Topic Vocabulary: Society

Essential Society Vocabulary for Band 7+

Society and social issues represent the broadest IELTS topic category, covering urbanisation, inequality, crime, family structures, and cultural change.

Core Topic Nouns

Social structures: social cohesion, community bonds, nuclear family, generational gap, social mobility, class structure, demographic change Urban and rural: urbanisation, rural depopulation, urban sprawl, gentrification, housing affordability, overpopulation Inequality: socioeconomic inequality, wealth gap, gender inequality, social exclusion, marginalised communities, systemic poverty Values: cultural diversity, multiculturalism, cultural identity, globalisation, cultural homogenisation

High-Scoring Collocations

social cohesion, widen the wealth gap, promote social inclusion, erode community bonds, cultural homogenisation, social mobility, marginalised communities

Band Comparison

Band 5: Society has many problems like crime and poverty that need to be fixed.

Band 7: Rising socioeconomic inequality continues to undermine social cohesion and restrict upward mobility for disadvantaged groups.

Band 9: The widening wealth gap in many developed nations not only threatens social cohesion but fundamentally undermines the meritocratic principles upon which democratic societies claim to be founded.

Practice Question

In many countries, the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing. What are the causes of this problem and what measures could be taken to reduce it?