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MINISTERY OF EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS
Belarus State Economic University
REFERAT:
"Social interaction and social relation. Levels of social interactions"
Minsk 2008
Social interaction and social relation are identified as different concepts. The concept “social relation” is frequently used in social sciences, but there is no commonly agreed meaning for it. In the first instance, a social relation is regarded as a relation between people, and more specifically:
· a relation between individuals insofar as they belong to a group,
· a relation between groups,
· a relation between an individual and a group.
In this sense, a social relation is not identical with a unique interpersonal relation or a unique individual relation, although all these types of relations presuppose each other. Anyway, in sociological hierarchy, social relation is more advanced than behaviour, action, social behaviour, social action, social contact and social interaction. These concepts denote:
· animal-like behaviour is first and most basic behaviour, various physical movements of the body like walking, eating;
· action is a movement with a meaning and purpose, for instance, you pick up berries to eat yourself;
· social behaviour is addressed towards other people;
· social action requires a response from another person, for instance, you present a diamond ring to your girl-friend;
· social contact is a pair of social actions;
· social interaction is a sequence of social actions.
It should be noted that the last four movements can take place within the frameworks of a social act.
There must be three components so that social interaction is realized:
· the subjects (two and more people - who interacts?);
· the object (why to interact?);
· a mechanism to regulate interactions (how to interact?)
If there is no object, individuals don't interact, if there is one, they do. For instance, a young man wants to get acquainted with a girl. It is the girl who makes a decision to interact: if she likes the man (the subject) or the object suggested, she continues the conversation, gives her telephone number etc. In other words, she performs particular actions to get social interaction done.
Social interactions can be differentiated into:
· accidental (also known as social contact) - not planned and not repeated, for instance, asking a stranger for directions. Social contact is interaction without further consequence, i. e. it is not likely to be repeated or the subject of interaction can be easily exchanged by another one. An example would be a failed and not-repeated attempt to start a conversation with the girl a young man likes if she doesn't like him.
· repeated - not planned, bound to happen from time to time. For example, accidentally meeting a neighbour from time to time when walking in your street;
· regular - not planned, but very common, likely to raise questions when missed, for instance, meeting a doorman every workday in your workplace or your tutor at the University, dining every day in the same restaurant, etc.
· regulated - planned and regulated by customs or law, will definitely raise questions when missed, for instance, interaction in a workplace (coming to work or class to lectures, staff meetings etc), family etc.
The Romans said that man is a social animal, so an individual depends on the society he lives in. It means that he depends on other individuals with whom he enters into relations forming any social entity. That's why social interactions are based on interdependencies between two or more people mutually oriented towards each other, i. e. social interaction is any behavior that tries to affect or take account of each other's subjective actions or intentions. It suggests that the parties to the social interaction must be aware of each other. It does not mean being in sight of or directly behaving towards each other. Friends writing letters are socially interacting, as are enemy generals preparing opposing war plans. Social interaction is not defined by type of physical relation or behavior, or by physical distance. It is a matter of a mutual subjective orientation towards each other. Spying one on another is not social interaction if the other is unaware. Thus, even when no physical behavior is involved, as with two rivals deliberately ignoring each other's professional work, there is social interaction.
Social interaction is a dynamic, changing sequence of social actions between people (or groups) who modify their actions and reactions due to the actions done by their interaction partner(s).
An American researcher R. Rummel in his work, Understanding Conflict and War, describes social interactions by their meaning, direction, intensity, extension, duration, and organization.
The meaning of social interaction involves understanding such behavior as act, action, or practice.
The direction of interaction depends on whether people orient their acts towards each other, and whether the acts involve common intentions and the desire or aim of helping each other to achieve that intention. There are two opposing directions of interaction - solidary and antagonistic. The first involves acts of similar intentions and a mutual orientation of the parties towards helping each other to achieve these intentions. For instance, friends helping each other to pass an examination, parents mutually cooperating to bring up their children, a team of scientists trying to discover a cure for cancer, and so on.
Antagonistic interaction takes place when the parties intend to hinder each other from achieving their purpose. For instance, two people competing for promotion to the same position, generals fighting for the same territory, or rivals trying to capture the same market share. The interaction between a master and slave, a prisoner and his guard are also examples.
It should be noted that antagonistic interaction does not imply that intentions are different. The parties share a common desire and mutual orientation towards each other. They have the same aims (a promotion, possession, achievement etc) which they don't want to or can't have together. Antagonistic interaction is characterized by this main element: a perception of incompatible purposes and the belief that the achievement of one's own aim entails frustrating the others.
There is also a mixed interaction, which is partly antagonistic, partly solidary. The mutual acts may be solidary as the parties intend to achieve a common goal but their actions may be antagonistic. A doctor and patient may both have the patient's health uppermost in mind, but the patient's actions may be antagonistic, when he refuses to stay in bed as ordered.
On the other hand, the acts may be antagonistic while the actions are solidary, for instance, parents argue while keeping their voices down so as not to wake up their children.
Besides meanings and direction, social interactions are also characterized by high or low intensity. Deeply felt, strongly motivated intentions can be involved, as in a world chess match, war, labour strike, or marriage. On the other hand, the interactions may involve little emotion or peripheral intentions, as with those playing tennis to relax or disagreeing over what movie to see.
Due to extension interactions may be extensive or narrow. They may invoke a range of activities, such as beating all competitors for the presidency of a country, fighting a war, or building a good academic department. Narrow interactions may be restricted to particular activities, such as cooperation among friends cleaning up after a party, or a legislative disagreement over the tax on imported watches.
Another characteristic of interaction concerns their duration. Interactions may be of momentary or relatively short duration, such as a dispute at the supper table as to who will get the last piece of cake, or an interaction between a sales clerk and customer. Some interactions are of extended duration, as in the rivalry of nations at the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly, or the mutual love directed interaction of a marriage.
Finally, interactions can be characterized as to whether they are organized, that is, governed by law-norms defining a group, or not. For instance, interactions between individuals preparing for a joint weekend may not be organized, while trade between nations, or divorce proceedings are organized interactions.
In total, social interactions manifest various combinations of characteristics, or modalities in terminology by P. A. Sorokin. They may be solidary, intensive, but narrow, short and non-organized, like sexual intercourse; or intensive, extensive, durable, antagonistic and organized, like war; or intensive, narrow, short, organized, and antagonistic, like a coup d'йtat etc.
Within different conceptual frameworks sociologists classified social interactions into such forms as Gemeinschaft versus Gesellschaft, community versus association, cooperation versus conflict etc. The known conception is that of P. A. Sorokin who divided the interaction system of organized durable groups into three components: familistic, contractual and compulsory ones.
The familistic component comprises consistent, solidary, extensive, intensive and durable interactions. Those who are involved in them form an organically interdependent unity, interrelated into a “we”. What concerns one concerns them all; it is not a question of what each personally can achieve from the interaction, but what can be done together. Social interactions between father and son, members of religions, sects, athletic teams are often of familistic nature.
The contractual component comprises interactions which are partly solidary, partly antagonistic, limited in duration and extension, with high or low intensity, and legalistic. Contractual interaction tends to be utilitarian, a specific association of the actions of individuals for independent purposes. It is manifested in benevolent neutrality, passive resistance or reluctant cooperation, competitive cooperation, simultaneous love and hate. Examples are interaction between a seller and buyer, an employee and employer, a bureaucrat and citizen. Some modern couples transform their marriages into a contractual affair.
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