For a long time in domestic literature and science there was only one approach to the consideration and study of the past of humanity. According to him, the entire development of society is subject to a change in economic formations. This theory was put forward and clearly substantiated by Karl Marx. But today, history is increasingly viewed from the point of view of a wider range of development factors, combining formational and civilizational approaches to the history of the origin and development of the human race.
There are many explanations for this phenomenon, but the main one says that Marx's theory is one-sided and does not take into account many factors and historical information that cannot but be taken into account when studying such a multifaceted phenomenon as society.
Formational and civilizational approaches are based in their followings on the following factors:
- formational - based on economic development and property rights;
- civilizational - takes into account all the elements of life, from religious to the ratio of "individual - power."
It is worth noting that, as such, a single concept in the civilizational approach has not been developed. Each researcher also takes into account only one or two factors. So, Toynbee identifies sixteen types of society, based on the development of society in the framework of a single territory from its inception to the peak and decline. In contrast, Walt Rostow singles out only 5 civilizations, the main emphasis of which is on the "population - consumption" ratio, the highest of which is the state of mass consumption.
As can be seen from the last theory, formational and civilizational approaches quite often overlap with each other, which does not seem strange. This situation is due to the fact that they all characterize the history of society from only one point of view. Thus, both the formational and civilizational approaches to the study of society cannot fully reveal its emergence and development at all stages, based solely on one method.
So, the theory of Marx formations and Toynbee's theory of civilizations seem to be the most complete of them. At the same time, most researchers have recently become more and more inclined to the idea that, if the key parameters of these concepts are combined, the formation and civilizational approaches are able to fully substantiate why the development of science, economy, culture and other spheres of public life has taken the path that traced through the pages of history.
The foregoing is due to the fact that Marx's theory of 5 stages (formations) of human development is based mainly on the type of economy and the development of tools. Toynbee's theory effectively complements it, revealing social, religious, cultural, scientific and other factors. It is worth noting that in the early stages, Toynbee paid more attention to the religious component, which was what caused their opposition. Over time, the situation has changed, and today the formational and civilizational approaches to the study of society are divided only conditionally.
It is worth noting that these methods of comprehending history have both shortcomings and advantages. Thus, the theory of formations has a detailed study of all aspects of the five stages of the economic history of any community. The disadvantage is the one-sided understanding of the processes occurring in states (namely, they are studied by the theory of Marx), which is expressed in the fact that only European countries were determined as the subject of study. The experience of the Slavic states, the Arab, American and African world was not taken into account. Toynby’s “theory” of civilization theory also based his opinions on approximately one factor.
Formational and civilizational approaches to the history of human development are currently being contrasted, which is fundamentally wrong. Such an attitude to the methods of studying the essence of improving society does not leave the opportunity to most accurately consider all the underlying processes taking place in society. And therefore, to prevent the formation of white spots, one should apply the formational and civilizational approaches at the same time.