milieus

Noun

milieu (plural milieux or milieus)

1. An environment or setting; a medium; environs
   • Australian cinema is a messy affair. It is a messiness not only in our ways of knowing, reading, consuming and producing films and the larger film-making milieu of which they are a part, but also a messiness among the films themselves […]1996, Tom O’Regan, “Introducing Australian Cinema”, in Australian National Cinema (National Cinemas Series), London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 2
2. (specifically) A social environment or setting.
   • The distinction between the constituents in, and the conditions of, the integral life-career of person is well brought out in contrasting the attitudes of attention which persons normally develop with the milieux or social media which serve as the theater for their exercise. […] The assertive...1927 July, Percy Hughes, “The Biotic Center of Psychology”, in The Center, Function and Structure of Psychology (Lehigh University Publication; vol. 1, no. 6; Institute of Research; circular no. 9...
3. A group of people with a common point of view; a social class or group.
   • It's not easy to find someone whom one has mislaid for years in London, particularly if she belongs to the sort of milieu that Anna belonged to, but clearly the first thing to do is look in the telephone book.1954, Iris Murdoch, chapter 2, in Under the Net […], London: The Reprint Society, published 1955, →OCLC, page 35