The Concept of Social Connection by Agnesa Zvonytska

Abstract

The article considers the problems of the sociological concept of social connection by the first Ukrainian female researcher, A. Zvonytska, and establishes connections between her and modern sociological theories. It is noted that A. Zvonytska singled out three aspects of sociality, which can be conditionally called cognitive, actional, and communicative (social connection must be established by individuals consciously, and it can manifest itself in their joint activities, which must be coordinated). A. Zvonytska considers three moments in the process of establishing a social connection: 1) the moment of acquisition by an individual of knowledge and properties from the surrounding psychological environment, or the projective moment, 2) the refraction of this acquired knowledge and properties in personal consciousness, or the subjective moment; 3) the assumption of the existence of these subjectively refracted properties in the surrounding personalities as well, or the aective moment. The negative consequences of breaking social ties in a situation of social conflict or social crisis are analyzed. The content of the regularities regarding the course of social conflicts formulated by A. Zvonytska is studied: 1) the deeper the social connection and closer relations in a social group, the sharper and stronger the social crisis occurs in it; 2) the stronger and more frequent the violation of norms that are imperative in the eyes of each conflict side, the stronger the indignation grows; 3) in the situation of the post-conflict state of society, hatred is replaced by social fatigue and a state of depression and apathy. It is emphasized that, according to A. Zvonytska, sympathy plays a significant role in the restoration of social connection. The social connection deepens sympathy, which in turn deepens social connection. It was concluded that sympathy becomes a social factor of cohesion of social groups and is the result of awareness of the similarity of the subjective experience of individuals.