soci011 - module 8 (hs4) - types of human societies

Module 8 (HS4) - TYPES OF HUMAN SOCIETIES

0. OBJECTIVES

From this module you will learn

the crucial typology of human societies that underlies the entire course, which is based on the 2 criteria of

subsistence technology
nature of the environment

how the primary types of societies so defined approximate an evolutionary sequence in the long course of sociocultural evolution
how the type of a society "makes a big difference" in predicting many aspects of that society such as average size, degree of complexity, and even religious beliefs (to name only a few)

1. TYPOLOGY OF HUMAN SOCIETIES

We use a typology ( = classification) of human societies based on two criteria:

their subsistence technology (primary criterion)
the nature of their environment (secondary criterion)

These two criteria are the most basic causes of fundamental differences among societies over the course of human history.

Levels of technological development define a broad historical (evolutionary) sequence.

**Criteria for classifying primary types of human societies** (modified from HS Table 4.1 p. 74)
Type of Society:	Plant Cultivation	Metallurgy	Plow	Iron	Inanimate Energy Sources	Approximate Date of Emergence
Hunting & Gathering	-	-	-	-	-
Simple Horticultural	+	-	-	-	-	8,000 BC
Advanced Horticultural	+	+	-	-	-
Simple Agrarian	+	+	+	-	-	3,000 BC
Advanced Agrarian	+	+	+	+	-
Industrial	+	+	+	+	+	1,750 AD

NOTE:

a "+" or "-" symbol indicates that the trait is usually present or absent in a given type of society
it is important to remember the approximate dates of emergence of horticultural, agrarian, and industrial societies

Combining the technological dimension with the ecological dimension yields the ecological-evolutionary typology of human societies:

Exhibit: Ecological-evolutionary taxonomy of societies (HS 7th edition, Figure 4.1 p. 82; modified)

NOTE:

the space in the previous exhibit is defined by the two dimensions (criteria) of the typology of human societies: level of technological advance (vertical axis) and type of environment (horizontal axis)
this exhibit is very important as it serves as an outline of the materials for the rest of the course

Socio-cultural evolution may be viewed in terms of the succession of societal types:

Exhibit: Societal types through history (HS Figure 4.2 p. 75)

Q - What is the basic difference between horticultural and hunting and gathering societies?

Q - What is the basic difference between horticultural and agrarian societies?

Q - Which type(s) of society cultivates fields with iron plows?

Q - Horticultural, agrarian, and industrial societies first appeared at approximately what dates?

2. THE TYPE OF A SOCIETY "MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE"!

The type a society makes a difference with respect to:

size

Exhibit: Median size of societies, by type of society (HS Table 4.2 p. 79)

social complexity (measured as extent of craft specialization or existence of complex status system)

Exhibit: Craft specialization, by type of society (HS Table 4.3 p. 80)

Exhibit: Complex status system, by type of society (HS Figure 4.3 p. 80)

ideology

Exhibit: Belief in a creator God, by type of society (HS Figure 4.4 p. 81)

Exhibit: Belief in creator God, by type of society (updated and including FI and HE societies)

etc. (we will see many more differences associated with the type of a society)

The rest of the course looks in details at how similarities and differences among types of societies relate to the two criteria of the typology (subsistence technology and environment).

Q - What is the most useful basis for classifying human societies?

Q - Which type of society is the most likely to believe in "a supreme creator who is active and supports human morality"?

Last modified 2 June 2003