Sociofact


Sociofact is a term coined by biologist Julian Huxley, used together with the related terms "mentifact" and "artifact" to describe how cultural traits take on a life of their own, spanning over generations. For Huxley, the concept of culture contemplates artifacts, mentifacts, and sociofacts. A definition also explains that shared mentifacts, through artifacts, are called sociofacts. Sociofact also describes interpersonal interactions and social structures. This idea has been related to memetics or the memetic concept of culture.

Development

The idea of the sociofact was developed extensively by David Bidney in his textbook Theoretical Anthropology. He used the term to refer to objects which consist of interactions between members of a social group. Bidney's sociofact includes norms that "serve to regulate the conduct of the individual within society".
The concept has been used by philosophers and social scientists in their analyses of varying kinds of social groups. For instance, semiotician of music Charles Boilès, in a discussion of the semiotics of the tune "Taps", claims that although it is a single piece of music, it can be seen as three distinct musical sociofacts: as a "last call" signal in taverns frequented by soldiers, as an "end of day" signal on military bases, and hence symbolically as a component of military funerals. The claim has been made that sociofactual analysis can play a decisive role for the performance of, and collaboration within, organizations.