Social - socialist - sociable

Although these words come from the same source – the noun ‘society’ – they have very different meanings, and must not be confused.

Socialist is an adjective describing a political belief or theory, usually of the Left. (The Right wing German party led by Adolf Hitler also called itself socialist – the National Socialist, or Nazi, party.) It can also be a noun naming a person who holds the belief. Characteristically, socialists believe that everything else, particularly individuals, must serve the wider society, or state; they often believe that the state should own all economic activity.

Social simply means ‘to do with society’, and is used very widely. Professionals who work with unfortunate members of our society are social workers; people who study how humans behave are social anthropologists; a busy rich person may have a social secretary to arrange such social events as receptions, parties, and dinners. A socialist worker, on the other hand, is somebody with a job who believes in the public ownership of industries; or – punctuated Socialist Worker – is a politically motivated newspaper in Britain. A socialist anthropologist would be a student of human beings, either their physical characteristics (an anthropologist) or their societies (a social anthropologist) who shared such left-wing ideas. A socialist secretary is a personal assistant with certain political beliefs.

There is also a word sociable, which means roughly ‘friendly’, or ‘gregarious’: a sociable person is one who is good company, amusing and entertaining (or a good listener) at social events in such places as pubs.