Social Structure Types of Social Interaction Chapter 4, section 2 Pgs

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.