Meaning & use
social conscience
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
a feeling of responsibility toward other people and society, leading to concern about fairness and justice.
Grammar: Often used with 'a' or an adjective: a social conscience, a strong social conscience.
Patterns
- a social conscience
- have a social conscience
- a strong social conscience
Many young people today have a strong social conscience and volunteer regularly.
The company claims to have a social conscience, but its workers are poorly paid.
Her social conscience led her to become a human rights lawyer.
noununcountable
the awareness among a group or society of moral issues and the need to address them.
Grammar: Can be used without an article when referring to the general awareness in society.
Patterns
- raise social conscience
- awaken social conscience
The photographs helped raise social conscience about poverty.
The movement awakened the nation's social conscience.
Word forms
| plural | social consciences |
|---|
Common combinations
- a strong social conscience
- She is a business leader with a strong social conscience.
- have a social conscience
- It is important for large companies to have a social conscience.
- awaken someone's social conscience
- The documentary awakened his social conscience.
- a matter of social conscience
- Tax avoidance is now a matter of social conscience.
Synonyms and how they differ
- social awareness
- Social awareness is about noticing social issues; social conscience adds a moral duty to act on them.
- civic duty
- Civic duty refers to specific responsibilities as a citizen; social conscience is a broader feeling of moral concern.
Opposites
Word family
- conscientious adjective
- Careful to do what is right or to do a task well.
- conscious adjective
- Awake or aware of something; not the same as conscience.
Commonly confused: social conscience or conscious?
social conscience vs conscious
Conscious is an adjective meaning awake or aware (e.g., 'conscious of the risk'). Conscience is a noun meaning the inner sense of right and wrong.
Practice
The charity was founded by a woman with a strong social ___.
Choose one answer.
'Social conscience' is the correct noun phrase meaning moral concern for society. 'Conscious' is an adjective, 'consciousness' means awareness in general, and 'conscientious' is an adjective describing a careful person.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “social conscience”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.