Biology:Outline of society

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Short description: Overview of and topical guide to society

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to society:

Society – group of people sharing the same geographical or virtual territory and therefore subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Such people share a distinctive culture and institutions, which characterize the patterns of social relations between them. Large societies typically develop social stratification and dominance patterns among its subgroups. A given society may be described as the sum total of social relationships among its members. The branch of science that studies society is sociology.


What type of thing is a society?

A society can be described as all of the following:

Types of societies

  • Humanity – the entire human race. As a whole, it can be viewed as one great big society.

In anthropology: by methods of subsistence

In sociology and political science

Aspects or features of societies

Infrastructure

Infrastructure

Social institutions

Social institution – Any persistent structure or mechanism of social order governing the behaviour of a set of individuals within a given community. The term "institution" is commonly applied to customs and behavior patterns important to a society, as well as to particular formal organizations of government and public services.

Societal change

Stages of sociocultural evolution

Sociocultural evolution – below are listed some typical and some potential stages of progression in the evolution of cultures and societies:

  • Pre-civilization
  • Civilization
    • Pre-industrial society
      • Agrarian society
        • Agrarian villages
        • Towns
        • Cities
        • City-states
        • Nation-states
    • Industrial Revolution
    • Modernity
    • Postmodernity
    • Informational Revolution
    • Information society
    • Globalization – process by which the world is becoming more interconnected, being integrated into a unified global community, through the interchange — of world views, products, ideas and other aspects of culture — made possible by technological advancements in communication and transportation and the dissemination of knowledge those bring.
    • World government? – notion of a single common political authority (global state) for all of humanity. Currently there is no worldwide executive, legislature, judiciary, military, or constitution with jurisdiction over the entire planet. The United Nations is limited to a mostly advisory role, and its stated purpose is to foster cooperation between existing national governments rather than exert authority over them.
  • Space colonization? – hypothetical expansion of the human race into outer space: to the moon, to other planets or moons, or in space stations.
  • Technological singularity? (TS) – hypothetical result that may occur if and when strong AI (artificial intelligence at least as smart as a human) is developed. Such AIs would be recursive, and therefore able to improve themselves (or each other) at an increasingly rapid rate to super intelligence. Technological advancements implemented by such entities would probably be so profound and come so quickly that it seems unlikely anyone could reliably forecast what such a future would be like — like a black hole, a singularity we cannot see.

Forces of societal change

  • Connections – James Burke presented in this TV series his hypothesis that the entire gestalt of the modern world is the result of a web of interconnected events, each one consisting of a person or group acting for reasons of their own motivations (e.g., profit, curiosity, religious) with no concept of the final, modern result to which the actions of either them or their contemporaries would lead. The interplay of the results of these isolated events is what drives history and innovation.
  • Conquest
  • Cooperation
  • Deviance
  • Disaster
  • Economic forces
  • Exploration
  • Human migration – Migration can impact on our identity since it may be difficult to feel a sense of belonging in a new society. Human migration can also introduce new cultural values to a society (ref: Held, D., (2004) A globalizing world? Culture, economics and politics, London Routeledge/The Open University).
  • Population change
    • Population decline
    • Population growth
  • Revolution
  • Social conflict
  • Social disintegration
  • Social movement
  • Societal collapse
  • Technological change
  • Urbanization
  • Trade
  • War

History of society

Study of society: sociology

Outline of sociology

  • Sociology – Scientific study of society. This social science directs methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis upon human social activity, focusing on the influence of relationships and how they affect attitudes and behaviours. Sociologists conduct research to refine the theoretical understanding of social processes, or for application to social policy and welfare.

See also

Place these

Ethnic groups •

Social institutions – Organization
Social network – Communication • Journalism • Social capital

References

External links

Industrial revolution



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