The theory of stages of economic growth is the concept of W. Rostow, according to which history is divided into five stages:

1- "traditional society" - all societies before capitalism, characterized by a low level of labor productivity, dominance in the agricultural economy;

2- "transitional society", coinciding with the transition to pre-monopoly capitalism;

3- "shift period", characterized by industrial revolutions and the beginning of industrialization;

4- "period of maturity", characterized by the completion of industrialization and the emergence of highly industrialized countries;

5- "an era of high-level mass consumption."

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:

the traditional economy

the predominance of the agrarian way of life;

the stability of the structure;

estate organization;

· low mobility;

· high mortality;

· high birth rate;

low life expectancy.

The traditional person perceives the world and the established order of life as something inseparably 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 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 that ensures the survival of society as a whole and is time-tested). 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, estate, 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 classes. 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 (ideology) of a traditional society is conditioned by tradition and authority.

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.”

An industrial society is a type of economically developed society in which the predominant sector of the national economy is industry.

An industrial society is characterized by the development of the division of labor, mass production of goods, mechanization and automation of production, the development of mass media, the service sector, high mobility and urbanization, and the growing role of the state in regulating the socio-economic sphere.

· Approval of the industrial technological structure as dominant in all social spheres (from economic to cultural)

Change in the proportions of employment by industry: a significant reduction in the share of people employed in agriculture (up to 3-5%) and an increase in the share of people employed in industry (up to 50-60%) and the service sector (up to 40-45%)

Intensive urbanization

Emergence of the nation-state, organized on the basis of a common language and culture

· Educational (cultural) revolution. The transition to universal literacy and the formation of national education systems

· Political revolution leading to the establishment of political rights and freedoms (ex. all suffrage)

Growth in the level of consumption ("revolution of consumption", formation of the "welfare state")

Changing the structure of working and free time (the formation of a "consumer society")

· Changes in the demographic type of development (low birth rate, low mortality, increased life expectancy, aging of the population, i.e., an increase in the proportion of older age groups).

Post-industrial society - a society in which the service sector has a priority development and prevails over the volume of industrial production and agricultural production. In the social structure of the post-industrial society, the number of people employed in the service sector increases and new elites are formed: technocrats, scientist.

This concept was first proposed by D. Bell in 1962. It recorded the entry in the late 50s and early 60s. developed Western countries, which have exhausted the potential of industrial production, into a qualitatively new stage of development.

It is characterized by a decrease in the share and importance of industrial production due to the growth of the service and information sectors. The production of services becomes the main area of ​​economic activity. Thus, in the United States, about 90% of the employed population now works in the field of information and services. Based on these changes, there is a rethinking of all the basic characteristics of an industrial society, a fundamental change in theoretical guidelines.

The first "phenomenon" of such a person is considered the youth riot of the late 60s, which meant the end of the Protestant work ethic as the moral basis of Western industrial civilization. Economic growth ceases to act as the main, much less the only guideline, goal of social development. The emphasis is shifting to social and humanitarian problems. The priority issues are the quality and safety of life, self-realization of the individual. New criteria for well-being and social well-being are being formed. A post-industrial society is also defined as a "post-class" society, reflecting the disintegration of the stable social structures and identities characteristic of an industrial society. If before the status of an individual in society was determined by his place in the economic structure, i.e. class belonging to which all other social characteristics were subordinated, now the status characteristic of an individual is determined by many factors, among which an increasing role is played by education, the level of culture (what P. Bourdieu called "cultural capital"). On this basis, D. Bell and a number of other Western sociologists put forward the idea of ​​a new "service" class. Its essence lies in the fact that in a post-industrial society, not the economic and political elite, but the intellectuals and professionals who make up the new class, have power. In reality, there was no fundamental change in the distribution of economic and political power. Claims about the "death of the class" also seem clearly exaggerated and premature. However, significant changes in the structure of society, associated primarily with a change in the role of knowledge and its carriers in society, are undoubtedly taking place (see information society). Thus, we can agree with D. Bell's statement that "the changes that are fixed by the term post-industrial society may mean the historical metamorphosis of Western society."

Information society - a society in which the majority of workers are engaged in the production, storage, processing and sale of information, especially its highest form - knowledge.

Scientists believe that in the information society, the process of computerization will give people access to reliable sources of information, save them from routine work, and provide a high level of automation of information processing in the industrial and social spheres. The driving force behind the development of society should be the production of information, not a material product. The material product will become more information-intensive, which means an increase in the share of innovation, design and marketing in its value.

In the information society, not only production will change, but the whole way of life, the system of values, the importance of cultural leisure in relation to material values ​​will increase. Compared to an industrial society, where everything is directed to the production and consumption of goods, in the information society, intellect and knowledge are produced and consumed, which leads to an increase in the share of mental labor. The ability to be creative will be required from a person, the demand for knowledge will increase.

The material and technological base of the information society will be various kinds of systems based on computer technology and computer networks, information technology, and telecommunications.

SIGNS OF THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

· Society's awareness of the priority of information over another product of human activity.

· The fundamental basis of all areas of human activity (economic, industrial, political, educational, scientific, creative, cultural, etc.) is information.

· Information is a product of modern man's activity.

· Information in its pure form (in itself) is the subject of purchase and sale.

· Equal opportunities in access to information for all segments of the population.

· Security of the information society, information.

· Protection of intellectual property.

· Interaction of all structures of the state and the states among themselves on the basis of ICT.

· Management of the information society by the state, public organizations.

typology society post-industrial

This stage is also called traditional or agrarian. It is dominated by extractive economic activities - agriculture, fishing, mining. The vast majority of the population (about 90%) is employed in agriculture. The main task of the agrarian society was the production of food, just to feed the population. This is the longest of the three stages and has a history of thousands of years. In our time, most countries in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia are still at this stage of development. In a pre-industrial society, the main producer is not man, but nature. This stage is also characterized by rigidly authoritarian power and land ownership as the basis of the economy.

industrial society

In an industrial society, all forces are directed to industrial production in order to produce the goods necessary for society. The industrial revolution has borne fruit - now the main task of the agrarian and industrial society, which is simply to feed the population and provide them with basic livelihoods, has faded into the background. Only 5-10% of the population employed in agriculture produced enough food to feed the entire society.

post-industrial society

The transition to a new type of society - post-industrial - takes place in the last third of the 20th century. Society is already provided with food and goods, and various services are coming to the fore, mainly related to the accumulation and dissemination of knowledge. And as a result of the scientific and technological revolution, science turned into a direct productive force, which became the main factor in the development of society and its self-preservation.

Along with this, a person has more free time, and, consequently, opportunities for creativity, self-realization. At this time, technical developments are becoming more science-intensive, theoretical knowledge is of the greatest importance. The dissemination of this knowledge is ensured by a super-developed network of communications.

Social development can be reformist or revolutionary. Reform (from fr. reforme, lat. reformare - to transform). Revolution (from lat. revolutio - turn, coup). Social development: - this is any degree of improvement in any area of ​​public life, carried out simultaneously, through a series of gradual transformations that do not affect the fundamental foundations (systems, phenomena, structures); - this is a radical, qualitative change in all or most aspects of social life, affecting the foundations of the existing social system.

Types: 1) Progressive (for example, the reforms of the 60-70s of the XIX century in Russia - the Great reforms of Alexander II); 2) Regressive (reactionary) (for example, the reforms of the second half of the 80s - early 90s of the XIX century in Russia - "Counter-reforms" of Alexander III); 3) Short-term (for example, the February Revolution of 1917 in Russia); 4) Long-term (for example, the Neolithic revolution - 3 thousand years; the industrial revolution of the XVIII-XIX centuries). Reforms can take place in all spheres of public life: - economic reforms - transformation of the economic mechanism: forms, methods, levers and organization of the country's economic management (privatization, bankruptcy law, antimonopoly laws, etc.); - social reforms - transformations, changes, reorganization of any aspects of social life that do not destroy the foundations of the social system (these reforms are directly related to people); - political reforms - changes in the political sphere of public life (changes in the constitution, the electoral system, the expansion of civil rights, etc.). The degree of reformist transformations can be very significant, up to changes in the social system or the type of economic system: the reforms of Peter I, the reforms in Russia in the early 90s. 20th century In modern conditions, two ways of social development - reform and revolution - are opposed to the practice of permanent reform in a self-regulating society. It should be recognized that both reform and revolution “cure” an already neglected disease, while constant and possibly early prevention is necessary. Therefore, in modern social science, the emphasis is shifted from the "reform - revolution" dilemma to "reform - innovation".

Under the innovation (from the English innovation - innovation, innovation, innovation) is understood as an ordinary, one-time improvement associated with an increase in the adaptive capabilities of the social organism in these conditions. In modern sociology, social development is associated with the process of modernization. Modernization (from French moderniser - modern) is the process of transition from a traditional, agrarian society to modern, industrial societies.

Classical theories of modernization described the so-called "primary" modernization, which historically coincided with the development of Western capitalism. Later theories of modernization characterize it through the concepts of "secondary" or "catch-up" modernization. It is carried out in the conditions of the existence of a “model”, for example, in the form of a Western European liberal model, often such modernization is understood as Westernization, that is, the process of direct borrowing or planting.

In essence, this modernization is a global process of displacement of local, local types of cultures and social organization by "universal" (Western) forms of modernity.

There are several classifications (typologies) of society:

• 1) pre-written and written;
• 2) simple and complex (the criterion in this typology is the number of levels of management of a society, as well as the degree of its differentiation: in simple societies there are no leaders and subordinates, rich and poor, in complex societies there are several levels of management and several social strata of the population located from top to bottom as income decreases);
• 3) primitive society, slave-owning society, feudal society, capitalist society, communist society (a formational sign acts as a criterion in this typology);
• 4) developed, developing, backward (the criterion in this typology is the level of development);
• 5) compare the following types of society (traditional (pre-industrial) - a, industrial - b, post-industrial (information) - c) along the following lines of comparison: - the main factor of production - a) land; b) capital; c) knowledge; - the main product of production - a) food; b) industrial products; c) services; - characteristic features of production - a) manual labor; b) wide application of mechanisms, technologies; c) automation of production, computerization of society; - the nature of labor - a) individual labor; b) preferential standard activity; c) a sharp increase in creativity in labor; - employment of the population - a) agriculture - about 75%; b) agriculture - about 10%, industry - 85%; c) agriculture - up to 3%, industry - about 33%, services - about 66%; - the main type of export - a) raw materials; b) products of production; c) services; - social structure - a) estates, classes, the inclusion of everyone in the team, the isolation of social structures, low social mobility; b) class division, simplification of the social structure, mobility and openness of social structures; c) the preservation of social differentiation, the growth of the middle class, professional differentiation depending on the level of knowledge and qualifications; - life expectancy - a) 40-50 years; b) over 70 years; c) over 70 years old; - human impact on nature - a) local, uncontrolled; b) global, uncontrolled; c) global, controlled; - interaction with other countries - a) insignificant; b) close relationship; c) openness of society; - political life - a) the predominance of monarchical forms of government; no political freedoms; power is above the law, it does not need justification; a combination of self-governing communities and traditional empires; b) the proclamation of political freedoms, equality before the law, democratic reforms; power is not perceived as a given, it is required to justify the right to leadership; c) political pluralism, strong civil society; the emergence of a new form of democracy, "consensus democracy"; - spiritual life - a) traditional religious values ​​dominate; homogeneous character of culture; oral transmission of information prevails; a small number of educated people; the fight against illiteracy; b) new values ​​of progress, personal success, faith in science are affirmed; mass culture emerges and occupies a leading position; training of specialists; c) the special role of science and education; development of individualized consciousness; continuous education. Formational and civilizational approaches to the study of society The most common approaches in Russian historical and philosophical science to the analysis of social development are formational and civilizational.

The first of them belongs to the Marxist school of social science, the founders of which were the German economists, sociologists and philosophers K. Marx (1818-1883) and F. Engels (1820-1895). The key concept of this school of social science is the category of "socio-economic formation".

In the modern world, there are various types of societies that differ from each other in many ways, both explicit (language of communication, culture, geographical location, size, etc.) and hidden (degree of social integration, level of stability, etc.). Scientific classification involves the selection of the most significant, 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 diversity 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, K. Marx proposed a typology of societies, which was based on the method of production of material goods and production relations - primarily 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 be easily interchanged. Such are the primitive tribes, in some places preserved to this day.

A complex society is a society with highly differentiated structures and functions that are interconnected and interdependent on 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 of social control and freedom of the individual. A closed society is characterized by a static social structure, limited mobility, resistance to innovation, traditionalism, dogmatic authoritarian ideology, and collectivism. K. Popper attributed Sparta, Prussia, Tsarist Russia, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union of the Stalin era to this type of society. An open society is characterized by a dynamic social structure, high mobility, ability to innovate, criticism, individualism and democratic pluralistic ideology. K. Popper considered ancient Athens and modern Western democracies to be examples of open societies.

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, is stable and widespread.

Traditional (pre-industrial) society - a society with an agrarian way of life, with a predominance of subsistence farming, a 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 minimal level. It is extremely inertial, therefore it is not very susceptible 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. Performing their integrative function, culture and social institutions suppress any manifestation of individual freedom, which is a necessary condition for the gradual renewal of society.

The term industrial society was introduced by A. Saint-Simon, emphasizing its new technical basis. Industrial society - (in modern sounding) is a complex society, with an industrial-based way of managing, with flexible, dynamic and modifiable 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, the development of mass media, urbanization, etc.

Post-industrial society (sometimes called informational) - a society developed on an information basis: extraction (in traditional societies) and processing (in industrial societies) of natural products are replaced by the acquisition and processing of information, as well as predominant development (instead of agriculture in traditional societies and industry in industrial) service sectors. As a result, the structure of employment and the ratio of various professional and qualification groups are also 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 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 (“granular”) social structure, a functional (“ready-made”) social structure is being formed. Instead of leading the principle of governance, coordination is becoming, 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 contradictory possibilities, on the one hand, ensuring a higher level of individual freedom in the information society, and on the other hand, the emergence of new, more hidden and therefore more dangerous forms of social control over it.

In conclusion, it should be noted that, in addition to those considered, there are other classifications of societies in modern sociology. It all depends on what criterion will be the basis of this classification.

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 characteristics and features.

The difference lies in the attitude towards a person, ways of organizing economic activity. The transition from the traditional to the industrial and post-industrial (information) society is extremely difficult.

Traditional

The presented type of social system was formed first. In this case, the regulation of relationships between people is based on tradition. An agrarian society, or traditional, differs from industrial and post-industrial ones primarily by low mobility in the social sphere. In such a 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 a low level of development. The basis of the future role of a person is, first of all, 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 provoke 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 maintaining the life of the community. Freedom of choice in this case can lead to a change in formation or cause the destruction of the entire structure. Economic relations between people are strictly regulated. Under normal market relations, there is an increase in citizens, that is, processes that are undesirable for the entire traditional society are initiated.

Basis of the economy

The economy of this type of formation is agrarian. That is, the land is the basis of wealth. The more allotments an individual owns, the higher his social status. The tools 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 commodity and a measure of the value of other items are absent in principle.

There is no industrial production as such. With the development, handicraft production of the necessary tools and other household items arises. This process is long, since most citizens living in a traditional society prefer to produce everything themselves. Subsistence farming predominates.

Demography and life

In an agrarian system, most people live in local communities. At the same time, the change of place of business is extremely slow and painful. It is also important to take into account the fact that at a new place of residence, problems often arise with the allocation of a land allotment. Own plot with the opportunity to grow different crops is the basis of life in a traditional society. Food is also obtained through cattle breeding, gathering and hunting.

In a traditional society, the birth rate is high. 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. Average life expectancy is low.

Life is organized according to the foundations. It is also not subject to any changes. At the same time, the life of all members of society depends on religion. All canons and foundations in the community are regulated by faith. Changes and an attempt to escape from habitual existence are suppressed by religious dogmas.

Change of formation

The transition from a traditional society to an industrial and post-industrial one is only possible with a sharp development of technology. This became possible in the 17th and 18th centuries. In many ways, the development of progress was due to the plague epidemic that swept Europe. A sharp decline in population provoked the development of technology, the emergence of mechanized tools of production.

industrial formation

Sociologists associate the transition from the traditional type of society to industrial and post-industrial ones with a change in the economic component of the way of life of people. The growth of production capacities has led to urbanization, that is, the outflow of part of the population from the countryside to the 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 higher. The use of new (at that time) technologies is typical not only for industry, but also for agriculture. The total share of employment in the agricultural sector does not exceed 10%.

Entrepreneurial activity becomes the main factor of development in an industrial society. Therefore, the position of the individual is determined by his skills and abilities, the desire for development and education. The origin also remains important, but gradually its influence decreases.

Form of government

Gradually, with the growth of production and the increase of capital in an industrial society, a conflict is brewing between a generation of entrepreneurs and representatives of the old aristocracy. In many countries this process has culminated in a change in the very structure of the state. Typical examples include the French Revolution or the emergence of a constitutional monarchy in England. After these changes, the archaic aristocracy lost its former opportunities to influence the life of the state (although in general they continued to listen to their opinion).

Economics of an 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 tools of labor. Resources are often developed to the detriment of the environment, the state of the environment is deteriorating.

At the same time, production is growing at an accelerated pace. The quality of the staff comes first. Manual labor also persists, but to minimize costs, industrialists and entrepreneurs are beginning to invest in technology development.

A characteristic feature of the industrial formation is the fusion of banking and industrial capital. In an agrarian society, especially in its early stages of development, usury was persecuted. With the development of progress, interest on loans became the basis for the development of the economy.

post-industrial

Post-industrial society began to take shape in the middle of the last century. The countries of Western Europe, the USA and Japan became the locomotive of development. 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 locomotive of further development was the formation of a consumer society. The increase in the share of quality services and goods has led to the development of technology, increased investment in science.

The concept of a post-industrial society was formed by a lecturer at Harvard University. After his work, some sociologists also brought out the concept of the information society, although in many ways these concepts are synonymous.

Opinions

There are two opinions in the theory of the emergence of a post-industrial society. From a classical point of view, the transition was made possible by:

1. Production automation.
2. The need for a high educational level of staff.
3. Increasing demand for quality services.
4. Increasing the incomes of the majority of the population of developed countries.

Marxists put forward their own theory on this matter. According to it, the transition to a post-industrial (information) society from industrial and traditional became possible due to the global division of labor. There was a concentration of industries in different regions of the planet, as a result of which the qualifications of service personnel increased.

Deindustrialization

The information society has given rise to another socio-economic process: deindustrialization. In developed countries, the share of workers involved in industry is declining. At the same time, the influence of direct production on the economy of the state also falls. According to statistics, from 1970 to 2015, the share of industry in the US 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 the countries, accelerated the pace of transition from the agrarian (traditional) and industrial types of society to the post-industrial one.

Risks

The 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 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, which are more characteristic of the industrial social formation.

Demographic skew is also causing concern among experts. Three stages of the development of society (traditional, industrial and post-industrial) have different attitudes towards the family and fertility. For an agrarian formation, a large family is the basis of survival. Approximately the same opinion exists in industrial society. The transition to a new formation was marked by a sharp decline in the birth rate and the aging of the population. Therefore, countries with an information economy are actively attracting qualified, educated young people from other regions of the planet, thereby increasing the development gap.

Experts are also concerned about the decline in the growth rates of post-industrial society. The traditional (agrarian) and industrial sectors still have room to develop, increase production and change the format of the economy. The information formation is the crown of the process of evolution. New technologies are being developed all the time, but breakthrough solutions (for example, the transition to nuclear energy, space exploration) appear less and less often. Therefore, sociologists predict an increase in crisis phenomena.

Coexistence

Now there is a paradoxical situation: industrial, post-industrial and traditional societies coexist quite peacefully in different regions of the planet. An agrarian formation with an appropriate way of life is more typical for some countries in Africa and Asia. Industrial with gradual evolutionary processes towards information is observed in Eastern Europe and the CIS.

Industrial, post-industrial and traditional society are different primarily in relation to the human personality. In the first two cases, development is based on individualism, while in the second, collective principles predominate. Any manifestation of willfulness and an attempt to stand out are condemned.

Social elevators

Social lifts characterize the mobility of the population within society. In traditional, industrial and post-industrial formations they are expressed differently. For an agrarian society, only the displacement of an entire stratum of the population is possible, for example, through a revolt or revolution. In other cases, mobility is possible even for one individual. The final position depends on the knowledge, acquired skills and activity of a person.

In fact, the differences between traditional, industrial and post-industrial types of society are enormous. Sociologists and philosophers study their formation and stages of development.

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 of government: monarchy, tyranny, aristocracy, oligarchy, democracy. In modern versions of this approach, there is a distinction totalitarian(the state determines all the main directions of social life); democratic(population can influence government structures) and authoritarian(combining elements of totalitarianism and democracy) societies.

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

Traditional, industrial and post-industrial societies

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

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

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

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

These include industrial and post-industrial societies.

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

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

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

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

• 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 the simple to the 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 sought to find the "original cell" of the social as such, and for this purpose he was looking for the "simplest", most elementary society, the simplest form of 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).

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

Typologies of the Society of Contemporary Sociology

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

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

industrial society - a society characterized by high industrial development and rapid economic growth. Economic development 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 factories. 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, “environmental 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 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 a 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-materialistic” 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.