The term
social order can be used in two senses. In the first sense, it refers to a particular set or system of linked
social structures,
institutions, relations, customs, values and practices, which conserve, maintain and enforce certain patterns of relating and behaving. Examples are the ancient, the feudal, and the capitalist social order. In the second sense, social order is contrasted to social chaos or disorder, and refers to a stable state of society in which the existing social order is accepted and maintained by its members. The
problem of order or
Hobbesian problem, which is central to much of
sociology,
political science and
political philosophy, is the question how and why it is that social orders exist at all.