“社会和谐”与“和谐社会”是两个不同的概念。“社会和谐”是任何社会发展阶段中都可能达到的一种相对和谐、稳定、有序的社会关系状态。“和谐社会”则直接反映着社会制度的本质特征,只有在特定的社会形态下才能实现。本文从社会形态理论的视角出发,在对不同社会发展阶段中“社会和谐”的表征、程度、状态进行历史比较的基础上指出:社会和谐的历史演进是人的生存和发展状态的量化改进;和谐社会则是这种量化改进的高级形态。构建和谐社会最终就是要实现人的自由而全面的发展。 “Social Harmony” and “Harmonious Society” are two different concepts. “Social harmony ” is a relatively harmonious, stable and orderly social relationship that may be reached during any stage of social development. “Harmonious society ” directly reflects the essential characteristics of the social system, only in a specific social form can be achieved. Based on the historical comparison of the characterization, degree and status of “social harmony ” in different stages of social development, from the perspective of social formation theory, this paper points out that the historical evolution of social harmony is the quantification of the state of human existence and development Improve; harmonious society is the advanced form of quantitative improvement. The ultimate goal of building a harmonious society is to realize the free and comprehensive development of human beings.