Industrial Society

Arpana Roy Barch/1025/06 Sociology assignment

Industrial city is a planned city

Acknowledgement

In modern world industrial society plays a very important role.I am very grateful to my sociology professor Mr. S.K.PANDEY for giving me this topic as my assignment.His notes have been extremely useful in doing this assignment. I am also grateful to my friends for their valuable input on this topic.Without their support I would not have been able to complete this project.

Introduction A society is a group of people who form a semi-closed system. At its simplest, the term society refers to a small group of people sharing their own cultures and institutions. the meaning of society is closely related to what is considered to be social. There are three main types of society: 1:Tribal society The tribe inhabits and remains within definite and common topography.The members of a tribe possess a consciousness of mutual unity. The members of a tribe speak a common language. The members generally marry into their own group but now due to increased contact with outsiders there are instances of tribal marring outside as well. The tribes believe in ties of blood relationship between its members. They have faith in their having descended from a common, real or mythical, ancestor and hence believe in blood relationships with other members. Tribes follow their own political organization which maintains harmony .Religion is of great importance in the tribe. The tribal political and social organization is based on religion because they are granted religious sanctity and recognition. 2.Agrarian society The size of the agricultural societies increased as it lessened the burden of large number of people who engaged themselves in other activities. Agricultural societies lead to the establishment of more elaborate political institutions like formalized government bureaucracy assisted by the legal system. It also leads to the evolution of distinct social classes -those who own the land and those who work on the other's land. Land is the major source of wealth and is individually owned. This creates major difference between the social strata. Agricultural societies provide the basis for the establishment of economic institutions. Trade becomes more elaborate and money is medium of exchange. It also demands the maintenance of records of transaction, crop harvest, taxation, governmental rules and regulations. Religion becomes separate institution with elaborate rituals and traditions. The agricultural societies support the emergence of arts and cultural artifacts due to surplus food production people tend to divert their attention to other recreational activities. There is far more complex social structure. According to Ian Robertson the number of statuses multiplies, population size increases, cities appear, new institutions emerge, social classes arise, political and economic inequality becomes inbuilt into the social structure and culture becomes much more diversified and heterogeneous. 3.Industrial society Industrial society is an outcome of industrialization.Whenever a large industry is set up,workers tend to settle nearby and hence industrial townships develop.

Industrial Society The Industrial mode of production began some 250 years ago in Britain and from there it spread to the entire world. In the simplest sense an industrial society is a social system whose mode of production focuses primarily on finished goods manufactured with the aid of machinery. According to Wallace and Wallace in industrial societies the largest portion of the labour force is involved in mechanized production of goods and services. The term 'industrial societies' originated from Saint Simon who chose it to reflect the emerging central role of manufacturing industry in the 18th century Europe in contrast with previous pre-industrial and agrarian society. In sociology, industrial society refers to a society with a modern societal structure. Such a structure developed in the west in the period of time following the industrial revolution. Premodern, or Pre-industrial society are also called agrarian societies. Industrial societies are generally mass societies. Industrial society is characterized by the use of external energy sources, such as fossil fuels, to increase the rate and scale of production.[1] The production of food is shifted to large commercial farms where the products of industry, such as combine harvesters and petroleum based fertilizers, are used to decrease required human labor while increasing production. No longer needed for the production of food, excess labor is moved into these factories where mechanization is utilized to further increase efficiency. As populations grow, and mechanization is further refined, often to the level of automation, many workers shift to expanding service industries. Industrial society makes urbanization desirable, in part so that workers can be closer to centers of production, and the service industry can provide labor to workers and those that benefit financially from them, in exchange for a piece of production profits with which they can buy goods. This leads to the rise of very large cities and surrounding suburban areas with a high rate of economic activity. These urban centers require the input of external energy sources in order to overcome the diminishing returns[2] of agricultural consolidation, due partially to the lack of nearby arable land, associated transportation and storage costs, and are otherwise unsustainable.[3] This makes the reliable availability of the needed energy resources high priority in industrial government policies.

Characteristics of Industrial Society Industrial society is associated with the emergence of industrialization which transformed much of Europe and United States by replacing essentially agriculture based societies with industrial societies based on the use of machines and non-animal sources of energy to produce finished goods. Industrial societies are in a continual state of rapid change due to technological innovations. The high level of productivity in industrial societies further stimulates population growth where people start living in cities and urban areas. New medical technologies and improved living standards serve to extend life expectancy. The division of labor becomes complex with the availability of specialized jobs. The statuses are achieved rather than ascribed. The family and kinship as social institutions are relegated to the background. It is becomes a unit of consumption. There is breakup of joint family system and nuclear family units become prominent. The influence of religion diminishes as people hold many different and competing values and beliefs. State assumes central power in the industrial societies. Industrialism is associated with the widening gap between two social classes of 'haves' and 'have nots'.The rich or the capitalist class is seen as exploiting class and the poor class known as working class is seen as exploited. However in most of the industrial societies there is steady reduction in social inequalities. Industrial societies have given rise to number of secondary groups such as corporations, political parties, business houses and government bureaucracies, cultural and literary associations. The primary groups tend to lose their importance and secondary groups come to the prominence.

Planned townships A planned city is a city, town, or community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Several of the world's capital cities are planned cities, including Washington, D.C. in the United States, Canberra in Australia, Brasília in Brazil, New Delhi in India, Abuja in Nigeria and Islamabad in Pakistan; see List of purpose-built capital cities. It was also common in the European colonization of the Americas to build according to a plan either on fresh ground or on the ruins of earlier Amerindian cities. A very good example of planned city is Jamshedpur. Cradled and nursed in the vivid imagination of one towering individual: Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata, Jamshedpur is one of the most beautiful and well-planned cities possible. Jamshetji saw the city in his mind’s eye, as clearly as he saw the steel plant. The grand concept visualiser, however, did not live to see either the steel plant or a single tree of his beloved dream city take root. But the guidelines he left behind for the future, provided a great foundation for the city to grow and flourish. A few years later, the city was named after him, as a tribute to the mastermind behind this Steel City. Construction began around 1909 and India’s first industrial city which was being planned from its very inception started to take concrete shape. But brick, mortar and concrete were not the stuff that Jamshetji’s dreams were made of. He dreamt of gardens, tree-lined roads, airy and spacious homes with sprawling lawns, parks for the city to breathe, playgrounds to stretch young limbs, places of worship for people of all faiths and lots more. All these have long since been embodied in Tatanagar, the Steel City. Located in the East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand on the Chota Nagpur plateau, Jamshedpur is surrounded by the beautiful Dalma Hills, and the rivers Subarnrekha and Kharkhai border the North & West of the city, respectively. Tatanagar is a large-hearted city with amenities that provide warmth, comfort and the security of a happy habitat to its residents. Though planned

by architects and built by engineers like many other cities. Tatanagar remains unique in the fact that it was conceived by a dreamer.

Conclusion

There are examples supporting as well as disproving this claim that industrial townships are planned.Not all industrial towns are planned.Some are meticulously planned like BHILAI. Others are semi-planned like JAMSHEDPUR.and some others are not planned at all,where industries have just grown. Whenever there is a large industry several ancillary units come up to support it which means further industrialization.Its said that since in industrial society economy is good so everything is meticulously planned.But again there are contrasting examples to it.BHILAI was started by government . Government had land after the independence and resources to build city as they wanted.So it was planned into rectangular sectors.Everything is symmetrically planned. Lets look at three examples: 1.First one is Bhilai. It has been already discussed above 2. the other extreme is a place like Hazira or Patalganga. When Dhirubhai started these plants he had neither the resources nor the ability to plan townships.He barely convinced enough people to invest in his dream. 3.Then there is the ex of the legend Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata. He had the land and he built not just an industry but a society and a city in extremely adverse conditions. And it takes a great visionary to do that. Industrial townships can only be planned right at the beginning. Once it starts developing it becomes impossible to retrace the path and it requires great vision to see that in the beginning.

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References • • • •

www.socioguide.com www.jamshedpurbusiness.com notes of Mr.S.K.PANDEY speeches of Sandip Bhattacharya