Traditional society - sociological concept

Exploring different shapes human activity determines that some of them are defined as the most significant and basic for characterizing different types of society. Quite often such a fundamental concept is social production. Since the 19th century, many philosophers and then sociologists have put forward the idea that various types of these activities determine ideology, mass psychology and social institutions.

If, according to Marx, such a basis is production relations, then supporters of the theories of industrial and post-industrial society considered productive forces to be a more fundamental concept. However, they called traditional society the first stage of social development.

What does it mean?

Not in the specialized literature precise definition this concept. It is known that for convenience this was used to designate the stage that precedes the industrial society that began to develop in the 19th century, and the post-industrial one in which we live now. What type of society is this? Traditional society is a certain type of relationship between people, which has a weak or undeveloped statehood, or is even characterized by the absence of the latter. This term is also used to describe

tics of rural, agrarian structures that are in a situation of isolation or stagnation. The economy of such societies is described as extensive, completely dependent on the vagaries of nature and based on cattle breeding and cultivation of the land.

Traditional society - signs

First of all, this is the almost complete absence of industry, stable ties between various sectors, a patriarchal culture based on the predominance of religious dogmas and traditions, as well as established values. One of the main cementing aspects of such a society is the dictate of collective aspirations over individual ones, a rigid hierarchical structure, as well as the immutability of a way of life, elevated to an absolute. It is governed by unwritten laws, for violation of which very severe punishments are imposed, and the most powerful lever for regulating the behavior of its members is family connections and customs.

Traditional society and historians

This theory did not gain popularity among historians, who reproached sociologists that such social structure was a “figment of the scientific imagination” or existed in marginal systems such as the Aboriginal tribes of Australia or provincial villages in African or Middle Eastern states. Sociologists represent traditional society as a certain stage in the development of humanity, which dominated until the 19th century. However, neither Ancient Egypt or China, nor ancient Rome and Greece, nor medieval Europe or Byzantium can be imagined as fully meeting this definition. Moreover, many of the features of an industrial or even post-industrial society, such as written law, the primacy of relationships between people over man-nature relationships, a complex management system and social structures were present in early period time. How can this be explained? The fact is that the concept of traditional society is used by sociologists for convenience in order to be able to characterize the changes that occurred during the industrial era.

In the worldview of humanity. On at this stage development, society is heterogeneous; rich and poor, highly educated and those without primary education, believers and atheists are forced to coexist in it. Modern society needs individuals who are socially adapted, morally stable and have a desire for self-improvement. It is these qualities that are formed in early age in family. Traditional society best meets the criteria for nurturing acceptable qualities in a person.

The concept of traditional society

Traditional society is predominantly rural, agrarian and pre-industrial association large groups of people. In the leading sociological typology “tradition - modernity” it is the main opposite of industrial. By traditional type societies developed in ancient and medieval eras. On modern stage examples of such societies are clearly preserved in Africa and Asia.

Signs of a traditional society

The distinctive features of traditional society are manifested in all spheres of life: spiritual, political, economic, economic.

The community is the basic social unit. It is a closed association of people united according to tribal or local principles. In the “man-land” relationship, it is the community that acts as a mediator. Its typology is different: feudal, peasant, urban. The type of community determines a person’s position in it.

A characteristic feature of traditional society is agricultural cooperation, which consists of clan (kinship) ties. Relations are based on collective labor activity, the use of land, and systematic redistribution of land. Such a society is always characterized by weak dynamics.

Traditional society is, first of all, a closed association of people, which is self-sufficient and does not allow external influence. Traditions and laws determine it political life. In turn, society and the state suppress the individual.

Features of the economic structure

Traditional society is characterized by the predominance of extensive technologies and the use of hand tools, the dominance of corporate, communal, and state forms of ownership, while private property still remains inviolable. The standard of living of most of the population is low. In work and production, a person is forced to adapt to external factors Thus, society and the characteristics of the organization of labor activity depend on natural conditions.

Traditional society is a confrontation between nature and man.

The economic structure becomes completely dependent on natural and climatic factors. The basis of such an economy is cattle breeding and agriculture, the results collective work distributed taking into account the position of each member in the social hierarchy. Except Agriculture, people in traditional society engage in primitive crafts.

Social relations and hierarchy

The values ​​of a traditional society lie in honoring the older generation, old people, observing the customs of the family, unwritten and written norms and accepted rules of behavior. Conflicts that arise in teams are resolved with the intervention and participation of the elder (leader).

In a traditional society, the social structure implies class privileges and a rigid hierarchy. At the same time, social mobility is practically absent. For example, in India, transitions from one caste to another with an increase in status are strictly prohibited. The main social units of society were the community and the family. First of all, a person was part of a collective that was part of a traditional society. Signs indicating inappropriate behavior of each individual were discussed and regulated by a system of norms and principles. The concept of individuality and following the interests of an individual are absent in such a structure.

Social relations in traditional society are built on subordination. Everyone is included in it and feels part of the whole. The birth of a person, the creation of a family, and death occur in one place and surrounded by people. Labor activity and way of life are built, passed on from generation to generation. Leaving the community is always difficult and difficult, sometimes even tragic.

Traditional society is an association based on common features a collective of people in which individuality is not a value, the ideal scenario of fate is fulfillment social roles. Here it is forbidden not to live up to the role, otherwise the person becomes an outcast.

Social status influences the position of the individual, the degree of closeness to the community leader, priest, and chief. The influence of the head of the clan (elder) is unquestionable, even if individual qualities are called into question.

Political structure

The main wealth of a traditional society is power, which was valued higher than law or right. The army and the church play a leading role. The form of government in the state in the era of traditional societies was predominantly monarchy. In most countries, representative bodies of government did not have independent political significance.

Since the greatest value is power, it does not need justification, but passes to the next leader by inheritance, its source is God's will. Power in a traditional society is despotic and concentrated in the hands of one person.

The spiritual sphere of traditional society

Traditions are the spiritual basis of society. Sacred and religious-mythical ideas dominate both individual and public consciousness. Religion has a significant influence on the spiritual sphere of traditional society; the culture is homogeneous. Oral method exchange of information prevails over writing. Spreading rumors is part of the social norm. The number of people with education is, as a rule, always small.

Customs and traditions also determine the spiritual life of people in a community that is characterized by deep religiosity. Religious tenets are also reflected in culture.

Hierarchy of values

The set of cultural values, revered unconditionally, also characterizes traditional society. The signs of a value-oriented society can be general or class-specific. Culture is determined by the mentality of society. Values ​​have a strict hierarchy. The highest, without a doubt, is God. The desire for God shapes and determines the motives of human behavior. He is the ideal embodiment of good behavior, supreme justice and the source of virtue. Another value can be called asceticism, which implies the renunciation of earthly goods in the name of acquiring heavenly ones.

Loyalty is the next principle of behavior expressed in serving God.

In a traditional society, second-order values ​​are also distinguished, for example, idleness - refusal of physical labor in general or only on certain days.

It should be noted that they all have a sacred character. Class values ​​can be idleness, militancy, honor, personal independence, which was acceptable for representatives of the noble strata of traditional society.

The relationship between modern and traditional societies

Traditional and modern society are closely interconnected. It was as a result of the evolution of the first type of society that humanity entered the innovative path of development. Modern society is characterized by a fairly rapid change in technology and continuous modernization. Cultural reality is also subject to change, which leads to new life paths for subsequent generations. Modern society is characterized by a transition from state form ownership to private, as well as disregard for individual interests. Some features of traditional society are also inherent in modern society. But, from the point of view of Eurocentrism, it is backward due to its closeness to external relations and innovation, the primitive, long-term nature of changes.

a non-industrial, predominantly rural society, which appears static and antithetical to modern, changing industrial society. The concept has been widely used in social sciences, but in the last few decades has come to be considered highly controversial and shunned by many social scientists. See Agrarian civilization

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

TRADITIONAL SOCIETY

pre-industrial society, primitive 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. Unified theory T.O. does not exist. Ideas about T.O. are based, rather, on its understanding as a sociocultural model that is asymmetrical to modern society, rather than on generalization real facts life of peoples not engaged in industrial production. Characteristic of the economy T.O. the dominance of subsistence farming is considered. In this case, commodity relations are either absent altogether or are focused on meeting the needs of a small layer of the social elite. The basic principle of the organization of social relations is the 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 dictates the dominance of collectivist social ideas, focused on strict adherence to traditional norms of behavior and excluding individual freedom, 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 primarily in authoritarian forms. Characteristic feature THAT. it is considered 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 different from the spoken language of the vast majority of the population (Latin in medieval Europe, Arabic in the Middle East, Chinese writing in Far East). Therefore, intergenerational transmission of culture is carried out in verbal, folklore form, and the main institution of socialization is the family and community. The consequence of this was extreme variability in the culture of the same ethnic group, manifested in local and dialect differences. Unlike traditional sociology, modern socio-cultural anthropology does not operate with the concept of T.O. From her point of view, this concept does not reflect real story pre-industrial stage of human development, but characterizes only it final stage. Thus, sociocultural differences between peoples who are at the stage of development of an “appropriating” economy (hunting and gathering) and those who have gone through the stage of the “Neolithic revolution” can be no less or even more significant than between “pre-industrial” and “industrial” societies . It is characteristic that in modern theory nation (E. Gelner, B. Anderson, K. Deutsch) to characterize the pre-industrial stage of development, terminology that is more adequate than the concept of “TO” is used - “agrarian”, “agrarian-literate society”, etc.

Introduction

The relevance of the research topic is due to the fact that for several years now the question has been raised about what approach to analysis social phenomena one must choose: formational or civilizational. It is necessary to analyze this approach in the study of traditional society and the state, to identify all the pros and cons of the civilizational approach.

The theoretical development of the topic is enshrined in the works of many scientists, such as A. Toynbee, O. Spengler, P. A. Sorokin, G. Jellinek, W. Rostow.

This approach was studied by such scientists as V.S. Stepin, V.P Karyakov, A. Panarin.

Traditional society in the civilizational approach is studied by D. Bell, O. Toffler, Z. Brzezinski.

Relevance and theoretical elaboration make it possible to highlight the object of research and the subject.

The object is the initial stage of the civilization process (pre-industrial (agrarian)), considering which we will come to a more detailed knowledge of the subject of research.

Subject: Traditional society and the agrarian state in the civilizational approach of the typology of states.

Object and subject allow you to outline goals and objectives.

The purpose of the study is to examine in detail the development of traditional society and the agrarian state within the framework of this approach.

Research objectives:

1. Traditional society and the agrarian state;

2. Study of the problem of the civilizational approach in the typology of states

The solution to the assigned tasks is planned to be carried out using the following methods: analysis, method of systematization of the historical base.

Structure course work is determined by the goals and objectives of this study and includes the following parts: introduction, two main parts and conclusion, a list of sources and literature used. The introduction determines the relevance of the topic, theoretical development, the object and subject of the study are determined, goals and objectives are set, methods are indicated.

traditional society civilizational state

Development and formation of traditional society

Traditional society is a society that is regulated by tradition. Preservation of traditions is a higher value in it than development. Social contribution in it is characterized by a rigid class hierarchy, the existence of stable social communities(especially in Eastern countries), a special way of regulating the life of society, based on traditions and customs. This organization of society strives to preserve the socio-cultural foundations of life unchanged. Traditional society is an agrarian society.

A traditional society is usually characterized by:

1. Traditional economics

2. The predominance of the agricultural structure;

3. Structure stability;

4. Estate organization;

5. Low mobility;

6. High mortality rate;

7. Low life expectancy.

A traditional person perceives the world and the established order of life as something inextricably integral, holistic, sacred and not subject to change. A person’s place in society and his status are determined by tradition (usually by birthright).

In a traditional society, collectivist attitudes predominate, individualism is not encouraged (since freedom of individual action 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, including the primacy of the interests of existing hierarchical structures (state, clan, etc.). What is valued is not so much individual capacity as the place in the hierarchy (official, class, clan, etc.) that a person occupies.

One of those who studied traditional society is the American economist and political thinker Walt Whitman Rostow. In his works “Stages of Economic Growth” and “Politics and Stages of Growth” he describes traditional society as one of the stages of development of socio-economic trends. In this case, the level of development of productive forces is taken as a basis. For a “traditional society,” W. Rostow believed, it is characteristic that over 75% of the working population is engaged in food production. National income is used mainly unproductively. This society is structured hierarchically, political power belongs to landowners or the central government Rostow W. The Stage of Economic Growth. A Non-communicative Manifesto. Cambridge, 196O. See also: Rostow W. The Process of Economic Growth. 2 ed. Oxford, 1960. P. 307-331.

In a traditional society, as a rule, relations of redistribution rather than market exchange predominate, but elements market economy are strictly 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 class); the redistribution system can be regulated by tradition, but market prices cannot; forced redistribution prevents “unauthorized” enrichment/impoverishment of both individuals and classes. The pursuit of economic gain in traditional society is often morally condemned and opposed to selfless help.

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

The worldview (ideology) of a traditional society is determined by tradition and authority.

Traditional society is relatively stable, industrial society is constantly enlivened by change. This does not mean, as some journalists write, that history is accelerating. Everything is going as it should be, it’s just that industrial society is created for change and can change while remaining itself; traditional society is changing relatively slowly, but very deeply.

Traditional society, as a rule, is small in number and located in a relatively limited area. The expression mass society emphasizes the gigantic size of industrial society, contrasting it with the relatively small size of traditional society. This leads to specialization and diversity, which are more characteristic of social units (groups and individuals) within a social society.

There are many traditional societies and they are all different; they say that they have one thing in common - that they are not modern. Modern societies are the same in their basic structures and manifestations.

The concept of traditional society covers a huge historical era - from (conditionally) a patriarchal-tribal society with a dominant mythological consciousness to (also conditionally) the end of the feudal period, which was characterized by the dominance of a natural economy, the division of society into classes with their privileges, with fairly strict, including legal, interclass partitions, monarchical hereditary power.

A traditional society is characterized by a slow growth of the means of production, which gives rise to the idea of ​​the limited benefits of life available to society (the stereotype of a constant pie) and the possibilities of nature as a source of benefits. Therefore, an important concern for society is to comply with the usual measure of distribution of available means of subsistence.

Production in a traditional society is focused on direct consumption.

In a traditional society, kinship is the main form of social organization, in modern society it ceased to be such, and the family not only separated from the kinship system, but also became isolated from it. Most contemporaries do not know their distant relatives, say, second cousins, by name. Close relatives also gather less often than before. Most often, the reason for their meeting is anniversaries and holidays.

In a traditional society, an individual cannot change the position given to him at birth.

Pre-industrial sociality is based on interpersonal relationships. In the scientific literature, when applied to non-market relations, it is customary to use different terms: communocratic, communalist, solidarist, collectivist, associative relations. Each of them is justified to a certain extent, although it implies a specific version of such relationships or some aspect of them. The definition of these relations as communal or traditional turns out to be too vague or partial and does not reflect the essence of the situation.

Egalitarianism in traditional societies coexisted in a complex interweaving with the principles of hierarchism, clearly fixed in consciousness. The degree and nature of hierarchism changed dramatically depending on the level of social differentiation. Rank, caste, estate divisions, formalized external signs and norms of behavior, became in the consciousness the embodiment of the internal value of individuals. Such a system develops not only obedience, but also admiration, servility, flattery towards superiors and attitudes towards dominance and contempt towards inferiors. Domination and subordination are perceived as components of in-group solidarity, within which big man(a good monarch, landowner, leader, official) provides obligatory patronage, and the little man repays him with obedience.

Distribution in a traditional society is closely related to the egalitarianism and hierarchism of traditional society and consciousness.

Wealth in a traditional society is also closely related to the system of interpersonal relationships and is necessary to maintain it. As mentioned above, material well-being served to confirm social status and the implementation of the responsibilities accompanying it.

Wealth in traditional societies is not associated with work and economic entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship, too, as a rule, is not associated with economic activity. The traditional nobility, possessing great wealth, considers farming an unworthy occupation, incompatible with its status, and disdains entrepreneurial pursuits. The peasantry and artisans in a traditional economy are not able to produce so much in order to get rich and increase their business activity, and they do not set such a goal for themselves. This does not mean that in traditional societies there is no thirst for wealth and profit and enterprise at all - they exist always and everywhere, but in traditional societies every passion for profit, every thirst for money strives for its satisfaction outside the process of production of goods, transport of goods and even more part and trade in goods. People run to the mines, dig treasures, practice alchemy and all sorts of magic in order to get money, because it cannot be obtained within the framework of ordinary farming. Aristotle, who most deeply understood the essence of the pre-capitalist economy, therefore quite correctly considers the making of money beyond natural need not belonging to economic activity

Trade in traditional societies has a different meaning than in modern capitalist societies. First of all, goods are not simply exchange values, and the buyer and seller are impersonal participants in the exchange. Goods are use values, bearing the sign of those social relations that in pre-bourgeois societies are associated with the consumption of material goods, and these relations, symbolic and prestigious, primarily determine prices.

Exchange in traditional societies extends beyond just goods. The most important element of traditional interpersonal relationships is service.

If in traditional society social control was based on unwritten rules, then in modern society it is based on written norms: instructions, decrees, regulations, laws.

Thus, traditional societies are often the most stable until changes occur. But as soon as norms and values ​​begin to be questioned, people experience a sharp devaluation of their aspirations. Some scientists call this situation a revolution of rising expectations. It is known, for example, that revolutions arise not where people are poor, but where living conditions improve. The thing is that, in parallel with the improvement of living conditions, the desires and needs of people are significantly expanding. Revolutions and other uprisings are most likely when periods of improvement in living conditions are interrupted and a gap is created between the increase in needs and the decline in opportunities for their implementation.

Let us recall that traditional societies are characterized not only by zero economic growth and a desire for a kind of egalitarianism, but also by a rigid religious (or specific) so-called village system of values, morals, and customs that serve as the basis for a sense of national community. The highest values ​​within the traditional model are stability and order, as well as the immutability of moral values ​​passed on from generation to generation. Significant characteristics also include closedness social structure, stability of customs and traditions.

The most important characteristic of the economy of traditional societies is that consumption, both physically necessary and prestigious, is determined by social status. At the same time, status in a traditional society is also a vital need of the individual, and the level of consumption is designed to demonstrate it.

The value of labor within traditional societies is ambiguous. The reason for this is the existence of two subcultures (ruling and producing classes) and certain religious and ethical traditions. But in general, forced physical labor has a low social status. Changes in the value of work are associated with the spread of Christianity. Medieval theologians already saw work as a necessary activity, since it contributed to a righteous lifestyle. Labor is recognized as worthy of praise as mortification of the flesh, atonement for sin, but it should not be accompanied even by the thought of acquisition or enrichment. For Saint Benedict, work is an instrument of salvation, since it allows one to help others (monastic almsgiving) and because, by occupying the body and mind, it drives away sinful temptations. Work is also valuable for the Jesuits, for whom working well is the mission that the Lord entrusted to us on Earth, a way to participate in the divine creation of the world. A person is obliged to work, and the purpose of work is to satisfy needs, eliminate idleness and do charity.

In a patriarchal system (traditional society), almost all norms of economic behavior, down to the quantitative parameters of production and distribution of specific goods, are almost unchanged. They are formed and exist literally as an integral part of the economic entity itself.

That is why the bazaar in traditional societies is not just a place of trade. First of all, it is a place of communication where not only transactions are concluded, but also interpersonal relationships are established.

The purpose of economic activity in traditional societies is not only to provide oneself with the necessary products, but also (at least at the level of normative ethics) moral improvement; the purpose of distribution is to maintain a stable social (divine) order. The same goal is achieved by exchange and consumption, which are largely of a status nature. It is not surprising that enterprise and economic activity are not values ​​for this culture, since they undermine the order established by God, violate the foundations of order and justice http://www.ai08.org/index (Electronic resource). Large technical dictionary..

As we understand, traditional society is an agrarian society that is formed in agrarian-type states.

Moreover, such a society can be not only land-owning, like the society of ancient Egypt, China or medieval Rus', 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 when fishing in the exceptionally fish-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 ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia, medieval China; Russian peasant community, where redistribution is expressed in regular redistribution of land according to the number of eaters, etc.

IN modern world types of agrarian states are still preserved. The pre-industrial type of social organization dominates today in most African countries, a number of countries Latin America and South Asia.

In the next chapter we will look at agrarian society in the civilizational approach of the typology of states. The significance of the agricultural state in this approach.

1. Despotism and tyranny

2. The Church pays significant attention to the life of society

3. High status of values, traditions and customs

4. The rise of folk culture

5. Agriculture

6. Manual labor

7. Factor of production - land

8. Non-economic forms of forced labor

9. Collectivism prevailed (influence of society, man is a social being)

10. Low social mobility

An example of a traditional society can be examples from history: for example, history Ancient Egypt, Rome, Kievan Rus etc. . But even in the modern world you can find countries with some principles of traditional society, for example, Saudi Arabia-a state with an absolute monarchy, division into classes and low social mobility(practically impossible). The country in North Africa (Algeria) cultivates mainly grains, grapes, vegetables, and fruits. A country in northeast Africa (Ethiopia), which has a share of GDP (%): industry - 12, agriculture - 54. The main branch of agriculture is crop production.

Principles of industrial society:

1. development of democratic values

2. Factor of production - capital

3. industrialization

4. Transformation of science into a separate productive force

5. application of science in production

6. Changing society's relationship with nature

7. growth of the working class

8. Various forms of public

9. High social mobility

10. Urbanization

11. Mass culture

Industrial society - the leading factor of production is capital, so England of the 19th century can serve as an example. it was in it that this type of society first developed, and in the twentieth century, in its second half, almost all European countries(including Russia) entered this stage of social development.

In Russia, the formation of an industrial society began in the second half of the 19th century, when industry was rapidly developing in the country and urbanization was taking place. It was necessary to carry out Industrialization (together with collectivization) as quickly as possible, and literally forcefully introduce Soviet society into the industrial era. And yet, industrial society finally emerged only in the 60s and 70s. And already in the 80s of the twentieth century, when a teacher in a city school class asked: “Whose parents work at the factory?” then 70% (or even more) raised their hands. And even kindergartens and hospitals were factory ones, and, therefore, people of creative and intellectual professions also served mainly the industrial sphere.