The dynamics of society

¶ … Society

We live in a world which is inextricably changing, which faces constant new challenges and must adapt to an ever evolving environment. As history goes by, our society must adopt and adapt to the new circumstances and trends which make the world move forward.

It can be said that there are few societies which can be considered as pure and untouched by different modern technologies. There are tribes in Africa which still conduct their business according to the traditional rules of the hunters and gatherers societies. Also, in the wild parts of Australia the societies are traditional in their structure and evolution.

To a certain extent, all societies are touched by the technological bug. Despite the fact that there are different forms of government from democracies to tyranny, from capitalism to communism, every society has known the benefits and the costs of technology. This is due to the globalization process which tends to affect every corner of the world. China is a relevant example in this sense. Although the Chinese society is based on the dominant influence of the communist state, their form of economy has determined a slow but steady change in the social structure and behavior. In this sense, during the Cold War they were refused the access to information, the freedom of speech, and any democratic manifestation and, given the political situation in the country, with the communist party in total control of the society, people complied and managed to survive in the conditions in which no other Western citizen would have accepted. From this point-of-view, it can be underlined that societies and mentalities change, under various pressures, be they political, economic, or technological.

It cannot be pointed out precisely on a certain society which benefits from the advantages of all three types of social development, agrarian, industrial, and post industrial. It is fair to say however that societies are dominated by a certain trend. In the Chinese case, it is rather difficult to consider this aspect. On the one hand in the most crowded cities of the country, there is a technological-based society, despite communist control. Oh the other hand however, there are numerous country side places which still lack minimum subsistence elements such as running water or electricity. In this case, they are not even at the level of the industrial society. Therefore, an answer would have to consider both aspects.

The advantages for an individual living in the agrarian society are the freedom of the being. Aside from its philosophical content, the expression points out the fact that people living in agrarian societies were more part of a society that those living today because they still had the human element in their character. The constant interdependent relationship was necessary and connected people more. The disadvantage was, surely, the lack of possibilities, and the limited technology available which made their lives tougher.

The post industrial society however is by far the society which offers the most advantages, as well as disadvantages. The advantages include communication, online education, the Internet, world trade, the globalization of exchanges, and economic development. China has benefited greatly from technology as it is now considered to be one of the most important powers in the world, economically and technologically. In turn, its society also changed, and is now more technologically based, despite the political control which is still being exercised. The major disadvantage of post industrial societies is the inequality globalization as the main expression of the post industrial society is constantly creating. The free trade and the facilitation of transportation around the world enable countries to exploit one another, and more often, allow corporations to exploit poor countries. Thus, the existing discrepancies between Western Europe and the U.S. And regions in Africa or Asia are a crucial disadvantage of the post industrial societies.