The influence of political and legal doctrines of natural human rights on the formation of the substantive core of sociology

Objective of the study is to reveal the significance of the influence of political and legal doctrines on the formation of the substantive core of sociology, as well as the understanding of the place of legal sociology in sociological, legal and political science by Western European sociologists of the XIX – early XX centuries. The authors analyze the prerequisites, process and results of the development of the theory of natural law. It makes it possible to determine the main directions for further development of the general theoretical and methodological foundations of the doctrine of law and the state, the individual and civil society. The methodological basis of the study. The criteria of universal values as a measure of standards of universality can be classified in the interdisciplinary field of legal, political and sociological methods, which allow to establish their classification and typologization – the first component of their conditionality. The connection of political and legal institutions, which cannot be considered outside the sociological context shapes the second component of their conditionality. The third part consists in crossing the boundaries of institutional processes, the fourth – in explaining the content, and the fifth – in the fact that sociology itself could not have been created without the “emancipation” of man and his transformation into the main subject of political and legal processes. It is these components that let us assert their interrelatedness and dependance. The central thesis of the work is sociology itself. It shapes communication channels and performs a socializing function. The view on sociology as a link of politics and law with the problems of societies, modern and future determines the novelty of the topic. The results of the study. The effectiveness of human rights and freedoms depends on the social orientation of state institutions and the maturity of society, that are set by sociology. This statement is based on the fact that, without the intervention of sociological science, uncertainty has been taking place in Western countries for a long period of time. In this regard, we see politics and law through the prism of sociology (their connecting link and a criterion for evaluating their effectiveness). Special attention is paid to the principle of strengthening the status of a person in the state, as well as to such categories and phenomena as the social contract and natural human rights, which have received domestic and international legal status. The authors reveal that the theory of natural rights, which forms the foundation of human and civil rights and freedoms (manifested in the political and legal documents of modern states), forms the relationship between the values of freedom, social justice and the rule of law. Prospects of the study. There is the need to revise the history of sociology, since the initial stage of its formation should not be considered the formal positivist theory of Comte. It started in the Age of Enlightenment, focusing on the social context of a society. The establishment of a substantive and functional relationship between law, politics and sociology makes it possible to determine an acceptable vector of development of modern societies to become a rule of law state. The ideas and practices of the formation of the rule of law are relevant, as they allow us to define the boundaries, foundations and conditions of the state-legal transformations. The results of the study can be used as theoretical, methodological and analytical tools for the study of the transformation of the state-legal system of post-Soviet societies.