Step 1: Frame the period into two phases:
Compare the early Vedic (Rigvedic) period with the later Vedic period to see how society and economy transformed over time.
Step 2: Trace social change:
Early Vedic tribal, relatively open society (varna based more on function) gave way to a later Vedic society with hereditary, hierarchical varna divisions and greater restrictions on women.
Step 3: Trace economic change:
The shift from a cattle-and-pastoral economy (early Vedic) to a settled agrarian economy using iron ploughshares, supplemented by crafts and barter trade (later Vedic), mirrors the shift from mobile tribal life to settled kingdoms.
Step 4: Conclude:
Together, these social and economic shifts mark the transition from tribal (early Vedic) to more stratified, state-forming (later Vedic) society.
Final Answer:
\[ \boxed{\text{Vedic society moved from a fluid, pastoral tribal order to a more rigid, agrarian, hierarchical one over the early-to-later Vedic transition}} \]