SOCIETY

A society is a group of people living together in a particular geographical area and sharing mutual interest. Human society share a same culture and institutions. A society therefore may be described as the sum total of people engaged in common interest or activity. Human societies are characterised by pattern of relationship between individuals who share a distinctive culture and institutions, a given society may be described as the sum total of such relationship among its constituent members. A society also consists of like -minded people governed by their values within a larger society. Members of a society may be from different group; i.e. from different races. The term society has been derived from a Latin word So cietas which in turn was derived from the socius which is used to describe a bond or interaction among people who are friendly. Societies are social groups that differ according to the ways that humans use technology to provide needs for themselves. Although ,humans have established many types of societies throughout history Anthropologists tend to classify different societies according to which different groups within a society have unequal access to advantages ,such as resources, power etc .All societies have developed some inequality among their people .This inequality is caused due to unequal wealth ,prestige or power.

Types of Societies:Basically, there are four types of societies such as1. 2. 3. 4. Hunting and Gathering society Agricultural society Industrial society Knowledge society 1. Hunting and Gathering societyOur ancestors lived in hunting and of societies gathering societies .In last 10,000-12,000 years other types have evolved. The members of Hunting and Gathering society primarily survive by hunting animals, fishing and by gathering plants. The majority of this society existed in the past years and now they are on a verge of extinction. The main food production in such society is the daily collection of wild plants and hunting of animals .Hunter and gatherers move around in search of food. They do not make permanent villages as they move from one place to another, so they usually form small groups such as tribes .They generally consists of less than 60 people and rarely exceed up to 100 people. These people are completely dependent on environment. Most hunting and gathering societies kept on moving constantly in search of food and water .These societies stored little goods as they moved constantly. These societies had some division over work based on gender. Males travelled long distances to hunt animals, while females hunted smaller animals, gathered plants, made clothing, protected and raised their children. Members of hunting and gathering society shared an ancestral heritage and a common set of traditions and rituals. Even after the emergence of more advanced types of societies hunting and gathering societies continued to flourish in many parts of the world. There were large numbers of them in both the new world and Australia and smaller number in Southwest Africa, in parts of rainforest in central Africa, in remote areas of Southeast Asia and neighbouring islands and in Arctic Asia. The rate of population growth is also very low. This is because of natural and cultural factors. Bushman of Botswana lit fire by hand. The main form of food production in such societies is the daily collection of wild plants and the hunting of wild animals .Hunter and gatherers move

constantly in search of food. The need for mobility is also limits the size of these societies. They generally consists of fewer than 60 people and rarely exceed 100.Statuses with the tribe are relatively through general agreement. There are no political offices containing real power and a chief is merely a person of influence, a sort of advices. Hunting and gathering societies may soon be extinct because they are unable to compete with technologically more advanced society. Hunting and gathering society existed during 100,00BC-8000BC.The rapid acceleration in the rate of change in the last 30,000 years of hunting and gathering era cannot be explained by genetic change alone, since then species had already evolved by 100,000BC.The explosive growth in the rate of technological innovation appears to have resulted in advances in large areas. The advances in technologies at the end of this period coincided with and probably caused the growth in the size of the human population, the rapid growth, human population still numbered less than 10 million and the growth rate was less than 0.1% per year. Even after the emergence of more advanced type of societies hunting and gathering society continued to flourish in many parts of the world. Hundred year ago there were still larger number then in both the new world and Australia and smaller numbers Southwest Africa in parts of rainforest in Central Africa in certain remote areas in Southeast Asia and neighbouring islands and in Arctic Asia. Despite the variation in technology, modern hunting and gathering societies have much in common. Communities are small and they completely dependent on hunting and gathering. The rate of population growth is also low, due to natural causes and also due to cultural factors. Reason behind this is delayed marriages and infanticide. Hunting and gathering society include a nuclear family, which includes man, his wife and their unmarried children. A very few societies do not practice hunting usually provides less food ,in terms of bulk than gathering, the gathering done by women accounts for 60-80% of food supply of hunters and gatherers ,the division of labour is determined by age and sex. By the end of this century the last hunting and gathering society will probably have vanished. Hunting and gathering was humanitys first and most successful adaptation, occupying at least 90% of human history. Until 12,000 years ago, all humans lived this way. Following the invention of agriculture,

hunters and gatherers have been displayed by farming in most parts of the world. Early humans lived in mixed habitats, which allowed them to collect seafood, eggs, nuts and fruits. Rather than killing large animals for meat. Many groups continued their hunter and gatherers ways of life, although their numbers have continued declined, partially as a result of pressure from growing agricultural society .Before the agricultural society, human beings spent more times on this planet as hunter and gathers. Example Kalahari Bushman of the Kalahari Desert of Africa use one of the oldest forms of hunting known to men. Before knives, weapons, they used their bodies to hurt; they charred their prey until it collapsed. Kalahari hunters chase their prey for 2-5 hours over 25-35 kms in temperature of about 40-42C .Humans actually used much less energy to increase speed than most animals. Persistence hunting is one of the earliest form of human hunting, evolved over 2milloin years ago. Hunting and gathering society that still exist s today are Pila Nguru Spinifex eople of Western Australia Sentinuese of the Andaman and Nicobar island in the Indian ocean

2. Agricultural society-Agriculture was developed at least 10,000 years ,agriculture has undergone significant developments since the time of the earliest cultivation. An agricultural society is a society based on producing and maintaining crops and farmland. It is an important economic activity .In recent years, agriculture was important as it gave rise to human civilization .The major agricultural products can be grouped into food, fibres, raw materials. They include cereals, vegetables, fruits, oils, meat and spices. Fibres include cotton, wool, and silk. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo. Other useful materials are produced by plants such as resins, dyes, drugs, perfumes. Over one third of the Worlds workers are employed in agriculture, although the percentage of agricultural workers in developed countries has decreased over the past several years. Agriculture practises such as irrigation, crop rotation, fertilizers, pesticides and domestication of livestock were developed long ago. Agricultural societies first emerged in modern day, some 8000 years ago. People began collecting beneficial plants and unwanted plants. They began building villages and soon it spread to Egypt and China. The earliest town to develop that we know of was Mohenjo-Daro. It began with people collecting wild plants .The next areas to develop agriculture are believed to be Egypt and China. The agricultural revolution was a period of agricultural development between the 18th century and the end of 19th century. Agriculture in India has a very significant history .Today, India ranks 2nd worldwide in farm output. India is the 2nd largest producer of wheat and rice, second or third largest producer of several dry fruits, raw materials, roots and tuber crops, pulses, farmed fish, eggs, coconut, sugarcane and numerous vegetables. The agricultural revolution was a period from 1750-1900 where there were huge changes in the way farmers did their farming. This was due to the increase in population. Agricultural revolution leads to urbanization. More food production meant less workers needed leading to the movement to cities. The primary causes of the move to agriculture were an increasing population. The agricultural revolution ended the need for nomadic society .Also men were the farmers and hunter and women were the gatherers. Men hunting, farming and other works became more valued than women work and women lost their status as supplier of food.

The agriculture revolution produced a transformation of human society brought the invention of plough making large scale agricultural production possible and leading to agricultural societies. ExampleUS is an example of an agricultural society because it uses technology to grow crops. In the recent years, increased use of various technologies such as pesticides, insecticides, herbicides and fertilizers as well as new breeds of high yield crops after the Second World War to increase the food production. In 1943, food disaster occurred in India, during British rule, known as Bengal Famine in which 4million people died due to hunger in Eastern India. When Britishers left India in 1947, India continued to be haunted by memories of Bengal Famine. This led to the Green Revolution ,spreading over the period from 1967-1978,which changed the statuses of India from food deficient country to one of the worlds leading agricultural country .Until then, the Government concentrated on expanding the farmlands to produce more foods. But at the same time, population was growing at much faster rate than the food production. This action came in the form of Green Revolution is applied to successful agricultural countries. The land area under cultivation was being increased but it was being increased but it was not enough to meet the increasing demand. Though other methods were required, so, the Green Revolution continued with the expansion of farmlands. Using seeds with superior genetics was the scientific aspect of the Green Revolution. In this high yield variety of seeds were used, mainly wheat and rice and also millet and corn.

3. Industrial society- Industrial society are based on using machine to produce goods. The industrial society came into existence because of the industrial revolution (1750), sometime before 1800 England became the first industrial society. The Industrial Revolution appeared first in Britain and then spread to the rest of the world .As productivity increased, means of transportation improved to facilate the transfer products from place to place. Industrialization brought about changes in almost every aspect of society. As factories became the centre of work. Large cities emerged as places to find jobs in factories, leading to struggles between industrialist and workers. Rapid changes in industrial technology continued, especially the production of large machines and faster means of transportation. With the usage of steam power, human beings started to use machines and advanced technologies to produce and distribute goods and services. With the increase of industrial revolution, villages lost their significance and towns became places where opportunities were supplied to workers. Industrial revolution produced even greater surplus than before. Now, the surplus was not only agricultural goods but also manufactured goods. Once, the population increased and increased productivity made more goods available to everyone. The U.S is the first country to have over half of its workers employed in industries. Industrial society is characterised by the use of energy sources such as fossil fuels to increase the rate of production. The production of food is shifted to large commercial farm where the products of industries and fossil fuel based fertilizers are used to decrease required human labour while increasing production. Excess labour moved to these industries where mechanization is utilized to increase efficiency. This led to the rise of very large cities. It also included the change from wood to bio fuels to coal. It began in England and within a few decades spread to Western Europe and United States. Every aspect of life was influenced in some way. The industrial revolution led to the development of factories for large scale production with consequent changes in society. Originally the factories were steam-powered, but later transitioned to electricity once an electrical grid was developed.

Pre-industrial society - pre-industrial society refers to specific social attributes and forms of political, cultural organization that were prevalentbefore the advent of industrial revolution. Example - any society before the 1800-1900s when the industrial revolution occurred could be considered as pre-industrial. Post-industrial society-post-industrial society is a social system in which most economic activity is concerned with providing services based on knowledge more than producing goods. People primary involvement is with other people rather than with raw material or machinery. Post-industrial society is marked by an increased valuation of knowledge. Post-industrial societies are dominated by information, services and high technology, more than the production of goods. Advanced industrial societies are now seeing a shift toward an increase in service sector over manufacturing and production. The U.S is the first country to have over half of its worked employed in service .Service industries include Government research, education, health, sales, law, banking and so on. ExampleJapan is the best example of industrial society. They have natural resource; however they import and process to create great products. A great percentage of their economy is based on their production and export. The U.S Germany, Japan, Great Britain all are industrial society.

4. Knowledge society- A knowledge society is one that creates, shares and uses knowledge for the prosperity and well-being of its people. Knowledge has always been a factor of production and helps in economic and social development. Earlier, people were dependent on knowledge about how to farm, how to build and how to manufacture. However, knowledge in the recent years has changed 70-80% of economic growth is now said to be due to new and better knowledge. Information and communication technologies are also facilating a rapid globalisation of economic activity. It is about making new product that no one had thought of before. And it is about putting new ideas to work in enterprise and having skilled work force that can use those new ideas .The success of enterprise is necessary for the gathering and utilisation of knowledge. Knowledge has become the key source. Knowledge has value, creating value is about creating new knowledge and capturing its value. During the last century world has undergone a drastic change from agricultural society, where a manual labour was the serious factor to he industrial society, where the management and technology, capital and labour provided the competitive advantage.The information era was born During the last decades where the connectivity and software were increasing the economy. In the 21st century, a new society emerging was knowledge is primary production resource instead of capital and labour. Utilization of these knowledge can create wealth to nation and will also improve the quality of life, In form of health ,education ,food infrastructure with the creation of knowledge in all the sector like agriculture and food processing ,IT, industries will lead to the development of the country. With modern era demand for higher standard of living, better infrastructure,facilities, better health facilities ,better educational facilities etc .Knowledge has always been a factor of production and social development, The digitisation of information and knowledge about internet are facilating anew intensity in the application of knowledge to economic activity, to the extent that it has become the predominant factor in the creation of wealth. As much as 70-80% of economic growth is now said to be due to new and better knowledge. Information and communication technology are also facilating a rapid globalisation of economic activity. In an increasingly global economy, where knowledge about who excels are both more readily available, the

effective creation, use of knowledge is increasingly the key to success. Knowledge has become the key resource. The most important property is now intellectual property, and it is the heart and minds of people rather than traditional labour that are essential for growth and prosperity. In the early 1900 AD, the industrial trend later the IT trend has now been replaced by the accurate efficiency of working with proper knowledge.Different sectors, different industries ,different countries ,even different people now comes together and work together in order to achieve the new targets and to sustain.

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