Social contacts.

social actions.

Social interactions.

social relations

1. Social ties - connections between the interaction of individuals and groups of individuals pursuing certain social goals in specific conditions of place and time.

Social ties can express the relationship between two or more social phenomena and features of these phenomena.

The starting point for the emergence of social ties is the interaction of individuals or their groups to meet certain needs. The social connections of individuals and their groups, based on a system of social statuses and social roles, social norms and values, form a social organization.

Social connections are different: from fleeting short-term contacts to persistent long-term relationships.

Circumstances confront each person with many individuals. In accordance with his needs and interests, a person selects from this set those with whom he then enters into complex interactions. This selection work is a special type of fleeting short-term connections, which are called contacts. There are several types of contacts:

Spatial contacts. In order to interact with other individuals, each member of a society or social group must first determine where these individuals are and how many there are. Each of us daily encounters many people in transport, at the stadium, at work.

N.N. Obozov identified 2 types of spatial contacts:

supposed spatial contact, when a person's behavior changes due to the assumption of the presence of individuals in some place.

visual spatial contact, when the individual's behavior changes under the influence of visual observation of other people.

Contacts of interest. Their essence lies in the choice of a social object that has certain values ​​or features that correspond to the needs of a given individual. The contact of interest can be interrupted or prolonged depending on many factors, but, first of all, on the strength and importance for the personality of the actualized motive and, accordingly, the strength of interest; the degree of reciprocity of interests, the degree of awareness of one's interest; environment. In contacts of interest, unique individual personality traits are manifested, as well as features of the social groups to which it belongs.

Exchange contact. Continuing to deepen and develop social ties, individuals begin to enter into short-term contacts, during which they exchange some values. Exchange contacts are a specific type of social relationship in which individuals exchange values ​​without having the desire to change the behavior of other individuals. Every day a person has many contacts of exchange: he buys tickets for transport, exchanges remarks with passengers in the subway, asks how to find any institution, etc. Social contacts are the basis of group-forming processes, the first step in the formation of social groups.

3. The concept of "social action" is one of the central ones in sociology. For the first time in sociology, the concept of "social action" was introduced and substantiated by Max Weber. He called social action "the action of a person (regardless of whether it is external or internal, whether it comes down to non-intervention or patient acceptance), which, according to the meaning assumed by the actor, correlates with the action of other people or is oriented towards him." In Weber's understanding, social action has 2 features: it must be, firstly, rational, conscious, and, secondly, focused on the behavior of other people.

Any social action is preceded by social contacts, but unlike them, social action is a rather complex phenomenon, which includes:

actor;

the need to activate behavior;

the purpose of the action;

action method;

another actor to whom the action is directed;

action result.

Social actions, unlike reflexive, impulsive actions, are never instantaneous. Before they are committed, a fairly stable impulse to activity must arise in the mind of any acting individual. This drive is called motivation. Motivation is a set of factors, mechanisms and processes that ensure the emergence of an incentive to achieve the goals necessary for an individual, in other words, motivation is a force that pushes an individual to perform certain actions. Any social action begins with the emergence of a need in an individual. Each social action is performed as a result of some subjective activity that forms motivation.

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

What is social interaction? Obviously, when performing social actions, each person experiences the action of others. There is an exchange of actions, or social interaction. Social interaction is understood as a system of interdependent social actions connected by a cyclic causal dependence, in which the actions of one subject are both the cause and effect of the response actions of other subjects. This means that each social action is caused by the previous social action and at the same time is the cause of subsequent actions. Thus, social actions are links in an inextricable chain called interaction.

The mechanism of social interaction includes: individuals performing certain actions; changes during outside world caused by these actions; the impact of these changes on other individuals and, finally, the feedback of individuals who were affected.

Interaction is a certain system of actions of one party in relation to the other and vice versa. The purpose of these actions is to somehow influence the behavior of the other side, which in turn responds in kind, otherwise it would not be an interaction. Interaction is the real content of the life of the group, the basis of all group phenomena and processes. Interaction between individuals is one of the ways of manifestation of the functioning of society, the result of these interactions is society.

One of the models of interaction between individuals is social exchange. In the social field, as it were, they exchange behavior. Behavioral events contain certain values ​​that provide participants in social interaction with a gain or loss in achieving desired material goals or desired status. In a divided society, people exchange the results of their labor among themselves and thus enter into a lively social exchange.

With a view to a winning social exchange, people are happy to come into contact with those individuals or groups who can be useful in achieving their goals. According to the theory of social exchange, attraction to a person or group increases to the extent that this contributes to the achievement of the goal. An important motive for interaction can also be the phenomenon of social comparability: a person tries to analyze and evaluate his abilities and successes in comparison with others. The motives of interaction, of course, can be both attraction and sympathy for another.

For social exchange, good prerequisites are created by competence, which means the possession of resources, i.e., power reserves. In this aspect, interaction can be understood as a social ability determined by social intelligence and social competence. Observation of the situation and response is an important part of the interaction: the analysis of the previous situation determines the subsequent stages of progress in the process of interaction.

The most obvious form of social interaction is communication by means of a socially accepted system of symbols. One of the most important symbol systems that provides the possibility of communication is, of course, language. There is an opinion that people do not react to each other's actions and deeds as such, but only to their meaning, just as a person in the course of communication weighs the statements of the interlocutor regarding his own activities, qualities, etc., and regards them in the light of his expectations.

5. Social relations are various interactions regulated by social norms between two or more people, each of whom has a social position and performs a social role.

Sociologists consider social relations to be the highest form of social phenomena compared to behavior, action, social behavior, social action, and social interaction.

It can be argued that social relations arise:

Between people as part of a social group;

Between groups of people;

Between individuals and groups of people.

Although the term " social relations” is widely used, but scientists have not yet come to a unified conclusion about the concept of social relations. There are such definitions:

Public relations (social relations) - the relations of people to each other, developing in historically defined social forms, in specific conditions place and time.

Public relations (social relations) - relations between social subjects regarding their equality and social justice in the distribution of life's benefits, the conditions for the formation and development of the individual, the satisfaction of material, social and spiritual needs.

There are several classifications of social relations. In particular, there are:

class relations;

National relations;

ethnic relations;

Group relations;

Personal social relations;

Social relations develop in all spheres of public life.

"

Social connections- this is the dependence of people, realized through social actions, carried out with a focus on other people, with the expectation of an appropriate response from the partner. M. Weber identified the following types of social action: 1) purposeful rational action - a person's clear idea of ​​\u200b\u200bhis goal and the means to achieve it, taking into account the reaction of others. Rationality is usually always oriented towards success;

2) value-rational action is performed through faith;

3) affective action occurs in the state of the unconscious, on a sensual level;

4) traditional action - habit, inertia.

In the theory of T. Parsons, social action is considered as a system in which the following elements are distinguished: the actor; object (individual or community on which the action is directed); the purpose of the action; mode of action; the result of the action (the reaction of the object).

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

The interaction may be the following types :

- direct (interpersonal) with various modifications related to the social position of the subjects and the social roles they perform;

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

Social interaction can be classified:

By the number of participating entities: bilateral, multilateral;

Type of contacts: solidary or antagonistic;

Level of organization: organized or unorganized;

The nature of assessments: emotional, volitional or intellectual;

Level: interpersonal, group, societal.

Theories of social interaction(interactions) developed mainly within the framework of American sociological thought, in which the ideas of utilitarianism, pragmatism and behaviorism were strong. The behaviorist principle of "stimulus-response" was given a broad sociological meaning. 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.

TO classical theories This direction includes 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 position of perception by others, i.e. carried out

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

Theories of symbolic interactionism. 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.

Meade George Herbert(1863-1931) - American psychologist, sociologist, philosopher, creator of the theory of symbolic interactionism, considers personality as a social product, discovering the mechanism of its formation in role interaction. Roles set boundaries for the appropriate behavior of an individual in a particular 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". Main characteristic human action, according to Mead, is the use of symbols. The scientist distinguishes between two forms or two steps

social action: communication through gestures and symbolically mediated communication. Mead explains the emergence of symbolically mediated interaction functionally - by the need to coordinate the behavior of people, since they do not have reliable instincts, and anthropologically - by the ability of a person 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 the definition of the meaning of an object, based not on its properties, but on its role in people's lives. An object is what it means in expected and actual interaction. Moreover, the stability of meanings makes interaction habitual, allows it to be institutionalized. In the interaction itself, two levels can be distinguished: non-symbolic (uniting all living things) and symbolic (peculiar to humans only). By means of a sign system, a person sets distances, i.e. structures the outside world. By developing and changing meanings, people thereby change the world itself.

The original version of symbolic interactionism was developed in the works

E. Hoffman(1922 - 1982), who is called the author of the "dramatic approach", since 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 direction in modern sociology that considers the exchange of various social benefits (in the broad sense of the word) as the fundamental basis of social relations, on which various structural formations (power, status, etc.) grow. Representatives of the theory of social exchange (action theory) - J. Homans and P. Blau. Homans George Kaspar(1910 - 1989) - American sociologist, according to whose views, people interacting with each other on the basis of their experience, weigh possible rewards and costs. Social action, according to Homans, is a process of exchange, which is based on the principle of rationality: participants seek 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 or more partners based on a certain interest.

The problem of social interactions is most thoroughly considered in symbolic interactionism, the theory of social exchange and phenomenology. The main provisions of the theory of social interactions are as follows.

Social interaction is one of the types of social connection - a mutually directed process of exchanging social actions between two or more individuals.

Communication is always mutual, available and feasible (at least in the imagination).

Eat two types of connections: direct (as a rule, visual, interpersonal) and indirect (when communication is carried out through intermediaries; in this case, the phenomenon of deindividualization arises - the illusion that all social relations exist independently of the will and desire of people).

Types of links:

1) social contact (single or regular) - a connection of a superficial, fleeting nature in the absence of conjugated (interdependent, interdependent) actions of partners in relation to each other (you asked a passer-by: "How to get to the pharmacy?"; Do you regularly go to the bakery and make contact with the seller);

2) social interaction (interactionism) - systematic, fairly regular social actions of individuals directed at each other and aimed at evoking a well-defined response from the partner. In this case, the response generates a new reaction of the influencer (that is, a system of actions of partners in relation to each other arises).

Traits of social interaction:

1) conjugation of actions of both partners;

2) recurrence of actions;

3) sustained interest in the partner's response;

4) coordination of partners' actions.

Types of Social Interactions:

1) rigid exchange (exchange on the basis of certain agreements (most often in the economic sphere, in the relationship between the head and subordinate, in political life));

2) diffuse (non-rigid) exchange (mainly in moral and ethical interactions: friendship, neighborhood, relationships between parents and children, partnership);

3) direct-indirect interactions (direct - direct (two-way) interactions between individuals, indirect - complex, mediated through 3-4 persons (in modern society indirect interactions predominate));

4) individual-group interactions (individual-individual, individual-group, group-group).

I. Goffman, within the framework of a phenomenological perspective, offers a slightly different view of social interactions. To analyze them, he uses a "dramatic approach" based on the premise that individuals are actors playing social roles. Accordingly, interaction is a "performance", an "acting game", designed by an actor with the aim of "making an impression", corresponding to his goals. The actions of the actor, according to I. Goffman, correspond to the concept of "presenting oneself and managing the impression." "Presentation of oneself" includes gestures, intonations, clothes, with the help of which an individual seeks to make a certain impression on his partner, to cause him this or that reaction. At the same time, the individual in the process of interaction, as a rule, provides only selected, partial information about himself, trying to control the impression that he makes on others.

P. Blau, relying on the theory of exchange and structural functionalism, argues that not all social interactions can be considered as exchange processes. The latter include only those that are focused on achieving goals, the implementation of which is possible only in the process of interaction with other people and for the achievement of which funds are needed that are also available to other people. That part of human behavior which is governed by the rules of exchange lies at the basis of education. social structures, but the exchange rules themselves are insufficient to explain the complex structures of human society.

However, it is social exchange that largely determines the interactions of each individual. The success or failure of our interactions ultimately depends on the knowledge and ability (or ignorance and inability) to practically use the principles of their regulation formulated in the framework of the exchange theory.

Sociologists have long been looking for those simplest social elements with which they could describe and study social life as a set of infinitely diverse events, actions, facts, phenomena and relationships. It was necessary to find the phenomena of social life in their simplest form, indicate the elementary case of their manifestation, construct and recreate their simplified model, studying which the sociologist would be able to consider more and more complex facts as a combination of these simplest cases or as an example of this model complicated to infinity. The sociologist must find, in the words of P.A. Sorokin, the "social cell", by studying which he would gain knowledge of the basic properties of social phenomena. Such the 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. The interaction, which ultimately manifests itself as the social behavior of individuals in society, became 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

Problems of the formation of relationships in society from simple to the most complex, the mechanism of social action, the specifics of social interaction, the very concept of " social system» are elaborated and studied at two main levels sociological research- micro level and macro level.

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 connected by a cyclic causal dependence, in which the actions of one subject are both the cause and effect of the response actions of other subjects. Interpersonal interaction can be called interaction at the level of two or more units of interpersonal communication (for example, a father praising his son for good studies). On the basis of experiments and observations, sociologists analyze and try to explain certain 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, layers, the army, the economy, etc. But the elements of both levels of interaction are intertwined. So, the daily 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 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.

A simple, elementary level of interaction are spatial contacts. We constantly encounter people and build our behavior in transport, shops, at work, taking into account their interests and behavior. So, when we see an elderly person, we usually give way to him at the entrance to the store, make room for him in public transport. In sociology, this is called visual spatial contact"(the individual's behavior changes under the influence of the passive presence of other people).

concept "intended spatial contact" used to refer to a situation in which a person does not visually encounter other people, but suggests that they are present in some other place. So, if it becomes cold in the apartment in winter, we call the housing office and ask them to check the supply hot water; entering the elevator, we know for sure that if the help of the attendant is needed, we must press the 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 situation 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 service departments, technical support departments computer network and other organizations created to provide and support social order in society in order to instill in a person confidence in security and a sense of social comfort. All this, from the point of view of sociology, is a form of manifestation of supposed spatial contacts.

Contacts related to interests people are a more complex level of interaction. These contacts are determined by the clearly "targeted" needs of individuals. If you, while visiting, get acquainted with an outstanding football player, then you can experience a feeling of simple curiosity as to a famous person. But if there is a business representative in the company, and you are looking for a job with a diploma in economics, then in your mind there is immediately a need for contact where there is interest. Here, the actualized motive and interest is caused by the presence of a need - to make an acquaintance and, perhaps, to find with its help Good work. This contact may continue, but it may also end abruptly if you lose interest in it.

If motive - this is a direct impulse to activity associated with the need to satisfy a need, then interest - it is a conscious form of manifestation of 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 will in turn ask you to help him with something.

IN exchange contacts social interaction becomes more difficult. This is a kind of contact, during which individuals are interested not so much in people as in the 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 to find out how to get to the station, and the last thing you pay attention to is whether this person is old or young, handsome or not, the main thing is to get an answer to your question. Life modern man filled with similar contacts of exchange: he buys goods in the store and in the market; pays for tuition, goes to a disco, having preliminarily done a haircut at a hairdresser; a taxi takes him to the specified address. In 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 care of all the concerns associated with the socialization, upbringing and education of their daughter.

Thus, under social contact is understood as a short-term initial stage of interaction between individuals or social groups. Social contact, as a rule, takes the form 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 social action “the action of a person (regardless of whether it is external or internal, whether it comes down to non-intervention or patient acceptance) ... which, according to the alleged actor or actors meaning is related to action others people and focuses on it.

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

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 act unless its consequences affect the behavior of acquaintances or relatives of the suicide.

Fishing and hunting do not in themselves appear to be social activities if they do not correlate with the behavior of other people. Such an 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 P.A. Sorokin, then any phenomenon that happens in a society cannot be isolated from it and characterizes, first of all, this society (in this case, suicide acts as a social indicator of the society's troubles). It is also 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 by psychologists show, a person never acts fully consciously, his behavior is influenced by various emotions (likes, dislikes), physical condition (fatigue or, conversely, a sense of recovery), character and mental organization (temperament, optimistic mood of a choleric person). or phlegmatic pessimism), culture and intelligence, etc.

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

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

The mechanism of social action was most fully developed by the American sociologist T. Parsons (“The Structure of Social Action”). Like Sorokin, Parsons saw interaction as basic process which makes possible the development of culture at the level of the 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 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 urge to take action is called motivation. Motives for social action can be different: in this case a young man either wants to distract his girlfriend from a rival who drives a car well, or he likes to take his parents to the country, or he wants to get additional income by “carrying”.

By performing social actions, the individual experiences the influence of others and himself, in turn, wants to influence others. This is how an 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 in terms of generally accepted norms.

Imagine that, while in a company, a young man met a girl and they agreed to meet. 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 with a subsequent drive to an empty cottage. Another will offer to go to the movies or just walk 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 justified, and the relationships that have arisen are destroyed. If mutual expectations are justified, they acquire a predictable, and most importantly, stable form, such interactions are called social relations. Sociology distinguishes between the three most common types of interactions - cooperation, rivalry and conflict.

Cooperation- a type of interaction in which people perform interconnected actions to achieve common goals. As a rule, cooperation is beneficial for the interacting parties. Common interests unite people, cause them feelings of sympathy, gratitude. 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 an argument, to suffer some inconvenience for oneself personally, if necessary for business. Collaborative relationships have many advantages and benefits for doing business together, fighting competitors, increasing productivity, retaining employees in the organization, and preventing employee turnover.

However, over time, cooperation based on cooperation 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 arise, the stability of relations becomes stagnation, gives rise to the need to maintain the status quo. Group members become afraid 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, and representatives of power structures. There is no road for newcomers to the group, new ideas do not penetrate this blocked social space. The group begins to degrade.

Interaction based on rivalry(competition) is one of the most common types interaction as opposed to 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 to build a large bridge across the Volga. Their goal is the same - to get an order, but their interests are different. Two young people love the same girl, they have the same 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, as well as the desire to get ahead of him at all costs arise. The victory of one often means a catastrophe for another, loss of prestige, good work, well-being. Envy of a successful rival can be so strong that a person commits a crime - hires killers to eliminate a competitor, steals Required documents, i.e. goes into conflict. Such cases are a fairly common phenomenon, they are widely represented in the literature (T. Dreiser, J. Galsworthy, V.Ya. Shishkov and other writers), they are written about in newspapers, they are discussed on television. The most effective means of limiting this kind of competition is the adoption and implementation of appropriate laws and the appropriate education of a person. In economics, this is the adoption of a series of antitrust laws; in politics - the principle of separation of powers and the presence of opposition, a free press; in the sphere of spiritual life - the spread in society of the ideals of kindness and mercy, universal moral values. However, the spirit of competition is an incentive in business and in general in any work, which does not allow a person to rest on his laurels.

- open, direct confrontation, sometimes armed. In the latter case, we can talk about a revolution, an armed uprising, a riot, riots. For example, after the riots that engulfed Chisinau in 2009 and Bishkek in 2010, there was a change of government in Moldova and Kyrgyzstan. The prevention of violent conflicts, struggles that harm people and violate public order, is the task of the state. Studying the problem of social interaction, sociologists, in particular T. Parsons, developed the doctrine of equilibrium of the social system, which is a decisive condition for the preservation of the system, its viability. A system is stable or is in relative equilibrium if the relations between its structure and the processes occurring inside it, and between it and the environment are such that the properties and relations are unchanged.

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

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

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 significant for other individuals and groups of individuals or society as a whole at the present moment and in the future. The category "interaction" expresses the content and nature of relations between individuals and social groups as permanent carriers of qualitatively various kinds activities that differ in social positions (statuses) and roles (functions). No matter in what sphere of the life of society (economic, political, etc.) interaction takes place, it is always social in nature, as it expresses the ties between individuals and groups of individuals, ties mediated by goals that each of the interacting parties haunts.

Social interaction has an objective and subjective side. The objective side of interaction- these are connections independent of individuals, but mediating and controlling the content and nature of their interaction. The subjective side of interaction - this is a conscious attitude 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 under specific conditions of place and time.

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; feedback from 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. By studying the structure of this model, we can also understand the structure of all social phenomena. Having decomposed the interaction into its component parts, we will thereby decompose the most complex social phenomena". “The subject of sociology,” says one of the American teaching aids according to sociology, is direct verbal and non-verbal interaction. The main task of sociology is to achieve a systematic knowledge of social rhetoric. The interview as a form of rhetoric is not just a sociological tool, but part of its subject matter.”

However, in and of itself, social interaction still explains absolutely nothing. To understand the interaction, it is necessary to clarify 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 interaction does not add knowledge. Everything 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 side 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 the perception and use of common symbols, meanings, 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 seen as "a process of interaction based on everyday experience."

Everyday experience, the meanings and symbols that govern the interacting individuals, impart to their interaction, and it cannot be otherwise, a certain quality. But in this case, the main qualitative side of interaction remains aside - those real social phenomena and processes that appear to 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 "defining the situation" or on ordinary consciousness. Without denying the semantic, symbolic and other aspects of the process of social interaction, it must be recognized that its genetic source is labor, material production, and the economy. In turn, everything derived from the basis can and does have an inverse effect on the basis.

Way of interaction

The way an individual interacts with other individuals and the social environment as a whole determines the “refraction” of social norms and values ​​through the consciousness of the individual and his real actions based on the comprehension of these norms and values.

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

social relations

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 constant carriers of qualitatively different types of activities that differ in social status and roles in social structures.

Social communities

Social communities are characterized by: the presence of living conditions (socio-economic, social status, vocational training and education, interests and needs, etc.) common to a given group of interacting individuals (social categories); the mode of interaction of a given set of individuals (nations, social classes, socio-professional groups, etc.), i.e., a social group; belonging to historically established territorial associations (city, village, settlement), i.e. territorial communities; the degree of limitation 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 immutable and constant companion 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 sensually perceived sets of repetitive interactions, correlated in their meaning with each other and characterized by appropriate behavior. Social relations are, as it were, refracted through the internal content (or state) of a person and are expressed in his activity as personal relations.

Social relations are extremely diverse in form and content. Each person in his own way personal experience knows that relationships with others develop differently, 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 richness of the world of social relations.

Classifying social relations, they are primarily divided into unilateral and reciprocal. One-sided social relations exist when partners perceive and evaluate each other differently.

One-sided relationships are quite 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 proposes to a girl, he may unexpectedly receive a refusal. A classic example of one-sided social relations is the relationship between Christ and the apostle Jude, 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.

The social relations that arise and exist in human society are so diverse that it is advisable to consider any one of their aspects, based on a certain system of values ​​and the activity of individuals aimed at achieving it. Recall that in sociology values understand the views and beliefs shared by any community regarding the goals to which people aspire. Social interactions become social relationships precisely because of the values ​​that individuals and groups of people would like to achieve. Thus, values ​​are a necessary condition for 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 an individual puts forward in the process of distributing values.

The real possibility of achieving one or another value position is value potential. Often it remains only a possibility, since the individual or group does not take active steps to occupy more value-attractive positions.

Conventionally, all values ​​are divided as follows:

• welfare values, including material and spiritual benefits, without which it is impossible to maintain the normal life of individuals - wealth, health, safety, professional excellence;
• 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 the social relations are the relations social dependency, for they are present to varying degrees in every other respect. Social dependence is a social relationship in which the social system S1, (individual, group or social institution) cannot perform the social actions necessary for it d1 if the social system S 2 take no action d2. At the same time, the system S 2 is called dominant, and the system S 1 - dependent.

Suppose the mayor of the city of Los Angeles cannot pay wages public utilities until the money is allocated to him by the governor of California, who manages these funds. 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 interdependence often occurs. Thus, the population of an American city depends on the head in terms of the distribution of 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 dependency relationships.

Social dependence is also based on the difference in status in the group, which is typical for organizations. Thus, individuals of low status are dependent on individuals or groups that are of higher status; subordinates depend on the leader. Dependence arises from differences in the possession of meaningful values ​​regardless of official status. For example, a leader may be financially dependent on a subordinate from whom he has 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, the leader relies in everything on the opinion of a relative working here, in order to please him, erroneous decisions are often made 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 ill actress can only be decided by the main "patron" of the theater (Count Zefirov). Cardinal Richelieu effectively ruled France instead of the king. Sometimes a sociologist, in order to understand a conflict situation in a team where he was invited as an expert, must begin by looking for a “grey eminence” - an informal leader who actually has real influence in the organization.

power relations are of the greatest interest among researchers of social dependence. 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 so far scientists have not developed a consensus on how power relations are carried out. Some (M. Weber) believe that power is associated primarily 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 the right to exist. Thus, the emergence of a new political party begins with the fact that there is a leader who has 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, resisting 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 of common sense. A person of his own free will, not urged on 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. The irresistible attraction to gambling can deprive a person of his livelihood, but he again and again returns to roulette or cards.

Thus, in a number of spheres of life, constantly recurring interactions gradually acquire a stable, orderly, predictable character. In the process of such 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.