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Industrial society as a stage of social development

In the 60s of the twentieth century, theories of an industrial society gained immense popularity in social philosophy and philosophy of history. They appeared in connection with the so-called systemic approach to history. Supporters of this approach linked historical and historical-philosophical problems with social theories and tried to embrace the historical process as a whole, understanding it as an integrated process of development and organization of complex systems. The industrial society and its post-industrial stage became the most outstanding concepts of this type.

The emergence of these concepts was due to the understanding that it is not enough simply to criticize the Marxist theory of formations. After all, human psychology always demanded a positive sense of history, a "dream of the future of the millennium," capable of replacing the Marxist ideal.

The French sociologist Raymond Aron described in his Lectures on Industrial Society the ideological differences between the socialist and capitalist camps as insignificant. Both of these camps represented from his point of view one and the same "single industrial society", only in different versions. This concept was developed by the American sociologist Walt Rostow. In 1960, he published his acclaimed "non-communist manifesto," namely, the work of the "Stage of Economic Growth." In this book he proposed a principle of structural division that differs from Marxism, not on the basis of socio-economic formations, but in the stages of economic growth. Thus, the industrial society fits into the concept of the development of the whole history of mankind.

The stages of growth associated with the level of development of industry, technology, science and economic growth, according to Rostow, there are five:

1) a traditional society in which the agrarian economic system, a hierarchical social structure and an unchanging system of values prevail;

2) a transitional society that starts from the XVII-beginning of the XVIII centuries, when the beginnings of private entrepreneurship appear;

3) the period of "take-off", when industrialization begins (different countries reached this period at different times, from the end of the 18th century to the 50s of the 20th century);

4) the period of "maturity" or completion of industrialization;

5) the era of mass consumption or welfare, which, according to the sociologist, was achieved in the United States. It must create a society where intellectual and family values will prevail .

W. Rostow believed that the engine of progress is the development of science and technology, and social upheavals and revolutions are "growing pains" associated with a low level of development of society. Nevertheless, in regard to Russia, he wrote that after the October Revolution the country had entered a stage of maturity, and was gradually evolving towards the level of industrial capitalist society, because sooner or later the industrial society would become a model of development for any country in the world. The fact is that the logic of industrialization entails social characteristics that have similar features.

The theory of W. Rostow suggests certain signs of an industrial society. First of all, this is the presence of large-scale engineering, which determines the development of the entire economy. Then, there is a wide production of consumer goods, such as TVs, cars, household appliances and so on. The next sign is a scientific and technological revolution that leads to innovations in production and management, as well as to a high level of urbanization and the presence of a broad layer of managerial managers. This, in turn, changes the social structure and the very industrial society.

Signs of such changes:

- class struggle (which is conducted in the framework of elections, trade union activities and collective agreements),

- other forms of behavior and social communication of people,

- rationalization of thinking in general.

The concept of an industrial society influenced the emergence of such social theories as the theory of convergence, deideologization, mass society and mass culture.

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