INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY
Society As we have just seen, the personality of an individual is formed by his contact with the family and the persons outside the family. Social work is the end of individuals. The relationship between mother and child is a fundamental social function that begins from the very birth of each individual. As we shall see later, this relationship of parent and child is found in animals, birds and even insects. All the various fabrics of social interaction begin with this basic social relationship between mother and child.
Sociologists classify social interactions into two types, main and secondary. Family, sports group, village neighborhood etc. are all main groups. In them there is a close and direct relationship between individuals. “The simplest, first and most universal form of all the forms of association is that in which some persons are direct to live together, to mutually help, to discuss a question concerning themselves, or to discover or implement a common policy.
See you kindly”. Individuals can participate freely and informally in the main group, as in a sports group or friendship, this group can also be formal, such as at the time of interview, in the classroom or in the office and factory. In contrast, secondary groups have formal roles, i.e., specific group roles such as those of teachers and students, those of vendors and customers, executives and citizens. There is no intimacy between them. Social interactions do not occur among individuals but among representatives of situations in a formal sequence. As society becomes complex, social relations become more impersonal. Everyone in the village knows each other. But in a big city one cannot even know one’s neighbor or the person living in the next flat of the same house. Religious organizations, political parties and the state itself are examples of secondary groups. Industrialization and its consequent urbanization form a ‘mass society’. In our modern cities, people live in large numbers and in their interactions ‘social relations’ become impersonal and one feels lonely. When you go to the theater alone, you feel lonely when there are hundreds of people around you. There was no intimacy there. In mass society there is a strange combination of intellectualism and non-intellectualism.
Industrial progress depends on the progress of science, technology and organization, but due to urbanization, impersonal relations increase, so the effect of communication and publicity increases. Crowd behavior becomes an important part of mass society. The problem that arises due to the imprint of mass society on human beings and their culture is one of the difficult problems of personal balance, sense of emotional security and ethical use of power. We will see that in the study of the basic processes of social interaction, these two concepts of main group and secondary association will be of great help.
Similarly another classification done as ‘indoor group’ and external group is also very important. The term ‘intimate group’ has been used by Sumner. We divide people into ‘ourselves’ and ‘others’. The group with which we identify ourselves is the inner-group. Attitudes are formed in a person to identify with the people of his family, caste and neighborhood etc. Individuals in ‘foreign’ groups are viewed with fear, suspicion or hatred as a rival group to the progress and interests of ‘their’ group. Cooperation is done with the people of the inner group and the people of the outside group oppose.
Differentiation of tasks is another basic interaction. Class and caste distinctions in society are based on these basic processes of interaction. Different forms of social interaction arise only on the basis of differentiation of functions and specific functions or roles in the group. Even within the home, there is a fundamental difference in the functions due to which the roles of husband and wife and roles of men and women and persons of different ages etc. Even within the home, a person has to play a more or less limited and definite social role. This thing is especially found in the Indian joint family. The person learns to behave appropriately for his role otherwise he will not be accepted socially. These roles, whether at home or outside in society, keep on changing and require more learning. Role changes according to age and situation; The one who was once the son becomes the father, the disciple becomes the master, the one who was once the subordinate becomes the head and the labor becomes the manager.
But we have to keep in mind that the interaction that takes place due to social differentiation also has hidden cultural factors. Here it is neither possible nor necessary to draw a dividing line between social and cultural aspects. On the other hand, this should not make us think of neglecting the difference between social and cultural aspects.
Social and cultural aspects
For a clear mind, understanding the difference between the two sides as well as their relationship will be of great benefit. The use of some specific words may possibly be helpful in achieving this goal. We can use the terms interpersonal and socio-cultural relationship to distinguish between these two types of interactions. The first term refers to the interaction that takes place between individuals and in which cultural and institutional factors are either less or less. Or not at all and the second word is indicative of the interaction in which both the factors are very much. As Lapierre and Farsworth have written: “In more stable social systems, least of the most important human needs are satisfied through institutional mechanisms. In these systems, long-term goals take precedence over transient matters. Individual needs to be satisfied are generally satisfied by what may be called ‘interpersonal’ situations – which are not of the institutional type. Individual needs from which interpersonal situations arise and by which they are organized , there are often accidental consequences of a person becoming a member of an organization and there is little adverse effect on becoming a member of the organization.
In this way, we see that social behavior which has no cultural aspect at all or very little and in which cultural aspect is very much, it is necessary to keep in mind the difference between these two. When we consider social behavior in human beings, it becomes somewhat difficult to understand this difference because unless the individual is brought up in a family or a group having its own culture – whether that culture is simple or complex, He cannot survive. But from this we should not neglect the fact that social behavior predates the origin of man and the rise of culture. Even in single-celled animals there is some social factor. “The interaction of animals is a very important biological fact. If following and seeking is a social fact in humans, then when it happens in amoeba why not consider it as a social fact? Social aspect is actually a form of biological aspect. As far as we know there is no animal which does not have social contact. We will look at the various aspects of social behavior of animals in the next chapter. The point to be noted is that we should not look at the ‘social’ side in such a way that there is always a ‘cultural’ side in it.
We find pure examples of social and interpersonal relationships between infants and children in humans. It is because of his growth that the child becomes conscious about the relation of his family, religion, father’s occupation etc. Similarly, we see that in favorable situations the forced entry of the cultural factor is very rare. Children, youth and adults will be seldom conscious of their relationship to institutions while playing. When we meet a stranger on the street, in the market, in the office, on the bus or train, as if we knew him, we establish more or less pure social and interpersonal contact.
Similarly, there are many such things in friendship which are not cultural. Friendships may be based not so much on the demands and expectations of individuals as to their particular cultural perspective, but on the creation of more basic lasting feelings, on the constant or frequent satisfaction of personal needs for affection and protection. It may be noted that La Pierre and Farxworth’s very informative analysis of the hypothetical situation of two persons meeting in a very narrow street can be noted. Since the street is narrow and since each person has to cross each other to reach their destination, a situation requiring interaction has arisen. There are many possible ways to solve this problem.
One of them may move aside or both may enter into an argument or even a scuffle. “Our problem is not what they do, but how they do what they do. In this regard we can distinguish three basic types of adjustment, which are mutually exclusive in one sense. : “First, if they have never encountered such a problem before, they may be compelled to adopt a try-and-error tactic for proper interaction. They can make use of the tactics they have thought of earlier; they can finally adopt some traditional method of adjustment which they have received as a social gift. It is clear that the first two systems are more ‘interpersonal’ or ‘individual-social’ for solving interaction situations and the third one is definitely ‘socio-cultural’.