Social: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

Line 1:

{{Short description|Relating to society or its organization}}

{{cleanup|October 2006}}

{{other uses}}

Although the term "'''social'''" is a crucial category in [[social science]] and often used in [[public discourse]], its meaning is often vague, suggesting that it is a [[fuzzy concept]]. An added difficulty is that social attributes or relationships may not be directly observable and visible, and must be inferred by abstract thought.

'''Social''' organisms, including [[human]](s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not.

==Etymology==

Thus the sociologist [[C. Wright Mills]] invented the expression "the [[sociological imagination]]", which referred to the need to think imaginatively beyond what an individual can empirically observe in order to grasp the social domain in all its dimensions - connecting, for example, "private troubles" and "public issues".

The word "social" derives from the Latin word ''socii'' ("allies"). It is particularly derived from the Italian ''[[Socii]]'' states, historical allies of the [[Roman Republic]] (although they rebelled against Rome in the [[Social War (91–87 BC)|Social War of 91–87 BC]]).

A similar point is made in the context of architecture by Ole Bouman and Roemer van Toorn in their groundbreaking work Invisible in Architecture. General problems concerning the nature of social reality and what (or how) we can know about it are the object of [[social theory]].

==Some different definitions==

In the absence of agreement about its meaning, the term "social" is used in many different senses, referring among other things to:

* [[attitude (psychology)|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 a [[community]] of people;

* [[co-operation]] or co-operative characteristics between people;

* relations of (mutual) dependence;

* the [[public sector]] ("social sector") or the need for [[governance]] for the good of all, contrasted with the [[private sector]];

* in [[existentialist]] and [[postmodernist]] thought, relationships between the [[Self (philosophy)|Self]] and the [[Other]];

* interactive systems in communities of [[animal]] or [[insect]] 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]]" and [[individualist]] theories of society. This is reflected for instance in the different perspectives of [[liberalism]] and [[socialism]] 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.

==Social theorists==

In the view of [[Karl Marx]]<ref name=morrison>Morrison, Ken. ''Marx, Durkheim, Weber. Formations of modern social thought''</ref><references group="foo"/>, 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 by [[socialization]] processes; and, according to Marx, in producing and reproducing their material life, people must necessarily enter into [[relations of production]] which are "independent of their will". ▼

By contrast, the sociologist [[Max Weber]]<ref name=morrison/> 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 behaviourbehavior of others, and is thereby oriented in its course". In this case, the "social" domain really exists only in the [[intersubjective]] 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 "[[Privacy|private]]".▼

▲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 by [[socialization]] processes; and, according to Marx, in producing and reproducing their material life, people must necessarily enter into [[relations of production]] which are "independent of their will".

==In socialism==

▲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 behaviour of others, and is thereby oriented in its course". In this case, the "social" domain really exists only in the [[intersubjective]] 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 "[[Privacy|private]]".

The term "[[socialism]]", used from the 1830s onwards in [[France]] and Englandthe [[United Kingdom]], was directly related to what was called the [[social question]],. inIn essence, the[[Utopian problemsocialism|early socialists]] contended that the emergence of competitive [[Market (economics)|market]] societies did not create "liberty, equality and fraternity" for all citizens, requiring the intervention of [[politics]] and [[social reform]] to tackle social problems, injustices and grievances (a topic on which [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] discourses at length in his classic work ''[[The Social Contract]]''). Originally the term "socialist" was often used interchangeably with "[[co-operative]]", "[[Mutualism (economic theory)|mutualist]]", "[[associationist]]" and "[[Collectivism and individualism|collectivist]]". in reference to the organization of economic enterprise socialists advocated, in contrast to the [[private enterprise]] and [[Corporation|corporate]] organizational structures inherent to [[capitalism]].▼

The modern concept of socialism evolved in response to the development of industrial capitalism. The "social" in modern "socialism" came to refer to the specific perspective and understanding socialists had of the development of material, economic forces and determinants of human behavior in society. Specifically, it denoted the perspective that [[Human nature|human behavior]] is largely determined by a person's immediate [[social environment]], that modes of social organization were not [[supernatural]] or [[metaphysical]] constructs but products of the social system and social environment, which were in turn products of the level of technology/mode of production (the material world), and were therefore constantly changing. Social and economic systems were thus not the product of innate human nature, but of the underlying form of economic organization and level of technology in a given society, implying that human social relations and incentive-structures would also change as social relations and social organization changes in response to improvements in technology and evolving material forces ([[relations of production]]). This perspective formed the bulk of the foundation for Karl Marx's [[Historical materialism|materialist conception of history]].

In the [[positivist]] sociology of [[Emile 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'.

==Socialism and social democracy==

▲The term "[[socialism]]", used from the 1830s onwards in France and England, was directly related to what was called the [[social question]], in essence the problem that the emergence of competitive [[market]] societies did not create "liberty, equality and fraternity" for all citizens, requiring the intervention of [[politics]] and [[social reform]] to tackle social problems, injustices and grievances (a topic on which [[Jean-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 extending [[democratic]] forms of association to the whole of society, substituting [[popular sovereignty]], the [[universal franchise]] and [[social ownership]] for the rule of a propertied class which had exclusive voting rights.

==Modern uses==

In contemporary society, "social" often refers to the [[Redistribution (economics)|redistributive]] policies of the government which aim to apply resources in the [[public interest]], for example, [[social security]]. Policy concerns then include the problems of [[social exclusion]] and [[social cohesion]]. Here, "social" contrasts with "[[Privacy|private]]" and to the distinction between the public and the private (or privatised) spheres, where [[ownership 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 between [[humans]] and other [[extant taxon|living]] species in order to explain [[social behavior]] in terms of [[biology|biological]] factors. The term "social" is also added in various other academic sub-disciplines such as [[social geography]], [[social psychology]], [[social anthropology]], [[social philosophy]], [[social ontology]], [[social statistics]] and [[social choice theory]] in mathematics.

==RegionalSee usesalso==

{{div col|colwidth=25em}}

*[[da:Social construct]]▼

There is a pecular 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-proffit organisation, charity, or some other worthy cause). It is also known as a [[Manitoba Social]]. Typically, they will include music (current popular music for the youth and "oldies" music 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.)

*[[fr:Social cue]]▼

*[[Social issues]]

*[[Social media]]

*[[Social network]]

*[[Social networking service]]

*[[Social neuroscience]]

*[[Social pension]]

*[[Category:Social psychology]]▼

*[[Social skills]]

*[[Social studies]]

*[[Social support]]

*[[Social undermining]]

*[[Social work]]

*[[Sociology]]

{{div col end}}

==References==

{{Reflist}}

{{unreferenced||article|date=October 2006}}

<div class="references-small">

<references/>

</div>

==External links==

{{Wiktionary}}

* [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009JMarA...4...21D, Dolwick, JS. 2009. The 'Social' and Beyond: Introducing Actor Network Theory], article examining different meanings of the concept 'social'

{{Authority control}}

{{external_links}}

▲[[Category:Social psychology]]

[[Category:Sociological terminology]]

▲[[da:Social]]

[[Category:Social sciences terminology]]

[[de:Sozial]]

▲[[fr:Social]]

[[id:Sosial]]

[[la:Socialis]]

[[lt:Socialinis]]

[[nl:Sociaal]]