 Re: 'in the sense that'
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In using the phrase, the speaker is intending to narrow down the broader topic aforementioned into a narrower aspect which s/he wishes to speak of or point out.
In your example, 'a closed society' has many aspects-- restricted admission of new members, rigid cultural mores, limited access to the outside, a tendency toward traditionalism, etc. The speaker, after using the words 'a closed society', wishes to limit his/her comments to the 'limited-access-to-the-outside' aspect of it. The speaker is not necessarily defining 'a closed society'; he is limiting the discussion to one sense of the more general topic.
Is that any clearer? (I hope!)
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