Even at school, we all learn not only what industrialization is, but also about the features of industrial society, its characteristic features. We propose to find out what advantages and disadvantages it has, how it differs from post-industrial society, and whether there is a crisis in industrial society.
What is an industrial society?
An industrial society is a society formed in the process of industrialization, where machine production and the achievements of technical and scientific progress are used. It can be based on industry with very flexible dynamic structures, where the division of labor is characteristic, as well as the growth of its productivity, high competition and accelerated development of entrepreneurship, a significant level of urbanization, and an increase in the quality of life.
Signs of an industrial society
The following features of industrial society are distinguished:
- Rapid growth of agricultural and industrial production.
- Development of communication means.
- The emergence of printed publications and other media.
- Expanding educational opportunities.
- Complete urbanization.
- The emergence of monopolies.
- Division of labor on an international scale.
- Significant increase in vertical differentiation of the population.
Industrial society in philosophy
Encyclopedic dictionaries say that industrial society in philosophy is a concept introduced by A. Saint-Simon to define a social system where the main type of economic activity is industrial production. O. Comte and G. Spencer are considered to be the founders of the theory of industrial society. Theorists of industrial society are confident that it is possible to build a universal model of the history of society. Moreover, the prototype of such a model can be Western society.
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Industrial society in sociology
Experts openly talk about what industrial society means in this area. This concept can be called a product of modern social science. Researchers in this area begin their presentations of social science with ancient Greece. Thanks to such data obtained, they pave the way from ancient philosophy to new social science. Famous thinkers Aristotle, Plato, Tacitus and Cicero dealt with such social phenomena. They often expressed opinions regarding possible and current forms of society, trying to find the laws of social development.
How does post-industrial society differ from industrial society?
To know the differences between industrial society and post-industrial society, it is important to understand their features. Thus, an industrial society has the following features:
- Economic development by increasing the rate of exploitation of not only natural but also human resources.
- Thanks to the increase in mechanical engineering and chemical industry enterprises, industrial development is ensured.
- Society is oriented towards production and consumption. World masterpieces of culture and art are being replaced by low-grade mass culture.
As for post-industrial society, it has the following differences from industrial society:
- Information, knowledge and intelligence are the basis of the wealth of society.
- Production is focused on the needs of the consumer and the quality of the products offered to him.
- Technological processes built on an intellectual basis are the main management tool.
- The quality of life improves.
- Social ones prevail over material ones.
Pros and cons of industrial society
Even a child understands the disadvantages and advantages of an industrial society. So, among the advantages of such a society:
- Fast pace of economic development.
- Industrial development is increasing.
- Socio-historical progress.
- Improving product quality.
- The emergence of international trade
- Honesty, integrity and hard work are the main values in society.
Among the disadvantages of industrial society:
- Exploitation of natural resources to the detriment of the environment.
- Uneven growth and development of the economy.
- Job loss.
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Pros of an industrial society
Many historians argue that the transition to an industrial society allowed humanity to take a major step towards the technological process. Among the advantages of such a society:
- Improving the quality of products offered to potential consumers.
- International trade.
- Technological and historical progress.
- Increasing the pace of economic development.
- Industrial development.
Disadvantages of an industrial society
Despite all the advantages, the theory of industrial society also has its disadvantages. Among the disadvantages of such a society:
- Aggressive exploitation of natural resources. Even schoolchildren know how over-exploitation of environmental resources can threaten the environment.
- Uneven development of economic growth.
- Job loss.
The role of science in industrial society
Science is of great importance in an industrial society. Among its main functions here are cultural, ideological, and production, social management. Thanks to these functions, it is possible to characterize it in detail and meaningfully not only as a cognitive-cognitive phenomenon, but also to reveal its sociocultural nature, to record the role and significance of science in the dynamics and functioning of modern society. In general, industrial society cannot be imagined without scientific progress.
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Values of an industrial society
Researchers say that the core values of industrial society are freedom. The industrial system itself is often referred to as the space of personal freedom of a person. Freedom is often worshiped and even sworn allegiance, and they also fight and defend for it. In her name they make restrictions and sacrifices. It promotes development and is at the basis of personal initiatives, creative impulses, innovative enterprises and endeavors.
Additional material
There is a medieval Norman legend about a noble warrior who, traveling throughout Europe, accomplished many glorious deeds. One day, his search for adventure took him to the castle of a noble gentleman in the south of France. The Viking liked a lot of things and jewelry in the hospitable castle. After a rich feast in his honor, when everyone had gone to bed, the noble Viking collected all the things he liked and left the hospitable castle. But on the way, his conscience began to torment him. The warrior decided that he had acted ignoblely and dishonestly towards his hospitable host. Then he returned to the castle, woke up the owner, challenged him to a duel, killed him, took the jewelry and with a clear conscience set off to look for new adventures.
1) A special understanding of man as an active and active being, created in the image and likeness of God in the Middle Ages, as well as the cult of the human mind, formed in the Enlightenment, capable of penetrating the innermost secrets of the universe.
2) K. Marx saw the main reason for the emergence of capitalism in the development productive forces, came into conflict with established forms industrial relations, i.e., relations of ownership and distribution. The social revolution destroyed the old relations of production and established a new, historically variable correspondence between the level of development of the productive forces and the nature of the relations of production.
3) M. Weber saw the cultural origins of the “spirit of capitalism” in Reformation i.e., the reform of traditional Christianity. Protestantism believed that only success in professional activity could testify to a person’s chosenness for salvation, for posthumous eternal bliss. The Protestant ethic with its inherent cult of productive labor, sharply contrasting with the traditionalist ideals of non-acquisitiveness and noble poverty, played a decisive role in the formation of capitalism in Europe. Productive capitalism denies the irrational desire for profit based on speculation, usury, bribes, winnings from gambling, wars, maritime robbery and the robbery of colonies. Civilized capitalism is based on professional integrity, strict accounting and the distinction between capital and personal property.
4) F. Braudel saw the prerequisites for capitalism in long-distance trade. It originated in the cities of the Mediterranean back in the 11th century. – XII centuries (Amalfi, Genoa and Venice). Long-distance trade turned out to be much more profitable than agriculture. Large amounts of money settled in coastal cities. The first industrial enterprises for processing primary products of manual labor (processing of coarse cloth, leather dressing, winemaking) arose in them. The center of the new industrial civilization steadily moved from south to north following the shift of the centers of large maritime trade along the Atlantic Ocean (Antwerp, Amsterdam, London, New York). Industrial society – this is an urbanized society, the flourishing of large cities.
Questions: 1. List and characterize the prerequisites that formed a new type of civilizational development - industrial (capitalist) society.
2. How did K. Marx answer the question asked?
3. What did M. Weber see as the origins of the “spirit of capitalism”?
4. What is, from his point of view, “civilized capitalism”?
5. Describe the views of the French historian F. Braudel on the prerequisites of capitalism.
6. Which of the listed thinkers do you think most accurately indicated the prerequisites for the emerging industrial society?
3. Industrial society – technogenic civilization
– Industrial society – a type of social development based on accelerating changes in the natural environment, forms of social relations and man himself. Expansion of the sphere of human life, the emergence industrial production, a restructuring of its very foundations, a radical change in traditionalist values and life meanings. The value of the new, not constrained by regulatory tradition, is proclaimed. This contributed to the development of social productive forces unprecedented in history.
–
Rapid development of technology based on the introduction of scientific ideas into social production. The emergence of large industrial enterprises equipped with sophisticated equipment created a social demand for a competent worker, and therefore contributed to the development of a mass education system. The development of the railway network not only significantly increased economic and cultural exchange, but also required the introduction of a uniform maternity time. The impact of technology on all aspects of life in industrial society is so great that it is often called technogenic civilization.
Living labor gradually loses strength and motor functions and increases control and information functions. Science becomes not only the most important area of spiritual culture, but also a direct productive force.
–
Technological progress has contributed to the rise of the productive forces of society and an unprecedented increase in the quality of human life. Public progress–
the progressive development of society from barbarism and savagery to civilization and the further increase in civilizational achievements.
– The traditionalist idea of life-giving nature in the public consciousness of industrial society is replaced by the idea of an ordered “system of nature” governed by natural laws. Large-scale secularization of public consciousness, i.e., replacing a religious worldview and education with a secular one. The perception of nature as a deified source of life is being replaced by the concept of habitat as a storehouse of an inexhaustible supply of industrial raw materials.
– The dominant type of social connection is based on economic coercion to work. Social partnership of two legally equal parties: an entrepreneur who owns the means of production (premises, equipment, raw materials), and an employee who has only his own labor force (physical ability to work, production skills, education). Unlike the owner of the means of production, the hired worker, yesterday's peasant, driven from the land by need, does not have the means to live. Therefore, the formal (legal) equality of the parties in practice turns out to be actual inequality, economic coercion to work on the employer’s terms. But in terms of civilization, the abolition of personal dependence and the transition to social contract based on a legal contract – a noticeable step forward in the establishment of human rights and the formation of civil society. The severance of relationships of personal dependence and clan affiliation creates conditions for social mobility, i.e., a person’s ability to move from one social group (class) to another. Industrial society gives man one of the highest civilizational values - personal freedom. A free person becomes the master of his own destiny.
– Social relations take the form of commodity-money exchange. Industrial modernity is characterized by mediated (money, goods, institutions) social connections of people who do not personally know each other – social partners. Social institutions, and first of all the state represented by law enforcement agencies, courts, the prosecutor's office, as well as institutions of socialization (schools, universities, etc.) and individual employment (state enterprises), become mediators in relations between people. Institutionally mediated social connections give rise to people’s attitude towards each other as carriers social role(judge, boss, teacher, doctor, salesman, bus driver, etc.). And each person plays not one, but many social roles.
– Monopolization and regulation of violence by the state help reduce the overall level of unauthorized violence in society. The development of legal consciousness and legal institutions that equate the strong and the weak, the noble and the baseless, the rich and the poor in the face of the law, i.e. the formation rule of law, not only an integral condition for the development of industrial capitalism, but also the most important civilizational achievement of humanity.
Questions: 1. What definition can be given to an industrial society?
2. What caused the rapid development of industrial society?
3. Why did a person in a traditional society perceive time as a series of repeating events (“the wheel of times”), and a person in an industrial society as progress (“the arrow of time”)?
4. Why do some researchers call this period of social development “technogenic civilization”?
5. How does a person’s place in the system of social production change?
6. What is the role of science at this stage?
7. Describe the quality of human life in an industrial society.
8. Characterize the relationship between man and nature at this point in history.
9. What is “secularization of public consciousness”? What consequences does this process have for humans?
10. Describe the economic relations between people in an industrial society.
11. Analyze these relationships: what seems fair to you and what doesn’t?
12. What are the consequences of breaking the relationship of personal dependence and clan affiliation?
13. What highest value does industrial society give to man?
14. Is it possible to identify civilized capitalism with enrichment at any cost?
15. Describe the changes that occurred in the living conditions of a person in an industrial society.
16. What political trends are observed in this period of time?
17. Highlight the strengths and weaknesses of this type of society. Justify your choice.
DZ Features of traditional society
(economic development, place of man,
political system, spiritual life,
social mobility)
Features of industrial society (-//-)
Strengths and weaknesses of industrial
society (written assignment)
Strengths and weaknesses of industrial society
Fast growth rateeconomy.
Industrial development.
Socio-historical
progress. Development of science,
techniques and technologies.
Quality improvement
products.
Emergence
international trade.
Honesty, integrity and
hard work as the main thing
values in society.
Exploitation of natural
resources to the detriment of the environment
environment.
Uneven growth and
economic development.
Job cuts
unemployment.
High migration.
Post-industrial (information) society
The authors of the concept are D. Bell, O.Toffler, W. Rostow
1. Signs of a post-industrial society
, informationtechnologies Policy
Formation of civil
society, legal
states, development
democracy
Spiritual realm
Priority of science and
education,
cultural and ideological
diversity,
multivariance
2. East and West. Dialogue of cultures
Table analysisDivision of cultures into Western and Eastern
implies:
different geographical location
different mentality of those inhabiting these
territories of peoples (difference in characteristics
ways and methods of understanding the world, scientific,
religious, artistic, aesthetic and
spiritual values, basic worldviews,
socio-economic and political
structures)
“West”: the culture of America and Europe
“East”: cultures of Central, Southeast Asia, northern Africa, Middle East countries
East
Questions for the table
1. What is the idea of dialogue between cultures?East and West in modern
society?
2. Can the values of the East be considered
unique and alien to the West and vice versa?
3. Why is Russian civilization difficult?
definitely attributed to civilization
Eastern or Western type?
DZ – par. 11-12
Written discussion on the topic “Dialogue of culturesEast and West in modern society"
Plan:
- What is the idea of dialogue between cultures?
- Do you agree that he is present in
modern civilization?
- Give 3 examples of dialogue between cultures based on
realities of modern life (for example, from the news)
The reasoning must be of a connected nature
text with a clear author's position (essay).
Today, industrial society is a concept familiar in all developed and even many developing countries of the world. The process of transition to mechanical production, the decline in the profitability of agriculture, the growth of cities and a clear division of labor are all the main features of the process that is changing the socio-economic structure of the state.
What is an industrial society?
In addition to production characteristics, this society is distinguished by a high standard of living, the establishment of civil rights and freedoms, the emergence of service activities, accessible information and humane economic relations. Previous traditional socio-economic models were characterized by a relatively low average standard of living of the population.
Industrial society is considered modern; both technical and social components are developing very quickly in it, affecting the improvement of the quality of life in general.
Main differences
The main difference between a traditional agrarian society and a modern one is the growth of industry, the need for modernized, accelerated and efficient production and the division of labor.
The main reasons for the division of labor and mass production can be considered both economic - the financial benefits of mechanization, and social - population growth and increased demand for goods.
Industrial society is characterized not only by the growth of industrial production, but also by the systematization and flow of agricultural activities. Moreover, in any country and in any society, the process of industrial reconstruction is accompanied by the development of science, technology, media and civic responsibility.
Changing the structure of society
Today, many developing countries are characterized by a particularly accelerated process of transition from a traditional society to an industrial one. The process of globalization and free information space play a significant role in changing socio-economic structures. New technologies and scientific advances make it possible to improve production processes, which makes a number of industries especially efficient.
Processes of globalization and international cooperation and regulation are also influencing changes in social charters. Industrial society is characterized by a completely different worldview, when the expansion of rights and freedoms is perceived not as a concession, but as something for granted. In combination, such changes allow the state to become part of the world market both from an economic and socio-political point of view.
Main features and characteristics of industrial society
The main characteristics can be divided into three groups: production, economic and social.
The main production features and characteristics of an industrial society are as follows:
- mechanization of production;
- labor reorganization;
- division of labor;
- increased productivity.
Among the economic characteristics it is necessary to highlight:
- growing influence of private production;
- emergence of a market for competitive goods;
- expansion of sales markets.
The main economic feature of an industrial society is uneven economic development. Crisis, inflation, decline in production - all these are frequent phenomena in the economy of an industrial state. The Industrial Revolution does not guarantee stability.
The main feature of industrial society in terms of its social development is a change in values and worldview, which is influenced by:
- development and accessibility of education;
- improving quality of life;
- popularization of culture and art;
- urbanization;
- expansion of human rights and freedoms.
It is worth noting that industrial society is also characterized by reckless exploitation of natural resources, including irreplaceable ones, and almost complete disregard for the environment.
Historical background
In addition to economic benefits and population growth, the industrial development of society was due to a number of other reasons. In traditional states, most people were able to provide for their livelihood, and that’s all. Only a few could afford comfort, education and pleasure. Agrarian society was forced to move to agrarian-industrial society. This transition allowed for increased production. However, the agrarian-industrial society was characterized by an inhumane attitude of owners towards workers and a low level of mechanization of production.
Pre-industrial socio-economic models were based on one form or another of the slave system, which indicated the absence of universal freedoms and a low average standard of living of the population.
Industrial revolution
The transition to an industrial society began during the Industrial Revolution. It was this period, the 18th-19th centuries, that was responsible for the transition from manual labor to mechanized labor. The beginning and middle of the 19th century became the apogee of industrialization in a number of leading world powers.
During the industrial revolution, the main features of the modern state took shape, such as production growth, urbanization, economic growth and the capitalist model of social development.
The industrial revolution is usually associated with the growth of machine production and intensive technological development, but it was during this period that the main socio-political changes took place that influenced the formation of a new society.
Industrialization
There are three main sectors in both the global and national economies:
- Primary - resource extraction and agriculture.
- Secondary - processing resources and creating food products.
- Tertiary - service sector.
Traditional social structures were based on the superiority of the primary sector. Subsequently, during the transition period, the secondary sector began to catch up with the primary sector, and the service sector began to grow. Industrialization consists of expanding the secondary sector of the economy.
This process took place in world history in two stages: the technical revolution, which included the creation of mechanized factories and the abandonment of manufacturing, and the modernization of devices - the invention of the conveyor, electrical appliances and engines.
Urbanization
In the modern understanding, urbanization is the increase in the population of large cities due to migration from rural areas. However, the transition to an industrial society was characterized by a broader interpretation of the concept.
Cities became not only places of work and migration, but also cultural and economic centers. It was the cities that became the boundary of the true division of labor - territorial.
The future of industrial society
Today in developed countries there is a transition from a modern industrial society to a post-industrial one. There is a change in the values and criteria of human capital.
The engine of post-industrial society and its economy should be the knowledge industry. Therefore, scientific discoveries and technological developments of the new generation play an important role in many countries. Professionals with a high level of education, good learning ability, and creative thinking are considered valuable working capital. The dominant sector of the traditional economy will be the tertiary sector, that is, the service sector.
DZ Features of traditional society (economic development, place of man, political system, spiritual life, social mobility) Features of industrial society (-//-) Strengths and weaknesses of industrial society (written assignment)
Strengths and weaknesses of industrial society Rapid economic growth. Industrial development. Socio-historical progress. Development of science, technology and technology. Improving product quality. The emergence of international trade. Honesty, integrity and hard work are the main values in society. Exploitation of natural resources to the detriment of the environment. Uneven growth and development of the economy. Job cuts, unemployment. High migration.
Politics Formation of civil society, rule of law, development of democracy Spiritual sphere Priority of science and education, cultural and ideological diversity, multivariance
2. East and West. Dialogue of cultures Analysis of the table The division of cultures into Western and Eastern implies: different geographical locations, different mentalities of the peoples inhabiting these territories (differences in the characteristics of ways and methods of understanding the world, scientific, religious, artistic, aesthetic and spiritual values, basic worldviews, socio-economic and political structures) “West”: the culture of America and Europe “East”: the cultures of the countries of Central, South. East Asia, North Africa, Middle East countries
Questions for table 1. What is the idea of dialogue between the cultures of East and West in modern society? 2. Can the values of the East be considered unique and alien to the West and vice versa? 3. Why is it difficult to unambiguously classify Russian civilization as an Eastern or Western civilization?
DZ – par. 11 -12 Written discussion on the topic “Dialogue of cultures of East and West in modern society” Plan: - How is the idea of dialogue of cultures expressed? - Do you agree that it is present in modern civilization? - Give 3 examples of dialogue between cultures based on the realities of modern life (for example, from the news). The argument should be in the nature of a related text with a clear author’s position (essay).