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Social connections, social relationships, social interaction. Question. Social connections, social relations, social interaction What is social connection social interaction

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System analysis of social life

Throughout the history of sociology, one of its most important problems has been the problem: what is society? Sociology of all times and peoples tried to answer the questions: how is society possible? What are the mechanisms of social integration that ensure social order, despite the huge variety of interests of individuals and social groups? Consideration of this problem is our task in this topic.

Let's start with how sociology interprets the concept of "society". E. Durkheim viewed society as a supra-individual spiritual reality based on collective ideas. According to M. Weber, society is the interaction of people, which is a product of social, that is, focused on other people, actions. The prominent American sociologist T. Parsons defined society as a system of relations between people, the connecting principle of which are norms and values. From the point of view of Karl Marx, society is a historically developing set of relations between people that develop in the process of their joint activity.

It is obvious that in all these definitions, to one degree or another, an approach is expressed to society as an integral system of elements that are in a state of close interconnection. This approach to society is called systemic. The main task of the systems approach in the study of society is to combine various knowledge about society into a coherent system that could become a theory of society.

Consider the basic principles of a systematic approach to society. To do this, it is necessary to define the basic concepts. System- this is a set of elements ordered in a certain way, interconnected and forming some integral unity. The internal nature, the content side of any integral system, the material basis of its organization is determined by the composition, the set of elements.

A social system is a holistic education, the main element of which is people, their connections, interactions and relationships. These connections, interactions and relationships are stable and are reproduced in the historical process, passing from generation to generation.

Social connection is a set of facts that determine joint activities in specific communities at a specific time to achieve certain goals. Social connections installed not at the whim of people, but objectively. Establishing these connections is dictated by social conditions, in which individuals live and act. The essence of social ties is manifested in the content and nature of the actions of people who make up a given social community. Sociologists distinguish links of interaction, relationships, control, institutional, etc.

Social interaction is a process in which people act and experience an impact on each other. The mechanism of social interaction includes individuals who perform certain actions, changes in the social community or society as a whole caused by these actions, the impact of these changes on other individuals that make up the social community, and, finally, the feedback of individuals. Interaction leads to the formation of new social relationships. Social relationships are relatively stable and independent connections between individuals and social groups.

So, society is made up of many individuals, their social connections, interactions and relationships. But can society be viewed as a simple sum of individuals, their connections, interactions and relationships? Supporters of a systematic approach to the analysis of society answer: "No." From their point of view, society is not a summative, but an integral system. This means that at the level of society, individual actions, connections and relationships form a new, systemic quality. System quality- This is a special qualitative state that cannot be regarded as a simple sum of elements. Public interactions and relations are of a supra-individual, transpersonal character, that is, society is a certain independent substance, which is primary in relation to individuals. Each individual, being born, finds a certain structure of connections and relationships and in the process of socialization is included in it. How is this integrity, that is, systemic quality, achieved?

A holistic system is inherent in many connections, interactions and relationships. The most characteristic are correlations, interactions and relationships that include coordination and subordination of elements. Coordination- this is a certain consistency of elements, that special nature of their mutual dependence, which ensures the preservation of an integral system. Subordination - it is subordination and subordination, indicating a special specific place, the unequal meaning of elements in an integral system.

So, as a result, society becomes integral system with qualities that none of the elements included in it separately. Due to its integral qualities, the social system acquires a certain independence in relation to its constituent elements, a relatively independent way of its development.

Social interaction

Social interaction- a system of interdependent social actions connected by cyclical dependence, in which the action of one subject is both a cause and a consequence of the response actions of other subjects. It is related to the concept of "social action", which is the starting point for the formation of social ties. Social interaction as a way of implementing social ties and relationships presupposes the presence of at least two subjects, the process of interaction itself, as well as the conditions and factors for its implementation. In the course of interaction, the formation and development of the individual, the social system, their change in the social structure of society, etc., takes place.

Social interaction includes the transfer of an action from one social actor to another, receiving and reacting to it in the form of a response, as well as the renewal of the actions of social actors. It has a social meaning for the participants and involves the exchange of their actions in the future due to the presence in it of a special causality - a social relationship. Social relations are formed in the process of interaction between people and are the result of their past interactions that have acquired a stable social form. Social interactions, by contrast, are not "frozen" social forms, and the "living" social practices of people, which are conditioned, directed, structured, regulated by social relations, but are capable of influencing these social forms and changing them.

Social interaction is determined by the social statuses and roles of the individual and social groups. It has objective and subjective sides:

  • Objective side- factors independent of the interacting ones, but influencing them.
  • Subjective side- the conscious attitude of individuals towards each other in the process of interaction, based on mutual expectations.

Classification of social interaction

  1. Primary, secondary (ideological, religious, moral)
  2. By the number of participants: interaction of two people; one person and a group of people; between the two groups
  3. Multi-ethnic
  4. Between people of different incomes, etc.

Notes (edit)

see also


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See what "Social interaction" is in other dictionaries:

    SOCIAL INTERACTION- the process of direct or indirect impact of social objects on each other, in which the interacting parties are linked by cyclical causal dependence. ST. as a type of communication represents the integration of actions, functional ... The latest philosophical dictionary

    Social interaction- interaction between two or more individuals, in the process of which socially significant information is transmitted or actions aimed at another are carried out ... Sociology: vocabulary

    Social interaction- Nouns ADDRESSES / NT, sender / tel. A person or organization sending any kind of correspondence (letters, telegrams, etc.). ADDRESSES / T, recipient / tel. A person or organization receiving any correspondence ... ... Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language

    SOCIAL INTERACTION- the process of direct or indirect impact of social objects on each other, in which the interacting parties are linked by cyclical causal dependence. S.V. as a kind of communication represents the integration of actions, ... ... Sociology: Encyclopedia

    SOCIAL INTERACTION- See interaction ... Explanatory dictionary in psychology

    Social interaction- - the process by which people act and react in relation to others ... Social Work Dictionary

    Social interaction- a system of interdependent social actions linked by cyclical dependence, in which the action of one subject is both a cause and a consequence of the response actions of other subjects ... Sociological Dictionary Socium

    SOCIAL INTERACTION- see SOCIAL INTERACTION ... The latest philosophical dictionary

    Social interaction- Social interaction “a way of implementing social ties and relationships in a system that presupposes the presence of at least two subjects, the very process of interaction, as well as the conditions and factors for its implementation. In the course of interaction takes place ... ... Wikipedia

    Social action- human action (regardless of whether it is external or internal, is reduced to non-interference or patient acceptance), which, according to the supposed actor or actors, the meaning corresponds to the action ... ... Wikipedia

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  • Social partnership. Interaction between government, business and hired personnel. Textbook for undergraduate and graduate programs, Voronina L.I .. The author of the textbook not only refers to the works of foreign and Russian sociologists, including works on economic sociology, but also shows his own vision of the actual ...

Social interaction

The starting point for the emergence of a social connection is the interaction of individuals or groups of individuals to meet certain needs.

Interaction - it is any behavior of an individual or a group of individuals that is important for other individuals and groups of individuals or society as a whole at the moment and in the future. The category "interaction" expresses the content and nature of relations between individuals and social groups as permanent carriers of a qualitatively different types activities differing in social positions(statuses) and roles (functions). Regardless of in which sphere of society's life (economic, political, etc.) the interaction takes place, it is always social in nature, since it expresses connections between individuals and groups of individuals, connections mediated by goals that each of the interacting parties haunts.

Social interaction has an objective and a subjective side. Objective side of interaction- these are connections that are independent of individuals, but mediate and control the content and nature of their interaction. The subjective side of interaction - it is a conscious relationship of individuals to each other, based on mutual expectations (expectations) of the corresponding behavior. These are interpersonal (or, more broadly, socio-psychological) relations, which are direct connections and relationships between individuals that develop in specific conditions of place and time.

The mechanism of social interaction includes: individuals who perform certain actions; changes in the outside world caused by these actions; the impact of these changes on other individuals; the backlash of the affected individuals.

Under the influence of Simmel and especially Sorokin, interaction in his subjective interpretation was accepted as the initial concept of group theory, and then became the initial concept of American sociology. As Sorokin wrote: “The interaction of two or more individuals is a generic concept of a social phenomenon: it can serve as a model for the latter. Studying the structure of this model, we can learn the structure of all social phenomena. Having decomposed interaction into its component parts, we will thus decompose the most complex social phenomena into parts ”. "The subject of sociology," says one of the American teaching aids in sociology, - is direct verbal and non-verbal interaction. The main task of sociology is to achieve a systematic knowledge of social rhetoric. Interview as a form of rhetoric is not just a sociological tool, but part of its subject of study. "

However, by itself social interaction Explains nothing at all. To understand the interaction, it is necessary to find out the properties of the interacting forces, and these properties cannot be explained in the fact of interactions, no matter how they change due to it. The very fact of the interaction of knowledge does not add. It all depends on the individual and social properties and qualities of the interacting parties. That is why the main thing in social interaction is content side. In modern Western European and American sociology, this aspect of social interaction is considered mainly from the standpoint of symbolic interactionism and ethnomstodology. In the first case, any social phenomenon appears as a direct interaction of people, carried out on the basis of perception and use common symbols, values, etc .; as a result, the object of social cognition is considered as a set of symbols of the human environment included in a certain “behavioral situation”. In the second case, social reality is viewed as "a process of interaction based on everyday experience."

Everyday experience, meanings and symbols that guide the interacting individuals give their interaction, and it cannot be otherwise, a certain quality. But in this case, the main qualitative aspect of interaction remains aside - those real social phenomena and processes that appear for people in the form of meanings, symbols, everyday experience.

As a result, social reality and its constituent social objects act as a chaos of mutual actions based on the “interpreting role” of the individual in “determining the situation” or on everyday consciousness. Without denying the semantic, symbolic and other aspects of the process of social interaction, we must admit that its genetic source is labor, material production, and the economy. In turn, everything derived from the basis can and does have an opposite effect on the basis.

Interaction method

The way the individual interacts with other individuals and the social environment as a whole determines the "refraction" of social norms and values ​​through the individual's consciousness and his real actions on the basis of understanding these norms and values.

The interaction method includes six aspects: 1) information transfer; 2) obtaining information; 3) reaction to the information received; 4) processed information; 5) receiving processed information; 6) reaction to this information.

Social relationships

Interaction leads to the establishment of social relationships. Social relations are relatively stable ties between individuals (as a result of which they are institutionalized into social groups) and social groups as permanent carriers of qualitatively different types of activity, differing in social status and roles in social structures.

Social communities

For social communities characteristic: the presence of conditions of life (socio-economic, social status, vocational training and education, interests and needs, etc.), common for a given group of interacting individuals (social categories); the way of interaction of a given set of individuals (nation, social classes, social and professional groups, etc.), i.e., a social group; belonging to historically established territorial associations (city, village, settlement), that is, territorial communities; the degree of restriction of the functioning of social groups by a strictly defined system of social norms and values, the belonging of the studied group of interacting individuals to certain social institutions (family, education, science, etc.).

Formation of social relations

Social interaction is an unchanging and constant companion of a person who lives among people and is forced to constantly enter into a complex network of relationships with them. Gradually emerging connections take the form of permanent ones and turn into social relations- conscious and perceptible sets of repetitive interactions, correlated in their meaning with each other and characterized by appropriate behavior. Social relations, as it were, are refracted through the inner content (or state) of a person and are expressed in his activities as personal relationships.

Social relationships are extremely diverse in form and content. Each person in his own way personal experience knows that relationships with others develop in different ways, that this world of relationships contains a motley palette of feelings - from love and irresistible sympathy to hatred, contempt, hostility. Fiction, as a good assistant to the sociologist, reflects in its works the inexhaustible wealth of the world of social relations.

When classifying social relations, they are primarily divided into one-sided and mutual. One-sided social relationships exist when partners perceive and evaluate each other differently.

One-sided relationships are common. A person experiences a feeling of love for another and assumes that his partner also experiences a similar feeling, and orients his behavior towards this expectation. However, when, for example, a young man marries a girl, he may unexpectedly receive a refusal. A classic example of one-sided social relations is the relationship between Christ and the Apostle Judas, who betrayed the teacher. World and domestic fiction will give us many examples of tragic situations associated with one-sided relationships: Othello - Iago, Mozart - Salieri, etc.

Social relations that arise and exist in human society are so diverse that it is advisable to consider any one aspect of them, proceeding from a certain system of values ​​and the activity of individuals aimed at achieving it. Recall that in sociology under values understand shared views and beliefs about the goals people strive for. Social interactions become social relationships precisely because of the values ​​that individuals and groups of people would like to achieve. Thus, values ​​stand out necessary condition social relations.

To determine the relationship of individuals, two indicators are used:

  • value expectations (expectations), which characterize satisfaction with a value model;
  • value requirements that the individual puts forward in the process of distributing values.

The real possibility of achieving a particular value position is value potential. Often it remains only an opportunity because the individual or group does not take action. active action for occupying value-more attractive positions.

All values ​​are conventionally subdivided as follows:

  • the values ​​of well-being, which include material and spiritual benefits, without which it is impossible to maintain the normal life of individuals - wealth, health, safety, professional skill;
  • all others - power as the most universal value, since the possession of it allows you to acquire other values ​​(respect, status, prestige, fame, reputation), moral values(justice, kindness, decency, etc.); love and friendship; also distinguish national values, ideological, etc.

Among social relationships, relationships stand out social dependence, because they are present to one degree or another in all other respects. Social dependence is a social relation in which the social system S 1, (an individual, group or social institution) cannot perform the social actions necessary for her d 1 if the social system S 2 take no action d 2... In this case, the system S 2 is called dominant, and the system S 1 - addicted.

Suppose the mayor of Los Angeles is unable to pay wages utilities until the governor of California, who manages these funds, allocates money to him. In this case, the mayor's office is a dependent system, and the governor's administration is seen as the dominant system. In practice, dual interdependent relationships often arise. So, the population of an American city depends on the leader in terms of distributing funds, but the mayor also depends on voters, who may not elect him for a new term. The line of behavior of the dependent system must be predictable for the dominant system in the area that concerns the relationship of dependence.

Social dependence is also based on the difference in status in the group, which is typical for organizations. Thus, individuals with a low status are dependent on individuals or groups that have a higher status; subordinates depend on the leader. Addiction arises from differences in the possession of meaningful values ​​regardless of official status. For example, a manager may be financially dependent on a subordinate from whom he borrowed a large amount of money. Latent, i.e. hidden, dependencies play an important role in the life of organizations, teams, groups.

Often in an organization, a leader relies on the opinion of a relative who works here in everything; to please him, decisions are often made erroneously from the point of view of the interests of the organization, for which the whole team then pays. In the old vaudeville "Lev Gurych Sinichkin" the question of who will play the main role in the premiere performance instead of the sick actress can only be decided by the main "patron" of the theater (Count Zefirov). Cardinal Richelieu actually ruled over France instead of the king. Sometimes a sociologist to understand conflict situation in the team where he was invited as an expert, one must start by looking for a “gray cardinal” - an informal leader who actually has real influence in the organization.

Power relations cause the greatest interest among researchers of social addiction. Power as the ability of some to control the actions of others is of decisive importance in the life of a person and society, but until now scientists have not developed a consensus on how power relations are carried out. Some (M. Weber) believe that power is primarily associated with the ability to control the actions of others and overcome their resistance to this control. Others (T. Parsons) proceed from the fact that power must first of all be legalized, then the personal position of the leader makes others obey him, despite personal qualities leader and subordinates. Both points of view have a right to exist. Thus, the emergence of a new political party begins with the emergence of a leader with the ability to unite people, create an organization and begin to lead it.

If the power is legalized (legitimate), people obey it as a force to resist which is useless and unsafe.

In society, there are other, not legalized aspects of the manifestation of power dependence. The interaction of people at the personal level often leads to the emergence of power relations, paradoxical and inexplicable from the point of view common sense... A person of his own free will, not prompted by anyone, becomes a supporter of exotic sects, sometimes a real slave to his passions, which make him break the law, decide to kill or commit suicide. An irresistible attraction to gambling can deprive a person of his livelihood, but he returns again and again to roulette or cards.

Thus, in a number of spheres of life, constantly repeating interactions gradually acquire a stable, ordered, predictable character. In the process of this ordering, special connections are formed, called social relations. Social relations - these are stable ties that arise between social groups and within them in the process of material (economic) and spiritual (legal, cultural) activities.

Social connections- this is the dependence of people, realized through social actions, carried out with an orientation towards other people, with the expectation of an appropriate response from the partner. M. Weber identified the following types of social action: 1) goal-oriented rational action - a clear presentation by a person of his goal and the means of achieving it, taking into account the reaction of others. Rationality is usually always oriented towards success;

2) value-based rational action is performed through faith;

3) an affective action occurs in a state of the unconscious, at the sensory level;

4) traditional action - habit, inertia.

In T. Parsons's theory, social action is considered as a system in which the following elements are distinguished: the actor; object (individual or community to which the action is directed); the purpose of the action; mode of action; the result of the action (the reaction of the object).

Sociology distinguishes the following types of social connections: social contact and social interactions. If the connection between people is superficial and the subject of the connection can be easily replaced by another person, then they speak of social contact. Social interaction (interaction), in turn, presupposes the regular systematic influence of individuals on each other, as a result of which new social ties are renewed and created within communities or between its elements. At least two subjects, who are called interactants, participate in social interaction. Their interactive actions must certainly be directed at each other, the purpose of which is to cause a certain response from the partner.

Interaction can be of the following types:

- direct (interpersonal) with various modifications associated with social status actors and their social roles;

- mediated (through intermediaries) - involves the distribution of roles between participants, the presence of agreed norms, a system of values ​​that regulate this interaction.

Social interaction can be classified:

By the number of participating entities: bilateral, multilateral;

Contact type: solidary or antagonistic;

Level of organization: organized or unorganized;

The nature of the assessments: emotional, volitional or intellectual;

Level: interpersonal, group, societal.

Social interaction theories(interactions) developed mainly within the framework of American sociological thought, in which the ideas of utilitarianism, pragmatism and behaviorism were strong. A broad sociological meaning was given to the behaviorist principle "stimulus-response". Stimulus and reaction began to be considered in the aspect of human action and interaction, when one person (or group), acting on another, expects a certain positive reaction from the latter.


The classical theories of this direction include the theory of "mirror self", symbolic interactionism "and" exchange theory ".

The concept of "mirror self: In the process of socialization, the transformation of individual consciousness into a collective mind takes place with the assimilation of social norms and a reassessment of one's personality from the standpoint of perception by others, i.e. carried out

transition from intuitive "self-awareness" to "social feelings". A person looks at another person as in a special mirror, and sees his own reflection in it. Moreover, this reflection does not always coincide with own assessment person. Socialization, according to Ch. Cooley, means the need to coordinate assessment and self-assessment, the transformation of the "individual I" into the "collective I".

Symbolic interactionism theories... Symbolic interactionism (from Latin interaction - interaction) is a direction in sociology that focuses on the analysis of social interactions mainly in their symbolic content.

Representatives of symbolic interactionism are G. Bloomer, J. Mead,

A. Rose, G. Stone, A. Strauss and others.

Mead George Herbert(1863-1931) - American psychologist, sociologist, philosopher, creator of the theory of symbolic interactionism, considers personality as a social product, revealing the mechanism of its formation in role interaction. Roles set the boundaries for an individual's appropriate behavior in a given situation. What is necessary in role interaction is the acceptance of the role of another, which ensures the transformation of external social control into self-control and the formation of the human "I". The main characteristic of human action, according to Mead, is the use of symbols. The scientist distinguishes between two forms or two steps

social action: communication by means of gestures and symbolically mediated communication. Mead explains the emergence of symbolically mediated interaction functionally - by the need to coordinate people's behavior, since they do not have reliable instincts, and atropologically - by a person's ability to create and use symbols.

The general ideas of symbolic interactionism were further developed in the works of the American researcher G. Bloomer ( 1900 - 1967), who in his work "Symbolic Interactionism: Perspectives and Method" proceeded from determining the meaning of an object, proceeding not from its properties, but from its role in people's lives. An object is what it means in an expected and real interaction. Moreover, the stability of meanings makes interaction familiar, allows it to be institutionalized. In the interaction itself, two levels can be distinguished: non-symbolic (uniting all living things) and symbolic (peculiar only to humans). Through sign system a person sets distances, i.e. structures external world... By developing and changing meanings, people thereby change the world itself.

The original version of symbolic interactionism was developed in the writings

E. Goffman(1922 - 1982), who is called the author of the "dramatic approach", tk. he expressed the manifestations of personal and social life in theatrical terminology. At the same time, a person simultaneously acts as an author, director, actor, spectator and critic, as if trying on different social roles.

Social exchange theory- a trend in modern sociology that considers the exchange of various social benefits (in the broad sense of the word) as a fundamental basis public relations, on which various structural formations (power, status, etc.) grow. Representatives of the theory of social exchange (theory of action) - J. Homans and P. Blau. Homans George Kaspar(1910 - 1989) - American sociologist, according to whose views, people interact with each other based on their experience, weigh the possible rewards and costs. Social action, according to Homans, is an exchange process that is built according to the principle of rationality: participants strive to obtain maximum benefit at minimum cost.

Unlike simple interaction, social relations differ in that they are perceived by individuals as long-term, repetitive, and, therefore, stable. Thus, social relations are a stable system of normalized interactions between two partners or more based on a certain interest.

Sociologists have long searched for those simplest social elements with the help of which they could describe and study social life as a set of infinitely diverse events, actions, facts, phenomena and relations. It was necessary to find the phenomena of social life in the simplest form, indicate an elementary case of their manifestation, construct and recreate their simplified model, by studying which, the sociologist would be able to consider increasingly complex facts as a combination of these simple cases or as an infinitely complicated example of this model. The sociologist must find, in the words of P.A. Sorokin, "social cell", studying which, he would receive knowledge of the basic properties of social phenomena. This simplest "social cell" is the concept of "interaction", or "interaction", which refers to the basic concepts of sociology as a science of the development of society. Interaction, which ultimately manifests itself as the social behavior of individuals in society, has become the subject of analysis in the works of such outstanding sociologists of the 20th century as P.A. Sorokin, G. Simmel, E. Durkheim, T. Parsons, R. Merton, D. Homans and others.

Social interactions of people in society

Social contacts

The problems of the formation of relationships in society from the simplest to the most complex, the mechanism of social action, the specificity of social interaction, the very concept of "social system" have been developed and studied in detail at two main levels of sociological research - the microlevel and the macrolevel.

At the micro level, social interaction (interaction) is any behavior of an individual, group, society as a whole, both at the moment and in the future. Each action is caused by the previous action and at the same time acts as the cause of the subsequent action. It is a system of interdependent social actions linked by a cyclical causal dependence, in which the actions of one subject are both the cause and the effect of the response actions of other subjects. Interpersonal interaction can be called interaction at the level of two or more units. interpersonal communication(for example, a father praising his son for a good study). On the basis of experiments and observations, sociologists analyze and try to explain some of the types of behavior that characterize the interaction between individuals.

At the macro level, the study of interaction is carried out on the example of such large structures as classes, strata, army, economy, etc. But the elements of both levels of interaction are intertwined. Thus, the everyday communication of soldiers of one company is carried out at the micro level. But the army is a social institution that is studied at the macro level. For example, if a sociologist studies the reasons for the existence of hazing relationships in a company, then he cannot adequately investigate the issue without referring to the state of affairs in the army, in the country as a whole.

The simple, rudimentary level of interaction is spatial contacts. We constantly encounter people and build our behavior in transport, shop, at work, taking into account their interests and behavior. So, having seen an elderly person, we usually give way to him at the entrance to the store, freeing him up a place in public transport... In sociology, this is called “ visual spatial contact»(The behavior of the individual changes under the influence of the passive presence of other people).

Concept "Putative spatial contact" is used to refer to a situation in which a person does not visually collide with other people, but assumes that they are present in some other place. So, if it gets cold in the apartment in winter, we call the housing office and ask them to check the hot water supply; entering the elevator, we know for sure that if the attendant's help is needed, we must press a button on the control panel and our voice will be heard, although we do not see the attendant.

As civilization develops, society shows more and more attention to a person, so that in any situations he feels the presence of other people who are ready to help. Ambulance, fire brigade, police, traffic police, sanitary and epidemiological stations, helplines, rescue services, mobile operator services, computer network technical support departments and other organizations are created in order to ensure and maintain social order in society in order to instill in a person confidence in safety and a sense of social comfort. From the point of view of sociology, all of these are forms of manifestation of supposed spatial contacts.

Interest-related contacts people are a more complex level of interaction. These contacts are conditioned by the clearly “targeted” needs of individuals. If you are visiting an outstanding football player, then you can experience a sense of simple curiosity about how to famous person... But if there is a business representative in the company, and you are looking for a job with a degree in economics, then in your mind there immediately arises a need for a contact where there is interest. Here, an actualized motive and interest is caused by the presence of a need - to make an acquaintance and, perhaps, find with its help Good work... This contact can continue, or it can suddenly break off if you lose interest in it.

If motive - this is a direct incentive to activity associated with the need to satisfy a need, then interest - it is a conscious form of manifestation of a need, which ensures the orientation of the individual to a certain activity. Before you went to visit, you asked a friend to help you find a job: introduce you to a businessman, give good performance, vouch for your reputation, etc. It is possible that in the future this friend, in turn, will ask you to help him in something.

V exchange contacts social interaction becomes more complex. This is a kind of contact, during which individuals are interested not so much in people as in objects of exchange - information, money, etc. For example, when you buy a movie ticket, you are not interested in the cashier, you are interested in the ticket. On the street, you stop the first person you meet in order to figure out how to get to the station, and least of all you pay attention to whether this person is old or young, handsome or not very, the main thing is to get an answer to your question. The life of a modern person is filled with such exchange contacts: he buys goods in the store and in the market; pays tuition fees, goes to a disco, after having done a haircut in a hairdresser; the taxi takes him along the specified address... V modern society exchange contacts are becoming more and more complicated. For example, wealthy parents send their daughter to a prestigious educational institution in Europe, believing that in exchange for the money they pay, workers educational institution will take on all the worries associated with the socialization, upbringing and education of their daughter.

Thus, under social contact is understood as short-term First stage interactions between individuals or social groups. Social contact, as a rule, appears in the forms of spatial contact, psychic contact and exchange contact. Social contacts are the first step in the formation of social groups. The study of social contacts makes it possible to find out the place of each individual in the system of social ties, his group status. By measuring the number and direction of social contacts, the sociologist can determine the structure of social interactions and their nature.

Social actions

- the next level of complex social relationships after contacts. The concept of "social action" is considered one of the central in sociology and is the simplest unit of any kind of human behavior. The concept of "social action" was introduced into sociology and scientifically substantiated by M. Weber. He considered a social action “a person's action (regardless of whether it is external or internal, whether it comes down to non-intervention or patient acceptance) ... which, according to the supposed actor or actors, is related to the action others people and focuses on him. "

Weber proceeded from the fact that social action is a deliberate action and clearly oriented towards others. For example, a collision between two cars may be nothing more than an accident, but an attempt to avoid this collision, abuse that followed, an escalating conflict between drivers or a peaceful settlement of the situation, the involvement of new parties (traffic police, emergency commissioner, insurance agent) is already a social action.

A well-known difficulty is the drawing of a clear boundary between social actions and asocial (natural, natural). According to Weber, suicide will not be a social action if its consequences do not influence the behavior of acquaintances or relatives of the suicide.

Fishing and hunting are not social activities in themselves, if they do not correlate with the behavior of other people. This interpretation of actions - some as non-social and others as social - is not always justified. So, suicide, even if we are talking about a lonely person living outside social contacts, is a social fact. If we follow the theory of social interaction by P.A. Sorokin, then any phenomenon that occurs in society cannot be isolated from it and characterizes, first of all, the given society (in this case, suicide acts as a social indicator of society's unhappiness). It is very difficult to determine the presence or absence of awareness in a particular act of an individual. According to Weber's theory, actions cannot be considered social if the individual acted under the influence of affect - in a state of anger, irritation, fear. However, as studies of psychologists show, a person never acts fully consciously, his behavior is influenced by various emotions (likes, dislikes), physical condition (fatigue or, conversely, a feeling of uplift), character and mental organization (temperament, optimistic mood of the choleric or phlegmatic pessimism), culture and intelligence, etc.

Unlike social contacts, social action is complex. The following components are distinguished in the structure of social action:

  • individual who acts
  • the individual's need for specific action
  • purpose of action
  • action method,
  • another individual to whom the action is directed
  • the result of the action.

The mechanism of social action was most fully developed by the American sociologist T. Parsons ("The Structure of Social Action"). Like Sorokin, Parsons considered interaction to be the basic process that makes possible the development of culture at the level of an individual. The result of interaction is social behavior. A person, joining a certain community, follows the cultural patterns accepted in this community. The mechanism of social action includes need, motivation and action itself. As a rule, the beginning of a social action is the emergence of a need that has a certain direction.

For example, a young man wants to learn how to water a car. The motivation to take an action is called motivation. The motives of social action can be different: in this case, the young man either wants to distract his girlfriend from a rival who drives a good car, or he likes to take his parents to the country, or he wants to get additional income as a driver.

In performing social actions, the individual experiences the influence of others and himself, in turn, wants to influence others. This is how the exchange of actions takes place, which acts as a social interaction. In this process, an important role belongs to the system of mutual expectations, which makes it possible to evaluate the behavior of a given individual from the point of view of generally accepted norms.

Imagine that, being in a company, a young man met a girl and they made an appointment. Each of them has a system of expectations of behavior accepted in society or a given group. A girl can consider a young man as a potential groom, so it is important for her to establish a strong relationship, consolidate an acquaintance, find out everything about his views on life, interests and affections, his profession, material opportunities. The young man, in turn, also thinks about the upcoming meeting, either seriously, or as another adventure.

The meeting can take place in different ways. One will drive up in a foreign car and invite you to a restaurant, followed by a check-in at an empty dacha. Another will suggest going to the movies or just walking in the park. But it is possible that the first young man will soon disappear, and the timid young man will receive a diploma, enter the service, and become a respectable husband.

Forms of social interactions

Mutual expectations are often not met, and the resulting relationships are destroyed. If mutual expectations are justified, they take on a predictable, and most importantly, stable form, such interactions are called social relations. Sociology distinguishes between three most general types of interactions - cooperation, rivalry, and conflict.

Cooperation- a type of interaction in which people carry out interrelated actions to achieve common goals. Typically, cooperation is beneficial for the interacting parties. Common interests unite people, evoke feelings of sympathy and gratitude in them. Mutual benefit encourages people to communicate in an informal setting, contributes to the emergence of an atmosphere of trust, moral comfort, the desire to yield in a dispute, to suffer some inconvenience for oneself personally, if it is necessary for the case. Cooperative relationships have many benefits and rewards for doing business together, fighting off competitors, increasing productivity, keeping employees in an organization, and preventing employee turnover.

However, over time, cooperative interaction begins to acquire a conservative character. People, having studied each other's capabilities, character traits, imagine what should be expected in a particular situation from each. Elements of routine appear, the stability of relations becomes stagnant, gives rise to the need to maintain the status quo. Group members become fearful of change and do not want it. They already have a set of standard, time-tested solutions in almost any situation, have established relationships with the entire system of multilateral relations in society, know their suppliers of raw materials, informants, designers, representatives of government agencies. There is no way for newcomers to the group, new ideas do not penetrate this blocked social space. The group begins to degrade.

Rivalry Interaction(competition) is one of the most common types of interaction, the opposite of cooperation. The peculiarity of rivalry is that people have the same goals, but pursue different interests. For example, several companies are applying for an order for the construction of a large bridge across the Volga. They have the same goal - to get an order, but their interests are different. Two young people love one girl, they have one goal - to achieve her favor, but the interests are opposite.

Rivalry, or competition, is the basis of market relations. In this struggle for income, feelings of hostility, anger towards the opponent, hatred, fear arise, as well as a desire to get ahead of him at all costs. The victory of one person often means a disaster for the other, the loss of prestige, good work, and welfare. Envy of a successful rival can be so strong that a person commits a crime - he hires killers to eliminate a rival, steals Required documents, i.e. goes to the conflict. Such cases are quite common, they are widely represented in the literature (T. Dreiser, J. Galsworthy, V. Ya. Shishkov and other writers), they are written about in newspapers, and they are discussed on television. The most effective means of limiting this kind of competition is the adoption and implementation of relevant laws and the appropriate upbringing of a person. In economics, it is the adoption of a series of antitrust laws; in politics - the principle of separation of powers and the presence of opposition, free press; in the sphere of spiritual life - the dissemination in society of the ideals of goodness and mercy, universal moral values... However, the spirit of rivalry is an incentive in business and, in general, in any work, which does not allow a person to calm down on what has been achieved.

- open, direct confrontation, sometimes armed. In the latter case, we can talk about a revolution, an armed uprising, riot, mass riots. For example, after the riots that engulfed Chisinau in 2009 and Bishkek in 2010, a change of government took place in Moldova and Kyrgyzstan. It is the responsibility of the state to prevent violent conflicts, struggles that harm humans and disrupt public order. Studying the problem of social interaction, sociologists, in particular T. Parsons, developed the theory of equilibrium social system , which acts as a decisive condition for the preservation of the system, its viability. A system is stable or is in relative equilibrium if the relationship between its structure and the processes occurring inside it, and between it and the environment are such that the properties and relationships are unchanged.

However, there is another view that explains the conflict not only as a negative, but also as a positive element of social life.

Thus, social action is such a human action that correlates with the actions of other people and focuses on them. Social action is a constituent element, a "unit" social reality... Many sociologists (for example, M. Weber, T. Parsons) saw in him the starting point of the entire system of social relations. Sustained and systematic performance of actions, implying feedback, is called social interaction. Social interaction is usually expressed in the form of cooperation, rivalry, or conflict.