We
treated the economic institution and its importance to rural farmers. In this article, we will look at the various
social interactions in the society. By the end of this article, you should be
able to explain the concept of social interactions in the society and identify
the different types of social interaction in the society.
Meaning of social Interaction
Social
interaction entails interpersonal contact, reciprocal response and inner
adjustment of behaviour to the action of others.
Social
interaction which assumes a repetitive pattern becomes a social process. (1981)
defined the social process as those “respective forms of behavior commonly
found in social life.” Commonly identified in this category are the processes
of cooperation, competition, conflict, accommodation, assimilation and
acculturation.
This
may be grouped further as associative and antagonistic social processes.
The
associative types include co-operation, accommodation and assimilation while
the antagonistic types include competition and conflict. It is however,
necessary to note that in practice, these social processes are not strictly
mutually exclusive but exist as reciprocal aspects of the same social
experience.
When
some cultures coexist in a society through mutual adaptation, they are able to
do this through the process of accommodation. One culture may absorb the other
through assimilation, when two cultures are blended, the process involved is
acculturation.
When
all the components of a culture are uniformly distributed throughout a society,
the process involved is homogenization.
It
is thus important that a student of rural sociology should understand how these
and other rural social processes are operating.
Types of Social Interactions
1. Cooperation
As
a result of human limitations in respect of time, energy, expert knowledge and
other resources, both individual as well as group goals can be more efficiently
and less strenuously attained via combined efforts of two or more individuals.
This form of social interaction in which two or more people work together as a
team to achieve a common goal(s) is termed cooperation. People cooperate for
different reasons.
Among
these is the need to obtain personal advantage of benefit as a result of
working with others which the individual would otherwise have found difficult
to attain working all by him. Cooperation can also arise due to the need to
attain group goals e.g. in community development activities and village
improvement unions.
Situations
or circumstances may call for cooperation even among otherwise antagonistic
groups or individuals, e.g. families, village groups and clans have been known
to corporate. They abandon their differences temporarily in order to jointly
fight a common cause.
Physical
hazards like flood, landslide, locust infestation or menace of wild beasts affecting
contiguous villages that are otherwise at war with each other, may call for
temporary cooperative action to eradicate the common annoyance.
Cooperation
is thus an interaction which is oriented towards specific goal(s). This goal
may be a shared goal in which case the ultimate reward is a joint reward and
there is a solitary relationship between the cooperators as in the case of
communal land clearing for joint cultivation.
The goals may just be convenient while the rewards are purely personal in which case the relationship between the cooperators would be symbolic in nature.
The
relationship between the doctors and patients typify this kind of cooperation.
The patient needs cure or relief from pain and disease while the doctor wants
the enhancement of his personal prestige, that of the hospital organization he
works and that of his profession.
These
two need each other in order to realize their individual rewards. Symbiotic
cooperation exists in human interaction.
Cooperation
is usually classified as either formal or informal pending upon the level of
spontaneity or deliberate plan involved.
Formal
cooperation involves deliberate and rational interaction between persons or
groups. The cooperators may not necessarily be acquired intimately but
cooperate on contractual basis with the expected mutual obligations being spelt
out in advance. In some instances of formal cooperation, other elements of
compulsion or coercion may be involved.
For
example in such communal labour as village road maintenance, village members
are supposed to cooperate but anyone who fails to turn up for the work may be
fined. Informal cooperation is more or less spontaneous solidarity behaviour
among members of such primary groups as the family and neighborhood. It entails
no formal compulsion or contract but may grow out of the need to give
assistance, strengthen filial bonds or for mere companionship.
Generally
the cooperators in this case are known to one another on an intimate,
face-to-face basis and can lay claims on each other’s assistance at any time.
In
Nigeria, among the Ibibio of the south western part, young girls may combine to
do weeding on their parents’ farms. Men also cooperate in supplementary labour
such as house building.
Rural
people in Nigeria cherish cooperation and practice it in various forms.
2. Competition
Competition
is that form of social interaction in which people struggle for the possession
of material and non-material rewards which is in limited or scarce supply.
In
polygamous families, the wives compete for the affection of the husband and
children often compete for the attention of their parents. In village, people
compete for offices and recognition and occasionally also compete for fame
through organized sports and games.
In
Nigeria today, the number of people requiring place in schools and universities
far outnumbered the existing facilities thereby leading to competition for
admission.
Therefore,
entrance examinations, aptitude tests, interviews, and payment of
non-refundable deposits are all methods of eliminating competitors to the
barest minimum. Competition thus serves to allocate scarce resources.
It
also sharpens individual initiative and may enhance productivity. In its ideal
form, competition should be impersonal. That is, the major focus of attention
should be the scarce reward rather than other competitors. When the reward is
very limited in quantity however, competition tends to be keen thereby
engendering hostility between competitors.
This
personalized form of competition is often known as rivalry. The negative aspect
of competition is that it may breed hostility and animosity on the part of the
loser towards the winner. Thus rather than foster systemic linkage,
competition, may lead to systemic isolation.
Systems
that must work together must therefore minimize competition. People generally
do not like competition.
Monopoly,
division of market, price fixing and “fair-trade” laws are techniques for
reducing business competition. In some bureaucratic organizations, promotion on
the basis of seniority rather than productivity has been utilized to limit
competition.
In
some cases, these anti-competitive practices are supported by governmental
action while in some others, they are opposed.
3. Conflict
Conflict
is a form of social interaction in which the actors seek to obtain scarce
rewards by eliminating or weakening other contenders (Ekong 1988). This may
take the form of a fist fight, threats, legislation or total annihilation.
In
Nigerian village communities conflict may arise where there is difference of
opinion between group leaders or in situations where one group tends to be
exploiting the other. Conflict between personalities may lead to group quarrel
and the division of the village into several fractions.
Challenge
to the security of the village may also engender conflict, for example land
dispute. This often triggers off a strong group defense reaction resulting in
the reappearance of old alignments with each group trying to obtain dominant
position over the other.
Relationship
to a single act by an individual if followed with a rebuttal may soon grow into
group conflict e.g quarrels between children often bring the mothers into
conflict.
In
community work, proposed changes or innovation may be viewed apprehensively and
as a challenge to the status quo thereby engendering conflict.
Similarly,
the use of pressure group by a certain part of the community to gain an
advantage over the rest may result in conflict. The change agency may be
regarded by the disadvantaged section or part of the community in such a case
as biased. Individual conflicts may entail intensive feeling of animosity
towards each other.
Conflicting
individuals may refuse to greet each other or do anything together. However in
group conflict, there may not be ill feelings against any particular
individual. The interest of the group as a whole rather than individual
relationship determines conflict alignment.
Conflict
has both negative and positive effects. Its negative effects include the
disruption of social unity; generation of bitterness which may lead to
destruction and bloodshed, generation of inter-group tension; disruption of
normal channels of cooperation and the diversion of members’ attention from
group goals.
Until there is an overt conflict, people may
not know that certain wrongs or nagging issues exist.
Therefore,
conflict leads to a clear definition of issues. Once such issues have been
identified they can then be amicably resolved.
During
conflict, group cohesion and solidarity increase and this positive effect can
be directed for a more efficient attainment of group goals. In addition,
conflict keeps the group alert to members’ interest and such awareness helps to
prevent future conflicts.
Conflict Resolution
Persons
and groups who must work together must minimize conflict between them. There is
no specific formula for resolving conflict but there are certain general
procedures and approaches which might be used either by themselves or in
combination.
Generally,
the first aim in conflict resolution is to minimize the feeling of difference
and calm down the contending parties thereby creating a conducive atmosphere
for the parties to coexist or work together until a more permanent solution
could be found for their difference.
This
temporary working agreement between parties in conflict is the process of
accommodation. It enables two strangers or parties to live together and form a
family.
Accommodation
may take different forms depending upon the circumstances and the qualities of
the group involved. Gupta (1989) identified eight major forms. These include
the truce, displacement, institutionalized release of hostility, compromise,
super ordination, segregation, third party roles in compromise and toleration.
1. Truce:
This is a term used to describe a temporary cessation of hostilities without
the issues being settled so as to give the conflicting parties time to either
re-group, attend to certain religious rites or observance or for solution to
the conflict to be ironed out.
Therefore,
a truce may be declared for a specific number of days or for an indefinite
period. For example, during the Nigerian Civil War, a truce period was often
kept whenever a major peace conference was to be held.
2. Displacement:
This is a process of ending one conflict by replacing it with another - usually
via a process of scapegoating. For example, a woman may pick a quarrel with her
husband or man friend for infidelity or unfaithfulness only to later make up by
blaming a third party for peddling unfounded stories which led to the misunderstanding
in the first place.
By
so doing they transfer the hostility between them to a third party, who now is
the scapegoat. Scapegoating results in immediate redirection of hostilities and
may lead to a more lasting resolution of the conflict if the contending parties
are firmly convinced of the culpability of the scapegoat.
3. Institutionalized Release of Hostilities: This is a process whereby parties in conflict are given the opportunity to release their hostilities either on each other or on other objects. Usually, the process is either formally arranged and or guided by certain expressed or implicitly understood norms.
Among many ethnic groups in Nigeria, wrestling matches are organized
both for entertainment and as occasions for formal release of hostilities.
Disputants in some cases may engage in the use of abusive language on each
other.
However,
in all instances, the disputants are bound by societal norms.
Similarly
in wrestling and boxing, the rules of the game must be observed.
4. Compromise:
When domination or complete defeat is unlikely to be attained by either of the
parties in conflict, they may want to accept less than the full goals they had
originally aimed at in order to end the conflict. This is the case of
compromise.
Compromise
often occurs between equally powerful, antagonists. When one party is more
powerful but continued conflict seems disadvantageous, compromise can still be
reached but with the more powerful party conceding less to the weaker party.
5. Super-ordination:
This involves the ending of conflict through the total defeat and submission of
one group by another. Institutionalized methods of releasing hostilities may
lead to super ordination as one party may be declared the champion.
However,
super ordination may or may not on its own, involve fighting according to rules
(i.e. it is not institutionalized). When people are given the chance to release
their hostilities, the immediate objective may not be that of establishing
speaking order among them but that of giving vent to their annoyance.
6. Segregation: In
situations, where parties in dispute stubbornly refuse to yield to any
conciliatory moves by third parties, they may be segregated or placed far apart
from each other either to allow tempers cool down or place a permanent distance
between them in order to maintain peace in a social system.
In
the past, segregation in most traditional Nigeria communities used to take the
form of banishment or exile, or selling of the unyielding party to slavery.
7. Third Party Roles in
Compromise: In rural areas generally, whenever there is
quarrel, other members of the family compound and neighbors would intervene to
bring peace between the disputants. The third party may be an individual,
usually an elderly person than either of the disputants or a group of people,
who have some influence over them. In marital disputes for instance, extended
family members on either side may play the third party.
8. Toleration: In
this case, the contending parties agree to disagree knowing that neither of
them can or should win. People accept each other’s right to differ because
certain values may be too much cherished to be compromised or victory may be
too costly to bear. Most social systems maintain their identities because of
the willingness of people to tolerate each other.
4. Accommodation
This
is the adjustment by a person or group to a conflict or threat, resulting in
the recognition and acceptance of the relations which define the status of a
person or persons in the groups or a larger social organization. Subordination
and super-ordination accompany accommodation when people mix up or mingle.
In
the rural family, the father is the superior. He normally controls the actions
of others.
In
his absence, the mother steps into his shoes. In her absence, the eldest child
takes over the mantle of family leadership. When the culturally acknowledged
leader speaks, others accept his authority, listen and obey his instruction.
The
existing pattern of accommodation has enabled each person to accept his status
in the group. The share-cropping system is that in which a farm is given
temporarily for a share cropper to maintain on behalf of the farm owner.
Each
has accepted his position in the process of accommodation involved. This
process is still practiced in many rural areas of the world. It was widely practiced
in the United States rural areas immediately after the civil war, but has been
abandoned since the world war after widespread mechanization began (Jibowo
192).
Another
form of accommodation between the labourers and the farm owners was to receive
cash wages from the farm owners for labours carried out on the field. This form
of accommodation is widely in use in many developing countries.
In
Nigeria, hired labourers are frequently paid agreed-upon wages on daily basis.
Such a rate differs slightly from one community to another depending on
economic situation of each place.
In
general, the nearer a rural area is to a large city, the higher the labour wage
rate. Also, the nearer a rural community is to an industrial community, the
higher the rate of hiring labourers.
5. Assimilation
This
is the process by which people of diverse cultural and racial origins achieve
enough social solidarity in the same geographical territory to maintain a
nation. An immigrant has been assimilated when he has acquired enough cultural
traits with others.
Assimilation
involves a socio-political connotation as well. A person may acquire all the
cultural traits of the new society, but may not be accepted or assimilated for
socio-political reasons.
According
to Smith and Sopf (1990), some black people have acquired all the while
people’s culture in the United States, yet they have not been assimilated into
the society.
Similarly,
the share cropping system in the southern United States about 3-4 decades ago
assimilated the white share croppers into the share-cropping culture.
The social class, expectations, labour and other features which characterized the black share-croppers also characterize the white share-croppers. In Nigeria, many people of the Ibo origin from states such as Imo and Anambra have been assimilated into the Yoruba subculture.
They were born in Lagos, spent most of
their lives there, except that they occasionally visit their home towns for
Easter and Christmas celebrations. They went to school and picked up employment
among the Yoruba people in Lagos.
When
they speak Yoruba, wear Yoruba dress and interact with Yoruba people, it is not
easy to know that they are of Ibo parentage.
Some
of them have also been assimilated into the Hausa subcultures. These were the
children of those who went to the north to trade. The rate of assimilation of
Ibo into Hausa culture was reduced by the Nigerian Civil War of 1967-1970 and
religious crises of the 1990s, which made many Ibo people to leave the north
for their homes.
Assimilation
of Yoruba into Ibo and Hausa subcultures as well as Hausa into Ibo and Ibo
subcultures is also going on, but at a slow pace.
6. Acculturation
This
is the acquisition of new cultural traits by individuals or groups and the use
of these in their new patterns of living. Acculturation has no biological
connotation involved in it. However to some sociologists, assimilation involves
some biological mixing of people with the new culture.
Introduction
and diffusion of new agricultural innovations (technologies) is a form of
acculturation in many societies because it involves blending the culture of the
country from where the technology was developed with that of the recipient
society, in relation to the specific farm practice. An example is the
introduction of the hybrid maize into Nigeria through the Institute of
International Tropical Agriculture (IITA). IITA is expected to have a
widespread impact on the maize production culture in Nigeria.
The
techniques of producing this maize is expected to influence the cutlass-hoe
system of maize production by many farmers in Nigeria.
Acculturation
also refers to changes in culture arising from constant contact with other
cultures.
In
Nigeria today, European modes of dressing and a number of other forms of
foreign culture have greatly changed the indigenous culture due to constant
contact.
Conclusion on Meaning and Types of Social interactions
This
article has introduced you to the various types of social interactions. You
should have learnt how these and other processes are operating.
The
main points in this article are:
1.
The concept of social interactions in the society.
2.
Various kinds of social interactions such as
a) Cooperation: A
kind of social interaction where two or more people work together as a team to
achieve a common goal.
b) Competition: An
interaction in which people struggle for the possession of material and
non-material rewards which are in limited supply.
c) Conflict: A
form of social interaction in which the actors endeavour to obtain scarce rewards
by reducing other contenders.
d) Accommodation: A
process in which same culture exists in a society via mutual adaptation.
e) Assimilation: A
process by which people of broad cultures and social origins achieve sufficient
social solidarity to maintain a country.
f) Acculturation: A
process which involves the blending of two cultures.