Spheres of society in a traditional society. Traditional societies of the East

TOPIC: Traditional Society

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………..3-4

1. Typology of societies in modern science……………………………….5-7

2. General characteristics traditional society…………………….8-10

3. Development of a traditional society…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 11-15

4. Transformation of traditional society……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17- 17

CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………..18-19

LITERATURE…………………………………………………………….20

Introduction.

The relevance of the problem of traditional society is dictated by global changes in the worldview of mankind. Civilization studies today are especially acute and problematic. The world oscillates between prosperity and poverty, the individual and the digital, the infinite and the private. Man is still looking for the real, the lost and the hidden. There is a “tired” generation of meanings, self-isolation and endless waiting: waiting for light from the West, good weather from the South, cheap goods from China and oil profits from the North. Modern society requires enterprising young people who are able to find "themselves" and their place in life, restore Russian spiritual culture, morally stable, socially adapted, capable of self-development and continuous self-improvement. The basic structures of personality are laid in the first years of life. This means that the family has a special responsibility for cultivating such qualities in the younger generation. And this problem becomes especially relevant at this modern stage.

Arising naturally, "evolutionary" human culture includes an important element - the system public relations based on solidarity and mutual assistance. Many studies, and even ordinary experience, show that people became human precisely because they overcame selfishness and showed altruism that goes far beyond short-term rational calculations. And that the main motives for such behavior are irrational and connected with the ideals and movements of the soul - we see this at every step.

The culture of a traditional society is based on the concept of "people" - as a transpersonal community that has historical memory and collective consciousness. An individual person, an element of such - the people and society, is a "cathedral personality", the focus of many human ties. He is always included in solidarity groups (families, village and church communities, labor collective, even a gang of thieves - acting on the principle of "One for all, all for one"). Accordingly, the prevailing attitudes in traditional society are such as service, duty, love, care, and coercion. There are also acts of exchange, for the most part, which do not have the nature of a free and equivalent sale and purchase (exchange of equal values) - the market regulates only most traditional social relations. Therefore, the general, all-encompassing metaphor for social life in a traditional society is the “family”, and not, for example, the “market”. Modern scientists believe that 2/3 of the population the globe to a greater or lesser extent, it has in its way of life the features of traditional societies. What are traditional societies, when did they arise and what characterizes their culture?

The purpose of this work: to give a general description, to study the development of traditional society.

Based on the goal, the following tasks were set:

Consider different ways of typology of societies;

Describe traditional society;

Give an idea of ​​the development of traditional society;

To identify the problems of the transformation of traditional society.

1. Typology of societies in modern science.

In modern sociology, there are various ways of typifying societies, and all of them are legitimate from certain points of view.

There are, for example, two main types of society: first, pre-industrial society, or the so-called traditional society, which is based on a peasant community. This type of society still covers most of Africa, a significant part Latin America, most of the East and dominated until the XIX century in Europe. Secondly, the modern industrial-urban society. The so-called Euro-American society belongs to it; and the rest of the world is gradually catching up to it.

Another division of societies is also possible. Societies can be divided according to political characteristics - into totalitarian and democratic. In the first societies, society itself does not act as an independent subject of public life, but serves the interests of the state. The second societies are characterized by the fact that, on the contrary, the state serves the interests of civil society, the individual and public associations, (at least ideally).

It is possible to distinguish the types of societies according to the dominant religion: Christian society, Islamic, Orthodox, etc. Finally, societies are distinguished by the dominant language: English-speaking, Russian-speaking, French-speaking, etc. It is also possible to distinguish societies along ethnic lines: single-ethnic, binational, multinational.

One of the main types of typology of societies is the formational approach.

According to the formational approach, the most important relations in society are property and class relations. The following types of socio-economic formations can be distinguished: primitive communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist (includes two phases - socialism and communism).

None of the above basic theoretical points underlying the theory of formations is now indisputable. The theory of socio-economic formations is not only based on theoretical conclusions mid-nineteenth century, but because of this, it cannot explain many of the contradictions that have arisen:

· Existence along with zones of progressive (ascending) development of zones of backwardness, stagnation and dead ends;

the transformation of the state - in one form or another - into important factor public industrial relations; modification and modification of classes;

· the emergence of a new hierarchy of values ​​with the priority of universal human values ​​over class ones.

The most modern is another division of society, which was put forward by the American sociologist Daniel Bell. He distinguishes three stages in the development of society. The first stage is a pre-industrial, agricultural, conservative society, closed to outside influences, based on natural production. The second stage is an industrial society, which is based on industrial production, developed market relations, democracy and openness. Finally, in the second half of the twentieth century, the third stage begins - a post-industrial society, which is characterized by the use of achievements scientific and technological revolution; sometimes it is called the information society, because the main thing is no longer the production of a certain material product, but the production and processing of information. An indicator of this stage is the spread of computer technology, the unification of the whole society into a single information system in which ideas and thoughts are freely distributed. Leading in such a society is the requirement to respect the so-called human rights.

From this point of view, different parts modern humanity are at various stages of development. Until now, maybe half of humanity is in the first stage. And the other part is going through the second stage of development. And only a smaller part - Europe, the USA, Japan - entered the third stage of development. Russia is now in a state of transition from the second stage to the third.

2. General characteristics of traditional society

A traditional 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. There is no single theory of traditional society. Ideas about a traditional society are based, rather, on its understanding as a socio-cultural model that is asymmetric to modern society, than on a generalization of the real facts of the life of peoples who are not engaged in industrial production. Characteristic for the economy of a traditional society is the dominance of subsistence farming. In this case, commodity relations either do not exist at all, or are focused on meeting the needs of a small stratum of the social elite. The main principle of the organization of social relations is a 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 dictated the dominance of collectivist social ideas oriented towards strict observance traditional norms of behavior and excluding individual freedom of the individual, 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 mainly in authoritarian forms. A characteristic feature of a traditional society is either the complete absence of writing, or its existence in the form of a privilege. individual 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 language- in the Middle East, Chinese writing - in the Far East). Therefore, intergenerational transmission of culture is carried out in a verbal, folklore form, and the main institution of socialization is the family and the community. The consequence of this was the extreme variability of the culture of one and the same ethnic group, manifested in local and dialectal differences.

Traditional societies include ethnic communities, which are characterized by communal settlements, the preservation of blood and family ties, predominantly handicraft and agrarian forms of labor. The emergence of such societies dates back to the earliest stages of human development, to primitive culture.

Any society from a primitive community of hunters to an industrial revolution late XVIII century can be called a traditional society.

A traditional society is a society governed by tradition. The preservation of traditions is a higher value in it than development. The social structure in it is characterized (especially in the countries of the East) by a rigid class hierarchy and the existence of stable social communities, a special way of regulating the life of society based on traditions and customs. This organization of society seeks to preserve the socio-cultural foundations of life unchanged. The traditional society is an agrarian society.

For a traditional society, as a rule, are characterized by:

traditional economy - an economic system in which the use of natural resources determined primarily by tradition. Traditional industries predominate - agriculture, resource extraction, trade, construction, non-traditional industries practically do not receive development;

the predominance of the agrarian way of life;

the stability of the structure;

class organization;

· low mobility;

· high mortality;

· high birth rate;

low life expectancy.

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

In a traditional society, collectivist attitudes prevail, individualism is not welcome (because the freedom of individual actions can lead to a violation of the established order). In general, traditional societies are characterized by the primacy of collective interests over private ones, including the primacy of the interests of existing hierarchical structures (state, clan, etc.). It is not so much individual capacity that is valued, but the place in the hierarchy (bureaucratic, class, clan, etc.) that a person occupies.

In a traditional society, as a rule, relations of redistribution, rather than market exchange, prevail, and elements market economy are tightly regulated. This is due to the fact that free market relations increase social mobility and change social structure societies (in particular, they destroy estates); the system of redistribution can be regulated by tradition, but market prices are not; forced redistribution prevents "unauthorized" enrichment, the impoverishment of both individuals and estates. The pursuit economic benefit in a traditional society, it is often morally condemned, opposed to disinterested help.

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

The worldview of a traditional society is conditioned by tradition and authority.

3.Development of traditional society

Economically, the traditional society is based on agriculture. Moreover, such a society can be not only landowning, like the society of ancient Egypt, China or medieval Russia, 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 on fishing in the exceptionally 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 of ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia, medieval China; the Russian peasant community, where redistribution is expressed in regular redistribution of land according to the number of eaters, etc. However, one should not think that redistribution is the only possible way economic life traditional society. It dominates, but the market in one form or another always exists, and in exceptional cases it can even acquire a leading role (the most striking example is the economy of the ancient Mediterranean). But, as a rule, market relations are limited to a narrow range of goods, most often objects of prestige: the medieval European aristocracy, getting everything they needed on their estates, bought mainly jewelry, spices, expensive weapons of thoroughbred horses, etc.

In social terms, traditional society is much more strikingly different from our modern society. The most characteristic feature of this society is the rigid attachment of each person to the system of redistributive relations, the attachment is purely personal. This is manifested in the inclusion of each in a collective that carries out this redistribution, and in the dependence of each on the “seniors” (by age, origin, social status) who are “at the boiler”. Moreover, the transition from one team to another is extremely difficult, social mobility in this society is very low. At the same time, not only the position of the estate in the social hierarchy is valuable, but also the very fact of belonging to it. Here you can give specific examples - caste and class systems of stratification.

Caste (as in traditional Indian society, for example) is a closed group of people who occupy a strictly defined place in society. This place is delineated by many factors or signs, the main of which are:

traditionally inherited profession, occupation;

endogamy, i.e. the obligation to marry only within one's own caste;

Ritual purity (after contact with the "lower" it is necessary to undergo a whole purification procedure).

The estate is a social group with hereditary rights and obligations, enshrined in customs and laws. The feudal society of medieval Europe, in particular, was divided into three main classes: the clergy (the symbol is a book), chivalry (the symbol is a sword) and the peasantry (the symbol is a plow). In Russia before the revolution of 1917 there were six estates. These are nobles, clergy, merchants, petty bourgeois, peasants, Cossacks.

The regulation of estate life was extremely strict, down to minor circumstances and minor details. So, according to the "Charter to the Cities" of 1785, Russian merchants of the first guild could travel around the city in a carriage drawn by a pair of horses, and merchants of the second guild could only travel in a carriage with a pair. The class division of society, as well as the caste one, was consecrated and fixed by religion: everyone has his own destiny, his own destiny, his own corner on this earth. Stay where God placed you, exaltation is a manifestation of pride, one of the seven (according to medieval classification) deadly sins.

Another important criterion of social division can be called a community in the broadest sense of the word. This refers not only to a neighboring peasant community, but also to a craft workshop, a merchant guild in Europe or a merchant union in the East, a monastic or knightly order, a Russian cenobitic monastery, thieves' or beggarly corporations. The Hellenic polis can be viewed not so much as a city-state, but as a civil community. A person outside the community is an outcast, outcast, suspicious, an enemy. Therefore, expulsion from the community was one of the most terrible punishments in any of the agrarian societies. A person was born, lived and died tied to the place of residence, occupation, environment, exactly repeating the lifestyle of his ancestors and being absolutely sure that his children and grandchildren would follow the same path.

Relationships and bonds between people in traditional society were permeated through and through with personal loyalty and dependence, which is understandable. At that level technological development only direct contacts, personal involvement, individual involvement could ensure the movement of knowledge, skills, abilities from teacher to student, from master to journeyman. This movement, we note, had the form of transferring secrets, secrets, recipes. Thus, a certain social problem was also solved. Thus, the oath, which in the Middle Ages symbolically and ritually sealed relations between vassals and seigneurs, in its own way equalized the parties involved, giving their relationship a shade of simple patronage of a father to his son.

The political structure of the overwhelming majority before industrial societies determined more by tradition and custom than by written law. Power could be justified by the origin, the scale of controlled distribution (land, food, and finally, water in the East) and supported by divine sanction (this is why the role of sacralization, and often direct deification of the figure of the ruler, is so high).

Most often, the state system of society was, of course, monarchical. And even in the republics of antiquity and the Middle Ages, real power, as a rule, belonged to representatives of a few noble families and was based on these principles. As a rule, traditional societies are characterized by the merging of the phenomena of power and property, with the determining role of power, that is, having more power, and had real control over a significant part of the property that was in the aggregate disposal of society. For typically pre-industrial society(with rare exceptions) power is property.

The cultural life of traditional societies was decisively influenced precisely by the justification of power by tradition and the conditionality of all social relations by class, communal and power structures. Traditional society is characterized by what could be called gerontocracy: the older, the smarter, the older, the more perfect, the deeper, the true.

Traditional society is holistic. It is built or organized as a rigid whole. And not just as a whole, but as a clearly prevailing, dominant whole.

The collective is a socio-ontological, not a value-normative reality. It becomes the latter when it begins to be understood and accepted as a common good. Being also holistic in its essence, the common good hierarchically completes the value system of a traditional society. Along with other values, it ensures the unity of a person with other people, gives meaning to his individual existence, guarantees a certain psychological comfort.

In antiquity, the common good was identified with the needs and development trends of the policy. A polis is a city or society-state. Man and citizen in it coincided. The polis horizon of ancient man was both political and ethical. Outside of its borders, nothing interesting was expected - only barbarism. The Greek, a citizen of the polis, perceived the state goals as his own, saw his own good in the good of the state. With the policy, its existence, he linked his hopes for justice, freedom, peace and happiness.

In the Middle Ages, God was the common and highest good. He is the source of everything good, valuable and worthy in this world. Man himself was created in his image and likeness. From God and all power on earth. God is the ultimate goal of all human aspirations. The highest good that a sinful person is capable of is love for God, service to Christ. Christian love is a special love: God-fearing, suffering, ascetic-humble. In her self-forgetfulness there is a lot of contempt for herself, for worldly joys and comforts, achievements and successes. By her own earthly life of a person in its religious interpretation is devoid of any value and purpose.

IN pre-revolutionary Russia with its communal-collective way of life, the common good took on the form of a Russian idea. Its most popular formula included three values: Orthodoxy, autocracy and nationality.

The historical existence of a traditional society is slow. The boundaries between the historical stages of "traditional" development are barely distinguishable, there are no sharp shifts and radical shocks.

The productive forces of traditional society developed slowly, in the rhythm of cumulative evolutionism. What economists call pent-up demand, that is, was missing. the ability to produce not for the sake of immediate needs, but for the sake of the future. Traditional society took from nature exactly as much as needed, and nothing more. Its economy could be called environmentally friendly.

4. Transformation of traditional society

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

In ancient times, changes in traditional society occurred extremely slowly - over generations, almost imperceptibly for an individual. Periods of accelerated development also took place 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, the society 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 the 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. stands apart Ancient Rome(until the 3rd century AD) with its civil society.

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

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

The most painful transformation of a traditional society occurs when 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 a demographic transition. The generation that grew up in small families has a psychology that differs from that of a traditional person.

Opinions on the need to transform traditional society differ significantly. For example, the philosopher A. Dugin considers it necessary to abandon the principles modern society and return to the "golden age" of traditionalism. Sociologist and demographer A. Vishnevsky argues that the traditional society "has no chance", although it "fiercely resists." According to the calculations of the 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 human population must be reduced by several hundred times.

Based on the work carried out, the following conclusions were drawn.

Traditional societies are characterized by the following features:

· Predominantly agrarian mode of production, understanding of land ownership not as property, but as land use. The type of relationship between society and nature is built not on the principle of victory over it, but on the idea of ​​merging with it;

· The basis of the economic system is community-state forms of ownership with a weak development of the institution of private property. Preservation of the communal way of life and communal land use;

· Patronage system of distribution of the product of labor in the community (redistribution of land, mutual assistance in the form of gifts, marriage gifts, etc., regulation of consumption);

The level of social mobility is low, the boundaries between social communities(castes, estates) are stable. Ethnic, clan, caste differentiation of societies, in contrast to late industrial societies with class division;

・Save to Everyday life combinations of polytheistic and monotheistic ideas, the role of ancestors, orientation to the past;

· The main regulator of public life is tradition, custom, adherence to the norms of life of previous generations. The huge role of ritual, etiquette. Of course, the "traditional society" significantly limits the scientific technical progress, has a pronounced tendency to stagnation, does not consider the autonomous development of a free person as the most important value. But Western civilization, having achieved impressive successes, is currently facing a number of the toughest problems: ideas about the possibilities of unlimited industrial and scientific and technological growth turned out to be untenable; the balance of nature and society is disturbed; the pace of technological progress is unsustainable and threatens the global environmental catastrophe. Many scientists draw attention to the merits of traditional thinking with its emphasis on adaptation to nature, the perception of the human person as part of a natural and social whole.

Only the traditional way of life can be opposed to the aggressive influence of modern culture and the civilizational model exported from the West. For Russia, there is no other way out of the crisis in the spiritual and moral sphere, except for the revival of the original Russian civilization on the basis of the traditional values ​​of national culture. And this is possible provided that the spiritual, moral and intellectual potential of the bearer of Russian culture, the Russian people, is restored.

LITERATURE.

1. Irkhin Yu.V. Textbook "Sociology of Culture" 2006.

2. Nazaretyan A.P. Demographic utopia of "sustainable development" Social sciences and modernity. 1996. No. 2.

3. Mathieu M.E. Selected Works on the Mythology and Ideology of Ancient Egypt. -M., 1996.

4. Levikova S. I. West and East. Traditions and modernity. - M., 1993.

It is proved that society is constantly evolving. The development of society can proceed in two directions and take three definite forms.

Directions of development of society

It is customary to single out social progress (the trend of development from the lowest level of the material state of the society and the spiritual evolution of the individual to a higher one) and regression (the opposite of progress: the transition from a more developed state to a less developed one).

If we demonstrate the development of society graphically, we will get a broken line (where ups and downs will be displayed, for example, the period of fascism is a stage of social regression).

Society is a complex and multifaceted mechanism, in connection with which progress can be traced in one of its areas, while regression in another.

So, if you turn to historical facts, then one can clearly see technical progress (the transition from primitive tools to the most complex CNC machines, from pack animals to trains, cars, airplanes, etc.). but back side medals (regression) - destruction of natural resources, undermining the natural habitat of a person, etc.

Criteria of social progress

There are six of them:

• affirmation of democracy;
• the growth of the welfare of the population and its social security;
• improving interpersonal relationships;
• the growth of spirituality and the ethical component of society;
• weakening interpersonal confrontation;
• a measure of freedom granted to an individual by society (the degree of individual freedom guaranteed by society).

Forms of social development

The most common is evolution (smooth, gradual changes in the life of society that occur naturally). Features of her character: gradualness, continuity, ascent (for example, scientific and technical evolution).

The second form of social development is revolution (quick, deep changes; a radical upheaval of social life). The nature of revolutionary change has radical and fundamental features.

Revolutions can be

• short-term or long-term;
• within one or more states;
• within one or more areas.

If these changes affect all existing public spheres (politics, daily life, economy, culture, public organization), then the revolution is called social. Such changes cause strong emotionality, mass activity of the entire population (for example, such Russian revolutions as the October, February).

Third form social development- reforms (a set of measures aimed at transforming specific aspects of society, for example, economic reform or reform in the field of education).

Systematic model of typologies of social development D. Bell

This American sociologist delimited world history into stages (types) regarding the development of society:

• industrial;
• post-industrial.

The transition from one stage to another is accompanied by a change in technology, form of ownership, political regime, lifestyle, social structure of society, mode of production, social institutions, culture, and population.

Pre-industrial society: characteristics

There are simple and complex societies. A pre-industrial society (simple) is a society without social inequality and division into strata or classes, as well as without commodity-money relations and the state apparatus.

IN primitive times gatherers, hunters, then early pastoralists, farmers lived in a simple society.

The social structure of a pre-industrial society (simple) has the following features:

• small size of the association;
• primitive level of development of technology and division of labor;
• egalitarianism (economic, political, social equality);
• priority of blood ties.

Stages in the evolution of simple societies

• groups (local);
• communities (primitive).

The second stage has two periods:

• tribal community;
• neighborly.

The transition from tribal communities to neighboring communities became possible due to a sedentary lifestyle: groups of blood relatives settled close to each other and were united both by marriages and by mutual assistance regarding joint territories, by a labor corporation.

Thus, pre-industrial society is characterized by the gradual emergence of the family, the emergence of a division of labor (inter-gender, inter-age), the emergence of social norms that are taboos (absolute prohibitions).

Transitional form from a simple society to a complex one

The chiefdom is a hierarchical structure of a system of people that does not have an extensive administrative apparatus, which is an integral part of a mature state.

According to the size criterion, this is a large association (more than a tribe). There is already horticulture without arable farming and a surplus product without surplus. Gradually, there is a stratification into rich and poor, noble and simple. The number of management levels - 2-10 and more. Modern example chiefdoms act: New Guinea, Tropical Africa and Polynesia.

Complex pre-industrial societies

The final stage in the evolution of simple societies, as well as the prologue to complex ones, was the Neolithic Revolution. A complex (pre-industrial) society is characterized by the emergence of a surplus product, social inequality and stratification (castes, classes, slavery, estates), commodity-money relations, an extensive, specialized management apparatus.

It is usually numerous (hundreds of thousands - hundreds of millions of people). Within the framework of a complex society, consanguineous, personal relationships are replaced by unrelated, impersonal ones (this is especially evident in cities, when even cohabitants may be unfamiliar).

Social ranks are replaced by social stratification. As a rule, a pre-industrial society (complex) is referred to as stratified because the strata are numerous and the groups include only those who are not related to the ruling class.

Signs of a complex society by V. Child

There are at least eight of them. The signs of a pre-industrial society (complex) are as follows:

1. People are settled in cities.
2. Non-agricultural specialization of labor is developing.
3. A surplus product appears and accumulates.
4. There are clear class divisions.
5. Customary law is replaced by legal law.
6. Large-scale public works such as irrigation are born, and pyramids are also emerging.
7. Overseas trade appears.
8. There is writing, mathematics and elite culture.

Despite the fact that the agrarian society (pre-industrial) is characterized by the emergence of a large number of cities, most of the population lived in the countryside (a closed territorial peasant community, leading a subsistence economy, which is poorly connected with the market). The village is oriented towards religious values ​​and traditional way of life.

Characteristic features of pre-industrial society

The following features of a traditional society are distinguished:

1. Agriculture occupies a dominant position, which is dominated by manual technologies (the energy of animals and people is used).
2. A significant proportion of the population is in rural areas.
3. Production is focused on personal consumption, and therefore market relations are underdeveloped.
4. Caste or estate classification system of the population.
5. Low level of social mobility.
6. Large patriarchal families.
7. Social change is proceeding at a slow pace.
8. Priority is given to the religious and mythological worldview.
9. Homogeneity of values ​​and norms.
10. Sacralized, authoritarian political power.

These are schematic and simplified features of a traditional society.

Industrial type of society

The transition to this type was due to two global processes:

• industrialization (creation of large-scale machine production);
• urbanization (resettlement of people from villages to cities, as well as the promotion of urban life values ​​in all segments of the population).

Industrial society (originated in the 18th century) is the child of two revolutions - political (the French Revolution) and economic (the English Industrial Revolution). The result of the first is economic freedoms, a new social stratification, and the second is a new political form (democracy), political freedoms.

Feudalism has been replaced by capitalism. In everyday life, the concept of "industrialization" has become stronger. Its flagship is England. This country is the birthplace of machine production, new legislation and free enterprise.

Industrialization is interpreted as the use of scientific knowledge regarding industrial technology, the discovery of fundamentally new energy sources that made it possible to perform all the work previously carried out by people or draft animals.

Thanks to the transition to industry, a small proportion of the population was able to feed a significant number of people without the procedure for cultivating the land.

Compared with agricultural states and empires, industrial countries are more numerous (tens, hundreds of millions of people). These are the so-called highly urbanized societies (cities began to play a dominant role).

Signs of an industrial society:

• industrialization;
• class antagonism;
• representative democracy;
• urbanization;
• the division of society into classes;
• transfer of power to the owners;
• little social mobility.

Thus, we can say that pre-industrial and industrial societies are actually different social worlds. This transition obviously could not be either easy or quick. It took Western societies, so to speak, the pioneers of modernization, more than one century to implement this process.

post-industrial society

It gives priority to the service sector, which prevails over industry and agriculture. The social structure of the post-industrial society is shifting in favor of those employed in the aforementioned area, and new elites are also emerging: scientist and technocrats.

This type of society is characterized as "post-class" in view of the fact that it shows the collapse of entrenched social structures, identities that are so characteristic of an industrial society.

Industrial and post-industrial society: distinctive features

The main characteristics of modern and postmodern society are shown in the table below.

Characteristic	Modern society	postmodern society
1. The basis of public welfare
2. Mass class		Managers, employees
3. Social structure	"Grainy", status	"Cellular", functional
4. Ideology	sociocentrism	Humanism
5. Technical basis	Industrial	Informational
6. Leading industry	Industry
7. The principle of management and organization	Management	Coordination
8. Political regime		Self-government, direct democracy
9. Religion		Small denominations

Thus, both industrial and post-industrial society are modern types. home distinguishing feature the latter is that a person is not seen as predominantly an “economic person”. A post-industrial society is a “post-labor”, “post-economic” society (the economic subsystem loses its decisive importance; labor is not the basis of social relations).

Comparative characteristics of the considered types of development of society

Let us trace the main differences that have a traditional, industrial and post-industrial society. Comparative characteristics are presented in the table.

Comparison criterion	Pre-industrial (traditional)	Industrial	post-industrial
1. Main production factor
2. Main production product	Food	Industrial goods
3. Features of production	Exceptionally manual labor	Widespread use of technologies and mechanisms	Computerization of society, automation of production
4. Specificity of labor	Individuality	Predominance of standard activities	Encouraging creativity
5. The structure of employment	Agriculture - approximately 75%	Agriculture - approximately 10%, industry - 75%	Agriculture - 3%, industry - 33%, services - 66%
6. Priority type of export	Mainly raw materials	Manufactured products
7. Social structure	Classes, estates, castes included in the collective, their isolation; little social mobility	Classes, their mobility; simplification of the existing social structures	Preservation of the existing social differentiation; an increase in the size of the middle class; professional differentiation based on qualifications and level of knowledge
8. Life expectancy	40 to 50 years old	Up to 70 years old and above	Over 70 years
9. The degree of human impact on the environment	Uncontrolled, local	Uncontrolled, global	controlled, global
10. Relations with other states	Minor	Close relationship	Complete openness of society
11. Political sphere	Most often, monarchical forms of government, lack of political freedoms, power is above the law	Political freedoms, equality before the law, democratic transformations	Political pluralism, a strong civil society, the emergence of a new democratic form

So, it is worth recalling once again the three types of social development: traditional, industrial and post-industrial society.

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Typology of societies: Traditional, industrial and post-industrial societies

IN modern world there are different types of societies that differ among themselves in many ways, both explicitly (language of communication, culture, geographical position, size, etc.), and hidden (the degree of social integration, the level of stability, etc.). Scientific classification involves the selection of the most significant, typical features that distinguish some features from others and unite societies of the same group.
Typology(from the Greek tupoc - imprint, form, sample and logoc - word, teaching) - a method of scientific knowledge, which is based on the division of systems of objects and their grouping using a generalized, idealized model or type.
In the middle of the 19th century, K. Marx proposed a typology of societies, which was based on the method of production of material goods and production relations - primarily property relations. He divided all societies into 5 main types (according to the type of socio-economic formations): primitive communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist (the initial phase is a socialist society).
Another typology divides all societies into simple and complex. The criterion is the number of management levels and the degree of social differentiation (stratification).
A simple society is a society in which the components are homogeneous, there are no rich and poor, leaders and subordinates, the structure and functions here are poorly differentiated and can be easily interchanged. These are primitive tribes, which are still preserved in some places.
A complex society is a society with highly differentiated structures and functions that are interconnected and interdependent on each other, which necessitates their coordination.
K. Popper distinguishes between two types of societies: closed and open. The differences between them are based on a number of factors, and, above all, the relationship of social control and freedom of the individual.
A closed society is characterized by a static social structure, limited mobility, resistance to innovation, traditionalism, dogmatic authoritarian ideology, and collectivism. To this type of society, K. Popper attributed Sparta, Prussia, tsarist Russia, Nazi Germany, Soviet Union Stalin era.
An open society is characterized by a dynamic social structure, high mobility, ability to innovate, criticism, individualism and democratic pluralistic ideology. K. Popper considered ancient Athens and modern Western democracies to be examples of open societies.
Modern sociology uses all typologies, combining them into some kind of synthetic model. The prominent American sociologist Daniel Bell (b. 1919) is considered its creator. He divided world history into three stages: pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial. When one stage replaces another, technology changes, the mode of production, the form of ownership, social institutions, political regime, culture, lifestyle, population, social structure of society.
Traditional (pre-industrial) society- a society with an agrarian way of life, with a predominance of subsistence farming, a class hierarchy, sedentary structures and a method of socio-cultural regulation based on tradition. It is characterized by manual labor, extremely low rates of development of production, which can satisfy the needs of people only at a minimal level. It is extremely inertial, therefore it is not very susceptible to innovations. The behavior of individuals in such a society is regulated by customs, norms, and social institutions. Customs, norms, institutions, consecrated by traditions, are considered unshakable, not allowing even the thought of changing them. Performing their integrative function, culture and social institutions suppress any manifestation of individual freedom, which is a necessary condition for the gradual renewal of society.
industrial society- The term industrial society was introduced by A. Saint-Simon, emphasizing its new technical basis.
In modern terms, this is a complex society, with an industrial-based way of managing, with flexible, dynamic and modifiable structures, a way of socio-cultural regulation based on a combination of individual freedom and the interests of society. These societies are characterized by a developed division of labor, the development of mass media, urbanization, etc.
post-industrial society- (sometimes called informational) - a society developed on an information basis: extraction (in traditional societies) and processing (in industrial societies) of natural products are replaced by the acquisition and processing of information, as well as predominant development (instead of agriculture in traditional societies and industry in industrial) service sector. As a result, the structure of employment and the ratio of various professional and qualification groups are also changing. According to forecasts, already at the beginning of the 21st century in advanced countries, half of the workforce will be employed in the field of information, a quarter in the field of material production and a quarter in the production of services, including information.
The change in the technological basis also affects the organization of the entire system of social ties and relations. If in an industrial society the mass class was made up of workers, then in a post-industrial society it was employees and managers. At the same time, the significance of class differentiation is weakening, instead of a status (“granular”) social structure, a functional (“ready-made”) social structure is being formed. Instead of leading the principle of governance, coordination is becoming, and representative democracy is being replaced by direct democracy and self-government. As a result, instead of a hierarchy of structures, a new type of network organization is created, focused on rapid change depending on the situation.

Instruction

The vital activity of a traditional society is based on subsistence (agriculture) with the use of extensive technologies, as well as primitive crafts. Such a social structure is typical for the period of antiquity and the Middle Ages. It is believed that any that existed in 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 took place at an extremely slow, almost imperceptible rate of natural evolution. The economic system was based on the use of natural resources, it was dominated by mining, trade, construction. The people were mostly sedentary.

social system traditional society - class-corporate. It is characterized by stability, preserved for centuries. There are several different estates that do not change over time, maintaining the same nature of life and static. Many societies traditional look commodity relations are either not typical at all, or are so poorly developed that they are focused only on meeting the needs of small members of the social elite.

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

The rules of coexistence with neighbors, life in, attitude to were determined by established traditions. The man 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 destiny. The head of state enjoyed unquestioned authority and played an important role in the life of society.

The traditional society is demographically characterized by high, high mortality and rather low life expectancy. Examples of this type today are the ways of many countries of Northeast and North Africa (Algeria, Ethiopia), Southeast Asia (in particular, Vietnam). In Russia, a society of this type existed until the middle of the 19th 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 distinguish - the culture of the ancestors. Cultural life was mainly 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 rather 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 dominant worldview in such a society and stable traditions provide a person with a ready-made and clear system of spiritual guidelines and values. That is why the world seems clear to a person, not causing unnecessary questions.

Introduction.

The relevance of the problem of traditional society is dictated by global changes in the worldview of mankind. Civilization studies today are especially acute and problematic. The world oscillates between prosperity and poverty, the individual and the digital, the infinite and the private. Man is still looking for the real, the lost and the hidden. There is a “tired” generation of meanings, self-isolation and endless waiting: waiting for light from the West, good weather from the South, cheap goods from China and oil profits from the North.

Modern society requires enterprising young people who are able to find "themselves" and their place in life, restore Russian spiritual culture, morally stable, socially adapted, capable of self-development and continuous self-improvement. The basic structures of personality are laid in the first years of life. This means that the family has a special responsibility for cultivating such qualities in the younger generation. And this problem becomes especially relevant at this modern stage.

Arising naturally, the "evolutionary" human culture includes an important element - a system of social relations based on solidarity and mutual assistance. Many studies, and even ordinary experience, show that people became human precisely because they overcame selfishness and showed altruism that goes far beyond short-term rational calculations. And that the main motives for such behavior are irrational and connected with the ideals and movements of the soul - we see this at every step.

The culture of a traditional society is based on the concept of "people" - as a transpersonal community with historical memory and collective consciousness. An individual person, an element of such - the people and society, is a "cathedral personality", the focus of many human ties. He is always included in solidarity groups (families, village and church communities, labor collectives, even gangs of thieves - acting on the principle "One for all, all for one"). Accordingly, the prevailing attitudes in traditional society are such as service, duty, love, care, and coercion.

There are also acts of exchange, for the most part, which do not have the nature of free and equivalent sale and purchase (exchange of equal values) - the market regulates only a small part of traditional social relations. Therefore, the general, all-encompassing metaphor for social life in a traditional society is the “family”, and not, for example, the “market”. Modern scientists believe that 2/3 of the world's population to a greater or lesser extent has features of traditional societies in their way of life. What are traditional societies, when did they arise and what characterizes their culture?

The purpose of this work: to give a general description, to study the development of traditional society.

Based on the goal, the following tasks were set:

Consider different ways of typology of societies;

Describe traditional society;

Give an idea of ​​the development of traditional society;

To identify the problems of the transformation of traditional society.

Typology of societies in modern science.

In modern sociology, there are various ways of typifying societies, and all of them are legitimate from certain points of view.

There are, for example, two main types of society: first, pre-industrial society, or the so-called traditional society, which is based on a peasant community. This type of society still covers most of Africa, a significant part of Latin America, most of the East, and dominated Europe until the 19th century. Secondly, the modern industrial-urban society. The so-called Euro-American society belongs to it; and the rest of the world is gradually catching up to it.

Another division of societies is also possible. Societies can be divided according to political characteristics - into totalitarian and democratic. In the first societies, society itself does not act as an independent subject of public life, but serves the interests of the state. The second societies are characterized by the fact that, on the contrary, the state serves the interests of civil society, the individual and public associations (at least ideally).

It is possible to distinguish the types of societies according to the dominant religion: Christian society, Islamic, Orthodox, etc. Finally, societies are distinguished by the dominant language: English-speaking, Russian-speaking, French-speaking, etc. It is also possible to distinguish societies along ethnic lines: single-ethnic, binational, multinational.

One of the main types of typology of societies is the formational approach.

According to the formational approach, the most important relations in society are property and class relations. The following types of socio-economic formations can be distinguished: primitive communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist (includes two phases - socialism and communism). None of the above basic theoretical points underlying the theory of formations is now indisputable.

The theory of socio-economic formations is not only based on the theoretical conclusions of the middle of the 19th century, but because of this it cannot explain many of the contradictions that have arisen:

· Existence along with zones of progressive (ascending) development of zones of backwardness, stagnation and dead ends;

· the transformation of the state - in one form or another - into an important factor in social production relations; modification and modification of classes;

· the emergence of a new hierarchy of values ​​with the priority of universal human values ​​over class ones.

The most modern is another division of society, which was put forward by the American sociologist Daniel Bell. He distinguishes three stages in the development of society. The first stage is a pre-industrial, agricultural, conservative society, closed to outside influences, based on natural production. The second stage is an industrial society, which is based on industrial production, developed market relations, democracy and openness.

Finally, in the second half of the twentieth century, the third stage begins - a post-industrial society, which is characterized by the use of the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution; sometimes it is called the information society, because the main thing is no longer the production of a certain material product, but the production and processing of information. An indicator of this stage is the spread of computer technology, the unification of the whole society into a single information system in which ideas and thoughts are freely distributed. Leading in such a society is the requirement to respect the so-called human rights.

From this point of view, different parts of modern humanity are at different stages of development. Until now, maybe half of humanity is in the first stage. And the other part is going through the second stage of development. And only a smaller part - Europe, the USA, Japan - entered the third stage of development. Russia is now in a state of transition from the second stage to the third.

General characteristics of traditional society

Traditional 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. There is no single theory of traditional society. Ideas about a traditional society are based, rather, on its understanding as a socio-cultural model that is asymmetric to modern society, than on a generalization of the real facts of the life of peoples who are not engaged in industrial production. Characteristic for the economy of a traditional society is the dominance of subsistence farming. In this case, commodity relations either do not exist at all, or are focused on meeting the needs of a small stratum of the social elite.

The main principle of the organization of social relations is a 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 dictated the dominance of collectivist social ideas, focused on strict observance of traditional norms of behavior and excluding individual freedom of the individual, 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 mainly in authoritarian forms.

A characteristic feature of a traditional society is 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 the Far East). Therefore, intergenerational transmission of culture is carried out in a verbal, folklore form, and the main institution of socialization is the family and the community. The consequence of this was the extreme variability of the culture of one and the same ethnic group, manifested in local and dialectal differences.

Traditional societies include ethnic communities, which are characterized by communal settlements, the preservation of blood and family ties, predominantly handicraft and agrarian forms of labor. The emergence of such societies dates back to the earliest stages of human development, to primitive culture. Any society from a primitive community of hunters to the industrial revolution of the late 18th century can be called a traditional society.

A traditional society is a society governed by tradition. The preservation of traditions is a higher value in it than development. The social structure in it is characterized (especially in the countries of the East) by a rigid class hierarchy and the existence of stable social communities, a special way of regulating the life of society based on traditions and customs. This organization of society seeks to preserve the socio-cultural foundations of life unchanged. The traditional society is an agrarian society.

For a traditional society, as a rule, are characterized by:

· traditional economy - an economic system in which the use of natural resources is determined primarily by tradition. Traditional industries predominate - agriculture, resource extraction, trade, construction, non-traditional industries practically do not receive development;

the predominance of the agrarian way of life;

the stability of the structure;

class organization;

· low mobility;

· high mortality;

· high birth rate;

low life expectancy.

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

In a traditional society, collectivist attitudes prevail, individualism is not welcome (because the freedom of individual actions can lead to a violation of the established order). In general, traditional societies are characterized by the primacy of collective interests over private ones, including the primacy of the interests of existing hierarchical structures (state, clan, etc.). It is not so much individual capacity that is valued, but the place in the hierarchy (bureaucratic, class, clan, etc.) that a person occupies.

In a traditional society, as a rule, relations of redistribution rather than market exchange prevail, and elements of a market economy are tightly regulated. This is due to the fact that free market relations increase social mobility and change the social structure of society (in particular, they destroy estates); the system of redistribution can be regulated by tradition, but market prices are not; forced redistribution prevents "unauthorized" enrichment, the impoverishment of both individuals and estates. The pursuit of economic gain in a traditional society is often morally condemned, opposed to selfless help.

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

The worldview of a traditional society is conditioned by tradition and authority.

Development of traditional society

Economically, the traditional society is based on agriculture. Moreover, such a society can be not only landowning, like the society of ancient Egypt, China or medieval Russia, 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 fishing in the exceptionally rich coastal waters of Southern Peru (in pre-Columbian America).

Characteristic of a pre-industrial traditional society is the dominance of redistributive relations (that is, distribution in accordance with the social position of each), which can be expressed in a variety of forms: the centralized state economy of ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia, medieval China; the Russian peasant community, where redistribution is expressed in regular redistribution of land according to the number of eaters, etc. However, one should not think that redistribution is the only possible way of the economic life of a traditional society. It dominates, but the market in one form or another always exists, and in exceptional cases it can even acquire a leading role (the most striking example is the economy of the ancient Mediterranean). But, as a rule, market relations are limited to a narrow range of goods, most often objects of prestige: the medieval European aristocracy, getting everything they needed on their estates, bought mainly jewelry, spices, expensive weapons of thoroughbred horses, etc.

In social terms, traditional society is much more strikingly different from our modern society. The most characteristic feature of this society is the rigid attachment of each person to the system of redistributive relations, the attachment is purely personal. This is manifested in the inclusion of each in a collective that carries out this redistribution, and in the dependence of each on the “seniors” (by age, origin, social status) who are “at the boiler”. Moreover, the transition from one team to another is extremely difficult, social mobility in this society is very low. At the same time, not only the position of the estate in the social hierarchy is valuable, but also the very fact of belonging to it. Here you can give specific examples - caste and class systems of stratification.

Caste (as in traditional Indian society, for example) is a closed group of people who occupy a strictly defined place in society.

This place is delineated by many factors or signs, the main of which are:

traditionally inherited profession, occupation;

endogamy, i.e. the obligation to marry only within one's own caste;

Ritual purity (after contact with the "lower" it is necessary to undergo a whole purification procedure).

The estate is a social group with hereditary rights and obligations, enshrined in customs and laws. The feudal society of medieval Europe, in particular, was divided into three main classes: the clergy (the symbol is a book), chivalry (the symbol is a sword) and the peasantry (the symbol is a plow). in Russia before the revolution of 1917. there were six classes. These are nobles, clergy, merchants, petty bourgeois, peasants, Cossacks.

The regulation of estate life was extremely strict, down to minor circumstances and minor details. So, according to the "Charter to the Cities" of 1785, Russian merchants of the first guild could travel around the city in a carriage drawn by a pair of horses, and merchants of the second guild could only travel in a carriage with a pair. The class division of society, as well as the caste one, was consecrated and fixed by religion: everyone has his own destiny, his own destiny, his own corner on this earth. Stay where God placed you, exaltation is a manifestation of pride, one of the seven (according to medieval classification) deadly sins.

Another important criterion of social division can be called a community in the broadest sense of the word. This refers not only to a neighboring peasant community, but also to a craft workshop, a merchant guild in Europe or a merchant union in the East, a monastic or knightly order, a Russian cenobitic monastery, thieves' or beggarly corporations. The Hellenic polis can be viewed not so much as a city-state, but as a civil community. A person outside the community is an outcast, outcast, suspicious, an enemy. Therefore, expulsion from the community was one of the most terrible punishments in any of the agrarian societies. A person was born, lived and died tied to the place of residence, occupation, environment, exactly repeating the lifestyle of his ancestors and being absolutely sure that his children and grandchildren would follow the same path.

Relationships and bonds between people in traditional society were permeated through and through with personal loyalty and dependence, which is understandable. At that level of technological development, only direct contacts, personal involvement, individual involvement could ensure the movement of knowledge, skills, abilities from teacher to student, from master to journeyman. This movement, we note, had the form of transferring secrets, secrets, recipes. Thus, a certain social problem was also solved. Thus, the oath, which in the Middle Ages symbolically and ritually sealed relations between vassals and seigneurs, in its own way equalized the parties involved, giving their relationship a shade of simple patronage of a father to his son.

The political structure of the vast majority of pre-industrial societies is determined more by tradition and custom than by written law. Power could be justified by the origin, the scale of controlled distribution (land, food, and finally, water in the East) and supported by divine sanction (this is why the role of sacralization, and often direct deification of the figure of the ruler, is so high).

Most often, the state system of society was, of course, monarchical. And even in the republics of antiquity and the Middle Ages, real power, as a rule, belonged to representatives of a few noble families and was based on these principles. As a rule, traditional societies are characterized by the merging of the phenomena of power and property, with the determining role of power, that is, having more power, and had real control over a significant part of the property that was in the aggregate disposal of society. For a typical pre-industrial society (with rare exceptions), power is property.

The cultural life of traditional societies was decisively influenced precisely by the justification of power by tradition and the conditionality of all social relations by class, communal and power structures. Traditional society is characterized by what could be called gerontocracy: the older, the smarter, the older, the more perfect, the deeper, the true.

Traditional society is holistic. It is built or organized as a rigid whole. And not just as a whole, but as a clearly prevailing, dominant whole.

The collective is a socio-ontological, not a value-normative reality. It becomes the latter when it begins to be understood and accepted as a common good. Being also holistic in its essence, the common good hierarchically completes the value system of a traditional society. Along with other values, it ensures the unity of a person with other people, gives meaning to his individual existence, guarantees a certain psychological comfort.

In antiquity, the common good was identified with the needs and development trends of the policy. A polis is a city or society-state. Man and citizen in it coincided. The polis horizon of ancient man was both political and ethical. Outside of its borders, nothing interesting was expected - only barbarism. The Greek, a citizen of the polis, perceived the state goals as his own, saw his own good in the good of the state. With the policy, its existence, he linked his hopes for justice, freedom, peace and happiness.

In the Middle Ages, God was the common and highest good. He is the source of everything good, valuable and worthy in this world. Man himself was created in his image and likeness. From God and all power on earth. God is the ultimate goal of all human aspirations. The highest good that a sinful person is capable of is love for God, service to Christ. Christian love is a special love: God-fearing, suffering, ascetic-humble. In her self-forgetfulness there is a lot of contempt for herself, for worldly joys and comforts, achievements and successes. In itself, the earthly life of a person in its religious interpretation is devoid of any value and purpose.

In pre-revolutionary Russia, with its community-collective way of life, the common good took on the form of a Russian idea. Its most popular formula included three values: Orthodoxy, autocracy and nationality. The historical existence of a traditional society is slow. The boundaries between the historical stages of "traditional" development are barely distinguishable, there are no sharp shifts and radical shocks.

The productive forces of traditional society developed slowly, in the rhythm of cumulative evolutionism. What economists call pent-up demand, that is, was missing. the ability to produce not for the sake of immediate needs, but for the sake of the future. Traditional society took from nature exactly as much as needed, and nothing more. Its economy could be called environmentally friendly.

Transformation of traditional society

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

In ancient times, changes in traditional society took place extremely slowly - over generations, almost imperceptibly for an individual. Periods of accelerated development also took place 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, the society 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 the 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. Standing apart is Ancient Rome (until the 3rd century AD) with its civil society.

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

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

The most painful transformation of a traditional society occurs when 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 a demographic transition. The generation that grew up in small families has a psychology that differs from that of a traditional person.

Opinions on the need to transform 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 the traditional society "has no chance", although it "fiercely resists." According to the calculations of the 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 human population must be reduced by several hundred times.

CONCLUSION

Based on the work carried out, the following conclusions were drawn.

Traditional societies are characterized by the following features:

· Predominantly agrarian mode of production, understanding of land ownership not as property, but as land use. The type of relationship between society and nature is built not on the principle of victory over it, but on the idea of ​​merging with it;

· The basis of the economic system is community-state forms of ownership with a weak development of the institution of private property. Preservation of the communal way of life and communal land use;

· Patronage system of distribution of the product of labor in the community (redistribution of land, mutual assistance in the form of gifts, marriage gifts, etc., regulation of consumption);

· The level of social mobility is low, the boundaries between social communities (castes, estates) are stable. Ethnic, clan, caste differentiation of societies, in contrast to late industrial societies with class division;

· Preservation in everyday life of combinations of polytheistic and monotheistic ideas, the role of ancestors, orientation to the past;

· The main regulator of public life is tradition, custom, adherence to the norms of life of previous generations.

The huge role of ritual, etiquette. Of course, the "traditional society" significantly limits scientific and technological progress, has a pronounced tendency to stagnation, and does not consider the autonomous development of a free person as the most important value. But Western civilization, having achieved impressive successes, is currently facing a number of very difficult problems: ideas about the possibilities of unlimited industrial and scientific and technological growth turned out to be untenable; the balance of nature and society is disturbed; the pace of technological progress is unsustainable and threatens a global environmental catastrophe. Many scientists draw attention to the merits of traditional thinking with its emphasis on adaptation to nature, the perception of the human person as part of a natural and social whole.

Only the traditional way of life can be opposed to the aggressive influence of modern culture and the civilizational model exported from the West. For Russia, there is no other way out of the crisis in the spiritual and moral sphere, except for the revival of the original Russian civilization on the basis of the traditional values ​​of national culture. And this is possible if the spiritual, moral and intellectual potential of the bearer of Russian culture, the Russian people, is restored.