Sociology distinguishes several types of society: traditional, industrial, and post-industrial. The difference between the formations is enormous. Moreover, each type of device has unique features and features.
The difference lies in the attitude to the person, the ways of organizing economic activity. The transition from traditional to industrial and post-industrial (informational) society is extremely difficult.
Traditional
The presented type of social system was formed first. In this case, tradition is the basis for regulating relationships between people. Agrarian society, or traditional, differs from industrial and postindustrial in the first place by its low mobility in the social sphere. In this way, there is a clear distribution of roles, and the transition from one class to another is almost impossible. An example is the caste system in India. The structure of this society is characterized by stability and low level of development. The basis of the future role of man lies primarily in his origin. Social elevators are absent in principle, in some way they are even undesirable. The transition of individuals from one layer to another in the hierarchy can trigger the process of destruction of the entire habitual way of life.
In an agrarian society, individualism is not welcome. All human actions are aimed at supporting the life of the community. Freedom of choice in this case can lead to a change in formation or cause destruction of the entire structure. Economic relationships between people are tightly regulated. Under normal market relations, the social mobility of citizens increases, that is, processes that are undesirable for the whole traditional society are initiated.
The basis of the economy
The economy of this type of formation is agricultural. That is, the basis of wealth is precisely the land. The more plots an individual owns, the higher his social status. The implements of production are archaic and practically do not develop. This also applies to other areas of life. In the early stages of the formation of a traditional society, natural exchange prevails. Money as a universal product and a measure of the value of other items are absent in principle.
There is no industrial production as such. With the development of the emergence of handicraft production of necessary tools and other household items. This process is long, since most citizens living in a traditional society prefer to produce everything on their own. The subsistence farming prevails.
Demography and life
In the agricultural system, most people live in local communities. At the same time, the change of place of business is extremely slow and painful. It is important to consider that in a new place of residence there are often problems with the allocation of land. Own land with the ability to grow different crops is the basis of life in a traditional society. Food is also harvested from livestock, gathering, and hunting.
In a traditional society, a high birth rate. This is primarily due to the need for the survival of the community itself. There is no medicine, so often simple diseases and injuries become fatal. Life expectancy is negligible.
Life is organized taking into account the principles. It is also not subject to any changes. Moreover, the life of all members of society depends on religion. All canons and foundations in the community are governed by faith. Changes and an attempt to escape from everyday life are suppressed by religious dogmas.
Formation Change
The transition from traditional to industrial and post-industrial society is possible only with a sharp development of technology. It became possible in the 17-18 centuries. In many respects, the development of progress was due to the plague epidemic that swept Europe. A sharp decline in the population provoked the development of technology, the appearance of mechanized production tools.
Industrial formation
Sociologists connect the transition from the traditional type of society to industrial and post-industrial with a change in the economic component of the way of people. The increase in production capacity led to urbanization, that is, the outflow of part of the population from village to city. Large settlements were formed in which the mobility of citizens increased significantly.
The structure of the formation is flexible and dynamic. Machine production is actively developing, labor is automated above. The use of new (at that time) technologies is characteristic not only for industry, but also for agriculture. The total share of employment in the agricultural sector does not exceed 10%.
The main factor of development in an industrial society is entrepreneurial activity. Therefore, the position of the individual is determined by his skills and aspirations for development and education. The origin also remains important, but its influence is gradually diminishing.
Form of government
Gradually, with the growth of production and increase in capital in an industrial society, a conflict is brewing between the generation of entrepreneurs and representatives of the old aristocracy. In many countries, this process culminated in a change in the structure of the state itself. Typical examples include the French Revolution or the emergence of a constitutional monarchy in England. After these changes, the archaic aristocracy lost their former opportunities for influencing the life of the state (although in general they continued to listen to their opinion).
Economics of industrial society
The economy of such a formation is based on the extensive exploitation of natural resources and labor. According to Marx, in a capitalist industrial society the main roles are assigned directly to those who own the instruments of labor. Resources are often generated to the detriment of the environment, the environment is deteriorating.
At the same time, production is growing at an accelerated pace. The quality of staff comes to the fore. Manual labor is also preserved, but to minimize costs, industrialists and entrepreneurs begin to invest in technology development.
A characteristic feature of the industrial formation is the merging of banking and industrial capital. In an agrarian society, especially at its initial stages of development, usury was persecuted. With the development of progress, loan interest has become the basis for economic development.
Postindustrial
Post-industrial society began to form in the middle of the last century. The engines of development were the countries of Western Europe, the USA and Japan. Features of the formation are to increase the share in the gross domestic product of information technology. Transformations also affected industry and agriculture. Productivity increased, manual labor decreased.
The formation of a consumer society became the locomotive of further development. An increase in the share of quality services and goods has led to the development of technology and increased investment in science.
The concept of post-industrial society was formed by Harvard University professor Daniel Bell. After his writings, some sociologists also deduced the concept of the information society, although in many respects these concepts are synonymous.
Opinions
There are two opinions in the theory of the emergence of post-industrial society. From the classical point of view, the transition was made possible thanks to:
- Automation of production.
- The needs for a high educational level of staff.
- Increased demand for quality services.
- Increase the income of most of the population of developed countries.
Marxists put forward their theory on this subject. According to it, the transition to a post-industrial (informational) society from industrial and traditional has become possible thanks to the world division of labor. There was a concentration of industries in different regions of the planet, as a result of which the qualification of staff increased.
Deindustrialization
The information society has given rise to another socio-economic process: de-industrialization. In developed countries, the proportion of workers involved in industry is declining. Along with this, the influence of direct production on the state economy falls. According to statistics, from 1970 to 2015, the share of industry in the USA and Western Europe in the gross domestic product decreased from 40 to 28%. Part of the production was transferred to other regions of the planet. This process gave rise to a sharp increase in development in countries, accelerated the pace of transition from the agrarian (traditional) and industrial types of society to post-industrial.
The risks
An intensive path of development and the formation of an economy based on scientific knowledge is fraught with various risks. The migration process has grown sharply. At the same time, some countries lagging behind in their development begin to experience a shortage of qualified personnel who move to regions with an information type of economy. The effect provokes the development of crisis phenomena, characteristic to a greater extent for the industrial social formation.
The experts are also concerned about the bias of demography. Three stages of the development of society (traditional, industrial and post-industrial) have different relationships with family and fertility. For an agrarian formation, a large family is the basis of survival. Approximately the same opinion exists in an industrial society. The transition to a new formation was marked by a sharp decline in the birth rate and an aging population. Therefore, countries with an information economy are actively attracting qualified, educated youth from other regions of the planet, thereby widening the development gap.
The experts are also concerned about the decline in the growth rates of post-industrial society. The traditional (agricultural) and industrial still have much to develop, increase production and change the format of the economy. The information formation is the crown of the evolutionary process. New technologies are constantly being developed, but breakthrough solutions (for example, the transition to nuclear energy, space exploration) are becoming less and less common. Therefore, sociologists predict an increase in crisis phenomena.
Coexistence
Now there is a paradoxical situation: industrial, post-industrial and traditional societies quite peacefully coexist in different regions of the planet. An agrarian formation with an appropriate lifestyle is more characteristic of some countries in Africa and Asia. Industrial with gradual evolutionary processes to the informational is observed in Eastern Europe and the CIS.
Industrial, post-industrial and traditional society are different primarily in their relations to the human person. In the first two cases, individualism is at the heart of development; in the second, collective principles prevail. Any manifestation of self-will and an attempt to stand out are condemned.
Social Lifts
Social elevators characterize the mobility of segments of the population within society. In traditional, industrial, and postindustrial formations, they are expressed differentially. For an agrarian society, only the movement of a whole layer of the population is possible, for example, through rebellion or revolution. In other cases, mobility is possible and one individual. The final position depends on knowledge, acquired skills and human activity.
In fact, the differences between the traditional, industrial, and post-industrial types of society are enormous. Sociologists and philosophers are engaged in the study of their formation and stages of development.