Social environment

The social environment, social context, sociocultural context or milieu refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that the individual was educated or lives in, and the people and institutions with whom they interact.^[1] The interaction may be in person or through communication media, even anonymous or one-way,^[2] and may not imply equality of social status. The social environment is a broader concept than that of social class or social circle.

The physical and social environment is a determining factor in active and healthy aging in place, being a central factor in the study of environmental gerontology.^[3]

Moreover, the social environment is the setting where people live and interact. It includes the buildings and roads around them, the jobs available, and how money flows; relationships between people, like who has power and how different groups get along; and culture, like art, religion, and traditions. It includes the physical world and the way people relate to each other and their communities.^[4]

Components

Physical 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.^[5]

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.Erving Goffman in particular emphasises the deeply social nature of the individual environment.^[6]^[relevant?]

Cultural and societal influence

"Sociocultural" basically means the mix of society and culture that affects how people think, feel, and act, which can also affect our health. It includes things like how wealth, education, career, cultural background, race, ethnicity, language, and beliefs shape people's identity and health.^[7]

Social and interpersonal relationships

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.^[8]

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.^[9]

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.^[10]

Family relationships

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.^[11] Moreover, perceived family support has been shown to enhance emotional and psychological well-being by fostering positive emotions and social interactions.^[12]

Work 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.^[13] 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.^[13] Workplace relationships are not limited to friendships, but also include superior-subordinate,^[14] romantic,^[15] and family relationships.^[16]

Sexual and intimate relationships

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.^[17] Intimate relationships are interdependent, and the members of the relationship mutually influence each other.^[18] 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.^[19]^[20]^[21] 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.^[22] Sex promotes intimacy, increases happiness,^[23] provides pleasure, and reduces stress.^[24]^[25] 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.^[26] 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.^[27]

Impacts

Childhood

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.^[28]

Solidarity

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 will often think in similar styles and patterns, even though the conclusions which they reach may differ.

Milieu/social structure

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".^[29]

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:^[30] "Our whole social environment seems to be filled with forces which really exist only in our own minds"^[31] – collective representations.

Phenomenology

Phenomenologists contrast two alternative visions of society, as a deterministic constraint (milieu) and as a nurturing shell (ambiance).^[32]

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.^[33]

Social surgery

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.^[34]

Similar^[which?] ideas have since been taken up in community psychiatry and family therapy.^[35]

References

^ Barnett, E; Casper, M (2001). "A definition of "social environment"". Am J Public Health. 91 (3): 465. doi:10.2105/ajph.91.3.465a. PMC 1446600. PMID 11249033.
^ Marjorie Taylor, Imaginary Companions (1999) p. 147
^ Sanchez-Gonzalez, D (2015). "Physical-social environments and aging population from environmental gerontology and geography. Socio-spatial implications in Latin America". Revista de Geografía Norte Grande. 60: 97–114. doi:10.4067/S0718-34022015000100006.
^ "Social Environmental and Genetic Influences on Obesity and Obesity-Promoting Behaviors: Fostering Research Integration". Genes, behavior, and the social environment: moving beyond the nature/nurture debate. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press. 2006. ISBN 978-0309101967.
^ "Physical Environment: Examples & Types | StudySmarter". StudySmarter UK. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
^ Erving Goffman, Relations in Public (1972) p. 296
^ Gonzalez, Patricia; Birnbaum-Weitzman, Orit (2020), "Sociocultural", in Gellman, Marc D. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 2105–2107, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-39903-0_1511, ISBN 978-3-030-39903-0, retrieved April 4, 2024
^ Cash, Elizabeth; Toney-Butler, Tammy J. (2024), "Social Relations", StatPearls, Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing, PMID 28613794, retrieved April 4, 2024
^ Griffin, John B. (1990), Walker, H. Kenneth; Hall, W. Dallas; Hurst, J. Willis (eds.), "Interpersonal Relationships", Clinical Methods: The History, Physical, and Laboratory Examinations (3rd ed.), Boston: Butterworths, ISBN 978-0-409-90077-4, PMID 21250156, retrieved April 4, 2024
^ "Social Relationship". www.sociologyguide.com. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
^ Grevenstein, Dennis; Bluemke, Matthias; Schweitzer, Jochen; Aguilar-Raab, Corina (June 1, 2019). "Better family relationships––higher well-being: The connection between relationship quality and health related resources". Mental Health & Prevention. 14: 200160. doi:10.1016/j.mph.2019.200160. ISSN 2212-6570.
^ An, Jing; Zhu, Xuanyu; Shi, Zhan; An, Jinlong (April 2, 2024). "A serial mediating effect of perceived family support on psychological well-being". BMC Public Health. 24 (1): 940. doi:10.1186/s12889-024-18476-z. ISSN 1471-2458. PMC 10986067. PMID 38566105.
^ ^a ^b Sias, Patricia M.; Gallagher, Erin B.; Kopaneva, Irina; Pedersen, Hannah (January 13, 2011). "Maintaining Workplace Friendships". Communication Research. 39 (2): 239–268. doi:10.1177/0093650210396869. S2CID 26155388.
^ Sias, Patricia M. (January 1, 2005). "Workplace Relationship Quality and Employee Information Experiences". Communication Studies. 56 (4): 375–395. doi:10.1080/10510970500319450. ISSN 1051-0974.
^ McBride, M. Chad; and Bergen, Karla Mason (October 20, 2015). "Work Spouses: Defining and Understanding a "New" Relationship". Communication Studies. 66 (5): 487–508. doi:10.1080/10510974.2015.1029640. ISSN 1051-0974.
^ Barker, Randolph T.; Rimler, George W.; Moreno, Evandro; Kaplan, Thomas E. (October 1, 2004). "Family Business Members' Narrative Perceptions: Values, Succession, and Commitment". Journal of Technical Writing and Communication. 34 (4): 291–320. doi:10.2190/H78U-J2AF-6QWC-X46J. ISSN 0047-2816.
^ Wong, D. W.; Hall, K. R.; Justice, C.A.; Wong, L. (2014). Counseling Individuals Through the Lifespan. SAGE Publications. p. 326. ISBN 978-1-4833-2203-2. 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.
^ Rusbult, Caryl E. (2003), Fletcher, Garth J. O.; Clark, Margaret S. (eds.), "Interdependence in Close Relationships", Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology: Interpersonal Processes (1 ed.), Wiley, pp. 357–387, doi:10.1002/9780470998557.ch14, ISBN 978-0-631-21228-7, retrieved October 30, 2023
^ Finkel, Eli J.; Simpson, Jeffry A.; Eastwick, Paul W. (January 3, 2017). "The Psychology of Close Relationships: Fourteen Core Principles". Annual Review of Psychology. 68 (1): 383–411. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044038. ISSN 0066-4308. PMID 27618945. S2CID 207567096.
^ Wiecha, Jan (2023). "Intimacy". Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer, Cham. pp. 1–11. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_1240-1. ISBN 978-3-031-08956-5.
^ Jankowiak, William (2015). "Intimacy". The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality: 583–625. doi:10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs242. ISBN 978-1-4051-9006-0.
^ Maxwell, Jessica A.; McNulty, James K. (2019). "No Longer in a Dry Spell: The Developing Understanding of How Sex Influences Romantic Relationships". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 28 (1): 102–107. doi:10.1177/0963721418806690. ISSN 0963-7214. S2CID 149470236.
^ Cheng, Zhiming; Smyth, Russell (April 1, 2015). "Sex and happiness". Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. 112: 26–32. doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2014.12.030. ISSN 0167-2681.
^ Meston, Cindy M.; Buss, David M. (July 3, 2007). "Why Humans Have Sex". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 36 (4): 477–507. doi:10.1007/s10508-007-9175-2. ISSN 0004-0002. PMID 17610060. S2CID 6182053.
^ Ein-Dor, Tsachi; Hirschberger, Gilad (2012). "Sexual healing: Daily diary evidence that sex relieves stress for men and women in satisfying relationships". Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. 29 (1): 126–139. doi:10.1177/0265407511431185. ISSN 0265-4075. S2CID 73681719.
^ Muise, Amy; Schimmack, Ulrich; Impett, Emily A. (2016). "Sexual Frequency Predicts Greater Well-Being, But More is Not Always Better". Social Psychological and Personality Science. 7 (4): 295–302. doi:10.1177/1948550615616462. ISSN 1948-5506. S2CID 146679264.
^ Kleinplatz, Peggy J.; Menard, A. Dana; Paquet, Marie-Pierre; Paradis, Nicolas; Campbell, Meghan; Zuccarino, Dino; Mehak, Lisa (2009). "The components of optimal sexuality: A portrait of "great sex"". Canadian Journal of Human Sexuliaty. 18 (1–2).
^ vmc (April 19, 2010). "Parenting, social environment and child development | myVMC". Healthengine Blog. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
^ Quoted in Peter Worsley ed., The New Modern Sociology Readings (1991) p. 17
^ P. Hamilton ed., Emile Durkheim: Critical Assessments, Vol I (1990) p. 385-6
^ Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1971) p. 227
^ John O'Neill, Sociology as a Skin Trade (1972) p. 174-5
^ Jörg Dürrschmidt, Everyday Living in the Global City (2000) p. 47
^ Henri Ellenberger, The Discovery of the Unconscious (1970) p. 380-1
^ R. Skynner/J. Cleese, Families and How to Survive Them (1993) p. 94