Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 42 views

    Herbert Spencer: Ideas On Societal Evolution-Stages of Society

    Uploaded by

    AST TROLLING
    Herbert Spencer proposed that societies evolve through stages from simple to complex. He identified four main stages: simple societies without leaders, simple societies with leaders, compound societies with hierarchies and bureaucracy, and modern industrial societies. Spencer argued that social institutions like kinship, religion, politics, economics, and ceremonies emerge and persist because they provide adaptive advantages to populations. More complex societies have more elaborate forms of these institutions to regulate increasingly large groups.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Herbert Spencer: Ideas On Societal Evolution-Stages of Society

    Uploaded by

    AST TROLLING
    42 views17 pages
    Herbert Spencer proposed that societies evolve through stages from simple to complex. He identified four main stages: simple societies without leaders, simple societies with leaders, compound societies with hierarchies and bureaucracy, and modern industrial societies. Spencer argued that social institutions like kinship, religion, politics, economics, and ceremonies emerge and persist because they provide adaptive advantages to populations. More complex societies have more elaborate forms of these institutions to regulate increasingly large groups.

    Original Title

    Herbert Spencer

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Herbert Spencer proposed that societies evolve through stages from simple to complex. He identified four main stages: simple societies without leaders, simple societies with leaders, compound societies with hierarchies and bureaucracy, and modern industrial societies. Spencer argued that social institutions like kinship, religion, politics, economics, and ceremonies emerge and persist because they provide adaptive advantages to populations. More complex societies have more elaborate forms of these institutions to regulate increasingly large groups.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    42 views17 pages

    Herbert Spencer: Ideas On Societal Evolution-Stages of Society

    Uploaded by

    AST TROLLING
    Herbert Spencer proposed that societies evolve through stages from simple to complex. He identified four main stages: simple societies without leaders, simple societies with leaders, compound societies with hierarchies and bureaucracy, and modern industrial societies. Spencer argued that social institutions like kinship, religion, politics, economics, and ceremonies emerge and persist because they provide adaptive advantages to populations. More complex societies have more elaborate forms of these institutions to regulate increasingly large groups.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 17

    Herbert Spencer

    Ideas on Societal Evolution- Stages of society


    Synthetic philosophy

    • Spencer’s grand scheme for social sciences is called synthetic


    philosophy
    - it include various concerns over physical, psychological,
    biological , sociological and ethical realms of society
    Some of the books-

    • Social Statics
    • Principles of Ethics
    • First Principles
    • The Study of Sociology
    • The Principles of Sociology
    Stages in the evolution of society
    • Increase in the size of a social aggregate increases the need for
    differentiation of functions and elaboration of structures.
    • The increase in the size is due to high birth rate, migration and joining
    of population through conquest and assimilation
    • Compounding –joining together of various systems-primary,
    secondary and tertiary compounding
    • Differentiation of structures and its three axes-
    • Regulatory- structures manage the relations with the external environment
    • Operative- system needs of production of goods and commodities
    • Distributive- structures move materials, people and information
    Types of societies or stages of society

    • Simple Societies- headed and headless


    • Compound
    • Doubly Compound
    • Trebly Compound
    Simple societies- Headless

    • Temporary Leaders
    • Hunting and gathering societies
    • Individualised religious worship
    • Simple families
    • Sexual division of labour
    • Little art and literature
    • Informal code of conduct
    • No forms of social stratification
    • Mobility is limited within territory
    Simple societies- with head
    • Permanent chiefs
    • Pastoral- simple forms of agriculture
    • Beginning of religious specialists- shaman
    • Large and complex families
    • Some form of art
    • Informal code of conduct
    • Small settled groups
    • Less mobility
    • Simple, nomadic without any stable relationships
    Compound societies
    • Hierarchy of chiefs with a paramount chief
    • Agricultural society
    • Established ecclesiastical arrangements
    • Large and complex families
    • Division of labour- age, political divisions
    • Artists
    • Informal code of conduct
    • villages
    Doubly compound
    • Bureaucratized political state- state and political units
    • Agricultural
    • Ecclesiastical hierarchy- rigid rituals
    • Artists, literary specialists
    • Written law and codes of conduct
    • Large towns
    • Caste and other forms of social structures
    Trebly Compound Societies
    • Modern Political State
    • Industrial Capitalism
    • Religious Diversity
    • Small families- nuclear
    • Decreased sexual division of labour
    • Artists, scientists etc.
    • Classes are less rigid
    • Oral and written means of communication- media
    • Settled and urban life
    Herbert Spencer’s ideas on Social Institutions
    Social Institution-
    • Enduring patterns of social organisation, to meet the fundamental functional needs/requisites
    of human organization and control the activities of individuals and groups
    • Social selection argument in his review of institutional dynamics

    • The most basic institutions emerge and persist because they provide a population
    with adaptive advantages in given environment both natural and environment.

    • Domestic Institutions- Kinship


    • Religious
    • Political
    • Economic
    • Ceremonial
    Domestic Institutions- Kinship

    • Basic need of all species- reproduction


    • Regulation and control of sexual activity and reproduction
    • Permanent bonds between man and woman

    • Kinship is a principal mechanism of social integration in the absence of


    alternative ways
    • Larger societies have elaborate forms of kinship
    • Societies with perpetual conflicts leads to patrilineal lineage
    Religious Institutions

    • Belief in supernatural power


    • Organized groups of individuals
    • Ritual activities offered to the super natural phenomena

    • Reinforces the values and beliefs


    • Strengthening socio-cultural arrangements in the society
    Political Institutions
    • Emergence- internal conflict and hostility towards outsiders

    • Common features-
    • paramount leaders,
    • clusters of subleaders and administration,
    • Large mass of followers
    • Sets of beliefs and values legitimating the leadership and power
    Conti..

    • Internal differentiation of Government will be high when there is large


    number of people
    • Centralisation of power will be greater when there is conflict within
    the societies and with the outsiders
    • Great the centralisation of power, more visible are the class divisions
    Economic Institutions
    • Evolution of economic institutions revolves around-

    • The increasing technology and knowledge about how to manipulate natural


    environment
    • Expansion of production and distribution of goods and services
    • Accumulation of capital and tools of production
    • Changes in the organization of labour

    • Oriented towards the effective and greater adaptation to the


    environment
    Ceremonial Institutions
    • Human relations are structured by symbols and rituals

    • Address, rituals, badges of honour, greetings, fashion and dress


    • influence the behaviour

    • Centralisation of power and Social inequality – the greater concern for ceremonial institutions

    • While interacting with each other- we present ourselves to other through symbols and rituals-
    expect the response from others

    • Interaction is mediated by such symbols and ceremonies that structure how individuals have to
    behave towards each other.

    You might also like