The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and Mary on December 5, 1776, as the first collegiate Greek-letter fraternity, it is also the oldest honor society for the liberal arts and sciences and among the oldest undergraduate societies in the United States. Phi Beta Kappa (ΦΒΚ) stands for Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης or philosophia biou kybernētēs — "Love of learning is the guide of life".

Each individual chapter determines its specific application of the Phi Beta Kappa Council's 1952 Stipulations Concerning Eligibility for Membership and sets its own academic standards.

Since inception, 17 U.S. Presidents, 37 U.S. Supreme Court Justices, 1 NFL MVP, 1 Heisman Trophy winner, and 136 Nobel Laureates have been inducted members.

According to the society, "only about 10 percent of the nation's institutions of higher learning have Phi Beta Kappa chapters," and of the institutions with chapters, only about 10 percent of the arts and sciences graduates are elected to Phi Beta Kappa membership.

A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Human societies are characterized by patterns of relationships (social relations) between individuals who share a distinctive culture and institutions; a given society may be described as the sum total of such relationships among its constituent members. In the social sciences, a larger society often evinces stratification and/or dominance patterns in subgroups.

Insofar as it is collaborative, a society can enable its members to benefit in ways that would not otherwise be possible on an individual basis; both individual and social (common) benefits can thus be distinguished, or in many cases found to overlap.

A society can also consist of like-minded people governed by their own norms and values within a dominant, larger society. This is sometimes referred to as a subculture, a term used extensively within criminology.

The Society of the Cincinnati is a historical lineage organization with branches in the United States and France, founded in 1783 to preserve the ideals and fellowship of the American Revolutionary War officers. Now in its third century, the Society is a nonprofit historical, diplomatic, and educational organization that promotes public interest in the American Revolution through its library and museum collections, exhibitions, programs, publications, and other activities.

The concept of the Society of the Cincinnati was started by Major General Henry Knox. The first meeting of the Society was held in May 1783 at a dinner at Mount Gulian (Verplanck House) in Fishkill, New York, before the British evacuation from New York City. The meeting was chaired by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton, and the participants agreed to stay in contact with each other after the war. Membership was generally limited to officers who had served at least three years in the Continental Army or Navy; it included officers of the French Army and Navy above certain ranks.

Herbert Gintis (born 1940) is an American behavioral scientist, educator, and author. He is notable for his foundational views on Altruism, Cooperation, Epistemic Game Theory, Gene-culture coevolution, Efficiency wages, Strong reciprocity, and Human capital theory. Gintis has also written extensively on behavioral, evolutionary, and epistemic game theory.

Gintis received his B.A. in Mathematics from University of Pennsylvania in 1961. The following year, he received an M.A. in Mathematics from Harvard University. In 1969, he received a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard after acceptance of his dissertation, Alienation and power: towards a radical welfare economics.

He works extensively with economist Samuel Bowles. Both Gintis and Bowles were asked by Martin Luther King Jr. to write papers for the 1968 Poor People's March. Gintis and others were also 1968 co-founders of Union for Radical Political Economics.

Gintis is currently Professor at Central European University, Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts and External Professor at Santa Fe Institute

Thomas Joseph "Tom" Bender (born 19 January 1993) is a Wales under-21 international footballer who plays for Colchester United.

Bender is a product of the Colchester United academy. He made his senior debut on 19 September 2009 for Colchester in a 2–0 win against Hartlepool United, becoming the second youngest player ever to represent the club at 16 years and 243 days, just 26 days older than the record holder Lindsay Smith. Bender was named on the bench for six further games that season against Tranmere Rovers, Brentford, Wycombe Wanderers, Exeter City, Charlton Athletic and Huddersfield Town. On 19 January 2010, Bender signed his first professional contract until the summer of 2012.

On 21 October, he was listed for loan to get some matches under his belt along with Sam Corcoran, Steven Gillespie and Carl Pentney. Bender did not leave on loan and instead continued playing with the Under 18s. He was named on the bench for first team games against Charlton, Leyton Orient, Swansea City in the FA Cup, Bournemouth, Notts County and Bristol Rovers.