Historical types of societies and their characteristics. The main types of society: characteristic features

2. Definition of society in sociology. signs of society

Society is an extremely broad concept used in sociology, political science, jurisprudence, history, and other sciences. Each of these sciences approaches the study of society from its own side and gives it a peculiar interpretation. As a result, a complex of theories, concepts, opinions about what society is, what its essence, distinctive features and features of development is.

In sociology there are various interpretations concepts of society. E. Durkheim considered society as a supra-individual spiritual reality based on collective ideas. P. Sorokin considered society to be a supraorganic system of being. According to M. Weber, society is the interaction of people, which is the product of social (that is, focused on other people) actions. From the point of view of K. Marx, society is a historically developing set of relations between people that develop in the process of their joint activities, an “ensemble of human relations”.

It is obvious that in all these definitions, to one degree or another, the perception of society as an integral system of elements that are closely interconnected is reflected. This approach to society is called systemic. T. Parsons most fully expressed the systemic understanding of society. In his opinion, society is a type of social system that has the highest degree of self-sufficiency in relation to its environment.

As a universal, broadest definition of society, the following can be given: society is a historically developing integral system of relations and interactions between people, social communities, organizations and institutions, which develops and changes in the process of their joint activities.

The most important distinguishing features of the society are the following:

sociality (this quality expresses social essence people's lives, the social specifics of their relationships and interactions);

the ability to maintain and reproduce a high intensity of interactions between people;

the territory in which social interactions unfold;

social space and social time (this makes it possible to establish the social coordinates of a person);

a high level of self-government and self-regulation (society has a high degree of self-sufficiency, which allows it to maintain a high level of organization of social interactions without outside interference, ensuring its sustainable self-development and self-reproduction);

social institutions - sustainable, organized forms of activity of social groups, communities, individuals, ensuring stability and dynamism in the development of society;

any changes and events taking place in society are not feasible without the participation of consciousness, will and purposeful activity of people;

the presence of a certain social structure

All these features, interacting with each other, ensure the integrity and possibility of its further development as a single and complex structured system.

The primary element of society, its backbone core is the social subsystem. It includes the social and ethno-national structures of society, territorial and professional, socio-demographic, as well as social institutions, organizations, communities, groups functioning in society.

The economic subsystem includes the production, distribution of goods and services, the interaction of people in the labor market, economic incentives for various types of activities, specific bodies and institutions (finance, banks, etc.).

The political subsystem is a set of socio-political interactions between individuals and groups, the political structure of society, the regime of power, the activities of political parties and public organizations, and so on.

The socio-cultural subsystem is formed by the institution of education, cultural organizations and institutions, the media, art, morality, religion, philosophy, etc.

All these subsystems in their interaction form an integral system of society.

So, society is a special, complex type of organization of social life, which includes the whole variety of stable social interactions, all institutions and communities localized within specific state-territorial boundaries. Mechanisms of self-regulation allow maintaining integrity, streamlining relations between its individual elements, integrating social neoplasms into the existing structure, and subordinating the main masses of the population to their logic.

3. Types of societies and their classification. The evolution of society

Society is an extremely complex, multi-level entity. This term can be used to define both the population of modern China and several dozen inhabitants of a tropical village in equatorial Africa. In order to classify the diversity of pre-existing and current societies, researchers use various criteria.

Sustainable in sociology is the division of society into traditional and industrial. The first is understood as a society with an agrarian way of life, sedentary structures, based on traditional methods of sociocultural regulation (taboo norms, religion, morality). In our current understanding, this is a primitive, backward society, which is characterized by low rates of development of production, great inertia, and immunity to innovations.

The term "industrial society" was first introduced into scientific circulation by the French scientist A. Saint-Simon, thereby emphasizing a different productive basis of society. Other important features of this society are the flexibility of social structures, social mobility, and a developed system of communications.

Various authors in their theoretical constructions introduce additional touches to the descriptions of traditional and industrial society. So K. Popper uses the concepts of closed and open societies, the basis of the differences between which is the ratio of social control and freedom of the individual. A tribal or collectivist society, according to K. Popper, is closed, and a society in which individuals are forced to make personal decisions is open.

In the middle of the XIX century. K. Marx proposed his own typology of societies, which has become widespread, especially in our country. The basis is two criteria: the mode of production and the form of ownership. Societies united by these two features constitute one socio-economic formation. According to Marx, mankind in its historical development has gone through four formations: primitive, slave-owning, feudal and capitalist. The fifth socio-economic formation that Marx describes is called communist (or socialist). It should have come in the future.

Modern sociology uses all typologies, combining them into a single synthetic model, the author of which is considered to be the American sociologist D. Bell. He divided world history into three stages: pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial. When one stage replaces another, the technology, mode of production, form of ownership, social institutions, political regime, way of life, social structure of society change. In a pre-industrial society, which is called traditional, agriculture was the determining factor in development, and the church and the army were the main institutions. In the industrial - industry with a corporation and a firm at the head. In the post-industrial - theoretical knowledge led by the university as a place of production and concentration of knowledge. The transition of an industrial society to a post-industrial stage is accompanied by the transformation of a commodity-producing economy into a service economy, which means the superiority of the service sector over the production sector (similar processes are observed in the USA and Japan).

Considering the processes of evolution of society, the various stages of its development, sociologists have identified a number of patterns. One of them is called the law of acceleration of history - each subsequent stage in the development of society takes less time than the previous one. The second pattern says that peoples and nations develop at different rates.

In cases where the acceleration of social development leads to positive changes in society, they speak of progress. The global world-historical process of the ascent of human societies from the state of savagery to the heights of civilization is called social progress. This concept includes economic, technical and cultural progress as components. The process opposite to progress is called regression. It means the movement of society back, a return to the previous level. Between progress and regress, the difference is not only in the vector of movement, but also in scale. Humanity as a whole has never regressed, although at certain stages of history its forward movement could be delayed or stopped.

There are gradual and spasmodic types of social progress. The first is called reformist, the second - revolutionary. The middle path of development, combining the features of the above options for social progress, is called social modernization. Modernization is understood as a revolutionary transition to an industrial society, carried out through complex reforms stretched over time.

The concept of "society" is the most important for all social disciplines, including social philosophy, philosophy of history, sociology, historical science, or historiology, political economy, cultural studies, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to understand it in detail. Turning to the analysis of the meaning of the word "society", we are immediately faced with the fact that it has not one, but many meanings. In other words, there is not one concept of society, but several different concepts, but expressed in one word, which greatly complicates the matter.

The most important feature of a society is its stability associated with integration and stability. Sociologists explain the reason for this stability in different ways. E. Durkheim believed that sustainability is achieved through the unity of the will, collective consciousness, which contributes to the curbing of human egoism. R. Merton believed that sustainability is achieved due to the fundamental values ​​that the majority of the population learns, and thanks to these values, behavior is regulated and the norms of living together are observed. E. Shils believes that sustainability is achieved through the influence of the authorities, providing control over the entire territory and planting common culture. All this suggests that it is impossible to unambiguously determine the factors of sustainability.

On the early stages development of human society, it was achieved through interpersonal interaction. People were connected by ties of kinship, neighborhood, based on habit, attraction, emotional basis. As the population grew, the stability of ties could not be ensured only by the system of interpersonal interaction. The main stabilizing factor is social structures that had more stable social ties and relationships. The social structures of society were formed on the basis of interpersonal contacts, making up stable interactions and relationships. Gradually, there was a selection of the most optimal principles and norms for regulating joint life, which made it possible to most effectively solve their own problems. For example, the institution of money made it possible to regulate the exchange of goods, the institution of the family - marriage relations, socio-professional communities support the division of labor.

All of them support continuity, without which it would be difficult to ensure the stability of society. Sustainability comes from social structures, provided they are legitimate. Legitimacy lies in the fact that the majority of the population considers them the most expedient and supports them.

The most important distinguishing feature of society is its autonomy and a high degree of self-regulation. The autonomy of society lies in its multifunctionality, the ability to create the necessary conditions to meet the various needs of individuals and provide them with ample opportunities for self-development and self-affirmation.

Self-regulation of society is achieved by the fact that society is managed and regulated by internal structures, based on its own norms and principles of behavior, without outside interference.

In addition, any society develops through renewal and continuity. This is achieved due to the fact that each new generation of people is included in the existing system of relations and is subject to generally accepted rules and norms.

Thus, society is not a mechanical sum of individuals, but a set of social ties and social interaction, institutions and norms that support and develop them.

Based on the most important features of society, we can give the following definition: a society is a historically established and reproducing community of people living in a given territory, possessing autonomy and resistance to self-regulation based on biological, economic and cultural reproduction.

The concept of “society” should be distinguished from the concepts of “state” (an institution for managing social processes that arose historically later than society) and “country” (a territorial-political entity that has developed on the basis of society and the state)

We will not dwell on the everyday, ordinary meanings of this word, when they say about a person, for example, that he has fallen into a bad society or rotates in a high-society society. Let us just mention the use of the word "society" both in everyday life and in science to refer to certain public and other organizations: "Society of United Slavs", "Southern Society", "Philosophical Society", "Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments" , "Society of Mutual Credit", societies of lovers of cats, dogs, joint-stock companies etc.

Leaving all this aside, it turns out that in the philosophical, sociological and historical literature the term "society" is used in at least five, although related, but still different senses.

In philosophical science, society is characterized as a dynamic self-developing system, i.e., such a system that is capable of seriously changing, at the same time retaining its essence and qualitative certainty. The system is defined as a complex of interacting elements. In turn, an element is some further indecomposable component of the system that is directly involved in its creation.

To analyze complex systems, like the one that society represents, scientists have developed the concept of "subsystem". Subsystems are called "intermediate" complexes, more complex than the elements, but less complex than the system itself.

• 1) economic (its elements are material production and relations that arise between people in the process of production of material goods, their exchange and distribution)
• 2) social (consists of such structural formations as classes, social strata, nations, from their relationships and interactions with each other)
• 3) political (includes politics, state, law, their correlation and functioning);
• 4) spiritual (covers various forms and levels of social consciousness, which in real life societies form a phenomenon of spiritual culture).

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 interrelated and mutually condition each other. The division of society into spheres is somewhat arbitrary, but it helps to isolate and study individual areas of a truly integral society, a diverse and complex social life.

What is more important and valuable? This question has worried the human mind for a long time, and already the era of antiquity answered it. Protagoras' statement "Man is the measure of all things" was opposed by Plato's idea of ​​the priority of the social whole over the personal-private.

The vision of the individual as the main value found a detailed confirmation in the ideology of liberalism: the individual appears as a self-sufficient being, endowed with inalienable rights - "human rights", and society - as something derived from the unlimited activity of free individuals.

In other ideologies, the attitude towards the individual is more restrained. Thus, conservatism considers "human rights" as something secondary to his duties: the role of a person as a means precedes his status as a value in itself. Socialism allows the solution of all social and personal problems only in the presence of the guiding and organizing role of the social whole. In this case, we can talk about the self-worth of a person programmed by this whole, corresponding to his ideal of a person. Nationalism and clericalism also deny in one form or another the self-worth of the individual.

The difference in the conclusions about the relationship between the individual and society reflects the diversity of socio-historical situations, the diversity of group and personal interests, worldview orientations. Today, the development of human society is in the direction of individualization. The West is the leader in this respect. But not everyone agrees with the idea that the Western model is acceptable to all mankind.

One thing is certain: the main wealth of the coming post-industrial society will be information.

The importance of the human factor in the historical process is growing. Social progress is due to the development of personal potential. Therefore, the stake on the freedom of self-worth of the individual is justified even from the standpoint of the social whole. However, the individual must correlate his actions with the good of society. The ideology of liberalism is built on the presumption of a highly moral person. This is a person guided by Kant's categorical imperative - "... act only according to such a maxim, guided by which you can at the same time wish that it becomes a universal law."

The sovereign, freely acting person embodies, however, the totality of social being.

Here we are talking about the ideal of liberalism. In reality, there are many partial or complete discrepancies between the aspirations and actions of individuals and the interests of society, and it is forced to limit the sovereignty and freedom of the individual to one degree or another. The principle of the self-worth of the individual is also being corrected: it is supplemented by provisions on his duties towards society, on the need to comply with a certain normative model of the individual. In the event of an extreme aggravation of the situation, when the actions of individuals threaten the very existence of the social whole, the principle of the self-worth of the individual, his “human rights” is abandoned, and the priority of public interest over personal is proclaimed. The value of the individual is considered only as the value of the means in relation to society.

Undoubtedly, on the threshold of the third millennium it would be naïve to speak of any predetermined common public interest. Ideally, it is a certain sum of various group and personal interests, constantly changing and being refined in the course of public discussions, secret and obvious compromises. But this is ideal when society functions and develops in a normal mode, when the main interests of social groups coincide, when the ruling elite is responsible, and the population is politically active. In the conditions of social chaos, the danger of the death of society, the strategy of the most influential and organized political force, which managed to subordinate society to its will, is asserted as a public interest with a certain degree of violence.

Such is the usual evolution of the relationship between public and private interests.

At what stage of this evolution is Russia now?

To this day, in numerous discussions, it is specified whether Russia is on the verge of a catastrophe or whether the catastrophe has already arrived. The fact of a real threat to the very existence of Russia as a social system is recognized by all. Society is atomized, the behavior of many people is anarchic: they do not want to fulfill any obligations to society. The boundaries of society have become transparent, the most valuable social resources flow through them - human, financial, information. On the other hand, there is an unhindered penetration of criminal elements, smuggling, drugs, information corrupting the population. Society does not want to control its actions. None of the set goals is achieved: "we wanted the best, but it turns out as always." The political elite, following their short-term political interests, revealed their irresponsibility and inability to offer society a response to the challenge of circumstances. She herself and the political institutions organized by her turned out to be dysfunctional in relation to society.

The majority of the population does not trust political elite, nor the institutions of power it created, although on the whole it has not abandoned its dream of turning Russia into a "normal European country."

The population is immersed in the petty joys of life: everything is fine, only there is not enough money - such is the leitmotif of the public mood. The government's promise to "put things in order", as sociological studies have shown, is understood, first of all, as ensuring the timely payment of salaries and pensions. At the same time, the population, however, is not ready for that conscious and responsible civic activity, for those duties of the individual, without which “human rights” turn into a verbal declaration or, even worse, serve as a cover for antisocial activity. Lulled by the liberal media, the people are not fully aware of the scale and severity of the problems facing the country: polls have shown that there are about three times more optimists among the population than among the regional elite.

The very same elite - both central and regional - is in a dual position. On the one hand, liberal ideology justifies their comfortable existence - the level of material well-being has reached Western standards, there is no rigid political control, and pseudo-liberal chaos opens up opportunities for quick enrichment. On the other hand, she begins to realize that it is necessary to establish order in the country, although it can deprive them of their usual comfortable and irresponsible way of life, and lead many to the dock. For them, maintaining social chaos justified by liberal ideology is a matter of life and death. Under the slogan "Towards a Normal European Country", they want to bring Russia to a country of the Latin American type, where the ruling elite bathed in luxury is quite calmly perceived by the bulk of the impoverished population.

The situation in Russia requires a shift in emphasis from the interests of the individual to the interests of the social whole. How to call this functionally necessary political regime? What ideological justification can he get?

There is no single ideological project today. There have been attempts to imagine a working society based on the principles of a centralized economy and democracy, or a nation-state (Russian), or an ethnic nation (Russian), or a single faith (Orthodoxy), etc. The political forces that put forward these projects declare themselves as patriots. On the left side of the spectrum of patriotic forces, the NPSR dominates, where the Communist Party is the core, and on the right side, the Russian National Unity (RNU), the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and some political entities close to it have already managed to become impressive, the largest element of the systemic opposition. Russian national unity is in the position of a political marginal. The liberal media characterize the RNU as an extremist and even fascist organization. The attitude of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation towards it is also hostile.

Both are right. The population, placed under extreme conditions by the ruling regime, must wake up from political apathy and show sympathy for the extreme left or extreme right political forces. And there are reasons for that. Firstly, the population is against the repetition of the senile phenomena of the late Soviet period, has little faith in the fact that the communists represent a strong and tough power (August 1991 became a confirmation of communist impotence), fears queues, coupons, empty counters. Second, the communists long time entering the system of power, albeit as an opposition, failed to prove themselves as an effective political force.

Having set the goal to study the variety of forms of manifestation of deviant behavior, the American sociologist R. Kevin built a theoretical model that describes the interaction between the individual and society. She proposed a continuum of types of behavior from extreme deviation at the lowest level of conformism, through intermediate forms of more or less correct behavior, to extreme deviation at "superconformism". R. Keven's scheme is a Gaussian curve on a horizontal line, divided into 7 equal segments.

Rice. nine.

Behavior that is fully approved and rewarded by society falls into zones C, D, E. Conscious, or law-abiding, citizens, the so-called typical Americans, correspond to them. The formal standards dominating in this zone are social norms. Behavior in zone D, which is in the middle of the continuum, is called conformal. It is fully regulated and managed by the appropriate social institutions that set the official norms and official means of control.

Those people whose behavior falls into zone B are "non-conformists". They are always arguing, conflicting and feuding with their parents, teachers and the police. However, society does not try to isolate them and tries in every possible way to correct their wrong way of life. Those who fall into group F are "over-conformists". Young people from this zone are located along the outer boundary of acceptable behavior and risk being excluded from normal social activities. They tend to engage in self-digging and criticism. Adults try to convince them to be more laid-back, fun and spontaneous. People whose behavior is in zone B or F can be classified as marginalized individuals. Surrounding people either gladly accept them into their circle, or repel them.

The most extreme zones - A and G - are more than just a deviation from accepted norms. This is an area of ​​alienated and opposing behavior. There are not so many young people with such behavior, they are always in the minority, but they form a counterculture with their own values, hierarchy of relations, methods of control, mechanisms for distributing roles. Boys from the G zone are called "bespectacled", "teachers' pets", "losers", etc. Boys from zone A are called differently: "difficult to educate", "hooligans", etc.

Thus, depending on whether the deviation is positive or negative, all forms of deviation can be placed along a certain continuum. At one extreme, there will be a category of people who display the most condemned behavior: revolutionaries, terrorists, non-patriots, political émigrés, traitors, atheists, criminals, vandals, cynics, vagabonds. On the other - a category with the most approved deviations from the norm: national heroes, outstanding artists, athletes, scientists, writers, artists and political leaders, missionaries, labor leaders. According to the results of statistical calculations in normally developing societies and under normal conditions, each of these categories would account for approximately 10-15% of the total population, and about 70% would fall on the “solid middle peasants”.

The social system is formed on the basis of one or another social community, which can include a social group, social organization, etc. Its elements are people whose behavior is determined by certain social positions (statuses) they occupy, and specific social functions(roles) they perform, social norms and values ​​accepted in a given social system.

An individual does not carry out his activities in isolation, but interacting with the environment in general, and with other individuals in particular. The social environment systematically affects the individual, and he, in turn, has the opposite effect on other individuals and the environment. As a result, this community of people becomes a social system with systemic qualities, that is, qualities that none of the elements included in it separately have.

The social system can be represented in five aspects: 1) as the interaction of individuals, each of which is the bearer of individual qualities; 2) as a social interaction, resulting in the formation of social relations and the formation of a social group; 3) as a group interaction, which is based on certain general circumstances (place of residence, work collective); 4) as a hierarchy of social positions (statuses) occupied by individuals included in the activities of a given social system, and social functions (roles) that they perform on the basis of these social positions; 5) as a set of norms and values ​​that determine the nature and content of the activity (behavior) of the elements of this system.

The first aspect characterizing the social system is associated with the concept of individuality, the second - social group, the third - social community, the fourth - social organization, fifth - social institution and culture.

In a broad sense, the term "society" means a part of the material world, which at one time separated itself from nature. The consequence of this was the historically established form of human life.

In a narrow sense, "society" can be understood as:

• a) society is a historically specific type of social organization corresponding to a certain stage of human history, for example, feudal, capitalist and other societies;
• b) society is a specific social organism that has certain spatial and temporal coordinates, for example, Russian, American societies;
• c) a society is the largest association of people living on a common territory and interacting with each other, for example, an empire.

To understand the specifics of society, it is necessary to establish how people stand out from nature. Three factors contribute to this:

• 1) socio-historical practice, or labor, with the help of which a person adapted to the environment, changed it and created an artificial environment, the so-called “second nature”. The transformations carried out have created additional means for people's lives;
• 2) the collective nature of people's activities. Man is a social being, unable to provide for his life alone. Therefore, each individual seeks to communicate, interact with other individuals. This does not exclude the formation in the team of a unique personality, its individual qualities;
• 3) consciousness, intellect, spirituality, which create the basis for the self-preservation of society. These include the norms, ideals that underlie a particular civilization. If spiritual culture is destroyed, then social relations change, which leads to a change in civilization itself.

Thus, society differs from cosmic-natural phenomena in that it has a social principle, the foundation of which is the organized conscious work and interaction of people in order to create the conditions necessary for their life and development.

The structure of society is determined on the basis of various fundamental factors. If the already indicated factors are taken as a basis - joint work, communication, spirituality, then three main spheres of society's life are distinguished: economic, socio-political (legal, moral), spiritual and cultural (religion, science, art).

The natural factor divides people by sex, age, racial characteristics. The socio-territorial factor divides people into urban and rural residents. Socio-demographic - for men, women, children. Socio-ethnic - per clan, tribe, nationality, nation, ethnic group.

The characteristics of society should include:

• 1) territory, that is, the geographical space on which social ties, relationships, interactions between people are formed;
• 2) sustainability (self-realization), that is, the ability to maintain and reproduce internal relationships. This is facilitated by the control and implementation of the totality of social ties. They are carried out with the help of such institutions as morality, norms, principles, law, state, religion, ideology;
• 3) autonomy (self-sufficiency), that is, the ability to satisfy the various needs of individuals and provide them with ample opportunities for self-assertion;
• 4) universality, that is, the presence of an internal mechanism that allows you to include social neoplasms in the existing system, for example, public associations, institutions. Society subordinates them to its logic, forces them to act in accordance with existing social norms and rules;
• 5) great integrating power, that is, the ability to include new generations of people in the existing system of social ties and relations, norms and rules of behavior;
• 6) a developed culture that satisfies the needs of all social strata. But in all countries there is a set of subcultures, for example, in the USA, India, Yugoslavia and others;
• 7) political independence, meaning that this society is not an element of other social systems. At the same time, such independence may be limited, for example, Canada, Mexico are politically independent from the United States, but actually depend on them, since the share of American investments in the economies of these countries is very significant;
• 8) self-sufficiency, that is, solvency, allowing a country to pay its debts in a timely manner;
• 9) marriages between representatives of this society;
• 10) replenishment of society through procreation or immigration;
• 11) own name and history.

Thus, society is a universal way of organizing social interaction and social ties. It ensures the satisfaction of the basic needs of citizens, is a self-sufficient, self-regulating, self-reproducing organism.

Types of societies and their evolution

Society is infinitely diverse, so sociologists offer several of their classifications depending on the chosen criterion. One of the classifications is based on the presence of writing. In pre-literate societies, people could speak, but they could not write. In written societies, they master the alphabet and fix knowledge.

Another classification comes from the levels of government and the degree of social stratification.

Distinguish between simple and complex societies. Their comparative characteristics are shown in Table 1.

Table 1

The determining factor of the third classification is the mode of production and form of ownership. This approach is called formational. It was developed by K. Marx, having singled out the primitive communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist formations. A socio-economic formation is a specific historical type of society, taken in its entirety, functioning and developing in accordance with the laws determined by production relations.

The fourth classification is based on the type of civilization. The civilizational approach focuses on what is common to different countries and allows you to get a synthesized idea of ​​society.

Western scientists - D. Bell, R. Aron, W. Rostow, E. Toffler developed the theory of three stages of development of society. In accordance with it, pre-industrial (traditional, agrarian) are distinguished; industrial; postindustrial. Their distinguishing features are presented in Table 2.

The Austrian scientist K. Popper distinguishes between two types of societies: open and closed. At the heart of the differences between them lies the relationship of social control and freedom of the individual. A closed society is characterized by a static social structure, limited mobility, resistance to innovation, traditionalism, dogmatic authoritarian ideology, and collectivism. To this type of society, K. Popper attributed Sparta, Prussia, Tsarist Russia, Nazi Germany, Soviet Union Stalin era. An open society is characterized by a dynamic social structure, high mobility, ability to innovate, criticism, individualism and democratic pluralistic ideology. K. Popper considered ancient Athens and modern Western democracies to be examples of open societies.

According to F. Tennis, it is necessary to distinguish between such concepts as community and society. The community is a traditional community and society is a modern complex structured community. Criterion - installation on social changes.

Traditional society is characterized by:

• - natural division of labor (mainly by sex and age);
• - connectedness of members by kinship relations (“family” type of community organization);
• - high structural stability;
• - relative isolation;
• - attitude to property, mediated through the clan, community or feudal hierarchy;
• - hereditary power, the rule of elders;
• - tradition as the main way of social regulation;
• - regulation of social behavior by specific prescriptions and prohibitions, lack of a free personality, total subordination of the individual to society, authority;
• - behavioral maxims: “keep your head down”, “be like everyone else”, “behave as expected”.

Modern society is characterized by:

• - developing deep division of labor (on a professional and qualification basis related to education and work experience);
• - social mobility;
• - the market as a mechanism that regulates and organizes the behavior of an individual and groups not only in the economic, but also in the political and spiritual spheres;
• - allocation of a set of social institutes, allowing to provide the basic social needs of members of a society;
• - a complex system of social management - the allocation of a management institution, special management bodies: political, economic, territorial and self-government;
• - secularization of religion, i.e. its separation from the state, its transformation into an independent social institution;
• - dominating worldview criticism, rationalism, individualism;
• - behavioral maxims: "do business", "do not be afraid to take risks", "strive for victory";
• - the absence of specific regulations and prohibitions, which leads to the erosion of morality and law.

table 2

Features	pre-industrial society	industrial society	post-industrial society
Time of occurrence	4 thousand BC	18th-11th centuries	Last quarter of the twentieth century
Key sector of the economy	Agriculture	Industry	Service sector (primarily science and education)
Organizational and technical characteristics of the economy	Low-productive subsistence economy based on manual labor and primitive technology	Mass commodity production based on the replacement of manual labor by machine	Effective use of scientific and technological progress on the basis of a regulated market economy
Fundamentals of development	Traditions	Scientific and technological progress, the emergence of elements of democracy	New stage of scientific and technological revolution, movement towards the information society and mature democracy
The leading role in society belongs to	Churches and armies	Industrial and financial corporations	A wide network of knowledge and data banks, flexible social structures
Leading social groups	Feudal lords and clergy	Entrepreneurs	Information Producers and Businessmen

The information revolution, the beginning of which is attributed to the 60s. XX century, contributes to the transition of society to a new state, to the information society. His hallmark is a structural restructuring in material production, when information becomes the dominant sphere of reproduction and, along with information technology, occupies a key place in the country's economy.

Modern societies differ in many ways, but they also have the same parameters by which they can be typified.

One of the main trends in typology is choice of political relations, forms of government as grounds for distinguishing different types of society. For example, u and i societies differ in type state structure : monarchy, tyranny, aristocracy, oligarchy, democracy. In modern versions of this approach, there is a distinction totalitarian(the state determines all the main directions of social life); democratic(population can influence government structures) and authoritarian(combining elements of totalitarianism and democracy) societies.

The basis typology of society supposed Marxism difference between societies type of industrial relations in various socio-economic formations: primitive communal society (primitive appropriating mode of production); societies with an Asian mode of production (the presence of a special type of collective ownership of land); slave-owning societies (ownership of people and the use of slave labor); feudal (exploitation of peasants attached to the land); communist or socialist societies (equal attitude of all to ownership of the means of production through the elimination of private property relations).

Traditional, industrial and post-industrial societies

The most stable in modern sociology is considered a typology based on the allocation traditional, industrial and post-industrial societies.

traditional society(it is also called simple and agrarian) is a society with an agrarian way of life, sedentary structures and a method of sociocultural regulation based on traditions (traditional society). The behavior of individuals in it is strictly controlled, regulated by the customs and norms of traditional behavior, established social institutions, among which the family will be the most important. Attempts of any social transformations, innovations are rejected. For him characterized by low rates of development, production. Important for this type of society is the well-established social solidarity that Durkheim established while studying the society of Australian aborigines.

traditional society characterized by a natural division and specialization of labor (mainly by gender and age), personalization of interpersonal communication (directly individuals, not officials or status persons), informal regulation of interactions (norms of unwritten laws of religion and morality), connectedness of members by kinship relations (family type of community organization) , a primitive system of community management (hereditary power, the rule of elders).

Modern societies differ in the following traits: the role-based nature of interaction (expectations and behavior of people are determined by the social status and social functions of individuals); the developing deep division of labor (on a professional and qualification basis related to education and work experience); a formal system of regulation of relations (based on written law: laws, regulations, contracts, etc.); a complex system of social management (singling out the institution of management, special governing bodies: political, economic, territorial and self-government); secularization of religion (separation of it from the system of government); the allocation of many social institutions (self-reproducing systems of special relations that allow for social control, inequality, protection of its members, distribution of benefits, production, communication).

These include industrial and post-industrial societies.

industrial society- this is a type of organization of social life, which combines the freedom and interests of the individual with the general principles governing their joint activities. It is characterized by the flexibility of social structures, social mobility, and a developed system of communications.

In the 1960s concepts appear post-industrial (informational) societies (D. Bell, A. Touraine, Y. Habermas), caused by drastic changes in the economy and culture of the most developed countries. The role of knowledge and information, computer and automatic devices is recognized as leading in society.. An individual who has received the necessary education, who has access to the latest information, gets an advantageous chance of moving up the ladder of the social hierarchy. Creative work becomes the main goal of a person in society.

The negative side of the post-industrial society is the danger of strengthening on the part of the state, the ruling elite through access to information and electronic media and communication over people and society as a whole.

life world human society is getting stronger obeys the logic of efficiency and instrumentalism. Culture, including traditional values, is destroyed under the influence of administrative control gravitating towards standardization and unification of social relations, social behavior. Society is increasingly subject to the logic of economic life and bureaucratic thinking.

Distinctive features of a post-industrial society:

• the transition from the production of goods to a service economy;
• the rise and dominance of highly educated vocational professionals;
• the main role of theoretical knowledge as a source of discoveries and political decisions in society;
• control over technology and the ability to assess the consequences of scientific and technological innovations;
• decision-making based on the creation of intelligent technology, as well as using the so-called information technology.

The latter was brought to life by the needs of the one that began to form. information society. The emergence of such a phenomenon is by no means accidental. The basis of social dynamics in the information society is not traditional material resources, which are also largely exhausted, but informational (intellectual): knowledge, scientific, organizational factors, intellectual ability people, their initiative, creativity.

The concept of post-industrialism has been developed in detail today, it has a lot of supporters and an ever-increasing number of opponents. The world has formed two main directions assessments of the future development of human society: eco-pessimism and techno-optimism. eco-pessimism predicts in 2030 a total global catastrophe due to increasing pollution environment; destruction of the Earth's biosphere. Techno-optimism draws a more rosy picture, assuming that scientific and technological progress will cope with all the difficulties in the development of society.

Basic typologies of society

Several typologies of society have been proposed in the history of social thought.

Typologies of society during the formation of sociological science

French scientist, founder of sociology O. Comte proposed a three-part stadial typology, which included:

• stage of military domination;
• stage of feudal rule;
• stage of industrial civilization.

The basis of the typology G. Spencer the principle of the evolutionary development of societies from simple to complex, i.e. from an elementary society to an increasingly differentiated one. Spencer presented the development of societies as an integral part of an evolutionary process that is unified for all nature. The lowest pole of the evolution of society is formed by the so-called military societies, characterized by high homogeneity, the subordinate position of the individual and the dominance of coercion as an integration factor. From this phase, through a series of intermediate phases, society develops to the highest pole - an industrial society dominated by democracy, the voluntary nature of integration, spiritual pluralism and diversity.

Typologies of society in the classical period of development of sociology

These typologies differ from those described above. The sociologists of that period saw their task in explaining it, starting not from the general order of nature and the laws of its development, but from nature itself and its internal laws. So, E. Durkheim strove to find the "original cell" of the social as such, and for this purpose sought the "simplest", most elementary society, the most simple form organization of "collective consciousness". Therefore, his typology of societies is built from simple to complex, and it is based on the principle of complicating the form of social solidarity, i.e. awareness by individuals of their unity. Mechanical solidarity operates in simple societies because the individuals who make them up are very similar in consciousness and life situation- as particles of a mechanical whole. In complex societies there is a complex system of division of labor, differentiated functions of individuals, therefore the individuals themselves are separated from each other in terms of their way of life and consciousness. They are united by functional ties, and their solidarity is "organic", functional. Both types of solidarity are present in any society, but mechanical solidarity dominates in archaic societies, while organic solidarity dominates in modern ones.

German classic of sociology M. Weber viewed the social as a system of domination and subordination. His approach was based on the concept of society as the result of a struggle for power and to maintain dominance. Societies are classified according to the type of domination that has developed in them. The charismatic type of domination arises on the basis of a personal special power - charisma - of the ruler. Charisma is usually held by priests or leaders, and such dominance is irrational and does not require a special system of government. Modern society, according to Weber, is characterized by a legal type of domination based on law, characterized by the presence of a bureaucratic management system and the operation of the principle of rationality.

Typology of a French sociologist J. Gurvich differs by a complex multi-level system. He identifies four types of archaic societies that had a primary global structure:

• tribal (Australia, American Indians);
• tribal, which included heterogeneous and weakly hierarchized groups, united around a leader endowed with magical powers (Polynesia, Melanesia);
• tribal with a military organization, consisting of family groups and clans (North America);
• tribal tribes united in monarchical states ("black" Africa).

• charismatic societies (Egypt, Ancient China, Persia, Japan);
• patriarchal societies (Homeric Greeks, Jews of the era Old Testament, Romans, Slavs, Franks);
• city-states (Greek policies, Roman cities, Italian cities of the Renaissance);
• feudal hierarchical societies (European Middle Ages);
• societies that gave rise to enlightened absolutism and capitalism (Europe only).

In the modern world, Gurvich distinguishes: a technical-bureaucratic society; a liberal-democratic society built on the principles of collectivist etatism; a society of pluralistic collectivism, etc.

Typologies of the Society of Contemporary Sociology

The postclassical stage in the development of sociology is characterized by typologies based on the principle of the technical and technological development of societies. Nowadays, the most popular typology is one that distinguishes traditional, industrial and post-industrial societies.

Traditional societies characterized by a high development of agricultural labor. The main sector of production is the procurement of raw materials, which is carried out within the framework of peasant families; members of society seek to meet mainly domestic needs. The basis of the economy is the family economy, capable of satisfying, if not all of their needs, then a significant part of them. Technical development is extremely weak. In decision making, the main method is the trial and error method. Social relations are extremely poorly developed, as is social differentiation. Such societies are traditionally oriented and therefore directed towards the past.

industrial society - a society characterized by high industrial development and rapid economic growth. Economic development It is carried out mainly due to the extensive, consumer attitude to nature: in order to meet its actual needs, such a society strives for the fullest possible development of the natural resources at its disposal. The main sector of production is the processing and processing of materials carried out by teams of workers in factories and plants. Such a society and its members strive for maximum adaptation to the present moment and satisfaction of social needs. The main decision-making method is empirical research.

Another very important feature of an industrial society is the so-called "modernizing optimism", i.e. absolute confidence that any problem, including a social one, can be solved based on scientific knowledge and technology.

post-industrial society- this is a society that is emerging at the moment and has a number of significant differences from an industrial society. If an industrial society is characterized by a desire for the maximum development of industry, then in a post-industrial society, knowledge, technology and information play a much more noticeable (and ideally paramount) role. In addition, the service sector is developing at a rapid pace, overtaking industry.

In a post-industrial society, there is no faith in the omnipotence of science. This is partly due to the fact that humanity has faced the negative consequences of its own activities. For this reason, “ecological values” come to the fore, and this means not only a careful attitude to nature, but also an attentive attitude to the balance and harmony necessary for the adequate development of society.

The basis of a post-industrial society is information, which in turn gave rise to another type of society - informational. According to the information society theory proponents, a completely new society is emerging, characterized by processes that are opposite to those that took place in the previous phases of the development of societies even in the 20th century. For example, instead of centralization, there is regionalization; instead of hierarchization and bureaucratization, democratization; instead of concentration, disaggregation; instead of standardization, individualization. All these processes are driven by information technology.

Service providers either provide information or use it. For example, teachers transfer knowledge to students, repairmen use their knowledge to service equipment, lawyers, doctors, bankers, pilots, designers sell to clients their specialized knowledge of laws, anatomy, finance, aerodynamics and color schemes. They do not produce anything, unlike factory workers in an industrial society. Instead, they transfer or use knowledge to provide services that others are willing to pay for.

Researchers are already using the term virtual society" to describe the modern type of society that has developed and is developing under the influence of information technologies, primarily Internet technologies. The virtual, or possible, world has become a new reality as a result of the computer boom that has swept society. Virtualization (replacement of reality with simulation/image) of society, the researchers note, is total, since all the elements that make up society are virtualized, significantly changing their appearance, their status and role.

Post-industrial society is also defined as a society " post-economic", "post-labor”, i.e. a society in which the economic subsystem loses its defining significance, and labor ceases to be the basis of all social relations. In a post-industrial society, a person loses his economic essence and is no longer considered as an “economic person”; it focuses on new, “post-materialist” values. The emphasis is shifting to social, humanitarian problems, and the priority issues are the quality and safety of life, self-realization of the individual in various social spheres, in connection with which new criteria for well-being and social well-being are being formed.

According to the concept of a post-economic society developed by the Russian scientist V.L. Inozemtsev, in a post-economic society, in contrast to an economic society focused on material enrichment, the main goal for most people is the development of their own personality.

The theory of post-economic society is associated with a new periodization of the history of mankind, in which three large-scale eras can be distinguished - pre-economic, economic and post-economic. Such periodization is based on two criteria - the type of human activity and the nature of the relationship between the interests of the individual and society. The post-economic type of society is defined as a type of social structure where a person's economic activity is becoming more intense and complex, but is no longer determined by his material interests, is not set by the traditionally understood economic expediency. The economic basis of such a society is formed by the destruction of private property and a return to personal property, to a state of non-alienation of the worker from the instruments of production. Post-economic society is inherent new type social confrontation - the confrontation between the information and intellectual elite and all people who are not included in it, employed in the sphere of mass production and, because of this, forced out to the periphery of society. However, each member of such a society has the opportunity to enter the elite himself, since belonging to the elite is determined by abilities and knowledge.

Society has existed since ancient times. In a broad sense, this concept includes the interaction of people with nature and among themselves, as well as ways to unite them. In a narrower definition, society is a collection of people who are endowed with their own consciousness and will and who manifest themselves in the light of certain interests, moods and motives. Each society can be characterized by the following features: a name, stable and holistic forms of human interaction, the presence of a history of creation and development, the presence of its own culture, self-sufficiency and self-regulation.

Historically, all the diversity of societies can be divided into three types: traditional, or agrarian, industrial, post-industrial. Each of them has certain features and characteristics that uniquely separate one form of social relations from another. Nevertheless, the types of society, although they differ from each other, perform the same functions, such as the production of goods, the distribution of the results of labor activity, the formation of a specific ideology, the socialization of a person, and much more.

This type includes a set of social ideas and ways of life that may be at different stages of development, but do not have a sufficient level of industrial complex. The main interaction is between nature and man, with an important role given to the survival of each individual. This category includes agrarian, feudal, tribal society and others. Each of them is characterized by low rates of production and development. Nevertheless, such types of society have a characteristic feature: the presence of an established social solidarity.

Characteristics of an industrial society

It has a complex and sufficiently developed structure, has a high degree of specialization and division of labor activity, and is also distinguished by the widespread introduction of innovations. Industrial types of society are formed in the presence of active processes of urbanization, the growth of automation of production, the mass production of various goods, the widespread use of scientific discoveries and achievements. The main interaction takes place between man and nature, in which there is the enslavement of the surrounding world by people.

Characteristics of a post-industrial society

This type of human relationship is the following features: the creation of highly intelligent technologies, the transition to a service economy, control over various mechanisms, the rise of highly educated specialists and the dominance of theoretical knowledge. The main interaction occurs between a person and a person. Nature acts as a victim of anthropogenic influence, therefore, programs are being developed to minimize production waste and environmental pollution, as well as to create highly efficient technologies that can ensure waste-free production.

Society. The main areas of public life.

Society:

In a broad sense - a part of the material world, inextricably linked with nature and including the ways of interaction between people and the forms of their unification

In a narrow sense - a set of people endowed with will and consciousness, carrying out actions and deeds under the influence of certain interests, motives, moods. (e.g. book lovers society, etc.)

The concept of "society" is ambiguous. In historical science there are concepts - "primitive society", "medieval society", "Russian society", meaning a certain stage historical development humanity or a particular country.

Society is usually understood as:

A certain stage of human history (primitive society, medieval, etc.);

People united by common goals and interests (the society of the Decembrists, the society of book lovers);

Population of a country, state, region (European society, Russian society);

All mankind (human society).

Society functions:

Production of vital goods;

Human reproduction and socialization;

Ensuring the legality of the administrative activities of the state;

Historical transmission of culture and spiritual values

Human society includes a number of areas - spheres of public life:

Economic - relations between people in the process of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material and intangible goods, services and information;

Social - the interaction of large social groups, classes, strata, demographic groups;

Political - the activities of state organizations, parties and movements associated with the conquest, retention and exercise of power;

Spiritual - morality, religion, science, education, art, their influence on people's lives.

Public relations are understood as the diverse connections that arise between people in the process of economic, social, political, cultural life and activity.

1) Pre-industrial society (traditional) - the competition of man with nature.

It is characterized by the predominant importance of agriculture, fishing, cattle breeding, mining and woodworking industries. About 2/3 of the able-bodied population are employed in these areas of economic activity. Manual labor dominates. The use of primitive technologies based on everyday experience passed down from generation to generation.

2) Industrial - the competition of man with the transformed nature

It is characterized by the development of the production of consumer goods, which is carried out through the widespread use of various kinds of equipment. Economic activity is dominated by centralism, gigantism, uniformity in work and life, mass culture, low level spiritual values, the oppression of people, the destruction of nature. The time of brilliant craftsmen who could invent a loom, a steam engine, a telephone, an airplane, etc. without fundamental special knowledge. Monotonous assembly line work.

3) Post-industrial - competition between people

It is characterized not only by the widespread use of the achievements of science and technology in all areas of human activity, but also by the purposeful improvement of technology itself on the basis of the development of fundamental sciences. Without the application of the achievements of fundamental sciences, it would be impossible to create either an atomic reactor, or a laser, or a computer. Man is being replaced automated systems. One person using an armed computer modern technology can produce the final product, and not in a standard (mass) version, but in an individual version in accordance with the consumer's order.

4) New information Technology, according to modern scientists, can lead to fundamental changes in our entire way of life, and their widespread use will mark the creation of a new type of society - the information society.