MAN IS SAID TO BE A SOCIAL ANIMAL EXPLAIN

MAN IS SAID TO BE A SOCIAL ANIMAL EXPLAIN

The first time when man was defined as a social animal was back in the ancient times. Aristotle wrote in his Politics: “Hence it is evident that the state is a creation of nature and that man by nature is a political animal.” Political here can be interpreted as social due to the meaning of the Greek word politikos, which meant the social aspect as well. Later, Baruch Spinoza also stated that men were social animals, and that it was because of their nature – they get from society much more convenience than injury, as they are not able to live in solitude.

This definition can be interpreted in different ways, and for me it also has a meaning. It is a well-known fact that women and men perceive this world in different ways. They think and even see differently, which is why there are often certain misunderstandings that result in major disappointments. What is interesting, women often call the men animals when they are angry with them, and indeed they are right.

Men have more resemblance with some animals than women do. For instance, as predators, they have the so-called tunnel vision. Women, in their turn, have well-developed peripheral sight. Men are more straightforward and practical and have many other characteristics that are different from women. And it is the way females should perceive them – as a kind of social animal that needs attention and their love.

A Greek legendary philosopher said, “Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual.”

Man cannot live alone. He must satisfy certain natural basic needs in order to survive. He has to enter into relationships with his fellowmen for living a life. No man can break the shackles of mutual dependence. This begins perhaps between the embryo and the mother and continues till his last breath. The need of the embryo may be more physical than mental, but the mother's need is the other way round.

“Society friendship and love/Divinely bestow'd upon man,” sang William Cowper, portraying the pangs of solitude of Alexander Selkirk who had been marooned on an uninhabited island for years.

‘Man is a social animal’, said Aristotle years ago, human races proved and realized the importance of his statement by the passage of time. Individuals live in groups and can not separate themselves from being part of a group. Individuals have their own importance, their behaviours and performance can not be ignored as these influence the behaviours and production of groups they belong to.

Groups exist every where, and we are a part of it whether we realize this or not. This does not mean that individuals do not give better results when performing alone, they do, but man is dependent on others to fulfil different kinds of need. Working in groups is beneficial for an individual as he gets more exposure and leaning takes place in many ways, and he also learns to survive in group which is the basic necessity for an individual.  In order explain individual’s behaviour in a group it is important to understand different types of groups, their norms and values and possible causes of the conflicts. There have been researches and experiments conducted by several scientists in order to explain unique behavioural pattern of each individual in working environment.

INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP:  Groups are of vital importance in all fields of life whether its work situation, personal or social life, these are either formal or informal. Some people may prefer to work alone as they perform better and some might want to be a part of a group in various situations. I want to put myself as an example here, when this assignment was given I was worried to work individually on it and the reason behind this was that firstly I feel more comfortable to discuss ideas with people and second, as I write simple and straight I feel better working as a group where I can use other persons words to flourish and talk about my ideas more clearly.

Aristotle, the Greek philosopher writes "Man is a social animal. He who lives without society is either a beast or God". Thus, man is by nature a social animal. He is born in society lives in society and dies in society. Society is indispensable for man. Man cannot live as man, without society. Isolation from society is regarded as a punishment. Solitary life is unbearable for him. Social life is necessary for man. The instinct for some form of social life is innate in human being. Professor Park says, "Man is not born human but to be made human". Man can be called social animal for the following reasons:

Man, the human animal, must satisfy certain natural basic needs in order to survive. He must eat, drink, excrete, sleep, maintain adequate health and procreate. These needs constitute the innate nature of man.

But Man cannot live alone—he must enter into relationship with his fellows if he is to develop and maintain adequate mental and physical health. We know that this dependency of man on others is exhibited in the continuum of the life process, with the parent-offspring relationship and with his existence within the womb and during infancy. The organism is dependent upon the maternal organism for the satisfaction of its needs. This satisfaction is the result of biological co-operation between the embryo, or the infant, and the maternal organism. The maternal organism, too, can only exist so long as the cells and tissues which comprise it act in co-operation one with the other. An individual cannot live if, among other functions, the heart does not pump blood to circulate through the body or the lungs do not supply oxygen, or blood does not reach the brain. Food must be broken down and digested so that the ingredients necessary to replace worn tissue and the supply of vitamin and mineral needs to the body is assured—the whole process of co-operation within the individual. Man's life can only continue so long as his bodily functions are co-operative — in short, where there is biological harmony.

The above brief look at man as an individual leads us to examine him as a social being — one who lives in a group, subject to the demands and pressures of modern society. The nature of this society is based upon economic conflict. That is, the strivings of one class, (the capitalist class) to maintain and extend its economic supremacy and control over the working class by virtue of its ownership of all the means of wealth production. Man, as a member of the working class, is something less than a man — he is a commodity to be bought and sold on the labour market, just as is a pound of sugar, a loaf of bread or a tube of toothpaste.

Inherent in this capitalist society is conflict between its component classes — the working class and the capitalist class. Concurrently with this is the existence of conflict between worker and worker, between capitalist and capitalist, whether individual, group or national capitalist. This conflict expresses itself in many forms. The struggle of the worker to obtain higher pay, lowered hours of work, improved conditions, or at best, the maintenance of his present conditions of life. For the capitalist class this conflict expresses itself in price-cutting, trade rivalries, search for markets, new methods of production, tariffs, Common Markets, preferred trade agreements, sanction, embargoes and, finally, force of arms — war.This struggle is the direct outcome of the economic basis of capitalist society, that is, the ownership of the means of life by a small minority and the consequent enslavement of the majority, the working class, a society whose existence is dependent upon the production of commodities for sale and profit, a society where competition, aggressiveness and rugged individualism are lauded and exalted as the finest of virtues. This conflict is apparent in the misery surrounding us, in the unemployed, the hunger amidst abundance, the anxiety over losing one's job, in industrial strife, in criminality, prostitution and its attendant evils, in nationalism, war, etc.

This condition exists because man's social organization is built upon a division based upon private property and its relationships, with its consequent innate conflicts and antagonisms. This malady is as easily curable as a tooth-ache from a decayed tooth—remove it and the pain ceases. Remove the private property basis from our society and replace it with common ownership in the means of life and we will enjoy a society which is socially in harmony with man's biological necessity. Biologically man can live only by co-operation economically and socially he will be forced to cooperate if he is to survive.

Do social phenomena include more than the interstimulation of persons? As a matter of fact, there never has been a unanimity of opinion that they are so limited. Do other animals have a social life or only a biological existence? Is man the only social animal? It has often been assumed that man is the social animal and some (Ward, for example) have even argued against the concept that man himself is naturally a social animal. Is the social limited .to "conscious" behavior? The proposal here advanced is consideration of social phenomena as the interaction of organisms which are sufficiently alive to respond to each other, including all behavior which influences or is the result of other behavior. This includes the influences from the behavior of past generations. The point of interest is not terminological but factual; although, of course, it has implications for terminology. Terms are not so important as long as the facts are understood. The purpose is to present a viewpoint with facts, to be tentative where it is easy to be dogmatic, to raise questions rather than settle them.

CONCLUSION:

The subject discussed above reflects the positive and negative aspects of group behaviours on individual. Individuals and groups work parallel to each other in every sphere of life and study of an individual’s behaviour in a group is as important as organization’s. An individual interacts with other people in perspectives of behaviours and attitudes throughout life and learn to polish, enhance and develops his personality, through learning from different experiences.

Management should take the responsibility to resolve the conflicts related to roles, status leadership, norms, and develops good cohesiveness so that individuals can get maximum benefit from it. Generally problems are taken as hurdles but these are there to teach us. We should take them as opportunity which gives a new horizon to perception of an individual.