Types of Society - Part I

Types of Society

Ethnocentrism: understanding the ideas or practices of another culture in terms of those of one´s own culture. Ethnocentric judgments fail to recognize the true qualities of other cultures. An ethnocentric individual is someone who is unable, or unwilling, to look at other cultures in their own terms.

Prejudice: the holding of preconceived ideas about an individual or group, ideas that are resistant to chance even in the face of new information. Prejudice may be either positive or negative. (Chauvinism, bias, discrimination)

The Earliest Societies

Hunters and Gatherers

Hunting and gathering societies: small groups or tribes often numbering no more than thirty or forty people. Hunting, fishing and gathering edible plants growing in the wild. Little inequality is found in most hunting and gathering groups. The material goods they need are limited to weapons for hunting, tools for digging and building, traps and cooking utensils. So there is little difference among members of the society in the number of kinds of material possessions – there are no divisions of rich and poor. Differences of position or rank tend to be limited to age and sex; men are almost always the hunters, while women gather wild crops, cook, and bring up the children. This division of labor between men and women, however, is very important: men tend to dominate public and ceremonial positions.

The “elders” – the oldest and most experienced men in the community – usually have an important say in major decisions affecting the group. Differences are few. This society is usually participatory – all adult male members tend to assemble together when important decisions are taken or crises faced.

They are nomadic, but they don´t move around in a completely erratic way. Most have fixed territories and migrate regularly around them from year to year. Membership is not stable, as members split up and move into other tribes but they tend to stay within the same territory.

Hunters and gatherers were not drawn to war. Their tools were not adequate weapons. Of course clashes did occur between different groups, but these were few. There were no specialist warriors.

Hunting was mostly a cooperative activity. Even those who hunted alone had to share their results.

               Are hunters and gatherers the original affluent societies?

Affluent – rich, wealthy, prosperous, comfortable. Presently the very few hunting and gathering societies live in circumstances where survival is constant struggle. In the past this wasn´t so because tribes would inhabit the most hospitable regions of the world and they did not spend most of the day working, “engaged in production.” In other words, they didn´t spend the same amount of hours a modern factory or office employee did. Also, this type of society did not focus in gathering material wealth beyond their basic wants. Their main preoccupations, besides food, shelter and warmth, were focused on religious values and ceremonial rituals. Their ceremonies were elaborate and they did spend a large amount of time on preparing the dress, masks, paintings, and other sacred objects.

               Summary of Hunters and gatherers

The absence of war, the lack of major inequalities of wealth and power, and the emphasis on cooperation rather than competition are all instructive reminders that the world created by modern industrial civilization is not necessarily to be equated with “progress.”

Pastoral and Agrarian Societies

Eventually hunting and gathering groups turned to the raising of domesticated animals and the cultivation of fixed plots of land as their means of livelihood. Many societies have had mixed pastoral and agrarian economies.

Pastoral societies: are those relying mainly on domesticated livestock.

Agrarian societies:  are those that grow crops (practice agriculture).

Pastoral Societies

Depending on the environment where they live, that´s the type of animal they rear and herd such as cattle, sheep, goats, camels, or horses. Some regions are not amenable to fruitful agriculture so its main support depends on livestock. Pastors do migrate between different areas according to seasonal changes. Because they have animal transport, they move across much larger distances than the hunters and gatherers. Because of this nomadic habit, pastoral societies do not accumulate many material possessions, although their way of life is more complex in material terms than that of hunters and gatherers. Trade

Since the domestication of animals permits a regular supply of food, these societies are larger numbering as much as a ¼ of a million people or more. When they come into contact with others they either trade or have war. Some of them have been known to be peaceful, wishing only to tend to their livestock and engage in community ritual and ceremony. However, others have been highly warlike and see conquest and pillage as normal a livelihood as herding animals. Pastoral societies display greater inequalities of wealth and power than hunters and gatherers. In particular, chiefs, tribal leaders or warlords often wield considerable personal power.

Agrarian Societies

Originated at the same time as pastoral societies. Like pastoral societies agriculture provides for a more assured supply of food than is possible by hunting and gathering, and therefore can support much larger communities. Because they are not on the move agriculture societies can develop larger stocks of material possessions than can either pastoral or hunting and gathering communities. Because societies are settled in particular places, regular trading and political ties can be developed between separate villages.

Warlike behavior is common but the level of violence is not as strong as in pastoral groups. Because they grow crops they don´t practice arts of combat such as the ones nomadic pastoral tribesmen do who on the other hand, can mass together as pillaging/looting armies.

As in pastoral groups, chiefs and tribal leaders in agrarian societies play a prominent role, and there are substantial differences in the material wealth people possess.

Non-Industrial Civilizations (Traditional States)

These societies were based on the development of cities. They showed very pronounced inequalities of wealth and power. Were ruled by kings or emperors and because they developed a more coordinated government than other forms of society, the term traditional state is used to refer to them. Most of these states were also empires; they achieved the size they did through the conquest and incorporation of other peoples. (example, Rome, China, Inca, Aztec, Mayas)

Because they have use of writing, science and art, and because they flourished in them, they are often called civilizations.

No traditional states still exist in the world today.

Features of the Traditional State:

Before modern industrialism, this is the only type of society in history wherein a significant proportion of the population was not directly engaged in the production of food.

What does this mean? It means that before the traditional state everybody worked for the production of food. Now in the traditional state the simple division of labor disappears.

What was this simple division of labor? Men hunted, women gathered and attended the children, or that men did the hard physical labor and the women did the household chores. The most important separation of tasks was between men and women, it was a division of labor by sex – the activities of women being mainly confined to the household and the fields.

So what happened to the work men did? In the traditional state a more complicated occupational system existed. Men now had specialized trades such as being a merchant, a noble (aristocrat), government administrator and soldier.

Now because we have extreme variations in power and wealth, social classes were created. The basic division of classes was between aristocratic groups and the remainder of the population. The ruler was at the head of a “ruling class” that maintained the exclusive right to hold the higher social positions. The members of this class usually lived in considerable material comfort or luxury.

Now these states sought the development of professional armies. The Roman army, for example, was a highly disciplined and intensively trained body of men, and was the foundation on which the expansion of the Roman Empire was built. In wars between states casualties were far higher than they had even been before.

Early Types of Human Society
Type	Period of Existence	Characteristics
Hunting and gathering	50,000 BC to the present (now on the verge of complete disappearance).	Consist of small numbers of people gaining their livelihood from hunting, fishing, and the gathering of edible plants. Few inequalities. Differences of rank limited by age and sex.
Pastoral	12,000 BC to the present. Today mostly part of larger states; their traditional ways of life are being undermined.	Dependent on the tending of domesticated animals for their material subsistence. Size ranges from a few hundred people to many thousands. Marked by distinct inequalities. Ruled by chiefs or warrior kings.
Agrarian	12,000 BC to the present. Most are now part of larger political entities, and are losing their distinct identity.	Based on small rural communities, without towns or cities.