A society is a population of humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive culture and institutions. More broadly, a society is an economic, social and industrial infrastructure in which a varied multitude of people or peoples are a part. Members of a society may be from different ethnic groups. A society may be a particular people, such as the Saxons, a nation state, such as Bhutan, or a broader cultural group, such as a Western society.

The word "society" may also refer to an organized voluntary association of people for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purpose.

Origin and usage

The English word "society" emerged in the 15th century and is derived from the French "société". The French word, in turn, had its origin in the Latin "societas", a "friendly association with others," from "socius" meaning "companion, associate, comrade or business partner." The Latin word is probably related to the verb "sequi", "to follow", and thus originally may have meant "follower".

In political science, the term is often used to mean the totality of human relationships, generally in contrast to "the State", i.e., the apparatus of rule or government within a territory:

In the social sciences such as sociology, "society" has been used Fact|date=February 2007to mean a group of people that form a semi-closed social system, in which most interactions are with other individuals belonging to the group. "Society" is sometimes contrasted with culture. For example, Clifford Geertz has suggested that "society" is the actual arrangement of social relations while "culture" is made up of beliefs and symbolic forms.

According to sociologist Richard Jenkins, the term addresses a number of important existential issues facing people:

#How humans think and exchange information – the sensory world makes up only a fraction of human experience. In order to understand the world, we have to conceive of human interaction in the abstract (i.e., society).
#Many phenomena cannot be reduced to individual behavior
#Collectives often endure beyond the lifespan of individual members.
#The human condition has always meant going beyond the evidence of our senses; every aspect of our lives is tied to the collective. [ Jenkins, R. 2002. "Foundations of Sociology."]

Evolution of societies

According to anthropologist Maurice Godelier, one critical novelty in human society, in contrast to humanity's closest biological relatives (chimpanzees and bonobo), is the parental role assumed by the males, which were unaware of their "father" connectionwhat . [Maurice Godelier, Métamorphoses de la parenté, 2004] [cite web |url=http://newleftreview.org/?view=2592 |title=New Left Review - Jack Goody: The Labyrinth of Kinship |accessdate=2007-07-24]

Gerhard Lenski, a sociologist, differentiates societies based on their level of technology, communication and economy: (1) hunters and gatherers, (2) simple agricultural, (3) advanced agricultural, (4) industrial. [Lenski, G. 1974. "Human Societies: An Introduction to Macrosociology."] and now (5) virtual. This is somewhat similar to the system earlier developed by anthropologists Morton H. Fried, a conflict theorist, and Elman Service, an integration theorist, who have produced a system of classification for societies in all human cultures based on the evolution of social inequality and the role of the state. This system of classification contains four categories:

* Hunter-gatherer bands, which are generally egalitarian.
* Tribal societies in which there are some limited instances of social rank and prestige.
* Stratified structures led by chieftains.
* Civilizations, with complex social hierarchies and organized, institutional governments.

In addition to this there are:

* Virtual-society is a society based on online identity, which is evolving in the information age.

Over time, some cultures have progressed toward more-complex forms of organization and control. This cultural evolution has a profound effect on patterns of community. Hunter-gatherer tribes settled around seasonal foodstocks to become agrarian villages. Villages grew to become towns and cities. Cities turned into city-states and nation-states. [Effland, R. 1998. [http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d10/asb/anthro2003/glues/model_complex.html The Cultural Evolution of Civilizations] .]



Characteristics of society

The following three components are common to all definitions of society:

* Social networks
* Criteria for membership, and
* Characteristic patterns of organization

Each of these will be explored further in the following sections.

Social networks

Social networks are maps of the relationships between people. Structural features such as proximity, frequency of contact and type of relationship (e.g., relative, friend, colleague) define various social networks.

Organization of society




Societies may also be organized according to their political structure. In order of increasing size and complexity, there are bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and state societies. These structures may have varying degrees of political power, depending on the cultural geographical, and historical environments that these societies must contend with. Thus, a more isolated society with the same level of technology and culture as other societies is more likely to survive than one in closer proximity to others that may encroach on their resources ("see" history for examples}. A society that is unable to offer an effective response to other societies it competes with will usually be subsumed into the culture of the competing society ("see" technology for examples).

Shared belief or common goal


Some academic, learned and scholarly associations describe themselves as "societies" (for example, the American Mathematical Society). More commonly, professional organizations often refer to themselves as societies (e.g., the American Society of Civil Engineers, [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Chemical_Society American Chemical Society] ). In the United Kingdom and the United States, learned societies are normally nonprofit and have charitable status. In science, they range in size to include national scientific societies (i.e., the Royal Society) to regional natural history societies. Academic societies may have interest in a wide range of subjects, including the arts, humanities and science.



As a related note, there is still an ongoing debate in sociological and anthropological circles as to whether there exists an entity we could call society. Some Marxist theorists, like Louis Althusser, Ernesto Laclau and Slavoj Zizek, have argued that society is nothing more than an effect of the ruling ideology of a certain class system, and shouldn't be used as a sociological notion. Marx's concept of society as the sum total of social relations among members of a community contrasts with interpretations from the perspective of methodological individualism where society is simply the sum total of individuals in a territory.

In 1987 Margaret Thatcher famously said "There is no such thing as society". [ [http://briandeer.com/social/thatcher-society.htm There is no such thing as society - Margaret Thatcher ] ]



* [http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/society Definition of Society] from the OED.
* [http://blog.norfaiz.com/?p=17 Definition of Society] from Nor Faiz Muhammad Noor.
* [http://core.ecu.edu/soci/juskaa/SOCI2110/Lectures/Lect1 Lecture notes on "Defining Society"] from East Carolina University.
* [http://www.wsu.edu:8001/vcwsu/commons/topics/culture/glossary/society.html Learning Commons - What is Culture ? - Glossary Item - Society]
* Effland, R. 1998. [http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d10/asb/anthro2003/glues/model_complex.html The Cultural Evolution of Civilizations] Mesa Community College.
* Jenkins, R. 2002. "Foundations of Sociology." London: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 0-333-96050-5.
* Lenski, G. 1974. "Human Societies: An Introduction to Macrosociology." New York: McGraw- Hill, Inc.
* Raymond Williams, "Society", in: Williams, Key Words: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. Fontana, 1976.

External links

* [http://www.societys.net/ Online Societies Blog]
*es [http://www.bioeticaunbosque.edu.co/ Bioethics and society]
* [http://www.mostmerciful.net/modules.php?name=Hadith Islamic society]
* [http://www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/science/reviews/books/collapse_jared_diamond_excellent_read How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive]

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.


Look at other dictionaries:












Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”
