What do you understand by a complex society?Discuss with examples in 500 words.
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A complex society is a social formation that is otherwise described as a formative or developed state.Social complexity in this sense thus refers typically to political complexity, specifically the presence of a hierarchy in the form of a ruling elite supported by bureaucrats, with associated paraphernalia such as administrative buildings and elite residences in urban or photo-urban population centres.
There are, however; problems with the term complexity when used in this matter.It has been argued that using political organisation (or technological sophistication or subsistence strategy) as the measure of complexity reinforces concepts of western superiority over other forms of social complexity.For example, any given society may be more or less complex than any other given society in one or more aspects (for example, western society can be characterised as extremely simple from the perspectives of kinship structures when compared to, for instance, Indigenous Australian societies).In this sense, Indigenous Australian societies are highly complex societies.The term social complexity is thus not without problems and qualifiers are typically applied by anthropologists and archaeologists when using this term to define more precisely the phenomenon that is being described as complex.
Defining a Complex Society
These societies are characterised by the high level of scientific and technological advancements.Economic activity is perceived in secular terms and is based on practically rationality.
High degree of specialization, rapidity of change, predominance of practical and excessive mechanization of production leads to a state of anomie in society and alienate the worker from the product of his labour. The complex societies have high degree of division of labour and consequently structural differentiation.Thus economic activity constitutes a specialized activity taking place in special institution framework and distinguishable from other types of social activity e.g, factories, banks and markets are some of the distinct economic activities.
High division of labour implies advanced skills which help in high productivity.The economic organisation can easily sustain a large population.Complex societies due to their high productivity generate huge surplus.They can support conspicuous consumption.Market exchange is the pivotal form of exchange and money is the universal, medium of exchange.The members of the complex societies have high advancement motivation and the economic behaviour is characterised by an intense pre-occupation with generation and accumulation of surplus.There exist a clear distinction between domestic economy and community economy.The domestic units are the units of consumption and supply the manpower to the community economy.The production of goods and services takes place in the larger units which form part of the community economy.
Rural-Urban Dichotomy-There are some sociologists whose treat rural-urban dichotomies categories have differentiated the two at various levels including occupational differences, differences in the sizes of communities,differences in the destiny of population, differences in social mobility and direction of migration, differences in social stratification and in the systems of social interaction.
Aspects of Community Life-In these new urban areas, social life becomes more impersonal and anonymous than before.Large-scale organisation such as business operation or Government agencies, come to influence the lives of virtually everyone.Thus, over-urbanisation is the result of over-industrialisation and absence of support systems such as housing.Since the workers could not be given housing by the state they had to travel long distances for work.Another type of urbanization occurs when there is a movement away from large urban towns to small towns, termed as de-urbanization.There occurs a ruralisation of urban industrial towns.
Types of urbanization-There are three types of urbanization.Most sociological attention has focused on the large-scale urbanisation accompanying industrialization and the emergence of modern societies.Although there is no invariant relationship between levels of economic development and urbanization,the term 'under-urbanization' is often used to describe the situation in(former) state socialist countries, where the growth of industrial agglomerations is not matched by a sufficient expansion of housing and urban infrastructure for the workforce.Similarly, the term 'over-urbanization' is applied to Third World cities which have large populations that cannot be absorbed into the formal economy.As the social changes accompanying industrialization diffuse throughout national territories the sociological significance of urbanization diminishes.In such urbanized societies the term may carry a wider meaning, signifying possession of an advanced industrial economy and modernized social structure.
There are, however; problems with the term complexity when used in this matter.It has been argued that using political organisation (or technological sophistication or subsistence strategy) as the measure of complexity reinforces concepts of western superiority over other forms of social complexity.For example, any given society may be more or less complex than any other given society in one or more aspects (for example, western society can be characterised as extremely simple from the perspectives of kinship structures when compared to, for instance, Indigenous Australian societies).In this sense, Indigenous Australian societies are highly complex societies.The term social complexity is thus not without problems and qualifiers are typically applied by anthropologists and archaeologists when using this term to define more precisely the phenomenon that is being described as complex.
Defining a Complex Society
These societies are characterised by the high level of scientific and technological advancements.Economic activity is perceived in secular terms and is based on practically rationality.
High degree of specialization, rapidity of change, predominance of practical and excessive mechanization of production leads to a state of anomie in society and alienate the worker from the product of his labour. The complex societies have high degree of division of labour and consequently structural differentiation.Thus economic activity constitutes a specialized activity taking place in special institution framework and distinguishable from other types of social activity e.g, factories, banks and markets are some of the distinct economic activities.
High division of labour implies advanced skills which help in high productivity.The economic organisation can easily sustain a large population.Complex societies due to their high productivity generate huge surplus.They can support conspicuous consumption.Market exchange is the pivotal form of exchange and money is the universal, medium of exchange.The members of the complex societies have high advancement motivation and the economic behaviour is characterised by an intense pre-occupation with generation and accumulation of surplus.There exist a clear distinction between domestic economy and community economy.The domestic units are the units of consumption and supply the manpower to the community economy.The production of goods and services takes place in the larger units which form part of the community economy.
Rural-Urban Dichotomy-There are some sociologists whose treat rural-urban dichotomies categories have differentiated the two at various levels including occupational differences, differences in the sizes of communities,differences in the destiny of population, differences in social mobility and direction of migration, differences in social stratification and in the systems of social interaction.
Aspects of Community Life-In these new urban areas, social life becomes more impersonal and anonymous than before.Large-scale organisation such as business operation or Government agencies, come to influence the lives of virtually everyone.Thus, over-urbanisation is the result of over-industrialisation and absence of support systems such as housing.Since the workers could not be given housing by the state they had to travel long distances for work.Another type of urbanization occurs when there is a movement away from large urban towns to small towns, termed as de-urbanization.There occurs a ruralisation of urban industrial towns.
Types of urbanization-There are three types of urbanization.Most sociological attention has focused on the large-scale urbanisation accompanying industrialization and the emergence of modern societies.Although there is no invariant relationship between levels of economic development and urbanization,the term 'under-urbanization' is often used to describe the situation in(former) state socialist countries, where the growth of industrial agglomerations is not matched by a sufficient expansion of housing and urban infrastructure for the workforce.Similarly, the term 'over-urbanization' is applied to Third World cities which have large populations that cannot be absorbed into the formal economy.As the social changes accompanying industrialization diffuse throughout national territories the sociological significance of urbanization diminishes.In such urbanized societies the term may carry a wider meaning, signifying possession of an advanced industrial economy and modernized social structure.
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