An event is a work that takes place or an event that happens. Social, for its part, is what is linked to society: the community formed by individuals who live under common rules.
The idea of social fact is used in the field of anthropology and sociology to refer to the ideas and behaviors that can be found in a social group. To understand what a social fact is, therefore, it is important to understand the concept of social group. This is the name given to the set of individuals who share a goal and interact with each other. By having something in common, the members of this group fulfill a certain role in society.
The Frenchman Émile Durkheim was the one who coined the notion of social fact at the end of the 19th century. Durkheim argued that a social fact was a way of doing influenced by culture and social context.
A social fact, in short, is a way of feeling and acting that is external to the individual and that guides their behavior. Culture is responsible for shaping the human being and predisposes him to think and act in a certain way. According to those cultural elements that the subject internalized in his socialization process, he will act in one way or another.
It can be said that social facts are collective (they are part of a culture; that is, they are not individual), coercive (they affect individual actions) and external (they are imposed from outside by habit, repetition, etc.).
To abide by a social fact means to recognize oneself as a member of a social group. This is the path that most human beings choose, since it is the one that offers us the security of belonging to a certain culture that, in exchange for our own individuality and our true desires, offers us the apparent warmth of approval. and it guarantees that "we will never be alone." However, leaving aside that which makes us unique for fear of not fitting into society is not a characteristic of a revolutionary being, of those geniuses who mark a before and after.
A possible classification for social facts divides them into three groups:
* Morphological social fact: it is one that maintains order and structure in society, causing all individuals to participate in their various environments;
* Institution: it is a social fact that is recognized as part of life in the society to which it belongs, since it is an integral part of it;
* current of opinion: it can be a trend or a relatively passing fashion, or it does not have a constant force but rather depends on the time in which it manifests itself. One of its main features is that it leads society to take a subjective position in relation to a certain event or idea.
Applauding an artist when he finishes singing is an example of social fact. The person who does not comply with this practice is usually frowned upon as not applauding is considered to be disrespectful.