Typology of societies traditional and industrial society. Society typology

In the scientific literature, there are various approaches to the typology of society. Some researchers divide societies into open and closed, others into primitive and modern, others into barbaric and civilized, etc.

Let us consider two main approaches to the typology of societies: formational and civilizational.

1. The formational approach was developed by the outstanding German scientist K. Marx in the middle of the 19th century. According to Marx, the dominant mode of production in society and the form of ownership (economic basis) determine the formation of the corresponding spheres of society (superstructure): social, political and spiritual. Marx believed that society in its historical development goes through five socio-economic formations: primitive, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and (in the future) communist. Each formation has a certain way of producing material and spiritual goods. For example, the capitalist mode of production is based on the labor of hired workers, the feudal mode on the labor of peasants attached to the land, the slave-owning mode on the forced labor of slaves, etc.

Many researchers believe that one of the significant shortcomings of the formational approach is the excessive exaggeration of the role of economic factors in the development of society and the underestimation of the role of other spheres of life. Thus, one of the critics of Marxism, M. Weber, believed that Protestant ethics played a dominant role in the formation of bourgeois society in Germany.

In modern sociology, the dominant point of view is that all spheres of society are in a dialectical unity. And at each stage of the development of society, any of the main spheres of life can become decisive: political, economic, social, spiritual, and the economy determines the entire historical process of the development of society only in the final analysis.

2. The civilizational approach to the typology of society was proposed by the American sociologist Daniel Bell (b. 1919). He divided the history of the development of society into three main stages: pre-industrial, industrial, post-industrial. Each of these stages corresponds to a certain type of civilization.

pre-industrial civilization. It is characterized by the following main features: the main mode of production is agriculture and cattle breeding (in the early stages - gathering, hunting); natural way of farming (everything that is produced is mainly used to satisfy one's own needs); in the production of material and spiritual goods, the physical strength of a person and domestic animals is mainly used; predominantly rural lifestyle (the vast majority of the population lives outside the city); low level of social and geographical mobility; the education system is mainly in the nature of family education and training in traditional activities.

The pre-industrial type of society is also called traditional.

Industrial civilization and its main features: machine mode of production; production is of a market nature, i.e., most of the product produced is intended for sale; predominantly urban lifestyle (most of the population lives in cities); high level of social and geographical mobility; relatively high general level of education and professional training of the population; along with private education, there is a public education system.

In the era of industrialization, significant changes take place in the social structure of society: there is an increase in the urban population and at the same time the number of rural residents decreases; there are large industrial centers - giant cities (megacities); a large number of rural settlements are falling into decay; the number of people employed in industrial production (workers, technicians, engineers, etc.) is growing significantly.

Post-industrial civilization is a new qualitative stage in the development of society. It is characterized by the following features: automation and computerization of most processes in industrial production and the service sector; introduction of automatic control systems (ACS) in many areas of human life; the main product of production and sale is information; a reduction in the number of people employed in industry and an increase in the number of workers employed in science, information and services; along with the growth of the urban population, the number of people with comfortable housing (cottage) in rural areas is growing; equalization of urban and rural living standards.

The civilizational approach to the typology of society also has its weaknesses. It actually does not take into account such periods of development of society as savagery and barbarism. After all, civilization is interpreted by many scientists (for example, L. Morgan, F. Engels) as a stage of social development following barbarism. Therefore, the question arises of "inclusion" or "not inclusion" of periods of savagery and barbarism in pre-industrial civilization.

One of the important problems of interest to sociologists is the typology of societies. All former and currently existing societies are divided by scientists into certain types. There is a division of societies into:

1) simple - no leaders, poor, rich (for example, primitive tribes);

2) complex - there is a hierarchy of social strata, several levels of management. They appeared with the emergence of the state. Marxist sociology divides societies according to property relations and the mode of production of material goods: these are socio-economic formations - primitive, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist.

Sociologists G. Lensky and J. Lensky subdivide livelihood societies:

1) societies of hunters and gatherers;

2) horticultural;

3) agricultural;

4) industrial. Sociologist Tennis F. divided societies into:

1) pre-industrial (rural community);

2) industrial-urban. There is also a division of societies based on the appearance of writing: pre-literate and written (possession of the alphabet).

The division of society proposed by D. Bell and A. Touraine:

1) pre-industrial (traditional), where the main factor is agriculture, the main institutions are the church and the army. These are closed societies;

2) industrial - have a developed industry, free, open societies;

3) post-industrial - their main value is information, the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution.

There is a division of society along political lines:

1) democratic (civil society);

2) totalitarian (the state suppresses the individual);

If the presence of writing is chosen as the main feature, then all societies are divided into non-literate, or pre-literate, that is, having a language, but not having a written language, and written, owning the alphabet and fixing words in material signs and media: cuneiform tables, paper, books, etc. The classification of societies can also be drawn up on the basis of the religions that dominate them (for example, a Muslim society or a Christian one) or language (a French-speaking society).

G. Lensky and J. Lensky(1970) classified societies according to their main means of livelihood, but at the same time identified other important features.

We see that there are many classifications, and we cannot single out any of them as the main one or call it incorrect (only in the past, the Marxist typology was considered the main one, while others were considered incorrect).

For sociological analysis and the study of society, it is important to know what exactly we are studying right now: if it is an ethnos, then the classification by ethnicity comes to the fore, and the rest fade into the background.

The diversity of opinions about the typology of societies contributes to the search for typologies of society.

The difference in the definitions of the same society lies in the insufficiently developed conceptual and terminological apparatus and the borrowing of concepts from other sciences. Therefore, in order to simplify the typology of society, it is first necessary to clearly define the concepts and categories of sociology.

There are various typologies of societies that have different bases for classification: from the form of ownership by K. Marx to the type of cultural values ​​in the concept of P. Sorokin.

Taking as a basis for periodization the concept of industrial society of the French sociologist R.

Arona (1966), domestic scientists A. I. Kravchenko and V. F. Anurin proposed eight main parameters, the comparison of which allows one to fairly correctly distinguish four types of societies that differ in their level of development.

These options are:

1) the nature of the social structure;

2) the nature of the participation of members of the company in its management;

3) the dominant nature of economic relations;

4) the general nature of the organizational and technological level;

5) structure of employment;

6) the nature of the settlements;

7) level and scope of education;

8) the nature and level of development of scientific knowledge.

According to this typology, historically the first is a primitive society, which is characterized by the named parameters as follows:

1) tribal social structure;

2) most of the members of society take part in disordered, chaotic management;

3) economic basis - natural economy and communal ownership of the means of production;

4) primitive tools of labor (trade);

5) elementary gender and age division of labor;

6) small temporary settlements;

7) there is no systematization of the accumulated knowledge, and their transfer is carried out on an individual basis.

Traditional Society:

1) a weakly centralized state with gradual tendencies towards absolutism;

2) the absolute majority of members of society do not participate in management;

3) the economy is based on private ownership of the means of production;

4) an increase in the diversity of labor tools with the use of human forces and draft animals,

the main organizational and economic unit is the family;

5) the vast majority of the population is employed in the agricultural sector, the development of crafts and services, the deepening of the division of labor;

6) the majority of the population are rural residents, cities are centers of political and cultural life;

7) education is the destiny of a thin layer of the elite;

8) science is weakly connected with production.

Industrial society:

1) the basis of the social structure is the nation state with clear territorial boundaries;

2) universal suffrage and the institutionalization of mass political parties;

3) the basis of the economy is private ownership of capital, clearly defined market relations;

4) the dominance of machine production, the growth of the concentration of production;

5) the decline in the share of agricultural workers, the growth of the industrial proletariat;

6) urbanization of society;

7) the growth of mass literacy;

8) the growing pace of application of scientific knowledge in production and the rationalization of social life.

The development of information technologies leads to the gradual formation of a post-industrial society, which will supposedly have the following characteristics:

1) blurring of the borders of nation-states, the growth of the influence of supranational communities and organizations;

2) conflicting trends do not allow determining the main vector of development;

3) the transformation of information into the main commodity and medium of exchange, the increasing role of the possession of information;

4) automation and computerization of production processes;

5) redistribution of the share of employees by sectors: a decrease in the industrial sector and an increase in the information and service sectors;

6) the development of a trend towards suburbanization;

7) the problem of functional illiteracy;

8) science is a direct productive force.

More on the topic 36. Modern typology of societies:

1. 6.1. The main approaches to the typology of national cultures in modern science
2. Artemov V. et al. The crisis of the strategy of modern anti-communism / Under the general. ed. V. Zagladin and others; Institute of Societies, Sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU; Acad. societies, sciences under the Central Committee of the SED.-- M.: Politizdat.- 319 p., 1984

Allows you to diagnose the level and maturity of both society and the state. In Russian history, one can single out a totalitarian type of society ((1923-1953), authoritarian (1953-1985, 2000-2008), pre-democratic (transitional) (1985-1999, 2008-?). Yes, today Russia is standing again at the crossroads and she has to make a difficult choice of the way forward.

totalitarian society characterized by the fact that it is under the absolute control of state power and the state apparatus. Authoritarian society: only the political system is under full control (the ban on the change of power). Democratic type of society: society controls the state apparatus and government representatives. Civil type of society- a free association of citizens who use the organs of state administration only in cases where it is impossible to do without them and within strictly limited limits. The civil type of society is in the process of origin in the countries of Scandinavia, the USA, etc.

Political modernization is a movement from totalitarian, authoritarian societies to democratic and civil ones. From the point of view of a political criterion (political regime), in the 30s - 40s. 20th century regression was observed in the USSR, in 1953-1964. - political progress, which slowed down during the years of the so-called "stagnation" (1964-1985). Progressive political development is fixed in 1985-1991. Contradictory political progress was observed in 1992-1999.

A characteristic feature of the totalitarian regime is that it kills natural human feelings, the freedom of their manifestation, the ability for human relations and communication. In 1946, for the first time after the war, Anna Akhmatova appeared in public in the Hall of Columns of the House of the Unions. And people greeted her with applause. When this was reported to Stalin, he asked: "Who organized the applause?" Under a totalitarian regime, only what is ordered is allowed, therefore it never occurs to the cogs of this system that applause can be sincere, in a fit of feelings.

And how to evaluate the fact that in the Russian Federation a car with special signals is given the right to deviate from the rules of the road? This is a legacy of archaic, feudal orders based on caste and estate inequality. Therefore, it is not enough to ensure compliance with the law by state structures; it is necessary to make the legislation modern, to free it from the remnants of the Middle Ages.

Kings are also remnants of feudalism, but in developed countries they are nothing more than symbols. The King of Sweden is subject to a parking ticket, and the Queen of England cannot drive a car in the lane reserved for taxis and public transport. The law in Sweden equalizes the rights of officials and citizens. Our legislation allows the Russian elite to behave on the model of class or totalitarian societies.

The political evolution of a post-industrial society, according to O. Toffler, includes the following elements:

• the principle of the minority ("configurative society" - thousands of minorities);
• semi-direct democracy, rejection of representative, parliamentary democracy - citizens themselves choose options for political decisions;
• decentralization of management - the delegation of part of the authority to local authorities and international, supranational organizations.)

All of this may become a reality as computer networks proliferate.

Multi-party system, freedom of action of civil, public organizations and taking into account their opinions when making decisions, connecting ordinary citizens to participate in politics via the Internet - these are some of the signs of political modernization. By the way, Russian President D. Medvedev, having opened his own blog on the Internet, in fact, invited active citizens to connect to the technology of semi-direct democracy. The new president of Bashkiria, R. Z. Khamitov, did the same.

Spiritual and cultural typology of society

Spiritual and cultural typology of societies, unlike technological and political, focuses on national identity. It is represented by the concepts of N. Ya. Danilevsky, P. A. Sorokin, A. Toynbee and other sociologists. Briefly outlined their essence: different societies develop according to specific laws, and each local culture has its own historical destiny. Varieties of cultural typologies are pendulum, cyclical concepts of development society, as well as integral information types in socionics.

Pendulum, cyclical concepts are confirmed by periods of economic upsurge and recession, growth and decay of individual societies (N. Kondratiev, N. Danilevsky, P. Sorokin, O. Spengler, A. Toynbee). In recent national history, the cycle of progressive reforms of the 80s - 90s. 20th century was replaced by the opposite desire to return the past, traditional and even archaic values ​​in 2000-2008. The economic crisis has given impetus to a cycle of new reforms aimed at mastering new technologies. According to the law of cyclic replacement, the pendulum must swing from regression to the pole of progress, from stagnant static to positive dynamics.

In line with the pluralistic approach is the idea of ​​M. Sahlins and E. Service about two concepts of evolution: linear, unidirectional and multilinear, multidirectional. The notion that the history of mankind purposefully strives for a certain final point turns out to be unacceptable. In their opinion, the linear concept of development dooms society to death.

The idea of ​​the synchronism of the development of all criteria of social change has not yet been confirmed, as well as the hypothesis that each individual society must adapt to the general historical process (Sahlins M., Service E. - 1960).

The importance of spiritual and cultural typology is proved by the experience of the development of many countries. Thus, the financial and economic basis has not changed the Arab countries. Huge oil revenues have transformed many Arab countries outwardly. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates have made the leap from the backward Middle Ages to the technology of the early 21st century. However, the mastery of Western technology did not abolish traditional values. Moreover, the introduction of new Euro-American technologies provoked a strong rebuff from some of the orthodox adherents of the Islamic way of life. The collision of these vital values ​​resulted in a series of terrorist operations in Russia financed by Saudi Arabia and the act of 9/11 in New York. The participants in the hijacking were from Saudi Arabia, had a high level of education and material security. The motivation for their actions is purely ideological.

Social typology of society

Social typology of society It is based on the assumption that any society consists of social communities and groups. The type, core or frame of society determines the dominant, dominant groups.

caste society represented by closed, closed groups. There is a caste society in India. In some northern states of modern India, the phenomenon of "honor killings" is widespread. Village caste councils act as morality police, warning men and women against marrying outside their own caste or village. This is considered a crime against religion. Cases of family honor killings or persecution are described in the Indian media quite often. In June 2010, police arrested three suspects in the murder of a man and woman from different castes in New Delhi, and for the murder of a woman who ran away with a man from another caste. Two of the suspects are accused of killing their own sisters. In late April, police arrested the girl's mother on suspicion of murder. Nirupama Pathak's family belongs to the highest Indian caste (Brahmins). When a 22-year-old girl announced that she was secretly engaged to a lower-caste young man, her relatives put pressure on her, accusing her of insulting her religion.

This example shows that in a rapidly developing India, even with elements of a post-industrial society, the moral principles of ancient times have been preserved. In reality, caste barriers are collapsing as today's youth have opportunities to interact with people from different social backgrounds. Ancient traditions and archaic consciousness come into conflict with modern technologies and new social existence.

In Russia, there are formally no castes, but there are caste-like groups, and the corresponding remnants. For example, in Chechnya over the past 20 years, many cases of the slave trade and keeping people in slavery have been recorded. There was information in the press about an underground brick factory in Dagestan, where Russian officers sold military personnel. And the continuing custom of blood feud is one of the reasons for the mass violence and murders that reign in some North Caucasian republics. There was information in the Russian media about a gypsy who killed a girl who left him. Moreover, the murder was committed under pressure from the clan of relatives. The criminal, sentenced to 8 years, did not understand what his fault was, because he "defended" his honor and the honor of his family.

The roots of these crimes lie not in individual "bad" nations, but in the low level of the socio-economic, spiritual and educational level in certain territories. Social life there takes place in large, multi-generational families in conditions of poverty, poverty, and the pressure of wild customs. As long as the quasi-caste and quasi-slave system of social life persists, we will encounter such crimes. The task of the state and society is to raise these sections of Russian society to the level of modern civilization. Judicial repression and military violence do not solve this problem. First of all, it is necessary to improve the social conditions of life, because it is not the national factor that dominates today, but the socio-economic one.

So, the caste-like type of society is a reality not only in India, but also in Russia. In general, the caste society corresponds to the archaic or traditional types, because the division between people occurs along ethnic and religious lines.

In China, penal colonies are hiding under the guise of drug treatment centers. Prisoners are sent to work in factories and farms, fed poorly and denied medical care. This is nothing but the features of a slave-owning civilization.

Ordinary Chinese are annoyed by the lies of the authorities, corruption, information bans, in particular, the inability to freely use the Internet. In addition to China, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Tunisia, and Uzbekistan limit their citizens' right to information. And in Zimbabwe, journalism is a criminal offence.

The remnants of the archaic, patriarchal, monarchical system can be designated by the term "traditionalism", which Y. Afanasiev defines as self-reproduction on the basis of the preservation of the lowland. If the government joins the traditionalist pole together with the majority of the population of Russia, then a powerful reactionary force will be formed. According to Yu. Afanasiev, Russia as a traditional type of civilization is dying. And the continuation belongs to the renewed society, which has changed the vector of development.

It should be noted that caste stratification is supported by religious rituals. According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation - a secular state. In practice, religious violence is actually legalized in some regions. Relying on religion was one of the reasons for the two Chechen wars. Today, technologies that develop non-religious spirituality and intelligence are more effective.

AT estate type of society dominated by such classes as nobles, priests. Class inequality is built on the basis of political inequality. Estates have different levels of access to political power and different political rights.

Class-like groups in the Russian Federation exist in the form of well-known clans. If earlier it was mainly about kindred, compatriotic clans, then over the past decades political clans have been formed that unite people of different nations and territories in the politically ruling class (political elite).

Estate remnants, the remnants of noble-monarchist traditions are much more widespread in the Russian Federation than caste ones. The religious division of Russian citizens is the main sign of the functioning of the estate type of society. Class society corresponds to the patriarchal (traditional) or transitional types. The main obstacle to overcoming the archaic remnants of the Middle Ages is inequality in political life.

class type of society corresponds to the industrial level of development. A class society is incompatible with political inequality. The class society does not give up in the struggle against the class society, which is manifested in the inequality of citizens before the law. In addition, the classes differ in the level of access to property and income. The low status of economically active groups (entrepreneurs, small business), the subordinate position of big business in relation to political power, the lack of economic freedom and fair competition - all this indicates the immaturity of the class type of society in the Russian Federation. And the dominance of political power over the economic system and the practice of state intervention in the economy are characteristic of the previous stage in the development of society - the estate.

In modern Russia, property, wealth, access to spiritual and informational benefits are determined by belonging to powerful elite groups. In the 90s. 20th century there was a short period when big business influenced the government, but the precarious balance between business and government ended in the 2000s.

At the same time, Russia is developing mass type of society. Mass social mobility, mass communication and mass culture erase the social barriers between people in such a way that similar, common features dominate over differences. At one time, the sociologist B. Grushin defined the masses as situationally emerging social communities. However, the masses can also be stable, constantly functioning.

In general, mass society bears the signs of globalization both at the regional and global levels. The vagueness of the concept of "mass society" is obviously due to the fact that it corresponds to the informational type of civilization, the contours of which are not entirely clear.

In the process of transformation of the class type of society into a mass one, or, in other terminology, an industrial society into a post-industrial one, the role of information and intellectual development factors will increase. The possession of information will increasingly determine the size of property, and the amount of income, access to political power and spiritual resources.

A systematic approach to society involves a comprehensive accounting of all typologies - economic, political, spiritual, social and informational (socionic). Multidimensional, A complex approach allows you to identify weak links in the mechanism of Russian society - first of all, it is politics and the spiritual sphere. Their lagging behind is due to the fact that they are less directly dependent on the progress of technology, scientific discoveries, and to a large extent have become hostages of subjectivism, age-old stereotypes and myths, and ideological conjuncture. To the extent that scientific achievements, including sociology and socionics, innovative technologies will penetrate into the sphere of politics, ideology and culture, these areas can also become a space for progressive development.

The complexity of solving this problem lies in the fact that politics and religious ideology occupy the highest positions in the hierarchy of subsystems and institutions in modern Russian society. And the paradox is that weak, archaic links have the highest index of power and strength. Hence the difficulties of modernization, and the danger of Russia falling into the "third world" and being pushed back to the periphery of the world system.

So, the prospects for the modernization development of Russia are associated with a post-industrial economy, a democratic society, the growth of mass (universal, intersocial) communities and social intelligence. Knowledge of the typology and evolution of society is the beacon that will help develop a development strategy for our country.

Typologies of societies

As can be seen from the author's scheme (table) of correspondence between different typologies, each type of society is characterized by well-defined personal, economic, political, social, spiritual, and informational characteristics. According to the discovered pattern of correspondence between different spheres of life (politics, economics, culture, personality, society, science), the lag of at least one element (sphere, subsystem) hinders the progressive development of society. Thus, the remnants of caste, estate and early class societies, authoritarian and totalitarian methods of management - such is the socio-economic and political basis for braking the systemic modernization of Russia.

Based on the theory of levels, it is legitimate to conclude that, from the point of view of methodology, the intellectual concepts of society are basic. Therefore, the information structure of society, the socionic characteristic of society, comes to the fore. The practical (material) foundation of society is determined by economic and social typologies. The lowest level is the political type of society, which is a concentrated expression of informational, intellectual, economic and social typological characteristics. In this sense, politics is a superstructural formation. But in underdeveloped social systems, it is not the information and economic basis that determines the superstructure, but the power and ideological superstructure actively forms (or deforms) its basis.

The analysis carried out showed that the typology of society can only be a complex interdisciplinary one, but a cross-cutting, integrative approach is a sociological one.

The global revolution leads to similar changes in all countries and in all social institutions - this is a manifestation of convergence and a tendency to move towards an integrative society. Typological and national-cultural features determine the specific nuances, details and originality of social dynamics.

The development of society, as shown by G. Spencer, P. Sorokin, has a non-linear character (lateral branches under the influence of bifurcation, fluctuations).

G. Morgan, B. Porshnev formulated the law of the acceleration of history (the nature of the exponent). If Russia does not join the group of modernizing states, it is in danger of falling behind the leading powers.

The transformation of society is possible only as a systemic process. It is revealed that in the Russian Federation it is necessary first of all to modernize politics and culture. However, this does not mean abandoning the integrated approach. We need to get in line with the global trend - the reduction of the role of the state.

Any society has elements, admixtures of other types and formations. However, in Russia the "confusion index" is higher than in the group of leading countries. Cleansing the Russian society of archaic impurities is a task, without which it will not be possible to start the engine of modernization itself.

Brief summary

1. Diagnostics of social and other types of societies contributes to the explanation of the patterns of social development, the evolution of society, and thus becomes a general guideline in determining the prospects for the development of modern Russia.
2. Typology is a method of scientific knowledge based on the grouping of social objects (societies) according to their essential features.
3. A universal approach to the typology of society takes into account the level of development of society.
4. The typological (qualitative) approach is based on taking into account the cultural and other peculiarities of different societies.
5. There are economic, political, social, spiritual and cultural, informational typologies of societies.
6. The authors of the economic typology are K. Marx, F. Engels (according to the dominant mode of production) and A. Saint-Simon, D. Bell (according to the dominant sector of the economy).
7. K. Marx singled out five formations - primitive, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist.
8. Within the framework of the Saint-Simon-Bell typology, societies are called traditional, industrial, post-industrial, archaic. agricultural, informational.
9. Depending on the type of political regime, societies are classified into totalitarian, authoritarian, democratic and civil.

Practice set

Questions

What types of societies do you know? Expand the economic typology of Saint Simon - Bell. What is the specificity of K. Marx's economic typology? Describe the types of societies by political criterion. What is a social typology of society? What is the essence of spiritual (cultural) typologies of society? How do you understand the evolution of society as an integral system?

Topics for term papers, abstracts, essays.

1. Social progress and social regression
2. Simple and complex society.
3. Agrarian societies
4. Modern society
5. Modernization of society
6. Social dynamics of society
7. Information (socionic) typology of society
8. Cultural and historical typology of N.N. Danilevsky
9. The concept of an integrative society by P. Sorokin

Typology- allocation of certain types of societies according to certain similar features or criteria. It should not be forgotten that any typology of society is nothing but the creation of "ideal types", constructions compiled by sociologists on the basis of an analysis of various changes in society, which (changes) are brought together, become more or less interconnected and can be opposed other designs. Each type of society is an analytical construct, not a picture of a particular society.

According to such a criterion as writing, for example, one can single out pre-literate (pre-civilization) and literate societies.

According to the method of obtaining livelihoods: hunters and gatherers; cattle breeders and gardeners; farmers (traditional society) industrial society.

According to the mode of production and form of ownership (the typology proposed by Karp to Marx) - primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist and communist. With this approach, the process of production of material goods is considered as the basis of social life. By producing, people influence each other, and this system of interactions (direct and indirect, conscious and unconscious) of people engaged in the production, exchange, distribution of material goods forms production relations. The nature of production relations and their basis - the form of ownership - distinguish one type of society or, as they are also called, the social system, from another:

The primitive communal system is characteristic of a society with a primitive-privileged mode of production, the division of labor here occurs according to gender and age;

Under the slave system, relations between slave owners and slaves are dominant, (relationships) are marked by the fact that some people have all the means of production, while others not only do not own anything, but are themselves the property of slave owners, "tools that can talk";

for the feudal system, the peasants are no longer an instrument of labor, however, since the main means of labor - land - are the property of the feudal lords, the peasants are forced to pay dues and work out corvee for the right to use the land;

under the capitalist system, relations between capitalists and wage-workers are dominant. Mercenaries are personally free, but deprived of tools of labor, they are forced to sell their labor power;

and in the end, under communism, the initial stage of which is socialism, according to Marx, the workers had to become the owners of the means of production, and, therefore, to work for themselves and, thus, the exploitation of man by man had to disappear.

A theoretical alternative to Marxism was proposed by Whitman Rostow (b. 1916), an American researcher of the OOPT, who attempted to classify societies into stages of economic growth. In 1960. His book "The Stages of Economic Growth. NOT a Communist Manifesto" was published in the USA, in which the author, instead of the five socio-economic formations proposed by Karl Marx, identifies five stages of economic growth in history. And, if Marxism laid the basis of socio-economic formations as a method of material production, then Rostow, although he operates with economic categories, explains historical progress in essence by the activity of outstanding personalities, primarily scientists, businessmen, inventors.

According to the theory of Walt Rostow, society goes through five stages in its development.

The first stage is a traditional or industrial society. This type of society is characterized by an agrarian economy, primitive manual production, and, most importantly, a "Newtonian" level of thinking. Traditional society is characterized by backwardness, stagnation, reproduction of its own structure on a relatively unchanged scale (simple reproduction).

The second stage is a transitional society, or a period of preparation for the so-called shifts. At this stage, people appear who are able to overcome the backwardness and stagnation of a conservative traditional society. Entrepreneurial people are the main driving force. Another driving force is "nationalism", that is, the desire of the people to create a political and economic system that would provide protection from foreign interference and conquest. This period covers approximately XVIII - early. 19th century

The third stage is the "shift" stage. It is marked by the industrial revolution, the increase in the share of capital in the national income, the development of technology, and the like. This period covers XIX - early. 20th century

The fourth stage is the "maturity" stage. At this stage, the national income increases significantly, industry and science are rapidly developing. Some countries, like England, have reached this stage earlier. The same as Japan - later (Walt Rostow believed that Japan reached this stage in 1940).

The fifth stage is the "era of mass consumption". At this stage, the focus of public attention is no longer production problems, but consumption problems. The main sectors in the economy are the service sector and the production of consumer goods. On the basis of technological progress, a society of "general welfare" arises. The village was the first to reach this stage, then Western Europe and Japan.

The entry of countries into the "era of mass consumption" makes communism unnecessary. Communism, concludes Walt Rostow, will simply disappear.

Released in 1945. Books by the British philosopher and sociologist Karl Popper (1902-1994) "The Open Society and Its Enemies" introduced into scientific circulation another way of typology of societies - into "closed" and "open" societies. The very concepts of these two societies were proposed by the French scientist Henri Bergson. Under the first, he understood primitive communities with isolation, cohesion, a rigid hierarchy of relations, forced discipline, and which are primarily focused on survival. The second is open to the manifestation of individual abilities and desires, "creative intuition", which become the driving force of social progress.

Based on these provisions, Popper characterizes the transition from a closed society to an open one, which, in his opinion, began in antiquity, as the greatest revolution in the history of mankind, despite the fact that this historical movement has a completely unpredictable and uncontrollable character. Western democracy, according to Popper, has basically completed the transition to an open society - it is characterized by rationality, the ability to consciously manage social development, gradually form state institutions in accordance with the needs of people. While socialism, the scientist believes, is organized as a primitive society: it is characterized by the immutability of the laws of functioning, totalitarianism, the advantage of society over the individual, personal irresponsibility and ideological dogmatism, and then socialism remained a closed society.

In modern sociology, the so-called synthetic model of the typology of society is most often used. The American sociologist Daniel Bell is considered the author. He proposed to divide the entire history of mankind into three stages: pre-industrial (traditional society), industrial and post-industrial.

When one stage replaces another, technologies, the mode of production, the form of ownership, social institutions, the political regime, culture, lifestyle, population, and social structure change.