traditional and agrarian society. Traditional society: sociology and history. Agrarian State and Agrarian Fund

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

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

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

Traditional, industrial and post-industrial societies

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

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

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

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

These include industrial and post-industrial societies.

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

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

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

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

Distinctive features of a post-industrial society:

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

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

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

Basic typologies of society

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

Typologies of society during the formation of sociological science

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

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

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

Typologies of society in the classical period of development of sociology

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

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

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

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

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

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

Typologies of the Society of Contemporary Sociology

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Traditional society is a kind of society, which has its own characteristics. What are the characteristics of a traditional society?

Definition

A traditional society is a community in which everything is governed by values. Much more attention is paid to the preservation of numerous traditions in such an estate than to the development of the partnership itself. A characteristic feature of a traditional society is the presence of a rigid hierarchy and the existence of a clear division into classes.

The traditional community is agrarian. This can be explained by the fact that works on the ground are part of the perennial values that are characteristic of this type of social order. In its original form, the traditional caste is preserved in some states of Africa, Asia and the East.

signs

The characteristic features of a traditional society are:

The basis of life is agricultural activity. This way of life is characteristic of the Middle Ages. To date, it has been preserved in some states of Africa, Asia and the East.
Class-corporate social system. This means that the public is clearly divided into several classes that do not overlap in any way in the course of their activities. Such a system originated many millennia ago.
Traditional society is characterized by value human personality because man is an extension of God. For this reason, spiritual life is placed higher than material wealth. Also, a person feels a close relationship with the land on which he was born, and his estate.
Established traditions that clearly regulate human behavior from birth, family relationships and values. The ruler thus has undeniable power.
Low life expectancy, which is associated with a high birth rate and no less high mortality.
Two features characteristic of a traditional society are respect for one's own culture and ancient customs.

To date, researchers have agreed that the traditional society is deprived of a choice in terms of spiritual and cultural development. This significantly hinders his progress.

Features

What are the characteristics of a traditional type of society? Let's list them in order:

A patriarchal way of life, in which the man plays the main role, and the woman is a secondary member of society.
A sense of collectivism and belonging to a particular community.
Since the traditional society is built on agriculture and primitive crafts, it is characterized by complete dependence on the forces of nature.
The desire of a person to earn no more than is necessary to meet basic needs.
The purpose of this type of state is not the development, but the maintenance of the human population. That is why countries with such a way of life do not have the desire to produce goods.

The traditional type is the earliest, as it arose with the public. At first glance, it may seem that there is no development in it. However, it is not. It's just that this type of community develops in a slightly different way than other varieties.

Development

In economic terms, traditional society is characterized by development based on agriculture. At the same time, material goods are distributed depending on the social status of a person.

For a society of a traditional type, the value of redistributive relations is characteristic, when rights and obligations are distributed depending on the social status of a person. At the same time, there is no chance for a person to improve his social status, since it is inherited, as is the choice of activity. For example, the son of a blacksmith will also be a blacksmith. In addition, marriages between people from different social strata of society are strictly prohibited.

Traditional society is characterized by division into communities. For example, it can be a merchant guild, an order of chivalry, or thieves' corporations. A person outside the community is considered an outcast, so expulsion from it has always been one of the worst punishments. Man is born, lives and dies on the same earth.

culture

A traditional society is characterized by a culture built entirely on the observance of legacies that have been laid down over many decades. Traditions are an intangible part of the culture of society, which is passed down from generation to generation. The task of the traditional community is to preserve and honor their own culture.

Religion plays a very important role in this type of society. A person is a servant of God or gods and therefore is obliged to perform certain religious rituals.

Traditional culture tends to develop over many centuries, like Chinese or Indian culture.

Values of traditional society

In this type of state, labor is regarded as a duty. Among the least prestigious and difficult are agriculture, trade and handicrafts. The most respected are the clergy and military affairs.

What values are characteristic of a traditional society?

The distribution of material wealth does not depend on whether a person works for the benefit of the state or the city. It depends on the position of the person. For example, a citizen from a higher class has an order of magnitude more privileges.
The desire to obtain material benefits that are not due to this estate causes misunderstanding among the public.
Traditional social mechanisms are aimed at maintaining stability, not development.
The administration of the state belongs to rich people who do not need to take care of the food of the family, which means they have free time. Whereas people from the lower classes were constantly occupied with the question of how to satisfy basic needs.

The basis of the traditional society is the middle class - people who have private property, but do not seek excessive enrichment.

The division of society into classes

Class division is the basis of traditional society. An estate is a group of people that has certain rights and obligations. Belonging to a particular class is passed down from generation to generation. Among the estates of traditional medieval society, the following can be distinguished:

Noble people, clergy, warriors - the highest class of people. They do not need to work on the land to meet their needs. They have property by birthright, as well as servants.
Independent entrepreneurs - merchants, millers, artisans, blacksmiths. They need to work to maintain their material wealth, but they are not in someone's service.
The serfs are completely subordinate to the master, who regulates their lives. The duties of the peasant have always included cultivating the land, maintaining order on the estates, and fulfilling the instructions of the master. The owner had the opportunity to punish the peasant for wrongdoing and monitor all aspects of his life, down to personal and family relationships.

Such foundations of traditional society have not changed for centuries.

Life in a traditional society

As already noted, each layer of traditional society had its own rights and obligations. Thus, the upper classes had access to any benefits of civilization that society provided. They had the opportunity to show off their wealth through the possession of luxurious housing and clothing. In addition, the nobility often brought gifts to the clergy, the military, donated funds for the needs of the city.

The middle class had a stable income, which was enough for a comfortable life. However, no one had the right and opportunity to boast of wealth. The lower strata of society were forced to be content with only small benefits, which were hardly enough to meet basic needs. At the same time, their rights were often regulated by the upper classes. For example, there could be a ban on the use of any household items for the poor or the consumption of a certain product. Thus, the social gap between the strata of society was emphasized.

Traditional societies of the East

Some signs of the traditional type of society have been preserved in the eastern countries to this day. Despite the industrialization and development of the economies of countries, they retained the following features:

religiosity - most of the states of the East are Muslim, which means that religion plays a very important role both in the life of society and in the life of an individual;
reverence for old traditions is strong in the powers not only of the East, but also in Asia (China, Japan);

the possession of material values depends on class affiliation.

In the modern world, there are practically no traditional societies in the classical sense. States evolve and develop in economic, spiritual, political directions, thereby gradually replacing the values inherent in traditional society.

A person in a traditional community

A traditional society is characterized by the perception of a person as a part of the public, in which everyone has a certain role, personal ties predominate, since family, neighborly, clan relations can be observed within society. This is especially evident in the example of the noble strata of society, where everyone knew everyone personally.

At the same time, everyone has a social role that he adheres to throughout his life. For example, a landowner is a patron, a warrior is a protector, a peasant is a farmer.

In a traditional society, it is impossible to obtain wealth through honest work. Here it is inherited, along with position in society and private property. It is assumed that power gives wealth, and not vice versa.

a brief description of

Traditional society is characterized by the following features:

Dependences of private and social life on the religious ideas of society.
Cyclic development.
The absence of a personal principle, the predominantly collectivist nature of society.
Undeniable recognition of any power, patriarchy.
The predominance of tradition, not innovation.

In traditional society, special attention is paid to the family, as it is aimed at procreation. It is for this reason that traditional society families have many children. In addition, society is characterized by conservatism, which significantly slows down its development.

Introduction.

The relevance of the problem of traditional society is dictated by global changes in the worldview of mankind. Civilization studies today are especially acute and problematic. The world oscillates between prosperity and poverty, the individual and the digital, the infinite and the private. Man is still looking for the real, the lost and the hidden. There is a “tired” generation of meanings, self-isolation and endless waiting: waiting for light from the West, good weather from the South, cheap goods from China and oil profits from the North.

Modern society requires initiative young people who are able to find "themselves" and their place in life, restore Russian spiritual culture, morally stable, socially adapted, capable of self-development and continuous self-improvement. The basic structures of personality are laid in the first years of life. This means that the family has a special responsibility for cultivating such qualities in the younger generation. And this problem becomes especially relevant at this modern stage.

Arising naturally, "evolutionary" human culture includes an important element - the system public relations based on solidarity and mutual assistance. Many studies, and even ordinary experience, show that people became human precisely because they overcame selfishness and showed altruism that goes far beyond short-term rational calculations. And that the main motives for such behavior are irrational and connected with the ideals and movements of the soul - we see this at every step.

The culture of a traditional society is based on the concept of "people" - as a transpersonal community that has historical memory and collective consciousness. An individual person, an element of such - the people and society, is a "cathedral personality", the focus of many human ties. He is always included in solidarity groups (families, village and church communities, labor collectives, even gangs of thieves - acting on the principle "One for all, all for one"). Accordingly, the prevailing attitudes in traditional society are such as service, duty, love, care, and coercion.

There are also acts of exchange, for the most part, which do not have the nature of free and equivalent sale and purchase (exchange of equal values) - the market regulates only a small part of traditional social relations. Therefore, the general, all-encompassing metaphor for social life in a traditional society is the “family”, and not, for example, the “market”. Modern scientists believe that 2/3 of the world's population to a greater or lesser extent has features of traditional societies in their way of life. What are traditional societies, when did they arise and what characterizes their culture?

The purpose of this work is to give general characteristics, to study the development of traditional society.

Based on the goal, the following tasks were set:

Consider different ways of typology of societies;

Describe traditional society;

Give an idea of the development of traditional society;

To identify the problems of the transformation of traditional society.

Typology of societies in modern science.

In modern sociology, there are various ways of typifying societies, and all of them are legitimate from certain points of view.

There are, for example, two main types of society: first, pre-industrial society, or the so-called traditional society, which is based on a peasant community. This type of society still covers most of Africa, a significant part of Latin America, most of the East, and dominated Europe until the 19th century. Secondly, the modern industrial-urban society. The so-called Euro-American society belongs to it; and the rest of the world is gradually catching up to it.

Another division of societies is also possible. Societies can be divided according to political characteristics - into totalitarian and democratic. In the first societies, society itself does not act as an independent subject of public life, but serves the interests of the state. The second societies are characterized by the fact that, on the contrary, the state serves the interests of civil society, the individual and public associations (according to at least, Ideally).

It is possible to distinguish the types of societies according to the dominant religion: Christian society, Islamic, Orthodox, etc. Finally, societies are distinguished by the dominant language: English-speaking, Russian-speaking, French-speaking, etc. It is also possible to distinguish societies along ethnic lines: single-ethnic, binational, multinational.

One of the main types of typology of societies is the formational approach.

According to the formational approach, the most important relations in society are property and class relations. The following types of socio-economic formations can be distinguished: primitive communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist (includes two phases - socialism and communism). None of the above basic theoretical points underlying the theory of formations is now indisputable.

The theory of socio-economic formations is not only based on the theoretical conclusions of the middle of the 19th century, but because of this it cannot explain many of the contradictions that have arisen:

· Existence along with zones of progressive (ascending) development of zones of backwardness, stagnation and dead ends;

· the transformation of the state - in one form or another - into an important factor in social production relations; modification and modification of classes;

· the emergence of a new hierarchy of values with the priority of universal human values over class ones.

The most modern is another division of society, which was put forward by the American sociologist Daniel Bell. He distinguishes three stages in the development of society. The first stage is a pre-industrial, agricultural, conservative society, closed to outside influences, based on natural production. The second stage is an industrial society, which is based on industrial production, developed market relations, democracy and openness.

Finally, in the second half of the twentieth century, the third stage begins - a post-industrial society, which is characterized by the use of the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution; sometimes it is called the information society, because the main thing is no longer the production of a certain material product, but the production and processing of information. An indicator of this stage is the spread of computer technology, the unification of the whole society into a single information system in which ideas and thoughts are freely distributed. Leading in such a society is the requirement to respect the so-called human rights.

From this point of view, different parts of modern humanity are at different stages of development. Until now, maybe half of humanity is in the first stage. And the other part is going through the second stage of development. And only a smaller part - Europe, the USA, Japan - entered the third stage of development. Russia is now in a state of transition from the second stage to the third.

General characteristics of traditional society

Traditional society is a concept that focuses in its content a set of ideas about the pre-industrial stage of human development, characteristic of traditional sociology and cultural studies. There is no single theory of traditional society. Ideas about a traditional society are based, rather, on its understanding as a socio-cultural model that is asymmetric to modern society, than on a generalization of the real facts of the life of peoples who are not engaged in industrial production. Characteristic for the economy of a traditional society is the dominance of subsistence farming. In this case, commodity relations either do not exist at all, or are focused on meeting the needs of a small stratum of the social elite.

The main principle of the organization of social relations is a rigid hierarchical stratification of society, as a rule, manifested in the division into endogamous castes. At the same time, the main form of organization of social relations for the vast majority of the population is a relatively closed, isolated community. The latter circumstance dictated the dominance of collectivist social ideas, focused on strict observance of traditional norms of behavior and excluding individual freedom of the individual, as well as an understanding of its value. Together with caste division, this feature almost completely excludes the possibility of social mobility. Political power is monopolized within a separate group (caste, clan, family) and exists mainly in authoritarian forms.

A characteristic feature of a traditional society is either the complete absence of writing, or its existence in the form of a privilege of certain groups (officials, priests). At the same time, writing quite often develops in a language other than spoken language the vast majority of the population (Latin in medieval Europe, Arabic in the Middle East, Chinese writing in the Far East). Therefore, intergenerational transmission of culture is carried out in a verbal, folklore form, and the main institution of socialization is the family and the community. The consequence of this was the extreme variability of the culture of one and the same ethnic group, manifested in local and dialectal differences.

Traditional societies include ethnic communities, which are characterized by communal settlements, the preservation of blood and family ties, predominantly handicraft and agrarian forms of labor. The emergence of such societies dates back to the earliest stages of human development, to primitive culture. Any society from a primitive community of hunters to the industrial revolution of the late 18th century can be called a traditional society.

A traditional society is a society governed by tradition. The preservation of traditions is a higher value in it than development. The social structure in it is characterized (especially in the countries of the East) by a rigid class hierarchy and the existence of stable social communities, a special way of regulating the life of society based on traditions and customs. This organization of society seeks to preserve the socio-cultural foundations of life unchanged. The traditional society is an agrarian society.

For a traditional society, as a rule, are characterized by:

· traditional economy - an economic system in which the use of natural resources is determined primarily by tradition. Traditional industries predominate - agriculture, resource extraction, trade, construction, non-traditional industries practically do not receive development;

the predominance of the agrarian way of life;

the stability of the structure;

class organization;

· low mobility;

· high mortality;

· high birth rate;

low life expectancy.

A traditional person perceives the world and the established order of life as something inseparably integral, 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 a traditional society, collectivist attitudes prevail, individualism is not welcome (because the freedom of individual actions can lead to a violation of the established order). In general, traditional societies are characterized by the primacy 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, class, clan, etc.) that a person occupies.

In a traditional society, as a rule, relations of redistribution rather than market exchange prevail, and elements of a market economy are tightly regulated. This is due to the fact that free market relations increase social mobility and change social structure societies (in particular, they destroy estates); the system of redistribution can be regulated by tradition, but market prices are not; forced redistribution prevents "unauthorized" enrichment, the impoverishment of both individuals and estates. The pursuit of economic gain in a traditional society is often morally condemned, opposed to selfless help.

In a traditional society, most people live all their lives in a local community (for example, a village), ties with the “big society” are rather weak. At the same time, family ties, on the contrary, are very strong.

The worldview of a traditional society is conditioned by tradition and authority.

Development of traditional society

Economically, the traditional society is based on agriculture. Moreover, such a society can be not only landowning, like the society of ancient Egypt, China or medieval Russia, but also based on cattle breeding, like all the nomadic steppe powers of Eurasia (Turkic and Khazar Khaganates, the empire of Genghis Khan, etc.). And even fishing in the exceptionally rich coastal waters of Southern Peru (in pre-Columbian America).

Characteristic of a pre-industrial traditional society is the dominance of redistributive relations (i.e., distribution in accordance with the social position of each), which can be expressed in the most different forms: centralized state economy of ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia, medieval China; the Russian peasant community, where redistribution is expressed in regular redistribution of land according to the number of eaters, etc. However, one should not think that redistribution is the only possible way of the economic life of a traditional society. It dominates, but the market in one form or another always exists, and in exceptional cases it can even acquire a leading role (the most striking example is the economy of the ancient Mediterranean). But, as a rule, market relations are limited to a narrow range of goods, most often objects of prestige: the medieval European aristocracy, getting everything they needed on their estates, bought mainly jewelry, spices, expensive weapons of thoroughbred horses, etc.

In social terms, traditional society is much more strikingly different from our modern one. most feature of this society is the rigid attachment of each person to the system of redistributive relations, the attachment is purely personal. This is manifested in the inclusion of each in a collective that carries out this redistribution, and in the dependence of each on the “seniors” (by age, origin, social status) who are “at the boiler”. Moreover, the transition from one team to another is extremely difficult, social mobility in this society is very low. At the same time, not only the position of the estate in the social hierarchy is valuable, but also the very fact of belonging to it. Here you can give specific examples - caste and class systems of stratification.

Caste (as in traditional Indian society, for example) is a closed group of people who occupy a strictly defined place in society.

This place is delineated by many factors or signs, the main of which are:

traditionally inherited profession, occupation;

endogamy, i.e. the obligation to marry only within one's own caste;

Ritual purity (after contact with the "lower" it is necessary to undergo a whole purification procedure).

The estate is a social group with hereditary rights and obligations, enshrined in customs and laws. feudal society medieval Europe, in particular, was divided into three main classes: the clergy (symbol - a book), chivalry (symbol - a sword) and the peasantry (symbol - a plow). in Russia before the revolution of 1917. there were six classes. These are nobles, clergy, merchants, petty bourgeois, peasants, Cossacks.

The regulation of estate life was extremely strict, down to minor circumstances and minor details. So, according to the "Charter to the Cities" of 1785, Russian merchants of the first guild could travel around the city in a carriage drawn by a pair of horses, and merchants of the second guild could only travel in a carriage with a pair. The class division of society, as well as the caste one, was consecrated and fixed by religion: everyone has his own destiny, his own destiny, his own corner on this earth. Stay where God placed you, exaltation is a manifestation of pride, one of the seven (according to medieval classification) deadly sins.

Another important criterion of social division can be called a community in the broadest sense of the word. This refers not only to a neighboring peasant community, but also to a craft workshop, a merchant guild in Europe or a merchant union in the East, a monastic or knightly order, a Russian cenobitic monastery, thieves' or beggarly corporations. The Hellenic polis can be viewed not so much as a city-state, but as a civil community. A person outside the community is an outcast, outcast, suspicious, an enemy. Therefore, expulsion from the community was one of the most terrible punishments in any of the agrarian societies. A person was born, lived and died tied to the place of residence, occupation, environment, exactly repeating the lifestyle of his ancestors and being absolutely sure that his children and grandchildren would follow the same path.

Relationships and bonds between people in traditional society were permeated through and through with personal loyalty and dependence, which is understandable. At that level of technological development, only direct contacts, personal involvement, individual involvement could ensure the movement of knowledge, skills, abilities from teacher to student, from master to journeyman. This movement, we note, had the form of transferring secrets, secrets, recipes. Thus, a certain social problem was also solved. Thus, the oath, which in the Middle Ages symbolically and ritually sealed relations between vassals and seigneurs, in its own way equalized the parties involved, giving their relationship a shade of simple patronage of a father to his son.

The political structure of the vast majority of pre-industrial societies is determined in more tradition and custom rather than written law. Power could be justified by the origin, the scale of controlled distribution (land, food, and finally, water in the East) and supported by divine sanction (this is why the role of sacralization, and often direct deification of the figure of the ruler, is so high).

Most often, the state system of society was, of course, monarchical. And even in the republics of antiquity and the Middle Ages, real power, as a rule, belonged to representatives of a few noble families and was based on these principles. As a rule, traditional societies are characterized by the merging of the phenomena of power and property, with the determining role of power, that is, having more power, and had real control over a significant part of the property that was in the aggregate disposal of society. For a typical pre-industrial society (with rare exceptions), power is property.

The cultural life of traditional societies was decisively influenced precisely by the justification of power by tradition and the conditionality of all social relations by class, communal and power structures. Traditional society is characterized by what could be called gerontocracy: the older, the smarter, the older, the more perfect, the deeper, the true.

Traditional society is holistic. It is built or organized as a rigid whole. And not just as a whole, but as a clearly prevailing, dominant whole.

The collective is a socio-ontological, not a value-normative reality. It becomes the latter when it begins to be understood and accepted as a common good. Being also holistic in its essence, the common good hierarchically completes the value system of a traditional society. Along with other values, it ensures the unity of a person with other people, gives meaning to his individual existence, guarantees a certain psychological comfort.

In antiquity, the common good was identified with the needs and development trends of the policy. A polis is a city or society-state. Man and citizen in it coincided. The polis horizon of ancient man was both political and ethical. Outside of its borders, nothing interesting was expected - only barbarism. The Greek, a citizen of the polis, perceived the state goals as his own, saw his own good in the good of the state. With the policy, its existence, he linked his hopes for justice, freedom, peace and happiness.

In the Middle Ages, God was the common and highest good. He is the source of everything good, valuable and worthy in this world. Man himself was created in his image and likeness. From God and all power on earth. God is the ultimate goal of all human aspirations. The highest good that a sinful person is capable of is love for God, service to Christ. Christian love is a special love: God-fearing, suffering, ascetic-humble. In her self-forgetfulness there is a lot of contempt for herself, for worldly joys and comforts, achievements and successes. In itself, the earthly life of a person in its religious interpretation is devoid of any value and purpose.

In pre-revolutionary Russia, with its community-collective way of life, the common good took on the form of a Russian idea. Its most popular formula included three values: Orthodoxy, autocracy and nationality. The historical existence of a traditional society is slow. The boundaries between the historical stages of "traditional" development are barely distinguishable, there are no sharp shifts and radical shocks.

The productive forces of traditional society developed slowly, in the rhythm of cumulative evolutionism. What economists call pent-up demand, that is, was missing. the ability to produce not for the sake of immediate needs, but for the sake of the future. Traditional society took from nature exactly as much as needed, and nothing more. Its economy could be called environmentally friendly.

Transformation of traditional society

The traditional society is extremely stable. As the well-known demographer and sociologist Anatoly Vishnevsky writes, “everything is interconnected in it and it is very difficult to remove or change any one element.”

In ancient times, changes in traditional society took place extremely slowly - over generations, almost imperceptibly for an individual. Periods of accelerated development also took place in traditional societies (a striking example is the changes in the territory of Eurasia in the 1st millennium BC), but even during such periods, changes were carried out slowly by modern standards, and upon their completion, the society returned to a relatively static state. with a predominance of cyclical dynamics.

At the same time, since ancient times, there have been societies that cannot be called completely traditional. The departure from the traditional society was associated, as a rule, with the development of trade. This category includes Greek city-states, medieval self-governing trading cities, England and Holland of the 16th-17th centuries. Standing apart is Ancient Rome (until the 3rd century AD) with its civil society.

The rapid and irreversible transformation of traditional society began to occur only from the 18th century as a result of the industrial revolution. To date, this process has captured almost the entire world.

Rapid changes and departure from traditions can be experienced by a traditional person as a collapse of landmarks and values, a loss of the meaning of life, etc. Since adaptation to new conditions and a change in the nature of activity is not included in the strategy of a traditional person, the transformation of society often leads to the marginalization of part of the population.

The most painful transformation of a traditional society occurs when the dismantled traditions have a religious justification. At the same time, resistance to change can take the form of religious fundamentalism.

During the period of transformation of a traditional society, authoritarianism may increase in it (either in order to preserve traditions, or in order to overcome resistance to change).

The transformation of traditional society ends with a demographic transition. The generation that grew up in small families has a psychology that differs from that of a traditional person.

Opinions on the need to transform traditional society differ significantly. For example, the philosopher A. Dugin considers it necessary to abandon the principles of modern society and return to the "golden age" of traditionalism. Sociologist and demographer A. Vishnevsky argues that the traditional society "has no chance", although it "fiercely resists." According to the calculations of the academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Professor A. Nazaretyan, in order to completely abandon development and return society to a static state, the human population must be reduced by several hundred times.

CONCLUSION

Based on the work carried out, the following conclusions were drawn.

Traditional societies are characterized by the following features:

· Predominantly agrarian mode of production, understanding of land ownership not as property, but as land use. The type of relationship between society and nature is built not on the principle of victory over it, but on the idea of merging with it;

· The basis of the economic system is community-state forms of ownership with a weak development of the institution of private property. Preservation of the communal way of life and communal land use;

· Patronage system of distribution of the product of labor in the community (redistribution of land, mutual assistance in the form of gifts, marriage gifts, etc., regulation of consumption);

· The level of social mobility is low, the boundaries between social communities (castes, estates) are stable. Ethnic, clan, caste differentiation of societies, in contrast to late industrial societies with class division;

・Save to Everyday life combinations of polytheistic and monotheistic ideas, the role of ancestors, orientation to the past;

· The main regulator of public life is tradition, custom, adherence to the norms of life of previous generations.

The huge role of ritual, etiquette. Of course, the "traditional society" significantly limits scientific and technological progress, has a pronounced tendency to stagnation, and does not consider the autonomous development of a free person as the most important value. But Western civilization, having achieved impressive successes, is currently facing a number of very difficult problems: ideas about the possibilities of unlimited industrial and scientific and technological growth turned out to be untenable; the balance of nature and society is disturbed; the pace of technological progress is unsustainable and threatens a global environmental catastrophe. Many scientists draw attention to the merits of traditional thinking with its emphasis on adaptation to nature, the perception of the human person as part of a natural and social whole.

Only the traditional way of life can be opposed to aggressive influence modern culture and a civilizational model exported from the West. For Russia, there is no other way out of the crisis in the spiritual and moral sphere, except for the revival of the original Russian civilization on traditional values. national culture. And this is possible if the spiritual, moral and intellectual potential of the bearer of Russian culture, the Russian people, is restored.

A traditional society is a society governed by tradition. The preservation of traditions is a higher value in it than development. The social structure 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 socio-cultural foundations of life unchanged. The traditional society is an agrarian society.

general characteristics

For a traditional society, as a rule, are characterized by:

traditional economy

the predominance of the agrarian way;

structure stability;

estate organization;

low mobility;

high mortality;

low life expectancy.

In a traditional society, collectivist attitudes prevail, individualism is not welcome (since the freedom of individual actions can lead to a violation of the established order, time-tested). In general, traditional societies are characterized by the predominance of collective interests over private ones. It is not so much individual capacity that is valued, but the place in the hierarchy (bureaucratic, class, clan, etc.) that a person occupies.

In a traditional society, as a rule, relations of redistribution rather than market exchange prevail, and 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 estates); the system of redistribution can be regulated by tradition, but market prices are not; forced redistribution prevents "unauthorized" enrichment / impoverishment of both individuals and estates. The pursuit of economic gain in a traditional society is often morally condemned, opposed to selfless help.

For culture primitive society it was characteristic that human activity associated with gathering, hunting, was woven into natural processes, a person does not distinguish himself from nature, and therefore no spiritual production existed. Cultural and creative processes were organically woven into the processes of obtaining means of subsistence. Related to this is the peculiarity of this culture - primitive syncretism, i.e., its indivisibility into separate forms. The complete dependence of man on nature, extremely meager knowledge, fear of the unknown - all this inevitably led to the fact that the consciousness of primitive man from his first steps was not strictly logical, but emotionally associative, fantastic.

In the field of social relations, the tribal system dominates. Exogamy played a special role in the development of primitive culture. The ban on sexual intercourse between members of the same clan contributed to the physical survival of mankind, as well as cultural interaction between clans. Inter-clan relations are regulated according to the principle of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth", while within the clan the principle of taboo prevails - a system of prohibitions on the commission of a certain kind of action, the violation of which is punished by supernatural forces.

The universal form of the spiritual life of primitive people is mythology, and the first pre-religious beliefs existed in the form of animism, totemism, fetishism and magic. Primitive art is distinguished by the facelessness of the human image, the allocation of special distinctive generic features (signs, decorations, etc.), as well as parts of the body important for the continuation of life. Along with the increasing complexity of production

activities, the development of agriculture, animal husbandry in the process of the "Neolithic revolution" the stocks of knowledge are growing, experience is accumulating,

form different ideas about the surrounding reality,

the arts are improved. Primitive Forms of Beliefs

are replaced by various kinds of cults: the cult of leaders, ancestors, etc.

The development of productive forces leads to the appearance of a surplus product, which is concentrated in the hands of priests, leaders, and elders. Thus, the "top" and slaves are formed, private property appears, the state is formalized.

Instruction

The vital activity of a traditional society is based on subsistence (agriculture) with the use of extensive technologies, as well as primitive crafts. Such a social structure is typical for the period of antiquity and the Middle Ages. It is believed that any that existed in the period from the primitive community until the beginning of the industrial revolution belongs to the traditional species.

During this period, hand tools were used. Their improvement and modernization took place at an extremely slow, almost imperceptible rate of natural evolution. The economic system was based on the use of natural resources, it was dominated by mining, trade, construction. The people were mostly sedentary.

The social system of a traditional society is class-corporate. It is characterized by stability, preserved for centuries. There are several different estates that do not change over time, maintaining the same nature of life and static. In many traditional societies, commodity relations are either not characteristic at all, or are so poorly developed that they are focused only on meeting the needs of small members of the social elite.

Traditional society has the following features. It is characterized by the total dominance of religion in the spiritual sphere. Human life considered to be the work of God's providence. The most important quality of a member of such a society is the spirit of collectivism, a sense of belonging to one's family and class, as well as a close connection with the land where he was born. Individualism is not characteristic of people in this period. Spiritual life for them was more significant than material wealth.

The rules of coexistence with neighbors, life in, attitude to were determined by established traditions. The man has already acquired his status. The social structure was interpreted only from the point of view of religion, and therefore the role of the government in society was explained to the people as a divine destiny. The head of state enjoyed unquestioned authority and played an important role in the life of society.

The traditional society is demographically characterized by a high birth rate, a high mortality rate and a fairly low life expectancy. Examples of this type today are the ways of many countries of Northeast and North Africa (Algeria, Ethiopia), Southeast Asia (in particular, Vietnam). In Russia, a society of this type existed until the middle of the 19th century. Despite this, by the beginning of the new century, it was one of the most influential and largest countries in the world, possessing the status of a great power.

The main spiritual values that distinguish the traditional society are the culture and customs of the ancestors. Cultural life was mainly focused on the past: respect for one's ancestors, admiration for the works and monuments of previous eras. Culture is characterized by homogeneity (homogeneity), orientation to its own traditions and a rather categorical rejection of the cultures of other peoples.

According to many researchers, traditional society is characterized by a lack of choice in spiritual and cultural terms. The dominant worldview in such a society and stable traditions provide a person with a ready-made and clear system of spiritual guidelines and values. Therefore, the world around us seems understandable to a person, not causing unnecessary questions.