The study
of diverse forms of interaction between individuals or groups, such as
collaboration and conflict, social diversity and integration, growth and decay,
are all examples of social processes. Individuals and groups use social
processes to communicate, adapt, and readjust, as well as create connections
and behavioral patterns that are then re-adjusted as a consequence of social
interactions.

The term
"social process” refers to a variety of broad and recurring kinds of
social interaction. The core of social existence is interaction or communal
activity. Individual and group interaction happens as part of a social process.
The term "social structures” refers to recurring patterns of social
contact.

The term
"social processes” refers to types of social interactions that occur on a
regular basis. We’re talking about specific ways that people and communities
communicate and form social bonds through social processes. Friendship,
competition, rivalry, living, and so on are all examples of social interaction.
"The social process,” according to Maclver, "is the way in which
the connections of members of a group develop a unique character once they are
brought together”.

As
Ginsberg says, "Social processes mean the different ways in which
individuals or groups interact, including cooperation and conflict, social
differentiation and integration, growth, arrest and decay.”

"The
term social process refers to the repetitive form of behaviour that is commonly
found in social life,” according to Horton and Hunt.

Types of
Social Processes

Hundreds
of social processes take place every day. Nonetheless, we have observed that
some simple social mechanisms occur often throughout society. Basic mechanisms
include socialization, cooperation, competition, competitiveness,
accommodation, acculturation, and assimilation, among others. Loomis classified
social processes into two types:

1. The
elementary process

This systematic or master process. He defines
elementary processes that express the distinct elements of the social
structure, and extensive processes are those that articulate or include most or
more of the elements. Beliefs (knowledge), emotion, end or goal, norm, control,
sanction, and facility are these components.

The
Elemental Processes are:

• Application
  of sanctions
• Cognitive
  mapping and validation
• Decision-making
  and initiation of action
• Evaluation
• Evaluation
  of actors and Allocation of status-roles
• Goal
  attaining and concomitant ‘latent’ activity
• Status-role
  performance
• Strain the
  board and correspondence of opinion
• Utilization
  of facilities.

2. The
Comprehensive or Master Processes are:

• Boundary
  maintenance
• Communication
• Institutionalization
• Social
  control
• Socialization
• System
  linkage

The social
process may be both beneficial and harmful. As a result, the social process has
been split into two main categories, which have been dubbed ‘conjunctive and
disjunctive,’ associative and dissociative,’ respectively.

Social
processes are also divided into two categories:

1. Associative
Process

Social
processes that are associative or conjunctive are optimistic. For the unity and
profit of community, these social structures function. Cooperation,
accommodation, assimilation and acculturation, etc., are part of this grouping
of social processes. Below, three main social structures are discussed, such as
cooperation, accommodation and assimilation.

I) Cooperation:

Cooperation
is an essential aspect of social life. It’s a type of social process in which
two or more people or groups work together to accomplish a common objective.
Cooperation is a type of social interaction in which everyone benefits from
achieving their objectives. From the preservation of intimate friendships to
the effective execution of multinational programs, teamwork permeates all
facets of social organization. The fight for survival causes people not only to
join parties, but to collaborate with each other as well.

II) Accommodation:

It is a
process through which people or individuals adapt to changes in their
environment in order to overcome the problems they face. In today’s world, new
events and conditions arise frequently. Individuals have learned how to react
to the current situation. As a result, accommodation necessitates acclimating to
the new surroundings.

Human
social association is basically the result of a convenience of contending
powers, as indicated by Park and Burgess. There are likely to be disputes in
general. Since conflict cannot last forever, a compromise is reached by the opposing
parties or groups and understanding and conflict comes to an end.

III) Assimilation:

Assimilation
is a central social phenomenon; it is the process by which people belonging to
multiple communities are unified into one. Effective accommodation sets the tone,
namely assimilation, for an added result in human experiences. This suggests
that two or more bodies are fully combined and united into a new universal
entity, a process similar to digestion, in which we conclude that food is
assimilated.

As social
interactions become more assimilated, ethnic differences between people’s
various classes fade away. As a result, people begin to experience, see, and
behave similarly as they learn new social values and beliefs and, as a result,
carry on a new cultural identity.

2. Dissociative
Processes

Dissociative
phenomena are considered social processes that contribute to negative
consequences. The disintegration of culture stems from these societal systems.
These disjunctive social mechanisms are also established. Examples of
dissociative social dynamics are rivalry and conflict, etc.

I) Competition:

Currently,
rivalry is the most basic aspect of social conflict. This occurs when there is
an insufficient supply of anything that people desire, in the sense that not
everyone can obtain as much as they want. Competition occurs as a result of
demand driving output. For sunlight, air and gifts of nature, individuals do
not compete unless they are plentiful in availability.

But for
strength, name, prestige, glory, rank, wealth, luxuries and other items that
are not readily accessible, people compete. Since scarcity is an inherent state
of social existence in some way, there is rivalry of some form or another in
all societies.

II) Conflict:

One of the
dissociative or disintegrative social processes is conflict. It is an
ubiquitous and necessary social process in human connections. Conflict occurs
only when the rivals’ focus is drawn to themselves from the object of
competition.

That is
the collaboration’s anti-thesis. It is a way of seeking incentives by removing
or undermining rivals. It is a calculated effort to oppose the will of someone
or others, resist or coerce it. Conflict, in its occasional, intimate and
aggressive ways, is a rivalry. Conflict is target focused. But unlike teamwork
and rivalry, by making those who pursue them unsuccessful, it aims to capture
its target.

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