The society has existed for a long time. In a broad sense, this concept includes the interaction of people with nature and with each other, as well as ways of uniting them. In a narrower definition, society is represented by a set of people who are endowed with their own consciousness and will and who manifest themselves in the light of certain interests, moods and motives. Each society can be characterized by the following features: name, stable and holistic forms of human interaction, the presence of a history of creation and development, the presence of its own culture, self-sufficiency and self-regulation.
Historically, all the diversity of societies can be divided into three types: traditional, or agrarian, industrial, post-industrial. Each of them has certain features and characteristics that uniquely separate one form of social relations from another. Nevertheless, the types of society, although they differ among themselves, perform the same functions, such as the production of goods, the distribution of the results of labor activity, the formation of a specific ideology, the socialization of a person, and much more.
This type includes a set of social ideas and structures, which may be at different stages of development, but do not have a sufficient level of the industrial complex. The main interaction takes place between nature and man, with an important role being given to the survival of each individual. This category includes agrarian, feudal, tribal society and others. Each of them is characterized by low rates of production and development. Nevertheless, these types of society have a characteristic feature: the presence of an established social solidarity.
Characteristics of an industrial society
It has a complex and sufficiently developed structure, has a high degree of specialization and division of labor activity, and is also distinguished by the widespread introduction of innovations. Industrial types of society are formed in the presence of active urbanization processes, the growth of production automation, mass production of all kinds of goods, and the widespread use of scientific discoveries and achievements. The main interaction takes place between man and nature, in which there is the enslavement of the surrounding world by people.
Characteristics of the post-industrial society
This type of human relationship has the following features: the creation of highly intelligent technologies, the transition to a service economy, control over various mechanisms, the rise of highly educated specialists and the dominance of theoretical knowledge. The main interaction takes place between human and human. Nature acts as a victim of anthropogenic influence, therefore, programs are being developed to minimize industrial waste and environmental pollution, as well as to create highly efficient technologies that can ensure waste-free production.
Before going into details and understanding what types of society there are, you should define the concept itself. So, the totality of people, which was formed under the action of purposeful and rationally organized activity, is called a society. At the same time, individuals unite not because of deep principles, but thanks to a convention, the same directions of interests and a contract. Often, society is the name for the relationship established between individuals and in the state as a whole. Of course, thanks to such sciences as philosophy and sociology, the interpretation of the desired concept can occur from different angles and points of view, therefore, a more general definition is most often used, which reads as follows. Society is an independent collective of people, which has a special way and structure, is characterized by specific political relations and the choice of the form of state power.
The centuries-old history of human development has provided a fairly broad classification that affects not only all aspects of life, but also characterizes them from different points of view. Currently, scientists distinguish between the following main types of industrial and post-industrial. Let's consider each of these types in more detail to identify their differences and features.
1. Traditional
So, the first type of relationship between individuals unites in itself all the "early civilizations" that did not have a sufficient industrial complex. At the same time, the determining factor, due to which such types of society are difficult to confuse with any other, is the development and widespread distribution of agriculture. Nevertheless, such a definition is quite general, which allows us to include here and significantly different forms of human relationships, such as feudal, agrarian or tribal. In this regard, many modern scientists do not use the concept of "traditional society", but replace it with more specialized definitions.
2. Industrial
Like other types of society, this type has a number of characteristic features. This includes, for example, a complex and sufficiently developed system of division of labor activity, a high degree of specialization and automation of production, mass production of goods, as well as a high level of introduction of innovations and technologies into the production process and people's livelihoods. This implies the creation of an integral state with a specific language and culture. The main direction of development is industry.
3. Post-industrial
It is emerging at the present time and characterizes the types of society that are significantly different from the first two types. Improvement of technology, accumulation of knowledge and information is of great importance. is the development of the service sector.
As mentioned earlier, the considered 3 types of society have peculiarities and distinctive features that make it possible to quite accurately attribute certain human relations to one of them.
Assignments in the Unified State Exam format on the topic "Civilizations and types of societies" Grade 10 Option 1
1 ... A traditional society is characterized by
1) the value of the human person
2) dynamic development
3) the significant role of religion
4) industrial production
2 ... A characteristic feature of Western civilization is
1) long-term preservation of traditions
2) active implementation of innovative technologies
3) low social mobility
4) weakness and underdevelopment of democratic values
3 ... The leap in the development of the productive forces, consisting in the transition from manufacture to machine production, is:
1) scientific and technological revolution
2) industrialization
3) scientific and technological progress
4) industrial revolution
4. Are the following judgments about the ways of development of society correct?
A. Traditional society is characterized by high social mobility, admiration for science, the priority of the individual over the collective.
B. In an industrial society, production is massive.
5 ... The transformation of any aspect of social life that does not destroy the foundations of the existence of a social structure is:
1) reform
2) counterrevolution
3) evolution
4) revolution
6 ... Are the judgments correct:
A) O. Spengler emphasized the isolation and independence of civilizations
B) In his opinion, civilization is the flowering of culture, the development of its creative forces
1) only A is true 2) only B is true 3) both statements are true 4) both are false
7 ... Civilization is understood as:
1) a set of industrial relations
2) a set of social values
3) production method
4) system of domination
8 ... Below are terms related to Eastern philosophies. Write down a term that falls out of this range.
Veda, reincarnation, yoga, tao, humanism, logos.
9. Complete the phrase: "Degradation, a return to already obsolete social institutions and relations is ...."
10 . Read the text below where a number of words are missing. Select from the provided list the words that you want to insert in place of the blanks.
Characterization of society as ______ (A) provides for the study of its internal structure. Its main elements are social life and social institutions. There are four areas that are closely related, because support the necessary ______ (B) society. ______ (B) in each of the areas solve important social problems. They provide the production and distribution of various types of ____ (D), as well as the management of the joint _____ (D) people.
The words in the list are given in the nominative case. Each word (phrase) can be used only once.
Choose one word after another in sequence, mentally filling in each gap. Note that there are more words in the list than you need to fill in the blanks.
1) integrity
2) system
3) society
4) social goods
5) sphere
6) production
7) culture
8) social institutions
9) activity.
11 ... What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "Public relations". Make two sentences with this concept.
(1) The concept of progress expresses the idea of improvement, the transition to higher stages of development, overcoming the outdated, obsolete, the victory of the new, advanced. (2) Social progress, that is, progress in the development of society, has, in our opinion, a similar meaning. (3) The idea of social progress, that is, the progressive movement of society, is, without a doubt, a revolutionary idea. (4) It means the development of society along an ascending line, in other words, the obligatory replacement of outdated and obsolete institutions with new, young and growing ones. (5) The idea of social progress originated in philosophy on the basis of objective observations of the socio-cultural transformations of human society.
Determine which text positions are worn
A) factual nature
B) the nature of value judgments
C) the nature of theoretical statements
13 ... Establish a correspondence between the characteristics of different societies and their types: for each position given in the first column, select the corresponding position from the second column.
Assignments in the Unified State Exam format on the topic "Civilizations and types of societies" Grade 10 Option 2
1. The leading role is characteristic of the modern post-industrial society
1) extractive industry
2) manufacturing
3) agriculture
4) information and information technology.
2 ... In the transition from a traditional society to an industrial
1) the person began to obey the community
2) social mobility has increased
3) the role of customs in the regulation of social relations has increased
4) increased non-economic compulsion to work.
3 ... Are the following judgments about traditional society correct?
A. Respect for customs, norms that have taken shape for centuries, the predominance of collective principles over private ones, distinguish traditional society.
B. In a traditional society, individual characteristics of a person are highly valued, initiative and enterprise are encouraged.
1) only A is true 2) only B is true 3) both statements are true 4) both are false.
4 ... The transformation of any aspect of social life that does not destroy the foundations of the existence of a social structure is
1) reform
2) counterrevolution
3) evolution
4) revolution.
5 ... There are three stages in the development of civilization: agrarian, industrial, post-industrial.
1) Rostow
2) Toffler
3) Toynbee
4) Marx.
6 ... Are the following judgments correct:
A) All countries go through the same stages of development, moving along the same historical path.
B) The historical development of countries takes place in various forms.
1) only A is true 2) only B is true 3) both statements are true 4) both are false
7 ... The civilizational theory of the development of society is based on the criteria
1) division of society into classes
2) development of productive forces
3) the level of cultural development
4) property relations.
8 ... Find social phenomena in the list below
1) the emergence of the state
2) the transition from an appropriating economy to a producing one
3) climate change on the planet
4) the formation of nations
5) traditions and customs
6) a person's ability for sensory cognition
7) a person's genetic predisposition to diseases.
9 ... Below are the terms associated with the doctrine of socio-economic formations. Write out a term that falls out of this range:
Basis, civilization, superstructure, productive forces, production relations.
10 ... What is the meaning of social scientists in the concept of "civilization". Make two sentences with this concept.
11 . Read the text below, each position is numbered.
(A) Scientists have counted several dozen scientific directions for the study of man. (B) Many theses have been defended in these areas. (B) But knowledge about a person is still fragmentary and does not allow understanding many important aspects. (D) The essence of a person is manifested at several levels: biological, psychological, social. (E) It is unlikely that it will be possible in the near future to make a breakthrough in the study of man at the social level.
Determine which positions of the text have
1) factual nature
2) the nature of value judgments
3) the nature of theoretical statements
Write down in the table under the letter denoting the position, the number that expresses its character.
12 ... Establish a correspondence between the manifestations of a person's abilities and the nature of these abilities: for each position given in the first column, select the corresponding position from the second column.
Write down the numbers in the answer, arranging them in the order corresponding to the letters:
13 ... Read the text below where a number of words are missing. Select from the provided list the words that you want to insert in place of the blanks.
“Under ____ (A) is meant the direction of development, which is characterized by the progressive movement of society from the lowest and _____ (B) public organization to higher and more complex ones. This concept is opposite to the concept of ____ (B), which is characterized by a reverse movement - from higher to lower, a return to already obsolete structures and ________ (D). Some thinkers view history as a cyclical cycle with a series of ____ (D) and recessions. In modern sociology, historical progress is associated with the process of modernization, ie, the transition from an agrarian society to an industrial one, and then to ____ (E) ”.
1) post-industrial society
2) relationships
3) traditional society
4) evolution
5) revolution
6) rise
7) progress
8) regression
9) simple form.
The following table lists the letters that represent the missing words. Write down the number of the word you have chosen in the table under each letter.
Traditional society
This type of society includes the life of people with an agrarian orientation. Such a society takes subsistence economy, monarchy as the ruling link and the rise of religion over science as the basis for development. The characteristic features include the following:
- The activity is aimed at the development of agriculture.
- The society has very low growth and development rates.
- Often there is no progress, since innovations are not welcomed.
- Submission of the individual to the collective opinion.
In this case, technologies and their level of development are taken as a basis. Unlike the first option, this system is aimed at rapid progress and has a number of distinctive features. Characteristic:
- The main form of labor is based on the use of technology and the work of factories.
- The economic component of people's lives is taken as a basis.
- The main task of such a system is to meet the needs of people and achieve adaptation to existing living conditions.
Post-industrial society
The post-industrial type includes those societies that gradually leave the sphere of production of material goods and move on to the development of the service sector. Depending on the rate of development of the service sector, one can judge the progress of society. The following principles are characteristic:
- The transition to mental work.
- Active development of the service sector.
- Interaction between people, while there is communication in the "person-to-person" system.
Information society
The current stage of development dictates new conditions for creating a new system for the development of the social system. In this case, information and work with it play a key role. People are gradually moving from work in agriculture and factories to work with computer technology. Distinctive features are as follows:
- The main factor for development is information and methods of its processing.
- More than half of the population is rapidly moving into the service sector.
- Orientation of activities is aimed at future achievements, therefore, the ability to analyze and make predictions plays a key role.
By the degree of openness
Classification
In this category, the social system is considered from the point of view of the openness of ideology and the general principle of development. Depending on the choice of the main direction in development and the predominance of one or another form of management, there are different and distinguish between two main forms of organization of people's life.
- Closed society. Most often, this group includes authoritarian systems in which all power is concentrated in the hands of one ruler. With this approach, people do not have freedom and the right to their own opinion, strict submission to power is the only principle of existence. Such formats are characterized by low rates of development, prohibition or slow adoption of innovations, loyalty to traditions.
- Open Society. The exact opposite of the previous category is the open type of social life. Distinctive features are the absence of a unified state ideology and a tough dictatorship, as well as the presence of pluralism. In this regard, an opportunity is formed for high mobility, rapid development and adoption of innovations in the life of society. Most often this type is found in democratic societies.
By the presence of writing
Classification
One of the simplest classifications for determining the type of society and the level of its development is the presence of writing. On this basis, all existing types of social structure can be divided into two large groups.
- Preliterate societies. These types of existing societies do not have their own alphabet and symbolic designation of letters. This indicates a low level of development and creates certain difficulties for communication between representatives of the social system, as well as with representatives from other societies.
- Written societies. In this case, we are talking about those groups where there is their own alphabet, with the help of which communication takes place between various representatives. With its help, people can establish communications and achieve great success in the development of the social system.
By the degree of social stratification
Classification
Depending on the level of complexity of interaction between representatives of society, it is customary to distinguish two main forms of existence. Their main difference lies in the presence of class inequality and layers of social order.
- Simple society. It is customary to refer to this type as simple organizations without a clear management structure. In such systems, there is no established form of relationship, there are no subordinates and managers. This structure is typical for the initial periods of development without the existence of state power.
- Complex society. Such a format for managing public life implies the presence of class inequality, a hierarchy in the system of exercising power, as well as the presence of division of the population into strata. The presented category is typical for the state form of government.
Classification
- Polytheism. Belief in many Gods has developed since ancient times, when people worshiped different deities in order to appease them and ask for mercy for help in their daily affairs.
- Monotheism or monotheism. Unlike the previous version, faith in one God is established here, who is the patron saint of people and helps them in earthly life.
- Pantheism. With this understanding of religion, God is placed on a par with natural forces and is closely connected with them.
- Religions without God. In this case, we are talking about a deeper understanding of moral problems, we are talking about a philosophical understanding of important issues of life.
Historical types of society according to K. Jaspers
Classification
Karl Jaspers in his writings used a classification by time intervals in the history of human development. According to his work, two main stages can be distinguished.
- Prehistoric (period of savagery). This period includes the time period that was marked by the emergence of human communities. At the same time, only the time when people did not have writing and tools for writing texts are referred to the prehistoric period.
- History or civilization period. After the appearance of writing, a fundamentally new stage in the development of society was distinguished, which Karl Jaspers called a historical period. It is customary to distinguish four main stages in it.
- Great cultures of antiquity. At this stage, the unified culture of mankind is divided into local structures that are united by common interests.
- "Axial time" (from 800 to 200 BC), during this period, the main directions of religious teachings and sciences for the salvation of the soul were formed. In this period, people think about the philosophical beginning of life and develop concepts for the salvation of the soul after death, and this era is also characterized by the emergence of faith and religion.
- Century of Science and Technology. With the development of technology and the emergence of new scientific knowledge, people strive to improve and simplify life, this period is called the technological age.
- One world of humanity. The presented category implies the total unification of humanity into a single well-coordinated team that will work and achieve success through joint efforts.
I. Wallerstein presented society as a large capitalist system, which has its own structural elements
Classification
The American sociologist I. Wallerstein had a rather interesting view of the development of society; according to his teaching, all aspects of social life can be divided into several main categories, which differ in the degree of participation in the world economic process.
- "Mini systems". The smallest structure are societies with no more than six generations in their development. Most often, they were engaged in hunting and gathering, while high rates of development and cultural heritage were not noted.
- "World Empires". A more complex option is the world empires that existed according to certain laws and had a clear hierarchy and structure of the organization of the social system. Also, a distinctive feature is the presence of certain cultural models that determine the basis of relationships between individuals.
- "World economies". This form is the pinnacle of the development of the social system. This option includes several integrated chains of doing business and achieving the desired goals at once. In the global economy, success depends on who is in the lead in the power structure.
Society(in the broadest sense of the word) is a part of the material world isolated from nature, which is a form of uniting people and ways of their interconnection.
In a narrow sense, society is:
- A group of people united by one interest and activity (a circle of chess players, clients of a fitness club)
- A separate, specific society of any country (Russian society, English, Spanish)
- Stage in the development of mankind (primitive society, feudal)
In any society, four areas are distinguished:
- Economic (production of material and spiritual goods, exchange, trade, monetary relations)
- Social (relations between groups of people, caring for the population - educational services, medicine, social protection)
- Political (social management)
- Spiritual (art, religion, morality, science)
Society always consists of people, and people always form connections or social relations.
Public relations- these are diverse forms of interaction and interconnections that arise in the process of joint activities between social groups, as well as within them.
In addition, in any society there are social institutions that ensure its functioning.
Social Institute- a historically established form of organization of people, on the basis of special norms regulating their activities and providing fundamental human needs.
Human society is not static. It is constantly changing. Once, for example, slavery existed and this was not condemned, whereas now everything is exactly the opposite. Once the majority of the people were rural dwellers engaged in agriculture, while now urban dwellers have outnumbered rural dwellers.
In other words, society is developing, changing, scientists are trying to identify the reasons for the changes and give names to old and new societies.
In the 20th century, the American sociologist Daniel Bell proposed to divide all known human societies into three types: preindustrial (= traditional, agrarian), industrial and postindustrial (= informational).
Traditional society existed in the slave-owning and feudal era that replaced it. The main occupation of the people was agriculture. At the next historical stage - in the era of capitalism - an agrarian society comes to replace the traditional one. People are still engaged in agriculture, but it is no longer the main sphere of the economy, the main one is industry. Postindustrial society emerged quite recently - in the 1970s. XX century It develops in economically strong countries; in backward states, society is still industrial or even traditional. The main sphere of the postindustrial society is the service sector (displaced agriculture and industry).
In questions on the topic of types of society in the exam, knowledge of the features of all three societies is tested. They should be learned and not confused.
Characteristic features of the traditional(agrarian, pre-industrial) society:
- Manual labor and primitive technologies
- Dominance of agriculture
- Estates
- Low social mobility
- The prevalence of collectivism values
- The influence of the church on public life
- Patriarchal family
Characteristic features of an industrial society:
- Preferential development of industry
- Massive machine production and automation
- The transformation of science into a public institution
- The birth of popular culture
- Class system
- Granting rights and freedoms to people
Characteristic features of a post-industrial (information) society:
- Development of the service sector
- The unit of goods is information (= knowledge)
- Information technology development
- Professional division of society
- Widespread use of computer technology
- The globalization of the economy
- Implementation of the scientific and technological revolution
- Dominance of the partner type family
** Definitions on the topic are given according to the manual by Baranov, Vorontsov, Shevchenko "A complete guide for preparing for the exam"
