Understanding Social Interaction

Social Interaction: Social Interaction is the foundation of society. Studying social interaction in everyday life sheds light on larger social systems & institutions. It is the building block of the entire Social Order and Social Relations. Definition: Social interaction is the process by which two or more individuals act and react to the people around us. It is the way people talk to each other and how they interact with various structures in society. It also includes the mutual influence of two or more people on each other’s behavior.

Example: Interaction between the members of a family with each other, such as eating, sleeping and even family get-togethers. You will read more examples later in this assignment. Importance of social interaction: The opportunity for social interactions with others is very important for the development of all children. Through social interactions, children begin to establish a sense of “self” and to learn what others expect of them. Although social interactions for very young children primarily occur within the family, as children grow and develop, they become more and more interested in playing and interacting with other children.

While playing with others, children learn appropriate social behaviors, such as sharing, cooperating and respecting the property of others. In addition, while interacting with their peers, young children learn communication, cognitive, and motor skills. Children with disabilities and nondisabled children to play together is an extremely important part of instruction in integrated preschools. The children must have the opportunity to play together if they are to become friends. These friendships will help the nondisabled child form positive, accepting attitudes toward persons who are disabled.

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In addition, the child who is disabled will have the opportunity to learn age-appropriate social skills. Children who learn appropriate social skills often have a higher self-esteem and show a greater willingness to interact with their environment as they grow. Opportunities for social interaction not only enhance development in the early years, but also may be important for the future of the young child who is disabled. The ability to interact competently with is a skill that is required throughout life and may affect future educational and vocational opportunities.

Assisting young children who are disabled to learn through positive social interaction with nondisabled children may help them acquire skills from which they will benefit throughout their life. Interacting and playing with peers provides many learning opportunities for young children. In integrated preschool settings, nondisabled children and children with disabilities may need to be encouraged to play together. Social interaction between the two groups of children can be encouraged in a number of different ways.

Suggestions for ways to use teacher attention and to structure the classroom to promote socially interactive play are discussed below. Teachers and adults can be very effective in promoting social interaction by encouraging children to play together and by praising them when they do. Teachers and other adults also can promote interactions by teaching children specific ways to ask other children to play, to share toys, to take turns, to express affection and to help other children. Assisting children to control their aggressive behavior encourages the formation of friendships.

Planning small group activities that require cooperation and sharing motivates socially interactive behavior. For example, painting a mural or making soup as a group encourages children to learn to work together. Being certain that children with disabilities are seated next to nondisabled children makes it easy for the children to interact with and learn from each other. Allowing the child who is disabled to lead activities, pass out materials, and be praised in front of his or her classmates helps the nondisabled child view the child who is disabled as a competent friend.

Toys such as blocks, dolls, dress-up clothes, trains, and cars promote social interactions much more than do toys such as beads, clay, puzzles and paints. Providing toys with which the child who is disabled can play competently encourages the children to play together. Limiting the number of toys available and requesting that children play in a small area requires the children to share and engage in the same activity, thereby encouraging social interaction. As you get older and retire or move to a new community, you may not have quite as many opportunities to socialize as you did when you were younger.

People who continue to maintain close friendships and find other ways to interact socially live longer than those who become isolated. Relationships and social interactions even help protect against illness by boosting your immune system. The benefits of being social: Specific health benefits of social interaction in older adults include: * Potentially reduced risk for cardiovascular problems, some cancers, osteoporosis, and rheumatoid arthritis * Potentially reduced risk for Alzheimer's disease * Lower blood pressure Reduced risk for mental health issues such as depression Conversely, social isolation carries real risks. Some of these risks are: * Feeling lonely and depressed * Being less physically active * Having a greater risk of death * Having high blood pressure Social interaction helps keep your brain from getting rusty, but it's most effective when coupled with an overall healthy lifestyle, including a nutritious diet and physical activity. Keeping your connections strong: Start by staying in touch with friends and family, and try to visit with them regularly.

Here are other ways you can maintain a high level of social interaction: * Volunteer in your community. * Visit a senior center and participate in offered activities with other seniors—this is a great way to make new friends. * Join a group focused on activities you enjoy, such as playing cards or a book club. * Try taking a class—learn a new language or a new style of cooking or experiment with a new hobby. * Join a gym or fitness center to stay physically fit and engage with others. Find ways to stay young at heart, stimulated, busy and out of the house.

Schedule regular visits with grandkids or volunteer at a school or children's organization to enjoy time with little ones and absorb some of their youthful energy. Although staying in touch in person is important, phone calls, snail mail, and e-mail can keep you connected, too—if you're not yet comfortable with computers, ask a young relative to help you. Staying socially active and maintaining your relationships are an important part of healthy aging. Reach out to your loved ones—neighbors, friends, family members—and stay as vibrant, active, and social as you've always been. Kinds of social interaction:

There are six kinds of social interaction: 1) Cooperation 2) Conflict 3) Competition 4) Accommodation 5) Acculturation 6) Assimilation 1) Cooperation: Green: According to Green, cooperation can be defined as “The continuous and common endeavor of two or more persons to perform a task or to realize a goal that is commonly cherished. ” Cooperation is one of the fundamental processes of social life. Cooperation is that basic form of human interaction in which men strive jointly with each other for a good goal or value. At the same time, cooperation is the most pervasive and continuous of the social processes.

It is an integrating activity. It is an associative process which means working together in the pursuit of common interests or common goal. Modes of Cooperation: There are two modes of cooperation in a social life: * Direct cooperation: includes “those activities in which men do like things together” –like play together, worship together, etc. * Indirect cooperation: is found wherever people perform unlike tasks towards a single end – like where there is a division of labor or mass production. Importance: Cooperation is a universal phenomenon.

All the progress that mankind has made in various fields is to be attributed to the cooperating spirit of the people. It is so important in the life of an individual that it is difficult to survive without it. Cooperation for human beings is both a psychological and a social necessity. Collective goals in our social life cannot be achieved without cooperation. 2) Conflict: Mac Iver and Page: “Form of struggle in which “men contend against one other for any object. ” Conflict is as ever-present process in human relations. Conflict is universal and occurs in all places and at all time.

There has never been a time or a society in which some individuals or groups did not come into conflict. Social conflict is a struggle between opponents over values and claims to scarce status, power and resources. Conflict therefore, expresses itself in thousands of ways and degrees and over every range of human contact. It is a dissociative process. In conflict, the person or group thwarts injuries or destroys the opponent in order to secure a goal or reward. Darwin states that – “the principles of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest are the main causes of conflict. ” Types of Conflict:

There are four basic types of conflict: * Man vs. Man: It occurs when a character (some other person) has an argument or disagreement with the other character. * Man vs. Society: It occurs when a man disagrees with a societal values, laws or beliefs. * Man vs. Nature: It occurs when a man has problem with outside forces; weather, animals (like in a TV show 'Man vs. Wild'), and land. Etc * Man vs. Self: It occurs when a person develops an internal struggle between his ideas and thoughts. This can be a cause of other conflicts mentioned. Modes of Conflict: There are two modes of conflict: Direct Conflict: The direct conflict is in which people seek to attain some objective by restraining, injuring or destroying one another. Revolution was and street fights are example of direct conflict. * Indirect Conflict: The indirect conflict is in which the people do not restrain or injure other in seeking there ends but manage to attain their own goals which the opponent cannot approach to his goal in any way. It means obstruction in rivals is created. Group opinion is colored against the rival about his aims. Talking ill of others and backbiting are also indirect conflicts.

These are the frequently occurring instances in the social life of people. Importance: Conflict generally occurs due to individual differences, cultural differences, clash of interests and social changes. Conflict in its extreme form brings war and destruction of lives and property. Those conflicts which cause wars or may take hostile form may destroy lives and property of the people – may cause great negative psychological and moral change. Conflict serves as constructive and positive ends. In corporate conflicts – that is, between groups and societies, solidarity and fellow-feelings are increased.

Thus we may conclude that all types of conflicts are not harmful to the society because it performs certain positive functions also. Mac Iver therefore, rightly observes that – Society is cooperation crossed by conflict. 3) Competition: Competition is the most fundamental form of opposition or social struggle. It is a struggle of two or more persons for the same object which is so limited that all cannot share it. Anderson and Parker: “Competition is that form of social action in which we strive against each other for the possession of or use of some limited material and non-material good.  In our society, for instance, there is competition for jobs, for goods, power, social position, fame and all other things one cannot get by mere asking. Thus competition goes on an impersonal manner. The eye is on the goal or reward rather than the competitors. Importance: Competition therefore, exists everywhere, but appears in many ways. It varies as to scope, intensity and type from one system to another. It performs many useful functions in our society. Competition tends to stimulate economy, efficiency, and inventiveness.

It tends to increase one’s ego and to give one satisfaction. Since competition rests upon a set of rules, it creates respect for the ruling of the game. 4) Accommodation: If conflict goes on for an indefinite period, our social life becomes unbearable. Hence, attempts are always made for the resolution of conflicts. Accommodation means resolution of conflict by adjusting oneself to the new environment. Mac Iver and Page: “The term accommodation refers particularly to the process on which man attains a sense of harmony with his environment. ” Ogburn and Nimkoff: Accommodation is a term used by sociologists to describe the adjustment of hostile individuals or groups". Accommodation is the term used by the sociologists to describe the process by those once in conflicts who can work together in common enterprises. It brings arrangements which permit groups to work together. A structure of interdependent roles arises and organizes people in ways which permit them to live and Act in spite of differences in latent hostility. Thus, the social order arises through the process of accommodation. Accommodation is thus, the basis of all social organizations. Importance:

The term 'accommodation' refers to several sorts of working agreements between rival groups that permit at least limited cooperation between them even though the issues dividing them remain unsettled. It does not technically end the conflict, but holds it in abeyance. The accommodation may last for only a short time and may be for the purpose of allowing the conflicting parties to consolidate their positions and to prepare for further conflict. Or, as is more often the case, the initial accommodation agreed upon by the parties may be part of the process of seeking solutions to the issues that divide them.

If those solutions are not found, the accommodation itself may become permanent. 5) Acculturation: Acculturation is defined as, “Acculturation is a process in which members of one cultural group adopt the beliefs and behaviors of another group. ” Although acculturation is usually in the direction of a minority group adopting habits and language patterns of the dominant group, acculturation can be reciprocal--that is, the dominant group also adopts patterns typical of the minority group. Importance:

This term is used to describe both the process of contacts between different cultures and also the customs of such contacts. As the process of contact between cultures, acculturation may involve either direct social interaction or exposure to other cultures by means of the mass media of communication. As the outcome of such contact, acculturation refers to the assimilation by one group of the culture of another which modifies the existing culture and so changes group identity. There may be a tension between old and new cultures which leads to the adapting of the new as well as the old. ) Assimilation: Assimilation is the process whereby persons and groups acquire the culture of the other persons and groups in which they come to live – by adopting its attitudes and values and its way of life. Assimilation is the blending or fusing of minority groups into the dominant society. Young and Mack: “Assimilation is a slow and a gradual process”. It takes time. For example, immigrants take time to get assimilated with majority group. Assimilation is concerned with the absorption and incorporation of the culture by another.

Assimilation is therefore, another form of interaction which cannot be neglected in the social process. But the same time, the extreme differences in cultural background, prejudice and physical differences usually Act as barriers to assimilation. Importance: The term 'assimilation' again is in general use, being applied most often to the process whereby large numbers of migrants from Europe were absorbed into the American population during the 19th and the early part of the 20th century. The assimilation of immigrants was a dramatic and highly visible set of events and illustrates the process well.

There are other types of assimilation, however, and there are aspects of the assimilation of European migrants that might be put in propositional form. First, assimilation is a two-way process. Second, assimilation of groups as well as individuals takes place. Third some assimilation probably occurs in all lasting interpersonal situations. Fourth, assimilation is often incomplete and creates adjustment problems for individuals. And, fifth, assimilation does not proceed equally rapidly and equally effectively in all inter-group situations fusion or blending of two previously distinct groups into one.

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