Editing Society (section)

==Types==
Societies are [[social groups]] that differ according to [[List of subsistence techniques|subsistence strategies]], the ways that humans use technology to provide needs for themselves. Although humans have established many types of societies throughout [[history]], anthropologists tend to classify different societies according to the degree to which different groups within a society have unequal access to advantages such as resources, prestige, or power. Virtually all societies have developed some degree of inequality among their people through the process of social stratification, the division of members of a society into levels with unequal wealth, prestige, or power. Sociologists place societies in three broad categories: [[pre-industrial]], [[industrial society|industrial]], and [[postindustrial]].

===Pre-industrial===
{{Main article|Pre-industrial society}}
In a pre-industrial society, food production, which is carried out through the use of human and animal [[Manual labour|labor]], is the [[Portal:Main|main]] economic activity. These societies can be subdivided according to their level of technology and their method of producing food. These subdivisions are hunting and gathering, pastoral, horticultural, agricultural, and feudal.

==== Hunting and gathering ====
{{Main article|Hunter-gatherer society}}
[[File:BushmenSan.jpg|thumb|[[San people]] in Botswana start a fire by hand.]]
The [[Portal:Main|main]] form of food production in such societies is the daily collection of wild plants and the hunting of wild animals. Hunter-gatherers move around constantly in search of food. As a result, they do not build permanent [[villages]] or create a wide variety of [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]], and usually only form small groups such as [[Band society|bands]] and [[tribe]]s. However, some hunting and gathering societies in areas with abundant resources (such as people of [[Tlingit people|tlingit]]) lived in larger groups and formed complex hierarchical social structures such as chiefdom. The need for mobility also limits the size of these societies. They generally consist of fewer than 60 people and rarely exceed 100. Statuses within the tribe are relatively equal, and decisions are reached through general agreement. The ties that bind the tribe are more complex than those of the bands. [[Leadership]] is personal—charismatic—and used for special purposes only in tribal society. There are no political offices containing real power, and a [[Tribal chief|chief]] is merely a person of influence, a sort of adviser; therefore, tribal consolidations for collective action are not governmental. The family forms the [[Portal:Main|main]] [[social unit]], with most members being related by birth or marriage. This type of organization requires the family to carry out most social functions, including [[Production, costs, and pricing|production]] and [[education]].

==== Pastoral ====
{{Main article|Pastoral society}}
[[Pastoralism]] is a slightly more efficient form of subsistence. Rather than searching for food on a daily basis, members of a pastoral society rely on domesticated herd animals to meet their food needs. Pastoralists live a nomadic life, moving their herds from one pasture to another. Because their food supply is far more reliable, pastoral societies can support larger populations. Since there are food surpluses, fewer people are needed to produce food. As a result, the division of labor (the specialization by individuals or groups in the performance of specific economic activities) becomes more complex. For example, some people become craftworkers, producing [[tools]], [[weapons]], and [[jewelry]], among other items of value. The production of goods encourages trade. This trade helps to create inequality, as some families acquire more goods than others do. These families often gain power through their increased [[wealth]]. The passing on of property from one generation to another helps to centralize wealth and power. Over time emerge hereditary chieftainships, the typical form of [[government]] in pastoral societies.

==== Horticultural ====
{{Main article|Horticulturalist society}}
Fruits and vegetables grown in garden plots that have been cleared from the jungle or forest provide the [[Portal:Main|main]] source of food in a horticultural society. These societies have a level of [[technology]] and complexity similar to pastoral societies. Some horticultural groups use the slash-and-burn method to raise crops. The wild vegetation is cut and burned, and ashes are used as fertilizers. Horticulturists use human labor and simple tools to cultivate the land for one or more seasons. When the land becomes barren, horticulturists clear a new plot and leave the old plot to revert to its natural state. They may return to the original land several years later and begin the process again. By rotating their garden plots, horticulturists can stay in one area for a fairly long period of time. This allows them to build semipermanent or permanent villages. The size of a village's population depends on the amount of land available for farming; thus villages can range from as few as 30 people to as many as 2000.

As with pastoral societies, surplus food leads to a more complex division of labor. Specialized roles in horticultural societies include craftspeople, [[shamans]] (religious leaders), and traders. This role specialization allows people to create a wide variety of artifacts. As in pastoral societies, surplus food can lead to inequalities in wealth and power within horticultural political systems, developed because of the settled nature of horticultural life.

==== Agrarian ====
{{Main article|Agrarian society}}
[[File:Detail of Les tres riches heures - March.jpg|thumb|Ploughing with oxen in the 15th century]]
Agrarian societies use agricultural [[technological]] advances to cultivate crops over a large area. Sociologists use the phrase [[Neolithic Revolution|agricultural revolution]] to refer to the technological changes that occurred as long as 8,500 years ago that led to cultivating crops and raising farm animals. Increases in food supplies then led to larger populations than in earlier communities. This meant a greater surplus, which resulted in towns that became centers of trade supporting various rulers, educators, craftspeople, merchants, and religious leaders who did not have to worry about locating nourishment.

Greater degrees of social stratification appeared in agrarian societies. For example, women previously had higher social status because they shared labor more equally with men. In hunting and gathering societies, women even gathered more food than men. However, as food stores improved and women took on lesser roles in providing food for the family, they increasingly became subordinate to men. As villages and towns expanded into neighboring areas, conflicts with other communities inevitably occurred. Farmers provided warriors with food in [[Trade|exchange]] for protection against invasion by enemies. A system of rulers with high social status also appeared. This nobility organized warriors to protect the society from invasion. In this way, the nobility managed to extract goods from "lesser" members of society.

[[File:Cleric-Knight-Workman.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|Cleric, knight and peasant; an example of feudal societies]]

==== Feudal ====
{{Main article|Feudal society}}
[[Feudalism]] was a form of society based on ownership of land. Unlike today's farmers, vassals under feudalism were bound to cultivating their lord's land. In exchange for military protection, the lords exploited the peasants into providing food, crops, crafts, homage, and other services to the landowner. The [[estates of the realm]] system of feudalism was often multigenerational; the families of peasants may have cultivated their lord's land for generations.

===Industrial===
{{main article|Industrial societies}}
Between the 15th and 16th centuries, a new economic system emerged that began to replace feudalism. [[Capitalism]] is marked by open competition in a free market, in which the means of production are privately owned. Europe's exploration of the Americas served as one impetus for the development of capitalism. The introduction of foreign metals, silks, and spices stimulated great commercial activity in European societies.

Industrial societies rely heavily on machines powered by fuels for the production of goods. This produced [[further]] dramatic increases in efficiency. The increased efficiency of production of the industrial revolution produced an even greater surplus than before. Now the surplus was not just agricultural goods, but also manufactured goods. This larger surplus caused all of the changes discussed earlier in the domestication revolution to become even more pronounced.

Once again, the population boomed. Increased productivity made more goods available to everyone. However, inequality became even greater than before. The breakup of agricultural-based feudal societies caused many people to leave the land and seek employment in cities. This created a great surplus of labor and gave capitalists plenty of laborers who could be hired for extremely low wages.

===Post-industrial===
{{main article|Post-industrial society}}
{{see also|Information revolution}}
Post-industrial societies are societies dominated by information, services, and high technology more than the production of goods. Advanced industrial societies are now seeing a shift toward an increase in service sectors over manufacturing and production. The United States is the first country to have over half of its workforce employed in service industries. Service industries include government, research, education, health, sales, law, and banking.