Chapter 4.

3 Types of Societies

 Societies across the

world change based on
environment,
interaction, and time.
Groups

 A set of people who

– interact on the basis of shared expectations
– who possess some degree of common identity

– Largest groups we study are societies.

Subsistence Strategies

 This is how sociologists

tend to classify
societies

 Subsistence strategies
– The way a society uses
technology to provide for
the needs of its
members.
Preindustrial Societies

 Food production is the highest priority

– Carried out through the use of human and animal
labor

– Groups of preindustrial societies

 Hunting and gathering
 Pastoral
 Horticultural
 Agricultural
Hunting and Gathering Societies

 Gerhard Lenski pointed out in his

“Human Societies”, that it is the oldest
and the simplest type of society is the
Hunting and Gathering Society.
Hunting gathering society relies
heavily on hunting wild animals and
gathering food for its survival
Hunting and Gathering Societies
 Collect food daily by
– Hunting wild animals
– Collecting wild fruit and
vegetables

 Everyone hunts and gathers

 Constantly move in search

of food
– Usually live in temporary
housing
 Huts
 tepees
Pastoral Societies

 refers to any form of society whose main

subsistence comes from tending flocks and
herds of domesticated animals. In practice,
subsistence needs are often met by a
combination of herding with hunting and
gathering and other forms of agriculture.
Herding Or Pastoral Societies
Pastoral Societies

 Rely on domesticated herd

animals for food
 Sheep
 Cattle
 Lamb

 Less people needed to work

for food in society
– Division of labor
 Some people become
craftworkers, mothers, etc.
Horticultural Societies

 A horticultural society is a social

system based on horticulture, a
mode of production in which
digging sticks are used to
cultivate small gardens”.
Came into existence about
4000BC today in sub- Saharan
Africa.
Horticultural Societies

 Grow food in farms

 Have high level of technology

 Use slash and burn tactics for

crops
– Wild vegetation is burned
– Ash turns into compost for new
farming.

 Large division of labor

– Strictly because of surplus of
food
Agricultural Societies

 An agricultural society focuses on

mode of production primarily on
agriculture and production of large
fields. Based on the invention of the
plough around 3000B.C., the
agrarian revolution marked its
beginning. Use of plough increases
the productivity of the land.
Agricultural Societies

 Animals pull plows to till fields

and farms
– Technology allows farming to
make large surplus of food
 Silos
 Tractors
 Plows
 Irrigation

 Bartering does not take place

 Use money

 Large division of labor

Industrial Societies

 Industrial mode of production began in

England about 250 years ago. Industry
literal meaning is a classification that refers
to a group of companies that are related in
terms of their primary business activities An
industrial society is a system in which large
number of labor and machinery is involved
in production of goods and services.
Industrial Societies

 Instead of focusing on food,

they focus on production of
goods!
– How?
 Buy food from other people!

 Produce goods using

machines!
– Sell for much higher price.

 Causes urbanization
– Concentration of population in
urban areas
Postindustrial Societies

 Economy focuses on
providing information and
services.
– In US, 73% of workforce do
this.
 2% work in agriculture
 25% produce goods

 Place strong emphasis on

science and technology

 Society is stable