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'{{redirect|Milieu|other uses|Milieu (disambiguation)}} 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.<ref>{{cite journal | pmc= 1446600 | pmid=11249033 | volume=91 | title=A definition of "social environment" | journal=Am J Public Health | page=465 | last1 = Barnett | first1 = E | last2 = Casper | first2 = M}}</ref> The interaction may be in person or through communication media, even anonymous or one-way,<ref>Marjorie Taylor, ''Imaginary Companions'' (1999) p. 147</ref> and may not imply equality of [[social status]]. Therefore, the social environment is a broader concept than that of [[social class]] or [[social circle]]. ==Solidarity== People with the same social environment often develop a sense of [[social solidarity]]; they often tend to trust and help one another, and to congregate in [[social group]]s. They will often think in similar styles and patterns even when their conclusions differ. asfgasdfgasdf ==Natural/artificial environment== 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 things have all developed through this. All these man-made components are included in our cultural environment, [[Erving Goffman]] in particular stressing the deeply social nature of the individual environment.<ref>Erving Goffman, ''Relations in Public'' (1972) p. 296</ref> ==Milieu/social structure== [[C. Wright Mills]] contrasted the immediate milieu of jobs/family/neighbourhood 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".<ref>Quoted in Peter Worsley ed., ''The New Modern Sociology Readings'' (1991) p. 17</ref> [[Emile Durkheim]] took a wider view of the social environment (''milieu social''), arguing that it contained internalised norms and representations of social forces/social facts:<ref>P. Hamliton ed., ''Emile Durkheim: Critical Assessments, Vol I'' (1990) p. 385-6</ref> "Our whole social environment seems to be filled with forces which really exist only in our own minds"<ref>Emile Durkheim, ''The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life'' (1971) p. 227</ref> – [[collective representations]]. ==Phenomenology== Phenomenologists contrast two alternative visions of society, as a deterministic constraint (''milieu'') and as a nurturing shell (''ambiance'').<ref>John O'Neill, ''Sociology as a Skin Trade'' (1972) p. 174-5</ref> [[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.<ref>Jörg Dürrschmidt, ''Everyday Living in the Global City'' (2000) p. 47</ref> ==Social surgery== [[Pierre Janet]] saw neurosis as in part the product of the [[identified patient]]'s social environment – family, social network, work etc. – and considered that in some instances what he called "social surgery" to create more space in that environment would be a beneficial measure.<ref>[[Henri Ellenberger]], ''The Discovery of the Unconscious'' (1970) p. 380-1</ref> Similar ideas have since been taken up in [[community psychiatry]] and [[family therapy]].<ref>R. Skynner/J. Cleese, ''[[Families and How to Survive Them]]'' (1993) p. 94</ref> ==See also== * [[Alfred Schütz]] – The four divisions of the lifeworld * [[Communitarianism]] * [[Family nexus]] * [[Framing (social sciences)]] * [[Generalized other]] * [[Microculture]] * [[Milieu therapy]] * [[Pillarisation]] ==References== {{Reflist|colwidth=40em}} ==Further reading== * Leo Spitzer, "''Milieu'' and ''Ambience'': An Essay in Historical Semantics", in ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' III (1942-3) {{DEFAULTSORT:Social Environment}} [[Category:Sociological terminology]] [[Category:Personal life]]'