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In political science, sociology and anthropology, agrarian society is contrasted on the one hand with hunter/gatherer society and on the other with industrial society. Agrarian societies are defined by the direct engagement of most of the population in the systematic production and storage of food, and by the minimal development of commercial agriculture. Although agrarian societies have varied considerably throughout history, especially in their religious cultures, they have shared deeply coercive and exploitative forms of rule and caste-based aristocracies. For these reasons agrarian societies are considered to have been inhospitable milieu for democracy, nationalism and equality; that is, the defining, or at least emergent, traits of most industrial societies. BO\'L
Further reading Patricia Crone, Pre-Industrial Societies; , Ernest Gellner, Plough, Sword and Book: the Structure of Human History. |
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