Society is a complex natural-historical structure, the elements of which are people. Their connections and relationships are determined by a certain social status, functions and roles that they perform, norms and values generally accepted in a given system, as well as their individual qualities. Society is usually divided into three types: traditional, industrial and post-industrial. Each of them has its own distinctive features and functions.
This article will look at traditional society (definition, characteristics, basics, examples, etc.).
What it is?
To modern man industrial age, new to history and social sciences, it may be unclear what a “traditional society” is. We will consider the definition of this concept further.
Operates on the basis of traditional values. It is often perceived as tribal, primitive and backward feudal. It is a society with an agrarian structure, with sedentary structures and with methods of social and cultural regulation based on traditions. It is believed that most In its history, humanity was precisely at this stage.
Traditional society, the definition of which is discussed in this article, is a collection of groups of people at different stages of development and who do not have a mature industrial complex. The determining factor in the development of such social units is Agriculture.
Characteristics of a traditional society
Traditional society is characterized by following features:
1. Low production rates to meet people's needs minimum level.
2. High energy intensity.
3. Failure to accept innovations.
4. Strict regulation and control of the behavior of people, social structures, institutions, and customs.
5. As a rule, in a traditional society any manifestation of personal freedom is prohibited.
6. Social formations sanctified by traditions are considered unshakable - even the thought of them possible changes is perceived as criminal.
Traditional society is considered agrarian, as it is based on agriculture. Its functioning depends on the cultivation of crops using a plow and draft animals. Thus, the same piece of land could be cultivated several times, resulting in permanent settlements.
A traditional society is also characterized by the predominant use manual labor, extensive absence of market forms of trade (predominance of exchange and redistribution). This led to enrichment individuals or classes.
The forms of ownership in such structures are, as a rule, collective. Any manifestations of individualism are not accepted and rejected by society, and are also considered dangerous, as they violate the established order and traditional balance. There is no impetus for the development of science and culture, so extensive technologies are used in all areas.
Political structure
The political sphere in such a society is characterized by authoritarian power, which is inherited. This is because this is the only way to maintain traditions. long time. The management system in such a society was quite primitive (hereditary power was in the hands of the elders). The people actually had no influence on politics.
There is often an idea about divine origin the person in whose hands the power was. In this regard, politics is actually completely subordinated to religion and is carried out only according to sacred instructions. The combination of secular and spiritual power made possible the increasing subordination of people to the state. This, in turn, strengthened the resilience of society traditional type.
Social relations
In the field social relations The following features of traditional society can be distinguished:
1. Patriarchal structure.
2. The main goal The functioning of such a society is to maintain human life and avoid its extinction as a species.
3. Low level
4. Traditional society is characterized by division into classes. Each of them played a different social role.
5. Personality assessment in terms of the place that people occupy in hierarchical structure.
6. A person does not feel like an individual, he considers only his belonging to certain group or community.
Spiritual realm
In the spiritual sphere, traditional society is characterized by deep religiosity and moral principles instilled from childhood. Certain rituals and dogmas were integral part human life. Writing as such did not exist in traditional society. That is why all legends and traditions were transmitted orally.
Relationships with nature and the environment
The influence of traditional society on nature was primitive and insignificant. This was explained by low-waste production represented by cattle breeding and agriculture. Also, in some societies there were certain religious rules condemning the pollution of nature.
It was closed in relation to the outside world. Traditional society did its best to protect itself from outside invasions and any external influence. As a result, man perceived life as static and unchanging. Qualitative changes in such societies occurred very slowly, and revolutionary changes were perceived extremely painfully.
Traditional and industrial society: differences
Industrial society arose in the 18th century, primarily in England and France.
Some of its distinctive features should be highlighted.
1. Creation of large machine production.
2. Standardization of parts and assemblies of various mechanisms. This made mass production possible.
3. Another important one distinguishing feature- urbanization (the growth of cities and the resettlement of a significant part of the population on their territory).
4. Division of labor and its specialization.
Traditional and industrial society have significant differences. The first is characterized by a natural division of labor. Traditional values and patriarchal structure prevail here, and there is no mass production.
It should also be highlighted post-industrial society. Traditional, in contrast, aims at extraction natural resources, rather than collecting information and storing it.
Examples of Traditional Society: China
Vivid examples of a traditional type of society can be found in the East in the Middle Ages and modern times. Among them, India, China, Japan, and the Ottoman Empire should be highlighted.
Since ancient times, China has been distinguished by its strong state power. By the nature of evolution, this society is cyclical. China is characterized by a constant alternation of several eras (development, crisis, social explosion). It should also be noted the unity of spiritual and religious authorities in this country. According to tradition, the emperor received the so-called “Mandate of Heaven” - divine permission to rule.
Japan
The development of Japan in the Middle Ages also suggests that there was a traditional society here, the definition of which is discussed in this article. The entire population of the Country rising sun was divided into 4 estates. The first is the samurai, daimyo and shogun (personified the highest secular power). They occupied a privileged position and had the right to bear arms. The second estate were peasants who owned land as a hereditary holding. The third is artisans and the fourth is merchants. It should be noted that trade in Japan was considered an unworthy activity. It is also worth highlighting the strict regulation of each class.
Unlike other traditional eastern countries, in Japan there was no unity of supreme secular and spiritual power. The first was personified by the shogun. In his hands was most of the lands and enormous power. There was also an emperor (tenno) in Japan. He was the personification of spiritual power.
India
Vivid examples of a traditional type of society can be found in India throughout the country's history. The Mughal Empire, located on the Hindustan Peninsula, was based on a military fief and caste system. Supreme ruler- padishah - was the main owner of all the land in the state. Indian society was strictly divided into castes, whose lives were strictly regulated by laws and sacred regulations.
Society.
The problem of society, its specificity, essence and connection with man is central to social philosophy. There are several approaches to defining society. Some see in it a supra-individual spiritual reality based on collective ideas (E. Durkheim) or a reality generated by a certain orientation of the spirit and existing not objectively, but as an illusion of consciousness, “objectification” of human relations (N. A. Berdyaev) or such spiritual- moral education, which is associated with submission human will“due” (S. L. Frank). Others, in contrast to the above view, give an understanding of society that is close to a materialist one: society is the interaction of people that is the product of social, i.e., actions oriented towards other people (M. Weber); this is a system of relations between people, the connecting principle of which is norms and values (T. Parsons). Still others approach society from a consistent materialist position (K. Marx, his like-minded people and followers). They define society as a set of objective social relations that exists historically certain forms and develops in the process of joint practical activity of people. Society, therefore, is represented as all those connections and relationships in which individuals are related to each other, as an ensemble public relations, in which a person lives and acts. This approach seems to be the most preferable, especially close to genuine social reality. It is well substantiated by science, which provides reliable knowledge about objective laws, trends in the development of society and the social relations included in it.
Scientists divide all the diversity 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 traditional (pre-industrial) society and industrial (industrial) society.
Traditional society is a concept denoting a set of societies, social structures, standing at different stages of development and not having a mature industrial complex. The determining factor in the development of such societies is agriculture. Traditional societies are often called "early civilizations", contrasting them with modern industrial society.
Traditional society appears simultaneously with the emergence of the state. This model social development is very stable and characteristic of all societies except European. In Europe, a different model has emerged, based on private property. The basic principles of traditional society operated until the era industrial revolution, and in many countries they still exist today.
The main structural unit of traditional society is the neighboring community. The neighboring community is dominated by agriculture with elements of cattle breeding. Communal peasants are usually conservative in their way of life due to the natural, climatic and economic cycles and monotony of life that repeat from year to year. In this situation, the peasants demanded from the state, first of all, stability, which only a strong state could provide. The weakening of the state was always accompanied by unrest, arbitrariness of officials, invasions of enemies, and economic breakdown, which was especially disastrous in the conditions of irrigated agriculture. The result is crop failure, famine, epidemics, and a sharp drop in population. Therefore, society has always preferred a strong state, transferring most of its powers to it.
Within a traditional society, the state is highest value. As a rule, it operates under conditions of a clear hierarchy. At the head of the state was a ruler who enjoyed practically unlimited power and representing God's deputy on earth. Below was a powerful administrative apparatus. The position and authority of a person in a traditional society is determined not by his wealth, but, first of all, by participation in public administration, which automatically ensures high prestige.
Characteristics such a company were:
Traditionalism is an orientation toward the reproduction of established forms of lifestyle and social structures;
Low mobility and poor diversity of all forms of human activity;
In ideological terms, the idea of the complete lack of freedom of a person, the predetermination of all actions and deeds by forces of nature, society, gods, etc., independent of him;
The moral-volitional orientation is not towards knowledge and transformation of the world, but towards contemplation, serenity, mystical unity with nature, focus on inner spiritual life;
Collectivism in public life;
The dominance of the state over society;
State and corporate forms of ownership;
The main method of control is coercion.
As we see, a person in such a society did not occupy the most high level. A fundamentally different type of society has developed in Europe with its dynamism - orientation towards novelty, affirmation of dignity and respect for human personality, individualism and rationality. It is on the basis of the Western type of civilization that industrial society and the post-industrial society that replaces it arise.
The concept of traditional society covers the great agrarian civilizations of the Ancient East ( Ancient India and Ancient China, Ancient Egypt And medieval states Muslim East), European states Middle Ages. In a number of countries in Asia and Africa, traditional society is preserved today, but the clash with modern Western civilization significantly changed its civilizational characteristics.
The basis of human life is labor, during which a person transforms the matter and energy of nature into items for his own consumption. In a traditional society, the basis of life activity is agricultural labor, the fruits of which provide a person with all the necessary means of life. However, manual agricultural labor using simple tools provided a person with only the most necessary things, and even then under favorable conditions. weather conditions. The Three "Black Horsemen" terrified the European Middle Ages - famine, war and plague. Hunger is the most severe: there is no shelter from it. He left deep scars on the cultural brow European peoples. Its echoes can be heard in folklore and epic, in the mournful drawl of folk chants. Majority folk signs- about the weather and crop prospects. The dependence of a person in a traditional society on nature is reflected in the metaphors “nurse-earth”, “mother-earth” (“mother of the cheese earth”), expressing a loving and caring attitude towards nature as a source of life, from which one was not supposed to draw too much.
The farmer perceived nature as Living being, requiring a moral attitude towards oneself. Therefore, a person in a traditional society is not a master, not a conqueror, and not a king of nature. He is a small fraction (microcosm) of the great cosmic whole, the universe. His work activity obeyed the eternal rhythms of nature (seasonal changes in weather, length of daylight hours) - such is the requirement of life itself on the border between the natural and the social. An ancient Chinese parable ridicules a farmer who dared to challenge traditional agriculture based on the rhythms of nature: trying to speed up the growth of cereals, he pulled them by the tops until he pulled them out by the roots.
A person’s attitude towards the subject of labor always presupposes his attitude towards another person. By appropriating this item in the process of labor or consumption, a person is included in the system of social relations of property and distribution. In feudal society European Middle Ages prevailed private property to land - the main wealth of agricultural civilizations. It corresponded to a type of social subordination called personal dependence. The concept of personal dependence characterizes the type social connection people belonging to various social classes of feudal society - the steps of the “feudal ladder”. The European feudal lord and the Asian despot were full masters of the bodies and souls of their subjects, and even owned them as property. This was the case in Russia before the abolition of serfdom. Personal addiction breeds non-economic forced labor based on personal power based on direct violence.
Traditional society has developed forms of everyday resistance to the exploitation of labor on the basis of non-economic coercion: refusal to work for the master (corvée), evasion of payment in kind (quitrent) or cash tax, escape from one’s master, undermining social basis traditional society - an attitude of personal dependence.
People of one social class or classes (peasants of the territorial-neighboring community, the German mark, members of the noble assembly, etc.) were bound by relationships of solidarity, trust and collective responsibility. Peasant community, city craft corporations jointly carried feudal duties. Communal peasants survived together in lean years: supporting a neighbor with a “piece” was considered the norm of life. Narodniks, describing “going to the people,” note such traits of the people’s character as compassion, collectivism and readiness for self-sacrifice. Traditional society has formed high moral qualities: collectivism, mutual assistance and social responsibility, included in the treasury of civilizational achievements of mankind.
A person in a traditional society did not feel like an individual opposing or competing with others. On the contrary, he perceived himself as an integral part of his village, community, polis. The German sociologist M. Weber noted that the Chinese peasant who settled in the city did not break ties with the rural church community, but in Ancient Greece expulsion from the polis was even equated to death penalty(this is where the word “outcast” comes from). The man of the Ancient East completely subordinated himself to the clan and caste standards of social group life and “dissolved” in them. Respect for tradition has long been considered main value ancient Chinese humanism.
Social status a person in a traditional society was determined not by personal merit, but social origin. The rigidity of the class and class barriers of traditional society kept it unchanged throughout his life. People to this day say: “It was written in the family.” The idea that one cannot escape fate, inherent in the traditionalist consciousness, has formed a type of contemplative personality, whose creative efforts are directed not at remaking life, but at spiritual well-being. I. A. Goncharov, with brilliant artistic insight, captured such psychological type in the image of I. I. Oblomov. "Fate", i.e. social predetermination, is a key metaphor in ancient Greek tragedies. Sophocles' tragedy "Oedipus the King" tells the story of the hero's titanic efforts to escape the fate predicted for him. terrible fate, however, despite all his exploits, evil rock celebrates victory.
The daily life of traditional society was remarkably stable. It was regulated not so much by laws as tradition - a set of unwritten rules, patterns of activity, behavior and communication that embody the experience of ancestors. In the traditionalist consciousness, it was believed that the “golden age” was already behind, and the gods and heroes left examples of actions and exploits that should be imitated. People's social habits have remained virtually unchanged for many generations. Organization of everyday life, methods of housekeeping and norms of communication, holiday rituals, ideas about illness and death - in a word, everything that we call everyday life, was brought up in the family and passed down from generation to generation. Many generations of people have seen the same social structures, modes of activity and social habits. Submission to tradition explains the high stability of traditional societies with their stagnant patriarchal cycle of life and the extremely slow pace of social development.
The sustainability of traditional societies, many of which (especially in Ancient East) remained virtually unchanged over the centuries, and public authority also contributed to supreme power. Often she was directly identified with the personality of the king (“The State is me”). The public authority of the earthly ruler was also nourished by religious ideas about the divine origin of his power (“The Sovereign is God’s vicegerent on earth”), although history knows few cases when the head of state personally became the head of the church (the Anglican Church). The personification of political and spiritual power in one person (theocracy) ensured the dual subordination of man to both the state and the church, which gave traditional society even greater stability.
It is extremely difficult for us, practical people from the future, to understand people traditional way of life life. This is due to the fact that we grew up in a different culture. However, understanding the people of a traditional society is extremely useful, because such understanding makes dialogue between cultures possible. For example, if you come to vacation in such a traditional country, you must understand local customs and traditions and respect them. Otherwise, there will be no rest, but only continuous conflicts.
Signs of a traditional society
Ttraditional society is a society in which all life is subordinated. In addition, it has the following characteristics.
Patriarchy- primate masculinity over the feminine. A woman, in the traditional sense, is not a completely complete being; moreover, she is a fiend of chaos. Yes and with others equal conditions Who will get more food, man or woman? Most likely a man, of course, if we omit the “feminized” male representatives.
A family in such a society will be completely patriarchal. An example of such a family could be the one that Archpriest Sylvester was guided by when he wrote his “Domostroy” in the 16th century.
Collectivism- will be another sign of such a society. The individual here means nothing in the face of the clan, family, teip. And this is justified. After all, traditional society was developed where it was extremely difficult to get food. This means that only together can we provide for ourselves. Because of this, the decision of the collective is much more important than any individual.
Agricultural production and subsistence farming will be signs of such a society. Tradition says what to sow, what to produce, not expediency. All economic sphere will be subject to custom. What prevented people from realizing some other realities and introducing innovations into production? As a rule, these were serious climatic conditions, thanks to which tradition dominated: since our fathers and grandfathers ran their households this way, why on earth should we change anything. “We didn’t invent it, it’s not up to us to change it,” that’s what a person living in such a society thinks.
There are other signs of a traditional society, which we consider in more detail in preparation courses for the Unified State Exam/State Examination:
Countries
So, traditional society, in contrast to industrial society, is distinguished by the primacy of tradition and the collective. What countries can be called such? Oddly enough, but many modern information societies can be classified as traditional at the same time. How is this possible?
For example, let's take Japan. The country is extremely developed, and at the same time, traditions are highly developed in it. When a Japanese comes to his home, he is in the field of his culture: tatami, shoji, sushi - all this is an integral part of the interior of a Japanese home. Japanese, wears casual business suit, usually European; and puts on a kimono - traditional Japanese clothing, very spacious and comfortable.
China is also a very traditional country, and at the same time it belongs to. For example, over the past five years, 18,000 bridges have been built in China. But at the same time, there are villages where traditions are strongly respected. The Shaolin monasteries, Tibetan monasteries that strictly observe ancient Chinese traditions, have survived.
Coming to Japan or China, you will feel like a stranger - a gaijin or liaowan, respectively.
The same traditional countries include India, Taiwan, countries South-East Asia, African countries.
I anticipate your question, dear reader: is tradition good or bad? Personally, I think tradition is good. Tradition allows us to remember who we are. It allows us to remember that we are not Pokemon or just people from nowhere. We are the descendants of people who lived before us. In conclusion, I would like to quote the words from a Japanese proverb: “You can judge their ancestors by the behavior of their descendants.” I think now you understand why the countries of the East traditional countries.
As always, I look forward to your comments :)
Best regards, Andrey Puchkov
The concept of traditional society covers the great agrarian civilizations of the Ancient East (Ancient India and Ancient China, Ancient Egypt and the medieval states of the Muslim East), the European states of the Middle Ages. In a number of countries in Asia and Africa, traditional society continues to exist today, but the collision with modern Western civilization has significantly changed its civilizational characteristics.
The basis of human life is work, in the process of which a person transforms the matter and energy of nature into items for his own consumption. In a traditional society, the basis of life activity is agricultural labor, the fruits of which provide a person with all the necessary means of life. However, manual agricultural labor using simple tools provided a person with only the most necessary things, and only under favorable weather conditions. The Three "Black Horsemen" terrified the European Middle Ages - famine, war and plague. Hunger is the most severe: there is no shelter from it. He left deep scars on the cultural brow of European peoples. Its echoes can be heard in folklore and epic, in the mournful drawl of folk chants. Most folk signs are about the weather and the prospects for the harvest. Dependence of a person in a traditional society on nature reflected in the metaphors “nurse-earth”, “mother-earth” (“mother of the damp earth”), expressing a loving and caring attitude towards nature as a source of life, from which one was not supposed to draw too much.
The farmer perceived nature as a living being requiring a moral attitude towards himself. Therefore, a person in a traditional society is not a master, not a conqueror, and not a king of nature. He is a small fraction (microcosm) of the great cosmic whole, the universe. His work activity was subject to the eternal rhythms of nature(seasonal changes in weather, length of daylight hours) - this is the requirement of life itself on the borderline of the natural and social. An ancient Chinese parable ridicules a farmer who dared to challenge traditional agriculture based on the rhythms of nature: in an effort to accelerate the growth of cereals, he pulled them by the top until he pulled them out by the roots.
A person’s attitude towards the subject of labor always presupposes his attitude towards another person. By appropriating this item in the process of labor or consumption, a person is included in the system of social relations of property and distribution. In the feudal society of the European Middle Ages private ownership of land prevailed- the main wealth of agricultural civilizations. Matched her a type of social subordination called personal dependence. The concept of personal dependence characterizes the type of social connection between people belonging to various social classes of feudal society - the steps of the “feudal ladder”. The European feudal lord and the Asian despot were full masters of the bodies and souls of their subjects, and even owned them as property. This was the case in Russia before the abolition of serfdom. Personal addiction breeds non-economic forced labor based on personal power based on direct violence.
Traditional society has developed forms of everyday resistance to the exploitation of labor on the basis of non-economic coercion: refusal to work for a master (corvée), evasion of payment in kind (quitrent) or monetary tax, escape from one’s master, which undermined the social basis of traditional society - the relationship of personal dependence.
People of the same social class or estate(peasants of the territorial neighboring community, the German mark, members of the noble assembly, etc.) were bound by relationships of solidarity, trust and collective responsibility. The peasant community and city craft corporations jointly bore feudal duties. Communal peasants survived together in lean years: supporting a neighbor with a “piece” was considered the norm of life. Narodniks, describing “going to the people,” note such traits of the people’s character as compassion, collectivism and readiness for self-sacrifice. Traditional society has formed high moral qualities: collectivism, mutual assistance and social responsibility, included in the treasury of civilizational achievements of mankind.
A person in a traditional society did not feel like an individual opposing or competing with others. On the contrary, he perceived himself an integral part of their village, community, policy. The German sociologist M. Weber noted that a Chinese peasant who settled in the city did not break ties with the rural church community, and in Ancient Greece, expulsion from the polis was equated with the death penalty (hence the word “outcast”). The man of the Ancient East completely subordinated himself to the clan and caste standards of social group life and “dissolved” in them. Respect for traditions has long been considered the main value of ancient Chinese humanism.
The social status of a person in a traditional society was determined not by personal merit, but by social origin. The rigidity of the class and class barriers of traditional society kept it unchanged throughout his life. People to this day say: “It was written in the family.” The idea that one cannot escape fate, inherent in the traditionalist consciousness, has shaped a type of contemplative personality whose creative efforts are directed not at remaking life, but at spiritual well-being. I.A. Goncharov, with brilliant artistic insight, captured this psychological type in the image of I.I. Oblomov. "Fate", i.e. social predestination, is a key metaphor for ancient Greek tragedies. Sophocles' tragedy "Oedipus the King" tells the story of the titanic efforts of the hero to avoid the terrible fate predicted for him, however, despite all his exploits, evil fate triumphs.
The daily life of traditional society was remarkable sustainability. It was regulated not so much by laws as tradition - a set of unwritten rules, patterns of activity, behavior and communication that embody the experience of ancestors. In the traditionalist consciousness, it was believed that the “golden age” was already behind, and the gods and heroes left examples of actions and exploits that should be imitated. People's social habits have remained virtually unchanged for many generations. Organization of everyday life, methods of housekeeping and norms of communication, holiday rituals, ideas about illness and death - in a word, everything we call everyday life was brought up in the family and passed on from generation to generation. Many generations of people have experienced the same social structures, ways of doing things, and social habits. Submission to tradition explains the high stability of traditional societies with their stagnant patriarchal cycle of life and extremely slow pace of social development.
The stability of traditional societies, many of which (especially in the Ancient East) remained virtually unchanged for centuries, was also facilitated by public authority of the supreme power. Often she was directly identified with the personality of the king (“The State is me”). The public authority of the earthly ruler was also nourished by religious ideas about the divine origin of his power (“The Sovereign is God’s vicegerent on earth”), although history knows few cases when the head of state personally became the head of the church (the Anglican Church). The personification of political and spiritual power in one person (theocracy) ensured the dual subordination of man to both the state and the church, which gave traditional society even greater stability.