This document discusses the evolution of human societies from hunting and gathering to modern post-industrial societies. It outlines that as technology advanced, societies changed as well. Early societies like hunting and gathering groups relied on simple tools and family networks, while agricultural societies developed inequality, religion-backed elites, and money-based exchange. Industrialization led to rapid change through machinery, weakened community ties, and factories. Now, post-industrial societies are information-based, require less labor and more education, and focus on communication infrastructure, innovation, and solving global problems with technology. It also examines the evolution of early civilizations like Sumerian, Indus Valley, Shang, and Egyptian, which developed complex institutions, social classes

3. Lesson 2
Sociocultural and Political
Evolution:
The Development of Societies
from the Hunting and
Gathering to the Agricultural,
Industrial, and Post-Industrial
Stages

4. Gerhard Lenski- an
American Sociologist argued
that human society
undergoes transformation
and evolution and in the
process develops
technological advancement.
“the more technology a
society has, the faster it
changes”

5. Hunting and Gathering Societies
• The oldest and
most basic way
of economic
subsistence.

6.  making use of simple tools
to hunt animals and gather
vegetation for food
 depend on the family to do
many things
 although women and men
perform different tasks,
most hunters and
gatherers probably see the
sexes as having about the
same social importance
(Leacock, 1978)
 people come close to
being socially equal

7. `
 large-scale cultivation using plows
harnessed to animals or more
powerful energy sources
 money as a common standard of
exchange, and the old barter
system was abandoned
 extreme social inequality, typically
more than modern societies such
as our own
 agriculture raises men to a
position of social dominance
 religion reinforces the power of
elites
Horticultural and Pastoral Societies

8. Agricultural Societies and the
Neolithic Revolution

11. • Human began to farm and domesticate
animals.
• Animal domestication provided important
contributions to the Neolithic people.
• The development of agriculture also led to
an increase in social inequality

12. • the production of goods using
advanced sources of energy to
drive large machinery
• water power and then steam
boilers to operate mills and
factories filled with large
machines
• change was so rapid that it
sparked the birth of sociology
itself
• weakening of close working
relationships, strong family ties,
and many of the traditional
Industrial Societies

13.  the production of information
using computer technology
 less and less labour force
 the postindustrial society is at
the heart of globalization
 technology has improved life
and brought the world's people
closer but establishing peace,
ensuring justice, and protecting
the environment are problems
that technology alone cannot
solve
Post-Industrial Societies

14. Characteristics:
• Transfer of labor workforce from
manufacturing to service
• A significant increase in the number of
professional and technical employment
and a decline in the number of skilled and
semiskilled workers
• Education as the basis of social mobility
• Human capital

15. • Application of “intellectual technology”
• Focus on communication infrastructure
• Knowledge as source of invention and
innovation

16. Political Evolution
and the Development of
Early Civilization

17. Four Major Civilizations
• Sumerian
• Indus Valley
• Shang
• Egyptian

18. • Developed and highly advanced cities
• Well-defined city centers
• Complex and systematic institutions
• Organized and centralized system of
government
• Formalized and complex form of religion
• Job specialization
• Development of Social classes
• Advance technology
• System of writing and recording

19. As a Political leader….
• Craft laws
• Implement laws
• Impose justice and punishment
• Collect taxes
• Sometimes act as religious leaders as well

20. Social and PoliticalSystems