Sobat Vso-,bat\ River River, east-central Africa. Formed by the con¬ fluence of the Baro and Pibor rivers on the Ethiopian border, it merges with the Jabal River in Sudan to form the White Nile. A major tributary of the Nile River, it is 220 mi (354 km) long.
Sobukwe \s6-'biik-wa\, Robert (Mangaliso) (b. Dec. 5, 1924, Graaff-Reinet, Cape Colony—d. Feb. 27, 1978, Kimberley, S.Af.) South African black nationalist leader. Sobukwe insisted that South Africa be returned to its indigenous inhabitants (“Africa for the Africans”). Charg¬ ing the African National Congress with being contaminated by non- African influences, he founded the Pan-Africanist Congress in 1959 and became a leader in the Pan-African movement. Arrested in 1960, he spent the rest of his life in prison or under house arrest.
soccer See football social class See social class
social contract Actual or hypothetical compact between the ruled and their rulers. The original inspiration for the notion may derive from the biblical covenant between God and Abraham, but it is most closely asso¬ ciated with the writings of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Hobbes argued that the absolute power of the sovereign is jus¬ tified by a hypothetical social contract in which the people agree to obey him in all matters in return for a guarantee of peace and security, which they lack in the warlike “state of nature” posited to exist before the con¬ tract is made. Locke believed that rulers also were obliged to protect pri¬ vate property and the right to freedom of thought, speech, and worship. Rousseau held that in the state of nature people are unwarlike but also undeveloped in reasoning and morality; in surrendering their individual freedom, they acquire political liberty and civil rights within a system of laws based on the “general will” of the governed. The idea of the social contract influenced the shapers of the American Revolution and the French Revolution and the constitutions that followed them.
Social Credit Party Canadian political party. Founded in 1935 by William Aberhart, it was based on the social-credit theory of the British economist Clifford Douglas (1879-1952). By the late 1930s the party advocated employee profit sharing and shareholding. It led the provincial governments in Alberta (1935-71) and British Columbia (1952-71, 1976— 1991), and it won several seats in the parliament in Ottawa between 1935 and 1980. The party suffered from internal conflicts, and at the end of the 20th century it had failed to win seats in any provincial assembly.
social Darwinism Theory that persons, groups, and “races” are sub¬ ject to the same laws of natural selection as Charles Darwin had proposed for plants and animals in nature. Social Darwinists, such as Herbert Spen¬ cer and Walter Bagehot in England and William Graham Sumner in the U.S., held that the life of humans in society was a struggle for existence ruled by “survival of the fittest,” in Spencer’s words. Wealth was said to be a sign of natural superiority, its absence a sign of unfitness. The theory was used from the late 19th century to support laissez-faire capitalism and political conservatism. Social Darwinism declined as scientific knowledge expanded.
social democracy Political ideology that advocates a peaceful, evo¬ lutionary transition of society from capitalism to socialism, using established political processes. It rejects Marxism’s advocacy of social revolution. Social democracy began as a political movement in Germany in the 1870s. Eduard Bernstein argued (1899) that capitalism was overcoming many of the weaknesses Karl Marx had seen in it (including unemployment and overproduction) and that universal suffrage would lead peacefully to a socialist government. After 1945, social-democratic governments came to power in West Germany (see Social Democratic Party), Sweden, and Brit¬ ain (under the Labour Party). Social-democratic thought gradually came to regard state regulation (without state ownership) as sufficient to ensure economic growth and a fair distribution of income.
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) German political party. Formed in 1875 as the Socialist Workers’ Party and renamed in 1890, it is Germany’s oldest and largest single party. Its influence grew
Snowy owl (Nyctea scandiaca)
W. SUSCHITZKY
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1776 I Social Gospel ► socialism
until World War I, when centrists led by Karl Kautsky formed the Inde¬ pendent Social Democrats and leftists led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Lieb- knecht formed the Spartacists. The SPD’s right wing under Friedrich Ebert helped crush the Soviet-style uprisings in Germany in 1918, and the party won 37% of the vote in the 1919 elections. The government’s acceptance of the Treaty of Versailles and Germany’s severe economic problems caused a drop in support in the 1920s. Outlawed by the Nazis in 1933, the party revived after World War II in West Germany and grew steadily, receiving almost 46% of the vote in the 1972 elections. It formed coali¬ tion governments with the Christian Democratic Union (1966-69) and the Free Democratic Party (1969-82). In 1990 it reunited with a newly inde¬ pendent SPD from the former East Germany. The party returned to power in 1998 under Gerhard Schroder, who served as chancellor of Germany until 2005.
Social Gospel Religious social-reform movement in the U.S., promi¬ nent from c. 1870 to 1920 among liberal Protestant groups. The move¬ ment focused on applying moral principles to the improvement of industrialized society and particularly to reforms such as the abolition of child labour, a shorter workweek, and factory regulation. Many of its aims were realized through the rise of organized labour and through legislation of the New Deal.
social history Branch of history that emphasizes social structures and the interaction of different groups in society rather than affairs of state. An outgrowth of economic history, it expanded as a discipline in the 1960s. It initially focused on disenfranchised social groups but later began to focus more attention on the middle and upper classes. As a field, it often borders on economic history on the one hand and on sociology and ethnology on the other.
social insurance Compulsory public-insurance program that protects against various economic risks (e.g., loss of income due to sickness, old age, or unemployment). Social insurance is considered one type of social security, though the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. The first compulsory national social-insurance programs were established in Germany under Otto von Bismarck: health insurance in 1883, workers' compensation in 1884, and old-age and disability pensions in 1889. Aus¬ tria and Hungary soon followed Germany’s example. After 1920, social insurance was rapidly adopted throughout Europe and the Western Hemi¬ sphere. The U.S. lagged behind until the passage of the Social Security Act in 1935. Social Security in the U.S. now provides retirement benefits, health care for persons over a specific minimum age, and disability insur¬ ance. Social-insurance contributions are normally compulsory and may be made by the insured person’s employer and the state as well as by the individual. Social insurance is usually self-financing, with contributions being placed in specific funds for that purpose. See also unemployment insurance; welfare.
social learning In psychological theory, a change in behaviour that is controlled by environmental influences rather than by innate or internal forces. In zoology, social learning is exhibited by innumerable species of birds and mammals, who modify their behaviour by observing and imi¬ tating the adults around them. Birdsong is a socially learned behaviour.
social psychology Branch of psychology concerned with the person¬ ality, attitudes, motivations, and behaviour of the individual or group in the context of social interaction. The field emerged in the U.S. in the 1920s. Topics include the attribution of social status based on perceptual cues, the influence of social factors (such as peers) on a person’s attitudes and beliefs, the functioning of small groups and large organizations, and the dynamics of face-to-face interactions.