- Social
Definition
In the absence of agreement about its meaning, the term "social" is used in many different senses, referring among other things to:
* attitudes, orientations or behaviours which take the interests, intentions or needs of other people into account (in contrast to
anti-social behaviour);
* common characteristics of people or descriptions of collectivities (social fact s);
* relations between people (social relations ) generally, or particular associations among people;
* interactions between people (social action );
* membership of a group of people or inclusion or belonging to acommunity of people;
*co-operation or co-operative characteristics between people;
* relations of (mutual) dependence;
* thepublic sector ("social sector") or the need forgovernance for the good of all, contrasted with theprivate sector ;
* inexistentialist andpostmodernist thought, relationships between the Self and theOther ;
* interactive systems in communities ofanimal orinsect populations, or any living organisms.In one broad meaning, "social" refers only to
society as "a system of common life", but in another sense it contrasts specifically with "individual " andindividualist theories of society. This is reflected for instance in the different perspectives ofliberalism andsocialism on society and public affairs.The adjective "social" implies that the verb or noun to which it is applied is somehow more communicative, cooperative, and moderated by contact with human beings, than if it were omitted. That is, it implies that larger society has played some role in defining the idea or the principle. For instance terms like social realism, social justice,
social constructivism , social psychology and social capital imply that there is some social process involved or considered, a process that is not there in regular, "non-social", realism, justice, constructivism, psychology, or capital.The adjective "social" is also used often in political discourse, although its meaning in such a context depends heavily on who is using it. In left-wing circles it is often used to imply a positive characteristic, while in right-wing circles it is generally used to imply a negative characteristic. It should also be noted that, overall, this adjective is used much more often by those on the political left than by those on the political right.
For these reasons, those seeking to avoid association with the left-right political debates often seek to label their work with phrases that do not include the word "social". An example is
quasi-empiricism in mathematics which is sometimes labelled social constructivism by those who see it as an unwarranted intrusion of social considerations in mathematical practice, which is supposed to be "objective" and "above" social concerns.ocial theorists
In the view of
Karl Marx , human beings are intrinsically, necessarily and by definition social beings who - beyond being "gregarious creatures" - cannot survive and meet their needs other than through social co-operation and association. Their social characteristics are therefore to a large extent an objectively given fact, stamped on them from birth and affirmed bysocialization processes; and, according to Marx, in producing and reproducing their material life, people must necessarily enter intorelations of production which are "independent of their will".By contrast, the sociologist
Max Weber for example defines human action as "social" if, by virtue of the subjective meanings attached to the action by individuals, it "takes account of the behavior of others, and is thereby oriented in its course". In this case, the "social" domain really exists only in theintersubjective relations between individuals, but by implication the life of these individuals also exists in part outside the social domain. "Social" is thus implicitly also contrasted with "private".In the
positivist sociology ofEmile Durkheim , a social fact is an abstraction external to the individual which constrains that individual's actions. In his 1895 work "Rules of Sociological Method", Durkheim writes: "A social fact is every way of acting, fixed or not, capable of exercising on the individual an influence, or an external constraint; or again, every way of acting which is general throughout a given society, while at the same time existing in its own right independent of its individual manifestations." In Durkheim's view, sociology is 'the science of social facts'.ocialism and social democracy
The term "
socialism ", used from the 1830s onwards inFrance and theUnited Kingdom , was directly related to what was called thesocial question , in essence the problem that the emergence of competitivemarket societies did not create "liberty, equality and fraternity" for all citizens, requiring the intervention ofpolitics andsocial reform to tackle social problems, injustices and grievances (a topic on whichJean-Jacques Rousseau discourses at length in his classic work "The Social Contract "). Originally the term "socialist" was often used interchangeably with "co-operative ", "mutualist ", "associationist " and "collectivist ".The term
social democracy originally referred to the political project of extendingdemocratic forms of association to the whole of society, substitutingpopular sovereignty , theuniversal franchise andsocial ownership for the rule of a propertied class which had exclusive voting rights.Modern uses
In contemporary society, "social" often refers to the
redistributive policies of the government which aim to apply resources in thepublic interest , for example,social security . Policy concerns then include the problems ofsocial exclusion andsocial cohesion . Here, "social" contrasts with "private" and to the distinction between the public and the private (or privatised) spheres, whereownership relations define access to resources and attention.The social domain is often also contrasted with that of physical nature, but in
sociobiology analogies are drawn betweenhumans and otherliving species in order to explainsocial behavior in terms of biological factors. The term "social" is also added in various other academic sub-disciplines such associal geography ,social psychology ,social anthropology ,social philosophy ,social ontology ,social statistics andsocial choice theory in mathematics.Regional uses
There is a peculiar use of "social" in some parts of the world. In the Canadian province of
Manitoba , a "social" is a fund raising party (for a wedding, non-profit organisation, charity, or some other worthy cause). It is also known as aManitoba Social . Typically, they will include music (current popular music for the youth and "oldies" music for older adults), dancing, food, raffles (and other fund raising games). When held in support of a wedding, often they are used as a way to shake down some details of the wedding (e.g., letting the bride try a hair style, practicing dancing, etc.).Another common meaning of a "social" in English-speaking countries such as Britain,
New Zealand ,Canada andAustralia is that of a leisure-time gathering with food and drink, organised by an institution, association, or company.A distinguishing feature is that it is deliberately organised at a venue at a predetermined time. Thus one might say, "are you going to the social?", meaning a social event by some organisation.ee also
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Sociology
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