Traditional society (F. Tennis, R

Essential elements societies are social institutions - stable aggregates of people, groups, institutions whose activities are aimed at performing certain social functions and are based on certain norms and standards of behavior.

The fundamental institutions of society include the family, school, industry, church and state. This is due to the presence of five types of the most important vital needs, the satisfaction of which is aimed at human activity:

1) in the reproduction of the genus (family);

2) in safety and social order (state);

3) in the means of subsistence (production);

4) in obtaining knowledge, socialization of the younger generation, training (school);

5) in solving spiritual problems, searching for the meaning of life (religion).

Each of these institutions brings together large masses of people to meet a particular need and achieve a specific goal of a personal, group or social nature. The emergence of social institutions led to the consolidation of specific types of interaction, made them permanent and mandatory for all members of a given society.

characteristic features social institutions are:

1) association of all persons employed a certain kind activities and ensuring in the process of this activity the satisfaction of a certain significant need for society;

2) consolidation by the system of social norms regulating the corresponding types of behavior;

3) the presence of institutions equipped with certain material resources necessary for any type of activity;

4) a clear delineation of the functions of each interaction subject, the consistency of their actions, a high level of regulation and control;

5) integration into the socio-political, legal, value structure of society.

In addition to the main social institutions, there are non-basic ones. So, if the main political institution is the state, then the non-basic ones are individual government bodies and officials.

social institution makes connections between people not random and not chaotic, but permanent, reliable and stable.

In this way , the most important institutions of society are social institutions.

Traditional, industrial and post-industrial societies.

in the western scientific literature in the 1960s the division of all societies became widespread to traditional and industrial(while capitalism and socialism were seen as two varieties of industrial society).

Traditional(agrarian) society represented the pre-industrial stage of civilizational development. All societies of antiquity and the Middle Ages were traditional. Their economy was dominated by subsistence agriculture and primitive handicrafts. Extensive technology and hand tools predominated, initially providing economic progress. In his production activities man strives to adapt to environment obeyed the rhythms of nature. Property relations were characterized by the dominance of communal, corporate, conditional, state forms of ownership. Private property was neither sacred nor inviolable. The distribution of material wealth, the product produced depended on the place of a person in the social hierarchy.

Features of a traditional society:

The basis of the economy is agriculture. The main wealth is land.

The majority of the population lives in rural areas.

Class division of society. Estate closure.

· The great role and influence of the church.

· The number of educated people is limited.

· Slow pace of development.

Traditional societies have survived to this day mainly in the countries of the so-called "third world" (Asia, Africa) (therefore, the concept of "non-Western civilizations" is often synonymous with traditional society). From a Eurocentric point of view, traditional societies are backward, primitive, closed, unfree social organisms, to which Western sociology opposes industrial and post-industrial civilizations.

As a result of modernization, understood as a complex, contradictory, complex process of transition from a traditional society to an industrial one, the foundations of a new civilization were laid in the countries of Western Europe. They call her industrial, technogenic, scientific and technical or economic. It exists for 200-250 years.

Features of an industrial society:

The basis of the economy industrial production. The main wealth is plants, factories, mines, railways.

The majority of the population lives in cities. urbanization processes.

· The role of the church is sharply reduced. Scientific views on the world.

· The rule of law is being created. The person is protected from arbitrariness and lawlessness.

· Goes into the past class division. The position of a person in society is determined not by wealth and origin, but by his business qualities. High mobility.

A large number of literate people

· Change happens quickly. Scientific and technological revolution.

It is a society of mass production and mass consumption.

Thus, pre-industrial civilization opposes industrial society in all directions. Industrial societies include most modern industrial developed countries(including Russia).

Some modern countries are approaching the stage post-industrial society. Toffler, Bell, Brzezinski)

Features of a post-industrial society:

Most of the people are employed in the service sector.

· The role of small-scale production is growing.

· Processes of globalization.

Thus, traditional and industrial societies are stages in the development of society.

Civilizations and formations.

The most developed approaches in Russian historical and philosophical science to explaining the essence and features of the historical process are formational and civilizational.

The first of them belongs to the Marxist school of social science. Its key concept is the category of "socio-economic formation".

Under formation a historically defined type of society was understood, considered in the organic interconnection of all its aspects and spheres, arising on the basis of a certain mode of production of material goods. In the structure of each formation, an economic basis and a superstructure were distinguished. Basis(otherwise it was called relations of production) - a set of social relations that develop between people in the process of production, distribution and consumption of material goods (the main among them are the ownership of the means of production). superstructure is understood as a set of political, legal, ideological, religious, cultural and other views, institutions and relations not covered by the basis. Despite relative independence, the type of superstructure was determined by the nature of the basis. He also represented the basis of the formation, determining the formation affiliation of a particular society. Relations of production(economic basis of society) and productive forces were mode of production, often understood as a synonym for socio-economic formation. The concept of productive forces included people as producers of material goods with their knowledge, skills and labor experience, and means of production: tools, objects and means of labor. The productive forces develop faster than the relations of production. At a certain stage, a conflict arises between the productive forces and production relations, which is resolved in the course of the social revolution, the destruction of the old basis and the transition to a new stage of social development, to a new socio-economic formation. The old relations of production are being replaced by new ones, which open up scope for the development of the productive forces.

Thus, Marxism understands the historical process as a regular, objectively determined, natural-historical change of socio-economic formations.

Under socio-economic formation refers to a specific stage in the development of a mode of production with its corresponding superstructure. According to this concept, all societies in their development alternately go through five socio-economic formations: primitive, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist, the first phase of which is socialism.

The formational approach is based on several postulates:

1) the idea of ​​history as a natural, internally conditioned, progressive progressive process.

2) the decisive role of material production in the development of society, the idea of ​​economic factors as basic for other social relations

3) the need to match production relations with the productive forces;

4) the inevitability of the transition from one socio-economic formation to another.

On the present stage development of social science formational theory is in crisis. Comes to the fore civilizational an approach.

concept "civilization" one of the most difficult modern science: many definitions have been proposed. In a broad sense, civilization is understood as a level, a stage in the development of society, material and spiritual culture, following barbarism, savagery. This concept is also used to refer to the totality of unique manifestations of social orders inherent in a certain historical community. In this sense, civilization is characterized as a qualitative specificity (originality of material, spiritual, social life) of a particular group of countries, peoples at a certain stage of development. The well-known Russian historian M. A. Barg defined civilization in this way; "... This is the way in which a given society resolves its material, socio-political and spiritual-ethical problems." Different civilizations are fundamentally different from each other, since they are based not on similar production techniques and technologies (like societies of the same formation), but on incompatible systems of social and spiritual values. Any civilization is characterized not so much by a production basis as by a way of life specific to it, a system of values, vision and ways of interconnection with the surrounding world.

Each of these spheres, being itself an element of the system called "society", in turn turns out to be a system in relation to the elements that make it up. All four realms public life not only interconnect, but also mutually determine each other.

The division of society into spheres is somewhat arbitrary, but it helps to isolate and study certain areas of a truly holistic society.

wa, diverse and complex social life.

Sociologists offer several classifications of society. Societies are:

a) Simple and complex (the criterion in this typology is the number of levels of management of society, as well as the degree of its differentiation);

b) Primitive society, slave society, feudal society, capitalist society and communist society;

c) In Western scientific literature in the 1960s. the division of all societies into traditional and industrial became widespread (at the same time, capitalism and socialism were considered as two varieties of industrial society).

The German sociologist F. Tennis, the French sociologist R. Aron, and the American economist W. Rostow made a great contribution to the formation of this concept.

Traditional (agrarian) society represented the pre-industrial stage of civilizational development. All societies of antiquity and the Middle Ages were traditional. Their economy was dominated by subsistence agriculture and primitive handicrafts. Extensive technology and hand tools predominated, initially providing economic progress. In his production activities, man sought to adapt to the environment as much as possible, obeyed the rhythms of nature. Property relations were characterized by the dominance of communal, corporate, conditional, state forms of ownership. Private property was neither sacred nor inviolable. The distribution of material wealth, the product produced depended on the position of a person in the social hierarchy. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The social structure of a traditional society is corporate by class, stable and immovable.

social mobility was virtually absent: a person was born and died, remaining in the same social group.

The main social units were the community and the family. Human behavior in society was regulated by corporate norms and principles, customs, beliefs, unwritten laws.

In the public consciousness, social reality, human life were perceived as the implementation of divine providence.

The spiritual world of a person of a traditional society, his system value orientations, the way of thinking is special and noticeably different from the modern one. Individuality, independence in this society are not encouraged: social group dictates the individual's norms of behavior. One can even speak of a "group man" who did not analyze his position in the world, and indeed rarely analyzed the phenomena of the surrounding reality. Rather, he moralizes, evaluates life situations from the standpoint of his social group.

The political sphere of traditional society is dominated by the church and the army. The person is completely alienated from politics. Power seems to him of greater value than law and law. In general, this society is extremely conservative, stable, immune to innovations and impulses. from the outside. Changes in it occur spontaneously, slowly, without the conscious intervention of people. The spiritual sphere of human existence is a priority over the economic one.

Traditional societies have survived to this day mainly in the countries of the so-called "third world" (Asia, Africa) (therefore, the concept of "non-Western civilizations" is often synonymous with "traditional society"). From a Eurocentric point of view, traditional societies are backward, primitive, closed, unfree social organisms, to which Western sociology opposes industrial and post-industrial civilizations.

industrial society

As a result of modernization, understood as a complex, contradictory, complex process of transition from a traditional society to an industrial one, the foundations of a new civilization were laid in the countries of Western Europe. It is called industrial, technogenic, scientific and technical or economic.

The economic base of an industrial society is industry based on machine technology. The volume of fixed capital increases, long-term average costs per unit of output decrease.

V agriculture labor productivity rises sharply, natural isolation is destroyed. An extensive economy is replaced by an intensive one, and simple reproduction is replaced by an expanded one.

All these processes occur through the implementation of principles and structures. market economy, based on scientific and technological progress. A person is freed from direct dependence on nature, partially subordinates it to himself. Stable the economic growth accompanied by an increase in real per capita income. If the pre-industrial period is filled with the fear of hunger and disease, then the industrial society is characterized by an increase in the well-being of the population.

V social sphere industrial society is also collapsing traditional structures, social partitions. Social mobility is significant. New classes appear - the industrial proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the middle strata are strengthened. The aristocracy is in decline.

In the spiritual sphere, there is a significant transformation of the value system. The man of the new society is autonomous within the social group, guided by his personal interests. Individualism, rationalism (a person analyzes the world and makes decisions on that basis) and

utilitarianism (a person does not act in the name of some global goals, but for a certain benefit) - new systems of personality coordinates. There is a secularization of consciousness (liberation from direct dependence on religion). A person in an industrial society strives for self-development, self-improvement.

Global changes are also taking place in the political sphere. The role of the state is growing sharply, and a democratic regime is gradually taking shape. Law and law dominate in society, and a person is involved in power relations as an active subject.

A number of sociologists somewhat refine the above scheme. From their point of view, the main content of the modernization process is in changing the model (stereotype) of behavior, in the transition from irrational (characteristic of a traditional society) to rational (characteristic of an industrial society) behavior.

TO economic aspects rational behavior include the development of commodity-money relations, the determining role of money as a general equivalent of values, the displacement of barter transactions, the wide scope of market transactions, etc.

The most important social consequence of modernization is the change in the principle of distribution of roles. Previously, society imposed sanctions on the social choice, limiting the possibility of a person occupying certain social positions depending on his belonging to a certain group (origin, pedigree, nationality). After modernization, a rational principle of distribution of roles is approved, in which the main and only criterion for taking a particular position is the candidate's preparedness to perform these functions.

Traditional(agrarian) society represented the pre-industrial stage of civilizational development. All societies of antiquity and the Middle Ages were traditional.

Their the economy was characterized

v dominance of agricultural subsistence farming and primitive handicrafts.

v Extensive technology and hand tools predominated, initially providing economic progress.

v In his production activities, a person sought to adapt to the environment as much as possible, obeyed the rhythms of nature.

v Property relations were characterized by the dominance of communal, corporate, conditional, state forms of ownership. Private property was neither sacred nor inviolable.

v The distribution of material wealth, the product produced depended on the position of a person in the social hierarchy.

v The social structure of a traditional society is corporate, stable and immovable.

v There was virtually no social mobility: a person was born and died, remaining in the same social group.

v The main social units were the community and the family.

v Human behavior in society was regulated by corporate norms and principles, customs, beliefs, unwritten laws.

v Public consciousness was dominated by providentialism: social reality, human life were perceived as the implementation of divine providence.

The spiritual world of a person of a traditional society, his system of value orientations, way of thinking - special and noticeably different from modern ones. Individuality, independence were not encouraged: the social group dictated the norms of behavior to the individual. One can even speak of a “group man” who did not analyze his position in the world, and indeed rarely analyzed the phenomena of the surrounding reality. Rather, he moralizes, evaluates life situations from the standpoint of his social group.

v The number of educated people was extremely limited (“literacy for the few”) oral information prevailed over written information.

In the political sphere of traditional society:

1. dominated by the church and the army.
2. The person is completely alienated from politics.
3. Power seems to him of greater value than law and law.
4. In general, this society is extremely conservative, stable, immune to innovations and impulses from outside, being a "self-sustaining self-regulating immutability." Changes in it occur spontaneously, slowly, without the conscious intervention of people. The spiritual sphere of human existence is a priority over the economic one.

Traditional societies have survived to this day mainly in the countries of the so-called "third world" (Asia, Africa) (therefore, the concept of "non-Western civilizations" is often synonymous with "traditional society".

The inhabitants of Island K lead a subsistence economy. They exchange their wooden crafts with tourists visiting the island for the items they need. Which of the following characteristics supports the conclusion that the inhabitants of the island live in a traditional society?

1) the meeting of the legislative assembly traditionally opens with a speech by the oldest participant
2) commodity-money relations underlie the economic system
3) primary education for children is a must
4) foundation social organization make up large families headed by an older man

SOLUTION:

The traditional (agrarian) society represented the pre-industrial stage of civilizational development. All societies of antiquity and the Middle Ages were traditional.
Their economy was dominated by subsistence agriculture and primitive handicrafts. Extensive technology and hand tools prevailed. In his production activities, man sought to adapt to the environment as much as possible, obeyed the rhythms of nature. Property relations were characterized by the dominance of communal, corporate, conditional, state forms of ownership.
Private property was neither sacred nor inviolable.
The distribution of material wealth, the product produced depended on the position of a person in the social hierarchy. The social structure of a traditional society is corporate by class, stable and immovable. There was virtually no social mobility: a person was born and died, remaining in the same social group. The main social units were the community and the family. Human behavior in society was regulated by corporate norms and principles, traditions, customs, beliefs, unwritten laws. Providentialism dominated the public consciousness: social reality, human life were perceived as the implementation of Divine Providence.
Individuality, independence were not encouraged: the social group dictated the norms of behavior to the individual. The number of educated people was extremely limited.
The political sphere of traditional society is dominated by the church and the army. The person is completely alienated from politics. Power seems to him of greater value than law and law.
In general, this society is extremely conservative, stable, immune to innovations and impulses from outside, being a "self-sustaining self-regulating immutability." Changes in it occur spontaneously, slowly, without the conscious intervention of people.