Types Of Society- Tribal, Agrarian, Industrial And Post-industrial

Back to: Contemporary India and Education-Unit 1

There are many types of society existing around the world. Social relationships characterize the world and it segregates into specific societies. People share common lifestyle practices and culture from society. The main types of society are tribal, agrarian, and industrial society. The tribal society is the African society, the agrarian society is the Indian society, and the industrial society is the American society.

Tribal Society

The Imperial Gazette of India states,

“A tribe is a collection of families bearing a common name, speaking a common dialect, occupying or professing to occupy a common territory and is usually not endogamous, though originally it might have been so.”

Tribes are a group of individuals who share a common territory, religion, dialect, name, and culture.
Their blood relationship and political organization unite them.
They have a sense of unity due to the common characteristics they share.
They are an endogamous group.
There is a political organization of every tribe and a tribal chief who governs all the members of the tribe.
The tribe members worship a common ancestor.
The tribal society is homogenous, simple, undifferentiated, and simple.

According to Bogardus,

“The tribal group is based on the need for protection, on ties of blood relationship and the strength of a common religion.”

Agrarian Society

An agrarian society, as the name suggests, is a society where the dominant economic activity is agriculture.
In the early years, humans lived in small bands where the economy was largely constituted of hunting, fishing, seed, and root gathering.
The Neolithic Revolution that began almost 13000 years ago marks the major change as the practice spread to Western Europe and men began to invent pottery, weaving, and domestication of plants and animals yielding the agrarian society.
The domestication of plants is called farming while the domestication of animals is called herding.
However, apart from these activities, other activities associated with the agrarian society are blacksmiths, potters, shopkeepers, weavers, and service holders.
The society is also characterized by a village community system and minimal division of labor.
The impact of industrialization is gradually transforming the Indian agrarian society through the introduction of mechanization and commercialization.

Industrial And Post-industrial Society

The Industrial Revolution has been an integral part of history. It has resulted in many far-reaching consequences in the society’s structure.
Before the revolution took place, workers possessed their raw materials and tools.
They had all the responsibility to themselves and sold the finished product to consumers at the quantity and price they wished to sell.
However, after the revolution, the individualist capitalist entered the scenario, established a factory, secured the raw materials, took the workers to the factory to produce goods, and gave birth to industrialization.
The production process was, therefore, separated from the selling process.
The revolution was characterized by fixed capital, factory production, and free labor.
As a result, industrial society was born.
The post-industrial society is characterized by the emergence of segmentalized roles, the impersonality of relationships, modern family, occupation sub-cultures, economic institutions, social mobility.
It also led to working opportunities for women.
The industrial society is highly literate. It boasts economic prosperity but is individual-oriented.
Due to the advancements in the modern world, the agrarian society is highly influenced by the industrial society and the future, industrialization is sure to take over the world completely.