The term “Society” is a collective group of people who share a common purpose in social institution, social group conduct and its geographical space. The pattern of society is limitless, and it is an abstract rather than a concrete structure. My understanding of society is that not all society consist of a pragmatic foundation. It creates conflict because of the differences in ideas and opinions made by a group of people that may benefit them but harm others. Social change is constantly ongoing that is almost always disputable. The drawbacks in these movements are hardly ever alluded because of its overwhelmingly positive results in progress.
Population, division of labor, and technology are some of the causes that influences the social patterns. Technological growth is one of the key factors because technology advancement is needed for efficiency and economic growth. Population plays a role in technology growth because it is believed that the higher the population the higher chance there is to reach a new technology level. Division of labor allows for maximization in manufacturing, by breaking down the process into a few steps allows employees to specialize to what is best suited to the task. Therefore, the division of labor is coherent in terms of being efficient and reduces the cost of producing goods and services.
The transition from traditional society to modern society and then to post modern society mainly comes from modernity and progress. In a traditional society, it touches heavily on hierarchical power, tradition that has been practised from generation to generation and the simple economy before technology was introduced. The modern society on the other hand, created money as a medium for exchange, the development of new division of labor and the creation of middle-class citizens where they start up their own business to demolish the idea of feudalism. Postmodern society focuses on the damages and awareness that has not been addressed during the modernization period because of its immeasurable success and its technology advancement that maximizes efficiency.
The economic structure and demography in a traditional society is that it runs with a low social division of labor and a low demographic density. Being dependent on natural environment is using all resources that are related to your harvest. There was no market, peasants and serfs regardless consumer or producer didn't exist they give everything to the higher. The division of labor is not recognized in a traditional society as technology is not advance, most labor is done by a single laborer that specializes in the production. The population density is low because of the inaccessibility and insufficiency of resources resulting in a lack of support. Limited job opportunities therefore many are forced to move to a different location.
In a traditional society, there are clear levels of power and importance that rule the economy. The highest hierarchical level is the king, he is considered as a supreme authority and the incarnation of God’s will. The king also owned all the land in its territory and created the laws. Second in the hierarchical ranking are the dukes and marquises, third are the lords and knights followed by the merchants and farmers. Lastly the peasants and serfs who are non-privileged citizens that worked the lands for the nobles and knights who in return offers them protection. Social status equals to what land you have what food you eat and how much food you get if you are noble your have a superior status, so you get better food produced by serfs and peasants
The society shares the same beliefs and language as they revolve around the monolithic culture that are not open to new ideas and remain secretive among themselves. History plays a key role because it provides information and data on the behavior of the society back in the past. That experience is used to create a rationalized concept for the better of the economy.
In a modern society, money was introduced as a medium of exchange and became an essential key to purchase goods and services and give value to resources, material and labor. The complex economic system allows demand and supply to dictate the value of goods and services and it provides a trade with substantial range of assets. In production, high social division of labor is highly recognised as workers has been assigned to accomplish different tasks based on their specialization.
Feudalism was dominant in the traditional society where the kings and lords run the economy and the non privilege must earn money to pay and stay in the social hierarchy. This has led to the creation of middle class, where businesses were created on their own to demolish the idea of feudalism. Opinions and solutions are now accepted in a social democratic economy so, this allows the society to have a say in government actions. Social democracy supports the competitive economy with money while also helping people who earn less.
Max Weber argued that the transition from traditional to a modern society is from the introduction of Calvinism by John Calvin. The idea of Calvinism was to develop capitalism and modernism to motivate the laborers to work hard in order to obtain the opportunity to receive salvation. Scientism was also introduced in the modern society where people believed that science should be heavily focused and studied because it acts as a reliable source of knowledge is development and growth.
In a postmodern society, the social and economic idea expanded, and free market trade was introduced. Neoliberalism was to prevent manipulation in businesses that would benefit them but harm others and to ensure social justice. Migration plays a role in economic growth because they contribute new skills that are able to boost the human capital development and also technology advancement that will increase the output produced using the same amount of resources.
We transition from modern to postmodern society and work becomes more precarious. It is uncertain that the employee is guaranteed the same job and they change jobs because of the sudden changes in job requirements and specialization. Postmodern family introduces flexibility in roles and rules where the boundaries that restricted marriages and belief have been removed. For example, remarrying, adoption and the sexual identity of an individual.
The society make their own rational choices based on their beliefs and eliminate the idea that they are obliged to follow the universal set of principles based on tradition. Culture is extensive in a postmodern society because it consists of multiple values and symbols that one may agree or disagree with. Therefore, the society is given the freedom to choose and follow their designated path to achieve their goals.