CHAPTER 2

SOCIAL INTERACTION AND

SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
A. SOCIAL INTERACTION
1. DEFINITION OF SOCIAL INTERACTION
SOCIAL INTERACTION IS DEFINED AS INTERRELATIONSHIP
AND MUTUAL INFLUENCE BETWEEN TWO INDIVIDUALS,
BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP, AND AMONG GROUPS.
2. CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL INTERACTION
A. THERE ARE DOERS OF MORE THAN ONE INDIVIDUAL
B. THERE ARE SOCIAL CONTACTS AND COMMUNICATION
C. INTERACTION IS BASED ON THE NEEDS
D. THERE ARE CERTAIN PURPOSES AND SOCIAL SYSTEM PATTERN
3. KINDS OF SOCIAL INTERACTION

1. Inter- individual Interaction

Inter-individual interaction is when an individual gives effect and stimulation to other
individuals and vice versa. The effected individual will respond. Inter-individual social
interaction can be without words as well, lke body language or body movement.
2. Interaction between individual and group.
In concrete, such interaction is like a teacher doing a classroom teaching.
3. Interaction among groups.
This kind of interaction shows hat the individual interest within a group is one unit,
relates with individual interest in another group.
4. DRIVING FACTORS OF SOCIAL
INTERACTION
A. Imitation
Imitation is a process to imitate someone’s or group’s actions, values, norms, or knowledges. Imitation can
emerge 2 possibilities, which are: Positive ( if imitation can drive someone or group to obey the norms and the
rules), and Negative ( if imitation can drive someone or group to against or break the rules).
B. Suggestion.
Suggestion is a physical condition that comes from one’s own or other people for there is a belief over a
matter from a trusted person. Such influence comes instantly and without detailed pre-consideration. Someone
or people that easily influenced by suggestion are those who weak, stressed, frustrated, or depressed.
C. Identification.
Identification is a drive to make himself/herself identical with other , either from his/her life style or behavior.
Someone who does identification process must know truly other peson who becomes his/her idol so
considering himself/herslf and his/her idol alike.
D.Sympathy.
Sympathy is an anxiety toward other people for certain reasons, such as his/her good looking, wisdom, or way
of thingking that agree with the same values with which the admirer follows.
E. Empathy.
Empathy is like feeling what other people feel, as if we experience it ourselves.
In essence, is more like sympathy but in a more emotional way.
5. CONDITIONS FOR SOCIAL
INTERACTION
According to Soerjono Soekamto, there are two conditions for social interaction, which are: social contact and
communication.

A. Social Contact.
Social contact comes from Latin: con or cum, means together, and tango, means to touch. So social
contact means: touching together. Social contact is inter-individual, individual-group, and inter-group
relations. This relationship can be held either face-to-face or by a medium.
Social contact divided into 2 forms:
1). Direct contact; is the communicator delivers his/her message directly to the communicant face-to face or
by a communication media.
Direct contact can be called as primary contact.
2). Indirect contact or secondary contact, is the communicator delivers his/her message to the
communicant through a third party or by a communication medium.
B. COMMUNICATION

• Communication is a situation that makes someone give his/her interpretation

to someone else in the form of mutual communication, physical movement,
or attitude and followed by a response, so that it will form a very complex
interrelationship.
6. FORMS OF SOCIAL INTERACTION
According to Gillin and Gillin, every interaction ( social process) usually takes the form of association or
dissociation.
A. Associative social Interaction.
1). Cooperation4). Acculturation.
2). Assimilation
3). Accommodation
1). Cooperation, is an effort of cooperating between individuals or among groups to reach one or several
common goals.
There are some forms of social cooperation, namely:
a). Bargaining, which is the existing cooperation as the result of bargaining deal between two
parties.
b). Cooptation, which is a process to persuade the opponent to agree with our opinion.
C). Coalition, which is inter-group cooperation to reach common goal not regarding some
structural differences among them.
D). Joint venture, joint business for joint profit that will be proportionally shared by filling each
party’s shortage complementarily.
2). Assimilation
Assimilation is an acculturation process in which each parties involved feels the presence of
one common culture.
Assimilation will occur when:
a). There are different cultures in both parties.
b). There is intensive interaction between both parties in a long time.
c). There is mutual process from each group’s culture

3). Acculturation
Acculturation is a social process held after a culture adopts some new elements of a different
culture without omitting the original one.
Acculturation is different than assimilaton. If assimilation causes the change, and creates
new culture, but Acculturation doesn’t change elements of old culture.
4). Accommodation
Accommodation is a social adaptation process in interpersonal and inter-group interactions to calm
any conflict.
Accommodation aims at:
a). Reducing view difference, political conflict, and or feud between/among individuals and groups.
b). Preventing conflict that will cause physical collision.
c). Seeking accommodation in a society with class/caste system.
d). Seeking assimilation among races or tribes.
Some forms of accommodation:
A). Coercion; is a coercive accommodation process physically or psychologically.
B). Compromise; is a dispute solution by reducing claim from both parties to have an agreement
point.
C). Mediation: is a form of accommodation in which invite third party as a mediator who doesn’t
have authority to make decision toward a dispute solution. The mediator position is only as an
advisor.
D). Arbitration; is a dispute solution that appoints third party who is appointed by both parties,
and this third party can make solution decision under effective provisions. The third party’s
decision is binding.
E). Adjudication, is a dispute solution through court
F). Conciliation, is accommodation form that makes serious efforts to confront the wishes of the
disputed parties for a common agreement.
G). Tolerance, is accommodation without formal agreement. It sometimes comes unintentionally and
unconsciously.
H). Stalemate, is one of the forms of accommodation where the disputed parties have equal power so
they decide to cease their dispute.
B. DISSOCIATIVE SOCIAL INTERACTION
Dissociative social interaction is a form of social interaction that results in disunity.
Some of their forms are as follows:
1). Competition
Competition is a social process where individuals compete each other to find
profit in any life sectors by drawing public intention without any threat or
violation.
Competition could be rivalry.
The positive functions of competition are:
1. Transfering individual or group aspiration competitively.
2. Transfering dynamic creativity and fighting spirit.
3. Serving as an alternative to transfer public desire
4. Holding selection to place individual that fit his/her position,
role, and capability.
5. Doing a work specialization.
Some forms of Competition are:
a. Competition in economics and culture
b. Competition to reach a status and role in the society
2. CONTRAVENTION
Contravention is a social process between competition and conflict.
Contravention comes after displeasure, hatred or doubt that is shown
either clearly or hidden toward people or certain cultures without bringing
any disunity or conflict.
According to von Wiese and Becker, Contravention has 5 sub-process,
which are:
a) General Contravention
b) Simple contravention
c) Intensive contravention
d) Classified contravention
e) Tactical contravention.
 3. CONFLICT
Conflict is a social process where individual or group tries to achieve their goal by
opposing the opponent using threat or violation.
The causes of conflict, among others, are as follows:
a) Different opinion, stand, or feeling among individuals.
b) Cultural and interest different.
c) Social change.
Some consequences of conflict are:
d) Increasing in-group solidarity
e) Disturbed group unity.
f) Personality change
g) Destroyed property or human victims
h) Accommodation, domination, and the subjection of one party to another.
 B. SOCIAL INSTITUTION
1. Definition by sociologist
According to Soerjono Soekamto, social institution is an
institution organizing social needs fulfillment and thus the
society members can always have good interrelationship.
Paul B Horton and Chester L Hunt defined social institution
as norm system to reach a goal or activity considered
important by the society.
Mac Iver and Charles H Page defined social institution as
procedure or method created to organize human
interrelationship in a social group.
2. Motivating Factor of Social Institution Establishment.
 A desire to create better tomorrow and assuring public viability.
 A motivation to fulfill life needs like basic, social, or integrative needs.
 To realize work efficiency from every individual that can be delegated to
certain social institutions that representing him/her, like:
 to manage education, there formed school
 to manage security, there formed police and military forces.
 to maintain the justice and legal protection, there formed attorney
general and court, etc.
 Satisfactors’ scarcity encourages the need of an institution that manages
every needs fulfillment to be done orderly and harmoniously
 Public needs of order and organized living.
3. FUNCTION OF SOCIAL INSTITUTION

Social institution has manifest and latent functions.

a) Manifest function is a function that many people
consider and expect to be fulfilled by the social
institution itself.
b) Latent function is a function that many people don’t
expect at or planned, but unfortunately it exists.
4. COMPONENT OF SOCIAL
INSTITUTION

Social institution consists of three main components

as follows:
a. Social norm
b. Social organization
c. Executing personnel
 5. CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL INSTITUTION

a) Having one or some certain goals

b) Having instruments to reach institutional goal
c) Having different symbols describing function and goal of the
institution.
d) Having certain durability level.
e) Having written or non-written tradition as the basis of doing
the function
6. KINDS OF SOCIAL INSTITUTION
Some social institutions and their roles and functions will be
discussed as follows.
1). Family institution.
According to F.J.Brown,
Family in the narrow meaning includes parents with their
children.
Family in the broad meaning includes parents and their
children, grandpa/grandma, or aunt and uncle, or other
siblings.
 Family is collection of individuals bound by marriage, blood
or adoption
 Family functions:
a). Reproduction or sexual function
b). Socialization and protection function; caretaker of
raising and education.
c). Economic function; fulfilling the needs of food,
clothes, and other material needs.
d). Affection function; nursing unit for the sick or
sufferer, and providing affection.
2). ECONOMIC INSTITUTION
 . Economic institution is a social institution handling material welfare like
regulating production, distribution, and consumption of goods, and
services needed by the people.
 . Economic basic activities are; production, distribution, and consumption.
 Production.
Production activities are:
 Hunting and gathering
 Field cultivation
 Rice field cultivation
 Animal husbandry
 Fishery
 Industry
 Distribution
Distribution activities, as follows:
. Reciprocity; is transfer of goods and services having equal value. There are 3
kinds of reciprocity: general reciprocity, equal reciprocity, and even distribution
mechanism.
. Redistribution; is goods exchange in a certain place like market or store
which then redistributed.
. Market exchange, is goods exchange from one owner to another.
 Consumption
Consumption is social activity in using goods and services to fulfill the
needs.
In a complex modern society, almost all life need satisfactors attained
from trade with money becomes an important exchange medium.
in the next development, trade doesn’t always use cash money, but there
are also check, credit card, and digital payment (OVO, Go-Pay, or E-Toll).
3). EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
 Educational education is the one handling socialization process which mainly bringing someone
into culture.
 Socialization process mostly held through informal educational institution like: family, social
group, and daily intercourse. While some are through formal or schooling institution, from
kindergarden to university level.
 Functions of Educational institution, are:
1. Manifest function
Manifest function is the one visible and directly beneficial for the society.
The manifest functions of educational institution, are:
 . To help people earning money
 . To help people developing their potential to be able to fulfill their needs, and to participate
in public development.
 . To preserve the culture
 . To enrich life and increase the ability
 . To form personality
 . To create patriotic citizen and stimulate democratic participation.
2. Latent function of education.
Is a hidden fnction. The people may know this function, but
they actually don’t want to know or pretend to not know.
 creating immaturity or at least delaying it.
 becomes nursery place for children whose mothers go to
work
 education can slow down the period of individual entering
professional job demand.
 4. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION
According to Emile Durkheim, religion is an integrated system consists of belief and
practices dealt with holy matters and it unites all of its followers in a moral
community.
Functions of religious institution:
Help finding moral identity
Help explaining the physical and social environment
Increasing the degree of intercourse hospitality, social cohesion and group solidarity.
4 elements of religion:

a)Religious emotion
b)System of belief
c)Ritual and ceremony system
d)Symbols and holy places
e)Followers
 5. POLITICAL INSTITUTION

• Political institutions are social institutions that govern the power relations of the members
of a society in order to maintain social order.
• According to Montesquieu in his idea “ Trias Politica”, power divided into three:
 Executive institution; is the institution which runs the government.
Example: the presidency, the military, the police, government offices, and so on
 Legislative institution,is the institution which controls the people’s representative bodies.
Example: DPR, MPR, and DPD.
 Judicatory institution, is the institution which controls he authority to administer justice.
Example: MA, MK, KY, and BPK