Transcript Social Structure Types of Social Interaction

Social Structure
Types of Social Interaction
Chapter 4, section 2
Pgs. 69-72
Social Interaction
• When you play a role, most of the time you
have to interact with others.
– Among the most common forms of social
interaction are
• exchange,
• competition,
• conflict,
• cooperation,
• and accommodation.
Exchange
• Whenever people
interact in an effort to
receive a reward or a
return for their actions,
an exchange has taken
place.
– Dating, family life,
friendship, and politics
all involve exchange.
• Reciprocity: the idea
that if you do
something for
someone, that person
owes you something
in return – is the basis
of exchange.
– Your parents will say
thank-you to you for
washing the dishes.
Exchange
• Exchange theory: the volume of exchange
in daily interactions has led to the
emergency of an exchange theory.
– Exchange theorists believe that people are
motivated by self-interest in their interactions
with other people.
• In other words, people do things primarily for
rewards.
Competition
• Competition occurs
when two or more
people or groups
oppose each other to
achieve a goal that
only one can attain.
– Competition is
common of western
societies.
– Many believe that this
is the cornerstone to
capitalism and the
democratic system.
– Advancement in
business, school, and
sports in achieved
through competition.
• Can you list some
positives and negatives
to competition.
Conflict
• Conflict is the
deliberate attempt to
control a person by
force, to oppose
someone, or to harm
another person.
– Unlike competition,
conflict has few rules
of conduct, and even
these often are ignored.
• There are four sources of
conflict
– Wars, disagreements within
groups, legal disputes, and
clashes over ideology such
as religion or politics.
– Conflict can be a positive
thing; it can lead to social
changes by bringing
problems to the forefront or
forcing opposing sides to
seek solutions.
Cooperation
• Cooperation occurs
when two or more
people or groups work
together to achieve a
goal that will benefit
more than one person.
– Cooperation is a social
process that gets things
done.
– No group can complete
its tasks or achieve its
goals without
cooperation from its
members.
– Competition may be
used along with
cooperation to
motivate members to
work harder for their
group.
Accommodation
Accommodation is a
state of balance
between cooperation
and conflict.
Accommodation can
take a number of
different forms, one of
these is compromise.
– Compromise
• Truce: brings a halt to
the conflict, until a
compromise, can be
reached.
• Arbitration: a third
party makes a decision
that is binding on both
parties.
• These types of
interaction help to
ensure social stability.