Try perhaps to follow Eastern society (5)
I believe the answer is:
essay
'try' is the definition.
(essay can mean to try or attempt something)
'perhaps to follow eastern society' is the wordplay.
'perhaps' becomes 'say' (both can mean 'for example').
'to follow' says to put letters next to each other (some letters go after or follow others).
'eastern' becomes 'e'.
'society' becomes 's' (common abbreviation in names of organisations).
'e'+'s'='es'
'say' after 'es' is 'ESSAY'.
(Other definitions for essay that I've seen before include "Short literary piece: attempt" , "Test" , "Composition; attempt" , "Scholarly work" , "Try; a piece of writing" .)