In sociology, a clear classification of all objects and phenomena found in society has been adopted. Typology is several types of social structure that are united by similar phenomena or selection criteria. In this article, we will talk about the typology of theories of the development of society, as well as their diversity, features and distinctive features.
Social development according to K. Marx
The essence of the Marxist theory of the development of society is as follows: the basis of the existence and life of society is the productive forces and material production, as well as the changes taking place in them.
With the improvement of production technologies, social relations will certainly undergo changes. The commonality of relations in the production environment and the material basis of society are the basis of the form of consciousness, as well as the legal and political superstructure. In the Marxist theory of the development of society, institutions such as law, religion and politics are determined by the economic basis,in other words, the economic condition of a society is the basis of its intellectual and spiritual level.
Relationships in Marxist theory
Different theories of social development and the social laws of sociology express a close relationship between productive forces and relations, as well as between state ideology and political base and superstructure.
There is a direct relationship between the level of development of production and the form of organization of society. This explains the changes taking place in social relations: according to Marx's theory, if the relations between the participants in production become a brake on its harmonious development, then revolution cannot be avoided. If the economic basis, that is, the basis, changes, then a sharp upheaval occurs in the entire vast superstructure of society.
Capital. Production and circulation processes
The system of economic works of Karl Marx called "Capital" is four volumes with his economic theory. It is mainly not the concept of we alth as such that is analyzed, but the concept of goods and commodity-money relations. All the contradictions of the state system, according to Marx, are derived precisely from a misunderstanding of the mechanisms of production.
The first volume, titled "Process of Production of Capital", deals with such categories as cost, surplus value, which is the basis of profit, the cost of labor and wages. This part of "Capital" describes the process of accumulation of monetary resources and their influenceon the life of the working class.
The second volume of Marx's theory is devoted to the process of circulation of capital, its movement, turnover and circulation. The circulation of capital is understood as its continuous movement and the gradual passage of three stages, each of which changes its functional form. The three stages of the circulation of capital include the transition of capital from monetary to production, production capital - to commodity, and from commodity - again to the monetary equivalent.
The process of capitalist production and the theory of surplus value
Marx's scheme of reproduction considers the interaction between the production of capital goods and the production of goods for general consumption.
The third volume of "Capital" en titled "The process of capitalist production taken as a whole" studies the system of distribution of surplus value between various participants in economic relations. The mechanism of the transition of the cost of goods into production cost is considered in detail. According to Marx, if goods are sold not at cost, but at production prices, then the operation of the law of value, which is also discussed in detail in this volume, will be preserved.
The fourth volume examines the theory of surplus value and contains a critical assessment of economic systems in terms of the way in which capital and surplus value are distributed.
Preliterate and written societies
But let's look at otherclassification of social development theories. If we assume that the main feature of the classification of a social structure is the presence of writing or its absence, then we can divide societies into pre-literate, that is, those who cannot write, but can speak, and written. The latter not only know how to speak, but also know the alphabet and fix letters and sounds on material media, such as birch bark and cuneiform tablets, as well as books, newspapers and digital media. And although the beginning of the formation of writing began about ten centuries ago, some tribes in Africa, the Amazon jungle and the Sahara desert still have no idea how to translate speech into a written equivalent. Peoples who have not yet mastered the art of writing are commonly called pre-civilized.
Simple and complex society
According to another theory of the evolution of society, there are two classes in society - a simple and a complex society. The more levels of management and layers of society, the more developed the public association. If the society is arranged simply, then there are no rich and poor, leaders and subordinates. Primitive and pre-civilized tribes can serve as a striking example. A complex society is distinguished by branching in the management system, the division of the population into social strata. The strata are distributed according to the level of income, power, prestige, that is, the more access a person has to public goods, the higher his status in society. Social inequality arises spontaneously and is fixed economically, legally, politically and religiously. primary sourceThe appearance of complex public associations is considered to be the emergence of the state, the first signs of which in primitive tribes originated six thousand years ago. The origins of simple social associations arose about forty thousand years ago, they appeared much earlier than the first states. It can be concluded that the age of the appearance of the first signs of simple societies is 4-5 times greater than the age of the appearance of complex social associations.
Daniel Bell Theory
Modern sociological science does not prioritize any one social theory. All of them are united in a single theory of social cycles. Its author is the prominent Western sociologist Daniel Bell.
In his opinion, the totality of social development is divided into three cycles: pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial.
One stage inevitably replaces another, changes in the technological process, production methods, forms of ownership are also inevitable. New social institutions appear, political regimes change, culture and lifestyle change, population increases or decreases, and the social state of society also undergoes changes. Let's take a closer look at this theory.
Pre-industrial development cycle of society
The pre-industrial cycle of development includes simple societies. As mentioned above, they are characterized by the absence of social inequality, the state apparatus, and developed commodity-money relations. Such a social conditionsociety was observed most often in primitive communal tribes. So lived hunters, farmers, cattle breeders, gatherers. Oddly enough, such a social structure has been preserved to this day: in the jungles and deserts there are such primitive tribes.
Simple societies have the following features:
- egalitarianism, that is, the absence of social division as such;
- a simple society covers a small area;
- family ties come to the fore;
- primitive tools and an undeveloped system of labor interaction.
Industrial cycle of society development
Industrialization is the process of introducing scientific knowledge into the industrial process, the emergence of fundamentally new energy sources, thanks to which machines perform the work that animals or people used to do.
The transition to industrial activity can be safely called a kind of revolution in the social order. A similar phenomenon was once the transition to agriculture and cattle breeding.
What influences the development of industrial-style society? Industry made it possible to meet the needs of the entire population of the earth by a small group of people engaged in production. The number of farmers in agriculture in the US is only 5%, Germany - 10%, Japan - 15%. The society in which the industrial revolution took place is much larger than the pre-industrial one.population - in such a state live from several hundred thousand to a million people. These are public associations with a high level of urbanization.
Post-industrial society
The post-industrial social structure is an example of social progress in the modern world. In the middle of the last century, a new concept was required, reflecting the unprecedented growth of scientific achievements and the changes in social life associated with it. Daniel Bell called the new society, in which the main priority was given to science and technology, post-industrial. Social science literature also contains such terms as the second industrial revolution, superindustrial society, industrial revolution, cybernetics society.
About fifty years ago, a new era began in the modern world community. Its distinguishing features are the use of information and electronic systems, the use of nanotechnology and microprocessors in the industrial and commercial fields, as well as in the field of exchange. The agronomic and oil business, genetic engineering, constantly developing computer technologies have taken information and technology to a whole new level.
