what is a social factor?

2 answers

Various characteristics in a person or group that determine the nature of their position in society, I'd guess.

level of education
economic status
geographical background
ethnic background

Be careful of this type of categorizing, though. This is exactly what leads to stereotyping.
Social factors also include the specific language with idioms and intonations a group uses. For instance I recently spent a couple of hours in a different part of our city and found that the communications were a little different than what I was used to.