Industrial society is characterized by ... What characterizes industrial society

Everyone has heard about such concepts as the industrial era and industrialization, but few can briefly describe them. Well, let's try to figure it out.

Industrial society: what it is

This era is characterized by this type of social relations, based on the division of labor, and industry is able to provide people with a comfortable life. It is an intermediate variant between the traditional and information (post-industrial) society.

Despite the fact that historians call the modern way of life postindustrial, he has many "industrial" features. After all, we still go by metro, we burn coal in boiler houses, and the cable phone sometimes reminds us with a piercing bell about the industrial Soviet past.

Preconditions of industrial society

The entry of European society into the path of progress is a gradual process characterized by the replacement of feudal relations by capitalist ones.

The new time (the era of industrialization) is the period from 16 to 19 (early 20) centuries. During these three centuries, European society has traveled a long way of development, encompassing all spheres of human life:

• Economic.
• Political.
• Social.
• Technological.
• Spiritual.

The process of gradual innovations was called modernization.

The transition to an industrial society is characterized by :

1. The division of labor. This is what caused the increase in output, as well as the formation of two economic classes: the proletariat (wage workers) and the bourgeoisie (capitalists). The result of the division of labor was the emergence of a new economic system - capitalism.
2. Colonialism - the dominance of developed European countries over the economically backward states of the East. It is clear that the colonizer exploits the human and natural resources of the dependent country.
3. The scientific and technological revolution. The achievements of science and engineering inventions have changed people's lives.

Industrial society is characterized by the following features

• Urbanization.
• A transition to capitalism.
• The emergence of a consumer society.
• The formation of the global market.
• Reducing the influence of the church on human life.
• Formation of mass culture.
• A huge influence of science on people's lives.
• The emergence of two new classes - the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
• A decrease in the number of peasants.
• Industrialization.
• Change in the world outlook of people (individuality of a person is the highest value).

Industrial revolution in European countries

As stated earlier, industrial society is characterized by industrialization. Let's enumerate in turn the countries of the Old World, in which this process took place:

1. England is the first European country to take the path of progress. Already in the 16th century, a flying shuttle and a steam engine were invented. 17 century can generally be called the century of invention: the first locomotive made its way from Manchester to Liverpool. In 1837, scientists Cook and Winston created an electromagnetic telegraph.

2. France was a little "lost" in the industrialization of England because of strong feudal orders. However, the past revolution of 1789-1794 changed the state of things: cars appeared, and weaving began to develop actively. The 18th century is notable for the development of the textile and ceramic industries. The final stage of French industrialization is the birth of engineering. Summing up, we can say that France has become the second country to choose the capitalist path of development.

3. Germany lagged significantly behind the pace of modernization of its predecessors. The German industrial type of society is characterized by the appearance in the mid-19th century of a steam engine. As a result, the pace of industrial development in Germany gained impressive momentum, and the country became the leader in production in Europe.

What is common between traditional and industrial society

The same features are found in these two fundamentally different ways of life. Traditional and industrial societies are characterized by:

• Presence of economic and political sphere;
• Apparatus of power;
• Social inequality - is observed in any type of social relations, because all people are different, regardless of the era.

Economy of industrial society

Compared with the agrarian relations of the Middle Ages, the economy of the new time was more productive.

How is the economy of an industrial society characterized, what distinguishes it?

• Mass production.
• Development of the banking sector ..
• The emergence of credit.
• The emergence of the global market.
• Cyclic crises (for example, overproduction).
• The class struggle of the proletariat with the bourgeoisie.

The prerequisite for serious economic changes was the division of labor, which contributed to productivity growth.

It was beautifully described by the English economist Adam Smith. He gave an example with the production of pins, on which one can clearly understand what the "division of labor" is.

An experienced master produces only 20 pins per day. If we divide the production process into simple operations, each of which will be performed by a separate worker, labor productivity will increase many times. In the end, it turns out that a team of 10 people produces about 48 thousand pins!

Social structure

Industrial society is characterized by the following features that have changed the daily life of people:

• Demographic explosion;
• Increased life expectancy;
• Baby boom (40-50 of the XX century);
• Deterioration of the environment (with the development of industry, harmful emissions increase);
• The emergence of a partner family instead of a traditional one - consists of parents and children;
• Complicated social structure;
• Social inequality between people.

Mass culture

What characterizes an industrial society, besides capitalism and industrialization? Mass culture: it is its integral part.

I was keeping pace with the scientific and technological revolution. There were technologies of sound recording, cinematography, radio and other mass media - they united the tastes and preferences of the majority of people.

Mass culture is simple and understandable to all segments of the population, its goal is to evoke a certain emotional response from a person. It is designed to satisfy fleeting requests, as well as to entertain people.

Let's give examples of mass culture:

• Women's novels.
• Glossy magazines.
• Show.
• Comics.
• TV series.
• Detectives and fantasy.

The genres of literature mentioned in the last paragraph are traditionally regarded as mass culture. But some social scientists do not share this view. For example, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" - a series of detectives, written in artistic language and having many meanings. But the books by Alexandra Marinina can be safely attributed to mass culture - they are easy to read and have a clear plot.

In what kind of society do we live

Western sociologists have introduced such a notion as the information (post-industrial) society. His values are knowledge, the development of information technology, the safety of people and care for our big house - a wonderful green Earth.

Indeed, in our lives, knowledge plays an increasingly important role, and information technology has affected virtually any person.

But in spite of this, industry continues to work, cars burn petrol, and they collected potatoes 100 years ago in the autumn, and they gather. The industrial type of society, as mentioned earlier, is characterized by industry. A collection of potatoes - this is an agriculture that has arisen in the immemorial times.

Therefore the name of today's epoch "postindustrial" is a beautiful abstraction. It is more logical to call our society industrial with features of information.

Industrial society is characterized by many useful discoveries and a person's visit to the Cosmos.

The accumulated knowledge of knowledge is enormous; Another thing is that it can both go for the benefit of mankind and do harm. We hope that a person will have the intelligence to apply the accumulated potential of knowledge in the right direction.