A society is a group of people with shared traditions, cultural traits and values.
Before entering fully into defining the word society that concerns us now, it is essential that we investigate and discover its etymological origin. Specifically, we can emphasize that it is found in Latin and more precisely in the term sociĕtas .
What is a society
Society is a term that describes a group of individuals marked by a common culture , a certain folklore and shared criteria that condition their customs and lifestyle and that relate to each other within the framework of a community . Although the most developed societies are human societies (which are studied by social sciences such as sociology and anthropology ), there are also animal societies (approached from sociobiology or social ethology ).
In this last sense, therefore, we could say that animal societies are those that are established in a completely natural way. Thus, in this way, an example of what we are pointing out would be the following: “The Natural Sciences teacher stressed to us that bees are one of the groups of living beings that live in society.”
Human societies are made up of populations where the inhabitants and their environment interrelate in a common context that gives them an identity and sense of belonging. The concept also implies that the group shares ideological , economic and political ties. When analyzing a society, aspects such as its level of development , technological achievements and quality of life are taken into account.
Society can be organized in different ways.
Features and properties
Experts in the analysis of societies establish a series of hallmarks or characteristics that state that they must be met for group meetings or associations to be considered societies as such.
Thus, among other things, they require having a location in a common geographical area, being constituted in turn into various groups, each with its own social function, they must have a common culture, they can be considered a population in its entirety...
In the same way, they establish that companies have a series of functions that can be classified into two. On the one hand there would be the general ones and on the other hand the specific ones. Regarding the former, they would highlight the fact that they are the instruments through which human relationships are made possible or that develop and establish a series of behavioral norms that are common to all their members.
Origins of the society
Society has existed since man began to populate the planet, although its form of organization has undergone variations throughout history. The society of prehistoric man was organized hierarchically , where a chief (the strongest or wisest of the group) concentrated power. Starting in ancient Greece , the absolutist tendency of power began to change, since the lower levels of society were able to reach certain sectors of importance in decision-making through democracy .
Only in 1789 , with the French Revolution , did social organization change radically: since then, anyone can rise to a higher level of society.
It is worth mentioning that the concept of partnership can also be understood from an economic and legal perspective, to define the union of at least two individuals who undertake to make common contributions and efforts to develop a commercial activity and distribute the profits obtained among themselves.