conditions;
the need for unification when obtaining food (mammoths);
the need for collective protection from predators.
lack of political organization of society;
lack of legal norms;
appropriating character of the economy, public property for means of production, equal distribution of products.
2.1.3. Origin of the state: causes and conditions
The extinction of large animals caused by climate change and their mass extermination by people, led to the collapse of large hunting clans. An increase in the population with a decrease in hunting objects contributed to the expansion of the diet due to plant foods. At the same time, there is a process of improving tools and methods of production. An important stage in the development of primitive society was transition from an appropriating economy to a producing one(from gathering to agriculture, from hunting to cattle breeding), the so-called Neolithic revolution. Happening first social division of labor : agriculture is separated from pastoralism, which radically changes the nature of social relations in primitive society, namely:the labor process becomes more complex, the tools of labor are improved, the result of labor began to depend on the individual family;
during the movement and interaction of tribal associations, tribal ties are replaced by territorial ones;
The tribal community is transformed into a neighboring one, which, unlike the tribal community, no longer has consanguineous ties, has separate property of individual families, communal land was distributed between families, which created the basis for private property.
within the community, the process of accumulation of surpluses among individual families develops, which leads to wealth inequality and the emergence of exploitation;
becomes more complicated management activities: the role of public authority: the positions of leaders become hereditary, leaders and elders acquire privileges;
wealth inequality leads to class formation;
in the conditions of warfare, a peculiar system is formed - military democracy: military men are singled out who only fight and receive rewards from their fellow tribesmen;
voluntary donations to the military are further transformed V mandatory fee tribute for the maintenance of the army and the administrative apparatus.
"eastern" path (typical form;
"western path" (unique form).
the first states that arose in the Ancient East were pre-class;
land communities and collective ownership of the means of production are preserved (private property plays a secondary role);
all states were absolute monarchies, despotisms (pharaoh, despot);
all states had a powerful bureaucracy:
absence of personal slaves, presence of state slavery.
in the religious mass consciousness there was a special mystical attitude towards power, royalty, and the ruler.
class division of society due to internal contradictions;
intensive formation of private property;
public power is used to protect the property classes;
the predominance of personal slaves.
Formation of the state in Russia
First point of view . In Russia, the formation of the state followed the pattern of Ancient Greece: East Slavs lived on a flat area where farming could be done; there was always more than enough land; nothing prevented them from engaging in both cattle breeding and beekeeping; Elders have long been revered in Rus'; The Tsar was always called "Tsar-Father". Second point of view . The factor of violence played an important role in education Russian state. Yes, the Russian tribes were engaged in agriculture and trade (the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” passed through their territory). It should be taken into account that they lived in a very harsh climate, and therefore trade and agriculture were short-term in nature and did not provide much income. Residents, especially northerners, were forced to engage in robbery (attack travelers and take away food products). You can also remember that the Russian princes endlessly sorted out relations among themselves with the help of the sword. Third point of view . The formation of the Russian state is similar to the formation of the Egyptian one. The construction of structures that require special organizers - future civil servants - can be understood as not only irrigation (moistening the soil), but also all other large structures that require the involvement of large mass people, for example the same pyramids or defensive structures. The Slavs lived in an open, flat area. They were constantly subject to raids by the Huns, Pechenegs, Mongols, barbarians and others and were forced to build large defensive structures (fortress walls, ditches, ramparts, artificial water barriers, etc.) These works required a lot of organization and special “organizers” who became subsequently government employees. Fourth point of view . The process of state formation in Russia can be called diffusion. Experience state life in Russia came from Western Europe, whose peoples have lived under the state for several centuries and have managed to become convinced of its effectiveness. There is written evidence that the Russian princes turned to the Varangians with a request to come to reign with them (Nestor's chronicle).2.1.4. Theories of the origin of the state
Even in ancient times, people began to think about the origin of the state. Many theories have been created that explain this problem in different ways. The difference in views among the authors of the theories is explained by the specific historical conditions in which they lived and their ideological affiliation. 1. Theological theory . This theory of the origin of state and law was one of the first to explain the emergence of the state as a result of divine will. Its representatives were F. Aquinas, J. Maritain, F. Lebuff. A theological theory cannot be proven, nor can it be directly refuted. The question of truth is resolved together with the question of the existence of God, the Supreme Mind, that is, it is ultimately a question of faith. 2. Patriarchal theory . Originated in ancient times. Its founder was Aristotle, N. Mikhailovsky and others. The meaning of this theory is that the state arises from a family that grows from generation to generation. The head of the family becomes the head of state - the monarch. His power is thus a continuation of his father's power. 3. Organic theory . This theory originated in the 19th century. Its representatives were G. Spencer, Worms, Preuss. According to the organic theory, humanity itself arises as a result of the evolution of the animal world - from lower to higher. Further development leads to the unification of people through the process of natural selection into a single organism - a state in which the government performs the functions of the brain and controls the entire organism. The lower classes provide his livelihood. 4. Theory of violence . It arose in the 19th century, its representatives were L. Gumplowicz, K. Kautsky, E. Dühring. They explained the emergence of the state by factors of a military-political nature, i.e. the conquest of one tribe by another. In this regard, a state is created and laws are passed to suppress the enslaved tribe. 5. Psychological theory . Representatives of this theory, which arose in the 19th century, were G. Tarde, L.I. Petrazhitsky. They explained the emergence of state and law through the properties of the human psyche, i.e. the need to obey and be dependent on the elite. 6. Contractual (natural law) theory . This theory was formulated in the works of G. Grotius, T. Hobbes, D. Locke, B. Spinoza, J.-J. Russo, A.N. Radishcheva. According to this theory, in the process of human development, the rights of some people come into conflict with the rights of other people, order is disrupted, and violence arises. To ensure a normal life, people enter into an agreement among themselves to create a state, voluntarily transferring to it part of their rights. 7. Irrigation theory . Its representative is the modern German scientist K. Wittfogel. He associates the emergence of the state with the need to build giant irrigation structures in the eastern agricultural regions. 8. Materialist (Marxist, class) theory . Its representatives are K. Marx, F. Engels, V.I. Lenin. They explain the emergence of the state, first of all, by socio-economic reasons. The state arises as a product of intransigence, class struggle, as an instrument of suppression of other classes by the ruling class. As a result of economic development, society itself, its productive and distribution spheres, become more complex. This requires improved management, which leads to the emergence of a state.Topic 2.2. Society and law. Origin of law
2.2.1. Rules of behavior in primitive society
Each society has certain norms, expressed in the form of various instructions on how to behave correctly. Within the framework of these instructions, special means of reward and punishment began to emerge that stimulate people to comply with social norms; they were called sanctions. For a long time the life of primitive society was regulated by regulations, which were contained in customs ( custom- ordinary, habitual behavior), rituals, myths, ritual and religious norms. They were sufficient for the conditions of the appropriating economy and ensured the harmonious coexistence of tribal communities with the natural environment. The guardians of the clan's customs were priests: sorcerers, shamans, and fortune-tellers. The norms of primitive society were aimed at preserving the clan, tribe, and were distinguished by severity. The rules of behavior of primitive society are called mononorms ( from Greek - “unified”), there was no distinction between rights and duties: a right is perceived as a duty, and a duty as a right. Characteristic signs of primitive customs:they came from the clan and expressed its will and interests;
were performed voluntarily out of habit, and if necessary, their observance was carried out forcibly;
there were no special governing bodies protecting the inviolability of customs;
there was no difference between rights and obligations: a right is perceived as an obligation, and an obligation as a right;
existed in the minds of people, without, as a rule, having a written form of expression.
Based on customs, certain ways regulation of social relations, such as:
regulations – certain permissions;
totem - obligations to perform certain actions, for example, to preserve certain species of animals.
taboo – prohibitions to perform certain actions, supported by fear of religious retribution.
2.2.2. Reasons for the emergence of law
The reasons and conditions that gave rise to law are in many ways similar to the reasons that gave birth to the state, since they are designed to ensure the effectiveness of each other. Just as it is impossible for a state to exist without law (the latter organizes political power and often acts as a means of implementing the policies of a particular state), so it is impossible for law to exist without the state (which establishes, applies and guarantees legal norms). Law historically arose as a class phenomenon and expressed, first of all, the will and interests of the economically dominant classes. The reasons for the emergence of the right were:increasing complexity of social connections;
exacerbation of contradictions in society, the regulation of which primitive norms were less and less able to cope with.
- Outgrowing mononorms(primitive customs) into the norms of customary law and their sanction in this regard by the power of the state. State lawmaking, which is expressed in the publication of special documents - regulations (laws, decrees, etc.). Formation of judicial (case) law, consisting of specific decisions (adopted by the judicial authorities and acquiring the character of samples, standards for resolving similar cases).
2.2.3. Theories of the origin of law
1. Theological theory . Its representative is F. Aquinas. The essence of the theory: law, like everything earthly, is of divine origin - it was created by God to regulate human behavior. It is given to a person through the medium of a prophet or ruler. 2. Natural law theory . Its representatives: Confucius, Aristotle, Cicero, etc. The essence of the theory: natural law(the right to life, freedom, equality, etc.) is inherent in man from birth, and therefore on earth one cannot neglect those rights that are granted to people by nature. Later, after the conclusion of a social contract on the creation of a state, the so-called positive law, i.e. norms and rules of behavior that are created by the state and accompanied by sanctions for their violation. This position protected the interests of the individual and proved the importance of respecting human rights. 3. Theory of violence . Its representatives: L. Gumplowicz, K. Kautsky, E. Dühring. The essence of the theory: the reason for the emergence of law is violence, conquest. There is a right public order, established on the captured territory and beneficial to the conquerors. 4. Conciliatory theory . Its representatives: G. Berman, E. Anners. The essence of the theory: law arose as a result of the need to stop conflicts between clans. In order to avoid unfavorable losses of people as a result of these conflicts, reconciliation agreements were signed between clans through the mediation of the council of elders, on the basis of which rules of law subsequently arose, which were first passed down from generation to generation orally, and then were formalized by the state in the form of laws containing themselves sanctions for their violation. 5. Historical theory . Its representatives: G. Hugo, C. Savigny. The essence of the theory: law is not created by the legislator, but arises spontaneously, as a result of the development of the national spirit, in much the same way as language arises. The state, having found a ready-made law, turns it into effective legislation. Since law is a manifestation of the peculiarities of the national character of a particular people, it does not have a universal effect: the law of one people is not applicable to other peoples. 6. Marxist theory . Its representatives: K. Marx, F. Engels. The essence of the theory: law is the result of class struggle, determined economic conditions life of society and represents the will of the ruling class elevated to law.SECTION 3. THEORY OF THE STATE
Topic 3.1. The state, its essence, characteristics and types
3.1.1. The concept of the state, its characteristics
The term "state" is used in two meanings:state– this is a country on the world map;
state is an organization of power that directs people’s lives in a certain direction.
- Territory–uh this is the spatial basis of the state. It includes land, subsoil, water and air space, etc. Without territory, a state does not exist, although its territory may change over time (shrink after defeat in a war or increase during conquest). Population–
it consists of people living on the territory of the state. The population of a state can consist of one people (nation) or be multinational, as, for example, in Russia, where more than 60 nations live. Public power, i.e. public power capable of organizing the lives of a large mass of people. Power is the ability to influence people in the right direction, or, in other words, the ability to subjugate people to your will. Right is a system of generally binding rules of behavior. Unlike common law rules, legal rules are formed by government agencies and protected by the power of the state; those. special government bodies; Law enforcement–
they constitute a special system, which includes the courts, the prosecutor's office, the police, security agencies, foreign intelligence, tax police, customs authorities, etc. They are necessary for any state, because state power is exercised through rules of law or specific instructions (orders) that are imperative in nature. Army–
necessary to protect the territorial integrity of the state. Typically, border disputes and military conflicts arise between neighboring states, but modern weapons makes it possible to attack and seize the territory of countries located far from the aggressor state. That is why the armed forces still remain a necessary feature of any state. Taxes–
These are mandatory payments from the income received by citizens and organizations. Their amounts and terms of payment are established by the state by issuing laws. Taxes are necessary for maintenance government agencies, army, pension payments, benefits for large families, the unemployed, and the disabled. In our country, it is tax funds that finance education, science, culture, and healthcare. Tax revenues help eliminate the consequences of emergencies and natural Disasters. Sovereignty–
this is the independence of the state in resolving internal and external issues of its life, it is the independence, non-subordination, and non-accountability of the state to anyone.
internal sovereignty means that state power can resolve issues in the life of the country solely at its own discretion.
external sovereignty allows a state to build its relationships with other states based on its interests. In international relations, sovereignty is expressed in the fact that the authorities of this state are not legally obligated to obey other states.
Loading...
