Portal:Society
The Society Portal
A society (/səˈsaɪəti/) is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societies are characterized by patterns of relationships (social relations) between individuals who share a distinctive culture and institutions; a given society may be described as the sum total of such relationships among its constituent members.
Human social structures are complex and highly cooperative, featuring the specialization of labor via social roles. Societies construct roles and other patterns of behavior by deeming certain actions or concepts acceptable or unacceptable—these expectations around behavior within a given society are known as societal norms. So far as it is collaborative, a society can enable its members to benefit in ways that would otherwise be difficult on an individual basis.
Societies vary based on level of technology and type of economic activity. Larger societies with larger food surpluses often exhibit stratification or dominance patterns. Societies can have many different forms of government, various ways of understanding kinship, and different gender roles. Human behavior varies immensely between different societies; humans shape society, but society in turn shapes human beings. (Full article...)
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Credit: U.S. Lithograph Co.; Restoration: JujutacularA 1907 advertising poster for the play Arizona by American playwright Augustus Thomas. The play tells the story of the affection between a young cavalry man and a rancher's daughter. The young cavalryman is accused of theft, forced to resign, and then accused of murder. It opened in Chicago on June 12, 1899, with a cast led by Theodore Roberts and sets and costumes designed by Frederic Remington.
Did you know...
- ... that according to Russian sociologist Daria Khaltourina, Protestantism positively influenced the capitalist development of social systems through the promotion of literacy and Bible reading?
- ... that Rhodesian soccer captain Bobby Chalmers, a white man, was assisted in his leadership of the mostly black national team by his proficiency in both Ndebele and Shona?
- ... that following the 2011 Libyan civil war, many Tuareg fighters (pictured) for the defeated government became members of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, seeking an independent Azawad?
Anniversaries this month
- 1 May 1776 - Foundation of the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society
- 1 May 1869 - New York Genealogical and Biographical Society elects its first woman member
- 7 May 1964 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson (pictured) first makes reference to the Great Society
- 10 May 1793 - Society of Revolutionary Republican Women officially registered at the Paris Commune
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John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, CB, FBA (/ˈkeɪnz/ KAYNZ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946) was a British economist whose ideas have profoundly affected the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics, and informed the economic policies of governments. He built on and greatly refined earlier work on the causes of business cycles, and is widely considered to be one of the founders of modern macroeconomics and the most influential economist of the 20th century.His ideas are the basis for the school of thought known as Keynesian economics, as well as its various offshoots. In the 1930s, Keynes spearheaded a revolution in economic thinking, overturning the older ideas of neoclassical economics that held that free markets would, in the short to medium term, automatically provide full employment, as long as workers were flexible in their wage demands. Keynes instead argued that aggregate demand determined the overall level of economic activity, and that inadequate aggregate demand could lead to prolonged periods of high unemployment. He advocated the use of fiscal and monetary measures to mitigate the adverse effects of economic recessions and depressions. Following the outbreak of World War II, Keynes's ideas concerning economic policy were adopted by leading Western economies. During the 1950s and 1960s, the success of Keynesian economics resulted in almost all capitalist governments adopting its policy recommendations. Keynes's influence waned in the 1970s, partly as a result of problems that began to afflict the Anglo-American economies from the start of the decade, and partly because of critiques from Milton Friedman and other economists who were pessimistic about the ability of governments to regulate the business cycle with fiscal policy. (Full article...)
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Web resources
- Definition of Society from the OED.
- Internet Modern History Sourcebook: Industrial Revolution
- "The Day the World Took Off" Six part video series from the University of Cambridge tracing the question "Why did the Industrial Revolution begin when and where it did."
- BBC History Home Page – Industrial Revolution
- National Museum of Science and Industry website – machines and personalities
- Industrial Revolution and the Standard of Living by Clark Nardinelli - the debate over whether standards of living rose or fell.
