Society has existed since ancient times. In a broad sense, this concept includes the interaction of people with nature and among themselves, as well as ways of uniting them. In a narrower definition, society is a collection 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 interaction between people, the presence of a history of creation and development, the presence of its own culture, self-sufficiency and self-regulation.
Historically, the entire diversity of societies can be divided into three types: traditional, or agrarian, industrial, post-industrial. Each of them has certain features and characteristics that clearly separate one form of social relations from another. Nevertheless, although the types of society differ from each other, they 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 that may be at various stages of development, but do not have a sufficient level of industrial complex. The main interaction is between nature and man, with an important role being played by 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, such types of society have a characteristic feature: the presence of well-established social solidarity.
Characteristics of 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 processes of urbanization, increased automation of production, mass production of all kinds of goods, and the widespread use of scientific discoveries and achievements. The main interaction occurs between man and nature, in which there is the enslavement of the surrounding world by people.
Characteristics of post-industrial society
This type of human relationships 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 is between person and person. Nature acts as a victim of anthropogenic influence; therefore, programs are being developed to minimize production waste and environmental pollution, as well as to create highly efficient technologies that can ensure waste-free production.
Society. Main spheres of public life.
Society:
In a broad sense, it is a part of the material world, inextricably linked with nature and including ways of interaction between people and forms of their unification
In a narrow sense, it is a set of people endowed with will and consciousness who carry out actions and actions under the influence of certain interests, motives, and moods. (e.g., society of book lovers, etc.)
The concept of “society” is ambiguous. In historical science there are concepts - “primitive society”, “medieval society”, “Russian society”, meaning a certain stage in the historical development of mankind or a specific country.
Society is usually understood as:
A certain stage of human history (primitive society, medieval, etc.);
People united by common goals and interests (society of Decembrists, society of book lovers);
Population of a country, state, region (European society, Russian society);
All of humanity (human society).
Functions of the society:
Production of life goods;
Human reproduction and socialization;
Ensuring the legality of the state’s management activities;
Historical transmission of culture and spiritual values
Human society includes a number of areas – spheres of social life:
Economic - relations between people in the process of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material and intangible goods, services and information;
Social - interaction of large social groups, classes, layers, demographic groups;
Political - the activities of state organizations, parties and movements related to the conquest, retention and exercise of power;
Spiritual - morality, religion, science, education, art, their influence on people's lives.
Social relations are understood as the diverse connections that arise between people in the process of economic, social, political, cultural life and activity.
1) Pre-industrial society (traditional) - competition between man and nature.
It is characterized by the predominant importance of agriculture, fishing, cattle breeding, mining and wood processing industries. These areas of economic activity employ about 2/3 of the working population. Manual labor dominates. The use of primitive technologies based on everyday experience passed down from generation to generation.
2) Industrial - competition between man and transformed nature
It is characterized by the development of the production of consumer goods, which is carried out through the widespread use of various types of equipment. Economic activity is dominated by centralism, gigantism, uniformity in work and life, mass culture, low level of spiritual values, oppression of people, and destruction of nature. The time of brilliant craftsmen who could, without fundamental special knowledge, invent a loom, a steam engine, a telephone, an airplane, etc. Monotonous assembly line work.
3) Post-industrial - competition between people
It is characterized not only by the widespread use of the achievements of science and technology in all areas of human activity, but also by the targeted improvement of technology itself based on the development of fundamental sciences. Without the application of the achievements of fundamental sciences, it would be impossible to create either an atomic reactor, a laser, or a computer. Humans are being replaced by automated systems. One person, using modern technology equipped with a computer, can produce the final product, not in a standard (mass) version, but in an individual version in accordance with the consumer’s order.
4) New information technologies, according to modern scientists, can lead to fundamental changes in our entire way of life, and their widespread use will mark the creation of a new type of society - an information society.
Modern societies can be distinguished by numerous indicators, but they also have identical features, which allows them to be typologized. One of the main directions in the typology of society is the choice of forms of state power, political relations, as criteria for dividing individual types of society. For example, Aristotle and Plato divide societies according to the type of government system: democracy, aristocracy, tyranny, monarchy and oligarchy. In our time, with a similar approach, authoritarian societies are distinguished (they combine elements of democracy and totalitarianism), democratic ones - the population has mechanisms of influence on state structures, totalitarian ones - all the main directions of social life are determined by the state.
Marxism makes the basis for the typology of society the difference between societies according to the type of production relations in individual socio-economic stages: primitive communal society (appropriating the simplest method of production); with the Asian mode of production of society (the presence of unique collective ownership of land); slaveholding societies (use of slave labor and ownership of people); feudal societies (exploitation of peasants attached to the land); socialist or communist societies (due to the elimination of private property relations, equal treatment of everyone in ownership of the means of production).
Consideration of types of societies is the purpose of this study.
In modern sociology, the typology based on the identification of post-industrial, industrial and traditional societies is recognized as the most stable.
Traditional society (or agrarian, simple) is a society with sedentary structures, an agricultural structure and a method of socio-cultural regulation based on traditions. The behavior of individuals in such a society is regulated by norms of traditional behavior (customs) and is strictly controlled. In such a society there are well-established social institutions, among which the main one is the family or community. Any social innovations are considered unacceptable. Such a society is characterized by low rates of development. For him, the key indicator is established social solidarity, which was established by T. Durkheim Parsons, while studying the society of indigenous Australians. The System of Modern Societies. M., 2002. P. 25..
Modern societies are classified as industrial and post-industrial societies.
Industrial society is a type of organization of social life that combines the interests and freedom of the individual with general principles governing their joint activities. Such societies are characterized by social mobility, flexibility of social structures, and a wide system of communications.
The negative side of post-industrial society has become the danger of tightening social control by the ruling elite over citizens and society as a whole through access to electronic media and communications 2 Moijyan K.Kh. Society. Society. Story. M., 2004. P. 211..
In our time, the theory of post-industrialism has been developed in detail. This concept has both a large number of supporters and an ever-increasing number of opponents. In science, two main directions of perception of the future improvement of human society have emerged: techno-optimism and eco-pessimism. Techno-optimism paints a more optimistic future, suggesting that scientific and technological progress will cope with all the adversities on the path to the development of society 3 Reznik Yu.M. Civil society as a phenomenon of civilization. M., 2003. P. 78. Ecopessimism predicts a total catastrophe by 2030 due to the increasing destruction of the biosphere of our planet.
Analyzing the history of social thought, one can discover several typologies of society.
Typologies of society during the formation of sociological science
The founder of sociology is considered to be the French scientist O. Comte, who proposed a three-part stage typology, including:
stage of military domination;
stage of feudal rule;
stage of industrial civilization.
The basis of G. Spencer's typology is the principle of evolutionary development of societies: from elementary to more differentiated. Spencer saw the development of societies as an integral part of the evolutionary process common to all nature. The lowest pole of the evolution of society is formed by the so-called military societies, which are characterized by high homogeneity, the subordinate position of the individual and the dominance of coercion as a factor of unification. Then, through a series of intermediate stages, society reaches the highest pole - it becomes industrial: democracy, the voluntary nature of integration, and spiritual pluralism begin to dominate in it. Moidzhyan K.H. Decree. op. P. 212..
Typologies of society in the classical period of the formation of sociology.
Such typologies differ from those described above. Sociologists of this period saw their task as explaining it, based not on the uniform laws of the development of nature, but on the basis of nature itself and its internal laws. For example, E. Durkheim was looking for the “original cell” of the social as such and for this he sought to find the most elementary, “simplest” society, the most primitive form of organization of “collective consciousness”. In this regard, his typology of societies is built from simple to complex, and it is based on the principle of complicating the form of social solidarity, i.e. members' awareness of their unity. Simple societies are characterized by mechanical solidarity, since their constituent personalities are extremely similar in life situation and consciousness. In complex societies there is a branched structure of differentiated functions of individuals, and therefore individuals differ significantly from each other in consciousness and way of life. They are united by functional connections, and their solidarity is “organic”. Both types of solidarity exist in any society, but in archaic societies mechanical solidarity predominates, while in modern societies organic solidarity predominates.
The German classic of sociology M. Weber imagined the social as a kind of system of subordination and domination. His concept was based on an understanding of society as the result of a confrontation for power and for maintaining dominance. Societies are classified according to the type of dominance they have. The charismatic type of dominance appears on the basis of the personal special strength (charisma) of the leader. Leaders and priests often possess charisma; such dominance is irrational and does not require a unique management system. According to Weber, modern society is characterized by a legal type of domination based on law, characterized by the presence of a bureaucratic system of management and the principle of rationality.
The typology of the French sociologist J. Gurvich is characterized by a complex multi-level system. The scientist points to four types of archaic societies that had a primary global system:
tribal (American Indians, Australia);
tribal, heterogeneous and weakly hierarchized associations, grouped around a leader who was credited with magical powers (Melanesia and Polynesia);
tribal with a military organization, consisting of clans and family groups (North America);
tribal tribes grouped into monarchical states (“black” Africa).
charismatic societies (Japan, Persia, Ancient China, Egypt);
patriarchal societies (Slavs, Old Testament Jews, Homeric Greeks, Romans and Franks);
city-states (Italian Renaissance cities, Roman cities and Greek city-states);
feudal hierarchical societies (European Middle Ages);
societies where enlightened absolutism and capitalism arose (Europe).
In the current world, Gurvich identifies: a society of pluralistic collectivism; liberal democratic society, which is built on the principles of collectivist statism; technical-bureaucratic society, etc. Moijyan K.Kh. Society. Society. Story. M., 2004. P. 215.
The postclassical stage of the history of sociology is characterized by typologies based on the principle of technological and technical development of societies. Currently, the most popular typology is that distinguishes traditional, industrial and post-industrial societies.
Traditional societies are characterized by the dominant development of agricultural labor. The main area of production becomes the procurement of raw materials, which is carried out by the peasant family; mainly members of society want to satisfy everyday needs. The economy is based on family farming, which can satisfy almost all its needs. Technological progress is invisible. The main method of decision making is the “trial and error” method. Social relations and social differentiation are poorly developed. Such societies are tradition-oriented, which means they are oriented toward the past.
An industrial society is a society characterized by the predominant development of industry and rapid rates of economic growth. Economic progress is realized mainly through a consumer, extensive attitude towards biological resources: in order to satisfy its current needs, such a society develops the natural resources at its disposal to the fullest extent possible. The main sector of production is the processing and processing of materials, which is carried out by teams of workers in factories. This society strives to meet social needs and achieve maximum adaptation. The main method for approving decisions is empirical research.
Post-industrial society is a society whose emergence is currently taking place. It has several important differences from industrial society. Thus, if an industrial society is characterized by maximum attention to the development of industry, then in a post-industrial society priority is given to technology, knowledge and information. Also, the service sector is rapidly improving, surpassing industry. Kumar K. Civil Society. M., 2004. P. 45..
Information is recognized as the basis of a post-industrial society, which in turn forms another type of society - an information society. According to the vision of adherents of the concept of the information society, a completely new society is emerging, characterized by processes other than those that took place at previous stages of development of societies even in the 20th century. For example, centralization is replaced by regionalization, instead of bureaucratization and hierarchization - democratization, concentration is replaced by the process of disaggregation, and individualization comes instead of standardization. The described processes are caused by information technologies.
People offering services either provide information or use it. Thus, teachers pass on knowledge to students, repairmen use their knowledge to service equipment, doctors, lawyers, and designers sell their specialized knowledge and skills. Unlike factory workers in an industrial society, they do not produce anything. Instead, they use and transfer knowledge to provide services that others are willing to pay for.
Scientists are already using the concept of “virtual society” to describe the modern type of society that is developing under the influence of information technologies (primarily Internet technologies). Due to the computer boom that has swept modern society, the virtual world is becoming a new reality. Many researchers point to the virtualization (replacement of reality by simulation) of society. This process is growing, becoming total, as all the elements that make up society are virtualized, radically changing their status and appearance.
Post-industrial society also refers to a “post-economic”, “post-labor” society, in other words, a society where the economic subsystem loses its defining significance and labor ceases to be the basis of all social relations. In a post-industrial society, a person loses his former economic essence and ceases to be considered as an “economic man”; it focuses on other, “postmaterialist” values. The emphasis is shifting to humanitarian, social problems, and issues of safety and quality of life, self-realization of the individual in various social spheres are becoming priorities, and therefore new criteria for social well-being and well-being are being formed.
As follows from the concept of post-economic society, which was developed by the Russian scientist V.L. Inozemtsev, in contrast to the economic one, focused on material enrichment, in a post-economic society for most people the main goal is the development of their own personality Shapiro I. Democracy and civil society // Polis 2003. No. 3. P. 52..
Thus, a wide variety of societies have existed and continue to exist in history. In a broad sense, society is understood as the interaction of people with nature and among themselves, as well as ways of uniting them. In a narrower definition, this concept is represented by a certain set of people who are endowed with their own will and consciousness and who manifest themselves in the light of certain interests and moods. Any society can be characterized by the following features: name, stable and holistic forms of interaction between people, the presence of a history of creation and development, the presence of its own culture, self-sufficiency and self-regulation. For scientific and practical purposes, it is important to identify those that have some significant similar characteristics. On this basis, they can be compared and even, in some respects, their development can be predicted. Social scientists divide the entire variety of societies that existed before and exist now into certain types. There are many ways to classify societies. One of them involves the separation of pre-industrial (traditional) society and industrial (modern, industrial) society.
At the present stage of development, we can distinguish two levels of societies: “traditional” and “modern societies”. At the heart of this dichotomy of modern and traditional societies is the focus on social change (in the first case) or the refusal of the social system to accept or initiate social change. This basic value setting corresponds to the economic, stratification, political, and ideological subsystems that ensure the integration and functioning of the entire system. One of the first sociologists to address this dichotomy was F. Tennis , who identified two specific forms of social organization: community - a traditional community and society - a modern, complexly structured community. His works influenced E. Durkheim, M. Weber, T. Parsons. As a result, a unique multidimensional scale was developed that makes it possible to compare different types of social systems.
Traditional society is characterized by: 1) natural division of labor (mainly by gender and age); 2) the connection of members by kinship relations (“family” type of community organization); 3) high structural stability; 4) relative isolation; 5) attitude to property, mediated through clan, community or feudal hierarchy; 6) hereditary power, rule of elders; 7) tradition as the main method of social regulation, a universal way of action shared by the individual and the community as a natural path to achieving any private goals; 8) regulation of social behavior by specific instructions and prohibitions, absence of a free personality, total subordination of the individual to society and authority; 9) behavioral maxims, in which the main emphasis is on the path leading to the goal, associated with this are attitudes such as “keep your head down”, “be like everyone else”; 10) the dominance of dogmatism, ethnocentrism in the worldview.
Modern society is characterized by: 1) developing deep division of labor (on a professional qualification basis related to education and work experience); 2) social mobility; 3) the market as a mechanism that regulates and organizes the behavior of individuals and groups not only in the economic, but also in the political and spiritual spheres; 4) the identification of a variety of social institutions that make it possible to provide the basic social needs of members of society, and the associated formal system for regulating relations (based on written law: laws, regulations, contracts, etc.), the role-based nature of interaction, according to which expectations and people's behavior is determined by the social status and social functions of individuals; 5) a complex system of social management - the allocation of an institute of management, special government bodies: political, economic, territorial and self-government; 6) secularization of religion, i.e. its separation from the state, its transformation into an independent social institution; 7) criticism, rationalism, individualism dominant in the worldview; 8) emphasis on the goal of action, which is reinforced in behavioral maxims: “get the job done,” “don’t be afraid of risk,” “strive for victory”; 9) lack of specific regulations and prohibitions, which entails the erosion of morality and law. In social theory, the concept of “modernity” is not identical to the definition of “our time”. Modernity is a certain qualitative and meaningful characteristic of people’s life, regarding the content of which there is a certain discrepancy between researchers. For some, modernity is a characteristic of a certain set of institutions and procedures that represent a description of the current practices of Western societies. For others, modernity is a problem that arises in different cultural and historical contexts (countries, regions, eras) due to various circumstances as a challenge to their existence and the possibility of development.
The organizing principles of modernity most often stand out: 1) individualism (i.e., the final establishment in society of the central role of the individual instead of the role of a tribe, group, nation); 2) differentiation (the emergence in the sphere of labor of a huge number of specialized occupations and professions, and in the sphere of consumption - a variety of possibilities for choosing the desired product (service, information, etc.), in general, choosing a lifestyle); 3) rationality (i.e. reducing the significance of magical and religious beliefs, myths and replacing them with ideas and rules that are justified with the help of arguments and calculations; the value of scientific knowledge recognized by all); 4) economism (i.e. the dominance of economic activity, economic goals and economic criteria over all social life); 5) expansion (i.e. the tendency for modernity to cover both ever wider geographical areas and the most intimate, private spheres of everyday life, for example, religious beliefs, sexual behavior, leisure, etc.). Among the main features inherent in a modern personality are: 1) openness to experimentation, innovation and change; 2) readiness for pluralism of opinions; 3) orientation to the present and future, and not to the past; 4) recognition of the high value of education; 5) respect for the dignity of other people, etc. The pros and cons of modern civilization serve as a starting point for various theoretical views regarding the future of human society. The most famous among them are:
1. theory of post-industrial (information) society, according to which the main economic factor of the future society is knowledge (information), and the main sphere of production is the sphere of production of knowledge (information). Accordingly, in the social structure, intellectuals engaged in the production of knowledge, from a relatively small social group, as they were in pre-industrial and industrial societies, will turn into a noticeable social stratum;
2. concept of post-economic society, according to which the sociocultural base of the society of the future is a system of post-material values, overcoming labor as a utilitarian activity and replacing it with creative activity not motivated by material factors, a new type of family and new forms of social partnership, increasing the role of knowledge and changing the education system. According to supporters of this concept, the denial of the economic era also means that exploitation can be overcome not so much as an economic phenomenon, but as a phenomenon of consciousness;
3. the concept of “high (or late) modernity”, whose author E. Giddens believes that we are moving not towards postmodernism, but towards a period in which the features inherent in the present stage will become even more acute and become universal. However, the radicalization of the present itself acts as a qualitatively new phenomenon that transforms the modern world. Among the features of “high modernity,” he identified four: faith, risk, “opacity,” and globalization. The concept of faith does not have a religious meaning, but indicates the importance of faith in the operation of many complex systems on the reliability of which everyday life depends (for example, transport, telecommunications, financial markets, nuclear power plants, military forces, etc.). The risk is that increasingly uncontrollable situations arise that pose a threat not only to individuals, but also to large systems, including states. “Opacity” means a loss of clarity, intelligibility, and predictability of what is happening and, as a result, is accompanied by the unstable nature of social life. Globalization indicates the continued coverage of economic, political, and cultural relations throughout the world, which, in particular, leads to a decrease in the role of nation states.
In their typology of society, the founders of Marxism proceeded from the materialist understanding of history that they themselves developed. The division was initially based on the method of production of material goods characteristic of a given society. This characteristic determines the unity of history and the integrity of civilization. When determining what type a particular society belongs to, Marxists take into account the nature and level of development of the productive forces, as well as the superstructure.
Karl Marx introduced into scientific use the concept of a socio-economic formation, the backbone of which is the relationship between people in the production process. It is believed that in its development, society successively passes through five such formations: primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal system, capitalism and communism. Each of these types of society at its stage performs a progressive function, but gradually becomes outdated, slows down development and is naturally replaced by another formation.
From traditional society to post-industrial one
In modern sociology, another approach has become widespread, according to which traditional, industrial and so-called post-industrial types of society are distinguished. This classification shifts the emphasis from consideration of the method of production and the prevailing social relations to the way of life characteristic of a particular society and the level of technological development.
Traditional society is characterized by an agrarian way of life. Social structures here are not fluid. Relations between members of society are built on long-established and deep-rooted traditions. The most important social structures are the community. They stand guard over traditions, suppressing any attempts at fundamental social changes.
Industrial society is a much more modern type. Economic activity in such a society is characterized by a deep division of labor. The status of members of society is determined, as a rule, by the social functions of the individual, his profession, qualifications, level of education and work experience. In such a society, special bodies of management, control and coercion are distinguished, which form the basis of statehood.
In the middle of the last century, Western sociologists put forward the concept of the so-called post-industrial society. The need for such an approach was caused by the rapid development of information systems and the increasing role of information and communications in the life of society. That is why post-industrial society is also often called information society. Human activity in the post-industrial world is less and less connected with material production. The basis of life is the processes of processing, storing and transmitting information. Modern society, sociologists believe, is at the stage of active transition to this type.