Society
Society is the term to describe human beings together as a collective entity – the sum of their social networks and social interactions.
Origin
The term comes from the Latin idea of societas, or the connection between friends or allies – friend or ally being socius. It can also mean a specific group of people who interact, as well as a wider society of which they are members. People form societies to gain greater benefits as a group than would be possible separately. Many animals beside humans also do this, such as wolves or eusocial insects. Sociology is the name for the study of society.
Concept
A society is often considered in terms of citizenship, rights and ethics. The strength and unity of any society’s members’ willingness to help each other is to be measured can be called social capital.
Political philosophy
A social contract sets out the rules and roles for this kind of cooperation. One kind of social contract is a constitution, which outlines to some extent what society at a given state is intended to be.
Written for younger readers
Society, in simpler words
This version comes from Wikijunior, a set of books written for children aged 8 to 11. It is shorter and uses plainer language than the article above.
From Wikijunior: Transport
Safety, size, speed, space and power of vehicles have become important societal issues since motorisation. How would you characterise effective transport? What measures effectivity? Distance travelled?
The most produced vehicles have been the flying pigeon bicycle with 500 million produced in China followed by the Honda Super Cub motorcycle.
Royal trains and state cars are luxury transport.
Different modes transport have had different safety standards. Human jetpacks and wingsuits would be among the most dangerous and walking and cycling off road the safest. Car accidents are more likely than air accidents in fixed wing heavier-than-air aircraft.
This is particularly important for young people attending school to travel safely. Some have walking buses or riding school buses. Crossing patrols or crossguards help students cross busy roads.
The largest vehicles of any mode are cruise ships. The largest air transport are rigid airships. The largest land transports are double decker trains or buses or biarticulated buses (which are also the longest single unit land vehicles). Road trains also exist. Large cars are sometimes large SUVs or recreational vehicles (RV’s or motorhomes).
Cruise ships followed by double decker trains or buses or biarticulated buses have some of the greatest passenger capacities.
The fastest land transport is rocket vehicles. The fastest road vehicles are cars and motorcycles. The fastest water vehicles are speedboats. The fastest transatlantic crossing by water is around four days. The fastest air transport are fighter jets.
Transport can be powered by animal, human, wind, rocket. Pedal power can power a pedalo on water and even flight. A jet engine was once applied to a car. Electrically powered vehicles are regarded as more environmentally friendly than fossil fuel powered diesel or petrol driven vehicles. This is because fossil fuels emit lots of gas into the atmosphere and electrically powered vehicles produce very little or no gas.
For the disabled or visually impaired, walking may require tactile pavement at junctions and audible crossing alerts. Buses, trams and trains may require low floors. Station platforms may require a Harrington hump. Recumbent cycling provision may be required.
Public transport is more sustainable than private transport. The most efficient transport is walking. The most efficient mechanised vehicle is the bicycle. These are also good for public health. Cars take up a lot of space relative to typical passenger numbers. Air pollution caused by traffic congestion is a big issue especially as a cause of climate change.
Model railways are a popular hobby, and this has developed into multiple modes of transport with model towns and cities. These are sometimes features of transport museums or attractions in their own right.
Where this page comes from
The article above is adapted from “Society” on Simple English Wikipedia, by its contributors. We removed reference markers, navigation boxes and tables, expanded measurement templates into readable numbers, and kept the prose otherwise intact. The simpler version is adapted from Wikijunior on Wikibooks.
Both sources are published under CC BY-SA 4.0, so this page is published under the same licence. You may share and adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit the original and keep the same licence.
Worksheets, answer keys and printable layouts elsewhere on K5Print are our own work and are not covered by this licence.