Man vs. society is a type of external conflict in which a character stands against the norms, laws, or power structures of a community. The opponent is collective rather than individual.

Stories of dissent, civil disobedience, persecution, and social reform often center on this conflict. The protagonist may fight an unjust law, a corrupt institution, or the pressure to conform. Victory can mean changing society, escaping it, or maintaining integrity despite defeat. The conflict raises questions about justice, belonging, and the cost of resistance.

Man vs. society can overlap with man vs. man when particular representatives of the social order become the face of the opposition. Yet the deeper struggle is with a system or a climate of opinion. Literature from Antigone to modern dystopian fiction has used the pattern to examine the relationship between individual conscience and collective power.

When a character’s chief struggle is with the surrounding social order, the conflict is man versus society.