Marchenko A. Evolution of the content and cognitive functions of the concept "social prestige" in sociology.

The dissertation explores the evolution of the content and cognitive functions of the concept "social prestige". It is proved that this concept has passed a long way following the development of sociology. This way was from the empirical level of sociology through the theories of an average stage to the theoretical sociology. In this process the objective analogue of the concept has become wider, as well as its theoretical, methodological, integral and cognitive potentials have been increasing. The extent of usage of the term "social prestige" has been defined. The main ontological dimensions and the characteristic features of the procedure of operationalization are also characterized. Special attention is paid to the cognitive functions of the mentioned concept: methodological, informative, ontological, logical, constructive, synthetic, heuristic and others. This is considered to be the direct illustration of becoming a category of sociology.