A
society is a group of
people who form a distinct, evolving
system, sharing
cultures and
institutions. A society, then, is a network of relationships between people. The English word
society is derived from the French
société, which, 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 may share some mutual concern or interest, a common objective or common characteristics. The
social sciences generally use the term
society to mean a group of people who 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
Tönnies saw a contradiction between “society” and “community.” An important feature of society is
social structure, aspects of which include
roles and
social ranking.
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