The Fundamental Dimensions of Social Relationship: a Theoretical Statement

Abstract

Despite a noteworthy empirical convergence by a number of investigators on at least two basic dimensions of social relationship, namely Control and Affection (as they are often called), additional factors frequently emerge as well. This leads to some perplexity as to how many basic dimensions of interaction there are. To clarify the ambiguity, the concept of the division of labor is examined. The division of labor, it is suggested here, always involves some technical activity going on among the actors Beyond this there is a need for co-ordination, response to exigency, setting of priorities, etc. These require that some actors do what other actors tell them to do. When it is asked why an actor complies with another actor's wish, demand or request, a possible answer, which underlies the model of social interaction presented here, is as follows: (1) compliance because of coercion, and (2) compliance because the actor wants to do so. These two bases for compliance may be understood to imply the two standard sociological categories of Power relations (in the Weberian sense) and Status relations, respectively. It is argued further, for heuristic purposes, that all social relationships can be explicated by positioning actors in a two-dimensional space constituted by orthogonal axes of power and status Examination of disparate factor analytic evidence suggests strongly that factors in addition to Control and Affection, which are shown to be essentially equivalent to Power and Status, are either technical activity or are not of direct sociological interest Support for this argument is also adduced from a consideration of learning theory.