Historical Overview of Human Societies

The earliest fossils remains of modern humans date to over 100,000 years ago. Those early societies went from small bands of hunters and gatherers that relied primarily on their biological skills to large industrial societies based on sophisticated technologies. Below you will find a brief overview of Lenski's societal stages followed by a list of large scale social changes that have occurred in the last 100,000 years of human societies.

Lenski's stages are based on the society's control of their food supply.

Hunting and Gathering - first and only type until 15,000 years ago. Small (40), nomadic, little specialization. Religion: animism.

Horticulture / Pastoral - domestication of plants (gardening) and animals (herding) about 15,000 years ago. Increasing size (200 - 5,000). Lacks permanent settlements. Religion: Horticulture - ancestor worship; Pastoral - active god(s). Increased specialization and stratification. Slavery common. Increased warfare.

Agrarian - 6,000 years ago invention of plow controls weeds and maintains fertility of soil. Size increases to 100,000+. First permanent settlements (cities). Religion very powerful and concerned with moral conduct. Increase specialization and stratification. Sex & class stratification most extreme. Constant warfare. Money economies and hereditary political systems. First educational institutions evolve. Very hard life for most.

Industrial - Machine power replaces animal and human power. Size in millions with hundreds per square mile. Urban living for majority. Corporate/state capitalism replace family businesses. Education and science expand role. Increased inter society trading. Democratic governments emerge.

Post industrial - service sector becomes largest employer. Production and control of information becomes a major activity. Specialization continues to increase. Increasing control of environment.

Basic large scale patterns

• Food production increases and creates food surpluses.
• Technology improves and human reliance on technology increases.
• Societies become fewer and larger.
• Humans societies expand to cover planet - actually we have traveled beyond the planet.
• There is a shift from fewer primary relationships to more secondary relationships. We spend more time interacting with people we know very little or not at all.
• Death rates decline - primarily due to 1) a more constant food supply; 2) better housing to protect us from the environment and 3) better sanitation. No, it isn't medical drugs or surgery.
• Birth rates decline. This is especially true as societies urbanize as children are "liabilities" in urban life where they were "assets" in rural life.
• Life expectancy increases - Almost everyone lives to be 1 year old and the majority of people make it to 65 years old.
• Average age increases - Today the median age in the U.S. is 35. In many none developed countries it is in the teens.
• Female/male ratio increases. We have more females than males due to many factors including: 1) males have more genetically linked illnesses, 2) males engage in riskier behaviors (drinking, driving fast), 3) males traditionally have riskier jobs, 4) females have fewer children so risk child bearing less often, 5) we no longer practice infanticide which was primarily on female infants.
• Gender stratification increases (to agriculture) then declines.
• Family units longer and thinner: there are more generations alive at one time but fewer in each generation (per family)
• Work shifts from primary (e.g., farming) to secondary (e.g., manufacturing) to tertiary (e.g., service).
• Shift from ascribed to achieved roles. Knowledge and skills become more important as who your parents are becomes less important.
• Increasing inter society interaction - we are becoming a "one world system."
• Energy consumption increases.
• Urbanization increases. The first permanent urban settlements did not appear until agriculture societies. Now most people live in urban environments.
• Communication & transportation increase in volume and speed.
• Activities expand into nighttime. The patterns for this expansion are similar to the patterns of human expansion into frontier areas. Look at IUS. Many classes are at night.
• There is increased specialization. All aspects of life are affected from more institutions, more job categories, more consumer choices.
• Many family functions taken over by other institutions. The economy becomes capitalist not family centered. Schools take over some training.
• The "individual" becomes more important.
• People have increasing choices.
• There is a proliferation of occupations and institutions (e.g., medicine, sports, mass media)
• Educational institutions becomes more important. We now imprison people who do not send their kids to school.
• Science replaces religion as authority on "how and why" nature works.
• Levels of interpersonal violence (murder and infanticide) decline. We are talking "big picture" here not recent upward trends in U.S. from 1960. Basically, none developed nations have higher rates of violence than developed nations.
• Time orientation shifts from past to future.
• Change happens at a faster rate. This includes both technology and social norms.