社会进步指标
Theorists usually measured progression (that is, the difference between one stage and the next) in terms of increasing social complexity (including class differentiation and a complex division of labor), or an increase in intellectual, theological, and aesthetic sophistication. Those 19th-century ethnologists used these principles primarily to explain differences in religious beliefs and kinship terminologies among various societies.
社会进步与政府干预以及两大社会类型
Society was evolving toward increasing freedom for individuals; and so that government intervention ought to be minimal in social and political life, differentiated between two phases of development, focusing on the type of internal regulation within societies.
Military and industrial societies are differentiated. (The earlier, more primitive military society has a goal of conquest and defense, is centralized, economically self-sufficient, collectivistic, puts the good of a group over the good of an individual, uses compulsion, force and repression, and rewards loyalty, obedience and discipline. The industrial society has a goal of production and trade, is decentralized, interconnected with other societies via economic relations, achieves its goals through voluntary cooperation and individual self-restraint, treats the good of individual as the highest value, regulates the social life via and voluntary relations, values initiative, independence and innovation.)
技术进步有赖于其他社会组织
The development of technology is dependent on the presence of other types of social organizations. Nobel laureate economist Arthur Lewis observed that the mechanization of factory production in England which became known as the Industrial Revolution was a direct result of the reorganization of English agriculture. The enclosure of common lands in England generated surplus income for the farmers. That extra income generated additional raw materials for industrial processing along with greater demand for industrial products which was difficult to meet by traditional manufacturing processes. The opening of sea trade gave an added boost in demand for industrial production for export. Factory production increased many times when production was reorganized using steam energy combined with moving assembly lines, specialization and division of labor. Thus, technological development was both a result of and a contributing factor to the overall development of society.
社会进步与技术革新
Though technological inventions have markedly increased the pace of development, the tendency to view developmental accomplishments as mainly powered by technology is a partial view that misses the bigger picture. Technological innovation was spurred by the general advance in the social organization of knowledge. In the Middle Ages, efforts at scientific creativity were few and isolated from one another, mainly because there were no effective arrangements for the preservation and dissemination of knowledge. Since there was no organized protection for patent rights, scientists and inventors were very secretive about their activities and operations. The establishment of scientific associations and the publication of scientific journals spurred the exchange of knowledge among scientists and created a written record that could be examined by posterity.
社会进步的限制因素
The concept of inherent limits to development arose mainly because development in the past was determined largely by the availability of physical resources. Humanity relied more on muscle-power than thought-power to accomplish work. That is no longer the case. Today mental resources are the primary determinant of development. He who drove a simple bullock cart has now designed ships and aircraft that carry huge loads across immense distances. He has tamed rivers, cleared jungles and even turned arid desert lands into cultivable lands through irrigation. By using his brains he has turned worthless sand into powerful silicon chips that carry huge amounts of information and form the basis of computers. Since there is no inherent limit to the expansion of man’s mental resources, the notion of limits to growth cannot be ultimately binding.
