sociocultural system

{{Short description|A human population viewed in context}}

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A sociocultural system is a "human population viewed (1) in its ecological context and (2) as one of the many subsystems of a larger ecological system".Nanda, Serena (1984). Cultural Anthropology, second edition. Stamford, Connecticut: Wadsworth Publishing Company (Cengage Learning). {{ISBN|978-0-534-02749-0}}

File:SCSdiagram.jpg The term "sociocultural system. " embraces three concepts: society, culture, and system. A society is several interdependent organisms of the same species. A culture is the learned behaviors that are shared by the members of society, together with the material products of such behaviors. The words "society" and "culture" are fused together to form the word "sociocultural". A system is "a collection of parts which interact with each other to function as a whole".Kauffman, Draper L. (1980). Systems One: An Introduction to Systems Thinking. Minneapolis, MN: Future Systems Inc. {{ISBN|978-99962-805-1-1}} The term sociocultural system is most likely to be found in the writings of anthropologists who specialize in ecological anthropology.

In 1979, Marvin Harris outlined a universal structure of sociocultural systems. He mentioned infrastructure (production and population), structure (which is behavioural, like corporations, political organizations, hierarchies, castes), and a superstructure (which is mental, like beliefs, values, norms).Elwell, Frank W., 2013, "Harris on the Universal Structure of Society," Retrieved 2015-02-15, http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Essays/Harris1.htm[http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120219 Sociocultural Systems:Principles of Structure and Change], Frank W. Elwell, CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 CA.