2. INTRODUCTION
Role behavior often takes place in a group
Group: set of people who interact on the basis of shared
expectations and who possess some degree of
common identity
Largest and most complex are societies
Classified according to subsistence strategies: the way a
society uses technology to provide for the needs of its
members
3. PREINDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES
Preindustrial Societies:
Food production: through human and animal labor – is
the main economic activity
Divided between their levels of technology and methods
for food gathering
Subdivisions: hunting and gathering, pastoral,
horticultural and agricultural
4. HUNTING AND GATHERING
Hunting and Gathering:
Daily collection of plants and hunting of wild animals
Move around in search of food
Do not build permanent settlements
Need for mobility limits the size of population
Fewer than 60 people
Statuses within group are relative equal
Decisions reached through general agreement
Family forms the social unit
Requires the family to carry out most social functions-
production and labor
5. PASTORAL SOCIETY
Pastoral Society:
Rely on domesticated animals to meet food needs
Nomadic life- herds from pasture to pasture
Can support larger populations
Division of labor: -how work is divided- is much more complex
Craft workers, jewelry makers, etc
Production of goods encourage trade
Creates inequalities among families: some have more
goods than others
Acquire power with wealth of goods
Passing on property from one generation to the next
maintains and stabilizes power
Hereditary chieftainship: typical form of government
6. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
Horticultural Societies:
Fruits and vegetables grown on garden plots
Technology and complexity similar to pastoral societies
Rotating plots they can occupy an area over a long period of
time
Semi permanent or permanent settlements (30-2000 people)
More complex division of labor
Specialized roles: crafts people, shamans or religious
leaders, and traders
Create wide variety of artifacts
Inequalities in wealth and power
Hereditary chieftains
Economic and political systems are more developed- more
settled way of life
7. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
Agricultural Societies:
Animals used to plow fields
Technological innovation allows for plating of crops than
possible when human labor is used
Irrigation
Terracing: cutting of fields into sides of hills
Support large populations
Specialized roles:
Leads to cities
Power often falls into one or a few individuals
Hereditary monarchy
Powerful armies
8. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
Construct roads; increase trade with sufficient transportation
Abandon barter system- exchange of good or service
Develop system of writing; keep records
Sharp status difference first arise: landowners or peasants
Landowners: power and wealth
Peasants: do all the work
9. INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES
Industrial Societies: emphasis shifts from food
production to the production of manufactured goods
Made possible by changes in production methods
Preindustrial: animal human labor; small and slow
Industrial: Machines; a lot and fast
Increases the amount of food produced, increases
population size
Reduces the demand for agricultural laborers
Size of the workforce increases as new technologies
make it possible to produce a wider variety of goods
10. INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES
Location of work changes: from home settings to
factories
Factories built in cities- people move to the cities
Urbanization: concentration of population in a city
Nature of work changes- from specialized of whole
product to a series of specialization and different people
perform different tasks
Increase productivity
Reduces the level of skill and create boredom
11. INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES
Changes the role of various social institutions:
Preindustrial: family is primary; production and education is
family responsibility
Industrial: production and education take pace outside of the
home; need for mass literacy creates need for programs of
mass education systems
Religion: scientific ideas challenge religious beliefs
Brings people more freedom to compete for social positions
Preindustrial: ascribed statuses
Industrial: achieved; more control over their social position
in the social structure
12. POSTINDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES
Postindustrial Societies: economy is involved in
providing and information and services
United States and Western Europe
73% of the workforce in U.S.; 2% agricultural and 25% in
production of goods
Social changes:
Standard of living and quality of life improve as wages
increase
Place strong emphasis on science and education
Technological advances are key to future prosperity
Rights of individuals and search for personal self fulfillment
take added importance
Strong emphasis on social equality and democracy
13. CONTRASTING SOCIETIES
Contrasting Societies:
Mechanical solidarity: Durkheim- preindustrial
societies held together
perform the same tasks, share the same values, become
united in a common whole
Organic solidarity: Division of labor becomes more
complex
impersonal social relationships that arise with increased job
specialization, individuals can no longer provide for their own
needs
Become more dependant on other individuals for aspects of
their survival
Social relationships based on needs than values
14. CONTRASTING SOCIETIES
German sociologist: Ferdinand Tonnes
Two Ideal Types of societies based on social structure
of social relationships and the degree of valued shared
among societal members
Gemeinschaft: “community”
Most members know one another
Relationships are close
Activities center around the family and the community
Share a strong sense of group solidarity
Preindustrial village or rural society
15. CONTRASTING SOCIETIES
Gesellschaft: “society”
Social relationships based on need; impersonal and
often temporary
Traditional values are often weak
Individual goals more important than the groups
Modern urban society in United States
