Sociology identifies several types of society: traditional, industrial and post-industrial. The difference between the formations is enormous. Moreover, each type of device has unique features and characteristics.
The difference lies in the attitude towards the person, the ways of organizing economic activity. The transition from a traditional to an industrial and post-industrial (information) society is extremely difficult.
Traditional
The presented type of social system was formed first. In this case, the regulation of relationships between people is based on tradition. The agrarian society, or traditional, differs from the industrial and post-industrial ones primarily by low mobility in the social sphere. In such a way, there is a clear distribution of roles, and the transition from one class to another is almost impossible. An example is the caste system in India. The structure of this society is characterized by stability and a low level of development. At the coreThe future role of man lies primarily in his origin. Social elevators are absent in principle, in some way they are even undesirable. The transition of individuals from one layer to another in the hierarchy can provoke the process of destruction of the entire habitual way of life.
In an agrarian society, individualism is not welcome. All human actions are aimed at maintaining the life of the community. Freedom of choice in this case can lead to a change in formation or cause the destruction of the entire way of life. Economic relations between people are strictly regulated. With normal market relations, the social mobility of citizens increases, that is, processes that are undesirable for the entire traditional society are initiated.
The backbone of the economy
The economy of this type of formation is agrarian. That is, the land is the basis of we alth. The more allotments an individual owns, the higher his social status. The tools of production are archaic and practically do not develop. This also applies to other areas of life. In the early stages of the formation of a traditional society, natural exchange prevails. Money as a universal commodity and a measure of the value of other items are absent in principle.
There is no industrial production as such. With the development, handicraft production of the necessary tools and other household items arises. This process is long, since most citizens living in a traditional society prefer to produce everything themselves. Subsistence farming predominates.
Demography and way of life
In the agricultural system, most people live in local communities. At the same time, the change of place of business is extremely slow and painful. It is also important to take into account the fact that at a new place of residence there are often problems with the allocation of a land allotment. Own plot with the opportunity to grow different crops is the basis of life in a traditional society. Food is also obtained through cattle breeding, gathering and hunting.
In a traditional society, a high birth rate. This is primarily due to the need for the survival of the community itself. There is no medicine, so often simple diseases and injuries become fatal. Life expectancy is negligible.
Life is organized according to the foundations. It is also not subject to any changes. At the same time, the life of all members of society depends on religion. All canons and foundations in the community are regulated by faith. Changes and an attempt to escape from habitual existence are suppressed by religious dogma.
Change of formation
The transition from a traditional society to an industrial and post-industrial one is only possible with a sharp development of technology. This became possible in the 17th and 18th centuries. In many ways, the development of progress was due to the plague epidemic that swept Europe. A sharp decline in the population provoked the development of technology, the emergence of mechanized tools of production.
Industrial formation
Sociologists bindthe transition from the traditional type of society to industrial and post-industrial with a change in the economic component of the way of life of people. The growth of production capacities has led to urbanization, that is, the outflow of part of the population from the countryside to the city. Large settlements were formed, in which the mobility of citizens increased significantly.
The structure of the formation is flexible and dynamic. Machine production is actively developing, labor is automated higher. The use of new (at that time) technologies is typical not only for industry, but also for agriculture. The total share of employment in the agricultural sector does not exceed 10%.
Entrepreneurial activity becomes the main factor of development in an industrial society. Therefore, the position of the individual is determined by his skills and abilities, the desire for development and education. The origin also remains important, but gradually its influence is waning.
Form of government
Gradually, with the growth of production and the increase of capital in an industrial society, a conflict is brewing between a generation of entrepreneurs and representatives of the old aristocracy. In many countries this process has culminated in a change in the very structure of the state. Typical examples include the French Revolution or the emergence of a constitutional monarchy in England. After these changes, the archaic aristocracy lost its former ability to influence the life of the state (although in general they continued to listen to their opinion).
Economy of industrial society
Based onthe economy of this formation is the extensive exploitation of natural resources and labor. According to Marx, in a capitalist industrial society, the main roles are assigned directly to those who own the tools of labor. Resources are often developed to the detriment of the environment, the state of the environment is deteriorating.
At the same time, production is growing at an accelerated pace. The quality of the staff comes first. Manual labor also persists, but to minimize costs, industrialists and entrepreneurs are beginning to invest in technology development.
A characteristic feature of the industrial formation is the fusion of banking and industrial capital. In an agrarian society, especially in its early stages of development, usury was persecuted. With the development of progress, the loan interest has become the basis for the development of the economy.
Post-industrial
Post-industrial society began to take shape in the middle of the last century. The countries of Western Europe, the USA and Japan became the locomotive of development. Features of the formation are to increase the share in the gross domestic product of information technology. Transformations also affected industry and agriculture. Productivity increased, manual labor decreased.
The driving force behind further development was the formation of a consumer society. The increase in the share of quality services and goods has led to the development of technology, increased investment in science.
The concept of post-industrial society was formed by Harvard University lecturer Daniel Bell. After his work, some sociologists also deducedconcept of the information society, although in many ways these concepts are synonymous.
Opinions
There are two opinions in the theory of the emergence of a post-industrial society. From a classical point of view, the transition was made possible by:
- Production automation.
- The need for a high educational level of staff.
- Increase demand for quality services.
- Increasing the incomes of most of the population of developed countries.
Marxists put forward their theory on this matter. According to it, the transition to a post-industrial (information) society from industrial and traditional became possible due to the global division of labor. There was a concentration of industries in different regions of the planet, resulting in an increase in the qualifications of service personnel.
Deindustrialization
The Information Society has spawned another socio-economic process: deindustrialization. In developed countries, the share of workers involved in industry is declining. At the same time, the influence of direct production on the economy of the state also falls. According to statistics, from 1970 to 2015, the share of industry in the US and Western Europe in the gross domestic product decreased from 40 to 28%. Part of the production was transferred to other regions of the planet. This process gave rise to a sharp increase in development in countries, accelerated the pace of transition from the agrarian (traditional) and industrial types of society to the post-industrial one.
Risks
Intensive waydevelopment and the formation of an economy based on scientific knowledge is fraught with various risks. The migration process has grown sharply. At the same time, some countries lagging behind in development begin to experience a shortage of qualified personnel who move to regions with an information type of economy. The effect provokes the development of crisis phenomena, which are more characteristic of the industrial social formation.
Experts are also concerned about the skewed demographics. Three stages of the development of society (traditional, industrial and post-industrial) have different attitudes towards the family and fertility. For an agrarian formation, a large family is the basis of survival. Approximately the same opinion exists in industrial society. The transition to a new formation was marked by a sharp decline in the birth rate and the aging of the population. Therefore, countries with an information economy are actively attracting qualified, educated youth from other regions of the planet, thereby increasing the development gap.
Experts are also concerned about the slowdown in the growth of post-industrial society. The traditional (agrarian) and industrial sectors still have room to develop, increase production and change the format of the economy. The information formation is the crown of the evolutionary process. New technologies are being developed all the time, but breakthrough solutions (for example, the transition to nuclear energy, space exploration) appear less and less often. Therefore, sociologists predict an increase in crisis phenomena.
Coexistence
Now there is a paradoxical situation: industrial, post-industrial and traditional societies are completelypeacefully coexist in different regions of the planet. An agrarian formation with an appropriate way of life is more typical for some countries in Africa and Asia. Industrial with gradual evolutionary processes towards information is observed in Eastern Europe and the CIS.
Industrial, post-industrial and traditional society are different primarily in relation to the human personality. In the first two cases, development is based on individualism, while in the second, collective principles predominate. Any manifestation of willfulness and an attempt to stand out are condemned.
Social elevators
Social lifts characterize the mobility of the population within society. In traditional, industrial and post-industrial formations they are expressed differently. For an agrarian society, only the displacement of an entire stratum of the population is possible, for example, through a revolt or revolution. In other cases, mobility is possible even for one individual. The final position depends on the knowledge, acquired skills and activity of a person.
In fact, the differences between traditional, industrial and post-industrial types of society are huge. Sociologists and philosophers study their formation and stages of development.
