Social order
From Freepedia
Social order is a concept used in sociology, history and other social sciences.
It refers to a set of linked social structures, social institutions and social practices which conserve, maintain and enforce "normal" ways or relating and behaving.
Thus, a "social order" is a relatively stable system of institutions, pattern of interactions and customs, capable of continually reproducing at least those conditions essential for its own existence. The concept thus refers to all those facets of society which remain relatively constant over time.
These conditions could include both property, exchange and power relations, but also cultural forms, communication relations and ideological systems of values.
Social theorists (such as Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, and Jürgen Habermas have proposed different explanations for what a social order consists of, and what its real basis is. For Marx, it is the relations of production or economic structure which is the basis of a social order. For Durkheim, it is a set of shared social norms. For Parsons, it is a set of social institutions incalculating moral behaviour. For Habermas, it is all of these, as well as communicative action.
Social order contrasts with social change. Social change implies that the existing order or status quo is modified, changed or breaking down. One of the most basic conflicts in politics is between those seeking to conserve social order and those seeking social change. Social order is rarely absolute, since there will always be something that is changing. Nevertheless, there is both continuity and discontinuity in social existence; some things change, other things stay the same. The human brain is unable to cope with a situation where everything changes constantly, and thus it seeks to impose order, even where it doesn't truly exist.
See also
- order
- society
- social
- social relations
- social change
- social control
- social theory
- bureaucracy
- reproduction
