AGENTS OF SOCIAL CHANGE: SOCIOLOGICAL TYPOLOGY

Abstract

The article analyzes the sociological typology of agents of social change. Attention is focused on the factors of the transformation of society in the antinomy «war – peace», in particular, it is about the consequences of the transition from a state of war to a peaceful life, associated with changes in value orientations, inter-sectoral interaction in conditions of instability and actualized subjectivity. The study found out the main types of leading agents of the modification of society, which have different effects on the formation and development of post-war life.

The humanitarian sphere plays a decisive role in the creation of a system that will become the basis of further institutional development of the country. Therefore, it is necessary to form in public consciousness a new value-normative axis based on the principles of inclusion, tolerance, encouragement and involvement, integration of society, which recognizes the multiplicity of interests, pluralism and postulates the priority of reconciliation. For the practical implementation of the idea, there is a growing demand for effective agents of social change.

The turn from the problem of subjectivity to the problem of agency, from the study of social actions to the study of social practices is a general trend of modern world sociology, particularly in Ukraine. In unstable societies characterized by unstable institutionality, a decisive role is played by motivated subjects of social action, who consider the social world as a space for transformations and a field for the realization of social creativity. They transform the social conditions and forms of not only their own, but also social existence with their practical activity. The actions of change agents are relatively free from the dictates of the social structure and dynamics of the social context of which they are a part, and given their innovative nature, they can simultaneously be a factor in social transformations.

It is now necessary to carefully study Ukrainian society regarding the formation of new agents of social change, necessary for building a sustainable, inclusive, internally integrated society, capable of solving the problems of post-war reconstruction of Ukraine as a modern European country.