Portal:Society

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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...)

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Birth control, also known as contraception and fertility control, refers to methods or devices used to prevent pregnancy. Planning and provision of birth control is called family planning. Safe sex, such as the use of male or female condoms, can also help prevent transmission of sexually transmitted diseases. Contraceptive use in developing countries has cut the number of maternal deaths by 44% (about 270,000 deaths averted in 2008) but could prevent 73% if the full demand for birth control were met. Because teenage pregnancies are at greater risk of adverse outcomes such as preterm birth, low birth weight and infant mortality, adolescents need comprehensive sex education and access to reproductive health services, including contraception. By lengthening the time between pregnancies, birth control can also improve adult women's delivery outcomes and the survival of their children. Effective birth control methods include barriers such as condoms, diaphragms, and the contraceptive sponge; hormonal contraception including oral pills, patches, vaginal rings, and injectable contraceptives; and intrauterine devices (IUDs). Emergency contraception can prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex. Long-acting reversible contraception such as implants, IUDs, or vaginal rings are recommended to reduce teenage pregnancy. Sterilization by means such as vasectomy and tubal ligation is permanent contraception. Some people regard sexual abstinence as birth control, but abstinence-only sex education often increases teen pregnancies when offered without contraceptive education. Birth control methods have been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods only became available in the 20th century. For some people, contraception involves moral issues, and many cultures limit access to birth control due to the moral and political issues involved. About 222 million women who want to avoid pregnancy in developing countries are not using a modern contraception method. Birth control increases economic growth because of fewer dependent children, more women participating in the workforce, and less consumption of scarce resources. Women's earnings, assets, body mass index, and their children's schooling and body mass index all substantially improve with greater access to contraception.

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Credit: Photo: American Colony; Restoration: Lise Broer

An Australian Light Horse encampment on Mount Olivet and Mount Scopus near Jerusalem, 1918. Australian Light Horse were mounted troops with characteristics of both cavalry and mounted infantry who served during the Second Boer War and World War I. A number of Australian light horse units are still in existence today, most notably of the 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment (Queensland Mounted Infantry), now a light armoured unit.

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Did you know...

... that an 1851 match between Voltigeur and The Flying Dutchman (see painting) drew 100,000 spectators, the largest crowd at the Knavesmire since 1759?
... that in Egyptian mythology, the Eye of Ra slaughtered masses of people, got drunk, ran away from her owner, and was brought back by her husband?
... that over three million Chinese military and civilian personnel served in Korea during the Korean War?

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Anniversaries this month

4 April 1930 - Foundation of the American Rocket Society, originally named the American Interplanetary Society
13 April 1564 - Pope Pius IV approved the Society of the Holy Name
19 April 1866 - First anti-cruelty law was passed since the founding of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Brooklyn chapter pictured)
22 April 2008 - IEEE Power Engineering Society changed its name to IEEE Power & Energy Society

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“

For every social wrong there must be a remedy. But the remedy can be nothing less than the abolition of the wrong.

”

— Henry George, Social Problems, Chapter IX.

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Larry Sanger

Lawrence Mark "Larry" Sanger (born July 16, 1968) is a former philosophy professor, co-founder of Wikipedia, and the founder of Citizendium. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. From an early age he has been interested in philosophy. Sanger received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Reed College in 1991 and a Doctor of Philosophy in philosophy from Ohio State University in 2000. Most of his philosophical work has focused on epistemology, the theory of knowledge. He has been involved with various online encyclopedia projects. He is the former editor-in-chief of Nupedia, chief organizer (2001–2002) of its successor, Wikipedia, and founding editor-in-chief of Citizendium. From his position at Nupedia, he assembled the process for article development. Sanger proposed implementing a wiki, which led directly to the creation of Wikipedia. Initially Wikipedia was a complementary project for Nupedia. He was Wikipedia's early community leader and established many of its original policies. He spearheaded an alternative wiki-based project, Citizendium. Sanger had left Wikipedia in 2002, and has since been critical of the project. He articulated that despite its merits, Wikipedia lacks credibility due to, among other things, a lack of respect for expertise. After leaving the project, Sanger taught philosophy at Ohio State University and was an early strategist for the expert-authored Encyclopedia of Earth. On September 15, 2006 he publicly announced Citizendium, first envisioned as a fork of Wikipedia. It was launched on March 25, 2007. Citizendium represents an effort to create a credible and free-access encyclopedia. Sanger had aimed to bring more accountability to the Internet encyclopedia model. He is working on developing educational projects for individuals behind WatchKnowLearn and is designing a program to teach children how to read. He started blogging on various subjects, including baby reading. He also works part-time as a writer, speaker, and consultant on the topic of collaborative online communities. (Full article...)

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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)

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Recognized content

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

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20151030 Syrians and Iraq refugees arrive at Skala Sykamias Lesvos Greece 2
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Daisy (1964)
DurbanSign1989
Frances Benjamin Johnston, Self-Portrait (as "New Woman"), 1896
Jane Addams - Bain News Service
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Nanook of the North
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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

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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

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WikiProjects

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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.

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Associated Wikimedia

Society on Wikibooks	Society on Wikimedia Commons	Society on Wikinews	Society on Wikiquote	Society on Wikisource	Society on Wikiversity	Society on Wiktionary
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