Portal:Society

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The Society Portal

A society is a group of people who form a semi-closed system. At its simplest, the term society refers to a large group of people sharing their own culture and institutions. A society, then, is a network of relationships between people. The English word society is derived from the French société, which, in turn, had its origin in the Latin societas, a "friendly association with others," from socius meaning "companion, associate, comrade or business partner." Thus, the meaning of society is closely related to what is considered to be social. Implicit in the meaning of society is that its members may share some mutual concern or interest, a common objective or common characteristics. The social sciences generally use the term society to mean a group of people who form a semi-closed social system, in which most interactions are with other individuals belonging to the group. more abstractly, a society is defined as a network of relationships between social entities. A society is also sometimes defined as an interdependent community, but the sociologist Tönnies sought to draw a contrast between society and community. an important feature of society is social structure, aspects of which include roles and social ranking.

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is a prominent guardian spirit in Zoroastrianism and Iranian culture that is believed to be a depiction of a Fravashi.">

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The Iranian people are a collection of ethnic groups primarily defined by their usage of Iranian languages. The Iranian people live chiefly in the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and parts of South Asia, though speakers of Iranian languages were once found throughout Eurasia, from the Balkans to western China. As Iranian people are not confined to the borders of the current state of Iran, the term Iranic people is sometimes used as an alternative in order to avoid confusion with the citizens of modern Iran. The series of ethnic groups which comprise the Iranian people are traced to a branch of the ancient Indo-European Aryans known as the Iranians or Proto-Iranians. Some scant information about the way of life of these early Aryans has been elucidated through archaeological finds in Russia, Central Asia and the Middle East. The Iranian people have played an important role throughout history: the Achaemenid Persians established the world's first multi-national state, and the Scythian-Sarmatian nomads dominated the vast expanses of Russia and western Siberia for centuries and gave birth to the infamous Amazons. In addition, the various religions of the Iranian people, including Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, were important early philosophical influences on Judeo-Christianity. Early Iranian tribes were the precursors to many diverse modern people, including the Persians, the Kurds, the Pashtuns, and many other, smaller groups. The southern Iranian people survived Alexander the Great's conquests, Muslim Arab attempts at cultural dominance, and devastating assaults by the Mongols, whereas the Iranians of the north were largely assimilated by the Slavs and other European people. (More...)

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Sunday textile market on the sidewalks of Karachi, Pakistan.

Photo credit: Steve Evans

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Featured articles

Selected Featured articles about Society:

Gender role · Greco-Buddhism · David Helvarg · Kashrut · Kibbutz · Ku Klux Klan · Sociocultural evolution · Tiananmen Square protests of 1989

· Weber, Max

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Did you know...

...that and salt">bread and salt is a traditional greeting ceremony (pictured) symbolizing hospitality in Slavic countries?
and salt presented to Stefan Batory during the Siege of Pskov"> and salt presented to Stefan Batory during the Siege of Pskov" width="100" height="59" longdesc="../../../j/a/n/Image%7EJan_Matejko-Batory_pod_Pskowem.jpg_2cd9.html" />
...that economist Barbara Ward, an early advocate of sustainable development, was the first woman ever to address a synod of Roman Catholic bishops?
...that the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange is the second oldest stock exchange in India, and first functioned under a banyan tree?
...that in the Penguins' Rebellion, over 800,000 Chilean high school students demanded education reforms from the government of Michelle Bachelet?

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Quotes

It is the retention by twentieth-century, Atom-Age men of the Neolithic point of view that says: You stay in your village and I will stay in mine. If your sheep eat our grass we will kill you, or we may kill you anyhow to get all the grass for our own sheep. Anyone who tries to make us change our ways is a witch and we will kill him. Keep out of our village.

Carleton S. Coon, The Story of Man (1954).

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