Comparative analysis of traditional industrial and post-industrial society. pre-industrial society. Traditional, industrial and post-industrial society
25. Main types of societies: traditional, industrial, post-industrial. Formational and civilizational approaches to the development of society.
The most stable in modern sociology is considered a typology based on the allocation of traditional, industrial and post-industrial societies.
A 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 and community will be the most important. Attempts of any social transformations, innovations are rejected. It is characterized by low rates of development and production. Important for this type of society is a well-established social solidarity, which was established by Durkheim, studying the society of the Australian Aborigines.
A traditional society is characterized by a natural division and specialization of labor (mainly by gender and age), personalization of interpersonal communication (directly by individuals, and not by officials or status persons), informal regulation of interactions (by the norms of the unwritten laws of religion and morality), connectedness of members by kinship relations (family type of organization). community), a primitive system of community management (hereditary power, the rule of elders).
Modern societies are distinguished by the following features: 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 special relationship allowing to ensure social control, inequality, protection of its members, distribution of benefits, production, communication).
These include industrial and post-industrial societies.
An industrial society is a type of organization of social life that 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, developed communication system.
In the 1960s the concepts of a post-industrial (information) society appear (D. Bell, A. Touraine, J. 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 increased social control by the state, the ruling elite through access to information and electronic media and communication over people and society as a whole.
The life world of human society is increasingly subject to the logic of efficiency and instrumentalism. culture, including traditional values, is destroyed under the influence of administrative control, gravitating towards standardization and unification 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 information society that began to take shape. The emergence of such a phenomenon is by no means accidental. The basis of social dynamics in information society are not traditional material resources, which are also largely exhausted, but informational (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. In the world, two main directions for assessing the future development of human society have been formed: eco-pessimism and techno-optimism. Ecopessimism predicts a total global catastrophe in 2030 due to increasing environmental pollution; destruction of the Earth's biosphere. Techno-optimism paints a more rosy picture, assuming that scientific and technological progress will cope with all the difficulties in the development of society.
typology society post-industrial
This stage is also called traditional or agrarian. Prey species dominate here. economic activity- farming, fishing, mining. The vast majority of the population (about 90%) is employed in agriculture. The main task of the agrarian society was the production food products just to feed the population. This is the longest of three stages and its history goes back thousands of years. In our time, most of the countries of Africa are still at this stage of development, Latin America and South-East Asia. 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 an agrarian and industrial society, consisting in simply feeding the population and providing them with basic means of subsistence, 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 and more science-intensive, theoretical knowledge is acquiring highest value. 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: is any degree of improvement in any area 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” Alexander III); 3) Short-term (for example, February Revolution 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 public life that do not destroy the foundations social system(these reforms are directly related to people); -- political reforms-- changes in the political sphere of public life (changes in the constitution, electoral system, extension civil rights etc.). The degree of reformist transformations can be very significant, up to changes in the social system or type of economic system: Reforms of Peter I "reforms in Russia in the early 90s. 20th century In today's world, there are two ways community 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 fact this modernization represents a worldwide 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 societies (traditional (pre-industrial) - a, industrial - b, post-industrial (information) - c) according to 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 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; small amount educated people; fight against illiteracy; b) new values of progress, personal success, faith in science are affirmed; emerges and takes the lead Mass culture; training of specialists; c) the special role of science and education; development of individualized consciousness; continuing education. Formational and civilizational approaches to the study of society The most common in Russian historical and philosophical science approaches 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".
Society is a complex natural-historical structure, the elements of which are people. Their connections and relationships are determined by a certain social status, the functions and roles they perform, the norms and values generally accepted in a given system, as well as their individual qualities. Society is usually divided into three types: traditional, industrial and post-industrial. Each of them has its own distinctive features and functions.
This article will consider a traditional society (definition, characteristics, foundations, examples, etc.).
What it is?
To a modern man of the industrial age, new to history and social sciences, it may not be clear what a "traditional society" is. The definition of this concept will be discussed below.
Operates on the basis of traditional values. Often it is perceived as tribal, primitive and backward feudal. It is a society with an agrarian structure, with sedentary structures and with methods of social and cultural regulation based on traditions. It is believed that most of its history, mankind was at this stage.
traditional society, the definition of which is considered in this article, is a set of groups of people who are at different stages of development and do not have a mature industrial complex. The determining factor in the development of such social units is agriculture.
Characteristics of a traditional society
Traditional society is characterized by the following features:
1. Low production rates that meet the needs of people at a minimum level.
2. Large energy intensity.
3. Non-acceptance of innovations.
4. Strict regulation and control of people's behavior, social structures, institutions, customs.
5. As a rule, in a traditional society, any manifestation of individual freedom is prohibited.
6. Social education, consecrated by tradition, are considered unshakable - even the thought of their possible changes is perceived as criminal.
The traditional society is considered agrarian, as it is based on agriculture. Its functioning depends on growing crops with a plow and draft animals. Thus, the same plot of land could be cultivated several times, resulting in permanent settlements.
The traditional society is also characterized by the predominant use of manual labor, the extensive absence of market forms of trade (the predominance of exchange and redistribution). This led to the enrichment of individuals or classes.
Forms of ownership in such structures, as a rule, are collective. Any manifestations of individualism are not perceived and denied by society, and are also considered dangerous, as they violate the established order and traditional balance. There are no impetuses to the development of science and culture, so extensive technologies are used in all areas.
Political structure
The political sphere in such a society is characterized by authoritarian power, which is inherited. This is explained by the fact that only in this way can traditions be maintained for a long time. The system of government in such a society was quite primitive (the hereditary power was in the hands of the elders). The people had virtually no influence on politics.
Often the idea is divine origin the person who held the power. In this regard, politics is in fact completely subordinated to religion and is carried out only according to sacred prescriptions. The combination of secular and spiritual power made possible the ever greater subordination of people to the state. This, in turn, strengthened the stability of the traditional type of society.
social relations
In the sphere of social relations, the following features of a traditional society can be distinguished:
1. Patriarchal device.
2. main goal The functioning of such a society is to maintain human life and avoid its extinction as a species.
3. Low level
4. Traditional society is characterized by division into estates. Each of them played a different social role.
5. Evaluation of personality in terms of the place that people occupy in hierarchical structure.
6. A person does not feel like an individual, he considers only his belonging to a certain group or community.
spiritual realm
In the spiritual sphere, traditional society is characterized by deep religiosity and moral attitudes instilled from childhood. Certain rituals and dogmas were an integral part of human life. Writing in traditional society as such did not exist. That is why all legends and traditions were transmitted orally.
Relationship with nature and the environment
The influence of traditional society on nature was primitive and insignificant. This was explained low-waste production represented by cattle breeding and agriculture. Also, in some societies, there were certain religious rules that condemned the pollution of nature.
In relation to the outside world, it was closed. The traditional society by all means protected itself from intrusions from the outside and any external influence. As a result, man perceived life as static and unchanging. Qualitative changes in such societies took place very slowly, and revolutionary changes were perceived extremely painfully.
Traditional and industrial society: differences
Industrial society arose in the 18th century, as a result primarily in England and France.
Some of its distinguishing features should be highlighted.
1. Creation of a large machine production.
2. Standardization of parts and assemblies of different mechanisms. This made mass production possible.
3. Another important distinguishing feature is urbanization (the growth of cities and the resettlement of a significant part of the population on their territory).
4. Division of labor and its specialization.
Traditional and industrial society have significant differences. The first is characterized by a natural division of labor. Traditional values and patriarchal structure prevail here, there is no mass production.
It should also be highlighted post-industrial society. The traditional, in contrast, aims at prey natural resources rather than collecting and storing information.
Examples of Traditional Society: China
Vivid examples of a traditional type of society can be found in the East in the Middle Ages and modern times. Among them, India, China, Japan, the Ottoman Empire should be singled out.
Since ancient times, China has been distinguished by its strong state power. By the nature of evolution, this society is cyclical. China is characterized by a constant alternation of several eras (development, crisis, social explosion). It should also be noted the unity of the spiritual and religious authorities in this country. According to tradition, the emperor received the so-called "Mandate of Heaven" - divine permission to rule.
Japan
The development of Japan in the Middle Ages and in also allows us to say that there was a traditional society, the definition of which is considered in this article. The entire population of the Land of the Rising Sun was divided into 4 estates. The first is the samurai, daimyo and shogun (personified the highest secular power). They occupied a privileged position and had the right to bear arms. The second estate - the peasants who owned the land as a hereditary holding. The third is artisans and the fourth is merchants. It should be noted that trading in Japan was considered an unworthy business. It is also worth highlighting the strict regulation of each of the estates.
Unlike other traditional Eastern countries, in Japan there was no unity of the supreme secular and spiritual power. The first was personified by the shogun. Most of the land and great power were in his hands. Japan also had an emperor (tenno). He was the personification of spiritual power.
India
Vivid examples of a traditional type of society can be found in India throughout the history of the country. The Mughal Empire, located on the Hindustan Peninsula, was based on a military fief and caste system. The supreme ruler - the padishah - was the main owner of all the land in the state. Indian society was strictly divided into castes, whose life was strictly regulated by laws and sacred regulations.
56. Traditional society and the problem of modernization. Industrial and post-industrial society. Information society.
A traditional society is usually understood as one where the main regulators of life and behavior are traditions and customs that remain stable and unchanged throughout the life of one generation of people. Traditional culture offers people within it a certain set of values, socially approved behaviors and explanatory myths that organize the world around them. It fills the human world with meaning and represents the “tamed”, “civilized” part of the world.
The communicative space of a traditional society is reproduced by the direct participants in the events, but it is much wider, since it includes and is determined by the previous experience of adapting the collective or community to the landscape, environment, and, more broadly, to the surrounding circumstances. The communicative space of a traditional society is total, since it completely subjugates a person's life and within its framework a person has a relatively small repertoire of possibilities. It is fastened with historical memory. In the pre-literate period, the role of historical memory is decisive. Myths, tales, legends, fairy tales are transmitted exclusively from memory, directly from person to person, from mouth to mouth. A person is personally involved in the process of broadcasting cultural values. It is historical memory that preserves the social experience of a collective or group and reproduces it in time and space. It performs the function of protecting a person from external influences.
The explanatory models offered by the main religions turn out to be effective enough to keep tens and even hundreds of millions of people all over the world in their communicative space. Religious communications can interact. If this symbiosis is long-standing, then the degree of penetration of one or another religion into traditional culture can be quite significant. Although some traditional cultures are more tolerant and allow, for example, the Japanese traditional culture, to visit temples of different religions for their adherents, they are usually still clearly closed to a particular religion. Confessional communications can even supplant earlier ones, but more often a symbiosis occurs: they penetrate each other and are significantly intertwined. Major religions incorporate many of the earlier beliefs, including mythological subjects and their heroes. That is, in reality, one becomes part of the other. It is the confession that sets the main theme for religious communicative flows - salvation, the achievement of merging with God, etc. Thus, confessional communications play an important therapeutic role, helping people to more easily endure difficulties and hardships.
In addition, confessional communications have a significant, sometimes decisive, impact on the picture of the world of a person who is or was under their influence. The language of religious communication is the language of social power that stands above a person, determines the features of the worldview and requires him to obey the canons. So, the features of Orthodoxy, according to I.G. Yakovenko, left a serious imprint on the mentality of the adherents of this direction in the form of a cultural code of traditional domestic culture. The cultural code, in his opinion, contains eight elements: orientation towards syncresis or the ideal of syncresis, a special cognitive construct "due"/"existent", eschatological complex, Manichaean intention, world-reflecting or gnostic attitude, "split of cultural consciousness", sacral status power, extensive dominant. “All these moments do not exist in isolation, are not side by side, but are presented in a single whole. They support each other, intertwine, complement each other and that is why they are so stable.
Over time, communications lost their sacred character. With the change in the social structure of society, communications appeared that were not aimed at preserving the clan or the primary group. These communications were aimed at integrating many primary groups into a single whole. This is how communications that have external sources appeared and became stronger. They needed a unifying idea - heroes, common gods, states. More precisely, the new centers of power needed unifying communications. It could be confessional communications that held people together with symbols of faith. And there could be power communications, where the main method of consolidation was, in one form or another, coercion.
Big city how the phenomenon appears in modern times. This is due to the intensification of life and activities of people. A big city is a receptacle for people who got into it from different places, different origin who do not always want to live in it. The rhythm of life is gradually accelerating, the degree of individualization of people is increasing. Communications are changing. They become mediated. The direct transmission of historical memory is interrupted. Intermediaries, communication professionals that have appeared: teachers, cultists, journalists, etc. based on different versions of what happened. These versions can be both the result of independent reflection, and the result of the order of certain interest groups.
Modern researchers distinguish several types of memory: mimetic (associated with activity), historical, social or cultural. It is memory that is the element that holds together and creates continuity in the transfer of ethno-social experience from older to younger generations. Of course, memory does not preserve all the events that happened to representatives of this or that ethnic group during the period of its existence, it is selective. It preserves the most important, key of them, but keeps them in a transformed, mythologized form. “A social group, established as a community of remembrance, guards its past from two main points of view: originality and longevity. Creating her own image, she emphasizes differences with the outside world and, on the contrary, downplays internal differences. In addition, she develops "a consciousness of her identity carried through time", therefore "the facts stored in memory are usually selected and arranged in such a way as to emphasize correspondence, similarity, continuity"
If traditional communications contributed to the achievement of the necessary cohesion of the group and maintained the balance of “I” - “We” identity necessary for its survival, then modern communications, being mediated, have, in many respects, a different goal. This is the actualization of the broadcast material and the formation of public opinion. Currently, traditional culture is being destroyed due to the displacement of traditional communications and their replacement with professionally built communications, the imposition of certain interpretations of past and present events with the help of modern media and mass media.
When throwing a portion of new pseudo-actual information into the space of mass communication, which is already oversaturated in terms of information, many effects are achieved at once. Chief among them is the following: mass man, without making efforts, without resorting to actions, gets tired quickly enough, receiving a concentrated portion of impressions and he, as a result of this, as a rule, does not have a desire to change anything in his life and in his environment. He, with the skillful presentation of the material, has confidence in what he sees on the screen and in the broadcast authorities. But there is no need to see here necessarily someone's conspiracy - there is no less order coming from consumers, and the organization of modern media and the situation in a significant part of cases is such that it is profitable to carry out such operations. Ratings depend on this, and hence the income of the owners of the relevant media and mass media. Viewers are already accustomed to consume information, looking for the most sensational and entertaining. With its excess, with the illusion of participation in the process of its joint consumption, the average mass person practically does not have time for reflection. A person drawn into such consumption is forced to constantly be in a kind of information kaleidoscope. As a result, he has less time for really necessary actions and, in a significant part of cases, especially in relation to young people, the skills to carry them out are lost.
By influencing memory in this way, power structures can achieve the actualization of the necessary interpretation of the past at the right time. This allows it to extinguish negative energy, dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs in the direction of its internal or external opponents, who in this case already become enemies. This mechanism turns out to be very convenient for the authorities, as it allows them to deflect a blow from themselves at the right moment, divert attention in a situation that is unfavorable for themselves. The mobilization of the population carried out in this way makes it possible for the authorities to rectify public opinion in the direction you need, to defame enemies and create favorable conditions for conducting further activities. Without such a policy, holding power becomes problematic.
In a situation of modernization, risks, both social and technological, increase significantly. According to I. Yakovenko, “in a modernizing society, the nature of the city “takes its toll”. The dynamic dominant generated by the city contributes to the blurring of the cosmos of due. A person, getting used to innovations, “does not notice the subtle transformation of his own consciousness, which, along with new skills, masters cultural meanings, attitudes and attitudes. Along with the disintegration of traditional culture, the degree of individualization gradually increases, i.e. separation of "I" from the collective "We". The established, seemingly forever communicative and economic practices are changing.
Intergenerational exchange is curtailed. Old people cease to enjoy authority. Society is changing drastically. The main channels for the transfer of knowledge and traditions are the media and media, libraries, and universities. “Traditions are mainly used by those generational forces that seek to preserve the existing order and the stability of their community, society as a whole, to resist destructive external influences. However, here too, maintaining continuity is of great importance - in symbolism, historical memory, in myths and legends, texts and images dating back to the distant or recent past.
Thus, even rapidly occurring modernization processes still retain elements of the usual traditional culture in one form or another. Without this, the structures and people at the forefront of change are unlikely to have the necessary legitimacy to stay in power. Experience shows that modernization processes will be the more successful, the more the advocates of change manage to achieve a balance between the old and the new, between elements of traditional culture and innovation.
Industrial and post-industrial society
Industrial society - a type of economically developed society in which the predominant industry 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.
1. Approval of the industrial technological order as dominant in all social spheres (from economic to cultural)
2. 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%)
3. Intensive urbanization
4. Emergence of the nation-state, organized on the basis of a common language and culture
5. Educational (cultural) revolution. The transition to universal literacy and the formation of national education systems
6. Political revolution leading to the establishment of political rights and freedoms (ex. all suffrage)
7. Growth in the level of consumption ("revolution of consumption", formation of the "welfare state")
8. Changing the structure of working and free time (the formation of a "consumer society")
9. Change in the demographic type of development (low birth rate, mortality, increase in 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.
Thus, a post-industrial society is defined as a "post economic", "post labor" society, i.e. a society in which the economic subsystem loses its defining significance, and labor ceases to be the basis of all social relations. A person in a post-industrial society is no longer considered as an "economic person" par excellence.
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 moral basis 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, which reflects 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 intellectuals and professionals who make up new class, belongs to the power. In fact, a fundamental change in the distribution of economic and political power Did not happen. 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 concept that actually replaced at the end of the 20th century. interesting radio-controlled helicopter at a low price order the term "post-industrial society". For the first time the phrase "I.O." was used by the American economist F. Mashlup ("Production and dissemination of knowledge in the United States", 1962). Mashloop was one of the first to study the information sector of the economy on the example of the United States. In modern philosophy and other social sciences, the concept of "I.O." is rapidly developing as a concept of a new social order, significantly different in its characteristics from the previous one. Initially, the concept of "post-capitalist" - "post-industrial society" is postulated (Dahrendorf, 1958), within which the production and dissemination of knowledge begins to dominate in the sectors of the economy, and, accordingly, a new industry appears - the information economy. The rapid development of the latter determines its control over the sphere of business and the state (Galbraith, 1967). The organizational bases of this control are highlighted (Baldwin, 1953; White, 1956), which, when applied to the social structure, signifies the emergence of a new class, the so-called meritocracy (Young, 1958; Gouldner, 1979). Information production and communication become a centralized process (the "global village" theory of McLuen, 1964). Ultimately, the main resource of the new post-industrial order is information (Bell, 1973). One of the most interesting and developed philosophical concepts of I.O. belongs to the famous Japanese scientist E. Masuda, who seeks to comprehend the future evolution of society. The main principles of the composition of the coming society, presented in his book "The Information Society as a Post-Industrial Society" (1983), are as follows: "the basis of the new society will be computer technology, with its fundamental function to replace or strengthen brainwork person; the information revolution will quickly turn into a new productive force and make possible the mass production of cognitive, systematized information, technology and knowledge; the potential market will be the "boundary of the known", the possibility of solving problems and developing cooperation will increase; the leading sector of the economy will be intellectual production, the products of which will be accumulated, and the accumulated information will be distributed through synergistic production and shared use"; in the new information society, the "free community" will become the main subject of social activity, and the "participatory democracy" will be the political system The main goal in the new society will be the realization of the “value of time.” Masuda proposes a new, holistic and attractive in its humanity utopia of the 21st century, which he himself called “Computopia”, which includes the following parameters: (1) the pursuit and realization of the values of time; (2) freedom of decision and equality of opportunity (3) the flourishing of various free communities (4) synergistic interrelationships in society (5) functional associations free from overriding power The new society will potentially have the ability to achieve an ideal form of social relations, because you will t function on the basis of synergetic rationality, which will replace the principle of free competition of an industrial society. From the point of view of understanding the processes that actually take place in modern post-industrial society, the works of J. Beninger, T. Stoner, J. Nisbet are also significant. Scientists suggest that the most likely result of the development of society in the near future is the integration of the existing system with the latest mass media. The development of a new information order does not mean the immediate disappearance of industrial society. Moreover, there is a possibility of establishing total control over the banks of information, its production and distribution. Information, having become the main product of production, accordingly, becomes a powerful power resource, the concentration of which in one source can potentially lead to the emergence of a new version of a totalitarian state. . This possibility is not ruled out even by those Western futurists (E. Masuda, O. Toffler), who are optimistic about the future transformations of the social order.
Today, an industrial society is a concept familiar in all developed and even many developing countries of the world. The process of switching to mechanical production, falling profitability Agriculture, the growth of cities and a clear division of labor - all these are the main features of the process that is changing the socio-economic structure of the state.
What is an industrial society?
In addition to production characteristics, this society is different high level life, the formation of civil rights and freedoms, the emergence of service activities, accessible information and humane economic relations. Previous traditional socio-economic models were distinguished by a relatively low average standard of living for the population.
The industrial society is considered modern, both technical and social components are developing very quickly in it, affecting the improvement of the quality of life in general.
Main differences
The main difference between a traditional agrarian society and a modern one is the growth of industry, the need for a modernized, accelerated and efficient production and division of labor.
The main reasons for the division of labor and in-line production can be considered both economic - the financial benefits of mechanization, and social - population growth and increased demand for goods.
Industrial society is characterized not only by growth industrial production but also the systematization and flow of agricultural activities. In addition, in any country and in any society, the process of industrial reconstruction is accompanied by the development of science, technology, media and civic responsibility.
Changing the structure of society
Today, many developing countries are characterized by a particularly accelerated process transition from a traditional society to an industrial one. The process of globalization and free information space play a significant role in changing socio-economic structures. New technologies and scientific advances are making it possible to improve production processes, which makes a number of industries especially efficient.
The processes of globalization and international cooperation and regulation also affect the change in social charters. An industrial society is characterized by a completely different worldview, when the expansion of rights and freedoms is perceived not as a concession, but as something due. In combination, such changes allow the state to become a part of the world market both from an economic point of view and from a socio-political one.
The main features and signs of an industrial society
The main characteristics can be divided into three groups: production, economic and social.
The main production features and signs of an industrial society are as follows:
- mechanization of production;
- reorganization of labor;
- division of labor;
- productivity increase.
Among the economic characteristics it is necessary to highlight:
- growing influence of private production;
- the emergence of a market for competitive products;
- expansion of sales markets.
The main economic feature of an industrial society is uneven economic development. Crisis, inflation, decline in production - all these are frequent phenomena in the economy of an industrial state. The Industrial Revolution is by no means a guarantee of stability.
The main feature of an industrial society in terms of its social development- change in values and worldview, which is affected by:
- development and accessibility of education;
- improving the quality of life;
- popularization of culture and art;
- urbanization;
- expansion of human rights and freedoms.
It should be noted that the industrial society is also characterized by reckless exploitation of natural resources, including irreplaceable ones, and almost complete disregard for the environment.
Historical background
In addition to economic benefits and population growth, the industrial development of society was due to a number of other reasons. In traditional states, most people were able to secure their livelihood, and nothing more. Only a few could afford comfort, education and pleasure. The agrarian society was forced to move to an agrarian-industrial one. This transition allowed for an increase in production. However, the agrarian-industrial society was characterized by the inhumane attitude of the owners towards the workers and low level mechanization of production.
Pre-industrial socio-economic models rested on various forms of the slave system, which indicated the absence of universal freedoms and the low average standard of living of the population.
Industrial Revolution
The transition to an industrial society began in the period industrial revolution. It was this period, the 18th-19th centuries, that was responsible for the transition from manual to mechanized labor. The beginning and middle of the 19th century became the apogee of industrialization in a number of leading world powers.
During the industrial revolution, the main features of the modern state took shape, such as the growth of production, urbanization, economic growth and the capitalist model of social development.
Usually, the industrial revolution is associated with the growth of machine production and intensive technological development, but it was during this period that the main socio-political changes took place that influenced the formation of a new society.
Industrialization
As part of both global and state economy There are three main sectors:
- Primary - resource extraction and agriculture.
- Secondary - processing resources and creating food.
- Tertiary - the service sector.
Traditional social structures were based on the superiority of the primary sector. Subsequently, in transition period, the secondary sector began to catch up with the primary, and the service sector began to grow. Industrialization is the expansion of the secondary sector of the economy.
This process took place in world history in two stages: a technical revolution, including the creation of mechanized factories and the abandonment of manufactory, and the modernization of devices - the invention of the conveyor, electrical appliances and engines.
Urbanization
In the modern sense, urbanization is an increase in the population of large cities due to migration from rural areas. However, the transition to an industrial society was characterized by a broader interpretation of the concept.
Cities became not only places of work and migration of the population, but also cultural and economic centers. It was the cities that became the boundary of the true division of labor - territorial.
Future of industrial society
Today at developed countries there is a transition from a modern industrial society to a post-industrial one. There is a change in the values and criteria of human capital.
The engine of the post-industrial society and its economy should be the knowledge industry. Therefore, scientific discoveries and technological developments new generation play a big role in many states. Professionals with a high level of education, good learning ability, and creative thinking. The dominant sector of the traditional economy will be the tertiary sector, that is, the service sector.