Introduction
Periodization of history is a special kind of systematization, which consists in the conditional division of the historical process into certain chronological periods. These periods have certain distinctive features, which are determined depending on the chosen basis (criterion) for periodization. A variety of reasons can be chosen for periodization: from a change in the type of thinking (O. Comte, K. Jaspers) to a change in methods of communication (M. McLuhan) and environmental transformations (J. Gudsblom). Many scientists, from thinkers of the 18th century (A. Barnave, A. Ferguson, A. Smith) to modern post-industrialists like D. Bell and E. Toffler, rely on economic-production criteria.
1. History
The first pre-scientific periodizations of history were developed in ancient times (for example, from the golden age of people to the iron age), but scientific periodizations appeared only in modern times, when, as a result of the works of Italian humanists, in particular Jean Bodin, the division that has survived to this day was gradually established history: ancient, medieval and modern.
In the 18th century, many different periodizations appeared. The most famous of the numerous periodizations of the 19th century belong to G. Hegel, K. Marx, O. Comte. In the 20th century, the development of periodization ideas continued, but by the middle of this century, interest in this problem had weakened significantly. Nevertheless, we can point to quite important works in this regard (for example, V.I. Lenin, W. Rostow, D. Bell, L. White, E. Toffler, R. Adams, V. McNeil and others).
In the USSR, as you know, the so-called was mandatory. five-member periodization associated with five modes of production (primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist, communist).
2. Scientific significance
Periodization is very effective method analysis and organization of material. Through periodization it is possible to more deeply show the relationship between the development of the historical process as a whole and its individual aspects. It has great heuristic potential, is able to give coherence to the theory, structures it in many ways and - most importantly - gives it a scale of measurement. It is no coincidence that many scientists note the great importance of periodization for the study of history.
However, periodization deals with extremely complex phenomena of a processual, developing and temporary type, and therefore inevitably coarsens and simplifies historical reality (a map is not a territory). Therefore, any periodization suffers from one-sidedness and greater or lesser discrepancies with reality. This is especially noticeable when scientists begin to absolutize the significance of selected factors, forgetting that periodization still plays a service role. On the other hand, the number and significance of such discrepancies can be sharply reduced if the rules and features of this methodological procedure are strictly followed. In particular, the construction of periodization requires compliance with the rule of identical grounds, that is, the need to proceed from the same reasons (criteria) when identifying periods of equal taxonomic significance. The second rule: the basis for periodization must be related both to the general concept of the researcher and to the purpose of periodization (which can be very different).
It is very important and productive to use the rule of an additional basis, which consists in the fact that, in addition to the main basis of periodization, which determines the number and characteristics of the allocated periods, an additional one is also needed, with the help of which the chronology is clarified. In other words, in periodization it is necessary to distinguish between its semantic (conceptual) and chronological sides.
Literature
Grinin, L. E. 2006. Productive forces and historical process. Ed. 3rd. M.: KomKniga.
Grinin, L. E. 2006. Periodization of history: theoretical and mathematical analysis // History and Mathematics: problems of periodization of historical macroprocesses. / Ed. Korotaev A.V., Malkov S.Yu., Grinin L.E.M.: KomKniga/URSS. pp. 53-79. ISBN 978-5-484-01009-7.
Grinin, L. E. 2006b. Methodological foundations for the periodization of history. Philosophical Sciences 8: 117-123; 9: 127-130.
Grinchenko S. N. History of humanity from a cybernetic perspective // History and Mathematics: Problems of periodization of historical macroprocesses. M.: KomKniga, 2006. pp. 38-52.
Sorokin, P. A. 1992. About the so-called factors of social evolution // Sorokin, P. A. Man. Civilization. Society, p. 521-531. M.: Politizdat.
Shofman, A. S. 1984 (ed.). Periodization of world history. Kazan: Kazan University Publishing House.
Jaspers, K. 1994. The meaning and purpose of history. M.: Republic.
Bell, D. 1973. The Coming of Post-Industrial Society. New York:Basic Books.
Comte, O. 1974. Cours de philosophie positive // The essential Comte: selected from Cours de philosophie positive / Edited and with an introduction by Stanislav Andreski. London: Croom Helme.
Goudsblom, J. 1996. Human History and Long-Term Social Processes: Toward a Synthesis of Chronology and Phaseology // The Course of Human History. Economic Growth, Social Process, and Civilization / Ed. by J. Goudsblom, E. L. Jones, and S. Mennel, p. 15-30. New York, NY: Sharpe.
Green, W. A. 1992. Periodization in European and World History // Journal of World History 3(1): 13-53.
Green, W. A. 1995. Periodizing World History // History and Theory 34: 99-111.
Grinin, L. E., and A. V. Korotayev. 2006. Political Development of the World System: A Formal Quantitative Analysis // History & Mathematics. Historical Dynamics and Development of Complex Societies / Ed. by P. Turchin, L. Grinin, V. de Munck, and A. Korotayev. Moscow: URSS.
Toffler, A. 1980. The Third Wave. New York.
White, L. A. 1959. The Evolution of Culture; the development of civilization to the fall of Rome. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Even a superficial glance at the history of mankind allows us to note the fact that society is not in a constant state, but is constantly changing. The socio-historical process is a consistent change in the state of society, its development.
All theories of social development can be divided into 2 groups:
1. Theories evolutionary type : the development of society occurs through evolution, i.e. gradual, slow, progressive development (reforms, elections, economic evolution, social mobility, intercultural dialogue). For example, stage theory economic growth Rostow.
2. Theories revolutionary type: the development of society occurs through socio-political revolutions, coups, uprisings, scientific revolutions, technological revolutions. This is formational concept of the development of society by K. Marx and F. Engels .
Social development is diverse in ways and forms.
In order to periodize human history and highlight the criteria for periodization, it is necessary to separate the concepts of culture and civilization.
Definitions "cultures":
Original meaning- “method of cultivating the land”;
- a way of reproducing human qualities in a person , i.e. cultural tradition;
- everything that is created by man , so-called "second nature";
- creative activity people, aimed at transforming the surrounding world and man himself . Can be highlighted material(to satisfy material needs) and spiritual(change of consciousness) culture.
- set of values, inherent in a given society and determining the originality and integrity of civilization (this is how Weber understands culture).
Concept civilization (from lat. civilis - civil, state, worthy and befitting a citizen) - has many definitions. Most well-known concepts revealing the essence of the concept of “civilization” are theories ABOUT. Spengler, A. Toynbee, P. Sorokin , L. Mechnikov, A. Chizhevsky, L. Gumilev, M. McLuhan, O. Toffler.
Definitions "civilization":
- a society based on reason and justice (in this meaning it was first used by French enlighteners in theory social progress);
Historical stage development of material and spiritual culture of society, which follows the stages of savagery and barbarism (L. Morgan, F. Engels);
- a certain stage in the development of local cultures , more precisely, the era of degradation and decline as opposed to the integrity and organic nature of culture (Spengler, Toynbee);
- synonym for culture (A. Toynbee);
Level (stage) of development of a particular region or ethnic group.
Then civilization is a qualitative state, uniqueness, originality of the material and spiritual life of a particular country, group of countries, peoples at a certain historical stage. The totality of production, economic, socio-political and spiritual factors of a society that determine its uniqueness. In this understanding, this concept is used as a means for periodizing history.
There are two approaches to the periodization of history: formational and civilizational.
Formational approach(first implemented by Marx) the concept of “socio-economic formation” is used. Periodization is carried out according to the production method material goods, i.e. First of all, production and economic relations are considered. It reveals what is common to different countries at the same stage of historical development, and focuses attention on the universal, common, and recurring. The disadvantage is that the role is underestimated human factor and the fact that not all countries fit into the formational model. Many doubt the possibility of achieving a communist formation.
Civilizational approach (prominent representatives Nikolai Yakovlevich Danilevsky (1822-1885), Oswald Spengler (1880-1936), Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975)). IN "Russia and Europe" (1868) AND I. Danilevsky outlined the theory "cultural-historical types" (or "original civilizations") which the scientist endowed with a plan for historical, industrial, social, political, religious, artistic development.
O. Spengler in the book "The Decline of Europe" (1918) proposed an understanding of civilization as specific historical organism , which had unique content and internal integrity.
A. Toynbee in his essay "Comprehension of History" (1934-1961) divides the history of mankind into so-called "local civilizations" , each of which is a certain milestone of time and in development goes through all the stages of a living organism: emergence, growth, breakdown and decomposition.
Within the framework of the civilizational approach, the concept of “civilization” is used and proclaimed multiple options social development within the framework of a planetary process. Periodization is carried out taking into account economic, socio-political and spiritual factors. What is unique and inimitable is revealed that characterizes the historical development of each nation. This approach focuses on peculiar, local elements of social structure. Differences between civilizations are due, first of all, to differences in value systems, lifestyles, visions and ways of relating to the outside world. The historical process is studied in all its diversity. First of all, a person is studied, and unique and inimitable features of the history of a particular people are revealed. The disadvantage is that the absolutization of the idea of uniqueness and originality can lead to a break in world history in space and time. The continuity that exists between different peoples is underestimated.
The civilizational approach comes in two forms:
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Linear-stage Local civilizational
Stages are distinguished that coexist locally
and are civilizations: closed civilizations:
- traditional(pre-industrial)
- industrial
- post-industrial (informational).
Three-stage periodization presented at
O. Toffler, D. Belland etc.,
Characteristics of civilizations:
inherent in civilizations its own dynamics of development, covering long-term historical periods called phases. These are the phases: genesis - growth - maturation - withering - decline - and, finally, decay;
civilization interact between themselves. The result is selective perception elements of each other, while without violation own individuality;
· civilizations may be subject to revival And transformation (i.e. radical transformation). The so-called “death” of civilization is not total and “irreversible” in nature. For example, the lost Byzantine civilization left its spiritual heritage to Russia and the Balkan Slavs;
· the universal category of consideration of society becomes culture . She is also driving force changes of civilizations. The dominant spirit is gradually degrading and is being replaced by new culture, other spiritual state of people. The birth of a new civilization is taking place.
Within the framework of the local civilizational approach, today there are following types civilizations:
Western
Eastern European
Muslim
Indian
Chinese
Japanese
Latin American
They differ from each other:
Cultural-psychological subsystem (norms, values)
Political subsystem (customs and traditions, law, government and society, parties, movements)
Economic subsystem (production, exchange of products and services, technology, communication system)
Biosocial subsystem (family, family ties, hygiene, food, housing, clothing, leisure).
Main types of society.
| Traditional | Industrial | Post-industrial |
| - IV - III thousand years BC - 60-80s XVIII century - The duration and continuity of the historical process, the absence social dynamics, clear boundaries between historical eras, sharp shocks and shifts. - The inapplicability of the European concept of linear progress to the characteristics of historical development; - The type of relationship between society and nature is built not on the principle of victory over it, but on the idea of merging with it. Economy - Leading sector - agriculture; - High degree dependence on nature; - Dominance of subsistence farming; - The basis economic system- community-state forms of ownership with weak development of the institution of private property. Small forms of private property. Politics - Predominantly individual forms government(monarchy, tyranny); -The state subjugates society; society outside the state and its control does not exist; - Power is higher than the law; - The principle of autonomy of an individual free from the state and social communities is absent. A person strives to join existing system social communities and “dissolve” in it; Social sphere- Low social mobility; - Estate-hierarchical structure of society (castes, estates); a stable distinction between them; - Focus on preserving traditions. Spiritual Sphere - Main Regulator public life- tradition, custom, adherence to the norms of life of previous generations; - The leading role of religion; - Emotional and sensory forms of understanding the world; - The value system adapts a person to the world. | - Mid-19th century - last third of the 20th century. - Dynamic historical development, complicated by social upheavals and revolutions, history moves unevenly, gaps between eras are obvious; - Socio-historical progress is quite obvious and can be measured through various criteria; - Society strives to dominate nature, subjugating it and extracting the maximum possible from it. Economy - The basis of the economy is a highly developed institution of private property, diverse forms of ownership; - The emergence of the capitalist mode of production, the rapid development of productive forces. - The leading sector is manufacturing and factory organization of industry; - Global commodity market; - Development of mass production; - The degree of dependence on nature is lower. Politics - Predominantly republican forms of government (democracy, parliamentarism); - Law is higher than power; - Constitutional state; - Society is autonomous from the state, formation civil society; - Consolidation of constitutional rights and freedoms of the individual; - Autonomy, freedom and individual rights are constitutionally enshrined as inalienable and innate. Relations between the individual and society are built on the principles of mutual responsibility. Social sphere - High social mobility; - Complex stratification structure; - Rapidly changing norms and traditions; - Urbanization of society, the predominance of the urban population over the rural. Spiritual Sphere - Refusal religious worldview; - Dominant in culture is science; - Conceptual and logical forms of understanding the world; - The value system focuses on remaking the world; - The most important social values the ability and readiness for change and innovation are recognized. | - The transition is taking place today; - Typical for highly developed Western countries; - Rapidly changing norms and traditions. Economy - Consolidation of forms of ownership as a trend; - The leading sector is the service sector; - Mass production in small batches; - “Mass consumption”; - Energy revolution: rational use old types of energy and the involvement of new ones (for example, thermonuclear); - Improving the quality of communications, computer revolution; - Transformation of information and science into the productive force of society; - Development of new technologies, resource-saving, waste-free, biotechnologies. Politics - Predominantly republican forms of government (democracy, parliamentarism); - Law is higher than power; - Constitutional state; - Active international integration and cooperation in various fields public life. Social sphere - High social mobility; - Complex stratification structure; - Improving the mechanism for managing society and the state, the emergence of a special profession of managers - managers. Spiritual sphere - Science merges with technology and technology; - Main value in society - information; - The value system orients a person towards coexistence with nature. |
Exists other name for the typology of civilizations proposed above (based on technical and technological equipment, the degree of socialization of labor and personal freedom):
1. Cosmogenic (covers the Ancient World and the Middle Ages). Based on tools and technology, society is significantly dependent on natural conditions.
2. Technogenic or industrial . Based on machine technology and, accordingly, machine technology.
3. Anthropogenic, or Information society . Information saturation becomes the basis of production technological processes, which requires the constant development of the level of culture and education, the qualifications of each individual and society as a whole.
The transition from traditional society to industrial and post-industrial is defined as modernization. Modernization- This global process, which radically changes all spheres of society and human life - economic, political, social, spiritual. The first phase of modernization was
An important problem of historical science is the periodization of historical development human society, i.e. establishing chronologically sequential stages in social development. The identification of stages is based on decisive factors, common to all countries or to leading countries.
Since the development of historical science, historians have developed many various options periodization of social development.
So, the ancient Greek poet Hesiod(VIII-VII centuries BC), author of didactic epics (“Theogony”, etc.), divided the history of peoples into five periods: divine, golden, silver, copper and iron, arguing that from century to century people their lives are getting worse. Ancient Greek thinker Pythagoras(VI century BC) in understanding history was guided by the theory of the circle, according to which development follows the same track: birth, flourishing, death. At the same time, the vector of history is practically absent. This view of history is analogous to human life, to the circles of civilization.
A German scientist proposed his own version of periodization B. Hildebrand(1812-1878), who shared history by farm type for three periods: subsistence farming, money economy, credit industry.
Russian scientist L.I. Mechnikov(1838-1888) established the periodization of history by degree of development waterways messages: river period (ancient civilizations), Mediterranean (Middle Ages), oceanic (New and Contemporary times).
Karl Marx(1818-1883), based on the principle of a materialistic understanding of history, developed a version of periodization, basing it on mode of production", or formational concept. In accordance with this theory, human history appears as a successive change of socio-economic formations (primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist, communist).
Unlike K. Marx, Western scientists of the 20th century. viewed the historical process as an alternation of the same “cycles”
catching the gyre local civilizations. The largest representative of this theory, supporter civilizational approach - English historian A. Toynbee(1889-1975). His 12-volume work “Comprehension of History” (1934-1961) is devoted to a fundamental analysis of the emergence, development and death of civilizations. Toynbee identifies 21 civilizations, which are characterized by universal religions, world states and philosophies.
The civilizational approach to the search for general patterns of the historical process is based on identifying common features in the political, spiritual, everyday, material culture, public consciousness, similar development paths. This takes into account the differences generated by geographical environment habitats, historical features. There are three main types of civilization.
- (1) Peoples without development ideas, those. outside of historical time. This type includes primitive state of society, it is characterized by adaptation, harmony of man and nature, repetition of traditions and the prohibition to violate, expressed through taboos. This type of civilization is currently represented by individual tribes surviving in various areas globe, For example Australian aborigines, American Indians, African tribes, small peoples of Siberia.
- (2) Eastern type civilization (cyclical nature of development). This type is characterized by the interweaving of the past and present, the preservation of religious priorities. It is distinguished by the absence of pronounced class differences and developed private property, the presence of caste communities, which, not being connected with each other, rely on highly centralized power. Progress in such a society occurs in cycles, slowly. This type of civilization was widespread in Asia, Africa, America and continues to exist - the Arab-Muslim civilization.
- (3) European type of civilization (progressive). It is based on ideas continuous development. With the spread of Christianity this type becomes common among European countries. It is characterized by rationalism, the prestige of productive work, developed private property, market from-
wearing, class structure with active political parties, the presence of civil society.
All types of civilization are equal before history; they have advantages and disadvantages. IN primitive society The problem of harmony between man and nature has been solved, but man does not realize himself. Eastern society aimed at spirituality, but does not value the individual. European civilization gives a person a chance for self-realization, but the rapid pace of development leads to world wars, revolutions, and acute social and class struggle.
In the 60s of the XX century. American economist and political thinker Walt Rostow(1916-2003) developed theory of stages of economic growth. He identified five stages of economic growth: (1) traditional society; (2) prerequisite period, or transitional society; (3) the period of “take-off”, or shift;
(4) period of maturity; (5) era of high mass consumption.
The very idea of identifying stages that society must sequentially go through in its development is not new. Its roots are in the concepts of the first sociologists O. Comte and G. Spencer, on the basis of which Marx created his theory formational development. Rostow based his identification of the stage of economic growth on the level technical development. In the 1970s, Rostow added a sixth stage to his scheme. At this stage, society is busy searching for ways to qualitatively improve human living conditions.
- The mode of production is a historically specific unity of productive forces and production relations.
- 2 See: Semmenikova L.I. Russia in the world community of civilizations. M.: Kursiv, 1995. pp. 40-41.
The life of human society is not only the preservation and reproduction of social structures. It represents a continuous historical process of change in all aspects of the social whole. From the variety of concepts, we will select and consider the most generally accepted in modern philosophy stories. She is considering
development of society as a change in the nature of people’s activities, in which a person’s position and social relations change.
There are three main stages social process:
Traditional society(according to Marx, these are pre-capitalist formations - primitive, slaveholding and feudal). At the core public relations there is a tradition, there is no incentive to develop production, increase labor productivity. During this period, many discoveries and inventions were made (eg compass, paper, gunpowder), but they were not used. Not because people were stupid, but the system of relations between people opposed the use of technology. There was non-economic coercion to work. Relationships between people had the character of personal dependence. The society was closed: contacts between peoples and states were limited and unsystematic, because subsistence farming did not require extensive interaction.
Industrial society replaces the traditional one. At the heart of capitalism industrial production relations of material dependence between people lie. Forced labor has exhausted itself and become ineffective. New level production requires a personally free individual, interested in the results of his work, showing resourcefulness and initiative. True, this applies primarily to entrepreneurs. There is economic coercion to work. Initially, with the development of technology and the improvement of machines, the prospects for development seem limitless. But it is gradually becoming clear that industrialization and progress are not the same thing. Unbalanced “entrepreneur-employee” relations lead to increasing conflicts in society. The resource and environmental limitations of this type of production are clarified.
In the 20th century, it finally became clear that the meaning of economic activity lies not in things, but in people. Complex human labor becomes the main source of surplus value.
All this indicates that modern society stands on the threshold of a new stage of its development, which can be designated as post-industrial. So far we are talking only about a group of the most highly developed states, but from their example one can see the trend of global development. Organizational and managerial rather than engineering and technical aspects of production come to the fore. Those. The main thing becomes the organization of people's activities. This places new demands not only on the entrepreneur, but also on the employee: modern technology assumes highly qualified, creativity and continuous self-development. Industrial production “dictated” to the consumer, producing mass standardized products. Modern production focuses on consumer needs and develops a marketing ideology. Solution environmental, resource, etc. problems requires a transition from extensive to intensive development. Post-industrial society not a panacea, but simply a qualitatively new stage in the development of society, which gives rise to its own complex problems. But it finally became clear that a harmonious joint development of society, technology and nature (co-evolution) is necessary. There is no other alternative if society does not want to perish.
The formational approach reflects the logic of the historical process, its essential features. The civilizational approach allows us to see and reflect the diversity of forms of manifestation of these essential features in individual specific communities. These approaches complement each other.
Researchers of the past one way or another face the problems of chronology and periodization. In his work, the historian deals both with ideas about time, which he himself shares, belonging to a certain culture and profession, and with various historical views on the methods of measuring time and the relationship of events.
ordinary human experience allows you to perceive time as a continuous moving stream and at the same time divide it into conditional periods. In modern Western culture There are widespread views that go back to the Judeo-Christian image of the world, where history is a sequence of events directed from the past to the future. According to Christian teaching, earthly history humanity has a beginning, an end and is subordinated to the goal - the achievement of the Kingdom of God. Theories of social progress are constructed in a similar way, where history is understood as the unidirectional development of humanity towards a more perfect social structure. A similar idea of history as a time-limited continuous linear process is supported by many modern natural science theories.
IN modern culture Along with a linear vision of history, there are elements of cyclical chronological concepts based on natural cycles, for example, on the change of day and night or seasons. However, they are also subject to the idea of linear movement: thus, it is believed that each year is new in relation to the previous one. Such ideas do not follow directly from the nature of time. Otherwise, for example, cyclical time was structured in the minds of the ancient Greeks: the eternal cosmos periodically died in fire and was reborn again, which led to another repetition of the events of history.
Various cultures have had a need to date events. The ways of relating an event to time were very varied: they could be based on culturally accepted methods of measuring time, lunar and solar calendars, agricultural cycles, periods of dynasty rule, etc. Calculation, as a rule, was carried out from some significant symbolic event - the founding of Rome or the Creation of the world, the first year after the death of Buddha or the Nativity of Christ. The problems of studying various chronological systems are the subject of research in such a discipline as historical chronology.
If issues of chronology, or images of historical time, only partially depend on history as a discipline, then the problem of periodization is directly related to historical knowledge.
Periodization - division of the past into periods of time (historical periods, centuries, eras, etc.) - one of complex problems historical writing. The need for such division for ordering and analysis historical events is not questioned by researchers. However, the practice of constructing periodizations often causes controversy. Historians pay attention to a significant degree of convention in isolating integral fragments of the past.
Widespread in historical knowledge of the 19th century. the idea of the objectivity of time as the environment in which events exist in the 20th century. gave way to ideas about the relativity of time. Historical time is thought of as complex design, to a large extent "constituted" by events or groups of events of the past. The very possibility of periodization is based on a rather conventional vision of history as continuous and unified. Based on the idea of the commonality of the process of human development, it is possible to identify certain stages in it and compare one era with another.
To study history, it is important not only to date and correlate what happened with a certain point in time, but also to outline the boundaries of the periods when typical similarities appeared historical phenomena between themselves. Based on this similarity, historical periods can be distinguished, for example, the Renaissance or the Age of Enlightenment, etc.
In the cultures, mythologies and religions of the past, there were various ways of periodizing history, for example, dividing the past by analogy with the seasons of the year, with the ages of man. Greek poet Hesiod in the 7th century. BC e. wrote about the four past centuries - gold, silver, bronze and iron. Periodization according to generations, political boards, dynasties belongs to the most ancient ways organizing history.
In the Middle Ages in the West, in the writings of the Church Fathers, two large systems periodization of world history. One linked the past and present of humanity with the four monarchies. According to this system, developed in the 4th century. Eusebius of Caesarea and Jerome of Stridon, based on the Old Testament “Book of the Prophet Daniel,” a total of four empires have changed in human history. The Roman Empire was seen as last state on earth, after which the end of history will come. The successive change of monarchies reflected the Divine plan, according to which people moved towards political and religious unity. In the XI–XII centuries. German historians substantiated the theory of “transfer of the monarchy,” which became widespread in the medieval West. According to this concept, after the fall of the Roman Empire, God transferred the power of the Roman emperors, first to Charlemagne (and the State of the Franks) and then to the German Empire.
Most medieval historians preferred the six-age periodization of history described by Aurelius Augustine. The centuries that have passed since the creation of the world have been likened to the ages of man and the days of Creation. Sixth and last age- old age of humanity - began with the birth of Christ. For the early chroniclers, each day of Creation corresponded to a thousand years in history; the sixth century was to end with the end of the world and the “seventh day of the eternal Sabbath,” the day of the resurrection from the dead. On this basis, the end of the world was expected in Europe in 1000; After this date, historians had to adjust their calculations of the duration of each “age” of the world.
Concept historical era, which is currently in use is relatively recent. It was affirmed in the context of the culture of the Renaissance and Reformation, during a period when the influence of Christian eschatology and expectations of the imminent end of the world began to weaken in society. Humanists proposed a vision of history according to which the establishment of Christianity and the fall of the Western Roman Empire was considered the most important milestone separating ancient history from modern history. The definition of “Middle Ages” entered historiography gradually, as the consciousness of the present moved away from the recent past. In European science, the idea of the Middle Ages was established after the end of the 17th century. German university professor H. Keller called one of the three books of his textbook “History of the Middle Ages,” dividing history into “ancient” - before Constantine the Great, “medieval” - until 1453, the date of the Turks’ conquest of Constantinople, the center of Christendom, and the “new” one that occurred after this date.
The division of history into large eras contributed to the formation historical consciousness in a society in which the process of secularization took place, made it possible to distinguish between the past, present and future as qualitatively different periods, and at the same time linked together the historical process. The division of world history into antiquity, the Middle Ages and modern times became dominant in the works of historians of the Enlightenment (18th century). Subsequently, this method of periodization, with certain amendments, was enshrined in professional historiography of the 19th–20th centuries.
This division scheme is very arbitrary. There is debate about the boundaries of each era, so that the boundaries of antiquity, the Middle Ages and modern times fluctuate within two or three centuries. In addition, this periodization of world history is based on the history of Europe, the events of which cannot serve as guidelines for describing the past of China or India.
WITH mid-19th V. various economic theories, in accordance with which the periodization of world history was carried out. In the 20th century In Marxist literature, a scheme of five socio-economic formations (primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist, communist), dating back to the works of K. Marx and F. Engels, was established. After World War II, theories of industrialization and modernization proposed in the fields of social and economic history, were extended to the historical process as a whole. The World History was considered as a change different types society – pre-industrial (agrarian, traditional), industrial (modernized), post-industrial (information). In the works modern historians And social philosophers Much attention is paid to the study of the post-industrial stage of history.
In the 17th century Periodization by centuries originates. This method of dividing time assumes that each century has internal unity, own identity.
When one of the characteristics of an era is transferred to the essence of an entire period, generalizations arise (“the age of baroque” or “the age of liberalism”), which are used as metaphors. But they require a certain caution, since they imply that, for example, the entire way of life in the 17th century. characterized by features of the Baroque style. Theories of global eras can also be viewed critically, since they are built on the premise that history - a kind of global whole - is comprehended in relation to what a person learns from his own experience.
Thus, eras and periods are the fruit of the work of historians. These constructs help in the study of past phenomena, but they should not be taken literally. As R. J. Collingwood wrote, everyone has to read about the good and bad periods in history, but one or another says more about how historians study the past than about the past they study.