a) Social and Individual Consciousness

p Social consciousness does not exist in isolation from concrete individuals. It exists in their minds in the form of definite ideas, outlooks, feelings and wishes, characteristic of individual people. This in no way implies that everything characteristic of the consciousness of any individual represents a component part of social consciousness. The latter encompasses only those ideas, outlooks, feelings and strivings that express the common interests of people in a class society, i.e. the common interests of a class or any other social group, collective, and so on.

p The need thus arises for drawing a demarcation line between social and individual consciousness. Individual consciousness is the individual’s spiritual world. It represents the thoughts, feelings, emotions, customs and strivings of a particular person. It takes shape during his lifetime and practical activities and reflects the material conditions of his existence. Since individual 438 consciousness expresses the practical experience and conditions of life of a particular person, all its features are unique for the individual. Even so, it includes ideas, feelings and strivings that are also typical of other people, in particular, of all members of the given class or society as a whole (under socialism). In this respect, therefore, it is richer than social consciousness. But an individual possesses, as a rule, only some, rather than all, the ideas current in society, which means that in other respects individual consciousness is more limited than social consciousness.

Individual and social consciousness are interrelated and dialectically united: they interpenetrate and mutually enrich each other.

b) Social Psychology and Ideology

p The social consciousness of people is not homogeneous. It includes the most diverse spiritual phenomena, ranging from human feelings, experiences and moods to theories explaining the essence of society’s life, the direction of its development, and so forth. Some of these phenomena reflect human social being vaguely, while others do it precisely and clearly; some phenomena spontaneously arise in people’s every-day life, while others are deliberately created by a group of people.

p Taking account of this heterogeneity of the spiritual phenomena making up the social consciousness of people, historical materialism singles out two different realms and, at the same time, two 439 tiers of social consciousness. These are social psychology and ideology.

p The totality ot feelings, strivings, experiences, customs, thoughts and moods that arise during people’s every-day lite and reflect their social being, constitute social psychology.

p An ideology represents the totality ot ideas and outlooks reflecting the material conditions ot people’s life and their anri^J hcing in n logical

p The distinguishing feature of social psychology is that it directly reflects the conditions of people’s life and that this reflection is spontaneous and accidental, recording only the outward aspect of people’s being. Social psychology cannot express the essence of people’s material relations or the causes behind these relations and the direction in which they change. This is why it does not enable people to take their bearings in complex life situations and comprehend surrounding events.

p Social psychology is the first stage in people’s understanding of their social being.

p As distinct from social psychology, ideology represents a higher stage of social

p and a more profound understanding bv people of the material conditions of their life. Its mission Ts to expose the essence of human relations and to substantiate from the viewpoint of a particular social class the need for maintaining or changing these relations. Ideology is the understanding ot social being and all aspects of social life in a theoretical form. In contrast to psychology, which 440 is spontaneously tnrmf.il. if. is developed by a special group ol people, known as ideologists.

p Ideology is closely linked with psychology and expresses the same aspects and trends of social being as psychology does, but in a more precise and logical form. It is not, however, created as a result of the further development of social psychology. It grows out of already existing theories and views on the basis of the spiritual material that has accumulated over previous development.

p For example, socialist ideology resulted from the further elaboration of the economic, philosophical and sociological doctrines that preceded Marxism and from the generalisation of the development of science and the class struggle of the proletariat.

p Once it has taken shape, the ideology exerts an active influence on human psychology and is thus instrumental in transforming spontaneous movements of particular social classes and social groups into conscious actions.

In a class society, the social psychology and ideology have a distinctly class nature. Each class has its own psychology and ideology reflecting its economic position in society and its place in the system of social production, as well as its requirements and interests.

c) Forms of Social Consciousness

p The structure and composition of social consciousness has its own specific forms of existence and development, different from those of knowledge.

p It ha^s already been mentioned that social consciousness, which is a reflection of social being, does not remain passive, but exerts an active influence on the latter. Reflecting the different aspects of social being and influencing the most diverse sides of social life, social consciousness undergoes a process of differentiation. Some of its spheres begin to specialise in reflecting strictly circumscribed aspects of social being and in performing strictly prescribed social functions. This leads to the emergence of separate and independent forms of social consciousness possessing specific features and performing strictly defined social functions.

The major forms of social consciousness are: political ideology, legal consciousness, morals, the arts, religion, science and philosophy.