Social Bonds and Social Psychology: An Interplay of Interactions
The relationship between social bonds and social psychology presents a conception of the individual as bio-psycho-social—a subject that is socially and historically determined. This subject is configured through an interplay of woven ties and social relations. Individuals, groups, organizations, and institutions represent different ways in which the subject emerges as a social being.
The Subject in the Web of Social Relations
The human being is constituted within a web of relationships (beginning with family) that forms the basic structure of their internal group. Their life is characterized by a constant interplay between the internal and external worlds. The possibility of learning and healthy development depends on the fluidity and dynamics of this interplay. Healthy subjects maintain a mutually transforming relationship with reality.
Action and Interaction in Subject Formation
From this perspective, “action” is understood as central to the development and configuration of the subject.
Interaction and the Dual Nature of the Subject
The subject emerges as a double character: as an agent and actor in the interactional process, while simultaneously taking shape through this very process. In other words, the subject emerges from and is determined by the relationships that constitute their concrete conditions of existence. Our reflection aligns with the definition of the subject as “subjects of necessity.” However, the real focus of our analysis lies in the internal contradiction inherent in this subject as a living being—the interplay between the emerging need for material exchange with the environment (using their body) and the satisfaction of that need. This internal contradiction drives the subject to turn towards the outside world in search of the source of gratification in relation to another subject. The need, experienced as tension, propels or reopens this interplay, as the subject undertakes a set of material and symbolic operations, which we call behavior. These actions, determined by the need for satisfaction, are transformative.
Action transforms and modifies the context, but it also transforms the protagonist of the action, leading to learning.
Motivation and Effectiveness in Interaction
Interaction is not only a motivated process (and therefore directional) but also an efficient one. This efficiency refers to the phenomenon of internalization and the effect of interaction, which shapes the inner world of each subject. It is a fantasized reconstruction of the network of relationships in which each subject emerges and through which they resolve the internal contradiction between need and satisfaction.
Because of the efficiency of interaction and its ability to structurally transform the subject (as the internalization of the web of relationships is established and changes the subject’s inner world), we characterize the interactional process as a dialectic between the internalization of subjects. In the reciprocal or intra-subject registration of the interactional pattern, it is the link itself, as it is, from the same organizing principle, that makes the web of relationships or network more complex than the group.
Social Representation: Shaping Understanding and Meaning
Moscovici’s concept of social representation is grounded in social interaction. It involves the development of a social object (a socially relevant element that triggers a process of communication) by the community. This object must be something that generates discussion, collective and public communication, and possesses social relevance. There isn’t just one representation of something. A process exists by which the object (for example, psychoanalysis) changes in representation as a result of two movements:
- Aspects of the theory are selected and extracted from its entirety.
- These aspects are concretized into images, binding to different senses or symbols.
Social representations are built when there are changes in living conditions. Social representations exist for any given purpose. For a purpose to exist, there must be different social representations, some of which are in conflict with each other within society. Representations are constructed by reality. Groups have a reflexive relationship with social and cultural conditions, which shape social representations.
Structure of Social Representations
The structure of social representations includes:
- Core: This is the most compact and homogeneous part of the representation, containing elements common to the whole group. It has a consensual basis.
- Peripheral Elements: These are more flexible and adaptable, allowing the representation to adjust to specific contexts and experiences. If a peripheral element changes, it can modify the core.
Functions of Social Representations
: to interpret an object to modify some aspects of life, there is an object that is interpreted. Lets make sense of the world. Make sense of the objectives with which I trabajando.Objetivación: realization of the abstract. The visualization of the invisible. Realization of the suffering abstracto.Transformación knowledge objects until they become part of social objects. The changes relate to the significance of objects – iconic Transformation: selection of information, of de-linked. The theory is impoverished when passing from the abstract to the concrete .- Personalization: figurative scheme, metaphor. The image comes to represent all teoría.Proceso Naturalization: something was strange becomes more familiar.