sociation

Noun

sociation (countable and uncountable, plural sociations)

1. A plant community.
   • While the lowest units of phytocoenoses, the sociations, are founded upon a relative homogeneity in all layers, most consociations are homogeneous only in one layer, and the higher units in no layer at all, being founded mainly upon the sociological affinity of the dominants of the layer...1930, Fifth International Botanical Congress, page 73
   • In the classification, sociations are first distinguished by the dominant or constant species, or by a combination of them.1980, Selected Water Resources Abstracts
2. The stable interactions and influences among the species within a coenose.
   • But as I chose to classify sociations, or rather associations in topographical terms, it was obviously necessary to separate the C. Bigelowii myri from the dry-ground sociations in which it is a dominant species.1975, Steindór Steindórsson frá Hlöðum, Studies on the mire-vegetation of Iceland, page 99
   • Therefore a comparative analysis and a classification of bog plant communities must be undertaken on the basis of sociations.2013, Peter D. Moore, European Mires, →ISBN, page 124
3. Interactions and relationships among people.
   • Risk cultures lie in non-institutional and anti-institutional sociations.2000, Barbara Adam, Ulrich Beck, Joost Van Loon, The Risk Society and Beyond: Critical Issues for Social Theory, →ISBN, page 47
   • Sociation is neither the cause nor the consequence of society; it is society.2010, Alex Law -, Key Concepts in Classical Social Theory, →ISBN