Our social world consists of thousands of human societies. For the sake of comparison, and analysis, it is necessary for us to classify them on some basis. According to Lenski and Lenski 11970], these diverse societies which are existing at present can be classified into a limited number of basic types depending upon the technologies or the subsistence strategies that they use to exploit the natural environment.
Different societies have used different subsistence strategies, and those societies that have found more productive strategies have tended to grow larger and more complex. These complex societies often enjoy their success at the expense of societies using more primitive technologies.
Speaking about the evolution of societies, it could be said that there has been a general historical trend of socio-cultural revolution, a process which is more or less similar to biological evolution.
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A society, like an organism, has to adapt to its environment in order to exploit food resources. In this process of socio-cultural revolution, some societies have evolved further and faster than others; some have become “stuck” at a particular level. In general, all have changed in ways that are unique to themselves.
Thus, it is on the basis of the level of technology or reliance on the basic type of subsistence strategy, societies can be generally classified into the following types:
(i) Hunting and Gathering Societies,
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(ii) Pastoralism or Pastoral Societies,
(iii) Horticultural Societies,
(iv) Agricultural Societies, and
(v) Industrial Societies [which includes Pre-industrial Societies also.]
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Social scientists have long recognised that core technology or subsistence strategy has a major impact on values, beliefs, and virtually all social structures, including the family, religion, the political and economic orders, and educational institutions. Because of the importance of core technology or subsistence strategy, we can form an important classification system of societies based on differences in core technology or subsistence strategy.