Social Development

Society

The word society is derived from the Latin word ' society' which refers to describe or interaction between parties that are friendly. It is a group of people involved in a continuous social interaction or a large group of people sharing the same geographical or social territory. Societies are often explained as patterns of social relationships between individuals who share particular culture and institutions.

A society also refers to the people in general, living together in organized communities with shared laws, traditions, and values. It is a community or group of people having common traditions, institutions, and interests. Societies are described as the sum total of such relationship among members of the society. Such relation of the people directs them towards achieving the common goal. Therefore, society is togetherness of friends or broadly people and their mutual relationship.

Characteristics of a Society

The basic characteristics of a society are listed below:

• Society is dynamic as people as people are dynamic in nature.
• People of a society have a mutual relationship.
• People have common goal and needs.
• Every individual protects their rights.
• People are organised with the particular objective on the basis of fixed code.
• There is an affinity, mutual interaction, activeness and unity among people.
• The prime goal is made for Social Development.
• People believe in the principle of cosmopolitanism.
• There develops a cultured network of social relation.

Relationship between Human and Society:

Society is the result of togetherness of people, their relations and support to each other for their existence. A human cannot survive without society and societies cannot exist without members. Still there may be conflicts between the individual and society. One can imagine that social systems function better when they have considerable control over their individual members. Society is no more possible without people and people have no existence without it. It is very clear that relation between individual and society are very close.

Development

Development is the process of having positive changes in any part or an event constituting a new stage in a changing situation. The process of adding improvements to a parcel of land, such as grading, sud-divisions drainage, access, roads, utilities. For instance- constructing road, bridge, producing capable manpower etc.

The positive changes on social events, process and structure indicate green signals for development. In other words, the newness that comes to anything or anywhere positively is development.

Development is also the process of adding improvements to a parcel of land, such as grading, sud-divisions drainage, access, roads, utilities. It is a continuous process, which is not something that starts and stops but goes without a pause.
 

Social Development

Social development is about putting people at the center of development. This means development processes need to benefit people, particularly not only the poor but also a recognition of people. Social Development is the universal practice. It goes at its own speed. It's all about the process of transformation. It's better for the people to gear up the development process in an organised and systematic way to prosperity. It is the way they interact in groups and society, and the norms that facilitate such interaction, shape development processes.

Types of Societies

Society is the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community. Society is a group of people involved in social interaction or a large group of people sharing the same geographical or social territory. We have discussed about a society, its characteristics, social development in the previous lesson. Now, let's discuss the types of Societies. The Societies are broadly classified on the basis of level of development, inequality, urbanization, level and political organization.

Classification of Society

There have been six types of societies throughout history:

• Hunting and gathering societies.
• Pastoral societies.
• Horticultural societies.
• Agricultural societies.
• Industrial societies.
• Post-industrial societies.

Hunting and gathering Societies

The members survive primarily by hunting, trapping, fishing, and gathering edible plants. A majority of the members' time is spent looking for and gathering food. They spend most of their time for looking and gathering food. A hunting and gathering society has following characteristics:

• Family is the society's primary institution. Family determines the distribution of food and how to socialize children.
• Hunting and gathering societies were nomadic.
• Societies used to be small in size.
• Family was the society's primary institutions. Family used to determine food and to socialize children.
• Members of hunting and gathering societies are mutually dependent upon each other.
• Male are supposed to be hunters and female gathers as there was division of labour on the basis of sex.
   

Pastoral society

Unlike hunting and gathering societies, pastoral societies only have to move when the land in which the animals graze is no longer usable. Pastoral societies also allow for job specialization, since not everyone is needed to gather or hunt for food. For example, while some people breed animals, others are able to produce tools or clothing, which allows for specialization in these areas.

Some major characteristics of this type of Society are:

1. The society was common in areas where crops couldn't be supported.
2. The society was divided on people having more animals and less animals.
3. In Pastoral society, the system of job specification started. For example some people bred animals, some to produce tools or clothing etc.

Such society exists even today in Middle East, Africa, Tibet, Middle Asia and Northern part of Nepal.

Horticulture Society

These societies rely on the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, and plants in order to survive. Horticultural societies are often forced to relocate when the resources of the land are depleted or when the water supplies decrease.The technological advances led to an increase in food supplies, an increase in population, and the development of trade centers.

Some characteristics of horticulture society are:

1. Animals are used to pull plows.
2. Plowing allows for cultivation of larger areas of land.
3. The primary source of food and income is fruit production.
4. Such society is often forced to relocate when the resources of the land or water supplies decrease.
    

Agriculture society

In agricultural society, Increases in food supplies then led to larger populations than in earlier communities. The society where people get survived by carrying out agriculture activities is agriculture society.

Some characteristics of agriculture society are as follows:

1. The primary source of livelihood and residence is from agriculture products.
2. This sort of society is categorized into landlord and farmer class.

Industrial Society

The society in which people are involved in producing different sort of products, either for survival or business is called industrial society. 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.

Some characteristics of this society are as follows:

1. The primary focus is given to industrial development.
2. The investors are owners and who work are laborers or workers.
3. There lies cultural differences in such society.
4. In the previous societies, there wasn't much gap between rich and poor but there lies a huge gap between wealthy and poor now.