Saturday, September 28, 2013

What is Social Interaction? What is Social Status? What is Social Role?



Ø      Social Interaction
Social Interaction is defined as “it is a process by which men inter-penetrate the mind of each other.” – Dawson and Gettyes
Merrill; “Social interaction is the general process whereby two or more persons are in a meaningful contact, as a result of which their behavior is modified however slightly.”
Corkiness; “Social interaction is such a process which influences the overt behavior or state of mind of the individuals.”
“Social interaction is the process by which people act and react in relation to others. – J.J Macionis

Elements of Social Interaction
1.      Two or more than two persons.
2.      Reciprocal relationship among them.
3.      Influence on the event, behavior, brain of the persons.
These three conditions interrelate the people among themselves and convert them into social groups.

Types of Social Interaction (Young and Mack)
1.      Direct or Physical Interaction
2.      Symbolic Interaction
Forms of Social Interaction
1.      Between individual and individual
2.      Between Individual and Group
3.      Between Group and Group
4.      Between Individual and Culture
Measurement of Social Interaction
1.      Frequency
2.      Duration
3.      Intensity
4.      Focus
Difference between Social Action and Social Interaction

Ø      Social Status
Horton and Hunt: Status is defined as “the rank or position of a person in a group, or of a group in relation to other groups.”
Status is a social position a person holds.” JJ Macionis
In everyday use the word status generally means “prestige” as when we say that a collage president has a more “status” than a newly hired assistant professor. But sociologically speaking, both “president” and “professor” are statuses within collegiate organization.
Status is part of our social identity and helps define our relationship to others. As George Simmel (1950, org.1902), one of the founders of sociology, once pointed out, before we can deal with anyone, we need to know who the person is.
v     Status Set: “Each of us holds many statuses at once. The term status set refers to all the statuses a person holds at a given time.”
v     Master Status: “Some statuses matter more than others. A master status is a status that has special importance for social identity, often shaping persons entire life.”

Types of Status (classification on how people attain status)
v     Ascribed Status (we have little or no choice)
“An Ascribed status is a social position a person receives at birth or takes on voluntarily later in life.”
Determinants of Ascribed Status
a)      Ancestry
b)      Sex
c)      Caste
d)      Age
v     Achieved Status
“An achieved status refers to a social position a person takes on voluntarily that reflects personal ability and effort.”
                                        Determinants of Achieved Status
a)      Economic Resources
b)      Occupation
c)      Education
d)      Power
Ø      Social Role
“A role is the function of a status.”  Young and Mack
A social role is the expected behaviour associated with a social position.”
A second important social structure is social role, behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status. A person holds a status and performs a role.
v     Role Set: “Robert Merton (1968) introduced the term role set to identify a number of roles attached to a single status.”
Status: Professor; Roles: the Teacher role , colleague role
v     Role Conflict: as a conflict among the roles connected to two or more statuses.
v     Role Strain: refers to tension among the roles connected to a single status.
v     Role Exit: The process by which people disengage from important social roles. Ex-president, ex-captain etc…
v     Ascribed and Achieved Roles
v     Relationship of Status and Role
v     Social Action, Status and Role
v     Social System and Role-Status
One strategy for minimizing role conflict is separating parts of our lives so that we perform roles for one status at one time and place and carry out roles connected to another status in a completely different setting.
Role Conflict
            Causes of Role Conflict
1.      Extra busy life
2.      Incomplete or Weak Socialization
3.      New Social Values
4.      Material Desire
5.      Violation of religious values
Consequences of Role Conflict
1.      Tension and worry
2.      Poor decision performance
3.      Sleeplessness
4.      Short temperament
5.      Health
6.      Neurosis
7.      Social Problems
Solution of Role Conflict
1.      Simple life
2.      Socialization
3.      Training of role performance
4.      Division of Labor
5.      Social Planning

1 comment:

  1. What are your sources on Dawson and Gettyes, Merrill
    Corkiness?

    ReplyDelete