SOCI-1015EL Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Mechanical And Organic Solidarity, Social Inequality, Gemeinschaft And Gesellschaft
20 Jun 2018
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Societies, Technology & Sociocultural Change
Hunting and gathering Societies — Societies that us simple technology for hunting animals and
gathering vegetation. In these societies, education, religion, and politics are not formal social
institution, instead they are functions that take place daily.
Horticultural & Pastoral Societies
Typical family, as they do not move as frequently as hunters and gathers. Education, religion
and politics remain relativity informal in these societies.
Horticultural — Societies based on technology that supports the cultivation of plants to provide
food. High degree of gender equality exists, as neither sex controls the food supply.
Pastoral — Societies based on technology that supports the domestication of large animals to
provide food, typically emerging in mountainous regions and areas with low amount of rainfall.
Usually remain nomadic as they seek new grazing lands and water sources for their animals.
Agrarian Societies
Primarily entered in Egypt and Mesopotamia, and alter in China. Societies that use the
technology of large-scale farming, including animal-drawn or energy-powered plows and
equipment, to produce their food supply. Social inequality is the highest in these societies of
preindustrial societies in terms of both class and gender.
Industrial Societies
Based on technology that mechanizes production. Originating in England during the Industrial
Revolution. The family diminishes in significance as the economy, education and political
institutions grow in size and complexity. Although bringing some of the greatest inventions of
human history, the revolution also brought the greatest problems: violence, race, class, and
gender based inequalities and environmental degradation.
Stability and Change In Societies
Durkheim: Mechanical & Organic Solidarity
In this perspective, social solidarity derives from a society’s social structure, which in turn is
based on division of labour: divide their tasks based on their own history; physical environment,
and level of technological development. To explain social change Durkheim categorized
societies into either mechanical or organic solidarity.
Mechanical Solidarity: Emile Durkheim’s term for the social cohesion of preindustrial societies,
in which there is minimal division of labour and people feel united by shared values and
common social bonds.
Organic Solidarity: Emile Durkheim’s term for the social cohesion found in industrial societies, in
which people prefer very specialized tasks and feel united by their mutual dependence. Can to
rely on one another, the way organs depend on one another.
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Document Summary
Hunting and gathering societies societies that us simple technology for hunting animals and gathering vegetation. In these societies, education, religion, and politics are not formal social institution, instead they are functions that take place daily. Typical family, as they do not move as frequently as hunters and gathers. Education, religion and politics remain relativity informal in these societies. Horticultural societies based on technology that supports the cultivation of plants to provide food. High degree of gender equality exists, as neither sex controls the food supply. Pastoral societies based on technology that supports the domestication of large animals to provide food, typically emerging in mountainous regions and areas with low amount of rainfall. Usually remain nomadic as they seek new grazing lands and water sources for their animals. Primarily entered in egypt and mesopotamia, and alter in china. Societies that use the technology of large-scale farming, including animal-drawn or energy-powered plows and equipment, to produce their food supply.
