Definition of Social Relations

1. Connection that exists between the individuals of a social group that often interact, capable of establishing a particular significant bond, which can positively or negatively affect those involved. Examples: work or study colleagues, neighbors, friends, family.

2. Necessary practice according to coexistence in society, regardless of the degree to which it was developed.

Etymology: Relation, by the modes of Latin relationship, relations.+ Social, by Latin socialis.

Grammatical category: noun fem.
in syllables: re-la-cio-nes / re-la-ción + so-cia-les / so-cial.

Social relationships

In general terms, social relations are the links that exist between individuals within a given society. According to classical sociology —for example, following the developments of Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002)—, these relationships are conditioned by different structures, which exceed the will of the social agents. Bourdieu conceives of society as a system, within which social relations are organized as relations of force, which make up a field. Within the field, then, social relations are configured around groups in conflict, which dispute orientations and objectives.

To the extent that the fields are structured in a hierarchical manner, while there are groups that give them their own orientations, social relations are conditioned by the inequality of the forces in dispute. Such inequality responds to the different possibilities of access to resources, influences, alliances, the legitimacy of each group, among other factors. Thus, the strategies by which a position is taken within a field may vary throughout history.

Social relations and power

Social relations are established through dynamics in permanent construction and reconstruction. These can be conceptualized from the correlation between the categories of action, strategy and institution; taking into account the articulation of these three categories with that of power. From such a configuration, it is possible to identify certain special characteristics of social relations understood in a general way, giving rise to a more specific typology of social phenomena.

In the first place, the category of institution is understood to be that structure that operates in the modulation of the behaviors of individuals in accordance with previously established norms. Institutions organize, using power, the ways of life of the social group.

On the other hand, outside the institutions, are the strategies and actions. The strategies are characterized by attending to particular problems of power, following a deliberate execution plan and oriented to a certain objective. Strategies are sets of actions aimed at particular goals, for the modification or reproduction of specific situations. When a strategy is more effective in achieving its goals than the rest of the rival strategies, then it prevails over the whole, determining an orientation to the social process in question.

In general, strategies seek to prevail over the random course of social events; however, the strategic movement, as an attempt at rationalization, may fail in the effort to keep the uncertainty of the social field under control. Strategies suppose forces in struggle within the field, which come to occupy a hierarchical role by virtue of a greater share of power, that is, the ability to make their project effective —namely, the design of the steps to follow to achieve certain goal in a set period of time.

Finally, the category of social action —mainly developed by the sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920)— consists of an action that is oriented based on the existence of another, hence its social character. Social action, from this perspective, is the fundamental unit from which social relations are built, which is then ordered according to strategies (determined as a teleological action) and in institutions (as an action regulated by norms). . In a certain sense, all action is always social, since it is not possible for it to take place regardless of any other and independently of the network of social relations, configured under strategies and institutions. Ultimately, every action is executed within a field of forces, so that it always requires a share of power to be carried out.

The three levels mentioned (action, strategy and institution) are related to each other, reciprocally: although the institution maintains a tendency towards stability, the strategy and the action, which are inscribed in it and also modify it, acquire a character rather dynamic. Social action is what “updates” the norm, making it real in the concrete context and, thus, reproducing or transforming it, within the framework of social relations.

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