Interpersonal Relations

Scope Note

General statements dealing with several specific aspects of interpersonal relations. Society is a structure of interpersonal relationships, i.e., sets of reciprocally adjusted habitual responses between pairs of interacting individuals. These tend widely to become culturally defined or standardized in terms of polar statuses. A social group arises whenever a number of specific individuals are linked, each to every other, by relationships of the same general types, e.g., friendship, kinship, or coresidence. Groups likewise reveal a marked tendency to become culturally standardized. The categories below are concerned with the general characteristics of interpersonal relationships and social groups, with some of their more voluntary forms, and with the unifying standards and disruptive influences typical of social relationships and groups in general.