What is a traditional society in history? Agrarian society

18.04.2019

Instructions

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

During this period, hand tools were used. Their improvement and modernization occurred at an extremely slow, almost imperceptible pace of natural evolution. Economic system was based on the use of natural resources, it was dominated by mining, trade, and construction. People led a mostly sedentary lifestyle.

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

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

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

Traditional society is demographically characterized by high, high mortality and a fairly low life expectancy. Examples of this type today are the way of life of many countries in the North-Eastern and North Africa(Algeria, Ethiopia), southeast Asia (in particular Vietnam). In Russia, a society of this type existed before mid-19th century century. Despite this, by the beginning of the new century it was one of the most influential and largest countries in the world, possessing the status of a great power.

The main spiritual values that are distinguished are the culture of our ancestors. Cultural life was predominantly focused on the past: respect for one’s ancestors, admiration for the works and monuments of previous eras. Culture is characterized by homogeneity (homogeneity), its own traditions and a fairly categorical rejection of the cultures of other peoples.

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

The development of society is a step-by-step process, representing an upward movement from the simplest economy to a more efficient, advanced one. In the 20th century, famous political scientists and sociologists put forward a theory according to which society overcomes three stages of its development: agricultural, industrial and post-industrial. Let us dwell in more detail on the agrarian society.

Agrarian society by types, features, characteristics, characteristics

An agrarian, traditional or pre-industrial society is based on the traditional values of humanity. This type of society sees the main goal of preserving the traditional way of life, does not accept any changes and does not strive for development.

An agrarian society is characterized by a traditional economy, which is characterized by redistribution, and the manifestation of market relations and exchange is strictly suppressed. In a traditional society, there is a priority of attention of the state and the ruling elite over the individual’s own interests. All politics is based on an authoritarian type of power.

A person's status in society is determined by his birth. The whole society is divided into classes, movement between which is impossible. The class hierarchy is again based on the traditional way of life.

An agrarian society is characterized by high mortality and birth rates. And at the same time low life expectancy. Very strong family ties.

The pre-industrial type of society persisted for a long time in many Eastern countries.

Economic features of agrarian civilization and culture

The basis of traditional society is Agriculture, the main components of which are agriculture, cattle breeding or fishing in coastal areas. The priority of a certain type of economy depends on climatic conditions and the geographical location of the place of settlement. Agrarian society itself is completely dependent on nature and its conditions, while man does not make changes to these forces, without in any way trying to tame them. For a long time Subsistence farming predominated in pre-industrial society.

Industry is either absent or insignificant. Craft labor is poorly developed. All work is aimed at satisfying basic human needs; society does not even try to strive for more. Extra hours of work are recognized by society as punishment.

A person inherits a profession and occupation from his parents. The lower classes are overly devoted to the higher ones, hence this system state power like a monarchy.

All values and culture as a whole are dominated by traditions.

Traditional agrarian society

As already mentioned, an agrarian society is based on simple crafts and agriculture. The time frame for the existence of a given society is Ancient world and the Middle Ages.

At that time, the economy was based on the use of natural resources without any changes to the latter. Hence the low development of labor tools, which remain hand-held for a very long time.

The economic sphere of society is dominated by:

construction;
extractive industries;
natural economy.

There is trade, but it is insignificantly developed, and the development of the market is not encouraged by the authorities.

Traditions give a person an already established value system, the main role in which is played by religion and the undeniable authority of the head of state. Culture is based on traditional reverence for one's own history.

The process of transformation of traditional agrarian civilization

An agricultural society is quite resistant to any changes, since its basis is traditions and an established way of life. The transformations are so slow that they are invisible to an individual. Transformations are much easier for states that are not fully traditional. As a rule, this is a society with developed market relations - Greek policies, trading cities of England and Holland, Ancient Rome.

The impetus for the irreversible transformation of agrarian civilization was the industrial revolution of the 18th century.

Any transformations in such a society are very painful for a person, especially if religion was the foundation for a traditional society. A person loses guidelines and values. At this time, the authoritarian regime is strengthening. All changes in society are completed by the demographic transition, in which psychology younger generation is changing.

Industrial and post-industrial agrarian society

Industrial society is characterized by a sharp leap in the development of industry. A sharp increase in economic growth rates. This society is characterized by the “optimism of modernizers” - an unshakable confidence in science, with the help of which it is possible to solve any problems that arise, including social ones.

In this society, nature is pure consumer attitude- maximum development of available resources, pollution of nature. Industrial society lives one day at a time, striving to satisfy social and everyday needs to the full here and now.

Post-industrial society is just beginning its development path.

In a post-industrial society, the first place comes to:

high tech;
information;
knowledge.

Industry is giving way to the service sector. Knowledge and information have become the main commodity in the market. Science is no longer recognized as omnipotent. Humanity is finally starting to realize everything Negative consequences, which befell nature after the development of industry. Are changing public values. Environmental conservation and nature protection come to the fore.

The main factor and sphere of production of an agricultural society

The main factor of production for an agrarian society is land. That is why an agrarian society practically excludes mobility, since it is completely dependent on the place of residence.

The main sphere of production is agriculture. All production is based on the procurement of raw materials and food. All members of society, first of all, strive to satisfy everyday needs. The basis of the economy is family farming. Such a sphere may not always be able to satisfy all human needs, but certainly most of them.

Agrarian state and agrarian fund

The Agrarian Fund is a state apparatus that provides the country with adequate food. Its main task is to support the development of agricultural business in the country. The fund is responsible for the import and export of agricultural goods and distributes products within the country.

Human civilization needs high-quality food products, which can only be provided by developed agriculture. It is important to take into account that agriculture has never been a highly profitable industry. Entrepreneurs abandon this type of business as soon as they encounter difficulties and lose profits. In this case, the state’s agricultural policy helps agricultural production by allocating the necessary funds to compensate for possible losses.

In developed countries, the rural way of life and family farming are becoming increasingly popular.

Agrarian modernization

Agrarian modernization is based on increasing the rate of development of agricultural production and sets itself the following tasks:

creation of a new model of economic growth in agriculture;

creation of favorable economic trends for agricultural business;

improving rural infrastructure;

attracting the younger generation to the village to live and work;

assistance in solving problems with land;

environmental protection.

The main assistant of the state in modernization is private business. Therefore, the state is obliged to meet the needs of agricultural business and help its development in every possible way.

Modernization will bring agricultural and agricultural production to the proper level in the country, improve the quality of food, create additional jobs in the countryside and increase the standard of living of the population of the entire country as a whole.

The concept of traditional society

In progress historical development primitive society is transformed into a traditional society. The impetus for its emergence and development was the agrarian revolution and the social changes in society that arose in connection with it.

Definition 1

A traditional society can be defined as a society with an agrarian structure, based on strict adherence to traditions. The behavior of members of a given society is strictly regulated by customs and norms characteristic of a given society, the most important stable social institutions, such as family and community.

Features of traditional society

Let us consider the features of the development of traditional society by characterizing its main parameters. The peculiarities of the nature of the social structure in a traditional society are determined by the emergence of excess and surplus products, which in turn indicates the emergence of grounds for education new form social structure - the state.

Forms of government in traditional states are fundamentally authoritarian in nature - this is the power of one ruler or a narrow circle of elite - dictatorship, monarchy or oligarchy.

In accordance with the form of government, there was also a certain nature of participation of members of society in the management of its affairs. The very emergence of the institution of state and law determines the need for the emergence of politics and development political sphere life of society. During this period of development of society, there is an increase in the activity of citizens in the process of their participation in political life states.

Another parameter for the development of a traditional society is the dominant nature of economic relations. In connection with the emergence of a surplus product, private property and commodity exchange inevitably arise. Private property remained dominant throughout the entire period of development of traditional society, only its object changed in different periods of its development - slaves, land, capital.

In contrast to primitive society, in traditional society the employment structure of its members has become significantly more complex. Several sectors of employment appear - agriculture, crafts, trade, all professions associated with the accumulation and transmission of information. Thus, we can talk about the emergence of a greater variety of areas of employment for members of traditional society.

The nature of settlements also changed. Arose fundamentally new type settlements - a city that became a center of residence for members of society engaged in crafts and trade. It is in cities that the political, industrial and intellectual life of traditional society is concentrated.

During the functioning of the traditional era, the formation of a new attitude towards education as a special social institution and nature of development scientific knowledge. The emergence of writing makes it possible to form scientific knowledge. It was at the time of the existence and development of traditional society that discoveries were made in various scientific fields and laid the foundation in many branches of scientific knowledge.

Note 1

An obvious disadvantage of the development of scientific knowledge in this period of social development was the independent development of science and technology from production. This fact and served as the reason for the rather slow accumulation of scientific knowledge and its subsequent dissemination. The process of increasing scientific knowledge was linear and required a significant amount of time to accumulate a sufficient amount of knowledge. People involved in science most often did it for their own pleasure; their scientific research was not supported by the needs of society.

Traditional society

Traditional society- a society that is regulated by tradition. Preservation of traditions is a higher value in it than development. The social structure in it is characterized by a rigid class hierarchy, the existence of stable social communities (especially in Eastern countries), and 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.

general characteristics

A traditional society is usually characterized by:

the predominance of the agricultural way of life;
structural stability;
class organization;
low mobility;
high mortality;
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 and social origin.

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(states, etc.). What is valued is not so much individual capacity as the place in the hierarchy (official, class, clan, etc.) that a person occupies.

In a traditional society, as a rule, relations of redistribution, rather than market exchange, prevail, but elements market economy are strictly regulated. This is due to the fact that free markets increase social mobility and change social structure societies (in particular, they destroy class); the redistribution system may 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 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.

Transformation of traditional society

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Opinions about the need (and extent) of transformation of traditional society differ significantly. For example, the philosopher A. Dugin considers it necessary to abandon the principles of modern society and return to the “golden age” of traditionalism. Sociologist and demographer A. Vishnevsky argues that traditional society “has no chance,” although it “fiercely resists.” According to the calculations of Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Professor A. Nazaretyan, in order to completely abandon development and return society to a static state, the number of humanity must be reduced by several hundred times.

Literature

Textbook “Sociology of Culture” (chapter “Historical dynamics of culture: features of the culture of traditional and modern societies. Modernization")
Book by A. G. Vishnevsky “Sickle and Ruble. Conservative modernization in the USSR"
Nazaretyan A.P. Demographic utopia of “sustainable development” // Social sciences and modernity. 1996. No. 2. P. 145-152.

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Plan
Introduction
1 General characteristics
2 Transformation of traditional society
and literature

Introduction

Traditional society is a society that is regulated by tradition. Preservation of traditions is a higher value in it than development. The social structure in it is characterized by a rigid class hierarchy, the existence of stable social communities (especially in Eastern countries), and 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.

1. General characteristics

A traditional society is usually characterized by:

· traditional economy

· predominance of the agricultural way of life;

· structural stability;

· class organization;

· low mobility;

· high mortality rate;

· 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 prevail, 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.

In a traditional society, as a rule, relations of redistribution rather than market exchange predominate, and elements of a 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 may 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 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. At the same time, family ties, on the contrary, are very strong.

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

2. Transformation of traditional society

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

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

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

1. Knowledge-Power, No. 9, 2005, “Demographic oddities”

· Textbook “Sociology of Culture” (chapter “Historical dynamics of culture: cultural features of traditional and modern societies. Modernization”)

· Book by A. G. Vishnevsky “Sickle and Ruble. Conservative modernization in the USSR"

· Book “European Modernization”

· Nazaretyan A.P. Demographic utopia of “sustainable development” // Social sciences and modernity. 1996. No. 2. P. 145-152.