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You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (November 2021) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the French article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 1,674 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Ordre du Mérite social]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|fr|Ordre du Mérite social}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

The ordre du Mérite social was a civil honour in France. It was set up with three grades (knight, officer and commander) by a decree dated 24 October 1936 and administered by the Ministry of Employment. It rewarded those who had given devoted and selfless service to social work and mutual societies.

It replaced the Secours mutuels medals (which had themselves been set up by a decree dated 26 March 1852) and the "Médailles d’Honneur" (set up by a decree of 27 March 1858). Considered as 'associative medals', these could not be worn outside mutual benefit society circles. It also replaced the Médaille de la Prévoyance Sociale and Medaille des Assurances Sociales, set up in parallel by decrees in 1922 and 1923.

The Ordre was dissolved on the creation of the Ordre national du Mérite on 3 December 1963, though its existing holders continued to enjoy its associated prerogatives for life.

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  Knight
• 
  Officer
• 
  Commander

• "14 February 1937 decree".
• "1963 decree".