CLASSIFICATIONS OF

SOCIETYBy:Don Gie BelinarioSteffi Lane FernandezPrincess Grace NachonJhecca AntenorManuel John Ortega

Six Classifications of Societies based on the Level of Technology

1. Hunting and Gathering Societies2. Pastoral Societies

3. Horticultural Societies4. Agricultural Societies

5. Feudal Societies 6. Industrial Societies

7. Postindustrial Societies

1. Hunting and Gathering SocietiesThe members of hunting and gathering societies primarily survive by hunting animals, fishing, and gathering plants. The vast majority of these societies existed in the past, with only a few (perhaps a million people total) living today on the verge of extinction.To survive, early human societies completely depended upon their immediate environment. Labor in hunting and gathering societies was divided equally among members.

These societies probably also had at least some division of labor based on gender.Hunting and gathering societies were also tribal. Members shared an ancestral heritage and a common set of traditions and rituals. They also sacrificed their individuality for the sake of the larger tribal culture.

2. Pastoral SocietiesMembers of pastoral societies, which first emerged 12,000 years ago, pasture animals for food and transportation. Pastoral societies still exist today, primarily in the desert lands of North Africa where horticulture and manufacturing are not possible.Domesticating animals allows for a more manageable food supply than do hunting and gathering

Pastoral societies allow certain of its members (those who are not domesticating animals) to engage in nonsurvival activities. Traders, healers, spiritual leaders, craftspeople, and people with other specialty professions appear.

3. Horticultural SocietiesUnlike pastoral societies that rely on domesticating animals, horticultural societies rely on cultivating fruits, vegetables, and plants.These societies first appeared in different parts of the planet about the same time as pastoral societies. Like hunting and gathering societies, horticultural societies had to be mobile.

4. Agricultural Societies Agricultural societies use technological advances to cultivate crops (especially grains like wheat, rice, corn, and barley) over a large area.Sociologists use the phrase Agricultural Revolution to refer to the technological changes that occurred as long as 8,500 years ago that led to cultivating crops and raising farm animals.

Increases in food supplies then led to larger populations than in earlier communities.

Greater degrees of social stratification appeared in agricultural societies.

5. Feudal Societies

From the 9th to 15th centuries, feudalism was a form of society based on ownership of land.Between the 14th and 16th centuries, a new economic system emerged that began to replace feudalism.Capitalism is marked by open competition in a free market, in which the means of production are privately owned.

6. Industrial Societies Industrial societies are based on using machines (particularly fuel‐driven ones) to produce goods. Sociologists refer to the period during the 18th century when the production of goods in mechanized factories began as the Industrial Revolution.The Industrial Revolution appeared first in Britain, and then quickly spread to the rest of the world.Industrialization brought about changes in almost every aspect of society.

7. Postindustrial SocietiesSociologists note that with the advent of the computer microchip, the world is witnessing a technological revolution. This revolution is creating a postindustrial society based on information, knowledge, and the selling of services.Sociologists speculate about the characteristics of postindustrial society in the near future.Sociologists believe society will become more concerned with the welfare of all members of society.

Militant

April 27, 1820

Industrial Societies

Herbert Spencer

The first was a type in which the “Regulating System” was dominant over all the other aspects of society.The second was one in which the “Sustaining System” was emphasised, and all the other aspects of society were subordinated to its service.

Military Society is any form of society in which the military exerts a dominant or pervasive role. Characteristics:1. Organisation for Offensive and

Defensive Military Action2. Centralised Pattern of Authority and

Social Control3. Rigid Social Classes4. Religious Beliefs and Doctrines relating

to the Hierarchical Power of Gods

The concept of “Industrial society” refers to “that form of society or any particular society, in which industrialisation and modernisation have occurred.The general term “industrial society” originates from Saint Simon who chose it to reflect the emerging central role of manufacturing industry in 18th century Europe, in contrast with the previous pre-industrial society and agrarian society.Spencer’s “Industrial Society” is one in which military activity and organisation exists but it is carried on at a distance. It takes place in the pe-riphery of the society and the greater part of the social organisation is peaceful. It con-centrates upon the increase and improvement of all aspects.

Characteristics:1. Recognition of Personal Rights 2. “Sustaining System” Possessing a

Large Degree of Freedom3. Opportunity for the Growth of Free

Associations and Institutions4. A Less Rigid Class Structure5. In the Industrial Society, Religious

Organisations and Religious Beliefs Lose their Hier archical Structure and Power

6. Here the Members of the Society do not exist for the Good of the State; but the Well-being of the Individuals becomes the Supreme Objective of the Government7. Awareness of the Duty to Resist Irresponsible Government8. Dominance of Free and Contractual Type of Human Relationships

Characteristic Militant Society Industrial SocietyDominant function or activity

Corporate defensive and offensive activity for preservation and aggrandizement

Peaceful, mutual rendering of individual services

Principle of social coordination

Compulsory cooperation; regimentation by enforcement of orders; both positive and negative regulation of activity

Voluntary cooperation; regulation by contract and principles of justice; only negative regulation of activity

Relations between state and individual

Individuals exist for benefit of state; restraints on liberty, property, and mobility

State exists for benefit of individuals freedom; few restraints on property and mobility

Relations between state and other organizations

All organizations public; private organizations excluded

Private organizations encourage

Structure of state Centralized DecentralizedStructure of social stratification

Fixity of rank, occupation, and locality; inheritance of positions

Plasticity and openness of rank, occupation, and locality; movement between positions

Type of economic activity Economic autonomy and self-sufficiency; little external trade; protectionism

Loss of economic autonomy; interdependence via peaceful trade; free trade

Valued social and personal characteristics

Patriotism; courage; reverence; loyalty; obedience; faith in authority; discipline

Independence; respect for others; resistance to coercion; individual initiative; truthfulness; kindness

Gemeinschaft

July 26, 1855

Gesellschaft

Ferdinand Tönnies

Gemeinschaft ("community") is an association in which individuals are oriented to the larger group as much as, and often more than, their own self interest, and are further regulated by common social mores or beliefs about the appropriate behavior and responsibility of members of the association.

Gemeinschaft — often translated as community (or left untranslated)— refers to groupings based on feelings of togetherness and on mutual bonds, which are felt as a goal to be kept up, their members being means for this goal.

Gesellschaft ("society") describes associations in which, for the individual, the larger association never takes precedence over their own self interest, and these associations lack the same level of shared social mores as Gemeinschaft.

Gesellschaft — often translated as society — on the other hand, refers to groups that are sustained by it being instrumental for their members' individual aims and goals.

The equilibrium in Gemeinschaft is achieved through morals, con-formism, and exclusion - social control - while Gesellschaft keeps its equi-librium through police, laws, tri-bunals and prisons.Amish, Hassidic communities are examples of Gemeinschaft, while states are types of Gesellschaft.Rules in Gemeinschaft are implicit, while Gesellschaft has explicit rules (written laws).

Following his "essential will" ("Wesenwille"), an actor will see himself as a means to serve the goals of social grouping; very often it is an underlying, subconscious force. Groupings formed around an essential will are called a GemeinschaftThe other will is the "arbitrary will" ("Kürwille"): An actor sees a social grouping as a means to further his individual goals; so it is purposive and future- oriented. Groupings around the latter are called Gesellschaft.

Mechanical

April 15, 1858

Organic Solidarity

Émile Durkheim

• In mechanical solidarity social cohesion and integration comes from the homogeneity of individuals: People feel connected through similar work, educational and religious training, and lifestyle.

• In simpler societies (e.g., tribal), solidarity is usually based on kinship ties of familial networks.

• Mechanical solidarity normally operates in "traditional" and small scale societies.

Organic solidarity comes from the interdependence that arises from specialization of work and the complementarities between people—a development which occurs in "modern" and "industrial" societies.Definition: it is social cohesion based upon the dependence individuals have on each other in more advanced societies.

Feature Mechanical solidarity Organic solidarity

Morphological (structural) basis

Based on resemblances (predominant in less advanced societies)Segmental type (first clan-based, later territorial)Little interdependence (social bonds relatively weak)Relatively low volume of populationRelatively low material and moral density

Based on division of labor (predominately in more advanced societies)Organized type (fusion of markets and growth of cities)Much interdependency (social bonds relatively strong)Relatively high volume of populationRelatively high material and moral density

Types of norms (typified by law)

Rules with repressive sanctionsPrevalence of penal law

Rules with restitutive sanctionsPrevalence of cooperative law (civil, commercial, procedural, administrative and constitutional law)

Formal features of conscience collective

High volumeHigh intensityHigh determinatenessCollective authority absolute

Low volumeLow intensityLow determinatenessMore room for individual initiative and reflection

Content of conscience collective

Highly religiousTranscendental (superior to hu-man interests and beyond discus-sion)Attaching supreme value to society and interests of society as a wholeConcrete and specific

Increasingly secularHuman-orientated (concerned with human interests and open to discussion)Attaching supreme value to individual dignity, equality of opportunity, work ethic and social justiceAbstract and general

Status

August 15, 1822

Contract

Henry JamesSumner Maine 

In his works, especially in Ancient Law (1861), Maine contrasted early societies in which social relations are dominated by status with “progressive” (complex) societies in which social relations are predominantly determined by contract.

By status Maine meant “a condition of society in which all the relations of Persons are summed up in the relations of Family”. These relations are ascribed to the individual as a member of a kinship group.By contract Maine meant individual obligation arising “from the free agreement of individuals.”

Maine introduced the idea that law and society developed “from status to contract.”• In ancient times, individuals were

bound by social status and/or belonging to traditional social castes.

• In the modern world, people were regarded as independent entities, free to make contracts on their own.