ABSTRACT
The social forms and their classifications constitute one of the basic theories in historical materialism, and serve as a theoretical foundation for studying the development trajectory of the Eastern society. The most sensitive and controversial issues concerning Marx and Engels’ theory of the development trajectory of the Eastern society are related to their theory of social forms and their classifications. Human society is a vast and complex system. Due to the interaction of various factors, social development often assumes varied stages and types. The concept of social forms concerns the structures and characteristics of different societal stages and types. Based on production relations, Marx and Engels classified human history into five successive social forms: the primitive society, the slave society, the feudal society, the capitalist society, and the future communist society. This involves the social forms commonly known as the slave society, the feudalistic society, and the capitalistic society.
