![]() When resources became scarce, the group moved to a new area to find sustenance, meaning they were nomadic. Hunter-gatherers relied on their surroundings for survival-they hunted wild animals and foraged for uncultivated plants for food. ![]() As the basic structure of human society until about 10,000–12,000 years ago, these groups were based around kinship or tribes. Hunter-gatherer societies demonstrate the strongest dependence on the environment of the various types of preindustrial societies. The very first occupation was that of hunter-gatherer. Economic production was limited to the amount of labor a human being could provide, and there were few specialized occupations. Preindustrial Societiesīefore the Industrial Revolution and the widespread use of machines, societies were small, rural, and dependent largely on local resources. This distinction is so important that sociologists generally classify societies along a spectrum of their level of industrialization-from preindustrial to industrial to postindustrial. Societies with rudimentary technology depend on the fluctuations of their environments, while industrialized societies have more control over the impact of their surroundings and thus develop different cultural features. As a society advances, so does its use of technology. (1924–2015) defined societies in terms of their technological sophistication. Their appearance might be very similar, but the two countries are very different societies. ![]() can openly express their dissatisfaction with their government through social activism in person or, especially, online, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are banned in China, and the press is controlled by the government. Many of China’s cities didn’t evolve from ports, transit centers, or river confluences hundreds of years ago, but are newly created urban centers inhabited by recent transplants from other locations. An individual family or even a whole office full of people in one of the countries may look and act very similarly to families or offices in the other country.īut what is different? In China, a far greater percentage of people may be involved in manufacturing than America. And both have a rural versus urban disparity that can cause tension and economic inequality among the population. Both countries have citizens that may be largely satisfied with their governments and ways of life, while still holding some degree of distrust or discontent regarding their leaders. Both are technologically advanced, have dense networks of transportation and communications, rely on foreign trading partners for large portions of their economies, focus on education as a way to advance their citizens, and have large and expensive militaries. Typically, many societies also share a political authority.Ĭonsider China and the United States. On a broader scale, society consists of the people and institutions around us, our shared beliefs, and our cultural ideas. In sociological terms, society refers to a group of people who live in a definable community and share the same cultural components. ![]() (Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/flickr) significant advantages in scientific innovations. The space program is expensive, but throughout its history it has provided the U.S. Figure 4.2 How does technology influence a society? Here, a NASA engineer is working with samples of a coating typically used in space flight, and which now may play a role in preserving artifacts and scientific specimens on earth.
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