Features of primitive culture briefly. Features of primitive culture Features of the primitive era

The history of the human race goes back thousands of years, and the very first stage of human development is primitive society. This is a huge historical layer that begins with the appearance of ancient people and ends with the emergence of states and civilizations.

General characteristics of primitive society

The time of primitive society is not only the initial, but also the longest period in the history of human evolution, which covers more than two million years. During this time, primitive society went through a huge path of development, during which the economic structure, social connections, norms of behavior, organization of power, and ancient man’s idea of ​​the world changed.

During this period, the formation of the physical type of modern man took place, various tools were created, and technologies for their production were invented and improved. Through hard physical labor and gradual discoveries, primitive people managed to create a unique culture bit by bit and significantly enrich their spiritual life.

Rice. 1. Primitive man.

The main features of primitive society include:

• collective work;
• tribal organization;
• lack of personal property;
• equal distribution of food and benefits;
• primitive tools.

All the peoples of the world went through the primitive system. There is no civilization on the planet that has “jumped” over this segment of development. Despite the fact that primitive society has long since sunk into summer, there are still small tribes left on Earth who lead a characteristic way of life and preserve remnants of the distant past.

Stages of primitive society

There are several types of chronicles of primitive society, among which are periodization by type of production, archaeological periodization and some others.

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The division of the era of primitive society according to the type of organization of the social system is very indicative. There are three stages, each of which has its own distinctive features:

• Primitive human herd. The initial stage of primitive society, during which the foundations of behavior and social relationships were laid. The main occupation of the members of the primitive herd was hunting and gathering, and they were led by the strongest and most successful hunter.
• It was a group of people united by blood kinship and joint farming. Several communities living in the neighborhood formed a tribe. At this stage, ancient people began to expand their spheres of activity, mastering, in addition to the usual hunting and gathering, fishing, cattle breeding, and agriculture. New methods of processing natural materials and, accordingly, new types of tools and weapons arose. The management of the clan community was in the hands of the oldest representative of the clan.

Rice. 2. Tribal community.

• Primitive neighborhood community. It was characterized by a more complex social structure, with an appropriating and producing economy, labor distribution, growing needs, the beginnings of individual property and social inequality. At the head of such a community was an elected leader.

The culture of primitive society

Primitive culture is characterized by stability and extremely slow rates of development. During this period, humanity managed to accumulate a huge amount of knowledge about the world around us: animals, plants, natural phenomena, the properties of various materials.

Thanks to the knowledge gained, ancient people successfully practiced healing and farming, they had good spatial orientation in unfamiliar terrain, and they could predict changes in the weather.

The most important achievement of primitive culture was the emergence of primitive writing. At first, these were only primitive signs and symbols that were necessary to establish ownership and conduct trade affairs. Later, with the advent of ancient civilizations, they developed into full-fledged writing.

The art of primitive society played a big role in educating the younger generation and passing on important information to descendants. Of particular importance were petroglyphs - rock paintings that were carved on the surface of rocks or made with paints. The most popular were images of magical rituals, hunting scenes, people and mythological creatures.

Rice. 3. Petroglyphs.

The most important type of primitive art was ornament - various lines, geometric figures, primitive images of animals and plants, which were repeated in a certain sequence. The ornament served not only as decoration: it was a sign of belonging to a particular tribe and protected the owner from evil forces.

What have we learned?

When studying the topic “Primitive Society” according to the 6th grade history program, we learned briefly about the features of the era of primitive society: what characteristic features it had, what time period it covered and into what periods it was divided. We also found out what achievements in the field of culture and art corresponded to this period of development of human society.

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The era of primitive culture is the longest in the history of mankind, and according to archaeological periodization (based on the material from which tools and weapons were made) includes the following main stages of development:

Stone Age (40 thousand years - 4 thousand years BC);

Bronze Age (3-2 thousand BC);

Iron Age (1st millennium BC).

Below we will briefly consider each of the periods of development of the culture of the primitive era.

Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) is characterized by primitive stone tools, the construction of the first boats, rock paintings, reliefs and round sculptures. Hunting and gathering as a way of life of the Paleolithic by 12-8 thousand BC. e. are replaced by livestock breeding, a sedentary lifestyle, and the appearance of bows and arrows (Mesolithic). In the period from 9-4 thousand BC. e. In the life of primitive society, cattle breeding and agriculture were established, and stone processing techniques were improved.

Bronze Age (3-2 thousand BC) separated crafts from agriculture and led to the creation of the first class states.

Iron Age (1st millennium BC) accelerated the heterogeneous development of world culture.

Social classification individual stages of primitive culture looks like this:

The era of the ancestral herd (hunting groups of 20-30 people);

The era of the tribal system (matriarchy, patriarchy);

The era of military democracy.

Main features of primitive culture

Primitive culture is characterized by a slow pace of change, means and goals of activity. Everything in it is focused on repeating the once established way of life, customs and traditions. It is dominated by sacred (sacred), canonized ideas in the human mind.

The main feature of primitive culture is syncretism (connection), that is, the indivisibility of its forms, the unity of man and nature. The activity and consciousness of primitive people is identified with everything that they see around them: with plants, with animals, with the sun and stars, with reservoirs and mountains. This connection is manifested in the artistic and figurative knowledge of the world, in its religious and mythological interpretation.

The second distinctive feature of primitive culture is its illiteracy .

This explains the slow pace of information accumulation as well as slow social and cultural development. Syncretism, that is, indivisibility, had its roots in production activities primitive people: hunting and gathering were inherited by man from animal ways of consuming nature, and making tools was akin to the creative activity of man, absent in nature.

So, primitive man, at first by his nature collector And hunter and only much later pastoralist And farmer.

Gradually took shape elements of spiritual culture . This:

Primary elements of morality;

Mythological worldview;

Early Forms of Religion;

Ritual ritual actions and initial plastic fine arts.

The main condition for the beginning of the cultural process was language . Speech opened the way to self-determination and self-expression of a person, formed oral verbal communication. This made it possible to rely not only on the collective system of thought, but also to have one’s own opinion and reflections on individual events. A person begins to give names to objects and phenomena. These names become symbols. Gradually, the object, animals, plants, and the person himself receive their own place in reality, designated by the word, and thereby form a general picture of the culture of the ancient world.

The primary structure of the moral consciousness of ancient people is taboo culture , that is, the prohibition of sexual relations and murders of members of one’s group, who are recognized as blood relatives. With the help of taboos, the distribution of food is regulated and the integrity of the leader is protected.

Word taboo translated as ban, and the process of tabooing itself arises along with totemism , i.e., belief in a consanguineous relationship between the clan and a sacred plant or animal. Primitive people recognized their dependence on this animal or plant and worshiped it.

At the early stage of primitive society, language and speech were still very primitive. At this time, the main communication channel of culture was work activity. The transfer of information regarding labor operations occurred in non-verbal form without words. The main means of learning and communication have become showing and imitation. Certain effective and useful actions became exemplary and were then copied and passed on from generation to generation and turned into an approved ritual.

Since the cause-and-effect relationships between actions and results with insufficient development of language and thinking were difficult to understand, many practically useless actions became rituals. The whole life of primitive man consisted of performing many ritual procedures. A significant part of them could not be explained rationally and had magical character. But for ancient man, magical rituals were considered as necessary and effective as any labor acts. For him there was no particular difference between labor and magical operations.

The world of meanings in which primitive man lived was given rituals . They were the non-verbal "texts" of his culture. Knowledge of them determined the degree of cultural proficiency and the social significance of the individual. Each individual was required to blindly follow the patterns; creative independence was excluded. Individual self-awareness developed weakly and almost completely merged with the collective one. There was no problem of violating social norms of behavior; there was no contradiction between personal and public interests. The individual simply could not help but fulfill the ritual requirements. It was also impossible for him to violate prohibitions - taboos that protected the vital foundations of collective life (distribution of food, prohibition of consanguineous sexual relations, the inviolability of the leader’s person, etc.).

Culture begins with the introduction of prohibitions that suppress asocial manifestations of animal instincts, but at the same time restrain personal enterprise.

With the development of language and speech, a new information channel is formed - oral verbal communication . Thinking and individual consciousness develops. Individual ceases to be identified with the team, he has the opportunity to express various opinions and assumptions about events, actions, plans, etc., although independence of thinking remains very limited for a long time.

At this stage, the spiritual basis of primitive culture becomes mythological consciousness . Myths explain everything, despite the little real knowledge. They envelop all forms of human life and act as the main “texts” of primitive culture. Their oral translation ensures the unity of views of all members of the tribal community on the world around them. Belief in “one’s own” myths strengthens the community’s views on the surrounding reality, and at the same time separates it from “outsiders.”

Myths consolidate and consecrate practical information and skills of economic activity. Thanks to their transmission from generation to generation, the experience accumulated over many centuries is preserved in social memory. In a united, undifferentiated (“syncretic”) form, primitive mythology contains the beginnings of the main areas spiritual culture, which will stand out from it at subsequent stages of development - religions, art, philosophy of science. The transition from primitive society to higher levels of social development, to more developed types of culture in different regions of the Earth occurred in different ways.

The original forms of religion can also be considered the first forms of spiritual culture . Let's list them:

totemism- (totem - “his clan”) - worship of a clan, tribe, animal, plant or object that is considered the ancestor of the clan;

animism - (anima - “soul”) - belief in the existence of spirits, in the presence of souls in people, animals, plants;

fetishism - belief in the supernatural properties of special objects;

magic - belief in the reality of special rituals (it can be love, harmful, agricultural, etc.).

Primitive society is the historical period of human society between the prehistoric world and the ancient world.

According to scientists, man appeared on Earth about 2.5 million years ago, and the first civilizations and states less than 10 thousand years ago. Consequently, the main part of human history - 99.9% - falls on the times of primitive society...

What significant happened during this period?

And a lot happened...

The most important event is, of course, the appearance of man himself - a thinking being who learned to make tools and use them.

Then one of the main events occurred, namely, the transition to a productive economy or the Neolithic revolution. Before this, man took everything ready from nature, but about 10-12 thousand years ago, the relationship between man and nature changed dramatically: since then, man began to change nature. He is still changing it...

Fire and the light emanating from it brought about major changes in the behavior of people, whose activity was no longer limited to daytime, and the ability to cook protein foods on fire allowed for improved nutrition.

In addition, many large animals and biting insects avoided fire and smoke.

The most important acquisition of man was speech, which allowed him to express his thoughts and abstract concepts.

The next event that occurred during primitive society was the emergence of religion, as well as the art associated with it. Research shows that the earliest examples of cave painting known today are more than 30 thousand years old, and the latest are about 12 thousand years old.

And then social relations arose, society was divided into rulers and subordinates, statehood appeared... There are various systems for the periodization of primitive society and all of them are imperfect in some way.

	Period in Europe	Periodization	Characteristic	Human species
Paleolithic or Old Stone Age	2.4 million - 10,000 BC e.	Early (lower) Paleolithic (2.4 million - 600,000 BC) Middle Paleolithic (600,000 - 35,000 BC) Late (Upper) Paleolithic (35,000 - 10,000 BC)	The time of hunters and gatherers. The beginning of flint tools, which become more complex and specialized over time.	Homo sapiens prasapiens Homo heidelbergensis Homo neanderthalensis Homo sapiens sapiens.
or Middle Stone Age	10000-5000 BC e.		Begins at the end of the Pleistocene in Europe. Hunters and gatherers mastered the making of tools from stone and bone, and learned how to make and use long-range weapons - the bow and arrow.	Homo sapiens sapiens
or New Stone Age	5000-2000 BC e.	Early Neolithic Middle Neolithic Late Neolithic	The beginning of the Neolithic era is associated with the Neolithic revolution. At the same time, the oldest finds of ceramics about 12,000 years old appeared in the Far East, and the European Neolithic period began in the Middle East with the pre-ceramic Neolithic. New methods of farming are emerging, instead of gathering and hunting farming (“appropriating”) - “producing” (farming and cattle breeding), later spreading to Europe. The Late Neolithic often passes into the next stage, the Copper Age, Chalcolithic or Chalcolithic, without a break in cultural continuity. The latter is characterized by the second industrial revolution, the main feature of which is the appearance of metal tools.	Homo sapiens sapiens
Copper Age	5000 - 3500 BC		Transitional period from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. During the Copper Age, copper tools were common, but stone ones still predominated.	Homo sapiens sapiens
Bronze Age		Early history	It is 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.	Homo sapiens sapiens
Iron Age	juice. 800 BC e.		Characterized by the widespread spread of iron metallurgy and the manufacture of iron tools.

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

Subsequently, a paired family arose - permanent couples began to form for a more or less long period. It turned into a monogamous family - lifelong monogamy for individual couples.

History of primitive society

Primitive history went through three main stages in its development, each of which has its own special features: the era of the ancestral community, the era of the clan community, and the era of the neighboring community. However, there is also an alternative periodization of primitive society.

Savagery, barbarism and civilization

One of the representatives of evolutionary theory, L. G. Morgan (1818-1881), in his work “Ancient Society,” divided the development of mankind into the stages of savagery, barbarism and civilization. The first of them were also divided into lower, middle and higher levels. This periodization was based on a technological principle: from the pottery era, the stage of savagery, there was a transition to the lower stage of barbarism, with the transition from the cultivation of plants to the domestication of animals - to the middle, from the iron-smelting era - to the highest stage.

Wildness

The wildness stage is divided into the following stages:

The lower stage meant the youth of the human race: people lived in tropical forests, eating fruits and root vegetables; the appearance of articulate speech became a sign of their maturity;
at the middle stage, people ate fish products, used fire and began to settle around rivers and lakes;
At the highest level, the bow was invented, and it became possible to hunt.

Around the middle of the 4th millennium BC. e. The transition of humanity from primitiveness to civilization began. An indicator of this transition was the emergence of the first states, the development of cities, writing, and new forms of religious and cultural life. Civilization is a higher stage of development of human society, following primitiveness.

The history of primitive societies ended with the emergence in Egypt and Two Rivers at the end of the 4th millennium BC. e. ancient civilizations. Humanity has entered a new stage of its development. On most of the Earth, primitive tribes survived for a long time. Even today, some peoples carry in their culture the heritage of those distant times.

The historical fate of many primitive peoples who encountered civilization was tragic: during the era of colonial conquests and colonial empires, they were exterminated or expelled from their territories. Nowadays, peoples who have preserved tribal traditions are experiencing a certain influence of civilization, and it often turns out to be negative. The preservation of such peoples, their unique culture and their harmonious inclusion in the world of modern civilization is an important task for humanity in the 21st century.

The culture of primitive society

The emergence of the spiritual side of culture dates back to the Paleolithic era. The most ancient, although extremely rare, evidence of this is the burials of Neanderthals during the Achellean era (more than 700 thousand years ago). Based on individual items found in the burials, one can make an assumption about the emergence of cult ideas, the beginnings of primitive mythology and positive knowledge. There are archaeological finds indicating that natural objects are used for natural visual activities, in which researchers see a prototype of art.

Primitive culture is characterized by a slow pace of change, means and goals of activity. Everything in it is focused on repeating the once established way of life, customs and traditions. It is dominated by sacred (sacred), canonized ideas in the human mind.

The most significant feature of primitive history is that the nascent consciousness is still completely immersed in material life. Speech is tied to specific things, events and experiences. The figurative and sensory perception of reality predominates. Thinking and will arise in the course of the direct action of individuals. Emerging spirituality is not divided into separate types. This feature of culture is called syncretism and characterizes its undeveloped state.

The main feature of primitive culture is syncretism (combination), that is, the indivisibility of its forms, the unity of man and nature. The activity and consciousness of primitive people is identified with everything that they see around them: with plants, with animals, with the sun and stars, with reservoirs and mountains. This connection is manifested in the artistic and figurative knowledge of the world, in its religious and mythological interpretation. The second distinctive feature of primitive culture is its lack of writing.

This explains the slow pace of information accumulation as well as slow social and cultural development. Syncretism, that is, indivisibility, had its roots in the production activities of primitive people: hunting and gathering were inherited by man from animal ways of consuming nature, and the manufacture of tools was akin to the creative activity of man, absent in nature.

So, primitive man, at first by nature, was a gatherer and hunter, and only much later a cattle breeder and farmer.

Elements of spiritual culture gradually took shape. This:

Primary elements of morality;
mythological worldview;
early forms of religion;
ritual ritual actions and initial plastic fine arts.

The main condition for the beginning of the cultural process was language. Speech opened the way to human self-determination and self-expression and formed oral verbal communication. This made it possible to rely not only on the collective system of thought, but also to have one’s own opinion and reflections on individual events. A person begins to give names to objects and phenomena. These names become symbols. Gradually, the object, animals, plants, and the person himself receive their own place in reality, designated by the word, and thereby form a general picture of the culture of the ancient world.

Primitive consciousness is also primarily collective. For the sake of the preservation and survival of the race, all spiritual manifestations must strictly obey general requirements that are stable. The first cultural regulator of people’s behavior is the culture of taboo, that is, the prohibition of sexual intercourse and the murder of members of one’s group, who are perceived as blood relatives. With the help of taboos, the distribution of food is regulated and the integrity of the leader is protected. On the basis of taboos, the concepts of morality and legality are later formed. The word taboo is translated as prohibition, and the process of tabooing itself arises along with totemism, that is, the belief in a consanguineous relationship between a clan and a sacred plant or animal. Primitive people recognized their dependence on this animal or plant and worshiped it.

At the early stage of primitive society, language and speech were still very primitive. At this time, the main communication channel of culture was labor activity. The transfer of information regarding labor operations occurred in non-verbal form without words. Demonstration and imitation became the main means of learning and communication. Certain effective and useful actions became exemplary and were then copied and passed on from generation to generation and turned into an approved ritual.

Since the cause-and-effect relationships between actions and results with insufficient development of language and thinking were difficult to understand, many practically useless actions became rituals. The whole life of primitive man consisted of performing many ritual procedures. A significant part of them defied rational explanation and had a magical character. But for ancient man, magical rituals were considered as necessary and effective as any labor acts. For him there was no particular difference between labor and magical operations.

Another means of strengthening the social unity of primitive people was the emerging art. There is no consensus among scientists about the specific reasons for the emergence of art and changes in it. It is believed that it served the function of collective training in commercial, economic and other useful activities (imitation of hunting an animal in dance, for example). In addition, art gave an objective form to mythological ideas, and also made it possible to record positive knowledge in signs (primary counting, calendar). Examples of the primitive “animal style” amaze with their realism.

For hundreds of thousands of years, art has helped people to master the world around them in figurative and symbolic form. Almost all types of artistic creativity - music, painting, sculpture, graphics, dance, theatrical performance, applied arts - originated in primitive culture.

The world of meanings in which primitive man lived was determined by rituals. They were the nonverbal "texts" of his culture. Knowledge of them determined the degree of cultural proficiency and the social significance of the individual. Each individual was required to blindly follow the patterns; creative independence was excluded. Individual self-awareness developed weakly and almost completely merged with the collective one. There was no problem of violating social norms of behavior; there was no contradiction between personal and public interests. The individual simply could not help but fulfill the ritual requirements. It was also impossible for him to violate prohibitions - taboos that protected the vital foundations of collective life (distribution of food, prohibition of consanguineous sexual relations, the inviolability of the leader’s person, etc.).

Culture begins with the introduction of prohibitions that suppress asocial manifestations of animal instincts, but at the same time restrain personal enterprise.

With the development of language and speech, a new information channel is formed - oral verbal communication. Thinking and individual consciousness develops. The individual ceases to be identified with the collective, he has the opportunity to express various opinions and assumptions about events, actions, plans, etc., although independence of thinking remains very limited for a long time.

At this stage, mythological consciousness becomes the spiritual basis of primitive culture. Myths explain everything, despite the little real knowledge. They envelop all forms of human life and act as the main “texts” of primitive culture. Their oral translation ensures the unity of views of all members of the tribal community on the world around them. Belief in “one’s own” myths strengthens the community’s views on the surrounding reality, and at the same time separates it from “outsiders.”

Myths consolidate and consecrate practical information and skills of economic activity. Thanks to their transmission from generation to generation, the experience accumulated over many centuries is preserved in social memory. In a coherent, undifferentiated (“syncretic”) form, primitive mythology contains the rudiments of the main areas of spiritual culture that will emerge from it at subsequent stages of development - religion, art, philosophy of science. The transition from primitive society to higher levels of social development, to more developed types of culture in different regions of the Earth occurred in different ways.

Norms of primitive society

In the period of the emergence of man, far from us, he was guided, first of all, by instincts, and in this sense, prehistoric people were not much different from other animals. Instincts act!; as is known, regardless of the will and consciousness of a living being. Nature, through genes, transmits from generation to generation the instinctive rules of behavior of individual individuals.

Over time, as consciousness grew, our ancestors’ instincts gradually began to transform into social norms. They arose at the earliest stages of the development of human society in connection with the need to regulate people's behavior in such a way as to achieve their appropriate interaction to solve common problems. Social norms created a situation where a person’s actions no longer consisted of instinctive reactions to stimuli. Between the situation and the impulse it generated stood a social norm, which is associated with the most general principles of social existence. Social norms are general rules governing the behavior of people in society.

The main types of social norms of primitive society were: customs, moral norms, religious norms, sacred (sacred, magical) regulations (taboos, vows, spells, curses), agricultural calendars.

Customs are historically established rules of behavior that, as a result of repeated repetition, have become habits. They arise as a result of the most appropriate behavior option. The repeated repetition of this behavior made it a habit. Then the customs were passed down from generation to generation.

The norms of primitive morality are rules of behavior that regulated relations between people on the basis of primitive ideas about good and evil. Such rules of behavior arise much later than customs, when people acquire the ability to evaluate their own actions and the actions of other people from a moral point of view.

Religious norms are rules of behavior that govern relationships between people on the basis of their religious beliefs. Thus, the practice of religious cults, sacrifices to the gods, and the slaughter of animals (sometimes people) on altars begin to occupy a special place in their lives.

SACRED INSTRUCTIONS

A taboo is a sacred order, a ban on doing something. There is a point of view (Freudian concept) according to which the leaders of the primitive herd, with the help of taboos, made people manageable and obedient. This made it possible to get rid of the negative manifestations of natural human instincts.

According to the domestic ethnographer E.A. Kreinovich, the taboo system has social roots.

Thus, among the Nivkhs, this system represents an expression of the struggle of various human groups for existence and is based on two types of contradictions:

Between older and younger generations;
between male and female genders.

Thus, Stone Age hunters, using frightening prohibitions, deprived young people and women of the right to eat the best parts of a bear carcass and secured this right for themselves. Despite the fact that the prey was most likely brought by young, strong and dexterous hunters, the right to the best shares still remained with the old people.

A vow is a kind of prohibition or restriction that a person voluntarily imposes on himself. A person who had obligations of blood feud could make a promise not to appear in his home until he avenged a murdered relative. In ancient society, a vow was one of the ways a person fought for individuality, because through it he showed his character.

Spells were magical acts with the help of which a person sought to influence the behavior of another person in the desired direction - to bind him to himself, to push him away, to stop evil behavior and witchcraft.

A curse is an emotional call to supernatural forces to bring down all kinds of suffering and misfortune on the head of the enemy.

Agricultural calendars are a system of rules for the most appropriate conduct of agricultural work.

So, in primitive society there were many social norms and prohibitions. E.A. Kreinovich, who in 1926-1928. worked on Sakhalin and Amur among the Nivkhs, noted that “the economic, social, and spiritual life of the Nivkhs is extremely complex. The life of every person, long before his birth, is predetermined and outlined in a mass of traditions and norms.” The Russian traveler and geographer V.K. Arsenyev, who studied the life of the Udege, was surprised at how many prohibitive rules they had. B. Spencer and F. Gillen, researchers of the primitive way of life of the Australians, also noted that “Australians are bound hand and foot by custom... Any violation of custom within certain boundaries was met with unconditional and often severe punishment.”

Thus, in primitive society the individual was surrounded by a dense layer of social norms, many of which, according to generally accepted modern views, are inappropriate.

DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO ASSESSING THE REGULATORY SYSTEM OF PRIMITIVE SOCIETIES

One of the approaches is justified by I.F. Machin. In his opinion, when characterizing the norms of social regulation of a primitive society, it is quite acceptable to use the concept of customary law. By common law he understands an independent historical type of law along with such types of law that have been distinguished recently as estate law and social law. The terms “archaic law” and “traditional law” can serve as synonyms for the term “customary law”.

Not everyone agrees with this approach. So, according to V.P. Alekseev and A.I. Pershits, it is unlawful to use the concept of customary law in relation to primitive societies. From their point of view (and this is the second approach), the norms of social regulation of primitive society were mononorms. It should be noted that the concept of mononorm was developed by historians of primitive society and from them migrated to the domestic theory of state and law.

So, supporters of the second approach believe that when characterizing the norms of social regulation of a pre-state society, one should use the concept of mononorm (from the Greek monos - one and the Latin norma - rule), which is an undivided unity of religious, moral, legal, etc. norms .

Who is right? What definition should be used to characterize the norms of social regulation of primitive society? It seems that it is possible to use both the first and second approaches.

Defending the position of the second approach, we note that in the minds of primitive society the question could hardly have arisen as to what social norm it was guided by in this case. Therefore, the use of the term mononorm is justified.

The first approach to understanding the emergence of law and its essence is of great scientific and theoretical importance. However, customary law in this understanding is not a legal concept. Law in a strictly legal sense is a system of norms that comes from the state and is protected by it. But this right does not appear out of nowhere. There is an appropriate regulatory framework for its occurrence.

By the time the state emerges, at the final stage of development of primitive society, a fairly effective system of social norms has developed, which representatives of the first approach call common law. This is the period when there was no state yet, but law in a non-legal sense had already appeared. Social norms of customary law were the main source of law in the legal sense.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL AUTHORITY BEFORE THE STATE OF ANOTHER PERIOD

Considering the fact that society arose much earlier than the state (if the first happened about 3-4.5 million years ago, then the second - only 5-6 thousand years ago), it is necessary to give characteristics of social power and norms that existed in the primitive system.

The existence of early forms of association of the ancestors of modern man was due to the need to be protected from the external environment and to obtain food together. In the harsh natural conditions of primitive society, a person could survive only in a team.

Prenatal associations of people were not stable and could not provide sufficient conditions for the preservation and development of humans as a biological species. The economy of that time was appropriative. Food products obtained from nature in ready-made form could provide only the minimum needs of society in the extreme conditions of its existence. The material basis of primitive society was public property with gender-age specialization of labor and equal distribution of its products.

The manufacture of tools and the creative organization of joint economic activities helped man survive and stand out from the animal world. This process required not only the development of instincts, but also memory, consciousness skills, articulate speech, the transfer of experience to subsequent generations, etc. Thus, the invention of the bow and arrow presupposed long-term previous experience, the development of mental abilities and the possibility of comparing human achievements.

The primary organizational unit of the reproduction of human life was the clan, based on consanguineous relationships of its members conducting joint economic activities. This circumstance is connected primarily with the peculiarities of family relationships of that time. Primitive society was dominated by the polygamous family, in which all men and women belonged to each other. In conditions where the father of the child was not known, kinship could only be through the maternal line. Somewhat later, with the help of customs, marriages between parents and children are first prohibited, then between brothers and sisters. As a result of the prohibition of incest (incest), which served as the biological basis for the separation of man from the animal world, marriages began to be concluded between representatives of related communities. Under such circumstances, several friendly clans united into phratries, phratries - into tribes and tribal unions, which helped to more successfully conduct economic activities, improve tools and resist the raids of other tribes. Thus, the foundation was laid for a new culture and system of relationships and communications between people.

For the operational management of the community, leaders and elders were elected, who in everyday life were equal among equals, guiding the behavior of their fellow tribesmen by personal example.

The highest authority and judicial authority of the clan was the general meeting of the entire adult population. Intertribal relations were guided by a council of elders.

Thus, a feature of social power in the pre-state period was that it, in fact, was part of the very life of people, expressing and ensuring the socio-economic unity of the clan and tribe. This was due to the imperfection of labor tools and low productivity. Hence the need for cohabitation, public ownership of the means of production and the distribution of products on the basis of equality.

Such circumstances had a significant impact on the nature of power in primitive society.

The social power that existed in the pre-state period was characterized by the following features:

It spread only within the clan, expressed its will and was based on blood ties;
it was directly social, built on the principles of primitive democracy, self-government (i.e., the subject and object of power here coincided);
The authorities were clan assemblies, elders, military leaders, etc., who decided all the most important issues of the life of primitive society.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL NORMS OF THE PRE-STATE PERIOD

In the pre-state period, natural collectivism, which united people for coordinated purposeful activities and ensured their survival at a certain stage of development, needed social regulation. Every community is a self-governing local collective, capable of developing and ensuring compliance with the norms of joint activity.

Human behavior is largely determined by his natural instincts. Feelings of hunger, thirst, etc. cause the need to take certain actions to satisfy individual needs. These instincts, conditioned by the nature of the existence of a living organism, are inherent in all representatives of the animal world. Human behavior in the primitive herd was guided by signs that, like animals, were perceived at the level of instincts and physical sensations. However, unlike other animals, man is endowed with the property of reason. That is why the original method of regulatory regulation was a ban, signifying a possible danger for a person who ignores natural law. In addition, the life of an individual largely depends on the behavior of the people around him, on the consistency of mutual existence. In everyday life, a person must not only take something from the surrounding nature for himself personally, but also give himself to the benefit of society, observing the general rules of behavior. This behavior is based on natural instincts (reproduction, self-preservation, etc.). But they are aggravated by the collective nature of man. Therefore, in a person’s behavior, his spiritual life begins to play an increasingly important role, which is regulated by morality and certain religious norms. His actions are assessed from the standpoint of good and evil, honor and dishonor, fair and unfair. He begins to realize that true well-being comes not when a person satisfies his physiological needs, but when he lives in complete harmony with others.

For social regulation, it was necessary to have developed consciousness, the ability to evaluate, generalize and formulate the most rational options for behavior in the form of generally binding models.

With the help of emerging social norms, human society solved the problem of survival and ensuring a stable life together. Accumulating particles of accumulated social experience in an objective-fantastic form, these norms indicated how one should and should not act in a certain life situation. Therefore, those norms, unlike those currently in force, did not express the connection between what is and what should be, but the connection between the past and the present. The risk was too costly for primitive man. Emerging human rights, reflecting the extent of his freedom to act at his own discretion, were still largely predetermined by natural factors (physical strength, intelligence, organizational skills, etc.) and the level of knowledge of primitive man. The normative system of that time was quite conservative and was replete with numerous prohibitions, expressed in the form of spells, vows, vows and taboos. A taboo is a prohibition that was subject to special religious, magical technology (established by priests) and had mystical sanctions that threatened adverse consequences.

The restrictions of primitive society restrained human biological instincts, which negatively affected the environment and the development of the species.

A person could feel free only within the boundaries of established prohibitions. Only later did obligations and permissions appear, the division of rights into natural (natural) and positive, artificially created and changed by man himself, regulating not so much the position of a person in the surrounding world as the relationships within the human community.

Primitive society was not familiar with morality, religion, and law as special social regulators, since they were at the initial stage of their formation and it was still impossible to differentiate them. The emerging mononorms were detailed in content and unified in form. Their basic form is custom.

Custom is a form of transmission of normative behavioral information from one generation to another. The power of custom lay not in coercion, but in public opinion and the habit of people to be guided by this norm, in a stereotype of behavior developed by long-term practice. A norm of custom is valid as long as it is remembered and passed on from generation to generation. Household folklore (parables, proverbs, sayings) has always provided significant assistance in this. They reflected all stages of the origin and resolution of a controversial situation: “an agreement is more valuable than money”; “debt is rewarding in payment, and loans are rewarding”; “If he left, he was right; if he got caught, he was guilty”; “not every fault is to blame,” etc.

The social significance and divine predetermination of behavior recorded in customs were emphasized by the procedural norms of numerous rituals and religious rites. A ritual is a system of sequentially performed actions of a signal-sound and symbolic nature. The form of its conduct and the external attributes of the participants instilled in people the necessary feeling and set them up for a certain activity. A religious ritual is a complex of actions and signs that contains a code of symbolic communication with supernatural forces. When it is carried out, priority is given not only and not so much to the form, but to the semantic content of the actions performed under the guidance of a person with special knowledge.

Thus, the signs of the norms that existed in the pre-state period are the following:

The regulation of relations in primitive society is mainly by customs (i.e., historically established rules of behavior that have become habitual as a result of repeated use over a long time);
the existence of norms in the behavior and consciousness of people, as a rule, without a written form of expression;
ensuring norms mainly by force of habit, as well as appropriate measures of persuasion (suggestion) and coercion (expulsion from the clan);
prohibition (taboo system) as the leading method of regulation (lack of actual rights and responsibilities);
expression in norms of the interests of all members of the clan and tribe.

Power in primitive society

The mode of production outlined above corresponded to both a certain organization of primitive power and a corresponding system of rules of behavior. Such power and the form of its organization are usually called primitive democracy, primitive self-government. The main thing that should be emphasized here is the absence of a special detachment of people engaged only in the administration of power functions and management (in other words, a detachment of officials).

Power in primitive society was based on social norms. Submission was natural and determined by the unity of interests of all members of the clan. Power in primitive society was personal in nature, extended only to members of the clan and had no territorial nature. Social rules and their implementation were supported by the authority of leaders and elders. These norms regulated labor exchange, marriage and family relations, raising children, etc.

Since power in primitive society was largely based on authority and the possibility of harsh coercion, a violator of the rules of conduct established in the clan could be severely punished, even expulsion from the clan, which meant certain death.

The highest authority is the clan assembly of all adult members of the clan. The meeting elected an elder, a military commander - a leader who had wisdom, life experience, organizational talent and could foresee future events in advance.

In most cases, these leaders were men. Thus, primitive society had a male management hierarchy, which was built on the basis of age and personal qualities. The leader (military leader) could be removed at any time, therefore, his power was not hereditary. Let us note that among some nations both men and women participated in the assembly, without any advantage in rights.

For others, the clan meeting was the prerogative of men. In addition to electing a leader, the meeting also decided on other important issues - war, peace, transfer to other lands, expulsion of clan members. The elected elder, the head of the clan, together with the council (elders, honored warriors, etc.) carried out the daily management of the clan community. Submission and discipline rested on the unity of interests of all members of the clan and the authority of the authorities. For most peoples, the clan was the original cell; they often united into phratries (Ancient Greece), the latter forming tribes.

One way or another, the basis of this organizational structure was the principle of kinship. So, the management system in primitive society was built as follows: leader; council of elders; meeting of clan members.

The characteristic features of power in primitive society are election, turnover, urgency, lack of privileges and its public nature.

The essence of primitive society

In conditions of appropriative farming, most likely, there was common ownership of the means of production and consumer goods, especially food, which was distributed among members of society regardless of participation or non-participation in its production. This distribution is usually called equalizing. Its essence lies in the fact that a member of the team had the right to a part of the product received solely by virtue of belonging to this community. However, the size of the share apparently depended on the volume of product received or mined and on the needs of community members.

It can be assumed that the distribution of the product was carried out differentially (the main recipients of the product were hunters, gatherers of fruits and other edible products, women, children, old people) and taking into account needs. Although the need in the conditions of a primitive society was obviously purely conditional. Sometimes the method of distribution is called the “method of distribution according to needs,” and the primitive social organism is called a “commune.”

Having started to work consciously, a person was forced to keep records of production, the results of labor, and the creation of “warehouse reserves.” As man developed, there was a process of accumulation of knowledge - he began to take into account time, the change of seasons, the movement of nearby celestial bodies (Sun, Moon, stars). In all likelihood, members of society (community) began to appear who were able to keep records and conditions for such activities were created for them, since accounting helped maintain order and made it possible to survive.

Based on the accumulated knowledge, in all likelihood, it was already possible to make the first primitive, but necessary for survival, forecasts: when to start stockpiling, how and for how long to store them, when to start using them, when and where you can and should migrate, etc. d. At the same time, probably, there appeared the accounting of actually perceived objects, the planning and organization of work activity, the distribution of products and tools. The emergence of surplus products could lead to an exchange, which could be carried out either by exchanging a natural product for a natural product, or using an exchange equivalent (jewelry, shells, tools - of natural origin and man-made).

Accounting required record keeping. They could be notches, notches discovered by archaeologists. Primitive “documents” recording the count suggest that the signs left have a certain significance, since they have different designs - lines (straight, wavy, arched), dots. Archaeologists gave ancient information carriers the general name tags. The prehistoric period can be attributed to the emergence of accounting options in which the color, shape of the sign, and its length were important. The Incas used a system of multi-colored cords for this (simple cords were connected into more complex ones), the Chinese used knots.

This is how the economy developed in primitive societies. There was no system of collection, processing, or accounting analysis yet. They will appear later - in ancient Eastern civilizations.

The primitive association of people initially completely coincided with the maternal clan. Due to the characteristic of the communal clan system, exogamy (prohibition of marriages between close relatives). The joint settlement of spouses led to the fact that the new association of people no longer coincided with the clan. Paired marriage apparently began to form among the most ancient fossil people. Kinship along a certain line begins to develop, incest (incest, i.e. marriages between parents and children) is prohibited, which ultimately leads to social regulation of marriage, the emergence of clan and family.

The emergence of a dual organization of the tribe was apparently associated with matriarchy, which was characterized by the dominant position of women. In public consciousness and ritual rites, matriarchy was reflected in the cult of the mother goddess and other female deities.

During the Late Paleolithic period, a kind of social innovation occurred—the exclusion of close relatives from marriage relations. All the changes taking place can be characterized as the Paleolithic revolution.

Organization of primitive society

There are many theories in science about the emergence of the state. The reasons for such a multitude can be explained as follows:

1) the formation of the state among different peoples followed different paths, which led to different interpretations of the conditions and reasons for its emergence;
2) different worldviews of researchers;
3) the complexity of the process of state formation, which causes difficulties in adequately perceiving this process.

As you know, the state did not always exist. The Earth was formed approximately 4.7 billion years ago, life on Earth was about 3–3.5 billion years ago, people appeared on Earth about 2 million years ago, man as an intelligent being took shape approximately 40 thousand years ago, and The first state formations arose about 5 thousand years ago.

Thus, first a society appeared, which in the process of its development came to the need to create such important social institutions as the state and law.

The first form of human activity in human history, spanning the era from the appearance of man to the formation of the state, was primitive society. This stage is important for understanding the process of state formation, so let’s look at it in more detail.

Currently, thanks to advances in the field of archeology and ethnography, science has extensive information about this period of humanity.

One of the significant achievements is the periodization of primitive history, which makes it possible to clearly identify:

A) what kind of society are we talking about;
b) the time frame for the existence of primitive society;
c) social and spiritual organization of primitive society;
d) forms of organization of power and normative regulators used by humanity, etc.

Periodization allows us to come to the conclusion that society has never been static, it has invariably developed, moved, and gone through various stages. There are several types of such periodization, in particular, general historical, archaeological, anthropological. Legal science uses archaeological periodization, which distinguishes two main stages in the development of primitive society: the stage of the appropriating economy and the stage of the producing economy, between which lay the important boundary of the Neolithic revolution. The modern theory of the origin of the state - potestar, or crisis - is based on this periodization.

For a considerable time, man lived in the form of a primitive herd, and then through the clan community, its decomposition led to the formation of a state.

During the period of the appropriating economy, man was content with what nature gave him, so he was mainly engaged in gathering, hunting, fishing, and also used natural materials - stones and sticks - as tools.

The form of social organization of primitive society was the clan community, that is, a community (association) of people based on blood relationships and leading a joint household. The clan community united several generations - parents, young men and women and their children. The family community was headed by the most authoritative, wise, experienced food providers, experts in customs and rituals (leaders). Thus, the clan community was a personal, rather than territorial, union of people. Family communities united into larger entities - clan associations, tribes, tribal unions. These formations were also based on blood relationships. The purpose of such associations was protection from external attack, organization of hikes, collective hunting, etc.

A feature of primitive communities was a nomadic way of life and a strictly fixed system of gender and age division of labor, i.e., a strict distribution of functions for the life support of the community. Gradually, group marriage was replaced by pair marriage, a ban on incest, since it led to the birth of inferior people.

At the first stage of primitive society, management in the community was built on the principles of natural self-government, that is, the form that corresponded to the level of human development. Power was of a public nature, since it came from the community, which itself formed self-government bodies. The community as a whole was the source of power, and its members directly exercised the fullness of the latter.

The following institutions of power existed in the primitive community:

A) leader (leader, leader);
b) council of elders;
c) a general meeting of all adult members of the community, which decided the most important issues of life.

In primitive society, there was election and turnover of the first two institutions of power, that is, persons included in these institutions could be removed by the community and carried out their functions under the control of the community. The Council of Elders was also formed through elections from among the most respected members of the community, based on their personal qualities.

Since in primitive society power was based to a large extent on the authority of any member of the community, it is called potestar, from the Latin word “potestus” - power, power. In addition to authority, potestar power was also based on the possibility of harsh coercion. A violator of the rules of conduct, the life of the community, and its customs could be severely punished, including expulsion from the community, which meant certain death.

The affairs of the community were managed by a leader elected by the general meeting of the community or the council of elders. His power was not hereditary. He could be displaced at any moment. He also participated, along with other community members, in production work and did not have any benefits. The situation was similar for the members of the council of elders. Religious functions were performed by a priest, a shaman, whose activities were given great importance, since primitive man was part of nature and directly depended on natural forces, believed in the ability to appease them so that they would be favorable to him.

Thus, the power of primitive society at the first stage of its existence is characterized by the following features:

1) supreme power belonged to the general meeting of community members, men and women had equal voting rights;
2) there was no apparatus within the community that carried out management on a professional basis. The displaced leaders became ordinary members of the community and did not acquire any advantages;
3) power was based on authority and respect for customs;
4) the clan acted as a body for the protection of all its members, and blood feud was prescribed for the murder of a member of the community.

Consequently, the main features of power in primitive society are election, turnover, urgency, lack of privileges, and public character. Power under the clan system was consistently democratic in nature, which was possible in the absence of any property differences between members of the community, the presence of complete de facto equality, the unity of needs and interests of all members. On this basis, this stage in the development of mankind is often called primitive communism.

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 the 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 opportunity to accumulate social wealth and create 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”.

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, which did not coincide in time among different peoples, that the paths of human development were divided 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.

Man in primitive society

Conducted in the 19th-20th centuries. Ethnographic studies of tribes still living in primitive society make it possible to fairly completely and reliably reconstruct the way of life of a person of that era.

Primitive man deeply felt his connection with nature and unity with his fellow tribesmen. The awareness of oneself as a separate, independent person has not yet occurred. Long before the feeling of one’s “I,” a feeling of “We” arose, a feeling of unity, unity with other members of the group. Our tribe - “We” - opposed other tribes, strangers (“They”), whose attitude was usually hostile. In addition to unity with “our own” and opposition to “strangers,” man keenly felt his connection with the natural world. Nature, on the one hand, was a necessary source of life's blessings, but, on the other hand, it was fraught with a lot of dangers and often turned out to be hostile to people. Attitudes towards fellow tribesmen, strangers and nature directly influenced ancient man’s understanding of his needs and possible ways to satisfy them.

Behind all the needs of the people of the primitive era (as, indeed, of our contemporaries) were the biological characteristics of the human body. These features are expressed in the so-called urgent, or vital, primary needs - food, clothing, housing. The main feature of urgent needs is that they must be satisfied - otherwise the human body cannot exist at all. Secondary, non-essential needs are those without whose satisfaction life is possible, although it is full of hardships. Urgent needs had exceptional, dominant importance in primitive society. Firstly, meeting basic needs was a difficult task and required a lot of effort from our ancestors (unlike modern people, who easily use, for example, the products of a powerful food industry). Secondly, complex social needs were less developed than in our time, and therefore people’s behavior depended more on biological needs.

At the same time, the entire modern structure of needs begins to form in primitive man, which is very different from the structure of the needs of animals.

The main differences between humans and animals are labor activity and the thinking that developed in the Labor Process. To maintain his existence, man has learned to influence nature not only with his body (nails, teeth, as animals do), but with the help of special objects that stand between man and the object of labor and greatly enhance the human impact on nature. These items are called tools. Since a person supports his life with the help of the products of labor, labor activity itself becomes the most important need of society. Since labor is impossible without knowledge about the world, in a primitive society the need for knowledge arises. If the need for any objects (food, clothing, tools) is a material need, then the need for knowledge is already a spiritual need.

In Primitive society, a complex interaction arises between individual (personal) and social needs.

In the 18th century French materialist philosophers (P.A. Golbach and others) proposed a theory of rational egoism to explain human behavior. Later it was borrowed by N. G. Chernyshevsky and described in detail in the novel “What is to be done?” According to the theory of rational egoism, a person always acts in his personal, egoistic interests, strives to satisfy only individual needs. However, if we analyze a person’s personal needs in detail and logically, we inevitably discover that, ultimately, they coincide with the needs of society (social group). Therefore, a “reasonable” egoist, pursuing only correctly understood personal gain, will automatically act in the interests of the entire human community.

In our time, it has become clear that the theory of rational egoism simplifies the real state of affairs. Contradictions between the interests of the individual and the community (for primitive man this was his own tribe) actually exist and can reach enormous severity. Thus, in modern Russia we see many examples when certain needs of various people, organizations and society as a whole exclude each other and give rise to major conflicts of interest. But society has also developed a number of mechanisms to resolve such conflicts. The most ancient of these mechanisms arose already in the primitive era. This mechanism is morality.

Ethnographers know tribes that even by the 19th-20th centuries. Art and any distinct religious ideas did not have time to emerge. But no, not a single tribe that does not have a developed and effectively operating system of moral standards. Morality arose among the most ancient people to harmonize the interests of the individual and society (their tribe). The main meaning of all moral norms, traditions, and regulations was one thing: they required a person to act primarily in the interests of the group, collective, to satisfy social needs first, and only then personal needs. Only such concern by everyone for the good of the entire tribe - even at the expense of personal interests - made this tribe viable. Morality was reinforced through education and tradition. It became the first powerful social regulator of human needs, managing the distribution of life's goods.

Moral norms prescribed the distribution of material wealth in accordance with established custom. Thus, all primitive tribes, without exception, have strict rules for the division of hunting spoils. It is not considered the property of the hunter, but is distributed among all fellow tribesmen (or at least among a large group of people). Charles Darwin during his voyage around the world on the Beagle in 1831-1836. I observed among the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego the simplest way of dividing the spoils: it was divided into equal parts and distributed to everyone present. For example, having received a piece of matter, the natives always divided it into equal pieces according to the number of people who were in this place at the time of division. At the same time, under extreme circumstances, primitive hunters could get the last pieces of food, so to speak, beyond their share, if the fate of the tribe depended on their endurance and ability to obtain food again. Punishments for actions dangerous to society also took into account the needs and interests of community members, as well as the degree of this danger. Thus, among a number of African tribes, those who steal household utensils do not suffer severe punishment, but those who steal weapons (items especially important for the survival of the tribe) are brutally killed. Thus, already at the level of the primitive system, society developed ways to satisfy social needs, which did not always coincide with the personal needs of each individual.

Somewhat later than morality, mythology, religion and art appeared in primitive society. Their appearance is a major leap in the development of the need for cognition. The ancient history of any people known to us shows: a person is never satisfied only with satisfying primary, basic, essential needs. The greatest specialist in the theory of needs, Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), wrote: “The satisfaction of basic needs in itself does not create a system of values ​​on which one can rely and in which one can believe. We realized that possible consequences of satisfying basic needs could be boredom, lack of purpose, and moral decay. We seem to function best when we strive for something we lack, when we desire something we don’t have, and when we mobilize our energies to achieve that desire.” All this can already be said about primitive people. The existence of their general need for knowledge is easily explained by the need to navigate the natural environment, avoid danger, and make tools. What's truly surprising is something else. All primitive tribes had a need for a worldview, that is, to form a system of views on the world as a whole and man’s place in it.

At first, the worldview existed in the form of mythology, that is, legends and tales that comprehended the structure of nature and society in a fantastic artistic and figurative form. Then religion arises - a system of views on the world that recognizes the existence of supernatural phenomena that violate the ordinary order of things (the laws of nature). In the most ancient types of religions - fetishism, totemism, magic and animism - the concept of God has not yet been formed. A particularly interesting and even daring type of religious performance was magic. This is an attempt to find the simplest and most effective ways to satisfy needs through contact with the supernatural world, active human intervention in current events with the help of powerful mysterious, fantastic forces. Only in the era of the emergence of modern science (XVI-XVIII centuries) did civilization finally make a choice in favor of scientific thinking. Magic and witchcraft were recognized as an erroneous, ineffective, dead-end path for the development of human activity.

The emergence of aesthetic needs manifested itself in the emergence of artistic creativity and the creation of works of art. Rock paintings, figurines of people and animals, all kinds of jewelry, ritual hunting dances, it would seem, have nothing to do with satisfying basic needs and do not help a person survive in the fight against nature. But this is only at first glance. In reality, art is the result of the development of complex spiritual needs, indirectly related to material needs. This, first of all, is the need for a correct assessment of the surrounding world and the development of a reasonable strategy for the behavior of the human community. “Art,” notes the famous aesthetics specialist M. S. Kagan, “was born as a way of realizing the objective system of values ​​that was developing in society, because the strengthening of social relations and their purposeful formation required the creation of objects in which the values ​​would be fixed, stored and transmitted. person to person and from generation to generation, this is the only spiritual information available to primitive people - information about socially organized connections with the world, about the social value of nature and the existence of man himself.” Even in the simplest works of primitive art, the artist’s attitude towards the depicted object is expressed, that is, socially significant information is encrypted about what is important and valuable for a person, how one should relate to certain phenomena.

So, a number of patterns are revealed in the development of the needs of primitive man.

Man has always been forced to satisfy urgent, primary, predominantly biological needs.

Satisfaction of the simplest material needs led to the formation of increasingly complex, secondary needs, which were predominantly social in nature. These needs, in turn, stimulated the improvement of tools and the complication of work activity.

3. Ancient people were convinced by experience of the need to satisfy social needs and began to create the necessary mechanisms for regulating social behavior - first of all, morality. Satisfaction of individual needs could be severely limited if they came into conflict with social ones.

4. Along with the basic, urgent needs of all tribes of ancient people, at some stage of their development, there appears a need for the formation of a worldview. Only ideological ideas (mythology, religion, art) could give meaning to human life, create a system of values, and develop a strategy for the life behavior of an individual and the tribe as a whole.

The entire history of primitive society can be represented as a search for new ways to satisfy the developing system of material and spiritual needs. Already at this time, man tried to discover the meaning and purpose of his existence, which our distant ancestors did not reduce to the satisfaction of simple material needs.

Features of primitive society

When analyzing any form of social consciousness, the classics recommended always starting from the existence of real people who really exist, “from their actual life process.”

As is known, at the earliest stage of development, which is called the “childhood of the human race,” man existed thanks to the appropriation of ready-made “gifts” provided to him by nature; in ethnographic literature this “mode of production” is called “gathering.” In small groups, moving from place to place, people collected wild fruits, nuts, berries, mushrooms, etc., dug up edible roots and tubers, and picked up shells and algae discarded by the water.

It should be noted that there have hardly ever been peoples who obtained their livelihood exclusively by gathering. Even the more culturally backward nations known to us, in which the appropriation of ready-made “gifts of nature” occupies a prominent place in their economy, still combine this type of labor with hunting, even the most primitive one.

The next stage of development is characterized by the discovery of fire, which made it possible to cook and fry food, which is also used as game - the result of hunting, although it was just as impossible to live solely by hunting as it was by gathering alone: ​​for this, prey from hunting was too unreliable.

And, finally, at the “upper stage of savagery,” solely due to the fact that the bow and arrow was invented, “game became a constant food, and hunting became a completely normal branch of labor.”

In primitive society there was a division of labor by gender - women were mainly engaged in gathering and housework, and men were engaged in hunting.

This was a natural division of labor. “A man goes hunting, fights, fishes, gets food and produces the necessary tools for this. Then, as a woman, she is busy with housework and cooking and sewing clothes. Among the Bushmen, for example, “hunting and fishing, as evidenced by the rock paintings of the Bushmen, were the occupation of men; they also tanned leather to make clothing; only they had the right to prepare poisons with which they lubricated the arrows; they also made strings for bows, as well as the bows themselves and quivers for arrows; They also carved sticks for making fire, made pipes from horns for smoking hemp, and later spoons.

Women had the following responsibilities: they had to set up huts upon arrival at a new place, cover them with mats that they themselves made from reeds, collect edible roots and wild vegetables and fruits, prepare fuel, carry water, prepare food, and also take care of children , keep your homes clean, make jewelry for yourself, etc.

The main source of production for the primitive community was land, which was considered the collective property of the entire community. To ensure their existence, members of the primitive community worked together, since the fight against the forces of nature and predatory animals alone was simply impossible. The prerequisite for this collective appropriation and use of land was a naturally formed collective, which was a single group consisting of relatives - men and women; “... the gens was the original naturally formed form of human society, based on blood relationships.”

In this naturally formed collective, “each person individually only acts as a link, being a member of this collective” and “in obtaining the means of subsistence,” the purpose of the work of the members of the collective was to ensure the existence of each member individually and thereby the entire clan as a whole: what was obtained was distributed between all members of the collective, jointly fighting for their existence. In this collective, each individual is in such conditions that the goal of labor is not acquisition, but independent provision of his existence, reproduction of himself as a member of the community...

General collective production, general collective consumption and a special generic form of social organization - these are the characteristic features of primitive society at this stage of its development. All matters were also decided jointly, by a meeting of all adult men and women. There was still no place for domination and oppression, there was no place for violence here yet. In this society, the entire collective played a much larger role than the individual.

Returning to the forms of labor existing in primitive society in the early stages of its existence, special attention must be paid to such a circumstance as the fact that hunting was a form of labor, primarily characteristic of the male half. As one might assume, the traditional performance of female roles by men goes back precisely to this ancient division of the group into male and female.

Signs of a primitive society

The primitive communal system is a society that did not know class division, state power and legal norms.

The basis of economic relations of the primitive communal system was collective ownership of the means of production with an equal distribution of extracted material goods.

The presence of collective ownership of the means of production was determined by the low level of development of the productive forces. The tools of labor were primitive, and people did not have sufficiently reliable ideas about either the surrounding reality or themselves, which led to very low labor productivity. Common labor inevitably led to joint ownership of the means of production and to the distribution of products on the basis of equality.

Common ownership of land, tools and consumer goods determined relationships between relatives in which the interests of the collective prevailed.

All members of the clan are free people, bound by blood ties. Their relationship was built on the basis of mutual assistance, no one had any advantages over others. The clan, as the original unit of human society, was a universal organization characteristic of all peoples.

The defining characteristics of a clan community are:

1) the predominance of the collective nature of work;
2) gender and age division of labor;
3) unconditional collective ownership of land and the product obtained from it;
4) equal supply principle of product distribution;
5) the principle of collectivism in solving community issues;
6) the absence of any other types of inequality, with the exception of status, associated with the role of one or another member of the community in maintaining its life;
7) mythological perception of the world, based on primitive forms of religious consciousness and related practices (animism, totemism, fetishism, shamanism, magic and witchcraft).

Relations in primitive society

Family development

Ancient people, who appeared at the dawn of the human era, were forced to unite in herds in order to survive. These herds could not be large - no more than 20-40 people - because otherwise they would not be able to feed themselves. The primitive herd was headed by a leader who rose to prominence thanks to his personal qualities. Individual herds were scattered over vast territories and had almost no contact with each other. Archaeologically, the primitive herd corresponds to the Lower and Middle Paleolithic.

Sexual relations in the primitive herd, according to a number of scientists, were disordered. Such relationships are called promiscuous. According to other scientists, within the primitive herd there was a harem family, and only the leader participated in the reproduction process. The herd, as a rule, consisted of several harem families.

Early tribal community

The process of transformation of a primitive herd into a clan community is associated with the growth of productive forces that united ancient groups, as well as with the emergence of exogamy. Exogamy is the prohibition of marrying within one's group. An exogamous dual-clan group marriage gradually developed, in which members of one clan could only marry members of another clan. Moreover, from birth, men of one clan were considered the husbands of women of another clan, and vice versa. At the same time, men had the right to have sexual intercourse with all women of a different kind. In such relationships, the danger of incest and conflicts between men of the same kind was eliminated.

In order to finally avoid the possibility of incest (for example, a father could have an affair with his daughter), people resorted to dividing the clan into classes. One class included men (women) of one generation, and they could only enter into communication with the same class of another generation. The set of marriage classes usually included four or eight classes. Under this system, kinship was counted along the maternal line, and children remained in the mother's family. Gradually, an increasing number of restrictions were established in group marriage, as a result of which it became impossible. As a result, a paired marriage is formed, which was very often fragile and easily dissolved.

The dual-clan organization of the two clans formed the basis of the clan community. The clan community was united not only by marriage relations between clans, but also by production relations. Indeed, due to the custom of exogamy, a situation arose when some relatives went to another clan and were included in production relations here. In the early clan community, management was carried out by a meeting of all adult relatives, which decided all the main issues. The leaders of the clan were elected at a meeting of the entire clan. The most experienced people, who were the guardians of customs, enjoyed great authority, and they, as a rule, were elected leaders. Power was based on the strength of personal authority.

In the early clan community, all products obtained by members of the community were considered the property of the clan and were distributed among all its members. This was a necessary condition for survival for ancient societies. The land and most of the tools were in the collective ownership of the community. It is known that in tribes at this level of development, it was allowed to take and use other people’s tools and things without asking.

All people in the community were divided into three age and gender groups: adult men, women, children. The transition to the group of adults was considered a very important milestone in a person’s life and was called initiation (“dedication”). The meaning of the initiation rite is to introduce the teenager to the economic, social and ideological life of the community. Here is the initiation scheme, the same for all peoples: removal of initiates from the collective and their training; trials of initiates (hunger, humiliation, beatings, wounds) and their ritual death; return to the team in a new status. Upon completion of the initiation rite, the “initiate” received the right to enter into marriage.

Late clan community of primitive society

The transition to an appropriating economy led to the replacement of the early tribal community by the later community of farmers and pastoralists. Within the framework of the late clan community, clan ownership of the land was preserved. However, an increase in labor productivity gradually led to the appearance of a regular surplus product, which the community member could keep for himself. This trend contributed to the formation of a prestigious economy. The prestige economy arose in the context of the emergence of surplus product, which was used in the system of gift exchange. This practice increased the social prestige of the donor, and he, as a rule, did not incur losses, since there was a custom of obligatory return. The exchange of gifts strengthened relationships between members of both the same and different communities, strengthened the position of the leader and family ties.

Due to the high productivity of labor, communities, growing, were divided into groups of relatives on the maternal side - the so-called maternal families. But the clan unity had not yet disintegrated, since, if necessary, families were united back into the clan. Women, who play the main role in agriculture and in the home, have greatly displaced men in the maternal family.

The paired family gradually strengthened its position in society (although there are known cases of the existence of “additional” wives or husbands). The emergence of surplus product made it possible to provide financially for children. But the couple family did not have property separate from the ancestral family, which hindered its development.

Late clan communities united into phratries, and phratries into tribes. A phratry is an original genus divided into several daughter gens. The tribe consisted of two phratries, which were exogamous marriage halves of the tribe. Economic and social equality was maintained in the late tribal community. The clan was governed by a council, which included all members of the tribe and an elder elected by the clan. During military operations, a military leader was elected. If necessary, a tribal council was assembled, consisting of the elders of the tribal clans and military leaders. One of the elders, who did not have very much power, was elected as the head of the tribe. Women were members of the clan council, and in the early stages of the development of the late clan community they could become the heads of clans.

The emergence of a neighborhood community

The Neolithic Revolution contributed to a radical change in human lifestyle, sharply accelerating the pace of development of human society. People moved to the targeted production of basic food products based on integrated farming. In this economy, cattle breeding and agriculture complemented each other. The development of complex farming and natural and climatic conditions inevitably led to the specialization of communities - some switched to cattle breeding, others to agriculture. This is how the first major social division of labor took place - the separation of agriculture and cattle breeding into separate economic complexes.

The development of agriculture led to settled life, and the increase in labor productivity in areas favorable for agriculture contributed to the gradual expansion of the community. In Western Asia and the Middle East, the first large settlements appeared, and then cities. In the cities there were residential buildings, religious buildings, and workshops. Later, cities appeared in other places. The population in the first cities reached several thousand people.

Truly revolutionary changes occurred due to the advent of metals. First, people mastered metals that can be found in the form of nuggets - copper and gold. Then they learned to smelt metals themselves. The first alloy of copper and tin known to people, bronze, which was superior in hardness to copper, appeared and began to be widely used.

Metals slowly replaced stone. The Stone Age gave way to the Chalcolithic - the Copper-Stone Age, and the Chalcolithic - to the Bronze Age. But tools made of copper and bronze could not completely replace stone ones. Firstly, the sources of raw materials for bronze were located in only a few places, and stone deposits were everywhere. Secondly, in some qualities stone tools were superior to copper and even bronze ones.

Only when man learned to smelt iron did the era of stone tools finally become a thing of the past. Iron deposits are found everywhere, but iron is not found in its pure form and is quite difficult to process. Therefore, humanity learned to smelt iron after a relatively long period of time - in the 2nd millennium BC. e. The new metal surpassed all then known materials in terms of availability and performance, opening a new era in human history - the Iron Age.

Metallurgical production required knowledge, skills, and experience. To manufacture new, difficult-to-manufacture metal tools, skilled labor was required - the labor of artisans. Artisan blacksmiths appeared, passing on their knowledge and skills from generation to generation. The introduction of metal tools caused an acceleration in the development of agriculture, cattle breeding and an increase in labor productivity. Thus, after the invention of the plow with metal working parts, arable farming appeared, based on the use of livestock draft power.

In the Eneolithic, the potter's wheel was invented, which contributed to the development of pottery. With the invention of the loom, weaving production developed. Society, having acquired sustainable sources of livelihood, was able to implement the second major social division of labor - the separation of crafts from agriculture and cattle breeding.

The social division of labor was accompanied by the development of exchange. Unlike the previously sporadic exchange of wealth from the natural environment, this exchange was already of an economic nature. Farmers and cattle breeders exchanged the products of their labor, artisans exchanged their products. The need for continuous exchange even led to the development of a number of public institutions, primarily the institution of hospitality. Gradually, societies develop means of exchange and measures of their value.

During these changes, the matriarchal (maternal) clan is replaced by a patriarchal one. It was due to the displacement of women from the most important spheres of production. Hoe farming is being replaced by plow farming; only a man could handle a plow. Cattle breeding, like commercial hunting, is also a typically male occupation. During the development of a productive economy, a man acquires significant power, both in society and in the family. Now, upon marriage, a woman passed into her husband’s clan. Kinship was calculated through the male line, and family property was inherited by children. A large patriarchal family appears - a family of several generations of paternal relatives, headed by the oldest man. The introduction of iron tools meant that a small family could feed itself. The large patriarchal family is breaking up into small families.

The formation of surplus product and the development of exchange were an incentive for the individualization of production and the emergence of private property. Large and economically strong families sought to distinguish themselves from the clan. This trend led to the replacement of the clan community with a neighboring one, where clan ties gave way to territorial ones. The primitive neighboring community was characterized by a combination of relations of private ownership of the yard (house and outbuildings) and tools and collective ownership of the main means of production - land. Families were forced to unite, since an individual family was unable to cope with many operations: land reclamation, irrigation and shifting agriculture.

The neighboring community was a universal stage for all peoples of the world at the pre-class and class stages of development, playing the role of the main economic unit of society until the era of the industrial revolution.

Political genesis (state formation)

It should be noted that there are different concepts of the origin of the state. Marxists believe that it was created as an apparatus of violence and exploitation of one class by another. Another theory is the “theory of violence,” whose representatives believe that classes and the state arose as a result of wars and conquests, during which conquerors created the institution of the state in order to maintain their dominance. If we consider the problem in all its complexity, it becomes clear that the war required powerful organizational structures, and was more a consequence of politogenesis than its cause. However, the Marxist scheme also needs correction, because the desire to squeeze all processes into one scheme inevitably encounters resistance from the material.

The increase in labor productivity led to the emergence of surplus products that could be alienated from producers. Some families accumulated these surpluses (food, handicrafts, livestock). The accumulation of wealth occurred primarily in the families of the leaders, since the leaders had great opportunities to participate in the distribution of products.

Initially, this property was destroyed after the death of the owner or used in ceremonies, such as the “potlatch”, when all this surplus at a festival was distributed to all those present. With these distributions, the organizer gained authority in society. In addition, he became a participant in reciprocal potlatches, at which part of what was given out was returned to him. The principle of giving and giving back, characteristic of a prestigious economy, put ordinary community members and their rich neighbors in unequal conditions. Ordinary community members became dependent on the person organizing the potlatch.

The leaders gradually seize power into their own hands, while the importance of popular assemblies declines. Society is gradually being structured - the top is emerging from among the community members. A strong, rich and generous, and therefore authoritative leader, subjugated weak rivals, spreading his influence over neighboring communities. The first supra-community structures emerge, within which government bodies are separated from the tribal organization. Thus, the first proto-state formations appear.

The emergence of such formations was accompanied by a fierce struggle between them. War is gradually becoming one of the most important trades. Due to the widespread occurrence of wars, military technology and organization are developing. Military leaders assume a greater role. A squad is formed around them, which includes warriors who have proven themselves best in battle. During the campaigns, booty was captured and distributed among all the warriors.

The head of the proto-state simultaneously became the chief priest, since the power of the leader in the community remained elective. Acquiring the functions of a priest made the leader a bearer of divine grace and a mediator between people and supernatural forces. The sacralization of the ruler was an important step towards his depersonalization and transformation into a kind of symbol. The power of authority is replaced by the authority of power.

Gradually the power became lifelong. After the death of the leader, the members of his family had the greatest chance of success. As a result, the leader's power became hereditary within his family. This is how the proto-state is finally formed - a political structure of society with social and property inequality, developed division of labor and exchange, headed by a ruler-priest who had hereditary power.

Over time, the proto-state expands through conquest, complicates its structure and turns into a state. The state differs from the proto-state in its larger size and the presence of developed governance institutions. The main features of a state are territorial (and not tribal) division of the population, army, court, law, taxes. With the advent of the state, the primitive neighboring community becomes a neighboring community, which, unlike the primitive one, loses its independence.

The state is characterized by the phenomenon of urbanization, which includes an increase in the urban population, monumental construction, construction of temples, irrigation structures and roads. Urbanization is one of the main signs of the formation of civilization.

Another important sign of civilization is the invention of writing. The state needed to streamline economic activities, record laws, rituals, acts of rulers and much more. It is possible that writing was created with the participation of priests. Unlike pictographic or rope writing, characteristic of undeveloped societies, hieroglyphic writing required long training to master. Writing was the privilege of priests and nobility and only with the advent of alphabetic writing it became generally available. The mastery of writing was the most important stage in the development of culture, since writing serves as the main means of accumulating and transmitting knowledge.

With the advent of the state and writing, the first civilizations emerged. Characteristic features of civilization: a high level of development of the productive economy, the presence of political structures, the introduction of metal, the use of writing and monumental structures.

Agricultural and pastoral civilizations. Agriculture developed most intensively in river valleys, especially in countries stretching from the Mediterranean in the west to China in the east. The development of agriculture ultimately led to the emergence of ancient Eastern centers of civilization.

Cattle breeding developed in the steppes and semi-deserts of Eurasia and Africa, as well as in mountainous areas, where cattle were kept on mountain pastures in the summer and in the valleys in the winter. The term “civilization” can be used in relation to a pastoral society with certain reservations, since pastoralism did not provide the same economic development as agriculture. An economy based on cattle breeding provided a less stable surplus product. Also, a very important role was played by the fact that cattle breeding requires large spaces, and population concentration in societies of this type, as a rule, does not occur. The cities of pastoralists are much smaller than those of agricultural civilizations, so we cannot talk about any large-scale urbanization.

With the domestication of the horse and the invention of the wheel, significant changes occurred in the economy of pastoralists - nomadic cattle breeding appeared. Nomads moved across the steppes and semi-deserts on their carts, accompanying herds of animals. The emergence of nomadic farming in the steppes of Eurasia should be dated back to the end of the 2nd millennium BC. Only with the advent of nomadic cattle breeding did a pastoral economy that did not use agriculture finally take shape (although many nomadic societies were engaged in cultivating the land). Among nomads, in conditions of an economy isolated from agriculture, exclusively proto-state associations, tribal proto-states arise. While in an agricultural society the neighboring community becomes the main unit, in a pastoral society clan relations are still very strong and the clan community retains its position.

Nomadic societies were characterized by belligerence, since their members did not have reliable sources of livelihood. Therefore, nomads constantly invaded the areas of farmers and plundered them or subjugated them. The entire male population of nomads usually took part in the war, and their cavalry army was very maneuverable and could cover long distances. Quickly appearing and disappearing just as quickly, the nomads achieved significant success in their unexpected raids. In the event of the subjugation of agricultural societies, nomads, as a rule, settled on the land themselves.

But one should not exaggerate the fact of confrontation between sedentary and nomadic societies and talk about the existence of a constant war between them. There have always been stable economic relations between farmers and cattle breeders, since both of them needed a constant exchange of the products of their labor.

Traditional society

Traditional society appears simultaneously with the emergence of the state. This model of social development is very stable and is characteristic of all societies except European. In Europe, a different model has emerged, based on private property. The basic principles of traditional society were in effect until the era of the industrial revolution, and in many countries they still exist in our time.

The main structural unit of traditional society is the neighboring community. The neighboring community is dominated by agriculture with elements of cattle breeding. Communal peasants are usually conservative in their way of life due to the natural, climatic and economic cycles and monotony of life that repeat from year to year. In this situation, the peasants demanded from the state, first of all, stability, which only a strong state could provide. The weakening of the state was always accompanied by unrest, arbitrariness of officials, invasions of enemies, and economic breakdown, which was especially disastrous in the conditions of irrigated agriculture. The result is crop failure, famine, epidemics, and a sharp drop in population. Therefore, society has always preferred a strong state, transferring most of its powers to it.

Within a traditional society, the state is the highest value. As a rule, it operates under conditions of a clear hierarchy. At the head of the state was a ruler who enjoyed practically unlimited power and represented a deputy of God on earth. Below was a powerful administrative apparatus. The position and authority of a person in a traditional society is determined not by his wealth, but, first of all, by participation in public administration, which automatically ensures high prestige.

The culture of primitive society. In the course of his development and in the process of work, a person mastered new knowledge. In the primitive era, knowledge was exclusively applied in nature. Man knew the natural world around him very well, since he himself was part of it. The main areas of activity determined the areas of knowledge of ancient man. Thanks to hunting, he knew the habits of animals, the properties of plants and much more. The level of knowledge of an ancient person is reflected in his language. Thus, in the language of the Australian aborigines there are 10,000 words, among which there are almost no abstract and general concepts, but only specific terms denoting animals, plants, and natural phenomena.

The man knew how to treat illnesses, wounds, and apply splints for fractures. Ancient people used procedures such as bloodletting, massage, and compresses for medicinal purposes. Since the Mesolithic era, amputation of limbs, trepanation of the skull, and a little later, filling of teeth have been known.

The counting of primitive people was primitive - they usually counted with the help of fingers and various objects. Distances were measured using body parts (palm, elbow, finger), days of travel, and arrow flight. Time was calculated in days, months, seasons.

The question of the origin of art is still accompanied by controversy among researchers. Among scientists, the prevailing point of view is that art arose as a new effective means of cognition and understanding of the world around us. The beginnings of art appear in the Lower Paleolithic era. Incisions, ornaments, and drawings were found on the surface of stone and bone products.

In the Upper Paleolithic, man created painting, engraving, sculpture, used music and dance. Drawings of animals (mammoths, deer, horses) made in color using black, white, red and yellow paints were found in the caves. Caves with drawings are known in Spain, France, Russia, and Mongolia. Graphic drawings of animals, carved or carved on bone and stone, were also found.

In the Upper Paleolithic, figurines of women with pronounced sexual characteristics appeared. The appearance of figurines is possibly associated with the cult of the foremother and the establishment of a maternal clan community. Songs and dances played a large role in the life of primitive people. Dance and music are based on rhythm, and songs also originated as rhythmic speech.

The art of primitive society

Primitive (or, in other words, primitive) art geographically covers all continents except Antarctica, and in time - the entire era of human existence, preserved by some peoples living in remote corners of the planet to this day.

Most ancient paintings were found in Europe (from Spain to the Urals).

Well preserved on the walls of the caves - the entrances turned out to be tightly blocked thousands of years ago, the same temperature and humidity were maintained there.

Not only wall paintings have been preserved, but also other evidence of human activity - clear traces of the bare feet of adults and children on the damp floor of some caves.

Reasons for the emergence of creative activity and the functions of primitive art Human need for beauty and creativity.

Beliefs of the time. The man portrayed those whom he revered.

People of that time believed in magic: they believed that with the help of paintings and other images they could influence nature or the outcome of the hunt.

It was believed, for example, that it was necessary to hit a drawn animal with an arrow or spear in order to ensure the success of a real hunt.

Characteristics of primitive society

Primitive society is the first form of human activity in the history of human development, spanning the era from the appearance of the first people to the emergence of the state and law.

The history of the development of primitive society is divided into two periods:

The first period is characterized by tribal communities, an appropriating economy, and the presence of matriarchy.

The human race is a group of blood relatives on the maternal (matrilineal) or paternal (patrilineal) line, descended from a common ancestor.

The clan community is a form of social organization of primitive society, i.e. a community (association) of people based on blood kinship and leading a joint household.

Matriarchy is an early form of clan organization of the primitive communal system, characterized by the primacy (dominant) role of women in social production (raising offspring, running a public household, maintaining the hearth and other vital functions) and in the social life of the clan community (managing its affairs, regulating its relations members, religious practices).

Social management in the tribal community:

1. The source of power is the entire clan community as a whole. The rules of conduct, their implementation and enforcement, were established by members of the clan community independently, and they themselves brought violators of the established order to responsibility;
2. The highest authority is the general meeting (council, gathering) of all adult members of the clan, clan community. The council made decisions on the most important issues in the life of the clan community (issues of production activities, religious rites, resolution of disputes between members of the clan or between individual clans;
3. Power in primitive society was based on the authority of the most revered member of the community, as well as on respect and customs;
4. The day-to-day management of the affairs of the clan community was carried out by the elder, who was elected at a meeting of all adult members of the clan;
5. Coercion against violators of the established rules of behavior and the accepted order of communication between people was carried out on the basis of the decision of all adult members of the clan community.

The second period is characterized by clan and tribal unions, a productive economy, and patriarchy.

During the second period of development of primitive society, due to a number of objective and subjective reasons, processes gradually took place, on the one hand, the unification of tribal communities into larger social formations - tribes (phretries), on the other, patriarchal families were formed.

Important reasons for the unification of clan communities into tribes were:

1) establishing a ban on intra-clan marriage and family relations, since as a result of incest, inferior, sick people were born and the clan was doomed to extinction; prohibition of incest (incest);
2) the need to collectively and organizedly repel attacks from other social groups who sought, on the one hand, to conquer more fertile lands used by other tribal communities, and on the other, to enslave their own kind for the purpose of their exploitation;
3) a common language, religion, traditions, rituals, customs and a single occupied territory.

A tribe is a form of association of primitive people, based on a single territory, a common language, religion, culture and social norms, and also having common governing bodies. The tribe included existing clan communities, as well as newly formed patriarchal families, a council of elders (tribal council), and military or civil leaders.

Social management in the tribe was as follows:

1. The source of power is the entire adult population of the tribe. The highest authority was the general meeting (council, gathering, people's assembly of all adult members of the tribe. At the gatherings of the population of the tribe, all the most important issues relating to the establishment of rules of behavior, production activities, religious rituals, resolution of disputes between members of the tribe or between individual clans were resolved.

3. The day-to-day management of tribal affairs was carried out less by the council of elders and more by the chief.

The Council of Elders, the social governing body of primitive society, consisted of representatives of tribal communities and patriarchal families.

At the same time, a volume (list) of issues common to all neighboring communities (families, clans) was formed.

In particular, the council of elders:

A) coordinated the actions of families and tribal communities in carrying out agricultural work and grazing livestock;
b) considered issues of organizing defense and protection from attacks from other tribes;
c) discussed sanitary and hygienic issues and resolved disputes between births and families.
4. Coercion against violators of the established rules of behavior, the accepted order of communication between people, was carried out on the basis of a decision either by all adult members of the tribe, or by the council of elders, or at later stages of development by the leader.

During this period, patriarchy existed, which was one of the later forms of development of primitive society. This period is characterized by the fact that it played a significant role in social production (in land cultivation, cattle breeding, crafts, trade and other processes important for the existence of the family), as well as in the social life of the tribe (in managing its affairs, regulating the relations of its members, conducting religious rituals, etc.) are played by men.

Education in a primitive society

At the first stage of development of primitive society - in prenatal society - people appropriated ready-made products of nature and engaged in hunting. The process of obtaining a means of subsistence was in its own way uncomplicated and at the same time labor-intensive. Hunting for large animals and a difficult struggle with nature could only be carried out in conditions of collective forms of life, labor and consumption. Everything was common; there were no social differences between members of the team.

Social relations in primitive society coincide with those of consanguinity. The division of labor and social functions in it was based on naturally biological principles, as a result of which there was a division of labor between men and women, as well as an age division of the social collective. Prenatal society was divided into three age groups: children and adolescents; full-fledged and full participants in life and work; elderly people and old people who no longer have the physical strength to fully participate in common life (at further stages of development of the primitive communal system, the number of age groups increases). A born person first fell into a general group of growing and aging people, where he grew up in communication with peers and old people, wise from experience. It is interesting that the Latin word educare literally means “to pull out”, in a broader figurative meaning “to grow”, respectively, the Russian “education” has its root “to nourish”, its synonym is “to feed”, from where “feeding”; in Old Russian writing, the words “upbringing” and “feeding” are synonyms.

Having entered the appropriate biological age and gained some experience in communication, work skills, knowledge of the rules of life, customs and rituals, the person moved to the next age group. Over time, this transition began to be accompanied by so-called initiations, “initiations,” i.e., tests during which the youth’s preparation for life was tested: the ability to endure hardships, pain, show courage, and endurance.

Relations between members of one age group and relations with members of another group were regulated by unwritten, loosely followed customs and traditions that reinforced the emerging social norms.

In prenatal society, one of the driving forces of human development remains the biological mechanisms of natural selection and adaptation to the environment. But as society develops, the social patterns that emerge in it begin to play an increasingly greater role, gradually occupying a dominant place.

In primitive society, a child was brought up and learned in the process of his life, participation in the affairs of adults, and in everyday communication with them. He was not so much preparing for life, as it became later, but rather directly involved in the activities available to him, together with his elders and under their leadership, he became accustomed to collective work and life. Everything in this society was collective. Children also belonged to the entire clan, first the mother’s, then the father’s. In work and everyday communication with adults, children and adolescents acquired the necessary life skills and work skills, became familiar with customs, learned to perform the rituals that accompanied the life of primitive people, and all their responsibilities, to completely subordinate themselves to the interests of the clan and the demands of their elders.

Boys participated with adult men in hunting and fishing, and in making weapons; girls, under the guidance of women, collected and grew crops, prepared food, and made dishes and clothes.

At the last stages of the development of matriarchy, the first institutions for the life and education of growing people appeared - youth houses, separate for boys and girls, where, under the guidance of the elders of the clan, they prepared for life, work, and “initiations.” At the stage of the patriarchal clan community, cattle breeding, agriculture, and crafts appeared. In connection with the development of productive forces and the expansion of people's working experience, education also became more complex, which acquired a more multifaceted and systematic character. Children learned to care for animals, agriculture, and crafts. When the need for more organized education arose, the clan community entrusted the education of the younger generation to the most experienced people. Along with equipping children with labor skills, they introduced them to the rules of the emerging religious cult, legends, and taught them writing. Stories, games and dances, music and songs, all folk oral creativity played a huge role in the education of morals, behavior, and certain character traits.

As a result of further development, the clan community became a “self-governing, armed organization” (F. Engels). The beginnings of military education appeared: boys learned to shoot a bow, use a spear, ride a horse, etc. A clear internal organization appeared in age groups, leaders emerged, and the program of “initiations” became more complex, for which specially designated clan elders prepared young people. More attention began to be paid to mastering the rudiments of knowledge, and with the advent of writing, writing.

The implementation of education by special people allocated by the clan community, the expansion and complexity of its content and the test program with which it ended - all this indicated that under the conditions of the clan system, education began to stand out as a special form of social activity.

Forms of primitive society

Historically, the first form of organization of pre-state society was the clan community. Personal, family ties united all members of the clan into a single whole. This unity was also strengthened by collective labor, common production and equal distribution. F. Engels gave an enthusiastic description of the clan organization. He wrote: “And what a wonderful organization this clan system is in all its naivety and simplicity! Without soldiers, gendarmes and policemen, without nobles, kings, governors, prefects or judges, without prisons, without trials - everything goes on in its established order.” Thus, the clan was both the oldest social institution and the very first form of organization of pre-state society.

Power in primitive society personified the strength and will of a clan or a union of clans: the source and bearer of power (the ruling subject) was the clan, it was aimed at managing the general affairs of the clan, and all its members were subject to power (the object of power). Here the subject and object of power completely coincided, therefore it was by its nature directly social, i.e. not separated from society and non-political. The only way to implement it was public self-government. Neither professional managers nor special enforcement bodies existed then.

The highest body of public power in the clan was the meeting of all adult members of society - men and women. The assembly is as ancient an institution as the clan itself. It solved all the main issues of his life. Here leaders (elders, chiefs) were elected for a term or to carry out certain tasks, disputes between individuals were resolved, etc.

The decisions of the meeting were binding on everyone, as well as the instructions of the leader. Although public power did not have special coercive institutions, it was quite real, capable of effective coercion for violation of existing rules of behavior. Punishment strictly followed for the committed offenses, and it could be quite cruel - the death penalty, expulsion from the clan and tribe. In most cases, a simple reproach, remark, or censure was enough. No one had privileges, and therefore no one escaped punishment. But the clan, as one person, stood up to defend its relative, and no one could evade blood feud - neither the offender nor his relatives.

The simple relationships of primitive society were regulated by customs - historically established rules of behavior that became habits as a result of upbringing and repeated repetition of the same actions and deeds. Already in the early stages of the development of society, the skills of collective labor activity, hunting, etc., acquired the significance of customs. In the most important cases, the labor process was accompanied by ritual actions. For example, hunter training was filled with mystical content and surrounded by mysterious rituals.

The customs of pre-state society had the character of undifferentiated “mononorms”; they were at the same time norms for the organization of social life, and norms of primitive morality, and ritual and ceremonial rules. Thus, the natural division of functions in the labor process between man and woman, adult and child was considered simultaneously as a production custom, as a moral norm, and as a dictate of religion.

Mono-norms were initially dictated by the “natural” basis of the appropriating society, in which man is part of nature. In them, rights and responsibilities seemed to merge together. True, a special place was occupied by such a means of ensuring customs as taboo (prohibition). Having emerged at the very dawn of the history of human society, taboos played a huge role in regulating sexual relations and strictly prohibited marriage with blood relatives (incest). Thanks to taboos, primitive society maintained the necessary discipline that ensured the extraction and reproduction of life's goods. The taboo protected hunting grounds, bird nesting places and animal rookery from excessive destruction, and ensured the conditions for the collective existence of people.

In a pre-state society, customs, as a rule, were observed by virtue of authority and habit, but when the custom needed reinforcement through direct coercion, society acted as a collective bearer of force - binding, expelling and even dooming the violator (criminal) to death.

Periods of primitive society

The primitive history of mankind is reconstructed using a whole complex of sources, since no single source is able to provide us with a complete and reliable picture of a given era. The most important group of sources - archaeological sources - allow us to study the material foundations of human life. Objects made by a person carry information about himself, his activities and the society in which he lived. From the material remains of a person one can obtain information about his spiritual world. The difficulty of working with this type of sources lies in the fact that not all objects related to man and his activities have reached us. Items made from organic materials (wood, bone, horn, clothing), as a rule, are not preserved. Therefore, historians build their concepts of the development of human society in the primitive era on the basis of materials that have survived to this day (flint tools, pottery, dwellings, etc.). Archaeological excavations contribute to the acquisition of knowledge about the very beginning of human existence, because the tools made by man were one of the main features that separated him from the animal world. Ethnographic sources make it possible, using the comparative historical method, to reconstruct the culture, life, and social relations of people of the past. Ethnography explores the life of relict (backward) tribes and nationalities, as well as remnants of the past in modern societies. For this purpose, scientific methods are used, such as direct observations of specialists, analysis of the records of ancient and medieval authors, which contribute to the acquisition of certain ideas about societies and people of the past. There is one serious difficulty here - one way or another, all tribes and peoples of the earth have been influenced by civilized societies and researchers must remember this. We also have no right to talk about the complete identity of the most backward societies - the Aboriginal tribes of Australia and the primitive bearers of similar cultures. Ethnographic sources also include folklore monuments, which are used to study oral folk art.

Anthropology studies the skeletal remains of primitive people, restoring their physical appearance. From bone remains we can judge the volume of the brain of a primitive man, his gait, body structure, diseases and injuries. Anthropologists can reconstruct the entire skeleton and appearance of a person from a small fragment of bone and, thus, reconstruct the process of anthropogenesis - the origin of man.

Linguistics deals with the study of language and the identification within its framework of the most ancient layers that were formed in the distant past. Using these layers, you can not only restore ancient forms of language, but also learn a lot about the life of the past - material culture, social structure, way of thinking. Reconstructions by linguists are difficult to date and are always somewhat hypothetical.

There are, in addition to the main ones listed above, many other auxiliary sources. These are paleobotany - the science of ancient plants, paleozoology - the science of ancient animals, paleoclimatology, geology and others. A researcher of primitiveness must use data from all sciences, studying them comprehensively and offering his own interpretation.

Periodization and chronology of primitive history

Periodization is a conditional division of human history in accordance with certain criteria into time stages. Chronology is a science that allows us to identify the time of existence of an object or phenomenon. Two types of chronology are used: absolute and relative. Absolute chronology precisely determines the time of an event (at such and such a time: year, month, day). Relative chronology only establishes the sequence of events, noting that one occurred before the other. This chronology is widely used by archaeologists in the study of various archaeological cultures.

To establish an exact date, scientists use methods such as radiocarbon dating (based on the content of carbon isotopes in organic remains), dendrochronological (based on tree rings), archaeomagnetic (dating items made from baked clay) and others. All these methods are still far from the desired accuracy and allow us to date events only approximately.

There are several types of periodization of primitive history. Archaeological periodization uses the sequential change of tools as the main criterion.

Main stages:

Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) - divided into lower (earliest in time), middle and upper (late). The Paleolithic began more than 2 million years ago and ended around the 8th millennium BC. e.;
Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) - VIII-V millennium BC. e.;
Neolithic (New Stone Age) - V-III millennium BC. e.;
Chalcolithic (Copper Stone Age) - a transitional stage between the Stone and Metal periods;
Bronze Age - III-II millennium BC e.;
Iron Age - begins in the 1st millennium BC. e.

These datings are very approximate and different researchers offer their own options. Moreover, in different regions these stages occurred at different times.

Geological periodization

The history of the Earth is divided into four eras. The last era is the Cenozoic. It is divided into Tertiary (began 69 million years ago), Quaternary (began 1 million years ago) and modern (began 14,000 years ago) periods. The Quaternary period is divided into the Pleistocene (pre-glacial and glacial eras) and the Holocene (post-glacial era).

Periodization of the history of primitive society. There is no unity among researchers on the issue of periodization of the history of ancient society.

The most common is the following:

1) the primitive human herd;
2) clan community (this stage is divided into the early clan community of hunters, gatherers and fishermen and the developed community of farmers and pastoralists);
3) primitive neighboring (proto-peasant) community. The era of primitive society ends with the emergence of the first civilizations.

Origin of man (anthropogenesis)

In modern science there are several theories of the origin of man. The most well-reasoned is the labor theory of human origin, formulated by F. Engels. Labor theory emphasizes the role of labor in the formation of teams of the first people, their unity and the formation of new connections between them. According to this concept, work activity influenced the development of a person’s hand, and the need for new means of communication led to the development of language. The appearance of man is thus associated with the beginning of the production of tools.

The process of anthropogenesis (the origin of man) in its development went through three stages:

1) the appearance of anthropoid human ancestors;
2) the appearance of the most ancient and ancient people;
3) the emergence of a modern type of man.

Anthropogenesis was preceded by intensive evolution of higher apes in different directions. As a result of evolution, several new species of monkeys arose, including Dryopithecus. Australopithecines, whose remains were found in Africa, descend from Dryopithecus.

Australopithecines were distinguished by a relatively large brain volume (550-600 cc), walking on their hind limbs, and using natural objects as tools. Their fangs and jaws were less developed than those of other monkeys. Australopithecines were omnivores and hunted small animals. Like other anthropomorphic monkeys, they formed herds. Australopithecus lived 4 - 2 million years ago.

The second stage of anthropogenesis is associated with Pithecanthropus (“the ape-man”) and the related Atlantropus and Sinanthropus. Pithecanthropus can already be called the most ancient people, since they, unlike Australopithecus, made stone tools. The brain volume of Pithecanthropus was about 900 cubic meters. cm, and in Sinanthropus - the late form of Pithecanthropus - 1050 cubic meters. see Pithecanthropus retained some of the features of monkeys - a low cranial vault, a sloping forehead, and the absence of a chin protrusion. The remains of Pithecanthropus are found in Africa, Asia and Europe. It is possible that the ancestral home of man was in Africa and Southeast Asia. The most ancient people lived 750-200 thousand years ago.

Neanderthal was the next stage of anthropogenesis. He is called ancient man. The volume of the Neanderthal brain is from 1200 to 1600 cubic meters. cm - approaches the volume of the modern human brain. But Neanderthals, unlike modern humans, had a primitive brain structure and the frontal lobes of the brain were not developed. The hand was rough and massive, which limited the Neanderthal’s ability to use tools. Neanderthals spread widely across the Earth, inhabiting different climatic zones. They lived 250-40 thousand years ago. Scientists believe that not all Neanderthals were the ancestors of modern humans; Some Neanderthals represented a dead-end branch of development.

Man of the modern physical type - the Cro-Magnon man - appeared at the third stage of anthropogenesis. These are tall people with a straight gait and a sharply protruding chin. The Cro-Magnon brain volume was 1400 - 1500 cubic meters. see Cro-Magnons appeared about 100 thousand years ago. Probably, their homeland was Western Asia and adjacent areas.

At the last stage of anthropogenesis, raceogenesis occurs - the formation of three human races. The Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid races can serve as an example of people's adaptation to the natural environment. Races differ in skin color, hair, eyes, features of facial structure and physique, and other features. All three races emerged in the Late Paleolithic, but the process of race formation continued in the future.

The origin of language and thinking. Thinking and speech are interconnected, so they cannot be considered separately from each other. These two phenomena arose simultaneously. Their development was in demand by the labor process, during which human thinking constantly developed, and the need to transfer acquired experience contributed to the emergence of the speech system. The basis for the development of speech was the sound signals of monkeys. On the surface of casts of the internal cavity of the skulls of synanthropes, an increase in the parts of the brain responsible for speech was found, which allows us to speak with confidence about the presence of developed articulate speech and thinking in synanthropes. This is quite consistent with the fact that Sinanthropus practiced developed collective forms of labor (driven hunting) and successfully used fire.

In Neanderthals, brain sizes sometimes exceeded the corresponding parameters in modern humans, but poorly developed frontal lobes of the brain, responsible for associative, abstract thinking, appeared only in Cro-Magnons. Therefore, the system of language and thinking most likely took final shape in the Late Paleolithic era, simultaneously with the appearance of the Cro-Magnons and the beginning of their working activity.

Appropriating economy

The appropriating economy, within which people exist through the appropriation of natural products, is the oldest type of economy. Hunting and gathering can be distinguished as the two main occupations of ancient people.” Their ratio was not the same at different stages of the development of human society and in different natural and climatic conditions. Gradually, people master new complex forms of hunting - driven hunting, traps and others. For hunting, cutting up carcasses, and gathering, they used stone tools (made of flint and obsidian) - choppers, scrapers, and pointed points. Wooden tools were also used - digging sticks, clubs and spears.

During the period of the early tribal community, the number of tools increases. New stone processing technologies emerged, marking the transition to the Upper Paleolithic. Now man has learned to break off thin and light plates, which are then brought to the desired shape using chipping and squeezing retouching - a method of secondary processing of stone. New technologies required less flint, which facilitated expansion into previously uninhabited areas poor in flint.

In addition, new technologies led to the creation of a number of specialized tools - scrapers, knives, chisels, small spear tips. Bone and horn are widely used. Spears, darts, stone axes, and forts appear. Fishing plays an important role. Hunting productivity increased sharply as a result of the invention of the spear thrower - a plank with a stop that allows you to throw a spear at a speed comparable to the speed of an arrow from a bow. The spear thrower was the first mechanical means to complement human muscular strength. The first so-called gender-age division of labor occurs: men are primarily engaged in hunting and fishing, and women are engaged in gathering and housekeeping. Children helped the women.

At the end of the Late Paleolithic, the era of glaciation began. During glaciation, wild horses and reindeer become the main prey. To hunt these animals, driven methods were widely used, making it possible to kill a large number of animals in a short time. They provided ancient hunters with food, skins for clothing and housing, horn and bone for tools. Reindeer make seasonal migrations - in summer they move to the tundra, closer to the glacier, in winter - to the forest zone. While hunting deer, people simultaneously explored new lands.

With the retreat of the glacier, living conditions changed. The deer hunters followed them, following the retreating glacier, and those who remained were forced to adapt to hunting small animals. The Mesolithic era has arrived. During this period, a new microlithic technique appeared. Microliths are small flint products that were inserted into wooden or bone tools and formed the cutting edge. Such a tool was more multifunctional than solid flint products, and its sharpness was not inferior to metal products.

A huge achievement of man was the invention of the bow and arrow - a powerful, rapid-fire ranged weapon. The boomerang, a curved throwing club, was also invented. During the Mesolithic era, man domesticated the first animal - the dog, which became a faithful assistant in the hunt. Fishing methods are being improved, nets, a boat with oars, and a fish hook appear. In many places, fishing is becoming the main economic sector. Glacial retreat and climate warming are leading to an increased role for gathering.

Mesolithic man had to unite in small groups that did not stay in one place for a long time, wandering around in search of food. The dwellings were built temporary and small. In the Mesolithic people move far to the north and east; Having crossed the land isthmus, the place of which is currently occupied by the Bering Strait, they populate America.

Producing farm. The productive economy arose in the Neolithic era. The last stage of the Stone Age is characterized by the emergence of new techniques in the stone industry - grinding, sawing and drilling stone. Tools were made from new types of stone. During this period, such a weapon as an ax became widespread. One of the most important inventions of the Neolithic was ceramics. The production and subsequent firing of pottery allowed people to facilitate the preparation and storage of food. Man has learned to produce a material not found in nature - baked clay. The invention of spinning and weaving was also of great importance. Fiber for spinning was produced from wild plants, and later from sheep's wool.

During the Neolithic era, one of the most significant events in human history took place - the emergence of animal husbandry and agriculture. The transition from an appropriating to a producing economy was called the Neolithic revolution. The relationship between man and nature is becoming fundamentally different. Now a person could independently produce everything necessary for life and became less dependent on the environment.

Agriculture arose from highly organized gathering, during which man learned to care for wild plants in order to obtain a larger harvest. Collectors used sickles with flint inserts, grain grinders, and hoes. Gathering was a woman's occupation, so agriculture was probably invented by women. Regarding the place of origin of agriculture, scientists come to the conclusion that it arose in several centers at once: in Western Asia, Southeast Asia and South America.

Animal husbandry began to take shape in the Mesolithic era, but constant movements prevented hunting tribes from breeding any animals other than dogs. Agriculture contributed to the greater sedentarization of the human population, thereby facilitating the process of domestication of animals. First, young animals caught during the hunt were tamed. Among the first inhabitants to suffer this fate were goats, pigs, sheep and cows. Hunting was a male occupation, so cattle breeding also became a male prerogative. Cattle breeding arose somewhat later than agriculture, since a strong food supply was required to maintain animals; it also appeared in several foci, independent of each other.

At first, animal husbandry and agriculture could not compete with the highly specialized hunting and fishing industries, but gradually the production economy came out on top in a number of regions (primarily in Western Asia).

Economy of primitive society

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 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? The economy of this society was based on public ownership. At the same time, two principles (customs) were strictly implemented: reciprocity (everything that was produced was put into a “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, 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, copper, bronze, iron, etc.);
- improvement of 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.

Primitive society is the longest period in human history. Scientists believe that the distant ancestors of modern humans appeared more than two million years ago. Ancient people lived in the conditions of a primitive human herd. Modern humans formed approximately 40 thousand years ago.

The archaeological periodization of human history is based on changes in the material material from which tools were made. Almost the entire period of primitive relations dates back to the Stone Age (until the end of the 3rd millennium BC), in which three stages are distinguished: Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic. Then comes the Bronze Age, which lasted until the 1st millennium BC, which was replaced by the Iron Age. According to the method of obtaining means of subsistence, scientists distinguish two types of primitive economy: appropriating and producing. Ancient man began to differ from animals in his ability to make tools. In ancient times, stones with sharp edges and flakes from them were used. Then axes, scrapers, chisels, triangular and lamellar points, and spears appeared. An important achievement of primitive people was the development of fire (about 100 thousand years ago, during the glaciation period). Fire was used to heat the home, for cooking, and when hunting large animals.

The accumulation of production experience by ancient people and the improvement of labor skills led to the creation of a new type of labor tools, with the help of which it was possible to chop, cut, saw, and drill. Drilling and grinding of stone contributed to the creation of combined tools (a stone axe, a spear with a sharpened flint blade). The invention of the bow and arrow dramatically increased the efficiency of hunting and made individual hunting of small animals possible. Meat obtained from hunting becomes a person's permanent food. This played an important role in strengthening the settled way of life and contributed to the gradual transition to a producing economy. At the same time, the domestication of wild animals began.

In social organization, people move from the primitive herd to the clan community, uniting a group of relatives. The community had collective property and farmed on the basis of gender and age division of labor. Moreover, the leading role in the community belonged to women. They were engaged in gathering, cooking, maintaining a home and raising children. The clan was the main socio-economic unit of the primitive communal society. A clan is an association of people of a modern physical type, a consolidated production team with complex and diverse social connections, which contributed to the acceleration of the development of material and spiritual culture, a significant increase in the rate of development of the productive forces of primitive society.

During the Neolithic period (VIII - III thousand years BC), people began to move from an appropriating economy to a producing economy, the main industries of which were cattle breeding, agriculture and crafts. The transition from an appropriating economy to a producing one was called the Neolithic Revolution.

Agriculture and cattle breeding were primitive. Hoe farming required enormous amounts of time and hard work from people. However, agricultural and pastoral tribes developed more dynamically than tribes of hunters, fishermen and gatherers. Agriculture and cattle breeding led to an increase in production volumes. People began to stockpile food supplies and received constant sources of food, which qualitatively changed their living conditions. During this period the population increases.

Agriculture originated from gathering. Improving production, people switched from hoe farming to arable farming. They used farming systems such as shifting, slash-and-burn, and cultivated crops on irrigated and non-irrigated lands. East Asia became the center of agriculture, where, under favorable climatic conditions, agriculture developed in river valleys. In the steppe, semi-desert and desert regions, nomadic cattle breeding prevailed. People's economic activities became more and more diverse. People began to engage in woodworking, build houses and boats. A simple type of loom appeared. People learned to make dishes from clay, weave nets, and use the draft power of animals to move loads. In the 4th millennium BC. The potter's wheel and wheel were invented. Wheeled carts appeared.

With the advent of bronze tools, at about the same time as the transition from hoe farming to arable farming, cattle breeding arose. Animals began to be used both for pack and horse-drawn transport and for cultivating the land. People began to eat milk. Livestock breeding among some tribes is becoming the main economic activity. Among the primitive tribes, pastoral and pastoral tribes are distinguished. The first major social division of labor took place: cattle breeding was separated from agriculture. Shepherding and agricultural tribes began to exchange their products. Exchange led to the emergence of early commodity relations.

The use of new materials in the manufacture of tools, the improvement of the tools themselves, the complication of production technology, and the emergence of new types of economic activity led to an increase in the productive forces of society. Under these conditions, the place of men and women in social production changes. Cattle breeding, like plow farming, became male branches of labor, while women were left with housekeeping and raising children. Men received primacy not only in production, but also in the family. Relationships began to be counted through the male line - the maternal line turned into the paternal line. A small monogamous family emerged and began to become economically isolated. Property differentiation is increasing among the free population. The clan nobility began to concentrate wealth in their hands. Since a surplus product appeared, it became profitable to seize it with the help of military force. Tribal leaders seized and appropriated new lands, and prisoners of war were turned into slaves. The clan community was replaced by an agricultural community, in which large families cultivated arable land. Subsequently, a neighboring community emerged in which private ownership of arable land, as well as movable and immovable property, was in the hands of a separate family. The remaining lands (forests, pastures, reservoirs, etc.) were in common ownership. The deepening of the social division of labor and the growth of exchange increased property inequality and contributed to the transition from primitive communal relations to class relations.

Features of primitive society

In the history of mankind, the primitive communal system was the longest. It existed for hundreds of thousands of years among all peoples at an early stage of their development - from the moment of the separation of man from the animal world to the formation of the first class society.

The main features of the primitive system were:

Extremely low level of development of productive forces;
- collective work;
- communal ownership of tools and means of production;
- equal distribution of production products;
- human dependence on the surrounding nature due to the extreme primitiveness of tools.

The first tools were a chipped stone and a stick. Hunting improved with the invention of the bow and arrow. Gradually it led to the domestication of animals - primitive cattle breeding appeared. Over time, primitive agriculture gained a solid foundation.

The mastery of metal smelting (first copper, then iron) and the creation of metal tools made agriculture more productive and allowed primitive tribes to switch to a sedentary lifestyle.

The basis of production relations was collective ownership of tools and means of production. The transition from hunting and fishing to cattle breeding and from gathering to agriculture back in the Middle Stone Age was made by tribes living in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the Nile, in Palestine, Iran, and the southern Mediterranean. The development of cattle breeding led to major changes in the economy of primitive tribes.

The emergence and development of exchange and the emergence of private property are associated with the social division of labor (the first is the separation of cattle breeding from agriculture and the second is the separation of crafts from agriculture). These factors led to the formation of commodity production, which caused the creation of cities and their separation from villages.

The expansion of commodity production, the deepening division of communal labor and the strengthening of exchange gradually disintegrated communal production and collective property, as a result of which private ownership of the means of production, concentrated in the hands of the patriarchal nobility, expanded and strengthened.

A significant part of the community property became the private ownership of the leading group of community patriarchs. The elders gradually turned into clan nobility, separating themselves from ordinary community members. Over time, clan ties weakened, and the place of the clan community was taken by the rural (neighborhood) community.

Wars between communities and tribes led not only to the seizure of new territories, but also to the emergence of captives who became slaves. The appearance of slaves and property stratification within communities inevitably led to the emergence of classes and the formation of a class society and state.

The transition from the primitive communal system, based on collective labor and communal property, to class society and the state is a natural process in the history of human development.

The collapse of primitive society

In the process of long but rigorous development of productive forces over the long history of primitive society, the preconditions for the decomposition of this society were gradually created.

The social division of labor played a primary role in the development of the economy and the transition from a primitive to a qualitatively new mode of production.

We already know that at the early stage of the primitive communal system the division of labor was natural. However, with the development of productive forces, the opportunity arose for entire tribes to concentrate labor efforts in one specific area of ​​the economy. As a result, the natural division of labor was replaced by large social divisions of labor.

The first major social division of labor was the separation of cattle breeding from agriculture, which led to significant changes in the primitive communal system.

Cattle breeding, like no other economic activity, became a source of accumulation of wealth, which gradually turned into the separate property of communities and families. In the new economic conditions, a family or even one person could not only provide themselves with the necessary material wealth, but also produce a product in excess of the amount that was necessary to support their own life, i.e. create a “surplus”, a surplus product. Livestock became an object of exchange and acquired the function of money, which led to the gradual displacement of collective property and the emergence of a private economy, private ownership of the means of production.

Thus, already after the first major social division of labor, as a result of the rapid development of productive forces, private property arose and society split into classes. “From the first major social division of labor,” wrote F. Engels, “the first major division of society into two classes arose - masters and slaves, exploiters and exploited.”

History shows that the first slave owners everywhere were shepherds and cattle breeders.

With the emergence of private property, a gradual transition from paired marriage to monogamy (monogamy) began. The transformation of a male hunter into a shepherd, the emergence of arable farming, which also became the work of men, led to the fact that women's housework lost its former importance. All this meant the gradual overthrow of matriarchy, the establishment of the autocracy of men, i.e. the emergence of patriarchy, in which kinship and inheritance were determined along the male line. The clan became patriarchal.

The first result of this new stage in the development of the clan system was the formation of a patriarchal family or a patriarchal household community. Its main characteristic feature is the inclusion, in addition to the husband, wife and children, of other persons subordinate to the unlimited power of the father as the head of the family.

Advances in industrial activity, especially the invention of the loom and advances in smelting and working metals, especially iron, led to the development of crafts. Agricultural production also increased. Such diverse activities could not, naturally, be carried out by the same persons, which is why crafts were separated from agriculture. This was the second major social division of labor.

The development of cattle breeding, agriculture, and crafts as independent branches of the economy led to an increasing accumulation of surplus product. Production directly for exchange appeared - commodity production, and with it trade, which was conducted not only within the tribe, but also with other tribes.

At the subsequent stage of social development, the emerging types of division of labor are strengthened, especially due to the deepening of the opposition between city and countryside. These types are joined by the third major social division of labor, which is of decisive importance: a class arises that is no longer engaged in production, but only in the exchange of products - the class of merchants.

Thus, we see that the development of productive forces in the conditions of the primitive communal system led to three large social divisions of labor, and this in turn gave a powerful impetus to the further development of production and significantly increased labor productivity. As a result, people were able to produce more food than was necessary to support their lives. A surplus product appeared, and collective property was gradually replaced by private ownership of the means of production, which gave rise to property inequality. Society split into classes, and exploitation of man by man arose.

The first classical form of exploitation, oppression and social inequality was slavery - the result of the collapse of primitive society and the formation of a new slave-owning socio-economic formation. The revolution in social life, expressed in the transition from a classless to a class society, was accompanied by profound changes that took place in the organs of the clan system, in the entire tribal organization. The process of formation of private property and the associated transformation of a paired marriage into a monogamous one created a crack in the ancient clan system: the family became an economic unit of society, a force threateningly opposing the clan.

With the spread of slavery, contradictions grew and the gap between rich and poor families deepened, and the economic basis on which the clan organization rested was destroyed.

Gradually, primitive democracy fell into decay. The organs of the clan system gradually became detached from their roots among the people. An organization that expressed the general will and served common interests was transformed into an organization of domination and oppression directed against its own people. The clan as a social unit disappeared, the functioning of its organs ceased. An objective need arose for an institution that could protect private property and the interests of the propertied class. The state became such an institution.

Three main reasons determined the emergence of the state:

Social division of labor.
- The emergence of private property.
- The split of society into classes.

Consequently, along with the split of society into classes, with the transition from a primitive society to a slave society, a change in types of power occurs - the social power of the primitive communal system, embodied in the clan organization, is replaced by state power concentrated in the hands of the economically dominant class of slave owners.

The decomposition of primitive society with its clan organization and the process of formation of state power in various historical conditions had their own specific characteristics.

The emergence of the state in Athens represents the most “pure” classical form. Here it arose directly from class contradictions developing within the clan society itself, without the influence of any external or other incidental factors.

The peculiarities of the creation of the Roman state were that this process was accelerated by the struggle of the plebeians with the Roman patrician nobility - the patricians. The plebeians were personally free people who came from the population of conquered territories, but they stood outside the Roman clans and were not part of the Roman people. Owning land property, the plebeians had to pay taxes and serve military service, but were deprived of the right to hold any positions and could not use Roman lands.

Not everywhere and not always did slavery become the basis of the economy of early agricultural (including cattle-breeding) societies. In Ancient Sumer, Egypt and many other societies, the basis of the early agricultural economy was the labor of free tribal community members, and property and social differentiation developed in parallel with the functions of managing agricultural work. Thanks to the development of trade and crafts, classes (stratas) of merchants, artisans and city planners arose. Such stratification in the form of division into closed castes (varnas, estates, etc.) was sanctified by religions in ancient times and existed not only in the state, but also in the communal system of early agricultural societies of the Ancient East, Mesoamerica, India, as well as among the Scythians and Persians , other Eurasian tribes.

However, the general conclusion that the producing economy led to the division of labor, to social inequality, including class differentiation, remains true for the period of transition from the tribal system to the first civilizations.

In the first millennium AD in Europe, the decomposition of the clan system led to the emergence of a feudal formation.

The formation of the state among the ancient Germans was actively influenced by their conquest of vast territories of the Roman Empire. The Germanic tribes, which by that time still had a tribal structure, could not manage the Roman provinces with the help of tribal organizations: a special apparatus of coercion and violence was needed. A simple supreme military leader turned into a real monarch, and the people's property into royal property; the bodies of the clan system were transformed into state bodies.

A distinctive feature of the formation of the state among the ancient Germans was the fact that it arose not as a slaveholding state, but as an early feudal one.

Religion also had a significant influence on the process of the emergence of statehood. In the primitive communal system, each clan worshiped its own gods and had its own idol. When the tribes were united, religious norms helped strengthen the power of the “kings” or military leaders.

Dynasties of rulers sought to unite tribes with common religious canons: in Ancient India (Arthashastra), the cult of the Sun and the god Osiris in Ancient Egypt, etc.

Power was associated with its transfer from God and was secured first by extending the electoral term, and then by life and hereditary rule (for example, the Incas).

Thus, along with industrial progress, property and social, including class differentiation as the reason for the formation of a civilized society and the formation of a state, science also recognizes such reasons for the transformation of a tribal community into a family as the intensification of wars and the military organization of tribes, the influence of religion on the unification of the tribe into one people, strengthening the supreme state power and some others.

Primitive society- the first form of human life in the history of human development, covering the era from the appearance of the first people to the emergence of the state and law. (Babaev V.K.)

The history of the development of primitive society is divided into two periods:

The first period is characterized by tribal communities, an appropriating economy, and the presence of matriarchy.

Human race- a group of blood relatives on the maternal (matrilineal clan) or paternal (patrilineal clan) line, descending from a common ancestor.

Tribal community– form of social organization of primitive society, i.e. a community (association) of people based on blood kinship and leading a joint household. (L.A. Morozova)

Matriarchy- an early form of clan organization of the primitive communal system, characterized by the primacy (dominant) role of women in social production (raising offspring, running a public household, maintaining the hearth and other vital functions) and in the social life of the clan community (managing its affairs, regulating the relations of its members , performance of religious rites).

Social management in the tribal community:

1. The source of power is the entire clan community as a whole. The rules of conduct, their implementation and enforcement, were established by members of the clan community independently, and they themselves brought violators of the established order to responsibility;

2. The highest authority is the general meeting (council, gathering) of all adult members of the clan, clan community. The council made decisions on the most important issues in the life of the clan community (issues of production activities, religious rites, resolution of disputes between members of the clan or between individual clans;

3. Power in primitive society was based on the authority of the most revered member of the community, as well as on respect and customs;

4. The day-to-day management of the affairs of the clan community was carried out by the elder, who was elected at a meeting of all adult members of the clan;

5. Coercion against violators of the established rules of behavior and the accepted order of communication between people was carried out on the basis of the decision of all adult members of the clan community.

The second period is characterized by clan and tribal unions, a productive economy, and patriarchy.

During the second period of development of primitive society, due to a number of objective and subjective reasons, processes gradually took place, on the one hand, the unification of tribal communities into larger social formations - tribes (phretries), on the other, patriarchal families were formed.

Important reasons for the unification of clan communities into tribes were:

1) establishing a ban on intra-clan marriage and family relations, since as a result of incest, inferior, sick people were born and the clan was doomed to extinction; prohibition of incest (incest);

2) the need to collectively and organizedly repel attacks from other social groups who sought, on the one hand, to conquer more fertile lands used by other tribal communities, and on the other, to enslave their own kind for the purpose of their exploitation;

3) a common language, religion, traditions, rituals, customs and a single occupied territory.

Tribe- a form of association of primitive people, based on a single territory, common language, religion, culture and social norms, and also having common governing bodies. The tribe included existing clan communities, as well as newly formed patriarchal families, a council of elders (tribal council), and military or civil leaders.

Social management in the tribe was as follows:

1. The source of power is the entire adult population of the tribe. The highest authority was the general meeting (council, gathering, people's assembly) of all adult members of the tribe. At gatherings of the tribe's population, all the most important issues relating to the establishment of rules of behavior, production activities, religious rituals, and the resolution of disputes between members of the tribe or between individual clans were resolved.
2. Power in the tribe was based on the authority, respect, customs, strength, and intelligence of the council of elders and the leader.
3. The day-to-day management of tribal affairs was carried out less by the council of elders and more by the chief.

Council of Elders– the social governance body of primitive society consisted of representatives of tribal communities and patriarchal families.

At the same time, a volume (list) of issues common to all neighboring communities (families, clans) was formed. In particular, the council of elders:

a) coordinated the actions of families and tribal communities in carrying out agricultural work and grazing livestock;

b) considered issues of organizing defense and protection from attacks from other tribes;

c) discussed sanitary and hygienic issues and resolved disputes between births and families.

4. Coercion against violators of the established rules of behavior, the accepted order of communication between people, was carried out on the basis of a decision either by all adult members of the tribe, or by the council of elders, or at later stages of development by the leader.

During this period there was patriarchy, which was one of the later forms of development of primitive society. This period is characterized by the fact that it played a significant role in social production (in land cultivation, cattle breeding, crafts, trade and other processes important for the existence of the family), as well as in the social life of the tribe (in managing its affairs, regulating the relations of its members, conducting religious rituals, etc.) are played by men.

Primitive society is a period in human history before the invention of writing, after which the possibility of historical research based on the study of written sources appears.

The first written chronicles appeared over 5000 years ago, but there is information about the existence of the first human race in Africa about 2.5 million years ago.

The evolution of primitive people took place against the backdrop of ice ages. About 15,000 years ago, the ice caps began to melt, and the climate became more favorable. The earth began to bear fruit, became covered with vegetation, trees and herbs, various representatives of flora and fauna appeared, and different ways of life began to take shape in the communities of primitive people.

The state did not always exist; it was formed gradually, from the moment of the formation of the socialization of mankind.

Scientists and political scientists agreed that the economic basis of the primitive communal system was collective ownership of the means of production. In other words, all tools, food, clothing, belonged to everyone, or rather to a generalized group of people. The forms of social organization in that period, such human community, were different, such as clan community, tribe, human herd, etc.

Considering that society arose much earlier than the state, it is necessary to characterize the social power and norms that existed in primitive society.

The primitive communal system was the longest period in time (more than a million years) in the history of mankind.

The primitive communal system is characterized by a collective character

labor, division of labor, by gender and age, men are warriors and hunters, women and children are gatherers of fruits and berries.

A member of each age and sex group played a certain social role, that is, performed a certain function in public life, the performance of which society expected him to perform. An adult man had to hunt and deal with prey in a certain way, and not at all at his own discretion. Each child, upon reaching a certain age, underwent an initiation rite (initiation into adults, associated with rather cruel tests), after which he immediately received status an adult, receiving all the corresponding rights and responsibilities.

In primitive society, power came from all adult members of the clan (elders, military leaders, priests), who were appointed by a meeting of clan members.

The armed force consisted of all men capable of carrying and using weapons (spears, sticks, stones).

Also, the primitive communal system was characterized by the following features:

• 1) the presence of primitive tools, and therefore, a person without the help of the whole family was unable to survive and provide himself with food, clothing and housing. The economy of the primitive community was based on primitive manual labor, which did not even know the help of domestic animals. The clan economy was extractive (i.e., receiving a finished product from the wild through hunting, fruit gathering, and fishing). The needs grew every day, the community grew, and they consumed exactly as much as they produced; there were no surpluses or reserves, and therefore, according to economic characteristics, everyone was equal. Subsequent stages of social development are characterized by a productive economy. For example, for an agrarian society it is agriculture, cattle breeding and crafts, but for an industrial society it is primarily industry. All spoils were divided among all members of the community, depending on the efforts they made;
• 2) economic equality also determined political equality. The entire adult population of the clan - both men and women - had the right to participate in the discussion and resolution of any issue related to the activities of the clan;

The public (social) power that existed in the pre-state period had the following main features. This power:

• 1) was based on clan (family) relations, because the basis of the organization of society was the clan (tribal community), i.e. a union of people based on blood relationship, as well as community of property and labor. Each clan acted as an independent unit, possessing common property, tools and their results. The clans formed larger associations, such as phratries, tribes, and tribal unions. The clan played a decisive role in the formation of primitive society; power, basically, extended only within the clan, expressing its will;
• 2) was directly public, built on the principles of primitive democracy;
• 3) relied on the authority, respect, traditions and customs of clan members;
• 4) was carried out both by society as a whole (tribal meetings, veche), and by its representatives (elders, councils of elders, military commanders, leaders, priests, etc.), who resolved the most important issues of the life of primitive society;

Thus, power in primitive society in its original form did not provide any advantages and was based only on authority. Later it began to change and acquire new features.

The structure of primitive society. The primitive communal system consists of several stages of its development. Most peoples experienced the Stone Age about 30 thousand years ago. At that time, people appropriated ready-made products of nature, which were obtained using primitive tools (stick, stone, sharpening, etc.). The social structure of this period is characterized as a herd society, or rather a human herd. It was during this period that the skills of collective labor and collective consumption of obtained products and meat began to be formed. The individual groups apparently lived in isolation, and connections between them were random. Marriage relations in the herd were initially chaotic. Gradually, sexual relations in the herd acquired a limited character, and certain prohibitions were established on marital relations (between brothers and sisters, mothers and children, fathers and children, and other close blood relatives). Over time, livestock breeding and agricultural activities developed, and tools of labor were improved (a kopte, an ax, something like a knife, a bow and arrowheads appeared). Gradually, the human tribe accumulates certain experience in all areas of activity (hunting, fishing, animal husbandry, agriculture), which improves the skills of any field of activity and makes it more effective (techniques accumulated with experience help to catch a certain animal, fish, preserve crops of vegetables and fruits ). Production relations are also changing, the beginnings of collective labor and public property are appearing. Also during this period, the beginnings of marital relations between different members of the herd appear. At this stage, the herd has already transformed into a clan. The most stable form was the clan community, which was an association of people based on blood kinship, as well as on the commonality of running a joint household. Labor played a primary role in the formation of social man and the emergence of the race. The clan played a decisive role in the social development of primitive people. It acted as a genuine public association, united by the common goal of production and consumption of life products. Common clan ownership of land, tools, and mining items appeared. All members of the clan are free people, bound by blood ties. Their relationship was built on the basis of mutual assistance, no one had any advantages over others. The clan, as the original unit of human society, was a universal organization characteristic of all peoples. In its original form, in the tribal organization, power belonged to the entire clan and was exercised in the interests of all its members. The most significant issues of the life of society, resolution of significant disputes, distribution of responsibilities, military strategies, religious ceremonies, etc. were resolved at a general meeting (council) of all adult members of the clan - men and women. This assembly, which arose along with the clan, was the highest authority in it. The decisions of the meeting were absolutely binding for everyone and were perceived as an expression of the general will. For direct management, the assembly chose “the best among equals,” that is, the most experienced and intelligent head of the clan (elder, sorcerer, leader). The leader (head of the clan) did not have any advantages over other members of the clan, worked equally with others, did not differ in material resources, however, had unshakable authority and respect. The forms of organization of power in the clan community discussed above give every reason to say that this power acted as self-government, a kind of primitive democracy. Primitive customs were rooted in ancient times and were passed on from generation to generation for thousands of years. Customs consisted of indisputable prohibitions (taboos), stories (myths) projecting behavior in a given situation, as well as magical signs, rites and rituals. Compliance with customs was mandatory for each member of the clan. Customs were inviolable and sacred, and therefore could not be revised or condemned. Customs played an important role in regulating production processes, everyday life, family and other social relations. Customs were a natural product of the primitive system itself, the result and necessary condition of its life. Society directed the behavior of each member of the clan so that it corresponded to collective interests. Many important customs arose directly from existing social relations. They were closely related to the norms of primitive morality, religious dictates, and often coincided with them. Various rituals and ceremonies associated with the aesthetic ideas of the people of that era also had a religious connotation. Numerous prohibitions (taboos) were of great importance. The indisputability of the custom was based on blood ties and common interests of members of the clan community, the equality of their status, and the absence of irreconcilable contradictions between them. Thus, the characteristic features of primitive customs can be formulated as follows:

• 1) they came from the clan and expressed its will and interests;
• 2) were performed out of habit on a voluntary basis, and if necessary, their observance was carried out forcibly;
• 3) there were no bodies punishing non-compliance with customs, but instead of them there was a general condemnation of fellow clansmen;
• 4) there was no difference between rights and obligations: a right is perceived as an obligation, and an obligation as a right.

It follows from this that each society is characterized by a certain system of managing and regulating the behavior of people with the help of certain general norms. So, in the form of the community and tribal organization, there are clearly demarcated social institutions; the behavior of tribal members is regulated not only by instincts, but also by certain social norms and rules. The most important stage in social human development was the Neolithic revolution, which took place 10-15 thousand years ago. During this period, advanced tools appeared, cattle breeding and agriculture were improved. People began to produce more than they consumed, surpluses appeared, and as a result, food reserves, and as a result, inequality appeared (who has more reserves). The economy became productive, people became less dependent on natural phenomena, which led to a significant increase in population. The exchange of goods also appeared, the beginnings of the provision of services appeared, man began to use not only animals, but also human labor in industrial activities (for example, in exchange for part of the produced product), and the beginnings of slavery appeared. 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”. During the period of the appropriating economy, the presence of excess product was not noticeable, and with the advent of cattle breeding and agriculture, exchange becomes necessary for survival. Some members of society who have surpluses have the right to “bargain” for their sale (exchange), and therefore they further increase their reserves and become economically independent from other members of the tribe. People appear who exchange products between communities. This leads to a new division of social labor and the emergence of merchants who do not participate in the production process, but are engaged only in the exchange of consumer goods. Private property appears, and in connection with its appearance, the material differences of members of society also arise. The gradual transition from paired marriage to monogamous marriage leads to economic independence of the family. It becomes a social form of material isolation, all private property is concentrated within one family and is inherited. The emergence of private property caused a stratification between rich and poor. At this stage, the primitive communal organization begins to experience a crisis of power, because the need arose to regulate economic relations, inequality, and the need to protect private property. The organs of the primitive communal system are gradually degenerating into organs of military democracy to wage war with neighboring tribes, to protect their territory and population. At this moment, the imposition of the will of strong and wealthy members of the tribe on all fellow tribesmen begins.

Thus, the degeneration of the organs of primitive society gradually leads to the emergence of the state.