Society
A societ y is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same
geographical or social territo ry, typically subject to the same political aut hority and dominant cultural expect ations.
Societies are characterized by patt erns of relatio nships (social relations) bet ween individuals who share a distinct ive
culture and instit ut ions; a given societ y may be described as the sum t ot al of such relationships among its co nstituent o f
members. In t he social sciences, a larger societ y of ten exhibits stratif ication or dominance pat terns in subgroups.
Insofar as it is co llaborative, a society can enable it s members to benef it in ways t hat would no t ot herwise be possible on
an individual basis; bot h individual and social (common) benefit s can thus be dist inguished, or in many cases fo und to
overlap. A society can also consist of like-minded people governed by their own norms and values within a do minant, larger
societ y. This is somet imes referred t o as a subcult ure, a term used extensively within criminolo gy.
More broadly, and especially wit hin st ructuralist t hought, a society may be illustrat ed as an econo mic, social, indust rial or
cultural inf rast ructure, made up o f, yet distinct f rom, a varied collect ion o f individuals. In this regard societ y can mean t he
object ive relationships peo ple have with the material world and with ot her peo ple, rather than "o ther people" beyond t he
individual and their familiar social environment.
Etymology and usage
The term " societ y" came f rom the Latin wo rd so cietas, w hich in turn was derived fro m the noun socius ("co mrade, f riend,
ally"; adject ival fo rm socialis) used to describe a bond or interact ion between parties that are friendly, o r at least civil.
Witho ut an article, the term can ref er to the entiret y of humanity (also: "societ y in general", " societ y at large", etc.),
altho ugh tho se w ho are unf riendly or uncivil to t he remainder of societ y in this sense may be deemed t o be "antiso cial".
However, the Sco tt ish econo mist, Adam Smith taught instead t hat a societ y "may subsist amo ng diff erent men, as among
diff erent merchants, from a sense of its ut ility wit hout any mutual love o r aff ect ion, if o nly they refrain f rom doing injury t o
each ot her."
Used in the sense o f an associat ion, a so ciety is a bo dy o f individuals out lined by the bo unds of funct ional
interdependence, possibly comprising characterist ics such as nat ional or cultural identity, social solidarity, language, or
hierarchical structure
Basic Socio logy
Basic Socio logy
Webt opdfconvert er.com
