Society tries to make cuts (6)
I believe the answer is:
shears
'cuts' is the definition.
(shearing is a kind of cutting)
'society tries' is the wordplay.
'society' becomes 's' (common abbreviation in names of organisations).
'tries' becomes 'hears' ('hear' can be a synonym of 'try').
's'+'hears'='SHEARS'
'to make' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for shears that I've seen before include "cutter" , "Grass cutters" , "Large clippers" , "Pruners" , "Clips" .)