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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The Azerbaijani people are an ethnic group largely found in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijanis, commonly referred to as Azeris, live in a wider area from the Caucasus to the Iranian plateau. The Azeris are normally at least nominally Muslim and have a mixed cultural heritage of Turkic, Iranian, and Caucasian elements. Despite living on both sides of an international border, the Azeris form a single group. However, northerners and southerners differ due to nearly two centuries of separate social evolution in Russian/Soviet-influenced Azerbaijan and Iranian Azarbaijan. The Azerbaijani language unifies Azeris and is mutually intelligible with Turkmen and Turkish. As a result of this separate existence, the Azeris are mainly secularists in Azerbaijan and religious Muslims in Iranian Azarbaijan. Since Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, there has been renewed interest in religion and cross-border ethnic ties.

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Credit: William Simpson; Restoration: Adam Cuerden

The Battle of Malakoff, during the Crimean War, was fought between the Russian and the allied French-British armies on 7 September 1855. In one of the war's defining moments, a French zouave installed the French flag on the top of the Russian redoubt, as depicted here. The battle brought about the capture of Sevastopol after an 11-month siege.

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Did you know...

... that Mayan eccentrics (pictured) were often buried under monuments and buildings?
... that the name of the Nuer White Army, a militant group in South Sudan, reportedly originated from the Nuer youths' use of light-colored insect repellents on their skin?
... that the 400 people interviewed for an oral history of MTV's early years could not agree on what was the best video, but they all agreed Billy Squier's "Rock Me Tonite" was the worst?

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Anniversaries this month

14 October 1946 - Foundation of the American Immigration Lawyers Association
25 October 1955 - Installation of the first officers of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots
30 October 1913 - British Psychoanalytical Society was founded by the British psychiatrist Ernest Jones (pictured back middle) as the London Psychoanalytical Society

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“

There are not enough jails, not enough policemen, not enough courts to enforce a law not supported by the people.

”

— Hubert Humphrey

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William D. Boyce

William D. Boyce (1858–1929) was an American newspaper man, entrepreneur, magazine publisher, and explorer. He was the founder of the Boy Scouts of America and the short-lived Lone Scouts of America. Born in Plum Township, Pennsylvania and an astute businessman, Boyce successfully established several newspapers. He moved to Chicago to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions. There he established the Mutual Newspaper Publishing Company and the weekly Saturday Blade. With his novel employment of newsboys to boost newspaper sales, Boyce's namesake publishing company maintained a circulation of 500,000 copies per week by 1894. By the early years of the 20th century, Boyce had become a multi-millionaire and had taken a step back from his businesses to pursue his interests in civic affairs, devoting more time to traveling and participating in expeditions. In 1909, he embarked on a two-month trip to Europe and a large photographic expedition to Africa with photographer George R. Lawrence and cartoonist John T. McCutcheon. Boyce learned about Scouting while passing through London, England during his first expedition to Africa in 1909. From its start, Boyce focused the Scouting program on teaching self-reliance, citizenship, resourcefulness, patriotism, obedience, cheerfulness, courage, and courtesy in order "to make men". (Full article...)

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1788 – Auld Lang Syne

Frank C. Stanley's 1910 performance of Robert Burns' Auld Lang Syne. Contains the first and last verse.

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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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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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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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