WHAT IS A SOCIAL PROCESS? CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The social processes are the different ways in which culture and social organizations change or are preserved. They are consistent historical changes within a society or a social institution, characteristic modes of social interaction.

Social interactions are reciprocal relationships that not only have an influence on the individuals who interact in them, but also on the quality of relationships.

Social interactions refer to social relationships of all kinds; dynamic social relationships that exist between groups or individuals.

Social interactions are general processes between two or more people in which significant contact is made and as a result their behavior is changed or modified. When people and their attitudes are involved, the process becomes social.

These processes can be classified according to certain bases; the most common is to classify them according to their nature: negative social processes and positive social processes.

The social process is the way in which the relationships of the members of a group (once they come together) acquire a distinctive character.

These processes signify the different modes of interaction between individuals or groups, including cooperation, conflict, social differentiation and integration, development, etc.

Characteristics of the social process

For a process to be social, the forms of social interaction must occur repeatedly. Social processes refer to those ways in which individuals and groups interact and establish social relationships.

There are various forms of social interaction, such as cooperation, conflict, and competition.

For it to be described as a social process, change must have occurred consistently within a society over a period of time.

Although many of these processes have already been defined, cooperation, competition, and conflict are three of the most stable processes within a society.

By definition, all social processes must be seen as an interaction between the individuals of a society.

These processes can be both positive and negative. Associative are those that lead to positive results and disjunctive those that result in negative elements.

Types

Although there are hundreds of social processes, some of them tend to appear continuously in a society. These fundamental processes are socialization, cooperation, conflict, competition and assimilation, among others.

1- Cooperation

Cooperation is one of the elementary processes of social life. It is a form of social process in which two or more individuals work together to achieve a common goal. It is a form of social interaction in which all participants benefit from achieving their goals.

It plays an important role in maintaining personal relationships and in the successful operation of international programs.

Individuals must not only form groups, but must also cooperate with each other to achieve their goals.

Examples

When two or more people work as a team to achieve something, they are cooperating. Sports teams are a clear example of cooperation, as all members work together to win.

Likewise, business is also an example of cooperation. In this case, individuals cooperate to sell a product or offer a service. Another case of cooperation would be to form a family, since two people come together to share time and experiences.

2- Accommodation

To live you have to know how to adjust. This can happen in two ways: in adaptation and in accommodation.

While adaptation refers to the process of biological adjustment, accommodation involves the process of social adjustment. It always happens after a conflict is created to try and fix it.

Accommodation is the achievement of an adjustment between people, which allows them to act together in a social situation.

It can be achieved by an individual through the acquisition of new patterns of behavior, habits or attitudes that are transmitted socially.

Examples

It is primarily a subconscious activity, as a newborn adjusts himself according to his family, caste, school, neighborhood or playgroup in an unconscious way.

But sometimes individuals or groups make deliberate attempts at accommodation. When two groups enter into a pact to end a war they are accommodating.

Another example of this case is when unions abandon a strike after reaching an agreement with management.

Conflicts in a society are inevitable and no society can function properly if one exists.

For that reason humans must strive to solve problems; accommodation is key to success.

3- Assimilation

It is the process in which individuals belonging to different cultures are united into one. Successful assimilation involves the total combination or fusion of two or more bodies into a single element.

In social relations it means that cultural differences between divergent groups disappear; new traditions and attitudes are absorbed. It is a slow and gradual process.

Examples

A clear example is when Native Americans adopted the cultural elements of whites, abandoning their own cultures.

Another occasion of assimilation occurs when husbands and wives of different backgrounds develop a unity of interest and purpose.

This term also applies when an immigrant or ethnic minority is in the process of being absorbed into a host society.

4- Competition

It is a negative social process and the most elementary form of social struggle. It occurs when there is an insufficient amount of anything that human beings want, in the sense that not everyone can have the amount they want.

People can compete for power, fame, partners, money, luxury, or anything else that is not readily available. It can be economic, social, political or racial or cultural.

Competition is found in all societies; it is a struggle or competition to obtain something that does not exist in a sufficient quantity to meet the demand. It is universal and impersonal.

Examples

In any society there are usually more people who want a job than there are positions available; therefore there is competition to get the available positions.

Additionally, among those who are already employed there is competition to move up and achieve better positions.

5- Conflict

It is a universal negative social process of human relationships. The conflict occurs when the attention of the competitors moves from the object of the competition to the competitors.

It is the opposite of cooperation, since it is a process that seeks to obtain rewards by eliminating or weakening competition.

This process also focuses on a goal, but contrary to competition and cooperation, it seeks to capture your goal by neutralizing others who also seek it.

It is a deliberate attempt to oppose, resist or coerce the will power of others.

Examples

It exists in all places at all times, it is believed that the main cause of conflict is the struggle for the existence and survival of the fittest. But the difference in attitudes, aspirations and ideals also cause conflict.

Social change can be a cause of conflict. When one part of society does not change along with the changes made by other parts, a cultural lag occurs leading to conflict. This is evidenced by the persistent conflict between the old and the new generation.

Another example occurs when a group or person destroys the opponent to secure an objective; this is the case of dictatorships, revolutions and wars. Racism is also a form of social conflict.

References

1. Social processes. Recovered from yourarticlelibrary.com
2. Social process. Recovered from merriam-webster.com
3. Social interaction and social process (2014). Recovered from slideshare.com
4. Social processes. Recovered from study.com
5. What do you mean by social process? Recovered from preservearticles.com
6. Social process. Recovered from dictionary.com