Social processes refer to forms of social interaction that occur repeatedly. By social processes we mean those ways in which individuals and groups interact and establish social relationships. There are various of forms of social interaction such as cooperation, conflict, competition and accommodation etc.

Difference between Competition and Conflict!

Competition is a ‘peaceful’ conflict as argued by Max Weber (1968). He wrote: ‘A peaceful conflict is “competition” in so far as it consists in a formally peaceful attempt to attain control over opportunities and advantages which are also desired by others.’

Competition describes a conflict over the control of resources or advantages desired by others where physical violence is not employed. Thus, regulated competition is a sort of peaceful conflict, which is resolved within the framework of agreed rules. A competitive process is ‘regulated’ competition to the extent that its ends and means are oriented to an order.

The difference between conflict and competition lies chiefly in the focus or attention and manner of achieving the goal. In competition, the primary focus is the goal, and interaction is according to culturally defined rules of behaviour and procedure. In conflict, the focus is on the competitor or opponent (not on the goal) themselves with an objective of annihilation or incapacitation of them, so that the way is cleared for achievement of the goal.

This distinction can be diagrammatically represented as under:

In competition the direct aim is the success of the actor in achieving the goal; indirectly, it may result in the failure of the competition but in conflict the direct result of the action of one person is to impede, prevent or destroy the act of another. For example, a running race is a competition, whereas a bull fight is a conflict.