Society
|
Human relationships within an ethnically diverse society. |
A
society is a self-reproducing
grouping of
individuals occupying a particular
territory, which may have its own distinctive
culture and
institutions. As culture is generally considered unique to
humans, the terms "society" and "human society" have the same meaning. "Society," may refer to a particular people, such as the
Nuer, to a
nation state, such as
Austria, or to a broader cultural group, such as
Western society.
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." Thus the meaning of society is closely related to what is considered to be
social. Implicit in the meaning of society is that its members share some mutual concern or interest, a common objective or common characteristics. As such,
society is often used to mean the collective citizenry of a
country as directed through national institutions concerned with civic welfare.
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:
"I mean by it [the State] that summation of privileges and dominating positions which are brought into being by extra-economic power... I mean by Society, the totality of concepts of all purely natural relations and institutions between man and man..." [[1] Franz Oppenheimer, ]The State.
The social sciences generally use the term society
to mean a group of people that form a semi-closed social system, in which most interactions are with other individuals belonging to the group. More abstractly, a society
is defined as a network of relationships between social entities. A society
is also sometimes defined as an interdependent community, but the sociologist Tonnies sought to draw a contrast between society and community. An important feature of society is social structure'', aspects of which include
roles and
social ranking.
According to sociologist Richard Jenkins, the term "society" addresses a number of important
existential issues facing people:#How humans think and exchange information â€" 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 form (i.e., society). #Many phenomena cannot be reduced to individual behavior â€" to explain certain conditions, a view of something ‘'greater than the sum of its parts'' is needed. #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.]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.] 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.
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. The Cultural Evolution of Civilizations.]The following three components are common to all definitions of society:
*Social networks
*Criteria for membership, and
*Characteristic patterns of organizationEach will of these will be explored further in the following sections.
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.
Human societies are often organized according to their primary means of
subsistence. As noted in the section on "
Evolution of societies", above, social scientists identify
hunter-gatherer societies, nomadic
pastoral societies,
horticulturalist or simple farming societies, and
intensive agricultural societies, also called
civilizations. Some consider
industrial and
post-industrial societies to be qualitatively different from traditional agricultural societies.
One common theme for societies in general is that they serve to aid individuals in a time of crisis. Traditionally, when an individual requires aid, for example at birth, death, sickness, or disaster, members of that society will rally others to render aid, in some form—symbolic, linguistic, physical, mental, emotional, financial, medical, or religious. Many societies will distribute largess, at the behest of some individual or some larger group of people. This type of
generosity can be seen in all known cultures; typically, prestige accrues to the generous individual or group. Conversely, members of a society may also shun or
scapegoat members of the society who violate its
norms. Mechanisms such as
gift-giving and scapegoating, which may be seen in various types of human groupings, tend to be
institutionalized within a society.
Some societies will bestow status on an individual or group of people, when that individual or group performs an admired or desired action. This type of
recognition is bestowed by members of that society on the individual or group in the form of a name, title, manner of dress, or monetary reward. Males, in many societies, are particularly susceptible to this type of action and subsequent reward, even at the risk of their lives. Action by an individual or larger group in behalf of some cultural ideal is seen in all societies. The phenomena of community action, shunning, scapegoating, generosity, and shared risk and reward occur in subsistence-based societies and in more technology-based civilizations.
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
Peoples of many nations united by common political and cultural traditions, beliefs, or values are sometimes also said to be a society (such as Judeo-Christian, Eastern, and Western). When used in this context, the term is employed as a means of contrasting two or more "societies" whose members represent alternative conflicting and competing worldviews (
see Secret Societies).
Some
academic, learned and scholarly
associations describe themselves as
societies (for example, the
American Society of Mathematics. More commonly, professional organizations often refer to themselves as societies (e.g., the
American Society of Civil Engineers,
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.
In some countries (for example the
United States and
France), the term "society" is used in
commerce to denote a partnership between
investors or to start a
business. In the
United Kingdom, partnerships are not called societies, but
cooperatives or
mutuals are often known as societies (such as
friendly societies and
building societies). In
Latin America, the term society may also be used in commerce denoting a partnership between investors, or annonymous investors; for example: "Proveedor Industrial Anahuac S.A." where
S.A. stands for Annonymous Society (Sociedad Anonima); however in
Mexico in other type of partnership it would be declared as
S.A. de C.V.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.
*
Community*
Holism*
Individualism*
Small world phenomenon (mathematics)
*
Social*
Social psychology*
Social relations*
Sociology*
Social theory*
Social class*
Social security
*
Definition of Society from the
OED.
*
Lecture notes on "Defining Society" from East Carolina University.
*
Learning Commons - What is Culture ? - Glossary Item - Society* Effland, R. 1998.
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.
zh-yue:社會
