Traditional society is characterized by the following features. Traditional society and its features

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

The concept of traditional society

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

Signs of a traditional society

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

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

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

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

Features of the economic structure

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

Traditional society is a confrontation between nature and man.

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

Social relations and hierarchy

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

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

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

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

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

Political structure

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

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

The spiritual sphere of traditional society

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

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

Hierarchy of values

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

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

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

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

The relationship between modern and traditional societies

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

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

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TRADITIONAL SOCIETY

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

The concept of traditional society covers the great agrarian civilizations of the Ancient East ( Ancient India And Ancient China, Ancient Egypt and medieval states of the Muslim East), European states of the Middle Ages. In a number of countries in Asia and Africa, traditional society continues to exist today, but the collision with modern Western civilization has significantly changed its civilizational characteristics.

The basis of human life is work, in the process of which a person transforms the matter and energy of nature into items for his own consumption. In a traditional society, the basis of life activity is agricultural labor, the fruits of which give a person everything necessary funds to life. However, manual agricultural labor using simple tools provided a person with only the most necessary things, and even then under favorable conditions. weather conditions. The Three "Black Horsemen" terrified the European Middle Ages - famine, war and plague. Hunger is the most severe: there is no shelter from it. He left deep scars on the cultural brow of European peoples. Its echoes can be heard in folklore and epic, in the mournful drawl of folk chants. Majority folk signs- about the weather and crop prospects. Dependence of a person in a traditional society on nature reflected in the metaphors “nurse-earth”, “mother-earth” (“mother of the damp earth”), expressing a loving and caring attitude towards nature as a source of life, from which one was not supposed to draw too much.

The farmer perceived nature as Living being, requiring a moral attitude towards oneself. Therefore, a person in a traditional society is not a master, not a conqueror, and not a king of nature. He is a small fraction (microcosm) of the great cosmic whole, the universe. His work activity was subject to the eternal rhythms of nature(seasonal changes in weather, length of daylight hours) - this is the requirement of life itself on the borderline of the natural and social. An ancient Chinese parable ridicules a farmer who dared to challenge traditional agriculture based on the rhythms of nature: in an effort to accelerate the growth of cereals, he pulled them by the top until he pulled them out by the roots.

A person’s attitude towards the subject of labor always presupposes his attitude towards another person. By appropriating this item in the process of labor or consumption, a person is included in the system public relations ownership and distribution. In the feudal society of the European Middle Ages private ownership of land prevailed- the main wealth of agricultural civilizations. Matched her a type of social subordination called personal dependence. The concept of personal dependence characterizes the type of social connection between people belonging to various social classes of feudal society - the steps of the “feudal ladder”. The European feudal lord and the Asian despot were full masters of the bodies and souls of their subjects, and even owned them as property. This was the case in Russia before the abolition of serfdom. Personal addiction breeds non-economic forced labor based on personal power based on direct violence.

Traditional society has developed forms of everyday resistance to the exploitation of labor on the basis of non-economic coercion: refusal to work for a master (corvée), evasion of payment in kind (quitrent) or monetary tax, escape from one’s master, which undermined the social basis of traditional society - the relationship of personal dependence.

People of the same social class or estate(peasants of the territorial neighboring community, the German mark, members of the noble assembly, etc.) were bound by relationships of solidarity, trust and collective responsibility. The peasant community and city craft corporations jointly bore feudal duties. Communal peasants survived together in lean years: supporting a neighbor with a “piece” was considered the norm of life. Narodniks, describing “going to the people,” note the following features folk character, such as compassion, collectivism and readiness for self-sacrifice. Traditional society has formed high moral qualities: collectivism, mutual assistance and social responsibility, included in the treasury of civilizational achievements of mankind.

A person in a traditional society did not feel like an individual opposing or competing with others. On the contrary, he perceived himself an integral part of their village, community, policy. The German sociologist M. Weber noted that having settled in the city Chinese peasant did not break ties with the rural church community, but in Ancient Greece expulsion from the polis was even equated to the death penalty (hence the word “outcast”). The man of the Ancient East completely subordinated himself to the clan and caste standards of social group life and “dissolved” in them. Respect for traditions has long been considered the main value of ancient Chinese humanism.

The social status of a person in a traditional society was determined not by personal merit, but social origin . The rigidity of the class and class barriers of traditional society kept it unchanged throughout his life. People to this day say: “It was written in the family.” The idea that one cannot escape fate, inherent in the traditionalist consciousness, has shaped a type of contemplative personality whose creative efforts are directed not at remaking life, but at spiritual well-being. I.A. Goncharov, with brilliant artistic insight, captured such psychological type in the image of I.I. Oblomov. "Fate", i.e. social predestination, is a key metaphor ancient Greek tragedies. Sophocles' tragedy "Oedipus the King" tells of the titanic efforts of the hero to avoid the terrible fate predicted for him, however, despite all his exploits, evil rock celebrates victory.

The daily life of traditional society was remarkable stability. It was regulated not so much by laws as tradition - a set of unwritten rules, patterns of activity, behavior and communication that embody the experience of ancestors. In the traditionalist consciousness, it was believed that the “golden age” was already behind, and the gods and heroes left examples of actions and exploits that should be imitated. People's social habits have remained virtually unchanged for many generations. Organization of everyday life, methods of housekeeping and norms of communication, holiday rituals, ideas about illness and death - in a word, everything we call everyday life, was brought up in the family and passed down from generation to generation. Many generations of people have experienced the same social structures, ways of doing things, and social habits. Submission to tradition explains the high stability of traditional societies with their stagnant patriarchal cycle of life and extremely slow pace of social development.

The sustainability of traditional societies, many of which (especially in Ancient East) remained virtually unchanged over the centuries, contributed to public authority of the supreme power. Often she was directly identified with the personality of the king (“The State is me”). The public authority of the earthly ruler was fueled by religious ideas about the divine origin of his power (“The Sovereign is God’s vicegerent on earth”), although history knows few cases when the head of state personally became the head of the church (the Anglican Church). The personification of political and spiritual power in one person (theocracy) ensured the dual subordination of man to both the state and the church, which gave traditional society even greater stability.

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Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Federal state budget educational institution higher professional education

Kemerovo State University

Faculty of History and International Relations

Department of Economic Theory and Public Administration

Traditional society and its characteristics

Performed:

2nd year student

groups I-137

Polovnikova Kristina

Kemerovo 2014

Traditional society is a type of way of life, social relationships, values, based on strict traditions. The economic basis of a traditional society is agrarian (agricultural) economy, and that is why an agrarian or pre-industrial society is called traditional. Other types of society, besides traditional, include industrial and post-industrial (non-traditional types).

In social science and sociology, the concept of traditional society is characterized by the obligatory presence of stratification among the population. In a traditional society, the individualism of the upper class prevails, which is in power. But even within this class there was strict adherence to established traditions and the resulting inequality between different categories of people. This reveals the patriarchy of traditional society and a rigid hierarchical structure.

Characteristics:

Traditional society and its plan are a combination of several societies, ways of life, standing at very different stages of development. Moreover, such a social structure of a traditional society is strictly controlled by those in power. Any desire to go beyond its limits was perceived as a rebellion and was harshly suppressed or, at least, condemned by everyone.

Thus, one of the characteristics of a traditional society is the presence of social groups. In ancient Russian traditional society, for example, this is a prince or leader in power. Next, according to the hierarchical characteristics of a traditional society, come his relatives, then representatives of the military stratum, and at the very bottom - peasants and farm laborers. In the traditional society of Russia of a later period, other segments of the population appeared. This is a sign of the development of a traditional society, in which the division between segments of the population becomes even clearer, and the gap between the upper classes and the lower ones becomes even deeper.

Development over the course of history:

In fact, the features of traditional society have changed significantly over the centuries. Thus, a traditional society of a tribal type or an agrarian type or a feudal type had its own characteristics. Eastern traditional society and the conditions of its formation had significant differences from traditional society in Europe. Therefore, sociologists try to avoid this concept in its broad sense, considering it controversial in relation to various types of society.

However, social institutions, power and political life in all traditional societies are largely similar. The history of traditional societies lasted for centuries, and to an individual living at that time it would seem that absolutely nothing had changed in life in one generation. One of the functions of traditional society was to maintain this static state. Socialization in a traditional society is characterized by authoritarianism, i.e. suppression of any signs of social mobility. Social relations in traditional society were built in the form of strict submission to age-old traditions - no individualism. A person in a traditional society did not dare to go beyond the established boundaries - any attempts were immediately suppressed, both in the highest and lowest strata.

The role of religion:

Naturally, personality in traditional society was determined by a person’s origin. Any individual was subordinate to the family - in a traditional society it was one of the dominant units of the social structure. Science and education in a traditional society, in accordance with centuries-old foundations, were available to the upper classes, mainly males. The prerogative of the rest was religion - in a traditional society the role of religion was especially important. In the culture of traditional societies, this was the only value available to absolutely everyone, which allowed higher clans to control lower ones.

However, the spiritual life of traditional society was, not an example of the modern way of life, much deeper and more important for the consciousness of each individual. This was the basis for the attitude towards nature in traditional society, towards family and loved ones. Such values, when comparing traditional and industrial societies, their pros and cons, undoubtedly put tradition in first place. Traditional societies are dominated by families with strong relationships between spouses and children. Ethical family values, as well as the ethics of business communication in a traditional society are distinguished by a certain nobility and prudence, although for the most part this applies to the educated, upper stratum of the population.

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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 predominate, individualism is not encouraged (since freedom of individual action can lead to a violation of the established order, time-tested). In general, traditional societies are characterized by the predominance of collective interests over private ones, including the primacy of the interests of existing hierarchical structures(state, clan, etc.). What is valued is not so much individual capacity as the place in the hierarchy (official, class, clan, etc.) that a person occupies.

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 markets increase social mobility and change social structure societies (in particular, they destroy class); the redistribution system can be regulated by tradition, but market prices cannot; forced redistribution prevents “unauthorized” enrichment/impoverishment of both individuals and classes. The pursuit economic benefit in traditional society it 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.

2. 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 in such periods changes were carried out slowly according to 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. Stands apart Ancient Rome(before the 3rd century AD) with its civil society.

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 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.

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.

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

· 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"

· Book “European Modernization”

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