Sociology distinguishes historical types of society from the whole variety of societies that exist now or ever. They are combined based on similar criteria.
So, for example, if writing is the main attribute, then the historical types of society are divided into written and preliterate. The former have an alphabet and record their speech in books, computers, or other media. But the preliterate ones are able to speak, but not to record sounds. Indeed, in our days there are uncivilized tribes.
According to the second classification, historical types of society are grouped into simple and complex. This distinction is based on the degree of stratification in society and on the number of levels of government. Simple societies are primitive tribes. They have no division into poor and rich, subordinates and leaders. Complex societies have several levels of government. The social strata of its population are located as income decreases. One can draw an analogy and say that preliterate societies coincide with simple societies, and written societies coincide with complex ones.
The third classification is based on the method of obtaining livelihoods. According to her, the historical types of society are of several types. The oldest and longest (hundreds of thousands of years) is gathering and hunting. They lived during the proto-community or human herd. Over time, hunting grew into cattle breeding, and gathering grew into gardening. This happened when people realized that it was more profitable to tame animals, rather than constantly killing them, and it was more profitable to grow plants, and not just collect them.
Along with the transition to a sedentary lifestyle from a nomadic state, a state was born with agriculture. Classes, cities, writing appeared - the main signs of a civilized society. Agrarian civilization was replaced more than two hundred years ago by industrial. Its main features are smoking plants and city blocks. Some experts also single out a post-industrial society, which replaced industrial in developed countries at the end of the 20th century. It is not industry that prevails, but the service sector and computer science. Its signs are huge supermarkets, computerized productions, space stations.
The distinguished types of society in sociology at the present stage are a synthesis of all previously known classifications. The creator of the new model is recognized by the American scientist Daniel Bell. Dividing modern history into three stages: pre-industrial, industrial, and post-industrial, he determined the corresponding historical types of society. The change of one stage to another entails changes in technologies and methods of production, patterns of ownership, social institutions, political regimes, culture, lifestyle, population, structure of society. A traditional (pre-industrial) society is characterized by agriculture as a determining factor in development, and the church and army as the main institutions. The industrial sector is dominated by industry, led by a firm and a corporation. In a post-industrial society, the main development factor is theoretical knowledge, which is concentrated in universities. This historical triad has many options proposed by other famous sociologists.
So, the above leads to certain conclusions. The development of mankind consists of three stages, which correspond to three types of society: pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial. The transition from the primitive to the traditional phase is called the Neolithic revolution. And the transition from pre-industrial to industrial society is an industrial revolution.