Society

The word society was derived from the French word ‘société’ in the 15th century which was in turn derived from Latin word ‘societas’. A society consists of a group of people who have common interests or belong to the same community. They might belong to the same religion or same race or same profession or same locality or any other factor which is common among the group. It most cases these people belonging to the group are volunteer themselves who wish to be in the group for some reason. In some other cases, members of the group become a part of the particular society unconsciously rather obviously. A religious society would be an apt example for this. A born Christian would obviously belong to the Christian society.

The same word ‘society’ is implicated differently when it comes to different practitioners. In political science, society is used to refer the totality of human relationships. Whereas in sociology, society refers to the group of people who form a semi closed social system. Here the interaction is limited only with members within the group. Various anthropologists and sociologists have defined the same word differently depending on their own beliefs and theories. But in fact, history reveals that various societies were formed based on the level of technology each group possessed or the occupation they were in. People were mainly categorized into farmers, hunters, teachers, cleaners, industrialists, traders, laborers and so on. These form the basic community but there are also societies which are a combination of more than one of these communities.

With the advancement in technology and the livelihood of human beings, a new form of society has also recently emerged. This is the virtual society which is formed within the members who belong to the online community. This linking has been made even simpler with the evolution of a number of community websites and portals. Whatever be the form of the society, it has four main characteristics in it. The first is the criteria for membership, the social network, characteristic patterns and beliefs or goals (in some cases). As any society is formed based on some common interest or belief, they are very keen in maintaining them. From these beliefs evolves the criteria for becoming a member of the group and later form a social network with some characteristic patterns. By all means, a society is knot which binds everyone in the society to follow some wise generic rules thereby keeping them united.

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