I
think an important aspect of studying anything is the ability to bring together
research from a variety of disciplines. It enables us to look at all of the
perspectives in order to gain a better understanding of the topic. DeJaegher
explores this idea really well in relation to social interactions in her paper ‘Theco-creation of meaningful action: bridging enaction and interactional sociology’.
She combines the insights from interactional sociology and enaction to
conceptualise their organisation in terms of autonomy. She provides an overview
of the different factors that have an influence on social interaction which
include a structural perspective on coordination, co-presence, engagement, turn
taking, sequentiality, emergent processual perspective on coordination, the
temporality of coordination, origins of coordination and the interplays between
interactional and individual autonomy in the co-creation of meaningful action.
The need for an updated way to study social interactions is evident in the
paper and so she provides interactive guidelines for studying the co-creation
of meaning.
She
states the three interacting systems that are involved in a social interaction are: first the individuals
themselves, then there is the factor of societal and cultural contexts and
finally there is the face-to-face interaction. The focus of the paper is to
look at what happens at the intersections of these three factors to try to gain
a better understanding of the co-creation of meaningful action. Previously
research has ignored the face-to-face interactions when investigating social
interactions. The face-to-face interactions can be influenced on the individual
level and on the socio-cultural level which are both highly important features
of social interaction. DeJaegher suggests that actions and meanings are
collaboratively created in this interplay between the interactional
self-organisation and the individual self-organisation. This idea is explained really well in her video on participatory sense making.
The
enactivist view implies that ‘processes within the operational closure of an
autonomout system can be linked to processes external to the system and
conditions external to the system may well also be necessary for any within
system processes’. Co-presence is a crucial part of social interactions. When
co-presence is evident it allows for engagement to occur. It is a factor that
everyone takes into account. It can have an influence on how you act in particular situations. Being in the presence of another individual can shape
your thoughts and behaviours. Sequentiality involves the non-verbal communicative
actions as they occur one after the other. Enaction views the individuals and
the interactions as equally important. The meaning is developed between the
individuals participating in the interactions and all of these factors are equally important.
She
states that a social interaction can only occur if there is co-regulation at
the level of interaction dynamics that takes on an autonomous organisation and
if the autonomy of the individuals involved in the interaction is not destroyed
in the process. The relationship between the person and the interaction is
bidirectional in a way that they both influence each other. Research in the
future should aim to take into account both factors. Techniques
should be adapted to differentiate between levels of interactive and individual
engagement. I believe it is highly beneficial to incorporate interdisciplinary approaches so that we can learn from one another and develop a more comprehensive
understanding of social interactions.
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