Forms of Societies

• Society


  An organized group of people whose members interact frequently and have a common territory and culture
• Common good


  The social conditions which enable persons and groups to fulfill their goals and achieve perfection
• Social contract


  An agreement among individuals to sacrifice some of their wants and submit to a higher authority
• Thomas Hobbes


  Believes that mankind is governed by desire which leads to conflict among individuals
• John Rawls


  Believes that humans naturally seek a just and fair society because of self-interest
• Norms


  A set of traits and behavior that society considers acceptable and are encouraged and passed on to other members
• Social system


  An organized or patterned set of relationships among individuals and groups that compose a society
• Social groups


  Composed of individuals who have similar backgrounds and perform similar roles in society
• Social values


  Actions or things that are considered important by society
• Hunting and gathering society


  Earliest and simplest form of society, generally small in size and composed of families
• Pastoral society


  Primarily relies on the domestication of animals for food
• Horticultural society


  Engages in the small-scale cultivation of plants
• Agrarian or Agricultural society


  Features large-scale and long term cultivation of crops and domestication of animals
• Feudal society


  Based on the ownership of land, those who own land are considered most powerful and influential
• Industrial society


  Uses machinery in producing goods and services
• Post-industrial society


  Based on knowledge, information, and the sale of services, has given rise to virtual society
• John Locke - believes that society is organized based on the "consent of the governed".