Question

What are the four ways that human societies historically have addressed material provisioning? Explain each of them.

Answer 1

SOLUTION :

The development of human society Historians and other social scientists, using various models and criteria.These are also an agree on at least three major stages of societal development, or civilizations: the pre-agricultural, or the hunting and gathering stage, the agricultural stage, and the industrial stage. In the 1990s have led some thinkers to herald the arrival of a new stage of societal development. This new, yet to be defined stage, is often referred to as the post-industrial age, the information age, or the globalization age. I call it the “knowledge age,” because knowledge including new scientific discoveries, recent technological developments and innovations and their sociocultural and political and economic implications is fundamentally changing the ways of living and states of living of almost all societies in the world, not just the mature industrial ones.

1. The Age of Hunting and Gathering

The hunting and gathering age lasted longer and experienced less change than any other age; it started probably 30,000 years ago and continued without interruption until the development of agriculture some 20,000 years later. The domestication of animals, which occurred at around the same time of the agricultural revolution, gave the tribal society and its social organization a new meaning; it enabled the nomads to strengthen their economic base, grow in size, and further develop their culture and way of life. Domesticated animals, which made tribal life easier and sustainable, were put to good use. The meat of some was used for food, the skin and fur of others were used for clothing, and the bones of some animals served other purposes, providing tools, weapons, musical instruments and ornaments. In addition, people employed some animals like the camel and the horse as means of transportation, making it easier for tribal people to move across difficult terrains and interact peacefully and otherwise with other tribes.

2. The Age of Agriculture

The development of agriculture instigated the most important revolution in human history; it changed the economic conditions and the cultures of societies that adopted agriculture. The agricultural revolution transformed human relations and the way societies and economies were organized, as well as the relationships of people to one another and to their physical, social and technological environments. It brought about a new civilization with its own society, economy, culture, social structure and political organization. “The change from hunting and gathering to agriculture involved more than a mere change in subsistence pattern; it represented a complete change in the social and cultural fabric of life.” It “meant also a mental change.”

3. The Age of Industry

In the second half of the eighteenth century a new way of organizing manufacturing began to emerge and spread in England. Workers were brought to work together in one place for one master, who often was the sole owner of the means of production, the raw materials and the finished goods. People, who worked for the new entrepreneur, were often landless and powerless laborers having nothing more than their labor to sell. Because of that powerlessness, workers were, especially during the first century of the industrial age, vulnerable to exploitation by the industrial capitalist; and consequently, they were forced to work for long hours and live under intolerable life conditions. In fact, when man is forced to sell his labor because of need, he is more likely to lose dignity and become vulnerable to exploitation and sometimes slavery as well.The Industrial Revolution, just like the agricultural revolution of some 10,000 years earlier, ushered in a new wave of change that transformed all aspects of life in every industrial state.

4. The Age of Knowledge

As the age of knowledge advances, the infomedia process becomes more powerful. In fact, by the time the twentieth century ended, the infomedia process had become the leading societal process of change and transformation. Because its services are essential, at times detrimental to the proper functioning of all other processes and the organizations associated with them, the infomedia is able to influence the nature and direction of change in all societies and states. Meanwhile, the dynamic nature of the knowledge age, and its demanding knowledge requirements is making the creation, utilization and commercialization of knowledge and information the focal point of economic activity. As a consequence, the main form of wealth has begun to shift from capital to the domain of knowledge; and a new man whose job is to create and process knowledge through learning has emerged. Because of that, the knowledge man learns to live and lives to learn.