Jump to content

Portal:Society

Page semi-protected
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Portal topics
Activities
Culture
Geography
Health
History
Mathematics
Nature
People
Philosophy
Religion
Society
Technology
Random portal
edit 

The Society Portal

Ant (formicidae) social ethology
Ant (formicidae) social ethology

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...)

edit 

Selected article

Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the world's smallest continent and a number of islands, the largest of which is Tasmania. Australia has been inhabited for about 50,000 years by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Eastern Australia was claimed by the British in 1770, and officially settled as a British penal colony on 26 January 1788. As the population grew and new areas were explored, six largely self-governing Crown colonies were established within Australia over the course of the 19th century. On 1 January 1901 the six colonies federated and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since federation, Australia has had a stable liberal democratic political system and remains a Commonwealth realm. Australia currently has a population of about 20 million, concentrated mainly in the coastal cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
edit 

Featured picture

Batak warriorsCredit: Kristen Feilberg; Restoration: Peter Weis

Batak warriors in 1870. The term "Batak" is used to collectively identify a number of ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia. It includes the Toba, Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Angkola and Mandailing, each of which are distinct but related groups with distinct, albeit related, languages and customs (adat).

edit 

Did you know...

An emaciated child and adult

  • ... that emaciation (pictured) is referred to as "shosha roga" in India, where more than 200 million people are affected by malnutrition?
  • ... that the Prison Officers Association threatened a job action when it was announced that both Birmingham and Oakwood Prisons were to be contracted to security company G4S?
  • ... that Albanian philosopher and poet Arshi Pipa was imprisoned for ten years because he antagonized the communist regime in Albania with his recitation of a verse by Goethe?
edit 

Anniversaries this month

Foot binding

edit 

Selected quote

William Wordsworth
— William Wordsworth, The Excursion (1814), Book III.
edit 

Selected biography

Alan Turing
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS (/ˈtjʊərɪŋ/ TURE-ing; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954), was a British mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, giving a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general purpose computer. Turing is widely considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. During World War II, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre. For a time he was head of Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including the method of the bombe, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine. After the war, he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he created one of the first designs for a stored-program computer, the ACE. In 1948 Turing joined Max Newman's Computing Laboratory at Manchester University, where he assisted in the development of the Manchester computers and became interested in mathematical biology. He wrote a paper on the chemical basis of morphogenesis, and predicted oscillating chemical reactions such as the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction, which were first observed in the 1960s. Turing's homosexuality resulted in a criminal prosecution in 1952, when homosexual acts were still illegal in the United Kingdom. He accepted treatment with female hormones (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison. Turing died in 1954, just over two weeks before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined that his death was suicide; his mother and some others believed his death was accidental. On 10 September 2009, following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for "the appalling way he was treated". As of May 2012 a private member's bill was before the House of Lords which would grant Turing a statutory pardon if enacted. (Full article...)
edit 

Featured audio

1912 – The Right of the People to Rule
Excerpts of a speech given by Theodore Roosevelt at Carnegie Hall, March 12, 1912, recorded August 12 by Thomas Edison. The time constraints of the wax cylinder medium probably required the abridgement.
edit 

Categories

Society categories
Society categories
Society
edit 

Related portals

edit 

Recognized content

Featured articles

Featured lists

Good articles

Featured pictures

  • 20151030 Syrians and Iraq refugees arrive at Skala Sykamias Lesvos Greece 2
    20151030 Syrians and Iraq refugees arrive at Skala Sykamias Lesvos Greece 2
  • Bertillon, Alphonse, fiche anthropométrique recto-verso
    Bertillon, Alphonse, fiche anthropométrique recto-verso
  • Cicatrices de flagellation sur un esclave
    Cicatrices de flagellation sur un esclave
  • Daisy (1964)
  • DurbanSign1989
    DurbanSign1989
  • Frances Benjamin Johnston, Self-Portrait (as "New Woman"), 1896
    Frances Benjamin Johnston, Self-Portrait (as "New Woman"), 1896
  • Jane Addams - Bain News Service
    Jane Addams - Bain News Service
  • Marine da nang
    Marine da nang
  • Nanook of the North
  • SantaCruz-CuevaManos-P2210651b
    SantaCruz-CuevaManos-P2210651b
  • United States President Barack Obama bends down to allow the son of a White House staff member to touch his head
    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
    W.E.B. Du Bois by James E. Purdy, 1907
  • Xiahe mandible
    Xiahe mandible
edit 

Things you can do
Here are some tasks awaiting attention:
edit 

WikiProjects

Related projects

WikiProjects

What are WikiProjects?
edit 

Web resources

edit 

Associated Wikimedia

Society on Wikibooks  Society on Wikimedia Commons Society on Wikinews  Society on Wikiquote  Society on Wikisource  Society on Wikiversity  Society on Wiktionary 
Manuals and books Images and media News Quotations Texts Learning resources Definitions
Discover Wikipedia using portals
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portal:Society&oldid=1147915925"