Society
Social structures, rights and communities
Articles in this category are re-verified roughly every 90 days.
Society
Apartheid
Apartheid was South Africa's legally enforced system of racial classification, segregation and discrimination, developed under National Party rule after 1948 and dismantled through reforms and negotiations in the early 1990s. It regulated where people could live and work, their education, movement and political rights. Resistance within South Africa and pressure from abroad contributed to a transition to democratic elections in 1994; the system's social and economic effects endured.
Updated 15 Oct 2026
Society
Bharat Ratna
The Bharat Ratna is India's highest civilian honour, instituted in 1954 to recognize exceptional service or performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavour. The President of India confers it on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. Its first three recipients were C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and C. V. Raman. The honour has been awarded across fields including public affairs, science, arts and sport, and may be conferred posthumously.
Updated 1 Nov 2026
Society
Caste
Caste is a form of inherited social classification and hierarchy, most closely associated with South Asia but also found in related forms among South Asian communities elsewhere. In India, the term often brings together the broad textual model of varna and the many locally rooted communities called jati. Their histories and social effects vary across place and time. Caste-based exclusion and discrimination have prompted social movements, legal prohibitions and policies intended to address unequal access and treatment.
Updated 15 Oct 2026
Society
Copyright
Copyright is a system of legal rights for creators and other rights holders over original creative works, including writing, music, films, art and software. It generally protects a work’s expression rather than the underlying idea. International treaties set shared minimum standards, while national laws define important details such as exceptions, enforcement and duration.
Updated 17 Oct 2026
Society
Demography
Demography is the systematic study of human populations: their size, distribution, composition, and change over time. It examines how fertility, mortality, and migration shape population growth and structure, using evidence from censuses, civil registration, surveys, and other data. Demographic measures inform public planning and help produce population estimates and projections, but projections depend on assumptions and the quality of the underlying data; they are not certainties about the future.
Updated 18 Oct 2026
Society
Digital divide
The digital divide is the unequal opportunity to access and effectively use digital technologies. It is shaped by socioeconomic and geographic conditions and can involve connectivity, affordability, devices and skills. As more services move online, the divide affects not only whether people are connected, but what they can do with that connection and who benefits.
Updated 16 Oct 2026
Society
Dunbar's number
Dunbar's number is a proposed approximate scale for the number of stable social relationships a person can maintain, commonly expressed as about 150. Anthropologist Robin Dunbar derived the estimate by extrapolating a relationship between relative neocortex size and social group size in non-human primates to humans. The figure is influential but contested: later analyses report substantial uncertainty, and it should not be treated as a precise limit on an individual's friendships.
Updated 7 Nov 2026
Society
Feminism
Feminism is an umbrella term for political movements and bodies of thought that examine gender-based injustice and seek greater equality and social justice. Its aims, ideas and strategies vary across societies and periods; no single doctrine or organization represents all feminists.
Updated 19 Oct 2026
Society
Food security
Food security is the condition in which people can reliably obtain enough safe, nutritious food for an active and healthy life. Its established framework considers food availability, people’s access to it, how food is used, and the stability of these conditions over time; recent discussions also emphasize agency and sustainability.
Updated 20 Oct 2026
Society
Fundamental Rights in India
Fundamental Rights are the constitutional guarantees set out in Part III of the Constitution of India, covering equality, freedoms, protection from exploitation, religious liberty, minority cultural and educational protections, and judicial remedies. Some provisions apply to every person and others specifically to citizens. They are enforceable in court, but their scope and permissible restrictions depend on the text of the Constitution and its interpretation by the courts.
Updated 12 Oct 2026
Society
Habeas corpus
Habeas corpus is a judicial remedy for examining whether a person’s detention is lawful. A court may require the custodian to produce the detained person and explain the legal basis for holding them. The remedy developed in English common law and appears in different forms across jurisdictions; its procedures and scope are not identical everywhere.
Updated 18 Oct 2026
Society
Human rights
Human rights are basic entitlements and protections held by people because they are human, rather than privileges bestowed at a government’s discretion. Modern international human-rights standards include civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights; their recognition is broad, while their interpretation, legal implementation and enforcement vary across institutions and states.
Updated 12 Oct 2026
Society
Indigenous rights
Indigenous rights are the individual and collective human rights of Indigenous peoples, including self-determination, cultural continuity, participation in decisions and relationships with their traditional lands and resources. International standards such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ILO Convention No. 169 address these rights, but have different legal forms and are implemented in varied national contexts. Because Indigenous peoples and their histories are diverse, international bodies do not apply a single universal definition; self-identification and community membership are central considerations.
Updated 18 Oct 2026
Society
Mumbai Dabbawala System
Mumbai’s dabbawalas operate a long-running lunchbox delivery network that carries home-prepared meals between households and workplaces. Using local knowledge, coded containers, group coordination and the city’s transport network, the service has become a notable case in urban logistics and service operations.
Updated 31 Oct 2026
Society
Public library
A public library is a community-supported service that makes information, knowledge and cultural works available to the public through collections, staff and programmes. Its form varies by place: libraries may be operated by local or regional government, other public bodies or community organizations, and may combine lending, reference help, learning activities, local-history work and digital access. International library guidance emphasizes service tailored to local needs and equitable access, while the resources and rules of individual systems differ.
Updated 17 Oct 2026
Society
Refugees
Refugees are people who cross an international border to seek protection because returning to their country would expose them to serious danger. Under the 1951 Refugee Convention, the central legal definition covers people with a well-founded fear of persecution for specified reasons who cannot or will not seek their country’s protection; regional instruments and other protection frameworks may cover additional situations. Refugee status, asylum procedures and protections are governed by international and national law, while internally displaced people remain within their own country.
Updated 13 Oct 2026
Society
Restorative justice
Restorative justice is an approach to responding to crime that focuses on the harm it causes and how that harm can be addressed. In a facilitated process, victims, people responsible for offending and, where appropriate, others affected may take part in deciding what repair, accountability or support could involve. It can complement conventional criminal proceedings or serve as an alternative where the law permits, but participation must be voluntary and the approach is not suitable for every case.
Updated 21 Oct 2026
Society
Sámi people
The Sámi are an Indigenous people whose traditional homeland, Sápmi, spans parts of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia’s Kola Peninsula. Sámi communities are diverse: they speak several distinct languages, practise a range of traditional and contemporary livelihoods, and maintain cultural and political institutions across national borders. Language revitalization and questions of land, rights and self-determination remain important in Sámi public life.
Updated 21 Oct 2026
Society
Sign languages
Sign languages are natural languages expressed through visual and bodily features such as hand movements and facial grammar. They have their own linguistic structures, develop within signing communities, and vary across countries and regions; there is no single universal sign language. Many are also central to Deaf cultural and linguistic identities, and international human-rights law addresses their use in public life and education.
Updated 14 Oct 2026
Society
Social stratification
Social stratification is the patterned ranking of people and groups in a society, associated with unequal access to resources, status, power and life chances. Sociologists examine how these hierarchies are formed, justified and reproduced, as well as how much people can move within them. The forms and measures of stratification vary across societies, and no single indicator captures every dimension.
Updated 18 Oct 2026
Society
Trade union
A trade union is an association through which workers act collectively to represent their interests in the workplace. Depending on its membership and the law where it operates, a union may negotiate pay and working conditions, represent members in workplace disputes, and take part in wider labour discussions. Modern trade unionism developed alongside industrialization, but union structures, bargaining systems and legal protections differ across countries and sectors.
Updated 14 Oct 2026
Society
Urbanization
Urbanization is a demographic and spatial transition in which a growing share of a population lives in towns and cities. It can result from migration, population growth within settlements, changing urban boundaries, and the creation of new urban centres. Concentrating people and activity can expand access to jobs and services, but the outcomes depend on planning, housing, infrastructure, inclusion, and how environmental costs are managed.
Updated 13 Oct 2026