SOCIAL INTERACTION & STRUCTURE Prof. Jayson M. Barlan, MPA
What is social interaction? A process by which people act and react in relation to others. A process whereby people accomplish some aim and is always directed toward specific people.
Distinctive characteristics Human beings interpret or define each other s action. Reality is shaped by our perceptions, evaluation, and definition of such reality. Physical proximity is not always needed in social interaction.
The process of social interaction ranges from the most superficial contacts to deep, lasting, and complex relationships.
Social Interaction Frameworks Defining the situation The presentation of the self Negotiated order
Defining the situation The process by which people interpret and evaluate the social context to select appropriate attitudes and behavior
The presentation of the self All of us have an image of how we want to be seen by others. Erving Goffman
Negotiated order It refers to a social structure that derives its existence from the social interactions through which people define and redefine its characters. This is sometimes referred to as bargaining, compromising, trading off, mediating, exchanging, wheeling and dealing and collusion.
Types of social interaction Cooperation Conflict Competition Negotiation Coercion
1. Cooperation Collaborative efforts between people to achieve a common goal. A group effort is needed.
2. Conflict It involves direct struggle between individuals or groups over commonly valued resources or goals.
3. Competition A form of conflict but more rules and limits are imposed on the interaction. Rules are followed by participants.
4. Negotiation Where parties agree to social exchange, social cooperation, or competition.
5. Coercion This is imposing an action or behavior on another with the use of physical force.
Elements of Social Interaction Statuses Roles Group Institutions and Social Organizations
I. Statuses It is a position in the social structure Status Set Set of statuses of a person Ascribed Status - involuntary Achieved Status voluntary Master status A status that dominates other statuses
II. Roles It refers to a patterns of expected behavior attached to a particular status. Refers to the collection of cultural defined rights, obligations, and expectations that accompany a status in the social system.
People learn how to play their roles by observing and interacting with other people called socialization. Role set different roles as determined by a certain status Role expectation the expected behavior of a person as determined by its status
Role Strain difficulty of a person to perform the expected role Role Conflict carrying out of a role of one status conflicts with the role expected of another status Role Exit disengagement in a known role of one status Role Ambiguity unclear expectation
Symbolic Interaction According to George Herbert Mead People act toward everything they encounter on the basis of what those people, activities, and situations mean to them.
Symbolic Interaction According to George Herbert Mead People learn what things mean by observing how other people respond to them through social interaction.
Symbolic Interaction According to George Herbert Mead As a result of on-going interaction, sounds, gestures, facial expressions, and body postures acquire symbolic meaning shared by people who belong to the same culture.
According to Mead, human interaction is ruled by cultural meaning and most of these are symbolic. Human interaction, therefore, is a process of acting on the basis of meaningful symbols.
The Dramaturgical Approach (Erving Goffman)
Social Construction of Reality This refers to the process by which individuals creatively shape reality through social interaction
Ethnomethodology A specialized approach within the symbolic interaction paradigm. Study of everyday common-sense understandings that people have of the world around them Ethno understanding of cultural surroundings that people share Methodology system of methods and principles
Networks It is a web of relationships that connects an individual to many other people, directly or indirectly. Clique (Completely Connected) Orbit (Radially Connected) Chain (Chain Connected) Ring (Rim Connected)
Influences of Social Interaction Goals the state of affairs one wishes to achieve Motivations person s wish or intention to achieve a goal Situation or context conditions under which an action takes place Norms or rules rules of behavior
Types of Social Interaction Non-verbal (body language or kinesics) Unfocused Interaction when people happens to be in each other s presence Focused Interaction purposeful interaction between individuals
III. Group Any number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who regularly and consciously interact. Dyad group composed of two individuals Triad composed of three persons
Characteristics of group A defined membership A set of interrelated statuses and roles Common values and norms An identity Repeated interaction and communication
Institutions and Social Organizations Social Institutions organized patterns of beliefs and behavior centered on basic social needs. Social Organization relatively stable patterns of social relationships among individuals and groups in society.