Concept
Social system
Overview
In sociology, a social system is the patterned network of relationships constituting a coherent whole that exist between individuals, groups, and institutions. It is the formal structure of role and status that can form in a small, stable group. An individual may belong to multiple social systems at once; examples of social systems include nuclear family units, communities, cities, nations, college campuses, religions, corporations, and industries. The organization and definition of groups within a social system depend on various shared properties such as location, socioeconomic status, race, religion, societal function, or other distinguishable features.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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A great deal depends upon the kind of image that dominates a man’s thinking, often quite unconsciously. A social system may be conceived in many ways; the commonest are a mould, a machine, and a tree.
Bertrand Russell, Education and the good life
Names Social system twice.
These are weighty considerations, and they provide a solution for all the conflicting problems of our social system. There are two kinds of dependence: dependence on things, which is the work of nature; and dependence on men, which is the work of society. Dependence on things, being non-moral, does no injury to liberty and begets no vices; dependence on men, being out of order, [Footnote: In my PRINCIPLES OF…
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile
Names Social system twice; opens on Social system.
My main thesis is that a social system is kept together by the blind force of instinctive actions, and of instinctive emotions clustered around habits and prejudices. It is therefore not true that any advance in the scale of culture inevitably tends to the preservation of society. On the whole, the contrary is more often the case, and any survey of nature confirms this conclusion. A new element in life renders in…
Alfred North Whitehead, Symbolism, its meaning and effect
States what Social system is; opens on Social system.
Philosophers who discussed Social system
Related ideas
Opposing perspectives
Place in the tradition
Part of Ancient history.