pre-industrial society

Examples of pre-industrial society in the following topics:

• Preindustrial Societies: The Birth of Inequality

  • Medieval Europe was a pre-industrial feudal society.
  • Pre-industrial societies are societies that existed before the Industrial Revolution, which took place in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
  • Some remote societies today may share characteristics with these historical societies, and may, therefore, also be referred to as pre-industrial.
  • While pre-industrial societies share these characteristics in common, they may otherwise take on very different forms.
  • Two specific forms of pre-industrial society are hunter-gatherer societies and feudal societies.

• The Demographic Transition

  • In pre-industrial societies, population growth is relatively slow because both birth and death rates are high.
  • In most post-industrial societies, birth and death rates are both low.
  • The beginning of the demographic transition in a society is indicated when death rates drop without a corresponding fall in birth rates (usually the result of improved sanitation and advances in healthcare).
  • While there are several theories that attempt to explain why this occurs (e.g., Becker and Caldwell, who view children as economic commodities), why birth rates decline in post-industrial societies is still being evaluated.
  • Whether or not it will accurately depict changes in developing societies today remains to be seen.

• Classical Views on Social Change

  • As Western societies transitioned from pre-industrial economies based primarily on agriculture to industrialized societies in the 19th century, some people worried about the impacts such changes would have on society and individuals.
  • Durkheim's view of society and the changes it was undergoing as a result of industrialization also led him to believe unhappiness was a possible outcome.
  • In another work, The Division of Labor in Society, Durkheim proposed that pre-industrial societies maintained their social solidarity through a mechanistic sense of community and through their religious affiliations.
  • Whereas social solidarity was maintained in pre-industrial societies through a mechanistic sense of similarity and dependence along with communal religious affiliations, in industrialized societies, social solidarity would be maintained by the interdependence of specialists on one another.
  • Specialized individuals would have a great deal in common with their co-workers and, like members of the same religious congregations in pre-industrial societies, co-workers would be able to develop strong bonds of social solidarity through their occupations.

• Gothic Architecture and Sculpture

  • As industrialization progressed, there was a reaction against machine production and factories.
  • Proponents of the picturesque, such as Thomas Carlyle and Augustus Pugin, took a critical view of industrial society and portrayed pre-industrial medieval society as a golden age.
  • To Pugin, Gothic architecture was infused with the Christian values that had been supplanted by classicism and were being destroyed by industrialization.

• The Four Social Revolutions

  • After this, an agrarian society typically develops, followed finally by a period of industrialization (sometimes a service industry follows this final stage).
  • In an industrial society, the primary means of subsistence is industry, which is a system of production based on the mechanized manufacture of goods.
  • Whereas in pre-industrial societies, relationships would typically develop at one's place of worship, or through kinship and housing, in industrial societies, relationships and friendships can occur at work.
  • In a post-industrial society, the primary means of subsistence is derived from service-oriented work, as opposed to agriculture or industry.
  • Importantly, the term post-industrial is still debated, in part because it is the current state of society.

• The Gothic Revival

  • As industrialization progressed, there was an increasing reaction against the use of machinery and factory production.
  • Supporters of medievalism criticized industrial society, believing the pre-industrial model to be a golden age.
  • As industrialization progressed, there was a reaction against machine production and factories.
  • Proponents of the picturesque, such as Thomas Carlyle and Augustus Pugin, took a critical view of industrial society and portrayed pre-industrial medieval society as a golden age.
  • To Pugin, Gothic architecture was infused with the Christian values that had been supplanted by classicism and were being destroyed by industrialization.

• Open vs. Closed Stratification Systems

  • Typically, the top layer of society tends to have lots of property, as well as prestige and social influence.
  • Core industrial nations seem to have more of an ideal open class system than less industrialized countries, in which there are fewer opportunities for economic advancement.
  • Compared with industrialized open systems, pre-industrial societies have mostly been found to be closed class systems where there is low social mobility.
  • A society in which traditional or religious caste systems dominate, opportunity for social mobility is unlikely.
  • An open system describes a society with mobility between different social classes.

• Sociology and the Social Sciences

  • As a generalization, psychology is the study of the human mind and micro-level (or individual) behavior; sociology examines human society; psychology focuses on mental and thought processes (internal), whereas sociology focuses on human behavior (external).
  • Political science studies the governing of groups and countries; and economics concerns itself with the production and allocation of wealth in society.
  • Hence, even as Durkheim and Marx formulated law-like models of the transition from pre-industrial to industrial societies, Weber was interested in the seemingly "irrational" ideas and values, which, in his view, also contributed to the transition.

• Capitalism, Modernization, and Industrialization

  • As Western societies transitioned from pre-industrial economies based primarily on agriculture to industrialized societies in the 19th century, some people worried about the impacts such changes would have on society and individuals.
  • According to Durkheim, the types of social solidarity correlate with types of society.
  • Durkheim introduced the terms "mechanical" and "organic solidarity" as part of his theory of the development of societies in The Division of Labour in Society (1893).
  • Mechanical solidarity normally operates in "traditional" and small scale societies.
  • Organic solidarity comes from the interdependence that arises from specialization of work and the complementarities between people—a development which occurs in "modern" and "industrial" societies.

• Societal Development

  • Some pastoralist societies also engage in some measure of horticultural food production and most industrial and post-industrial societies still have agriculture, just in a reduced capacity.
  • An industrial society is a society in which the primary means of subsistence is industry.
  • Like agrarian societies, industrial societies increase food surpluses, resulting in more developed hierarchies and significantly more division of labor.
  • Whereas relationships in pre-industrial societies were more likely to develop through contact at one's place of worship or through proximity of housing, industrial society brings people with similar occupations together, often leading to the formation of friendships through one's work. [7]
  • A post-industrial society is a society in which the primary means of subsistence is derived from service-oriented work, as opposed to agriculture or industry. [8] It is important to note here that the term post-industrial is still debated in part because it is the current state of society; it is difficult to name a phenomenon while it is occurring.