Social Realism Trend in U.S. art, originating c. 1930, toward treating themes of social protest—poverty, political corruption, labour- management conflict—in a naturalistic manner. The movement was stimulated in part by the Ash Can school, the Great Depression, and the New Deal’s arts patronage programs, including the WPA Federal Art Project. Works in this vein include Ben Shahn’s Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti (1931-32) and William Gropper’s The Senate (1935).
social science Any discipline or branch of science that deals with the sociocultural aspects of human behaviour. The social sciences generally include cultural anthropology, economics, political science, sociology, crimi¬ nology, and social psychology. Comparative law and comparative religion (the comparative study of the legal systems and religions of different nations and cultures) are also sometimes regarded as social sciences.
social security Public provision for the economic security and social welfare of all individuals and their families, especially in the case of income losses due to unemployment, work injury, maternity, sickness, old age, and death. The term encompasses not only social insurance but also health and welfare services and various income maintenance programs designed to improve the recipient’s welfare through public services. Some of the first organized cooperative efforts to provide for the economic security of individuals were instituted by workingmen’s associations, mutual-benefit societies, and labour unions; social security was not widely established by law until the 19th and 20th centuries, with the first mod¬ ern program appearing in Germany in 1883. Almost all developed nations now have social security programs that provide benefits or services through several major approaches such as social insurance and social assistance, a needs-based program that pays benefits only to the poor. See also Social Security Act; unemployment insurance; welfare; workers' compen¬ sation.
Social Security Act (Aug. 14, 1935) Legislation that established a national old-age pension system in the U.S. Dissatisfied with the govern¬ ment response to the Great Depression, about five million people joined “Townsend clubs” to support the plan of Francis E. Townsend (1867— 1960) to demand a $200 monthly pension for everyone over the age of 60. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt established a committee on economic secu¬ rity (1934), which recommended legislative action to the U.S. Congress. The act provided old-age benefits to be financed by a payroll tax on employers and employees. The system was later expanded to include dependents, the disabled, and others.
social settlement See settlement house
social status Relative rank that an individual holds, with attendant rights, duties, and lifestyle, in a social hierarchy based on honour and prestige. Status is often ascribed on the basis of sex, age, family relation¬ ships, and birth, placing one into a particular social group irrespective of ability or accomplishments. Achieved status, on the other hand, is based on educational attainment, occupational choice, marital status, and other factors involving personal effort. Status groups differ from social CLASSes in being based on considerations of honour and prestige rather than purely economic position. Relative status is a major determinant of people’s behaviour toward one another, and competition for status seems to be a prime human motivator.
Social War or Italic War or Marsic War (90-89 bc) Rebellion waged by ancient Rome’s Italian allies (Latin, socii). The allies in cen¬ tral and southern Italy had aided Rome in its wars, but they were denied the privileges of Roman citizenship. The people of central Italy’s hills— the Marsi in the north and the Samnites in the south—organized a con¬ federacy and began an uprising for independence, winning victories over Roman armies in the north and south. After Rome granted citizenship to those who had not revolted and those who would immediately lay down their arms, Italian interest in the struggle declined. Sulla defeated the weakened rebels in the south, and legislation was passed to unify Italy south of the Po River.
social welfare See welfare
social work Any of various professional activities or methods con¬ cerned with providing social services (such as investigatory and treatment services or material aid) to disadvantaged, distressed, or vulnerable per¬ sons or groups. The field originated in the charity organizations in Europe and the U.S. in the late 19th century. The training of volunteer workers by these organizations led directly to the founding of the first schools of social work and indirectly to increased government responsibility for the welfare of the disadvantaged. Social workers may serve the needs of chil¬ dren and families, the poor or homeless, immigrants, veterans, the men¬ tally ill, the handicapped, victims of rape or domestic violence, and persons dependent on alcohol or drugs. See also welfare.
socialism System of social organization in which private property and the distribution of income are subject to social control; also, the political movements aimed at putting that system into practice. Because “social control” may be interpreted in widely diverging ways, socialism ranges from statist to libertarian, from Marxist to liberal. The term was first used to describe the doctrines of Charles Fourier, Henri de Saint-Simon, and Rob¬ ert Owen, who emphasized noncoercive communities of people working noncompetitively for the spiritual and physical well-being of all (see uto¬ pian sociausm). Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, seeing socialism as a tran-
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Socialist International ► Socrates I 1777
sition state between capitalism and communism, appropriated what they found useful in socialist movements to develop their “scientific social¬ ism.” In the 20th century, the Soviet Union was the principal model of strictly centralized socialism, while Sweden and Denmark were well- known for their noncommunist socialism. See also collectivism, communi- TARIANISM, SOCIAL DEMOCRACY.
Socialist International See Second International
Socialist Realism Officially sanctioned theory and method of artistic and literary composition in the Soviet Union from 1932 to the mid-1980s. Following the tradition of 19th-century Russian realism, Socialist Realism purported to serve as an objective mirror of life. Instead of critiquing society, however, it took as its primary theme the struggle to build social¬ ism and a classless society and called for the didactic use of art to develop social consciousness. Artists were expected to take a positive view of socialist society and to keep in mind its historical relevance, requisites that seldom coincided with their real experiences and frequently under¬ mined the artistic credibility of their works.
Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR) Russian political party. The ideological heir to the 19th-century Narodniks (Populists), it was founded in 1901 by agrarian socialists and appealed mainly to the peasantry. It was the principal alternative to the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party in the early 20th century. It relied on terrorist tactics and carried out hundreds of political assassinations. By 1917 it was Russia’s largest socialist group; its members included Aleksandr Kerensky, Viktor Chernov, and Catherine Breshkovsky. The party split after the Russian Revolution of 1917, and its radical wing joined the Bolshevik government. It was sup¬ pressed by Vladimir Lenin after the Russian Civil War.
Societe Generate \s6s-ye-'ta-zha-na-'ral\ Major French commercial bank, with headquarters in Paris. It was established in 1864 to offer bank¬ ing and investment services, and was nationalized in 1946 along with several other large French banks. With subsidiaries and branches through¬ out the world, Societe Generate provides general banking, investment advising, securities underwriting, foreign-currency exchange, and com¬ puter services.