Portal:Society

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The Society Portal

World Summit on the Information Society, Geneva

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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

edit

Selected article

The definition of Macedonia is a major source of confusion due to the overlapping use of the term to describe geographical, political and historical areas, languages and peoples. Ethnic groups inhabiting the area use different terminology for the same entity, or the same terminology for different entities. Geographically, no single definition of its borders or the names of its subdivisions is accepted by all scholars and ethnic groups. Demographically, it is mainly inhabited by four ethnic groups, three of which self-identify as Macedonians: One Slavic group does so at a national level, while another, Bulgarians, as well as a Greek one do so at a regional level. Linguistically, the names and origins of the languages and dialects spoken in the region are a source of controversy. Politically, the use of the name Macedonia has led to a diplomatic dispute between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia. Despite intervention from the United Nations, the dispute is still pending full resolution.

More selected articles

More...

edit

Featured picture

Credit: Julius Giere

A lithographed portrait of King George V of Hanover, his wife Marie of Saxe-Altenburg and their children Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince (right), Frederica (centre), and Marie (left). George succeeded his father Ernest Augustus I as King of Hanover on 18 November 1851. His 15-year reign came to an end in 1866 when Prussia forcibly annexed Hanover in response to Hanover's support for Austria during the Austro-Prussian War.

More selected pictures

Read more

edit

Did you know...

... that Paul Davidson produced thirty-nine movies directed by Ernst Lubitsch?
... that the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society has donated over 60,000 corneas for transplantation in 57 countries, including those of the late President of Sri Lanka, J. R. Jayewardene?
... that the ISNSCE's Tulip Award in DNA Computing was first given in Leiden (pictured), whose botanical garden is known as the birthplace of the tulip culture in the Netherlands?

More did you know facts

edit

Anniversaries this month

9 June 1886 - Centennial celebration of the foundation of the Stoughton Musical Society
14 June 1957 - IEEE Education Society was formed as the IRE Professional Group on Education
24 June 1834 - The Canadiens founded what would become the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society
30 June 1897 - Foundation of the Shanghai Foot Emancipation Society (foot binding pictured)

More anniversaries...

edit

Selected quote

“

Acting is merely the art of keeping a large number of people from coughing.

”

— Ralph Richardson

More selected quotes

More at Wikiquote

edit

Selected biography

Carl Linnaeus

Carl Linnaeus (Swedish original name Carl Nilsson Linnæus, 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné, was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology. Many of his writings were in Latin, and his name is rendered in Latin as Carolus Linnæus (after 1761 Carolus a Linné). Linnaeus was born in the countryside of Småland, in southern Sweden. Linnaeus received most of his higher education at Uppsala University, and began giving lectures in botany there in 1730. He lived abroad between 1735 and 1738, where he studied and also published a first edition of his Systema Naturae in the Netherlands. He then returned to Sweden, where he became professor of botany at Uppsala. In the 1740s, he was sent on several journeys through Sweden to find and classify plants and animals. In the 1750s and 60s, he continued to collect and classify animals, plants, and minerals, and published several volumes. At the time of his death, he was one of the most acclaimed scientists in Europe. In botany, the author abbreviation used to indicate Linnaeus as the authority for species' names is L. In 1959, Carl Linnaeus was designated as the lectotype for Homo sapiens, which means that following the nomenclatural rules, Homo sapiens was validly defined as the animal species to which Linnaeus belonged. (Full article...)

More selected biographies

edit

Featured audio

1941 – Four Freedoms speech.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt's January 6, 1941 State of the Union Address, using the theme of the Four Freedoms, which he felt represented universal rights in a well-formed society, to explain why he brought America to join World War II. (transcript)

More selected audio

Read more

edit

Related portals

edit

Recognized content

Featured articles

Featured lists

List of awards and nominations received by Penn & Teller: Bullshit!

Good articles

Featured pictures

20151030 Syrians and Iraq refugees arrive at Skala Sykamias Lesvos Greece 2
Bertillon, Alphonse, fiche anthropométrique recto-verso
Cicatrices de flagellation sur un esclave
Daisy (1964)
DurbanSign1989
Frances Benjamin Johnston, Self-Portrait (as "New Woman"), 1896
Jane Addams - Bain News Service
Marine da nang
Nanook of the North
SantaCruz-CuevaManos-P2210651b
United States President Barack Obama bends down to allow the son of a White House staff member to touch his head
W.E.B. Du Bois by James E. Purdy, 1907
Xiahe mandible

edit

Things you can do

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Article requests : Check article requests in Business and economics topics • Social sciences topics • Requested pictures of society topics
Assess : Check article deletion discussions listed at Deletion sorting – Social science
Cleanup : check new articles for cleanup from Sociology-related new article feed
Copyedit : Check Sociology article alerts for interesting articles to copyedit
Expand : Expand articles in categories including: Culture, Law, Education, Politics
Featured article candidates : Review society-related articles submitted at Featured Article candidates, especially those at FAC urgents
Good article nominations : Check out articles under review for Good Article candidacy, in the Social sciences and society section
Maintain : Check the recent changes page for improvements, other changes, and vandalism to these articles
Stubs : Take on project for improvement of one of the Sociology stubs
Verify : Articles with notability concerns, listed at WikiProject Notability

edit

WikiProjects

Related projects

What are WikiProjects?

edit

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.

edit

Associated Wikimedia

Society on Wikibooks	Society on Wikimedia Commons	Society on Wikinews	Society on Wikiquote	Society on Wikisource	Society on Wikiversity	Society on Wiktionary
Manuals and books	Images and media	News	Quotations	Texts	Learning resources	Definitions