What are the important factors that affects of social environment?

Man lives in an environment where both abiotic and biotic factors affect him. He learns to adapt himself to these in several ways. There is also another kind of environment, which plays an important role in man’s living conditions, this is the social environment.

Factors affecting our Social Environment

Social environment includes cultural norms and values. Political, economic and religious institutions constitute an important part of the social milieu and often decide how the environmental resources will be utilized by people and for whose benefit these will be utilized. As such, these factors put constraints on resource utilization.

The social environment can be understood in terms of broad structural arrangements of the society. Let us first be clear about what we mean by social structure. Social structure has been described as the network of social institutions. It is a complex of various groups and institutions, which constitute the society.

The existence of human society requires certain arrangements, which can be delineated in terms of patterned relationships between groups and institutions. The minimum requirements seem to be:

i. An economic system dealing with the production and distribution of goods.

ii. A system of communication, which includes developing a language and also technology so that information can flow from one part to other. Language changes according to one’s culture. To illustrate new scientific knowledge new technical language has had to be evolved to explain various concepts in science and technology. Various media, print and electronic are all a part of communication technology.

iii. Arrangements including family, education or raising a well balanced family including the education of children so that every individual is able to contribute towards society.

iv. A system of authority and power. This is done through political institutions, which are necessary for the attainment of public goals.

v. A system of ritual, serving to maintain or to increase social cohesion and to give social recognition to significant personal events such as birth, courtship, marriage, and death.

The major institutions and groups of the society are concerned with such basic requirements; together they constitute social environment. Let us talk about some of them in a little more detail.

Family

Family is one of the basic institutions of social organization. In the wide context of the socio-cultural environment, it performs various functions including reproduction of humans, socialization of children, transferring of cultural traditions from one generation to another, and so on. Functions of the family are varied in nature, based on the norms, values, beliefs and morals of the society.

Group of families live together and form communities. These communities could be classified on the basis of their occupation, religious faith, country, etc., and together they form the society within a geographical boundary.

Thus, society can be called a group of interacting people who live in a specific geographical area, who are organized in a cooperative manner and who share a common culture.

Culture

So, the question arises “What is culture?” Culture is the man-made part of the environment. It determines social environment and social action. Culture guides a person to select a particular set of behavior that is permitted to him by his biological heritage.

According to Edward Tylor, a British anthropologist, “culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”.

The cultural environment cannot remain unaffected by its social norms, economics, political and religious institutions.

Economy is an important factor, which determines how resources are acquired and used. For example, surface mining of coal is preferred to underground mining in many parts of the world because it is much cheaper though it is environmentally much more destructive, especially as it adversely affects wildlife habitat. Thus, economic activity is directly related to one’s survival and is in turn affected by the total cultural environment.

The legal system helps to regulate the social mores of society. It defines the rights and privileges of the citizens. It can play an important role in conserving the natural habitat. For example, Conservation Law can affect – how much habitat is destroyed, how much hunting and poaching occurs, and which species will or will not be hunted. Similarly, appropriate legislation can ensure proper land use by preventing undue urbanization of agricultural land by fixing a suitable proportion of built-up area to green belts, which function as lungs of the large cities. Legislative measures can also ensure a judicious and equitable distribution of land.