Main features of primitive society. Primitive society and its general characteristics

). As sources about the prehistoric times of cultures that until recently were deprived of writing, there can be oral traditions passed down from generation to generation.

Since data about prehistory rarely concerns individuals and does not even always say anything about ethnic groups, the basic social unit of human prehistory is the archaeological culture. All terms and periodizations of this era, such as Neanderthal or Iron Age, are retrospective and largely conventional, and their precise definition is the subject of discussion.

Terminology

A synonym for "prehistoric period" is the term " prehistory", which is used less often in Russian-language literature than similar terms in foreign literature (English. prehistory, German Urgeschichte).

To designate the final stage of the prehistoric era of a culture, when it itself has not yet created its own written language, but is already mentioned in the written monuments of other peoples, the term “protohistory” (English) is often used in foreign literature. protohistory, German Frühgeschichte). To replace the term primitive communal system, characterizing the social structure before the emergence of power, some historians use the terms “savagery”, “anarchy”, “primitive communism”, “pre-civilization period” and others. This term has not taken root in Russian literature.

Non-classical historians deny the very existence of communities and primitive communal system, relationship, identity of power and violence.

From the following stages of social development primitive communal system was distinguished by the absence of private property, classes and the state. Modern research primitive society according to neo-historians who deny the traditional periodization of development human society, refute the existence of such a social system and the existence of communities, communal property under the primitive communal system, and further, as a natural result of the non-existence of the primitive communal system - the non-existence of communal agricultural land tenure until the end of the 18th century in most countries of the world, including Russia, at least since the Neolithic.

Periods of development of primitive society

At different times, different periodizations of the development of human society have been proposed. Thus, A. Ferguson and then Morgan used a periodization of history that included three stages: savagery, barbarism and civilization, and the first two stages were divided by Morgan into three stages (lower, middle and higher) each. At the stage of savagery, human activity was dominated by hunting, fishing and gathering, there was no private property, and equality existed. At the stage of barbarism, agriculture and cattle breeding appear, private property and social hierarchy arise. The third stage - civilization - is associated with the emergence of the state, class society, cities, writing, etc.

Morgan considered the earliest stage of development of human society to be the lowest stage of savagery, which began with the formation of articulate speech; the middle stage of savagery, according to his classification, begins with the use of fire and the appearance of fish food in the diet, and the highest stage of savagery with the invention of the onion. The lowest stage of barbarism, according to his classification, begins with the advent of pottery, the middle stage of barbarism with the transition to agriculture and cattle breeding, and the highest stage of barbarism with the beginning of the use of iron.

The most developed periodization is archaeological, which is based on a comparison of man-made tools, their materials, forms of dwellings, burials, etc. According to this principle, the history of mankind is mainly divided into the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age.

era	Period in Europe	Periodization	Characteristic	Human species
Old Stone Age or Paleolithic	2.4 million - 10000 BC e.	Early (Lower) Paleolithic 2.4 million - 600,000 BC e. Middle Paleolithic 600,000-35,000 BC e. Late (Upper) Paleolithic 35,000-10,000 BC e.	The time of hunters and gatherers. The beginning of flint tools, which gradually became more complex and specialized.	Hominids, species: Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo sapiens präsapiens, Homo heidelbergensis, Middle Paleolithic Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens sapiens.
Middle Stone Age or Mesolithic	10,000-5000 BC e.		Begins at the end of the Pleistocene in Europe. Hunters and gatherers developed a highly developed culture of making tools from stone and bone, as well as long-range weapons such as arrows and bows.	Homo sapiens sapiens
New Stone Age or Neolithic	5000-2000 BC e.	Early Neolithic Middle Neolithic Late Neolithic	The emergence of the Neolithic is associated with the Neolithic revolution. At the same time, the oldest finds of ceramics dating back about 12,000 years appear in the Far East, although the European Neolithic period begins in the Middle East with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. New methods of farming are emerging, instead of gathering and hunting farming (“appropriating”) - “producing” (farming, cattle breeding), which later spread to Europe. The Late Neolithic often progresses into the next stage, the Copper Age, Chalcolithic or Chalcolithic, without a break in cultural continuity. The latter is characterized by the second production revolution, the most important feature of which is the appearance of metal tools.	Homo sapiens sapiens
Bronze Age	3500-800 BC e.	Early history	The spread of metallurgy makes it possible to obtain and process metals: (gold, copper, bronze). The first written sources in Western Asia and the Aegean.	Homo sapiens sapiens
Iron Age	juice. 800 BC e.	Early history OK. 800-500 BC e.		Homo sapiens sapiens

Stone Age

The Stone Age is the oldest period in human history, when the main tools and weapons were made mainly of stone, but wood and bone were also used. At the end of the Stone Age, the use of clay (dishes, brick buildings, sculpture).

Periodization of the Stone Age:

Paleolithic:
- Lower Paleolithic - the period of the appearance of the most ancient species of people and widespread Homo erectus .
- The Middle Paleolithic is the period when erecti were replaced by evolutionarily more advanced species of people, including modern humans. Neanderthals dominated Europe throughout the Middle Paleolithic.
- Upper Paleolithic - period of dominance modern look people throughout the globe during the last glaciation.
Mesolithic and Epipaleolithic; the terminology depends on the extent to which the region has been affected by the loss of megafauna as a result of glacier melting. The period is characterized by the development of technology for the production of stone tools and general culture person. There is no ceramics.
Neolithic - the era of the emergence of agriculture. Tools and weapons are still made of stone, but their production is being brought to perfection, and ceramics are widely distributed.

Copper Age

Copper Age, Copper-Stone Age, Chalcolithic (Greek. χαλκός "copper" + Greek λίθος “stone”) or Chalcolithic (lat. aeneus"copper" + Greek λίθος "stone")) - a period in the history of primitive society, a transitional period from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. Approximately covers the period 4-3 thousand BC. e., but in some territories it exists longer, and in some it is absent altogether. Most often, the Chalcolithic is included in the Bronze Age, but is sometimes considered a separate period. During the Eneolithic, copper tools were common, but stone ones still predominated.

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a period in the history of primitive society, characterized by the leading role of bronze products, which was associated with the improvement of the processing of metals such as copper and tin obtained from ore deposits, and the subsequent production of bronze from them. The Bronze Age is the second, later phase of the Early Metal Age, which replaced the Copper Age and preceded the Iron Age. In general, the chronological framework Bronze Age: 35/33 - 13/11 centuries. BC e., but different cultures they differ. In the Eastern Mediterranean, the end of the Bronze Age is associated with the almost synchronous destruction of all local civilizations at the turn of the 13th-12th centuries. BC e., known as the bronze collapse, while in western Europe the transition from the bronze to the iron age dragged on for several more centuries and ended with the emergence of the first cultures of antiquity - ancient Greece and ancient Rome.

Bronze Age periods:

Early Bronze Age
Middle Bronze Age
Late Bronze Age

Iron Age

Iron Age coin hoard

The Iron Age is a period in the history of primitive society, characterized by the spread of iron metallurgy and the manufacture of iron tools. Bronze Age civilizations go beyond the history of primitive society; other peoples' civilization takes shape during the Iron Age.

The term " iron age" is usually applied to the "barbarian" cultures of Europe that existed simultaneously with the great civilizations of antiquity (Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Parthia). From ancient cultures The “barbarians” were distinguished by the absence or rare use of writing, and therefore information about them has reached us either from archaeological data or from mentions in ancient sources. On the territory of Europe during the Iron Age, M. B. Shchukin identified six “barbarian worlds”:

Proto-Germans (mainly Jastorf culture + southern Scandinavia);
mostly Proto-Baltic cultures of the forest zone (possibly including Proto-Slavs);
proto-Finno-Ugric and proto-Sami cultures of the northern forest zone (mainly along rivers and lakes);
steppe Iranian-speaking cultures (Scythians, Sarmatians, etc.);
pastoral-agricultural cultures of the Thracians, Dacians and Getae.

History of the development of public relations

The first tools of human labor were a chipped stone and a stick. People earned their livelihood by hunting, which they did together, and gathering. Communities of people were small, they led a nomadic lifestyle, moving around in search of food. But some communities of people who lived in the most favorable conditions began to move towards partial settlement.

The most important stage in human development was the emergence of language. Instead of the signal language of animals, which facilitates their coordination during the hunt, people were able to express in language the abstract concepts of “stone in general”, “beast in general”. This use of language led to the opportunity to teach offspring with words, and not just by example, to plan actions before the hunt, and not during it, etc.

Any spoils were divided among the entire group of people. Tools, household utensils, and jewelry were in the use of individual people, but the owner of the thing was obliged to share it, and in addition, anyone could take someone else’s thing and use it without asking (remnants of this are still found among some peoples).

A person’s natural breadwinner was his mother - at first she fed him with her milk, then generally took upon herself the responsibility of providing him with food and everything necessary for life. This food had to be hunted by men - the mother's brothers who belonged to her clan. Thus, cells began to form, consisting of several brothers, several sisters and the children of the latter. They lived in communal dwellings.

Experts now generally believe that during the Paleolithic and Neolithic times - 50-20 thousand years ago - the social status of women and men was equal, although previously it was believed that matriarchy first reigned.

At first, neighboring clans and tribes exchanged what nature gave them: salt, rare stones, etc. Both entire communities and individual people exchanged gifts; This phenomenon is called gift exchange. One of its varieties was “silent exchange”. Then tribes of farmers, cattle breeders and those who ran agricultural and livestock farming emerged, and between tribes with different economic orientations, and subsequently within tribes, the exchange of products of their labor developed.

Some researchers believe that tribes of hunters who did not accept an agrarian way of life began to “hunt” peasant communities, taking away food and property. This is how a dual system of producing rural communities and squads of former hunters robbing them developed. The leaders of the hunters gradually moved from raiding robbery of peasants to regular regulated exactions (tribute). For self-defense and to protect citizens from attacks by competitors, fortified cities were built. The last stage pre-state development of society became the so-called military democracy.

Power and social norms in primitive society

The emergence of religion

Primitive tribes did not have special cult ministers; religious and magical rituals were performed primarily by the heads of clan groups on behalf of the entire clan, or by people whose personal qualities earned them a reputation as knowing the techniques of influencing the world of spirits and gods (healers, shamans, etc.). With the development of social differentiation, professional priests emerge, arrogating to themselves the exclusive right to communicate with spirits and gods.

Notes

Links

Alekseev V.P., Pershits A.I. History of primitive society: Textbook. for universities for special purposes "Story". - M.: Higher. school, 1990

"The transition from primitive society to class society: paths and options for development." Part I

The primitive communal system is the longest period in the history of human development. This is the beginning of the development story social society- from the emergence of Homo sapiens (about 2 million years ago) to the emergence of states and civilizations.

The most ancient settlements

The oldest discoveries of the ancestors of Homo Sapiens confirm the fact that a continuous process of human evolution took place in the lands of Eastern and Central Europe. One of the ancient burials was discovered in the Czech Republic (Przezletice). Hominid remains found there date back to about 800 thousand years BC. e. These and other interesting finds confirm the hypothesis that in the Lower Paleolithic certain areas of Europe were inhabited by ancestors modern people.

During the Middle Paleolithic period, the birth rate of hominids sharply increased, which is consistent with a large number of archaeological finds of the remains of anthropoid creatures that lived 150-40 thousand years ago. Data from excavations of this time are associated with the emergence of a new type of people - the so-called Neanderthals.

Neanderthals

Neanderthals inhabited almost the entire continental part of Europe (without northern England), the north of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. The primitive society of those times was a small group of Neanderthals living as a large family, engaged in hunting and gathering. The ancestors of modern people used various tools, both stone and made from other natural materials, for example, wood or bones of large animals.

History of primitive society during the Ice Age

The last ice age began just over 70 thousand years ago. The life of people's ancestors has become dramatically more complicated. The onset of cold weather completely changed primitive society, its foundations and customs. Climate change increased the importance of fire as a source of heat for ancient people. Some animal species disappeared or migrated to warmer climes. This led to the need for people to unite to hunt large animals.

IN given time a driven hunt occurs, in which he takes part a large number of of people. In this way, Neanderthals hunted deer, cave bear, bison, mammoth and other large animals common in those days. At the same time, the development of primitive society extended to the first reproductive methods of economic activity - agriculture and animal husbandry.

Cro-Magnons

The process of anthropogenesis ended approximately 40 thousand years ago. A man has formed modern type and a tribal community was organized. The type of person who replaced the Neanderthals was called Cro-Magnon. He differed from Neanderthals in height and large brain volume. The main occupation is hunting.

The Cro-Magnons lived in small caves, grottoes, and structures built from mammoth bones. The high level of social organization of these people is proven by numerous cave and rock paintings, sculptures for religious purposes, and ornaments on tools of labor and hunting.

During the Upper Paleolithic era, tools were constantly improved in the center and east of Europe. Some archaeological cultures that existed simultaneously for a long time are becoming isolated. During this period, man invents arrows and bows.

Tribal community

Appears in the Upper and Middle Paleolithic era new type organizations of people - tribal community. Its essential features are ritual forms of self-government and common ownership of tools.

Basically, the clan community included hunter-gatherers, who united in associations of families connected by living conditions, family kinship, and common hunting grounds.

The spiritual culture of primitive society in this era represented the beginnings of animism and totemism associated with the cult of fertility and the magic of hunting. Drawings carved on stone or drawn in caves have been preserved. Primitive society left descendants a legacy of talented nameless artists, whose drawings we can see in the Kapova Cave in the Urals or in the Altamira Cave in Spain. These primitive paintings laid the foundation for the development of art in subsequent eras.

Mesolithic era

The history of primitive society changes with the end of the Ice Age (10-7 thousand years ago). This event led to a forced change in the social development of the primitive community. It began to number about a hundred people; covered a certain territory in which it was engaged in fishing, hunting, and gathering.

In the same era, primitive society gives birth to a tribe - an ethnic community of people with the same linguistic and cultural traditions. In the middle of such communities, the first governing bodies are formed. Power in a primitive society passes into the hands of the elders, who make decisions about resettlement, construction of huts, organization of collective hunting, and so on.

IN war time power could pass to the shaman leaders, who played the role of formal leaders of the tribe. The system of socialization and transfer of knowledge, skills and experience to the younger generation has become more complicated. Specifics of farming and new social roles led to the emergence of the paired family as the smallest unit of primitive society.

Naturally, the norms of primitive society do not allow us to talk about family relationships in modern meaning this word. Such families were temporary in nature, their role was to perform certain collective actions or rituals. The culture of primitive society became more complex, rituals appeared, which became the prototype of the emergence of religion. The first burials associated with the emerging belief in the afterlife are dated to the same time.

The emergence of the concept of property

The improvement of farming and hunting tools led to a change in the worldview and social behavior of people. The nature of work has changed - specialization has become possible, that is, certain people were busy with their own areas of work. The division of labor in the community became a necessary condition for its existence. Primitive society discovered intercommunal exchange. Pastoral tribes exchanged products with agricultural or hunting communities.

All of the above led to a modification of the concept of “property”. There is an understanding of personal rights to household items and tools. Later, the concept of property transferred to land plots. The strengthening of the role of men in agriculture and the structure of communal ownership of land led to increased power of men - patriarchy. Patriarchal relations, together with the definition of private property, are the first steps towards the emergence of statehood and civilization.

TOPIC 1 Subject and method of the theory of state and law

Theory of state and law in the system social sciences and in the system legal sciences. Connection of the theory of state and law with philosophy, political economy, political science. Theory of state and law and history of state and law. Theory of state and law and history of political and legal doctrines. Theory of state and law and branch sciences about state and law.

The importance of methodology in the knowledge of state and law. The connection between the subject and method of the science of state and law. Basic approaches to the study of state and law. General, general scientific, private and special methods knowledge in the theory of state and law. Overcoming myth-making, utopianism and vulgarism in the study of state and law.

TOPIC 2 Origin of state and law

General patterns emergence of state and law.

State and law as socio-political phenomena arose in the process of stratification of society into social strata and classes that were different in relation to production, results of labor and management.

Let us list the common features of the genesis of statehood and law:

1) Influence of natural phenomena(space, seismic, geographical, climatic). Firstly, directly through natural disasters (the Ice Age, the disappearance of Atlantis) => humanity is forced to move from gathering to manufacturing necessary products. Secondly, the geographical and climatic conditions of a number of countries (Africa, the Middle East) prompted the creation of irrigation and religious structures, the creation of solar and lunar calendars. Thirdly, natural phenomena indirectly influenced the formation of state and legal institutions through myths, rituals, the consciousness of people and stereotypes of their behavior.

2) Economic forces. Development of production, transition from an appropriating to a producing economy => division of social labor: cattle breeding from agriculture; craft department; trade. Labor productivity increases, a surplus product appears, the possibility of commodity exchange, the emergence of private property, along with collective property.

3) Human (anthropological) factor. Due to objective necessity, a person creates various associations, unions, and establishes rules of behavior. The unification is not for survival, but to increase the economic opportunities of the state.

4) Public (social) factor. The state and law are nothing more than the result of the development of a specific human community, the form of its organization, management and regulation.

Thus, it can be stated that the root cause of the creation of the state was the emergence of a producing economy, which created the preconditions for the class division of society. At the initial stage, these were not yet class structures, but still clan segments: a proto-class of producers (hunters, cattle breeders, artisans, farmers); proto-class of trading people (merchants, money changers); proto-class of managers (chiefs, councils of elders, tribal councils); proto-class of warriors (princely squad, mercenaries, sailors).

The reasons and conditions that gave rise to law are in many ways similar to the reasons that gave birth to the state. However, there is a deeper continuity between the mononorms of primitive society and the norms of law than between the bodies of tribal self-government and the bodies of the state. Age-old customs, tested by many generations, were regarded as given from above, correct and fair, and were often called “right.” The most valuable of them were subsequently sanctioned by the state and became important sources of law (customary law).

The emergence of law is a natural consequence of the complication of social relationships, the deepening and aggravation of social contradictions and conflicts. Customs have ceased to ensure order and stability in society, which means that there is an objective need for fundamentally new regulators of social relations.

Two main ways of development of law can be distinguished. Where state property dominated, the main source, as a rule, became collections of moral and religious principles - the Laws of Manu in India, the Koran in Muslim countries. The norms recorded in them are often casual in nature.

In a society based on private property, law developed more extensively, differed high degree formalization and certainty of legislation, and above all - civil legislation, regulating a more complex system of property relations (for example, Roman private law).

Characteristics of primitive society.

Modern humans appeared no later than 40 thousand years ago, and the first states began to emerge relatively recently. IN Ancient Egypt arose at the end of the 4th and beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, in China - in the 2nd millennium BC. => in the history of mankind there was a long period when it existed without a state and law. In science, this period is called primitive society, in which 3 stages are distinguished: the herd, the clan community, and the decomposition of the clan community.

Herd (Stone Age).

Early forms associations of the ancestors of modern man - archanthropes and paleoanthropes - were associated with disordered (temporary) family-tribal ties, with the need for protection from external environment and sharing food. Individual “families” could also be such forms, but the most famous are the groups that form the primitive herd, which arose among the hunters of the pre-Neanderthal, Olduvai culture (about 2 million years ago). These forms are associated with the use of primitive tools, which were roughly processed sticks, stakes, and stones.

The period of the appropriating economy. Power was no different from the power that exists in a herd of animals. Property is common, labor is collective, distribution of products is equal.

Genus (Bronze, Iron Age):

Ancient Stone Age. Only after millennia primitive people They learned to make with their own hands more advanced tools of the Paleolithic culture: roughly processed stone spears, axes, scrapers, bone and stone hooks for fishing, and began to make fire. At this time, more stable forms of common labor and connections between people arise, a primitive clan community appears, i.e. a collection of relatives that became the main social unit of primitive man.

The consanguineous organization also corresponded to the needs of a healthy physical development humans, since incest did not produce healthy offspring. Establishment of exogamy (marital relations only between members different kinds) was one of the most important natural forms of human evolution.

In the Paleolithic and Mesolithic era (Middle Stone Age), the economy was mining. Only at the later stages of the clan system did the beginnings of hoe farming appear. The appropriating economy is replaced by a producing one. Man begins to engage not only in hunting, fishing and gathering, but also in cattle breeding, agriculture and crafts. All members of the clan community had to work for the common good and collectively defend the interests of their clan. The resulting product was divided equally among the members of the clan, taking into account the merits of each. However, such farming did not bring any surplus product.

Thus, the clan represented the primary cell of the organization of the primitive communal system, united by blood kinship, joint collective labor, common ownership of the products of production and the equality of social status, unity of interests and cohesion of members of the clan arising from these conditions.

Promiscuous sexual relations were replaced by group marriage. Maternal kinship. Women begin to play a leading role in gathering and early hoeing agriculture. The origin of the child from the mother was the most obvious sign of a family connection, and caring for children, home elevated the role of women in the clan. The role of a woman was often leading, and the clan of many ancestors of modern peoples was built on the basis of matriarchy.

As a result of the development of cattle breeding, plow farming, and metalworking, matriarchy is replaced by patriarchy. Kinship is through the male line. Group marriage is being replaced by pair marriage. Then comes marriage with male dominance, prohibition of extramarital affairs for women (patriarchal family community). The source of power is the entire clan community. The highest authority is the general meeting (council) of all adult members of the clan. The day-to-day management of affairs is carried out by an elder, elected by all members of the clan, who participated in production activities and could be replaced by another at any time. The power of the elder was based on authority, respect, and customs. The compulsion to order came from the entire family. In wider social associations than the clan, power was based on the same principles.

Man, as a creature producing tools, has existed for about two million years, and almost all this time, changes in the conditions of his existence led to changes in the man himself - his brain, limbs, etc. were improved. And only about 40 thousand (according to some sources more than 100 thousand) years ago, when the modern type of man - “homo sapiens” - arose, he stopped changing, and instead, society began to change - at first very slowly, and then more and more rapidly - which led about 50 centuries ago to the emergence of the first states and legal systems. What was primitive society like and how did it change?

Economy this society was based on public property. At the same time, two principles (customs) were strictly implemented: reciprocity (everything that was produced was handed over to the “common pot”) and redistribution (everything donated was redistributed among everyone, everyone received a certain share). On any other basis, primitive society simply could not exist; it would have been doomed to extinction.

For many centuries and millennia, the economy was of an appropriative nature: labor productivity was extremely low, everything that was produced was consumed. Naturally, under such conditions neither private property nor exploitation could arise. It was a society of economically equal, but equal in poverty, people.

Economic development proceeded in two interconnected directions:

Improving tools (rough stone tools, more advanced stone tools, tools made of copper, bronze, iron, etc.);

Improving methods, techniques and organization of labor (gathering, fishing, hunting, cattle breeding, farming, etc., division of labor, including large social divisions of labor, etc.).

All this led to a gradual and increasingly accelerating increase in labor productivity.

The structure of primitive society. The main unit of society was the clan community - an association based on family ties of people leading a joint economic activity. At later stages of development, tribes arise, uniting close clans, and then tribal unions. The consolidation of social structures was beneficial to society: it made it possible to more effectively resist the forces of nature, to use more advanced labor techniques (for example, driven hunting), created opportunities for specialization of management, made it possible to more successfully repel the aggression of neighbors and attack them themselves: the absorption of weaker, ununited . At the same time, consolidation contributed to more rapid development new tools and methods of labor

However, the very possibility of unification depended crucially on the level of economic development and on labor productivity, which determined how many people a certain territory could support.

Management, power. All the most important issues of the life of the clan were resolved general meeting its members. Every adult had the right to participate in the discussion and resolution of any issue. To implement operational management an elder was elected - the most respected member of the clan.

This position was not only elective, but also replaceable: as soon as a stronger (at the early stages of development), more intelligent, experienced person appeared (at subsequent stages), he replaced the elder. There were no particular contradictions, since, on the one hand, not a single person separated himself (and his interests) from the clan, and on the other, the position of elder did not give any privileges (except respect): he worked together with everyone and received his share like everyone else. The power of the elder was based solely on his authority and the respect of other members of the clan for him.

The tribe was governed by a council of elders representing the respective clans. The council elected the tribal leader. This position, also in the early stages of social development, was replaceable and did not provide privileges. The tribal union was governed by a council of tribal leaders, which elected a leader of the union (sometimes two, one of whom was a military leader).

With the development of society, the importance of good management and leadership was gradually realized, and its specialization gradually took place, and the fact that those in charge accumulate relevant experience gradually led to lifelong administration of public positions. The emerging religion also played a significant role in consolidating such orders.

Regulatory regulation. No community (animal, much less human) can exist without a certain order in the relationships of its members. The rules of behavior that consolidate this order, in some part inherited from distant ancestors, are gradually formed into a system of norms regulating production and distribution, family, kinship and other social ties. These rules establish, on the basis of accumulated experience, the most rational relationships of people that are beneficial for the clan and tribe, the forms of their behavior, a certain subordination in teams, etc. Stable customs arise that reflect the interests of all members of society, are passed on from generation to generation and are observed in the overwhelming majority voluntarily, out of habit. In case of violation, they are supported by the entire society, including coercive measures, up to death or equivalent expulsion of the perpetrator. Initially, apparently, a system of prohibitions (taboos) is consolidated, on the basis of which customs gradually emerge that establish responsibilities and rights.

Changes in society, complication social life lead to the emergence and consolidation of new customs and an increase in their number.

Development of primitive society. Primitive society remained virtually unchanged for many millennia. Its development was extremely slow, and those significant changes in the economy, structure, management, etc., mentioned above, began relatively recently. At the same time, although all these changes occurred in parallel and were interdependent, nevertheless the main role was played by the development of the economy: it was this that created opportunities for the consolidation of social structures, specialization of management and other progressive changes.

The most important stage of human progress was neolithic revolution, which took place 10-15 thousand years ago. During this period, very advanced, polished stone tools appeared, and cattle breeding and agriculture arose. There was a noticeable increase in labor productivity: people finally began to produce more than they consumed, a surplus product appeared, the possibility of accumulating social wealth, creating reserves. The economy became productive, people became less dependent on the vagaries of nature, and this led to a significant increase in population. But at the same time, the possibility of exploitation of man by man and the appropriation of accumulated wealth also arose.

It was during this period, in the Neolithic era, that the decomposition of the primitive communal system and the gradual transition to a state-organized society began.

Gradually, a special stage of development of society and a form of its organization emerges, which is called the “proto-state” or “chiefdom” *.

* From English “chief” - chief, leader (chief) and “dom” - possession, dominance; cjk. "kingdom" - kingdom.

This form is characterized by: a social form of poverty, a significant increase in labor productivity, accumulation of accumulated wealth in the hands of the tribal nobility, rapid population growth, its concentration, the emergence of cities becoming administrative, religious and cultural centers. And although the interests of the supreme leader and his entourage, as before, basically coincide with the interests of the entire society, social inequality gradually appears, leading to an increasing divergence of interests between the managers and the governed.

It was during this period that different nations did not coincide in time, there was a division of the paths of human development into “Eastern” and “Western” **. The reasons for this division were that in the “east”, due to a number of circumstances (the main one being the need in most places for large-scale irrigation work, which was beyond the power of an individual family), communities and, accordingly, public ownership of land were preserved. In the “west,” such work was not required, communities disintegrated, and the land became private property.

** These terms are conditional, since the “Western” path is characteristic only of Europe; in all other regions of the world, states arose according to the “Eastern” type.

Knowledge of the state should begin with the question of the origin of the state - whether this social institution has always existed in the history of human society or whether it appeared at a certain stage in the development of society. The emergence of these social institutions is closely related to the development of economic relations, power and social norms. That is why we have to start with characterizing the aspects of primitive society.

According to modern science about 3-3.5 billion years ago, as a result of the evolution of matter, life (biosphere) appeared on earth. More than 40 thousand years ago, man appeared. Elements of statehood and the first state entities arose relatively recently. The first state is Egypt. In Kazakhstan, statehood arose a little over a thousand years ago. Modern society preceded by a long era of primitive social order. But primitive society itself was never static; it developed and went through various stages. Of particular value for the theory of the state is periodization, based on new archaeological data and highlighting the “Neolithic revolution” as one of the main milestones in the development of primitive society.

Before the emergence of the state, humanity went through a number of stages in its development. At first, man was not much different from an animal. Being a physically rather weak creature, a person had to either die, or with the help of more rapid development unequal and brain system to find means of salvation.

Physically, the first step in this direction was to “straighten” a person, freeing his upper limbs for certain activities (defending himself and attacking others, obtaining food); the emergence of the opportunity to use auxiliary materials (stick, stone). At the initial stage of his existence, man himself did not produce anything and took everything he needed from nature (hunting, gathering). The lack of production of material goods doomed man to complete dependence on nature.

One of major events in the development of man there was a transition from herd existence to unification on the basis of consanguinity - the emergence of the clan. Rod was the most natural form connections between the ancestors and descendants of primitive man. As a result of diverse relationships between individuals, they are gradually born and become distinctive feature human society social connections, certain organizational methods influence on people's behavior, the beginnings of such the most important tool, as power, and mandatory rules of behavior. Thus, the formation of society precedes government organization his life.

We can name the main elements that make up the concept of society:

- a set of individuals with will and consciousness;
- general interest of a permanent and objective nature;
- interaction and cooperation based on common interests;
- regulation of public interests by generally binding rules of conduct;
- the presence of an organized force (authority) capable of ensuring internal order and external security;
- the ability and possibility of self-renewal and improvement of society;
- presence of territory of residence.

Thus, we can formulate the concept of “society” as a historically formed community of people united by common needs, interests, and territory.

Primitive society (stoy) was the longest stage of human development and covered a period of more than 2 million years. His history highlights next steps: early (stage of formation, era of ancestral communities), middle (stage of maturity, era of tribal community) and late (stage of stratification of primitive society, formation of supra-communal structures or the era of “chiefdom”).

The economy of primitive society had an appropriative character. Everything that primitive people mined was put into a common “cauldron” (reciprocity), and then divided among all members of the clan (redistribution). This way of human existence is called the “appropriating economy.” Such an economy provided only the minimum needs of the clan community, and with the maximum effort of joint efforts

The society was egalitarian - all its members were equal. basis social structure was a tribal community. The tools of labor were improved extremely slowly but steadily.

During the existence of primitive society, the development of mankind proceeded in three main directions:

1. formation of man as a biosocial being;
2. development of marriage and family relations;
3. transition from an appropriating economy to a producing one, i.e. from appropriation finished products nature (gathering, hunting, fishing) to their production (agriculture, crafts, cattle breeding). Producing economy by 4-3 thousand BC. became the second and main way of existence and reproduction of humanity. The transition to a productive economy is based on crisis phenomena that have threatened the very existence of humanity. Having responded by restructuring its entire social and economic organization, humanity was able to emerge from the global environmental crisis. This restructuring includes a new organization of power relations - the emergence of state formations, early class city-states.

The first stage of development of society - primitive society - has two main features: the presence of potestary power and the existence of mononorms.

In primitive society there was a unity of regulators, because the types of norms were not distinguished, and in the minds of primitive man there was no division of rights and responsibilities. Since the social norms of primitive society were not divided according to content, they were of a single, differentiated nature in terms of content, and therefore received the name “mononorms”.

Features of power in the pre-state period were:

- based on blood ties (the main organization of society is a clan or clan community, i.e., an association of people based on actual or perceived blood ties, as well as community of property and labor);
- directly social in nature, power was built on the principles of primitive democracy, on the functions of self-government (the coincidence of the subject of power and the object of power in the person of the community);
- implementation both by society as a whole (tribal meetings, veche) and by its representatives.

Another sign of the development of primitive society was the difference in mononorms (social norms), which ensured the existence of an appropriating economy and procreation.