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The most useful aid to the study of history is the examination of sociology including peoples of the world, communities, and social structure and change. More than anything else, these give weight and substance to history. |
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Sociology can be applied to particular divisions of history, including prehistory, antiquity, classical and medieval history, modern history, and the future.
The history of the world is closely connected with the various peoples of the world, which are largely organized by nations. Western Civilization has traditionally been overemphasized in studies of history, possibly because the most influential scholars came from Western civilization at a time when it was dominating all other peoples. Asiatic peoples are less well known than Western Civilization, but older and more numerous. African peoples are even less well known, because of a lack of written records for most of their history. American Indian peoples have been mostly isolated from the rest of the world for most of their history and have also lacked written records.
Communities are a potentially fruitful source of information about history. Most of them are mentioned above in connection with the peoples and nations they are particularly associated with. A few that are present in the communities list that are not yet distributed to peoples or have not yet been linked to history are Pyongyang, Pusan, Cape Town, Fortaleza, Salvador, Durban, Kanpur, Medellin.
Social structure and change accounts for a great deal of the content of history. If there are laws or regularities in human history, they are most likely to appear in this area. Social structure and change is difficult to apply to prehistory. As the physical remains of society and early records appear in antiquity, they are easier to examine. They are still more useful in classical and medieval times. In modern times, societies have become large and complex, with great amounts of information to sort through.
Studies of social change are a major part of history. It is difficult to study them in the prehistoric period, and studies of antiquity are also somewhat difficult. Serious thought and the beginnings of the study of social change appear in classical and medieval times. Social change has been much studied in modern times.
Particular movements form much of the content of history. These can be followed in rough form through prehistory, antiquity, classical and medieval, and modern times.
The agricultural revolution is associated with prehistory, but continued in some places into antiquity. Comparable forced transitions occurred in classical and medieval and modern times.
Agrarianism, or the rise of civilization, seems to have begun in antiquity. Stages of it occurred in classical and medieval times. Comparable forced transitions have occurred in modern times. Bronze age movements occurred mostly in antiquity. Comparable forced transitions have occurred in classical and medieval and modern times. Early iron age movements occurred mostly in antiquity, but comparable transitions have been forced in classical and medieval times. Late iron age movements occurred largely in classical and medieval times, but elements of these changes have occurred in modern times. Modernization began in classical and medieval times and has continued throughout modern times.
The Industrial revolution includes various smaller movements, all of which are modern. I can roughly distinguish three stages; an early industrial revolution, a middle industrial revolution and a late industrial revolution.
Social change factors have operated throughout history including prehistory, antiquity, classical and medieval, and modern times. Institutional change is being applied to antiquity, classical and medieval and modern history. Cultural change is being applied to antiquity, classical and medieval, and modern history. Demographic change is being applied to antiquity, classical and medieval, and modern history. Natural change is being applied to antiquity, classical and medieval, and modern history.
Social change processes have operated throughout prehistory, antiquity, classical and medieval, and modern times. Innovation was relatively slow during prehistory, but speeded up during antiquity, and even more during classical and medieval times. It has become rapid in modern times. Transmission of cultural and social features was also slow during prehistory and antiquity, but speeded up during classical and and medieval and modern times. Adaptation of cultural and social features has occurred in prehistory, antiquity, classical and medieval, and modern times. Extinction of cultural features has also occurred in prehistory, antiquity, classical and medieval, and modern times.
Different social types have predominated in different periods of prehistory, antiquity, classical and medieval history, and modern history. varied throughout prehistory, antiquare also important because not all types of societies have left much recorded history. Industrial societies including late industrial societies, middle industrial societies, and early industrial societies have only existed in modern times, but have generated a great deal of inquiry into earlier periods and have generated a great deal of information. Agrarian societies including bronze age societies, early iron age societies, late iron age societies, and early modern societies have left a great deal of recorded history, although not all of it has been preserved. These arose in antiquity and were prominent in classical and medieval times, and into the modern era. Horticultural societies have generally left few records. The Neolithic societies of prehistory were principally of this class. They have been increasingly succeded by agrarian societies through antiquity and classical and medieval history. Few remain into modern times. Hunting and gathering societies predominated in prehistory, and have generally been succeeded and displaced by others. They have generally left no written history and few material remains, which are often difficult to interpret.
Social structure provides a basic foundation for historical events, and can be applied to prehistory, antiquity, classical and medieval times, and modern times. Community and regional structure is difficult to describe for prehistory and most of antiquity, but various clues can be found. More information is available for classical and medieval times. This is most easily detailed and applied in modern times. Class structure is also difficult to describe in prehistory and antiquity times. It became significant in classical and medieval times and is still important in modern times. Institutional structure is difficult to apply to prehistory, but can be applied to various cultures in antiquity, classical and medieval times, and modern times.Cultural structure can be connected to prehistory, antiquity, classical and medieval times, and modern times. Anthropological structure can also be applied to prehistory, antiquity, classical and medieval times, and modern times.