All articles starting with S
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Social Conditions
Social Conditions is a MeSH descriptor (D012924) meaning the state of society as it exists or in flux, also called Living Conditions; closely tied to the WHO social determinants of health and health inequities.
Social conservatism
Social conservatism is an ideology favoring preservation of older norms on moral behavior, religion, tradition, and family, rooted in Edmund Burke and strong in American politics since the 1970s.
Social construction of gender
Social construction of gender: the theory that gender roles and hierarchies are produced through socialization, interaction, and institutions rather than being natural or inevitable; contrasted with gender essentialism, central to feminist sociology since West and Zimmerman's doing gender.
Social construction of technology
The social construction of technology (SCOT) is a science and technology studies approach treating technical artifacts as outcomes of social processes, formulated by Trevor Pinch and Wiebe Bijker in 1984.
Social constructionism
Social constructionism: theory that social and cultural factors, not natural ones, ground objects like gender, race, and money; founded on Berger and Luckmann's 1966 The Social Construction of Reality; distinct from social constructivism's individual cognitive focus; critiqued by Hacking and critical realists.
Social constructivism
Social constructivism: theory that knowledge and selfhood are built through social interaction. Rooted in Vygotsky's learning theory (ZPD, mediation) and used in philosophy of science and IR; distinguished from social constructionism and widely critiqued.
Social contract
Social contract theory: the idea that political legitimacy rests on agreement among those governed. Developed by Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Kant; revived by Rawls with justice principles replacing consent.
Social control
Social control: the sociological concept for the mechanisms, formal and informal, through which societies maintain order and conformity; founded by Edward A. Ross (1901), central to Hirschi's control theory of delinquency.
Social corporatism
Social corporatism, also called social democratic corporatism, is an economic system of centralized wage bargaining between unions and employers, found mainly in the Nordic countries.
Social cost
Social cost is the total cost of an economic activity to society: private cost plus external costs imposed on others, as in the social cost of carbon used in US rulemaking since 2008.
Social cost of carbon
The social cost of carbon (SCC) estimates, in dollars, the damage from a 1-ton increase in CO2 emissions, and is the figure US agencies used to weigh climate rules.
Social Credit candidates, 1953 Manitoba provincial election
The Social Credit candidates in the 1953 Manitoba provincial election ran across rural and Winnipeg constituencies. The party won 35,750 votes and elected two members.
Social credit system (社会信用体系)
社会信用体系: China's fragmented set of government credit-record, blacklist, and joint reward/punishment schemes, not a single unified score; defined by the 2014 Planning Outline and 2025 opinions, run by NDRC, PBOC, courts, and city pilots.
Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism: pejorative term for applying Darwinian natural selection and 'survival of the fittest' (coined by Spencer, 1864) to society; used to justify imperialism, racism, and eugenics; popularized by Hofstadter's 1944 book, not used by Darwin himself.
Social democracy
Social democracy: reformist socialist political tradition from the German workers' movement, split from communism after 1917, reshaped by the SPD's 1959 Godesberg Program, associated with the Nordic welfare regime, and now facing electoral decline.
Social Democracy Party (Turkey)
Social Democracy Party (Sosyal Demokrasi Partisi, SODEP), Turkish social democratic party founded June 6, 1983 after the 1980 coup to carry the banned CHP base; led by Cezmi Kartay, won 23.4% in 1984 local elections, merged with HP in 1985 to form SHP.
Social Democrat Hunchakian Party
The Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (SDHP) is an Armenian political party founded in Geneva in 1887, the oldest Armenian party and the first socialist party in Turkey and Persia.
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), founded August 1970, is Northern Ireland's social democratic nationalist party, architect of the Good Friday Agreement, long led by John Hume, now electorally behind Sinn Féin.
Social Democratic Party (Estonia)
Social Democratic Party (Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Erakond, SDE), Estonia's centre-left social democratic party, re-founded 1990, current name since 2004; 9 Riigikogu seats in 2023, in government 2014–2019 and 2022–2025, in opposition since March 2025.
Social Democratic Party (Portugal)
Partido Social Democrata (PSD), Portugal's centre-right liberal-conservative party founded 6 May 1974 as the PPD by Sá Carneiro; renamed PSD in 1976; alternates in government with the Socialist Party.
Social Democratic Party (Romania)
The Social Democratic Party (Partidul Social Democrat, PSD) is Romania's largest center-left party, a PES member formed in 2001 from post-communist FDSN/PDSR; in 2026 it left the governing coalition and joined AUR to topple PM Bolojan.
Social Democratic Party (UK, 1990–present)
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) is a minor British party, the 1990 continuation of the original 1981 SDP after the Liberal merger. Revived from 60 members in 2017, it won 33,811 votes in 2024 and allied with Reform UK.
Social Democratic Party (UK)
Social Democratic Party (SDP), British party founded 26 March 1981 by Labour defectors the Gang of Four; allied with the Liberals, won 25.4% in 1983, merged into the Liberal Democrats in 1988; a separate SDP led by William Clouston exists today.
Social Democratic Party (社民党) (Japan)
Social Democratic Party (社会民主党, Shamintō), successor of the Japan Socialist Party founded in 1945; main opposition 1955–1993, governed in 1990s coalitions under Murayama, then declined to a minor anti-constitutional-revision party.
Social Democratic Party of America
Social Democratic Party of America (SDP), founded 1898 by Victor Berger after splitting from Debs's Social Democracy of America; ran Debs for president in 1900 (about 97,000 votes) and merged into the Socialist Party of America in 1901.
Social Democratic Party of Austria
The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ, Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs), Austria's center-left party founded at Hainfeld in 1888/89 by Victor Adler, banned 1934, refounded 1945, led by Andreas Babler and in the 2025 ÖVP-SPÖ-NEOS coalition.
Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina
SDP BiH (Socijaldemokratska partija Bosne i Hercegovine) is Bosnia and Herzegovina's social democratic, officially multi-ethnic centre-left party, founded 1909 and re-established 1991 as successor of the League of Communists' BiH branch, led by Nermin Nikšić, with support mainly among Bosniaks.
Social Democratic Party of Croatia and Slavonia
The Social Democratic Party of Croatia and Slavonia, founded in Zagreb in 1894, was the first Slavic social democratic party in Austria-Hungary, organized on the German Social Democrats' Erfurt program.
Social Democratic Party of Finland
Social Democratic Party of Finland (Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue, SDP), founded 1899 in Turku, is Finland's historic social democratic party with about 30,000 members, led by Antti Lindtman since 2023, and biggest party in the 2025 municipal elections.
Social Democratic Party of Germany
SPD (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands), Germany's center-left social democratic party founded 1875; four chancellors including Scholz; in government 23 of 27 years to 2024 but fell to a record-low 16.4% in the 2025 election.