Social environment

The physical environment is the ever-changing natural world, including weather, land, and natural resources. Floods or earthquakes can alter the landscape, affecting how plants and animals live. Human interaction with nature can also have an impact. For example, logging can change the weather in that area, pollution can make water dirty, and habitat fragmentation caused by human activity makes it so animals cannot move around as easily, which can cause problems for their families.{{Cite web |title=Physical Environment: Examples & Types {{!}} StudySmarter |url=https://www.studysmarter.co.uk/explanations/environmental-science/physical-environment/ |access-date=2024-04-04 |website=StudySmarter UK |language=en-GB}}

In order to enrich their lives, people have used natural resources, and in the process have brought about many changes in the natural environment; human settlements, roads, farmlands, dams, and many other elements have all developed through the process. All these man-made components are included in human cultural environment.{{CN|date=April 2025}}

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"Sociocultural" denotes the amalgamation of society and culture, which affects how people think, feel, and act, and which can also affect our health.{{CN|date=April 2025}} It includes the impact of wealth, education, career, cultural background, race, ethnicity, language, and beliefs on people's identity and health.{{Citation |last1=Gonzalez |first1=Patricia |title=Sociocultural |date=2020 |pages=2105–2107 |editor-last=Gellman |editor-first=Marc D. |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39903-0_1511 |access-date=2024-04-04 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-39903-0_1511 |isbn=978-3-030-39903-0 |last2=Birnbaum-Weitzman |first2=Orit |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine}}

File:Children Socializing on Blue Sofa and Chair.jpg

Social relations are the connections individuals form with others—such as family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers—that influence emotional well-being and behavior. Sociologist Emile Durkheim thought that if these interactions were disrupted, it could affect how we feel. Social relations can offer emotional or practical support, such as comforting someone when they are sad or helping with chores.{{Citation |last1=Cash |first1=Elizabeth |title=Social Relations |date=2024 |work=StatPearls |url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK436023/ |access-date=2024-04-04 |place=Treasure Island (FL) |publisher=StatPearls Publishing |pmid=28613794 |last2=Toney-Butler |first2=Tammy J.}}

Interpersonal relationships—emotional and social connections between individuals—can be impacted by mental disorders. For example, some mental disorders may give rise to conflicts with others. These conflicts can appear in different areas of relationships.{{Citation |last=Griffin |first=John B. |title=Interpersonal Relationships |date=1990 |work=Clinical Methods: The History, Physical, and Laboratory Examinations |editor-last=Walker |editor-first=H. Kenneth |url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK314/ |access-date=2024-04-04 |edition=3rd |place=Boston |publisher=Butterworths |isbn=978-0-409-90077-4 |pmid=21250156 |editor2-last=Hall |editor2-first=W. Dallas |editor3-last=Hurst |editor3-first=J. Willis}}

When scientists study how relationships affect human health and behavior, they usually focus on these close relationships, rather than on formal ones like with healthcare providers or lawyers. They are interested in how people interact with their social circle and how it impacts them overall.{{Cite web |title=Social Relationship |url=https://www.sociologyguide.com/social-relationship/index.php |access-date=2024-04-04 |website=www.sociologyguide.com}}

Family relationships hold significance with regard to an individual's well-being across the lifespan. Supportive family ties provide emotional comfort, practical assistance, and a sense of belonging, all of which contribute to better mental and physical health. Research indicates that individuals with strong family connections experience higher life satisfaction and improved overall health outcomes.{{Cite journal |last1=Grevenstein |first1=Dennis |last2=Bluemke |first2=Matthias |last3=Schweitzer |first3=Jochen |last4=Aguilar-Raab |first4=Corina |date=2019-06-01 |title=Better family relationships––higher well-being: The connection between relationship quality and health related resources |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2212657017301204 |journal=Mental Health & Prevention |volume=14 |pages=200160 |doi=10.1016/j.mph.2019.200160 |issn=2212-6570}} Moreover, perceived family support has been shown to enhance emotional and psychological well-being by fostering positive emotions and social interactions.{{Cite journal |last1=An |first1=Jing |last2=Zhu |first2=Xuanyu |last3=Shi |first3=Zhan |last4=An |first4=Jinlong |date=2024-04-02 |title=A serial mediating effect of perceived family support on psychological well-being |journal=BMC Public Health |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=940 |doi=10.1186/s12889-024-18476-z |doi-access=free |issn=1471-2458 |pmc=10986067 |pmid=38566105}}

{{Main|Workplace relationship}}

Workplace relationships are unique interpersonal relationships with important implications for the individuals in those relationships, and the organizations in which the relationships exist and develop.{{Cite journal |last1=Sias |first1=Patricia M. |last2=Gallagher |first2=Erin B. |last3=Kopaneva |first3=Irina |last4=Pedersen |first4=Hannah |date=2011-01-13 |title=Maintaining Workplace Friendships |journal=Communication Research |language=en |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=239–268 |doi=10.1177/0093650210396869 |s2cid=26155388}} Workplace relationships directly affect a worker's ability and drive to succeed. These connections are multifaceted, can exist in and out of the organization, and can be both positive and negative. One such detriment lies in the nonexistence of workplace relationships, which can lead to feelings of loneliness and social isolation. Workplace relationships are not limited to friendships, but also include superior-subordinate,{{Cite journal |last=Sias |first=Patricia M. |date=2005-01-01 |title=Workplace Relationship Quality and Employee Information Experiences |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10510970500319450 |journal=Communication Studies |volume=56 |issue=4 |pages=375–395 |doi=10.1080/10510970500319450 |issn=1051-0974}} romantic,{{Cite journal |last1=McBride |first1=M. Chad |last2=and Bergen |first2=Karla Mason |date=2015-10-20 |title=Work Spouses: Defining and Understanding a "New" Relationship |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10510974.2015.1029640 |journal=Communication Studies |volume=66 |issue=5 |pages=487–508 |doi=10.1080/10510974.2015.1029640 |issn=1051-0974}} and family relationships.{{Cite journal |last1=Barker |first1=Randolph T. |last2=Rimler |first2=George W. |last3=Moreno |first3=Evandro |last4=Kaplan |first4=Thomas E. |date=2004-10-01 |title=Family Business Members' Narrative Perceptions: Values, Succession, and Commitment |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2190/H78U-J2AF-6QWC-X46J |journal=Journal of Technical Writing and Communication |language=EN |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=291–320 |doi=10.2190/H78U-J2AF-6QWC-X46J |issn=0047-2816}}

{{Main|Intimate relationship}}

File:Adult couple holding hands.jpg is a form of intimacy]]

An intimate relationship is an interpersonal relationship that involves emotional or physical closeness between people and may include sexual intimacy and feelings of romance or love.{{cite book |last1=Wong |first1=D. W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dnYcBgAAQBAJ |title=Counseling Individuals Through the Lifespan |last2=Hall |first2=K. R. |last3=Justice |first3=C.A. |last4=Wong |first4=L. |publisher=SAGE Publications |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4833-2203-2 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dnYcBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA326 326] |quote=Intimacy: As an intimate relationship is an interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Physical intimacy is characterized by romantic or passionate attachment or sexual activity.}} Intimate relationships are interdependent, and the members of the relationship mutually influence each other.{{Citation |last=Rusbult |first=Caryl E. |title=Interdependence in Close Relationships |date=2003 |work=Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology: Interpersonal Processes |pages=357–387 |editor-last=Fletcher |editor-first=Garth J. O. |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470998557.ch14 |access-date=2023-10-30 |edition=1 |publisher=Wiley |language=en |doi=10.1002/9780470998557.ch14 |isbn=978-0-631-21228-7 |editor2-last=Clark |editor2-first=Margaret S.}} The quality and nature of the relationship depends on the interactions between individuals, and is derived from the unique context and history that builds between people over time.{{Cite journal |last1=Finkel |first1=Eli J. |last2=Simpson |first2=Jeffry A. |last3=Eastwick |first3=Paul W. |date=2017-01-03 |title=The Psychology of Close Relationships: Fourteen Core Principles |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044038 |journal=Annual Review of Psychology |language=en |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=383–411 |doi=10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044038 |issn=0066-4308 |pmid=27618945 |s2cid=207567096}}{{cite book |last1=Wiecha |first1=Jan |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_1240-1 |title=Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior |date=2023 |publisher=Springer, Cham |isbn=978-3-031-08956-5 |pages=1–11 |language=en |chapter=Intimacy |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_1240-1}}{{cite journal |last1=Jankowiak |first1=William |date=2015 |title=Intimacy |journal=The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality |pages=583–625 |doi=10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs242|isbn=978-1-4051-9006-0 }} Social and legal institutions such as marriage acknowledge and uphold intimate relationships between people. However, intimate relationships are not necessarily monogamous or sexual, and there is wide social and cultural variability in the norms and practices of intimacy between people.

In intimate relationships that are sexual, sexual satisfaction is closely tied to overall relationship satisfaction.{{Cite journal |last1=Maxwell |first1=Jessica A. |last2=McNulty |first2=James K. |date=2019 |title=No Longer in a Dry Spell: The Developing Understanding of How Sex Influences Romantic Relationships |journal=Current Directions in Psychological Science |language=en |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=102–107 |doi=10.1177/0963721418806690 |issn=0963-7214 |s2cid=149470236 |doi-access=free}} Sex promotes intimacy, increases happiness,{{Cite journal |last1=Cheng |first1=Zhiming |last2=Smyth |first2=Russell |date=2015-04-01 |title=Sex and happiness |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268115000050 |journal=Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization |volume=112 |pages=26–32 |doi=10.1016/j.jebo.2014.12.030 |issn=0167-2681}} provides pleasure, and reduces stress.{{Cite journal |last1=Meston |first1=Cindy M. |last2=Buss |first2=David M. |date=2007-07-03 |title=Why Humans Have Sex |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-007-9175-2 |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=477–507 |doi=10.1007/s10508-007-9175-2 |issn=0004-0002 |pmid=17610060 |s2cid=6182053}}{{Cite journal |last1=Ein-Dor |first1=Tsachi |last2=Hirschberger |first2=Gilad |date=2012 |title=Sexual healing: Daily diary evidence that sex relieves stress for men and women in satisfying relationships |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0265407511431185 |journal=Journal of Social and Personal Relationships |language=en |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=126–139 |doi=10.1177/0265407511431185 |issn=0265-4075 |s2cid=73681719}} Studies show that couples who have sex at least once per week report greater well-being than those who have sex less than once per week.{{Cite journal |last1=Muise |first1=Amy |last2=Schimmack |first2=Ulrich |last3=Impett |first3=Emily A. |date=2016 |title=Sexual Frequency Predicts Greater Well-Being, But More is Not Always Better |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1948550615616462 |journal=Social Psychological and Personality Science |language=en |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=295–302 |doi=10.1177/1948550615616462 |issn=1948-5506 |s2cid=146679264}} Research in human sexuality finds that the ingredients of high quality sex include feeling connected to your partner, good communication, vulnerability, and feeling present in the moment. High quality sex in intimate relationships can both strengthen the relationship and improve well-being for each individual involved.{{Cite journal |last1=Kleinplatz |first1=Peggy J. |last2=Menard |first2=A. Dana |last3=Paquet |first3=Marie-Pierre |last4=Paradis |first4=Nicolas |last5=Campbell |first5=Meghan |last6=Zuccarino |first6=Dino |last7=Mehak |first7=Lisa |date=2009 |title=The components of optimal sexuality: A portrait of "great sex" |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232545283 |journal=Canadian Journal of Human Sexuliaty |volume=18 |issue=1–2}}

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Where a child grows up and goes to school has a significant impact on whom they befriend and on the quality of the resulting friendships. Most of the time, children befriend others within in their family or neighborhood. Thus, where parents choose to live, work, and send their kids to school can affect the health and happiness of their children.{{Cite web |last=vmc |date=2010-04-19 |title=Parenting, social environment and child development {{!}} myVMC |url=https://healthinfo.healthengine.com.au/parenting-the-social-environment-and-its-effects-on-child-development |access-date=2024-04-04 |website=Healthengine Blog |language=en-AU}}

People with the same social environment often develop a sense of social solidarity; people often tend to trust and help one another, and to congregate in social groups. They often think in similar styles and patterns, even though the conclusions which they reach may differ.{{CN|date=April 2025}}

C. Wright Mills contrasted the immediate milieu of jobs/family/neighborhood with the wider formations of the social structure, highlighting in particular a distinction between "the personal troubles of milieu" and the "public crises of social structure".Quoted in Peter Worsley ed., The New Modern Sociology Readings (1991) p. 17

Emile Durkheim took a wider view of the social environment (milieu social), arguing that it contained internalized expectations and representations of social forces/social facts:P. Hamilton ed., Emile Durkheim: Critical Assessments, Vol I (1990) p. 385-6 "Our whole social environment seems to be filled with forces which really exist only in our own minds"Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1971) p. 227 – collective representations.

Phenomenologists contrast two alternative visions of society, as a deterministic constraint (milieu) and as a nurturing shell (ambiance).John O'Neill, Sociology as a Skin Trade (1972) p. 174-5

Max Scheler distinguishes between milieu as an experienced value-world, and the objective social environment on which we draw to create the former, noting that the social environment can either foster or restrain our creation of a personal milieu.Jörg Dürrschmidt, Everyday Living in the Global City (2000) p. 47

Pierre Janet saw neurosis in part as the product of the identified patient's social environment – family, social network, work etc. – and considered that in some instances what he termed "social surgery" to create a healthier environment could be a beneficial measure.Henri Ellenberger, The Discovery of the Unconscious (1970) p. 380-1

Similar{{Which|date=April 2025}} ideas have since been taken up in community psychiatry and family therapy.R. Skynner/J. Cleese, Families and How to Survive Them (1993) p. 94

• Alfred Schütz – The four divisions of the lifeworld
• Communitarianism
• Community of practice
• Family nexus
• Framing (social sciences)
• Generalized other
• Habitus (sociology)
• Microculture
• Milieu control
• Milieu therapy
• Pillarisation

{{Reflist|colwidth=40em}}

• Leo Spitzer, "Milieu and Ambience: An Essay in Historical Semantics", in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research III (1942–3)
• James Morrow, Where the Everyday Begins. A Study of Environment and Everyday Life. transcript, Bielefeld 2017, {{ISBN|978-3-8376-4077-9}}.
• Alfred Russel Wallace (1913), [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50289 Social Environment and Moral Progress]

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Category:Sociological terminology

Category:Personal life