The main types of society: characteristic features. Comparative characteristics of different types of societies

In the course of the development of sociology, many approaches to the classification of societies have developed. The very first typology of societies was proposed by the ancient Greek thinkers Plato and Aristotle. According to their views, all societies can be divided according to the forms of government into monarchies, tyranny, aristocracy, oligarchy, democracy.

To date, the classification of societies on the basis of the political relations prevailing in them has not lost its relevance. In modern sociology, within the framework of this approach, they distinguish

totalitarian(the state determines all the main directions of social life),

democratic(the population can influence government structures)

In the middle of the 19th century, K. Marx proposed a typology of societies, the basis of which is the mode of production of material goods. On this basis, five types of societies are distinguished:

primitive society, which is characterized by a primitive-appropriating mode of production;

slave society, a specific feature of which is the ownership of people - slaves and the products of their labor;

feudal society based on the exploitation of peasants attached to the land;

bourgeois society, in which there is a transition to economic dependence of formally free hired workers;

communist society, which arises as a result of the establishment of an equal attitude of all to the ownership of the means of production through the elimination of private ownership relations.

According to another typology, which today occupies a leading place in sociology, it is possible to distinguish traditional, industrial and post-industrial society.

Traditional society Is a society with an agrarian way of life based on traditions. The behavior of individuals in it is based solely on customs, norms of traditional behavior, well-established social institutions (family, community). Any transformation in such a society is impossible. A feature of this type of society is the low level of production rates.

Industrial Society- as a result of the industrial revolution, the transformation of a traditional society into an industrial one takes place. An industrial society is characterized by the following features:

1) a developed and complex system of division of labor and professional specialization;

2) mechanization and automation of production and management;

3) mass production of goods for a wide market;

4) highly developed means of communication and transport;

5) growth of urbanization and social mobility;

6) an increase in per capita income and qualitative shifts in the structure of consumption;

7) the formation of civil society.

In the 60s. XX century. a theory is being formed in sociology postindustrial or information society... The development of computing and information technology is considered to be the basis for the transformation of an industrial society into a post-industrial one. The main features of the information society are:

Another typology divides all societies into simple and complex... The criterion is the degree of social stratification.

Simple society- this is a society in which the constituent parts are homogeneous, there are no rich and poor, leaders and subordinates. Such are the primitive tribes that have survived in some places to this day.

Complex society- a society with highly differentiated structures and functions, interrelated and interdependent from each other, which necessitates their coordination.

There are many approaches to classifying types of society. Moreover, among them there is no single generally accepted one.

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

NOU SOUTH URAL INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMY

"Finance and loans"

Topic: "Comparative characteristics of different types of societies"

Gichenko Valentina Nikolaevna

Speciality

"Economy"

Course 1, EZb - 101 FC

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Kartals 2007

1. What is society?

2. Types of societies

a) Traditional society

b) Industrial society

4. Conclusion

5. Literature

1. What is society?

We all often rush left and right with the word "society" without thinking about its meaning. For sociology, this concept is basic, it is with it that discussions about the object and subject of science begin. It is very useful for any sane person to know what society is, what laws it lives by, what types it is divided into and how to behave in society.

Since ancient times, a person has been interested not only in the mysteries and phenomena of the surrounding nature (river floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, the change of seasons or day and night, etc.), but also problems associated with his own existence among other people. Indeed, why do people tend to live among other people, and not alone? What makes them draw borders among themselves, divide into separate states and be at enmity with each other? Why are some allowed to enjoy many benefits while others are denied all?

The search for answers to these and other questions made scientists and thinkers of antiquity turn their eyes to man and to the society in which he exists.

The impetus for the study of social issues was the development of production. Using natural resources, expanding the sphere of production in this way, people faced the limitedness of these resources, as a result of which the only way to increase productivity was the rational use of labor, or, in other words, people employed in the production of material goods. If at the beginning of the XIX century. manufacturers served as an addition to resources and mechanisms, and only mechanisms had to be invented and improved, then in the middle of the century it became obvious that complex equipment can only be controlled by competent people who are interested in their activities. In addition, the complication of all spheres of human life has posed the problem of implementing interaction between them, managing these interactions and creating a social order in society. When these problems were realized and posed, the prerequisites for the formation and development of science, which studies the associations of people, their behavior in these associations, as well as interactions between people and the results of such interactions, arose.

The emergence of man and the emergence of society is a single process. If there is no person, there is no society. What do we call society? In everyday life, a society is sometimes called a group of people who are part of someone's social circle. Society is not a sum of individuals, but an ensemble of human relations.

In a broad sense, the concept of "society" is understood as a part of the material world that is isolated from nature. In a narrower sense, it is a certain stage in human history or a separate concrete society. Society is understood as continuously developing. This means that it has not only the present, but also the past and the future. The generation of people who lived in the distant and very recent past did not leave without a trace. They created cities and villages, technology, various institutions. From them, people living now received language, science, art, and practical skills.

So, society is a historically developing set of relations between people, formed on the basis of constant changes in the forms and conditions of their activity in the process of interaction with limited and unlimited nature. There are various approaches to understanding the essence of society. In the history of philosophy and sociology, society has often been understood as the totality of human individuals. This understanding of society was based on a variety of mythological, theological, teleological, idealistic ideas, common to which was that society is the result of a subjective manifestation of human will. In domestic science, society is understood as a relatively stable system of social ties and relations, both between large and between small groups of people, determined in the process of the historical development of mankind, supported by the power of custom, tradition, law, social institutions, etc., based on a certain method of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material and spiritual benefits. Each specific form of society is associated with a specific territory and political power. People included in this territorial-political state system, the content, forms and direction of their social actions are not only self-determined, but also determined by this system. In turn, this form of organization of society is created by people or, rather, by power structures, no matter which way (democratic or anti-democratic) they came to power. Hence the conclusion follows: what kind of society is (totalitarian, autocratic, democratic, etc.), so are people, and their social actions, what is the power structure, so is society.

2. Types of societies

All the imaginable and real diversity of societies that existed before and exist now, sociologists divide into certain types. Several types of society, united by similar characteristics or criteria, constitute a typology. In the modern world, there are various types of societies that differ from each other in many ways, both explicit (language of communication, culture, geographic location, size, etc.) and hidden (degree of social integration, level of stability, etc.). Scientific classification involves the selection of the most essential, typical features that distinguish some features from others and unite societies of the same group. The complexity of social systems, called societies, determines both the variety of their specific manifestations and the absence of a single universal criterion on the basis of which they could be classified.

In the middle of the 19th century, Karl Marx proposed a typology of societies, which was based on the mode of production of material goods and production relations - first of all, property relations. He divided all societies into 5 main types (according to the type of socio-economic formations): primitive communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist (the initial phase is a socialist society).

Another typology divides all societies into simple and complex. The criterion is the number of management levels and the degree of social differentiation (stratification). A simple society is a society in which the constituent parts are homogeneous, there are no rich and poor, leaders and subordinates, the structure and functions here are poorly differentiated and can easily be interchanged. These are the primitive tribes that have survived in some places to this day.

A complex society is a society with highly differentiated structures and functions, interrelated and interdependent from each other, which necessitates their coordination.

K. Popper distinguishes between two types of societies: closed and open. The differences between them are based on a number of factors, and, above all, the relationship between social control and individual freedom. A closed society is characterized by a static social structure, limited mobility, immunity to innovations, traditionalism, dogmatic authoritarian ideology, collectivism. To this type of society K. Popper attributed Sparta, Prussia, Tsarist Russia, Nazi Germany,

Soviet Union of the Stalinist era. An open society is characterized by a dynamic social structure, high mobility, innovation, criticism, individualism, and a democratic pluralist ideology. K. Popper considered ancient Athens and modern Western democracies to be examples of open societies.

Stable and widespread is the division of societies into traditional, industrial and post-industrial, proposed by the American sociologist D. Bell on the basis of a change in the technological basis - the improvement of the means of production and knowledge.

a) Traditional society

Traditional (pre-industrial) society is a society with an agrarian way of life, with a predominance of natural economy, class hierarchy, sedentary structures and a method of socio-cultural regulation based on tradition. It is characterized by manual labor, extremely low rates of development of production, which can satisfy the needs of people only at a minimum level. It is extremely inertial, therefore it is not receptive to innovations. The behavior of individuals in such a society is regulated by customs, norms, and social institutions. Customs, norms, institutions, consecrated by traditions, are considered unshakable, not allowing even the thought of changing them. Carrying out their integrative function, culture and social institutions suppress any manifestation of individual freedom, which is a necessary condition for the gradual renewal of society.

At present, the leading theories of traditional society are the theories of "multidimensional models" by F. Riggs and D. Epter. A feature of these theories is the refusal to emphasize the "civilizing mission" of Western technology, the recognition of the heterogeneity of traditional society, the desire to find new criteria for assessing the "development" of society, including taking into account the "human", mainly psychological factors. The development of the classical theories of traditional society are also various theories of "pluralistic" traditional societies, characterizing it as a culturally heterogeneous and socially disunited society, as well as the theory of "patrimonial society" by S. Eisenstadt, which describes a traditional society in which old forms of life are destroyed, and new socio - political structures have not yet taken shape.

b) Industrial society

The term industrial society was introduced by A. Saint-Simon, emphasizing its new technical basis. Industrial society - (in modern terms) is a complex society, with an industry-based way of managing, with flexible, dynamic and modifying structures, a way of socio-cultural regulation based on a combination of individual freedom and the interests of society. These societies are characterized by a developed division of labor with a strong specialization, mass production of goods for a wide market, mechanization and automation of production and management, scientific and technological revolution. The consequence of these processes is the highly developed means of transport and communications, a high degree of population mobility and urbanization, qualitative shifts in the structures of national consumption. In an industrial society, the main characteristics of large-scale industry and the models of behavior it sets become decisive for social communication in society as a whole and for most of the population. The theory of industrial society was formulated in two versions: by the French social philosopher R. Aron in lectures at the Sorbonne in 1956-1959. and the American economist and political scientist W. Rostow in his book "Stages of Economic Growth". The theory of industrial society reduces social progress to the transition from a backward, "traditional" (precapitalist) society, in which subsistence economy and class hierarchy dominate, to an advanced, industrially developed, "industrial" (capitalist) society with mass market production and a bourgeois-democratic system ... According to the theory of industrial society, this transition is based on the process of successive technical innovations in production, largely explained by the coincidence of chance circumstances in combination with various psychological motives of activity (nationalism, Protestant ethics, the spirit of entrepreneurship and competition, personal ambitions of politicians, etc.). ). the main criterion for the progressiveness of society is the achieved level of industrial production, and according to Rostow - the production of consumer durables (cars, refrigerators, televisions, etc.).

c) Post-industrial society

Post-industrial society (sometimes called information society) is a society developed on an information basis: the extraction (in traditional societies) and processing (in industrial societies) of natural products are replaced by the acquisition and processing of information, as well as preferential development (instead of agriculture in traditional societies and industry in industrial) services. As a result, the structure of employment and the ratio of various professional and qualification groups are changing. According to forecasts, already at the beginning of the 21st century in advanced countries, half of the workforce will be employed in the field of information, a quarter - in the field of material production, and a quarter - in the production of services, including information.

The term "postindustrial society" was born in the United States back in the 1950s, when it became clear that American capitalism in the middle of the century was in many ways different from industrial capitalism that existed before the great crisis of 1929-1933. It is noteworthy that initially post-industrial society was considered in the rationalistic concepts of linear progress, economic growth, increased welfare and technicalization of labor, as a result of which working time is reduced and, accordingly, free time increases. At the same time, already at the end of the 1950s, Riesman questioned the advisability of unlimited growth in well-being, noting that among young Americans from the "upper middle class" the prestige of owning certain things was gradually decreasing.

Since the late 1960s, the term "post-industrial society" has been filled with new content. Scientists distinguish such features as the massive dissemination of creative, intellectual labor, a qualitatively increased volume of scientific knowledge and information used in production, the predominance in the structure of the economy of the service sector, science, education, culture over industry and agriculture in terms of the share in GNP and the number of employed , changing the social structure.

In a traditional agrarian society, the main task was to provide the population with basic livelihoods.

Therefore, efforts were concentrated in agriculture and food production.

In the industrial society that has replaced, this problem has faded into the background. In developed countries, 5-6% of the population employed in agriculture provided food for the entire society. Industry came to the fore. The bulk of the people were employed in it. Society developed along the path of the accumulation of material wealth.

The next stage is associated with the transition from an industrial to a service society. For technological innovation, theoretical knowledge is critical. The volumes of this knowledge are becoming so large that they provide a quantum leap. Extremely developed means of communication ensure the free flow of knowledge, which makes it possible to talk about a qualitatively new type of society.

In the 19th and up to the middle of the 20th century, communication existed in two different forms. The first is mail, newspapers, magazines and books, i.e. media that were printed on paper and distributed by physical transport or stored in libraries. The second is the telegraph, telephone, radio and television; here encoded messages or speech were transmitted by radio signals or by cable from person to person. Technologies that once existed in different fields of application are now blurring these differences, so that consumers of information have many alternative means at their disposal, which also poses a number of difficult problems from the point of view of legislators.

Powerful private interests are inevitably involved in business. Just as the substitution of oil for coal and competition between trucks, railroads and gas pipelines have led to significant changes in the distribution of corporate power, in employment structures, in labor unions, geographical location of enterprises and the like, so are the colossal changes taking place in communication technology. , affect industries related to communications.

In the most general terms, 5 problems can be distinguished here:

1. Merging telephone and computer systems, telecommunications and information processing into one model. Related to these is the question of whether the transmission of information will be carried out mainly through telephone communication or some other independent data transmission system will arise; what will be the relative proportion of microwave stations, communication satellites and coaxial cable as transmission channels.

2. Electronic substitution of paper, including electronic banking instead of checks, e-mail, faxing of newspaper and magazine information, and remote copying of documents.

3. Expansion of the television service through cable systems with multiple channels and dedicated services to allow direct communication with consumers' home terminals.

Transport will be replaced by telecommunications using videophones and internal television systems.

4. Reorganization of information storage and systems of its request on the basis of computers into an interactive information network available for research groups; direct retrieval of information from data banks through library and home terminals.

5. Expansion of the education system based on computer training, the use of satellite communications for rural areas, especially in underdeveloped countries; use of video discs for both entertainment and home education.

Technologically, communications and information processing are merged into a single model, called KOMPYUNIKATSIYA. As computers are increasingly used in communication networks as switching systems, and electronic communication tools become integral elements in computer data processing, the distinction between information processing and communication disappears. The main problems here are legal and economic, and the main question is whether this new area should be subject to government regulation or should it develop better in conditions of free competition.

The most important question is political. Information in the postindustrial era is power. Access to information is a condition of freedom. Problems of a legislative nature follow directly from this.

Postindustrial society cannot be viewed only as a new stage in the technical sphere. The person himself changes. Labor is no longer a vital necessity for him. Post-industrialization is associated with the transformation of the labor process, at least for a noticeable part of society, into a kind of creative activity, into a means of self-realization and with overcoming some forms of alienation inherent in industrial society. At the same time, post-industrial society is a post-economic society, since in the long term the dominance of the economy (production of material goods) over people is overcome in it, and the development of human abilities becomes the main form of life.

The emergence of a post-industrial society is a profound social, economic, technological and spiritual revolution. Its core, the core is, in turn, the formation of a new social type of person and the nature of social relations. This type can be defined as "rich personality", "multidimensional person". If even 30-50 years ago a person's life path and the circle of his social connections were determined primarily by what class or social stratum he belongs to, and only secondly - by his personal abilities, then a "multidimensional person" can really choose between working on hiring and owning a business, between different ways of self-expression and material success. This means that a person can choose and build at his own discretion and those relationships in which he enters with other people. They are less and less blindly dominating him, as they did in the era of industrial capitalism. The "market renaissance" observed now in developed countries is associated with such a change.

The "market renaissance" is actually behind the colossal development of the non-market sphere - the system of social protection, education, health care, culture and, which is very important, domestic work to educate, "production" by a person of himself and his children, the work of direct communication. A characteristic feature of the emerging post-industrial society is becoming a two-story, two-sector economy, consisting of a sector for the production of material goods and services, which is controlled by the market, and a sector of "human production", where the accumulation of human capital is carried out and, in fact, there is no place for market relations. Moreover, the development of the sphere of "human production" increasingly determines the development and structure of the market, the dynamism of the economy and the competitiveness of countries in the world. At the same time, "human production" is less and less the prerogative of the state and more and more of civil society itself: local government bodies, public organizations, and finally, the citizens themselves.

The intellectual property of a "multidimensional person" of a post-industrial society is formed as a result of huge labor costs for raising children in a family, government spending, private funds and citizens themselves on education, children's own efforts, and then students to master the knowledge and values of culture, general - public, private and the collective costs of maintaining and developing culture and art, the time spent by people to master the achievements of culture. Finally, intellectual property embodies the expenditure of time and efforts of a person to maintain their "sports form" - their health, efficiency, not to mention the total costs of protecting and restoring the environment. Already in 1985, America's "human capital" was several times the sum of all assets of American corporations. This comparison speaks for itself.

The ease of accumulation and transmission of information in the era of post-industrialization gives rise to its own problems. Thus, the threat of police and political surveillance of individuals with the use of sophisticated information technology becomes more and more obvious. As former Senator S. Erwin wrote in a review of federal agency use of computer data banks, “The subcommittee found numerous instances of agencies starting out with very good goals and then going so far beyond what was necessary that privacy and constitutional rights of individuals were threatened by the very existence of dossiers on them ... The most important discovery was the establishment of the fact of an extremely large number of government data banks with huge dossiers for almost every inhabitant of the country.54 agencies that provided information on this account reported the existence of 858 data banks containing 1.25 billion records per person. "

All this confirms the following fact: when any agency with power sets bureaucratic norms and seeks to impose them at all costs, the threat of abuse is created. Another equally important point is that control over information most often results in abuse, starting with concealing information and ending with its illegal disclosure. To prevent these abuses, institutional restrictions are needed, primarily in the field of information.

In postindustrial society, politics is of great importance for human self-expression and self-assertion, administrative and public self-government - direct ("participatory") democracy, which expands a person's social ties and thereby opportunities for the manifestation of his creative initiative.

Western social thought in the 1980s came to the same conclusion that it came to in due time ... Karl Marx in the first draft of Capital: culture, science, information are common property. As soon as they are "launched" into production, i.e. used as a productive force, they become truly universal property. “In classical and Marxian economic theory, capital was thought of as“ embodied labor, ”but knowledge cannot be interpreted in the same vein,” wrote D. Bell. “The main thing is that knowledge, as a systematized theory, is a collective property. neither a single group of workers nor a corporation can monopolize or patent theoretical knowledge, or derive a unique manufacturing advantage from it. It is the public property of the intellectual world. " At the same time, science, information, cultural values are essentially not alienated either from their creator ("producer"), or from the one who uses them. Consequently, this public property is individual for everyone who uses it. Thus, the post-industrial society is characterized by the unity of individual and public (but not state!) Ownership of the main "product" and "production resource" predicted by Marx.

The post-industrialization process is irreversible. However, so far it has not covered all aspects of public life and not all countries. A new map of the world is being created. It is an information map that can be likened to a climate map in the sense that it reflects some constant environmental conditions. This information map shows a high density of information in North America, slightly less in Europe, Japan and Russia; in all other places the density of information is negligible and even fades away. Even in the most developed countries (USA, Japan, Germany, Sweden) society is still very far from fully becoming post-industrial. Until now, many millions of people in them are engaged in simple labor and are subjected to the most ordinary capitalist exploitation. And even in these countries, especially in the United States, there are masses of illiterates who, naturally, remain on the sidelines of the road into the future. Of course, this prevents post-industrialization, preserves old relations and old technologies, and sometimes recreates them on a new technological basis. Global problems remain unresolved - the ecological one and the problem of the backwardness of most of the Earth's countries. However, these problems can only be solved on a post-industrial basis. In turn, further post-industrialization is unthinkable without their solution. The situation in Russia is interesting. Obvious tendencies towards post-industrialism in developed countries and their comparison with what is happening in Russia testify rather to the multidirectional processes taking place "there" and "here" than to the fact that Russia is finally beginning to develop "like everyone else." The point is that Russia is just entering the late stage of industrial society. Market structures are actively growing. At the same time, in developed countries, most of the public relations are moving to the non-market sector, to the sector of human recovery. In order for development to proceed along the path "like everyone else", we must at least understand to ourselves that, without turning the economy and politics to face the person - at first, at least on a post-industrial basis, - about any development of the country "along the path of world civilization" out of the question. And one of the main paradoxes of history is that the ideas that Russian leaders are in a hurry to renounce are in fact confirmed (albeit not fully) where these ideas have never turned into the dominant ideology.

The change in the technological basis also affects the organization of the entire system of social ties and relations. If in an industrial society the mass class was made up of workers, then in a post-industrial society it was employees and managers. At the same time, the significance of class differentiation is weakening, instead of a status (“grainy”) social structure, a functional (“ready-made”) structure is being formed. Instead of leadership, the principle of governance is being replaced by coordination, and representative democracy is being replaced by direct democracy and self-government. As a result, instead of a hierarchy of structures, a new type of network organization is created, focused on rapid change depending on the situation.

True, at the same time, some sociologists pay attention to the contradictory possibilities, on the one hand, to ensure a higher level of individual freedom in the information society, and on the other, to the emergence of new, more hidden and therefore more dangerous forms of social control over it.

Table 1 MAIN STAGES OF SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT ACCORDING TO THE THEORY OF POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY
STAGES \ CHARACTERISTICS	Preindustrial society	Industrial Society	Postindustrial society
Main branch of the economy	Agriculture	Industry	Knowledge-intensive service (knowledge production)
Dominant social group	The owners of the land and the people who cultivate it (slave owners, feudal lords, etc.)	Capital owners (capitalists)	Knowledge owners (managers)

According to this theory (it is based on the ideas of O. Toffler, D. Bell and other economists-institutionalists), the development of society is seen as a change of three socio-economic systems - pre-industrial society, industrial society and post-industrial society (Table 3). These three social systems differ in the main factors of production, the leading spheres of the economy and the dominant social groups. Socio-technological revolutions are the boundaries of social systems: the Neolithic revolution (6-8 thousand years ago) created the prerequisites for the development of pre-industrial exploiting societies, the industrial revolution (18-19 centuries) separates the industrial society from the pre-industrial one, and the scientific and technological revolution (with second half of the 20th century) marks the transition from industrial to post-industrial society. Modern society is a transitional stage from industrial to post-industrial system.

The Marxist theory of social formations and the institutional theory of post-industrial society rest on similar principles that are common to all formational concepts: the development of the economy is seen as the fundamental principle of the development of society, this development itself is interpreted as a progressive and stage-by-stage process.

3. Comparative characteristics

Table 2. Comparative characteristics of different types of societies

Society type	Preindustrial	Industrial	Post-industrial Countries that come closest to this type of society
Typical representatives	Afghanistan Nicaragua	Great Britain
Gross national product per capita (in dollars)		about 10,000	about 18,000
The main factor of production
Main product of production		Manufactured products
Production characteristics	Manual labor	Widespread use of mechanisms, technologies	Automation of production, computerization of society
The nature of work	Individual labor	Predominantly standard activities	A dramatic increase in creativity in work
Employment	Agriculture - about 75%	Agriculture - about 10%	Agriculture - up to 3%, industry - about 33%, services - about 66%
Grain yield (in kg / ha)
Milk yield per 1 cow in liters per year
The main type of export		Manufactured products
Education policy	Combating illiteracy	Training of specialists	Continuing education
Number of scientists and engineers per million inhabitants	about 100 people	about 2000 people	about 2000 people
Mortality rate per 1000 people.	about 20 people	about 10 people	about 10 people
Life span		over 70 years	over 70 years
Human impact on nature	Local, uncontrolled	Global, uncontrollable	Global, controlled
Interaction with other countries	Insignificant	Strong relationship	Openness of society

4. Conclusion

So, analyzing all societies, we can characterize them as stages of development of human society. Traditional society is at the lowest stage of development; it is characterized as a society with an agrarian structure, with a predominance of a natural economy. the next step is the industrial society, which, in contrast to the traditional society, is more complex. It is based on an industrial method of management, a method of social regulation based on a combination of individual freedom and the interests of society. At the highest stage of development is the post-industrial society, which, unlike other societies, is developed on an information basis.

Summing up, we note that each of these societies plays an important role .. Moreover, they are historical stages in the development of mankind as a whole.

5. Literature

Frolov S.S.Sociology. M., 1998

Fundamentals of Sociology: A Course of Lectures / Ed. A.G. Efendieva. M., 1994

The evolution of oriental societies: a synthesis of the traditional and the modern. Moscow 1984

Osipova OA American sociology about traditions in the countries of the East. Moscow 1985

Osipov G.V. Nature and Society 1996.

Sociology. Fundamentals of General Theory / Ed. Osipova G.V., Moskvicheva L.N. Moscow 1996

Pushkareva V.G. Society

Sociology. Foundations of general theory; ed. A.Yu. Myagkov; M .: "Flint"; 2003;

D. V. Kakharchuk; Sociology; M .: "Yurayt"; 2002;

Frolov S.S. Sociology. Textbook. For higher education institutions. Moscow: Nauka, 1994;

Danilo J. Markovich; General Sociology; "Vlados", M., 1998.

Russian Sociological Encyclopedia / Ed. G.V. Osipova Moscow 1996

Bell D. The Social Framework of the Information Society, [Coll. New technocratic wave in the West, - M., 1986]

Krasilshchikov V. Landmarks of the future in post-industrial society, Social sciences and modernity, N2.1993

Dayzard W. The advent of the information age, [Sat. New technocratic wave in the West, - M., 1986]

Pupil's Handbook / Social Science / Ed. , V.V. Barabanova, V.G. Zarubina Moscow 2004

Introduction to Sociology A. I. Kravchenko Moscow 1995

Man and Society study guide Moscow 1995

Development of states

Society, according to researchers, passes 3 stages (levels, stages) ... They can be arranged sequentially as follows:

agricultural, up to industrial or traditional;
industrial or capitalist;
postindustrial or informational.

The first two types developed slowly. Their historical period lasted depending on the cultural traditions of the countries. Despite the difference and individual characteristics of the development of countries, in all states these types had similar characteristics. Scientists have not stopped studying the development of states, they are identifying which features should be brought to the level of mandatory, which may be present in whole or in part. Evolution can move slowly, holding the state at one stage of development for many centuries. In other conditions, everything accelerates. What matters in type definition :

man and his attitude to nature, natural resources of the planet;
interpersonal relationships, social connections;
values of the spiritual life of people (man and society).

The topic of the training course helps to imagine how the history of the planet, country, individual person goes.

All three types are interrelated, it is impossible to name the exact date of the transition from one state to another, evolution takes place over territories, remote areas are pulled up behind the center or vice versa.

Table "Typology of Societies"

	*Traditional to industrial*	*Industrial Society*	*Post-industrial society*
Production area	The dominant production area is agricultural labor based on manual technology. It is clear that there are production tools, but they are simple in design.	The industrial field of activity prevails. It is characterized by the active use of machines and conveyor technologies.	The sphere of production is services for the population. Production is distinguished by the development of computer technology. The era of robots begins.
Population	The majority of the population are rural residents. Their standard of living is low: wood-fired houses. A person is engaged in physical labor that requires good health. A person lives by caring for pets. Produces basic foodstuffs on its own. The society adheres to customs and traditions built on the experience of ancestors.	Most of the population lives in urban areas. Sources of energy - the use of natural resources: oil, coal or gas.	The population is concentrated around cities. For energy production, alternative sources are selected: hazardous, but less costly, for example, the atom.
Main values	The main value is the land area.	The main value is capital.	The value of a person and society is knowledge and the timeliness of obtaining information.
Political structure	Society is politically a monarchy with disenfranchised inhabitants. It is difficult for a person to rise, move from one class to another. The ruler has a special right and inviolable authority.	The structure of society is a republic that guarantees the observance of the rights of any person, but the rights are not the same for all countries, but different. Public laws are governed by legal regulations.	Politically, it is a legal state. Public life is governed by laws and regulations.

Traditional society still occurs today. These are the states of Asia and Africa. Some of the signs of civilization have reached countries, but have not completely taken root in society.

The industrial type of society is characterized by: the flourishing of large cities, the concentration in the same hands of financial resources and a clear division of forms of ownership.

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The post-industrial society is embraced by technical modernization in all spheres of human life. Postindustrial society is often called a technogenic civilization.

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Do your homework carefully:
1. Kravchenko A.I. Social Science. Grade 8 - §3.
2. Bogolyubova L.N. Introduction to Social Studies: grades 8-9 - §17
3. Table "Types of societies".
4. Concepts: traditional, industrial, post-industrial society.

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Traditional society- a society governed by tradition. The preservation of traditions is a higher value in it than development. The social order in it is characterized by a rigid class hierarchy, the existence of stable social communities (especially in the countries of the East), a special way of regulating the life of society, based on traditions and customs. This organization of society seeks to preserve the social and cultural foundations of life unchanged. Traditional society is an agrarian society.
General characteristics:
A traditional society is usually characterized by:
traditional economy
the predominance of the agrarian structure;
structure stability;
estate organization;
low mobility;
high mortality;
low life expectancy.
The traditional person perceives the world and the established order of life as something inextricably integral, holistic, sacred and not subject to change. A person's place in society and his status are determined by tradition (as a rule, by birthright).
In traditional society, collectivist attitudes prevail, individualism is not welcomed (since the freedom of individual actions can lead to a violation of the established routine, time-tested). In general, traditional societies are characterized by the predominance of collective interests over private ones, including the primacy of the interests of existing hierarchical structures (state, clan, etc.). It is not so much individual capacity that is valued, but the place in the hierarchy (bureaucratic, estate, clan, etc.) that a person occupies.
Traditional societies tend to be authoritarian and not pluralistic. Authoritarianism is necessary, in particular, to suppress attempts to non-observance of traditions or to change them.
In a traditional society, as a rule, redistribution rather than market exchange prevails, and the elements of a market economy are tightly regulated. This is due to the fact that free market relations increase social mobility and change the social structure of society (in particular, they destroy the estate); the redistribution system can be regulated by tradition, but market prices cannot; forced redistribution prevents "unauthorized" enrichment / impoverishment of both individuals and classes. The pursuit of economic benefits in traditional society is often morally condemned, opposed to disinterested assistance.
In a traditional society, most people live their entire lives in a local community (for example, a village), and the ties with the “big society” are rather weak. At the same time, family ties, on the contrary, are very strong.
The worldview (ideology) of a traditional society is conditioned by tradition and authority.

Industrial Society(German Industriegesellschaft) is a type of society that has reached a level of socio-economic development in which the extraction and processing of natural resources, as well as industry, make the greatest contribution to the value of material goods.
An industrial society is an industry-based society with flexible, dynamic structures characterized by a division of labor, widespread development of mass media and a high level of urbanization.
Industrial society emerges as a result of the industrial revolution. There is a redistribution of the labor force: employment of the population in agriculture falls from 70-80% to 10-15%, the share of employment in industry increases to 80-85%, and the urban population also grows. The dominant factor of production is entrepreneurial activity. As a result of the scientific and technological revolution, the industrial society is being transformed into a post-industrial society.
Industrial society features:
1. History moves unevenly, "leaps", the gaps between eras are obvious, often these are revolutions of different types.
2. Socio-historical progress is quite obvious and can be "measured" by means of various criteria.
3. Society seeks to rule over nature, subordinating it and extracting the maximum possible from it.
4. The basis of the economy is the institution of highly developed private property. Ownership is seen as natural and inalienable.
5. Social mobility of the population is high, the possibilities of social movement are practically unlimited.
6. Society is autonomous from the state, a developed civil society has developed.
7. Autonomy, freedoms and individual rights are constitutionally enshrined as inalienable and innate. The relationship between the individual and society is built on the basis of mutual responsibility.
8. The most important social values are recognized as the ability and readiness to change and innovate.
An industrial society is characterized by a sharp increase in industrial and agricultural production, unimaginable in previous eras; the rapid development of science and technology, communications, the invention of newspapers, radio and television; dramatic expansion of propaganda opportunities; a sharp increase in the population, an increase in its life expectancy; a significant increase in the standard of living in comparison with previous eras; a sharp increase in the mobility of the population; complex division of labor, not only within individual countries, but also internationally; centralized state; smoothing the horizontal differentiation of the population (dividing it into castes, estates, classes) and the growth of vertical differentiation (dividing society into nations, "worlds", regions).

Post-industrial society Is a society in whose economy, as a result of the scientific and technological revolution and a significant increase in the income of the population, the priority has shifted from the predominant production of goods to the production of services. Information and knowledge become a productive resource. Scientific developments are becoming the main driving force of the economy. The most valuable qualities are the level of education, professionalism, learning ability and creativity of the employee.
Post-industrial countries are usually called those in which the service sector accounts for significantly more than half of GDP. This criterion includes, in particular, the USA (the service sector accounts for 80% of the US GDP, 2002), the EU countries (the service sector - 69.4% of GDP, 2004), Australia (69% of GDP, 2003), Japan (67.7% of GDP, 2001), Canada (70% of GDP, 2004), Russia (58% of GDP, 2007). However, some economists point out that the share of services in Russia is overstated.
The relative predominance of the share of services over material production does not necessarily mean a decrease in production volumes. It's just that these volumes in the post-industrial society are increasing more slowly than the volumes of services rendered are increasing.
Services should be understood not only as trade, utilities and consumer services: any infrastructure is created and maintained by society to provide services: the state, army, law, finance, transport, communications, healthcare, education, science, culture, the Internet - these are all services. The service sector includes the production and sale of software. The buyer does not have all the rights to the program. He uses a copy of it under certain conditions, that is, he receives a service.
The term "post-industrialism" was introduced into scientific circulation at the beginning of the 20th century by the scientist A. Cumaraswamy, who specialized in the pre-industrial development of Asian countries. In its modern meaning, this term was first used in the late 1950s, and the concept of a post-industrial society gained wide acceptance as a result of the work of Harvard University professor Daniel Bell, in particular, after the publication of his book "The Coming Post-Industrial Society" in 1973.
The concept of post-industrial society is based on the division of all social development into three stages:
Agrarian (pre-industrial) - the agricultural sphere was decisive, the main structures were the church, the army
Industrial - industry was decisive, the main structures were a corporation, a company
Post-industrial - theoretical knowledge is decisive, the main structure is the university, as a place of their production and accumulation
Similarly, E. Toffler identifies three "waves" in the development of society:
agrarian in the transition to agriculture,
industrial during the industrial revolution
informational in the transition to a society based on knowledge (post-industrial).
D. Bell identifies three technological revolutions:
invention of the steam engine in the 18th century
scientific and technological advances in electricity and chemistry in the 19th century
creation of computers in the XX century
Bell argued that, just as the industrial revolution created assembly-line production, which increased labor productivity and prepared the mass-consumption society, so now there should be a stream production of information, ensuring appropriate social development in all directions.
Postindustrial theory, in many ways, has been confirmed by practice. As predicted by its creators, the consumer society gave birth to a service economy, and within its framework, the information sector of the economy began to develop at the fastest pace.

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 immediately come across 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 considered to be its sustainability associated with integration and stability. Sociologists explain the reason for this stability in different ways. E. Durkheim believed that stability is achieved through the unity of will, collective consciousness, which helps to curb human egoism. R. Merton believed that sustainability is achieved thanks to the fundamental values that the majority of the population assimilates, 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 power that ensures control over the entire territory and implants a common culture. All this suggests that it is impossible to unambiguously determine the factors of sustainability.

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

All of them support continuity, without which it would be difficult to ensure the sustainability of society. Sustainability is ensured by social structures, provided they are legitimate. The legitimacy lies in the fact that the majority of the population consider them the most appropriate and support 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 diverse 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 governed and regulated by internal structures, based on its own norms and principles of behavior, without outside interference.

Moreover, 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 obeys 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, the following definition can be given: society is a historically formed 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 formed on the basis of society and the state)

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

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

In philosophical science, society is characterized as a dynamic self-developing system, that is, a system that is capable, while seriously changing, to maintain at the same time its essence and qualitative definiteness. In this case, the system is defined as a complex of interacting elements. In turn, an element is called some further indecomposable component of the system that is directly involved in its creation.

For the analysis of complex systems, such as the one that represents society, 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, of 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 the real life of society form the phenomenon of spiritual culture).

Each of these spheres, being itself an element of a system called "society", in turn turns out to be a system in relation to the elements that make up it. All four spheres of social life are 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 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 and private.

The vision of personality as the main value has found extensive 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 activities of free individuals.

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

The difference in conclusions about the relationship between personality 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 moving towards individualization. The West is the leader in this respect. But not everyone agrees with the idea that the Western model is acceptable to all of humanity.

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-value 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 personality. This is a person guided by the categorical imperative of Kant - "... act only according to such a maxim, being guided by which you at the same time may wish it to become a universal law."

A 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 with the interests of society, and it is forced to one way or another to limit the sovereignty and freedom of the individual. The principle of the self-worth of the individual is also being corrected: it is supplemented by provisions on his duties in relation to society, on the need to comply with a certain normative model of personality. 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 rejected and the priority of the public interest over the personal is proclaimed. The value of an individual is considered only as the value of a tool in relation to society.

Undoubtedly, on the threshold of the third millennium, it would be naive to talk about some given common public interest. Ideally, it is a certain sum of diverse group and personal interests, constantly changing and refined in the course of public discussions, secret and explicit compromises. But this is ideally when society functions and develops normally, when the main interests of social groups coincide, when the ruling elite is responsible and the population is politically active. In conditions of social chaos, the danger of the death of society, the strategy of the most influential and organized political force, which has managed to subordinate society to its will, is approved with a certain degree of violence as a public interest.

This is the usual evolution of the relationship between public and personal interest.

At what stage of this evolution is Russia now?

To this day, in numerous discussions it is being clarified whether Russia is on the brink of a catastrophe or a catastrophe has already arrived. The fact of a real threat to the very existence of Russia as a social system is recognized by everyone. 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, through which the most valuable public resources flow - 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 the society a response to the challenge of circumstances. She herself and the political institutions she organized turned out to be dysfunctional in relation to society.

The majority of the population does not trust either the political elite or the institutions of power it has created, although on the whole it has not given up on the dream of turning Russia into a "normal European country."

The population is immersed in the small joys of life: everything is fine, only there is not enough money - this is the leitmotif of the public mood. The promise of the authorities to "put things in order", as shown by sociological studies, is understood, first of all, as ensuring the timely payment of wages 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 do not fully realize the scale and severity of the problems facing the country: as polls have shown, 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 strict 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 will lead many to the dock. For them, the preservation of social chaos, justified by liberal ideology, is a matter of life and death. They want, under the slogan "To a normal European country", to lead Russia to a country of the Latin American type, where the ruling elite, bathing in luxury, is quite calmly perceived by the bulk of the poor population.

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

Today there is no single ideological project. There have been attempts to present a society of workers 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 CPRF is the core, and on the right side - the Russian National Unity (RNU), the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and some of the political formations close to it have already managed to become an impressive, largest element of the systemic opposition. Russian national unity is in the position of a political marginal. Liberal media characterize RNU as an extremist and even fascist organization. The attitude of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is also hostile to her.

Both are right. The population, placed by the ruling regime in extreme conditions, must wake up from political apathy and show sympathy for the extreme left or extreme right political forces. And there are reasons for that. First, 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 government (August 1991 became a confirmation of communist impotence), fears queues, coupons, empty counters. Secondly, the communists, having entered the system of power for a long time, albeit as an opposition, failed to prove themselves as an effective political force.

Having set the goal of studying the variety of forms of manifestation of deviant behavior, the American sociologist R. Keven built a theoretical model describing the interaction of 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 "overconformism". 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. They correspond to conscientious, or law-abiding, citizens, the so-called typical Americans. The formal standards that dominate this area are social norms. Behavior in zone D, located in the middle of the continuum, is called conformal. It is fully regulated and governed by the relevant social institutions, which set official norms and official controls.

Those people whose behavior falls into the B zone are “undercomformists”. They always argue, conflict and feud with 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 "superconformists." Young people from this zone are located along the outer border 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 marginal individuals. The people around them either gladly accept them into their circle, or push them away.

The most extreme zones - A and G - are more than just deviations from accepted norms. This is an area of alienated and opposed 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 zone G are called "bespectacled", "teacher's favorites", "boobies", 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 located along a certain continuum. At one of its poles, there will be a category of persons exhibiting the most condemned behavior: revolutionaries, terrorists, non-patriots, political emigrants, traitors, atheists, criminals, vandals, cynics, vagabonds. On the other - the 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 about 10-15% of the total population, and about 70% would fall on the “solid middle peasants”.

A social system is formed on the basis of one or another social community, which includes a social group, social organization, etc. Its elements are people whose behavior is determined by certain social positions (statuses) that they occupy, and specific social functions (roles) that they perform, social norms and values adopted in this social system.

The individual carries out his activities not 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, a given 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, which has as its consequence 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, labor collective); 4) as a hierarchy of social positions (statuses) held by individuals involved in the activities of this 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 a given system.

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

In a broad sense, the term "society" means a part of the material world, which at one time was isolated from nature. The consequence of this was the historically developed 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 in human history, for example, feudal, capitalist and other societies;
b) society is a specific social organism that has certain spatio-temporal coordinates, for example, Russian, American societies;
c) society is the largest association of people living in 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. This is facilitated by three factors:

1) social and historical practice, or labor, with the help of which a person has 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 the life of people;
2) the collective nature of human activity. Man is a social being, unable to provide his own life alone. Therefore, each individual seeks to communicate, interact with other individuals. This does not exclude the formation of a unique personality in the team, its individual qualities;
3) consciousness, intellect, spirituality, which create the basis for the self-preservation of society. These include the norms, ideals underlying a particular civilization. If spiritual culture is destroyed, then social relations also 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 organized, conscious work and the interaction of people in order to create the conditions necessary for their life and development.

The structure of a 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 there are three main spheres of society: economic, socio-political (legal, moral), spiritual and cultural (religion, science, art).

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

It is advisable to refer to the signs of society:

1) territory, that is, the geographical space on which social ties, relationships, interactions between people develop;
2) stability (self-realization), that is, the ability to maintain and reproduce internal relationships. This is facilitated by the control and implementation of the entire set 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-affirmation;
4) universality, that is, the presence of an internal mechanism that allows you to include in the existing system of social new formations, for example, public associations, institutions. Society subordinates them to its own logic, makes them 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 relations and relations, norms and rules of behavior;
6) a developed culture that meets 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, which means 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 in fact depend on them, since the share of American investments in the economies of these countries is very significant;
8) self-sufficiency, that is, solvency, which allows a country to pay its debts on time;
9) the conclusion of marriages between representatives of the given society;
10) replenishment of society through childbirth 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, therefore sociologists offer several classifications of them, depending on the chosen criterion. One of the classifications is based on the presence of writing. In preliterate societies, they knew how to speak, but they did not know how to write. In written societies, they master the alphabet and record knowledge.

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

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

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

Austrian scientist K. Popper distinguishes between two types of societies: open and closed. The differences between them are based on the relationship between social control and individual freedom. A closed society is characterized by a static social structure, limited mobility, immunity to innovations, traditionalism, dogmatic authoritarian ideology, collectivism. To this type of society K. Popper attributed Sparta, Prussia, Tsarist Russia, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union of the Stalin era. An open society is characterized by a dynamic social structure, high mobility, innovation, criticism, individualism, and a democratic pluralist 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. A community is a traditional community and a society is a modern, complexly structured community. The criterion is the attitude towards social change.

The traditional society is characterized by:

- natural division of labor (mainly by gender 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 method 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: "do not stick out", "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 variety of social institutions that make it possible to meet the basic social needs of members of society;
- a complex system of social management - the allocation of the institution of management, special governing bodies: political, economic, territorial and self-government;
- secularization of religion, i.e. its separation from the state, its transformation into an independent social institution;
- criticism, rationalism, individualism dominating in the worldview;
- behavioral maxims: “do your thing”, “don't be afraid to take risks”, “strive for victory”;
- the absence of specific instructions and prohibitions, which entails the erosion of morality and law.

table 2

Features	Preindustrial society	Industrial Society	Post-industrial society
Time of occurrence	4 thousand BC	ХУШ-Х1Х centuries.	Last quarter of the twentieth century
Key area of the economy	Agriculture	Industry	Service sector (primarily science and education)
Organizational and technical characteristics of the economy	Low-productivity subsistence farming based on manual labor and primitive technology	Mass commodity production based on the replacement of manual labor by machine	Effective use of the achievements of scientific and technological revolution based on a regulated market economy
Development fundamentals	Traditions	Scientific and technological progress, the emergence of elements of democracy	A new stage of scientific and technological revolution, movement towards an information society and mature democracy
The leading role in society belongs	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

Information revolution, the beginning of which is attributed to the 60s. XX century, promotes the transition of society to a new state, to an information society. Its distinctive feature is the restructuring in material production, when information becomes the dominant sphere of reproduction and, along with information technologies, occupies a key place in the country's economy.

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