objectives

1. Briefly talk about the different types of societies2. Watch a short film on the evolution of technology and

its influence on changes in society (illustrate point 1)3. Reflect on the analysis of 3 classical thinkers in

sociology on the nature of changing societies (Marx, Weber and Durkheim)

4. Watch the documentary: “Time for change” and discuss the classical analysis on changing nature of society and contemporary questions on where social change is heading (discuss point 3)

4 prominent changes during time:

• New industrial economy: the growth of modern capitalism

• The growth of cities• Political change: control vs. democracy• The loss of ‘gemeinschaft’ community binding

elements in society

Sociocultural evolution

“I studied the process of change that results from a society’s

gaining new information, particularly Technology and came with a classification of 5 general

types of societies through history”

Gerhard Lenski

5 types of societies (Lenski, 1995)

1. Hunting and gathering2. Horticultural and pastoral3. Agrarian 4. Industrial5. Post-industrial

Technological development as 1 metric for changes in society

• Before we briefly explore the main characteristics of the different types of societies as categorized by Lenski, let’s watch Kevin Kelly’s story of technology

Technology is alive! What does technology want?

How has technology influenced human

development?

Kevin Kelly

Technological (determinism) !

Discussion:• What are the disadvantages of analyzing social

change from a technological perspective? • What are other possible perspectives for the

analysis of social change? What are other metrics?

Hunter and Gather societies

Hunting & gathering societies

• Refers to simple technology for hunting animals and gathering vegetation

• From the emergence of the human species until 12.000 years ago, all humans were hunters and gathers

• There are still about 300 million indigenous people that organize their society as hunters & gathers

Indigenous societies around the world

Main characteristics of H&G societies:

Social organization is simple and egalitarian

Rarely used their weapons (the spear, the bow, knife, arrow) to engage in war

Based on kinship (family bonds). Family obtains food, distributes this and secure each other

Small bands of a few dozen people living at some distance from each other. NOMADIC societies!

Few formal leaders (often a shaman). Believed in different spirits inhabiting the world

Most activities are common to everyone and centre on seeking food, some specialization corresponds to age and sex

Horticultural and pastoral societies

Horticulture societies

• Horticulture refers to technology based on using hand tools to cultivate plants– hoe to work the soil & digging stick to punch a

hole in the ground• About 6.000 years old • Pastoralism is based on the domestication of

animals

Main characteristics of H&P societies:

The domestication of plants and animals greatly increased food production enabling societies to support hundreds of people

Pastoralists remain nomads, leading their herds to fresh grazing

lands/Horticulturalists formed settlements,

moving on only when they depleted the soil

Domesticating plants and animals generates material

surplus. Trade emerged between settlements.

Material surplus frees some people from the job of securing food, that other kind of professions emerged. E.g. crafts, priests, engage in trade, cut hair etc.

Religions emerged, based on the worship of God, the creator. God is directly related to well-being of the world (Christianity, Islam and Judaism)

Social inequalities increased. Rich and poor (even slavery). Warfare.

Agrarian societies

Main characteristics of agrarian societies:

The technology of large scale farming using ploughs harnessed to animals or more sources of energy

Technological innovations of that period: irrigation,

writing, numbers and explanding use of metals

Large food supplies, large food surpluses.

Population and areas of settlements expands (e.g. Roman Empire, Inca and Mayan Civilizations)

Increasing production meant greater specialization: the rise of occupations

Trade, growth of cities, dramatic social inequalities

Industrial societies

Main characteristics of Industrial societies:Technology that empowers sophisticated machinery with advanced sources of energy

Dawns with the Industrial

revolution, approximately in

1750

Power supplies, electricity, steam,

revolution in transportation and

communication

Urbanization: emerging of cities

Diminishing traditions: family and religion. Literacy emerges

Social inequalities increased. Poverty and Richness .

Sociology is born

• We wanted to understand social change. How society transforms. Sociology reflects upon the past, tries to explain the present time and envisions future changes.

Explaining modern industrial society from different perspectives : 3 classical sociological accounts

How do the societies of the past and present differ from each other?

How and why does a society change? What forces divide a society? hold it together? Are societies

getting better or worse?

Karl Marx Emile Durkheim

Max Weber

Marx’s materialist analysis of society

Marx analysis of changing patters of society: “critique on capitalism”

In a society so rich, how could so many be so poor? And how can

we change this situation?

There are two groups in conflict: 1) Capitalists people who onw

factories and other productive enterprises

2) Proletariats: people who provide labour necessary to operate the

productive enterprises of the capitalists

Marx’s analysis of social inequalities with the rise of industrial societies:

Social conflict: struggle between different segments of society over valued resources: Capitalists vs. proletariats

To conflict between capitalists and proletariats

has its roots on the ‘process of production’ itself:

low wages, maximum profit

Social change will come if we all abandon the capitalist system.

Transform what he calls False consciousness into

Class consciousness

Social inequalities increased during history: agrarian societies were much equal.

Capitalism is grounded in other social institutions: religion, political order and morality

Alienation keeps inequalities in place and prevent social change: alienation from the act of working, from the products of work, from the workers, from human potentials

False consciousness: explanations of social problems grounded in the shortcomings of individuals rather

than the flaws of society itself

Capitalism is the natural order! I don’t have any talents, I deserve to be poor and remain poor

I am captured in a system. Hey, I don’t

deserve this and hey, I’m not alone, I’m in the

majority

Class consciousness: the recognition by workers of their unity as a class in opposition to

capitalists and ultimately to capitalism itself

Revolution!Marx idealized socialism as the opposite of capitalism!

“a more equal society”, according to Marx

Weber’s rationalization of society

Tradition and Rationality

Growing out of changes in religious belief, the modern

world can be characterized as an increasingly rational world

Ideas, especially beliefs and values have transforming power. Society

is the product (not just of new technology and capitalism) of a

new way of thinking.

tradition

Sentiments and believes passed from generation to generation.

Deliberate, matter of fact calculation of the most efficient

ways to accomplish a goal.

Rational social organization (Weber)

Large scale organization

Distinctive social

institutions

Specialized tasks

Personal discipline

impersonalitybureaucracy

Technical competency

Awareness of time

Bureaucracy became the symbol of rationalization and modernization. But it has a

dehumanizing effect

Durkheim’s notion of solidarity in society

“To love society is to love something beyond us and something in ourselves”

“Patterns of human behaviour form established structures, these are social facts that have an objective reality beyond the lives and

perceptions of particular individuals”

“Cultural norms, values, religious believes all endure social facts. Society is larger

than individual lives: it shapes individual lives”

Durkheim’s notion of solidarity

• Modern societies impose fewer restrictions on everyone but this gives rise to anomie. A condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals

• The fall of morality: guiding values• Traditional societies are characterised by

mechanical solidarity• Industrial societies gives way to organic

solidarity based on productive specialization

Assignment: concept exploration

Question :1. What does Durkheim mean with the

concepts of “mechanical solidarity”, “organic solidarity” and how does this relate to “division in labour”, “morality” and “anomie”?

2. How does an expanding division of labour contribute to social change, according to Durkheim?

Post-industrial societies

Main characteristics of post-industrialist societies:(more in Unit 8, 9 and 10)

Computer-linked technology that supports an information based society (term coined by David Bell )

Information society, network society,

post-modern society

Liquid society: living in times of uncertainties

Globalization, unequal

world

Contemporary thinkers: where are we heading?

Zygmunt Bauman

Liquid society, a new form of society that is much more fluid

than previous modern and traditional ones. Everything changes, we live in times of

uncertainties, everything flows. Mobility is the key

Manuel Castells: information/network societies

A new form of society dependent upon new

information technologies and networking

Manuel Castells

Question:

• Why do you think inequalities increased the more societies changed from hunter& gather to post-industrialization?

Documentary: Time for change

Reflect upon the following questiosn:• Do Marx’s , Weber’s and Durkheim’s

ideas/analysis of society still apply to contemporary problems in society?

• Reflect upon the following concepts: change, anger/rage, alienation, false-, class- and any kind of ‘new’ consciousness that emerges in these times, bureaucracy, good governance, debts, after watching the documentary.