Encyclopedia of Opinion
Question
What is society?
Position‹2 of 6›

Society is a shared culture

This position holds that society is defined by a shared culture. It argues that societies emerge around common values, beliefs, and tenets, and that a shared language binds their members together into a coherent, cooperating whole.

Supporting arguments · 2

  1. A society shares its cultural values, beliefs, and tenets
    Societies form around those with common values. Values are a culture’s standard for discerning what is good and just in society. Values are deeply embedded and critical for transmitting and teaching a culture’s beliefs. Beliefs are the tenets or convictions that people hold to be true. Individuals in a society have specific beliefs, but they also share collective values.
  2. A society shares a language
    Societies are organized around a common parlance like language that allows communication and social ties. Without language there is no society. Is language really constituting society or is society constituting a language?