Bysen:Portal:Society/Intro

Se gefērscipe is samnung manna, þe sāmgeclȳsede endebyrdnesse gehīwiaþ. Anfealdost spricþ þæt word gefērscipe tō small group of people sharing their own cultures and institutions. Gefērscipe is þus webb gesibbnessa betwēonan lēodum. Þæt Nīwe Englisce word society cymþ of þǣm Frenciscum société, þe, on nīehstan, hæfde his fruman mid þǣm Lǣdenan societas, "frēondlic þēodscipe mid ōðrum," of socius mid mǣnunge "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 every 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 saw a contradiction between “society” and “community”. An important feature of society is social structure, aspects of which include roles and social ranking.