Adaptation and Cooperation

Adaptation

Adaptation can be defined as the process which leads to outcome, interpretations, and debate.Adaptation has become a central concept in several major social disciplines such as psychology, anthropology, and geography, as well as many fields of biology. When it comes to knowing the word adaptation, it is derived from its latin word "apere" which means to bind or to attach. The concept of adaptation in sociology simply means the social adaptation.Therefore, adaptation helps people to understand the relation between parts of the system, as well as the system as a whole. It deals with all the means that the system and its members require for the accomplishment of one's goal.Adaptation can also be defined as the change in structure, function, or behavior by which people adjust or resist in a certain environment. Adaptation helps people to live in the way they desire.Let's take an example of a person who has just arrived in Kathmandu from his village.It takes some time to adapt in Kathmandu as he was not used to living in city areas before.The struggle of his life starts now.He tries his best to adapt to the certain environment and slowly with the change of time, he gets used to with the function and structure of the environment.

In other words, the special characteristics which enable the humans to be a successful person in a particular environment is called adaptation.

The typical manner by which the social systems react to an environment is also considered as an adaptation. Any form of the social system whether a nation-state, or a corporation, or also a family must be able to adapt to the environment they are living in, else it will surely break down. A famous sociologist Talcott Parsons described this sociological meaning in the middle of the 20th century. Adaptation can be considered as a component of Parsons's theory in the form of a social system survival. Adaptation is known to be one of four important functional prerequisites and also includes goal attainment, integration, as well as the pattern maintenance in which any type of the social system should exercise in order to prevail.

Cooperation

Cooperation is regarded as one of the important element or association in the society.Without proper cooperation, we cannot adjust in a certain environment. Cooperation is the simplest form to be understandable in a society.Let's give an example of our own society. We student, cooperate with teachers, a customer has to cooperate with the shopkeeper, a son cooperates with his family, a husband with his wife and so on. Cooperation is also helping people in need, sharing one's happiness and sorrows. If a neighbor is in problem in watering the crops then he has to cooperate with another neighbor, again if a patient is feeling difficulty with the medicine, he has to cooperate with his doctor for his treatment. This type of cooperation is found everywhere, be it in our neighborhood, between customer and shopkeeper, teacher and student, owners and laborers, and many different groups of people.

According to F.E. Merril, " cooperation is a form of social interaction wherein two or more persons work together to gain a common end"

According to Fairchild," Cooperation is the process by which the individuals or groups combine together in a more or less organized way for the attainment of the common objective."

Types of Cooperation:

There are many types of co-operation which are important in some of the ways in our social life but the principal types of cooperation are the following:

(i) Direct Co-operation:

Those activities in which the co-operating individuals who want to do the things together is included under this category. That is, they have to perform the identical functions such as moving the pile of stones or might include pushing a motor car out of the mud. Playing together in a group, worshipping together, working in the fields together are other examples of the direct co-operation.

(ii) Indirect Co-operation:

Under this category, those major activities in which people do tasks unlike towards a similar end are included. In simple form, this type of co-operation helps in the individual’s work towards the attainment of a common goal but each of them has its own specialized functions, let's take an example, when the carpenters, plumbers and also masons co-operate together to build a single house.

References

Bhandari, L. P. (2015). Fundamentals of Sociology. Kathmandu: Buddha.

Sumner,W.G Folkways. New York: Ginn, 1906

Tishler, Henry L. 3013. Introduction to Sociology, 11^th Ed. Cengage Advantage Books

Openstax College, Introduction to Sociology. Open Stax College. 21 June 2012