Society

In broad terms, a society is a group of individuals who are engaged in social

interaction or who share the same territory. Members of society are often
subject to the same political, economic, institutional and
cultural environment, conditions and expectations.

According to structuralist thought, a society is an economic, social,

industrial, etc. structure that is comprised of individuals yet can be viewed
in isolation from them as a ‘material’ thing.

Societies are often structured in a political way, with varying types

and levels of governance, accountability, taxation, and so on.

Societies construct patterns of behavior by deeming certain actions or

speech as acceptable or unacceptable. These patterns of behavior within a
given society are known as societal norms. Societies, and their norms,
undergo gradual and perpetual changes.
Insofar as it is collaborative, a society can enable its members to benefit in
ways that would not otherwise be possible on an individual basis; both
individual and social (common) benefits can thus be distinguished, or in
many cases found to overlap. A society can also consist of like-minded
people governed by their own norms and values within a dominant, larger
society. This is sometimes referred to as a subculture, a term used
extensively within criminology.
More broadly, and especially within structuralist thought, a society may be
illustrated as an economic, social, industrial or cultural infrastructure,
made up of, yet distinct from, a varied collection of individuals. In this
regard society can mean the objective relationships people have with the
material world and with other people, rather than "other people" beyond the
individual and their familiar social environment.

The built environment is often the setting within which a society exists. The
term ‘built environment’ refers to aspects of our surroundings that are built
by humans, that is, distinguished from the natural environment. It includes
not only buildings, but the human-made spaces between buildings, such as
parks, and the infrastructure that supports the activity of societies such as
transportation networks, utilities networks, flood defences,
telecommunications, and so on.