Society
A human society is a group
of people involved in persistent Interpersonal relationship, or a large social
grouping sharing the same geographical or social territory, typically subject
to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Human
societies are characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals
who share a distinctive culture and institutions a given society may be
described as the sum total of such relationships among its constituent members.
In the Social science, a larger society often evinces stratification and or
dominance patterns in subgroups.
Insofar as it
collaborative a society can enable its members to benefit in ways that would
not otherwise be possible on an individual basis; both individual and social
benefits can thus be distinguished, or in many cases found to overlap.
A society can
also consist of like-minded people governed by their own norms and values
within a dominant, larger society. This is sometimes referred to as a
subculture, a term extensively within criminology.
More broadly, a
society may be illustrated as an economic, social, or industrial
infrastructure, made up of a varied collection of individuals. Members of a
society may be from different ethnic groups. A society can be a particular
ethnic group, such as the Saxons, a nation state, such as Bhutan, or a broader
cultural group, such as a western society. The word society may also
refer to an organized voluntary association of
people for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic,
or other purposes. A society may even, though more by means of metaphor refer
to a social organism such as an ant colony or any cooperative aggregate such
as, for example, in some formulations of artificial intelligence.
Etymology and usage
The term society came from
the Latin word societas, which in turn was derived from the noun socius used
to describe a bond or interaction between parties that are friendly, or at
least civil. Without an article, the term can refer to the entirety of humanity,
although those who are unfriendly or uncivil to the remainder of society in this
sense may be deemed to be antisocial. Adam Smith different merchants, from a
sense of its without any mutual love or affection, if only they refrain from
doing injury to each other.
Used
in the sense of an association, a society is a body of individuals outlined by
the bounds of functional, interdependence, possibly comprising characteristics
such as national or cultural identity, social solidarity, language, or
hierarchical structure.
Conceptions
Society,
in general, addresses the fact that an individual has rather limited means as
an autonomous unit. The great apes have always been more or less social
animals, so Robinson Crusoe like situations are either fiction on unusual
corner cases to the ubiquity of social context for humans, who fall between
presocial and eusocial in the spectrum of animal ethology.
Human
societies are most often organized according to their primary means of
subsistence. Social scientists have identified hunter gather societies, nomadic
pastoral societies, horticulturalist or simple farming societies, and intensive
agricultural societies, also called civilizations. Some consider industrial and
post industrial societies to be qualitatively different from traditional
agricultural societies.
Today,
anthropologists and many social scientists vigorously oppose the notion of
cultural evolution and rigid stages such as these. In fact, much
anthropological data has suggested that complexity does not always take the
form of hierarchical social organization or stratification.
According
to anthropologist Maurice Godelier, one critical novelty in human society, in
contrast to humanity closest biological relatives, is the parental role assumed
by the males, which supposedly would be absent in our nearest relatives for
whom paternity is not generally determinable.
In
political science
Societies
may also be structured politically. In order of increasing size and complexity,
there are bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and state societies. These structures may
have varying degrees of political power, depending on the cultural,
geographical, and historical environments that these societies must contend
with. Thus, a more isolated society with the same level of technology and
culture as other societies is more likely to survive than one in closer
proximity to others that may encroach on their resources. A society that is
unable to offer an effective response to other societies it competes with will
usually be subsumed into the culture of the competing society.
In Sociology
Sociologists
Gerhard Lenski differentiates societies based on their level of
technology, communication, and economy, hunters and gatherers, simple
agricultural, advanced agricultural, industrial, and special. This is similar
to the system earlier developed by anthropologists Morton H. Fried, a conflict
theorist, and Elman service, an integration theorist, who have produced a
system of classification for societies in all human cultures based on the
evolution of social inequality and the role of the state. This system of
classification contains four categories,
Hunter
gathers bands
Tribal
societies in which there are some limited instances of social rank and
prestige.
Stratified
structure led by chieftains.
Civilizations,
with complex social hierarchies and organize, institutional governments.
In addition to this there are,
Humanity, mankind, upon
which rest all the elements of society, including society's beliefs.
Virtual society, a
society based on online identity, which is evolving in the information age.
Over
time, some cultures have progressed toward more complex forms of organization
and control. This evolution has a profound effect on patterns of community.
Hunter-gatherer tribes settled around seasonal food stocks to become agrarian
villages. Villages grew to become towns and cities. Cities turned into city
states and nation states.
Many societies distribute largess at the behest
of some individual or some larger group of people. This type of generosity can
be seen in all known cultures; typically, prestige accrues to the generous
individual or group. Conversely, members of a society may also shun or
scapegoat members of the society who violate its norms. Mechanisms such as gift
giving, joking relationship and scapegoating, which may be seen in various
types of human groupings, tend to be institutionalized within a society. Social
evolution as a phenomenon carries with it certain elements that could be
detrimental to the population it serves.
Society Types
Societies are
social groups that differ according to 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, and postindustrial.
Pre-industrial
In a pre-industrial society, food production,
which is carried out through the use of human and animal labor, is the 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
The
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 artifacts, and usually only form small groups such as bands
and tribes. However, some hunting and gathering societies in areas with
abundant resources lived in larger groups and formed complex hierarchical
social structures such as chiefdoms. 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 chief is merely a person of influence, a sort of
adviser; therefore, tribal consolidations for collective action are not
governmental. The family forms the main social unit, with most societal members
being related by birth or marriage. This type of organization requires the
family to carry out most social functions, including production and education.
Pastoral
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 becomes more
complex. For example, some people become craft workers, producing, tools,
weapons, and jewelry. 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
Fruits and vegetables grown in garden plots that have been cleared from the jungle or forest provide the 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 semi permanent or permanent villages. The size of a village 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, 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
Agrarian societies use agricultural technological advances to cultivate crops over a large area. Sociologists use the phrase 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 neighbouring areas, conflicts with other communities inevitably occurred. Farmers provided warriors with food in excharge 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.
Feudal
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
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 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 labourers who
could be hired for extremely low wages.
Post-industrial
Postindustrial 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 U.S. is the first
country to have over half of its work force employed in service industries.
Service industries include government, research, education, health, sales, law,
banking, and so on. It is still too early to identify and understand all the
ramifications this new kind of society will have for social life. In fact, even
the phrase postindustrial belies the fact that we don't yet quite know what
will follow industrial societies or the forms they will take.
Western
The development of the Western world has brought with it the emerging concepts of Western culture politics, and ideas, often referred to simply as Western society. Geographically, it covers at the very least the countries of Western Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. It sometimes also includes Eastern Europe, South America, and Israel.
The cultures and lifestyles of all of these stem from Western Europe. They all enjoy relatively strong economies and stable governments, allow freedom of religion, have chosen democracy as a form of governance, favour capitalism and international trade, are heavily influenced by Judeo Christian values, and have some form of political and military alliance or cooperation.
Information
Although the concept of information society has
been under discussion since the 1930s, in the modern world it is almost always
applied to the manner in which information technologies have impacted society
and culture. It therefore covers the effects of computers and
telecommunications on the home, the workplace, schools, government, and various
communities and organizations, as well as the emergence of new social forms in
cyberspace.
The international Telecommunications Union World summit on the information society in Geneva and Tunis 2003 and 2005 has led to a number of policy and application areas where action is required.
Promotion
of ICTs for development,
Information
and communication infrastructure,
Access
to information and knowledge,
Capacity
building,
Building
confidence and security in the use of ICTs,
Enabling
environment, ICT applications in the areas of government, business, learning,
health, employment, environment, agriculture and science,
Cultural
and linguistic diversity and local content,
Media,
Ethical
dimensions of the information society, and
International
and regional cooperation.
Knowledge
As
access to electronic information resources increased at the beginning of the
21st century, special attention was extended from the information society to
the knowledge society. An analysis by the Irish government stated, "The
capacity to manipulate, store and transmit large quantities of information cheaply
has increased at a staggering rate over recent years. The digitisation of
information and the associated pervasiveness of the Internet are facilitating a
new intensity in the application of knowledge to economic activity, to the
extent that it has become the predominant factor in the creation of wealth. As
much as 70 to 80 percent of economic growth is now said to be due to new and
better knowledge.
Other uses
People of many nations united by common political
and cultural traditions, beliefs, or values are sometimes also said to form a
society such as Judeo Christian, Eastern, and Western. When used in this
context, the term is employed as a means of contrasting two or more societies
whose members represent alternative conflicting and competing worldviews.
In some countries, e.g. the United States, France,
and Latin America, the term society is used in commerce to denote a partnership
between investors or the start of a business. In the United Kingdom, partnerships
are not called societies, but co operative or mutuals are often known as
societies.
Early
Pandyan Society
The Early Pandyas were one of the dynasties that ruled the ancient Tamil country from the pre-Christian era to about 200 AD. The sangam works such as Maduraikkanchi, Netunlvatai and the Purananuru collection give a lot of information about the life and habits of the people during this age.
People
The
Tamil society during the early Pandyan age had several class distinctions among
the people, which were different from the Vedic classification of Brahmins,
Kshatriyas, Vaishya and Shudras. The highest class below the king, among the
Tamils, was the Arivar or the sages. They were the ascetics that
renounced materialism and mostly lived outside the cities. Next in rank were
the Ulavar or the farmers. Following the Ulavar were the Poruppan
or the armed warriors, then comes Aayar or shepherds, then comes Vedduvar
or hunters, followed by artisans such as goldsmiths, blacksmiths etc., then the
Valayar or fishermen and finally the Pulayar or the scavengers. The
higher classes enjoyed more privileges than the lower classes - for example,
when the higher classes passed in the streets, the lower classes made way for
them. The Pulayan, for example, bowed in supplication if he met a
nobleman. The class distinctions were quite conspicuous in many aspects of life
- the dress worn by the people, the way they groomed themselves and the kind of
food they subsisted on were all different from one class to another. In spite
of such class-based social inequalities, there was no slavery in the society.
There
were several occupational groups among the people, like washermen, carpenters,
blacksmiths, sculptors, goldsmiths, tailors, jewelers, potters, musicians,
priests, oil mongers, wine cellars, prostitutes, actresses and cobblers. Each
occupational group lived in its own locality called a Cheri an arrangement that was made to locate each group without
any difficulty, which may have led to the caste system eventually.
Role of women
There
was legal and social inequality between the sexes. Women had no property
rights, and in general, were subordinate to men. However, women mixed freely in
the business and amusements of social life. In towns and cities, women of lower
classes were employed as hawkers, vendors, shopkeepers or servants in rich
households and in the villages, they worked in the fields and gardens along
with men and shared their hardships. The ladies of the higher classes were more
confined to their homes, but they were not secluded from society. On festive
occasions they joined processions and went out to invite their friends and
relations. Owing to the freedom enjoyed by women, it was possible for young
people to court each other before marriage. However, the plight of a widow was miserable
they were considered inauspicious and had to live life according to very strict
rules. They were prohibited from decorating themselves or participating in any
form of amusement. The practice of was also prevalent in ancient Tamil country
and was known as tippaydal. When the Pandyan king Pudappandiyan died,
his queen Perungopendu killed herself by ascending the funeral pyre of the king.
Women were exposed to education, a fact testified by the presence of at least
thirty women poetesses in the Sangam works, including Awaiyar, Mudatamakkanniar,
Kaakkaippaadiniyaar, Naachchellayaar, Naagaiyaar, Nanmullaiyaar, Ponmudiyaar,
Ilaveyiniyaar and Nappasaliyaar.
Clothing
A
variety of clothing was used by people during this age, including those made of
cotton and silk. People living in hilly and deserted areas wore dresses made of
foliage and flowers. Sheaths of grassy weeds were used for making dress by the
hill and forest area people. Skins of animals and barks of trees were also
used. Men of the poorer classes wore only one piece of cloth around the waist.
Women covered their upper body with a kind of dress called kachchu. Among the higher classes,
men wore two pieces: one around the waist and the other, the upper cloth,
thrown over the shoulders. Women of sophisticated society wore half sarees,
made of the finest cotton and silk fabrics, with embroidery. Both men and women
sported long tresses of hair. Women plaited their hair while they were
unmarried and after marriage, decorated their hair in five different ways Kulal, Alagam, Kondai, Paniccai and Tuncai. Widows were not permitted to have tresses of hair. Women
also applied a cream of scented clay on their hair for the fragrance and the
cooling effect. Women, except widows, wore colorful tilakam on their foreheads
and used collyrium to beautify their eyelashes and brows.
Diet
The
diet was plain, rice being the staple cereal, with maize, millet, milk, butter
and honey being in common use. The Paratavar ate fish as their main food,
whereas people in the Mullai regions used dairy products heavily. Kurunji people
ate meat obtained by hunting. Rice flakes were eaten with milk, honey, ghee and
jiggery pepper, tamarind and salt were used during cooking. Ghee was used by
rich people. Vegetables and fruits were part of their meals. Meat eating was common
people ate flesh of rams, deer, hare, fowl, porcupines, pigs and boar, fresh
and dried fish.
Housing
The
kind of housing was determined by the type of geography of the land and the
economic status of the occupants. The Mullai and Marutam people lived in
comfortable and bigger houses compared to that of the Kurunji and Netai people
who lived in huts since they had to live near hilly regions and the seashore
respectively. The rich built their houses with tiled roofs and walls made of
burnt bricks and mud, while the poor built their huts with mud and thatched it
with grass, coconut leaves or palmyra palam leaves. Both in the huts and
houses, the flooring was smeared with cowdung. The affluent had houses with
porticoes, many storeys, open terraces and furnished their houses well. The
inner walls of their houses were decorated with flowers and paintings, with
cottages to protect them from the wind. Cots were in common use the rich had luxurious beds decked with swan
feathers and flowers, while the common people had beds woven with the straw of
maize and the poorest people used beds made of grass or hay.
Ancient Madurai
The Sangam
poems Maduraikkanchi and Netunalvatai give a vivid description of the city of Madurai
and the king palace, under the rule of the Early Pandyas. The main streets were
long and broad, with most buildings on either side of them being lofty mansions
with upper stories furnished with many windows. A flag was hoisted at every
temple and after each victory of the king, gorgeous colors were unfurled in the
temples, giving the city a festive look. When the troops returned from
successful missions, they brought with them war booty such as elephants,
horses, cattle and beautifully carved fortress gates. Feudatory chiefs followed
with their tributes to the king, while conch shells were blown to warn
pedestrians off the road. The king's palace was built lavishly, surrounded by
spacious lawns and enclosed within high walls. The gateways to the palace were
massive, riveted with iron and provided with large bolts and bars. The king ran
his business seated from an audience hall in the presence of his council of
ministers, military chiefs and other officers.
The
Sangam poems also give a detailed account of the day today routine of the
inhabitants of Madurai during this period, Long before dawn, musicians tuned
their lutes and practiced upon them, pastry cooks cleaned the floors of their
shops and toddy sellers opened their taverns for early customers. Minstrels
went around singing their morning blessings. At sunrise, boomed and big drums
resounded in temples, monasteries and the palace of the king. Flower sellers
and vendors of fragrant powders, arecanuts and betel leaves strolled the
streets. Elderly women with tempting dainties and sweet smelling flowers went
from door to door offering the articles for sale. The wealthy classes drove in
chariots pulled by horses or rode on ambling steeds which were trained to
special paces. In the great market, which was held in an extensive square, several
articles were put up for sale such as garlands of flowers, fragrant pastes,
coats with metallic belts, leather sandals, weapons, shields, carts, chariots
and ornamented chariot steps. The garment shops sold clothing of various colors
and patterns, made of cotton, silk or wool and were neatly arranged in rows. In
the grain merchants street, sacks of pepper and sixteen kinds of grains
including paddy, millet, gram, peas and sesame seeds were heaped along the
street. The jewellers, who conducted business from a separate street, sold
precious articles such as diamonds, pearls, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, topaz,
coral beads and varieties of gold. In the cool hours of the evening, the
nobleman drove out on their chariots accompanied by attendants clad in red
garments, who ran by the side of the chariots. The ladies appeared on the high
terraces of their mansions, wearing ankle rings and golden bracelets with the
fragrances from their perfumes spreading through the streets. The merchants of
perishable articles move about the streets disposing of unsold merchandise.
Hotels and restaurants are crowded with visitors who feast upon the meals
served. A flourish of music from trumpets and other instruments summoned people
to the evening worship, following which families proceeded to their places of
worship to offer prayers. As the sun set, lamps were lit in each house. Youths,
drunken soldiers and harlots decked with jewels and flowers started walking the
streets. During festival season, processions of the deities were common,
accompanied by dancing and loud music. By nightfall, petty traders closed up
their shops and some of them went to sleep outside their stalls. Night guards
started patrolling the streets, with bows and arrows, even during dark and
rainy nights.
Types of Societies
Although
humans have established many types of societies throughout history, sociologists
and anthropologists experts who study early and tribal cultures usually refer
to six basic types of societies, each defined by its level of technology.
Hunting and gathering
societies
The members of hunting
and gathering societies primarily survive by hunting animals, fishing,
and gathering plants. The vast majority of these societies existed in the past,
with only a few perhaps a million people total living today on the verge of
extinction.
To
survive, early human societies completely depended upon their immediate
environment. When the animals left the area, the plants died, or the rivers
dried up, the society had to relocate to an area where resources were
plentiful. Consequently, hunting and gathering societies, which were typically
small, were quite mobile. In some cases, where resources in a locale were
extraordinarily plentiful, small villages might form. But most hunting and
gathering societies were nomadic,
moving constantly in search of food and water.
Labor
in hunting and gathering societies was divided equally among members. Because
of the mobile nature of the society, these societies stored little in the form
of surplus goods. Therefore, anyone who could hunt, fish, or gather fruits and
vegetables did so. These societies probably also had at least some division of
labor based on gender. Males probably travelled long distances to hunt and
capture larger animals. Females hunted smaller animals, gathered plants, made
clothing, protected and raised children, and helped the males to protect the
community from rival groups.
Hunting
and gathering societies were also tribal.
Members shared an ancestral heritage and a common set of traditions and
rituals. They also sacrificed their individuality for the sake of the larger
tribal culture.
Pastoral societies
Members of pastoral
societies, which first emerged 12,000 years ago, pasture animals for
food and transportation. Pastoral societies still exist today, primarily in the
desert lands of North Africa where horticulture and manufacturing are not
possible.
Domesticating
animals allows for a more manageable food supply than do hunting and gathering.
Hence, pastoral societies are able to produce a surplus of goods, which makes
storing food for future use a possibility. With storage comes the desire to
develop settlements that permit the society to remain in a single place for
longer periods of time. And with stability comes the trade of surplus goods
between neighbouring pastoral communities.
Pastoral
societies allow certain of its members those who are not domesticating animals
to engage in nonsurvival activities. Traders, healers, spiritual leaders,
craftspeople, and people with other specialty professions appear.
Horticultural societies
Unlike pastoral societies that rely on domesticating
animals, horticultural societies
rely on cultivating fruits, vegetables, and plants. These societies first
appeared in different parts of the planet about the same time as pastoral
societies. Like hunting and gathering societies, horticultural societies had to
be mobile. Depletion of the land's resources or dwindling water supplies, for
example, forced the people to leave. Horticultural societies occasionally
produced a surplus, which permitted storage as well as the emergence of other
professions not related to the survival of the society.
Agricultural
societies
Agricultural societies use technological advances to cultivate crops especially
grains like wheat, rice, corn, and barley over a large area. Sociologists use
the phrase 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 agricultural 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. But as food stores improved and women took on lesser roles
in providing food for the family, they became more subordinate to men.
As
villages and towns expanded into neighbouring areas, conflicts with other
communities inevitably occurred. Farmers provided warriors with food in
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 the lesser persons of society.
Feudal societies
From the 9th to 15th centuries, 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 owner of the land. The caste system of
feudalism was often multigenerational; the families of peasants may have
cultivated their lord's land for generations.
Between
the 14th 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 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 Europe.
Industrial societies
are based on using machines particularly fuel driven
ones to produce goods. Sociologists refer to the period during the 18th century
when the production of goods in mechanized factories began as the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial
Revolution appeared first in Britain, and then quickly spread to the rest of
the world.
As
productivity increased, means of transportation improved to better facilitate
the transfer of products from place to place. Great wealth was attained by the
few who owned factories, and the masses found jobs working in the factories.
Industrialization
brought about changes in almost every aspect of society. As factories became
the center of work, home cottages as the usual workplace became less prevalent,
as did the family's role in providing vocational training and education. Public
education via schools and eventually the mass media became the norm. People
life expectancy increased as their health improved. Political institutions changed
into modern models of governance. Cultural diversity increased, as did social
mobility. Large cities emerged as places to find jobs in factories. Social
power moved into the hands of business elites and governmental officials,
leading to struggles between industrialists and workers. Labor unions and
welfare organizations formed in response to these disputes and concerns over
workers' welfare, including children who toiled in factories. Rapid changes in
industrial technology also continued, especially the production of larger
machines and faster means of transportation. The Industrial Revolution also saw
to the development of bureaucratic
forms of organization, complete with written rules, job descriptions,
impersonal positions, and hierarchical methods of management.
Postindustrial societies
Sociologists note that with the advent of the computer
microchip, the world is witnessing a technological revolution. This revolution
is creating a postindustrial society
based on information, knowledge, and the selling of services. That is, rather
than being driven by the factory production of goods, society is being shaped
by the human mind, aided by computer technology. Although factories will always
exist, the key to wealth and power seems to lie in the ability to generate,
store, manipulate, and sell information.
Sociologists
speculate about the characteristics of postindustrial society in the near
future. They predict increased levels of education and training, consumerism,
availability of goods, and social mobility. While they hope for a decline in
inequality as technical skills and know how begin to determine class rather
than the ownership of property, sociologists are also concerned about potential
social divisions based on those who have appropriate education and those who do
not. Sociologists believe society will become more concerned with the welfare
of all members of society. They hope postindustrial society will be less
characterized by social conflict, as everyone works together to solve society
problems through science.
Computer vision is an immense subject, more than
any single tutorial can cover. In the following tutorials I will cover the
basics of computer vision in four parts, each focused on need to know practical
knowledge.
Will talk about vision in biology, such as the human eye, vision in insects, etc. By understanding how biology processes visual images, you may then be able to apply what you learned towards your own creations. This will help you turn the 'magic' into an understanding of how vision really works.
Will go into computer image processing. I will talk about how a camera captures an image, how it is stored in a computer, and how you can do basic alterations of an image. Basic machine vision tricks such as heuristics, threshing, and grey scaling will be covered.
Covers the typical computer vision algorithms, where I talk about how to do some higher level processing of what your robot sees. Edge detection, blob counting, middle mass, image correlation, facial recognition, and stereo vision will be covered.
Covers computer vision algorithms for motion. Motion detection, tracking, optical flow, background subtraction, and feature tracking will be explained. There is also a problem set to test you on what you have learned in this computer vision tutorial series.
No comments:
Post a Comment