social interaction

• Social interaction


  Process by which we act and react to stimuli around us, including those acts people perform toward each other and the responses they give in return
• Erving Goffman


  • Sociologist who created a field of study called microsociology, or social interaction
• Types of social interaction

  • Social Exchange
  • Competition
  • Conflict
  • Cooperation
  • Coercion
• Social exchange


  Most basic type of social interaction, where people interact to receive a reward or a return for their actions
• Basis of social exchange


  • Reciprocity/Tit for tat, where if you do something for someone, they owe you something in return
• Behavior that is rewarded tends to be repeated
• When the costs of an interaction outweigh the rewards, individuals tend to end the relationship
• Competition


  When 2 or more people strive against one another to gain possession of a good or service
• Competition


  • Deals with finite/scarce resources, is the cornerstone of capitalist economic system, can motivate people to be more efficient and achieve goals, but can also lead to a lack of cooperation, inequality and conflict
• Conflict


  Disagreement through which the parties involved perceive a threat to their needs, interests or concern, involving deliberate actions to control, oppose or harm another person
• Cooperation


  Occurs when a group of individuals acts together to achieve a common goal, with motives or actions that are paralleled and mutual
• Examples of cooperation


  • Volunteer firefighters, civil protection bodies, community meetings, Bayanihan
• Cooperation can be bad when it involves collusion between firms or terrorism, as the common goal that binds the members together is what makes the cooperation bad
• Coercion


  Individuals or groups are forced to give in to the will of other individuals or groups, through intimidation or making threats
• Conformity


  Behavior that matches group expectations, adapting to fit those around us
• Normative conformity


  Conforming to fit in with the group, out of fear of rejection, involving compliance where the individual accepts the views of the group but privately rejects them
• Informational conformity


  Conforming due to lack of knowledge and looking to the group for guidance, especially in ambiguous situations, involving internalization where the individual genuinely accepts the group norms
• Types of conformity


  • Compliance (group acceptance)
  • Internalization (genuine acceptance of group norms)
  • Identification (group membership)
• Not everyone conforms to social pressure, as there are cultural differences between Western and Eastern/Asian countries