All human societies have some basic forms of social organization, some patterns of social relationships that characterize how men and women, adults and children, small and large numbers of people, live and work together, relax , and assure their security and continuity as a society and culture over time. Social organization is the term social scientists use to refer to the different ways in which specific societies establish social relationships to raise their young, take care of their elderly, provide for leadership, means of subsistence or economy, and religious activities and insure relationships with other societies or social groups.
Families, towns, and nation-states are examples of common types of present-day forms of social organization, as were the nomadic bands that the Plains Indians used to live in when they hunted buffalo in the Western United States, the Inca empire of Pre-Colombian Peru and the shabono or enclosed village still typical of some Yanomami Indians in South America today.
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