UCSP

• A symbol is an object, word, or action that stands for something else without a natural relationship, that is culturally defined.
• Symbolism is when something represents abstract ideas or concepts
• Symbolism assigns names, denominations, and defines relations. between various elements articulated within a narrative.
• Cultural Symbols - a manifestation that signifies the ideology of a particular culture or that merely has meaning within a culture.
• Cultural symbols don't have to be actual symbols or signs; they can also be gestures such as handshakes and hand signals.
• Social Symbols - relating to human society and its modes of organization
• Social Symbol is a symbol that is something people want to have or do because they think other people will respect or admire them for it such as education, occupation, marital status, accomplishments, or other factors.
• Political Symbols - symbolism that is used to represent a political standpoint.
• Political Symbols can occur in various media including banners, acronyms, pictures, flags, mottos, and countless more.
• Political symbols represents a political institution, hierarchy, movement, belief, or ideology
• Economic Symbols are symbols used in production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services like currency, market, labor, demands and other economic activities.
• Sociocultural evolution are theories on cultural and social evolution that describe how cultures and societies change over time.
• Sociocultural evolution is "the process by which structural reorganization is affected through time, eventually producing a form or structure which is qualitatively different from the ancestral form.
• ]Sociologist Gerhard Lenski (1924–) defined societies in terms of their technological sophistication.
• As society advances, so does its use of technology.
• Homo - includes many primitive human ancestors believed to be extinct and modern human beings (Homo sapiens) meaning ‘wise man’ in Latin
• HUNTING AND GATHERING SOCIETIES are the earliest form of society. The members survive primarily by hunting, trapping, fishing, and gathering edible plants. The majority of the member's time is spent looking for and gathering food.
• Family is the society's primary institution. Family determines the distribution of food and how to socialize children
• Hunting and Gathering societies are small compared to others. They generally have less than 50 members.
• Hunting and gathering societies are nomadic, which means that they move constantly to find food and water.
• Members of hunting and gathering societies are mutually dependent upon each other
• Although there is an equal division of labor among members of hunting and gathering societies, there is a divisionof labor based on sex. Men are typically responsible for hunting, division of and women are typically gatherers.
• HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES formed in areas where rainfall and other conditions allowed them to grow staple crops.
• Horticultural Societes largely depended on the environment for survival, but since they didn’t have to abandon their location to follow resources, they were able to start permanent settlements.
• Horticultural Societies created more stability and material goods, and became the basis for the first revolution in human survival.
• PASTORAL SOCIETIES rely on the domestication of animals as a resource for survival.
• Pastoral groups were able to breed livestock for food, clothing, and transportation, and created a surplus of goods.
• Herding, or pastoral, societies remained nomadic because they were forced to follow their animals to fresh feeding grounds.
• AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES relied on permanent tools for survival.
• Farmers learned to rotate the types of crops grown on their fields and to reuse waste products such as fertilizers, which led to better harvests and bigger surpluses of food.
• In Agricultural Societies new tools for digging and harvesting were made of metal, human settlements grew into towns and cities, and particularly bountiful regions became centers of trade and commerce
• Agricultural Societies is also the age in which people had the time and comfort to engage in more contemplative and thoughtful activities, such as music, poetry, and philosophy. This period became referred to as the “dawn of civilization” by some because of the development of leisure and humanities.
• FEUDAL SOCIETY - contained a strict hierarchical system of power based on landownership and protection. The nobility, known as lords, placed vassals in charge of pieces of land.
• Feudal Society where social relations are characterized by dependence
• In the eighteenth century, Europe experienced a dramatic rise in technological invention, ushering in an era known as the Industrial Revolution.
• What made industrial society remarkable was the number of new inventions that influenced people’s daily lives. Within a generation, tasks that had until this point required months of labor became achievable in a matter of days.
• POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY - sometimes known as information society or digital society, is a recent development.
• Digital technology is the steam engine of information societies, and computer moguls such as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are its John D. Rockefellers and Cornelius Vanderbilts.
• Post-Industrial is Marked by a transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy (establishment of societies based on knowledge, information or salesof services)
• VIRTUAL SOCIETY - organize themselves through communication technology and the internet. It engages in complex relationships, able to engage in various activities as well as various kind of information