Cooperation, Competition And Conflict (1957)

[Music] [Applause] in all human societies on earth cooperation competition and conflict take place from primitive cultures to highly complex civilizations in rural areas in large cities and in an average sized american town such as this one these three processes are involved in all social interaction they are occurring here simultaneously every second of the day on this street there are stores markets offices they're owned by people who are in competition for customers and for money some competition is latent or even unconscious some is quite open or overt the town's oldest butcher shop is losing business because across the street a new supermarket is attracting customers this is competition and there's nothing latent but it stops short of conflict because no coercion is present and the situation is governed by moral norms [Music] when competition is latent the person is often unaware of it this lady decked out in her new hat is unconsciously competing with all other women for attention and she gets it too competition need not be only for selfish ends in the local community chest campaign various groups and individuals compete with each other to see who can give the most and reach 100 of their quotas but most competition is not for altruistic ends the more usual kind can lead into something quite different and another social process conflict what's the big idea that was my fare who said so it's a free country ain't it not that free this the second time you pull this you big jerk say that again you're a big jerk and you always have obviously what started out as competition has now become all conflict the deliberate attempt of one person to oppose resist or coerce the will of another but conflicts are not only personal they can be corporate too there is a strike at one of the factories in town here is an example of corporate conflict one group labor is in conflict with another group management when the opposing groups are nations war may result but if competition and conflict were the only forms of social interaction society as we know it would collapse there must also be cooperation cooperation varies in degree and quality for convenience we call it either primary secondary or tertiary cooperation family living offers a good example of primary cooperation the aims and interests of the group and the individual tend to fuse and become one work is often shared and there is a close feeling of identification among the members [Music] secondary cooperation is more characteristic of modern society it exists for example in the average business office [Music] when the executive mislays an important paper he asks his secretary's help in finding it in a situation like this people work together cooperatively but everyone is primarily interested in personal gain [Music] the secretary works for the salary she receives and the executive works for greater profits for the company he owns but cooperation regardless of degree is not just a rare sociological phenomenon it is a constant necessity the sales manager and the advertising manager of this company are competing for a promotion on the executive staff but in spite of their conscious rivalry they still cooperate with each other at work because their jobs are interrelated and dependent on each other [Music] tertiary cooperation usually called accommodation is of a still different nature in another factory in town the workers are not on strike and production is going ahead smoothly but underneath this cooperation there is latent conflict which could become overt in a strike management is interested in increasing production and in holding down costs the foremost of which is wages labor on the other hand is interested primarily in increasing wages blatant conflict is present and consequently this kind of cooperation is an insecure working together with a strongly opportunistic flavor cooperation is especially a social necessity with a group during times of corporate conflict such as wars or strikes the union leaders who represent the workers on strike in the other factory in town are holding an emergency meeting two of these men happen to be the opposing candidates for president of the union in the coming election but their rivalry is forgotten for the moment and they are cooperating with each other during this period of corporate conflict with management [Music] but the necessity for cooperation is not just sociological it is psychological too part of the individual's inner and emotional structure from the time a child is born into our society he begins to learn the necessity for [Music] cooperation early in life a child learns that cooperation is a condition for receiving love and approval from his parents and outside his home for being an accepted member of his group people in love don't usually think of themselves in terms of social process which is probably just as well but actually they illustrate all three kinds of process at one time or another conflict the deliberate attempt to oppose resist or coerce the will of another person it's happening here all right competition men compete for the same woman and women compete for the same man in fact people in love often compete with each other to prove who loves the most but in this area of human activity as in all the others there is also cooperation [Music] competition conflict cooperation these are the processes which take place in social interaction everywhere that human society exists so you