society n
1. an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization
2. a formal association of people with similar interests; "he joined a golf club"; "they formed a small lunch society"; "men from the fraternal order will staff the soup kitchen today" [syn: club, guild, gild, lodge, order]
3. the state of being with someone; "he missed their company"; "he enjoyed the society of his friends" [syn: company, companionship, fellowship]
4. the fashionable elite [syn: high society, beau monde, smart set, bon ton]

Society \So*ci"e*ty\, n.; pl. Societies. [L. societas, fr. socius a companion: cf. F. soci['e]t['e]. See Social.]
1. The relationship of men to one another when associated in any way; companionship; fellowship; company. ``Her loved society.'' --Milton. There is society where none intrudes By the deep sea, and music in its roar. --Byron.
2. Connection; participation; partnership. [R.] The meanest of the people and such as have the least society with the acts and crimes of kings. --Jer. Taylor.
3. A number of persons associated for any temporary or permanent object; an association for mutual or joint usefulness, pleasure, or profit; a social union; a partnership; as, a missionary society.
4. The persons, collectively considered, who live in any region or at any period; any community of individuals who are united together by a common bond of nearness or intercourse; those who recognize each other as associates, friends, and acquaintances.
5. Specifically, the more cultivated portion of any community in its social relations and influences; those who mutually give receive formal entertainments. Society of Jesus. See Jesuit. Society verses [a translation of F. vers de soci['e]t['e]], the lightest kind of lyrical poetry; verses for the amusement of polite society.

Society is the term to describe human beings together (collective, the sum of their social networks and power networks). It does not refer to everything everybody thinks or does, but only to those things that everybody acts upon - or refuses to do - quite reliably.

Because it must keep even the poorest and weakest members of a society willing to help even the richest and strongest, a society is very concerned with its citizenship, rights, ethics and time limits. These are basic ways to achieve fairness. If they break down badly, people will think the society is unfair and start taking things from each other, refusing to help each other, or seeing those who have more as cheats.

While every society is different, the way it breaks down and fails is very often the same: fraud, theft, violence, war and sometimes even genocide if people stop identifying with the society and thus identify with what they think of as a "race" of people. A new society may be formed out of only those who still agree, or who just survive the collapse of an old failed one.

• Sukamto Sia Announces Ten Years of Volunteer Work With American Cancer Society
  NEW YORK, May 20, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Sukamto Sia is proud to announce ten years of involvement with the American Cancer Society. Sukamto Sia enjoys volunteering his time to the American Cancer ... Read more on this news related to 'Society'
• Law Society keen for sentencing detail
  The Law Society says proposed laws to limit use of suspended sentences could threaten court independence. Read more on this news related to 'Society'
• Society swirls with rumors Leonard Lauder is to marry again
  Society is swirling with word that Leonard Lauder, the billionaire chairman of the Estée Lauder company who lost his beloved wife, Evelyn, in 2011 after... Read more on this news related to 'Society'