Sociefy Islands Archipelago (pop., 1996: 189,522), western French Polynesia. Its chief island is Tahiti. The Society Islands comprise two groups, the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands. They are volca¬ nic in origin and mountainous. Claimed for Britain in 1767, the islands were visited in 1769 by Capt. James Cook with a scientific expedition of the Royal Society (hence their name). They were claimed by France in 1768 and became a French protectorate in 1842, a French colony in 1881, and a part of French Oceania in 1903. Their chief products are copra and pearls.
sociobiology Systematic study of the biological basis of social behav¬ iour. The concept was popularized by Edward O. Wilson in his Sociobi¬ ology (1975) and by Richard Dawkins (b. 1941) in The Selfish Gene (1976). Sociobiology attempts to understand and explain animal (and human) social behaviour in the light of natural selection and other bio¬ logical processes. A central tenet is that the transmission of genes through successful reproduction is the central motivator in animals’ struggle for survival, and that animals will behave in ways that maximize their chances of transmitting their genes to succeeding generations. Though sociobiol¬ ogy has contributed insights into animal behaviour (such as altruism in social insects and male-female differences in certain species), it remains controversial when applied to human social behaviour. See also ethology.
sociocultural evolution Development of culture and society from simple to complex forms. Europeans had sought to explain the existence of various “primitive” societies, some believing that such societies rep¬ resented the lost tribes of Israel, others speculating that primitive peoples had degenerated since the time of Adam from an originally “barbarous” to an even lowlier “savage” state. European society was taken to epito¬ mize the highest state of existence, “civilization.” In the late 19th century, Edward Burnett Tylor and Lewis Henry Morgan elaborated the theory of unilinear evolution, specifying criteria for categorizing cultures accord¬ ing to their standing within a fixed system of growth of humanity as a whole and examining the modes and mechanisms of this growth. A wide¬ spread reaction followed; Franz Boas introduced the “culture history” approach, which concentrated on fieldwork among native peoples to iden¬ tify actual cultural and historical processes rather than speculative stages of growth. Leslie White, Julian Steward, and others sought to revive
aspects of sociocultural evolutionism, positing a progression ranging from bands and tribes at one end to chiefdoms and states at the other. More recently some anthropologists have adopted a general systems approach, examining cultures as emergent systems. Others continue to reject evo¬ lutionary thinking and look instead at historical contingencies, contacts with other cultures, and the operation of cultural symbol systems. See also social Darwinism.
sociolinguistics Study of the sociological aspects of language. Socio- linguists attempt to isolate the linguistic features used in particular situ¬ ations that mark the various social relationships among the participants and the significant elements of the situation. Factors influencing the choice of sounds, grammatical elements, and vocabulary may include age, gen¬ der, education, ethnic identity, occupation, and peer-group identification. See also interactionism, linguistics, pragmatics, semiotics.
sociology Science of society, social institutions, and social relation¬ ships, and specifically the systematic study of the development, structure, interaction, and collective behaviour of organized human groups. It emerged at the end of the 19th century through the work of Emile Durkheim in France, Max Weber and Georg Simmel in Germany, and Robert E. Park and Albion Small in the U.S. Sociologists use observational techniques, surveys and interviews, statistical analysis, controlled experiments, and other methods to study subjects such as the family, ethnic relations, school¬ ing, social status and class, bureaucracy, religious movements, deviance, the elderly, and social change.
sockeye salmon or red salmon Food fish (Oncorhynchus nerka) of the North Pacific that constitutes almost 20% of the commercial fish¬ ery of Pacific Salmon. It weighs about 6 lbs (3 kg) and lacks distinct spots on the body. It ranges from the northern Bering Sea to Japan and from Alaska to California. Sockeyes may migrate more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) upriver to spawn in lakes or tributary streams. The young remain in freshwater one to five years. The kokanee is a small, non- Male sockeye salmon ( Oncorhynchus migratory, freshwater subspecies. nerka ) in spawning phase
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Socotra \s3-'ko-tr3\ Island, Yemen, in the Indian Ocean. Located about
210 mi (340 km) southeast of the Arabian Peninsula, it has an area of about 1,400 sq mi (3,600 sq km). Its interior is mountainous, with flora that includes myrrh, frankincense, and the dragon’s blood tree. The island, mentioned in various legends, was long ruled by the Mahra sultans of southeastern Yemen, except for a brief Portuguese occupation (1507-11). In 1886 it came under British control and in 1967 became part of inde¬ pendent Yemen. Its chief town is Hadlboh.
Socrates (b. c. 470, Athens—d. 399 bc, Athens) Greek philosopher whose way of life, character, and thought exerted a profound influence on ancient and modern philosophy. Because he wrote nothing, information about his personality and doctrine is derived chiefly from depictions of his conversations and other information in the dialogues of Plato, in the Memorabilia of Xenophon, and in various writings of Aristotle. He fought bravely in the Peloponnesian War and later served in the Athenian boule (assembly). Socrates considered it his religious duty to call his fellow citi¬ zens to the examined life by engaging them in philosophical conversation. His contribution to these exchanges typically consisted of a series of prob¬ ing questions that cumulatively revealed his interlocutor’s complete igno¬ rance of the subject under discussion; such cross-examination used as a pedagogical technique has been called the “Socratic method.” Though Socrates characteristically professed his own ignorance regarding many of the (mainly ethical) subjects he investigated (e.g., the nature of piety), he did hold certain convictions with confidence, including that: (I) human wisdom begins with the recognition of one’s own ignorance; (2) the unex¬ amined life is not worth living; (3) ethical virtue is the only thing that mat¬ ters; and (4) a good person can never be harmed, because whatever misfortune he may suffer, his virtue will remain intact. His students and admirers included, in addition to Plato, Alcibiades, who betrayed Athens in the Peloponnesian War, and Critias (c. 480-403 bc), who was one of the Thirty Tyrants imposed on Athens after its defeat by Sparta. Because he was connected with these two men, but also because his habit of exposing the
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ignorance of his fellow citizens had made him widely hated and feared, Socrates was tried on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth and con¬ demned to death by poisoning (the poison probably being hemlock) in 399 bc; he submitted to the sentence willingly. Plato’s Apology purports to be the speech that Socrates gave in his own defense. As depicted in the Apol¬ ogy, Socrates’ trial and death raise vital questions about the nature of democracy, the value of free speech, and the potential conflict between moral and religious obligation and the laws of the state.
soda, caustic See caustic soda
Soddy, Frederick (b. Sept. 2, 1877, Eastbourne, Sussex, Eng.—d. Sept. 22, 1956, Brighton, Sussex) British chemist. He worked with Ernest Rutherford to develop a theory of the disintegration of radioactive ele¬ ments. In 1912 he was among the first to conclude that elements might exist in forms (isotopes) of different atomic weights but indistinguishable chemically. In Science and Life (1920) he pointed out the value of iso¬ topes in determining geologic age (see carbon-14 dating). For his inves¬ tigations of radioactivity and isotopes, he received a 1921 Nobel Prize.