Social Tension, Stress Prevention and Its Psychological Characteristics

Social tension and its psychological characteristics. Manifestations of social tension at the macro, meso, and micro levels. Situations of social tension. Stages in the development of social tension. Stress as a psychological state of the personality under conditions of social tension. Psychological defense as a natural individual reaction to a socially tense situation. Mechanisms of psychological defense. Psychological adaptation under conditions of social tension. Stress prevention.

Research into social conflict forms the basis for understanding the phenomenon of social tension in society. Social conflict and social tension are essentially one and the same thing, each a continuation of the other. In Russian scholarship, the study of social tension was conducted within the context of research on the course of mass phenomena (G. M. Andreeva, B. D. Parygin, B. F. Porshnev); social contradictions and interpersonal and intergroup conflicts (A. A. Bodalev, A. G. Kovalev, A. K. Uledov); and social conflicts (B. G. Ananiev, E. S. Kuzmin, V. E. Semenov, V. A. Yadov). Some social psychologists maintain that conflict is constantly present in society in the form of social tension, while others believe that social tension, steadily building up, leads to open conflict.

According to the sociologist G. I. Kozyrev, social tension is a socio-psychological state of people conditioned by their social position and by their degree of dissatisfaction with the state of affairs or the course of events .

As the Russian researcher V. O. Rukavishnikov notes, "social tension is an indicator of social crisis and conflict. It results from an aggravation of contradictions within a collective, is an important indicator of an emerging crisis, and is characterized by the dominance of negative socio-psychological phenomena and moods" .

Social tension is an acute opposition of personal and intergroup interests.

Social tension manifests itself in:

• • a state of acute discontent with life circumstances;
• • an atmosphere of psychological unease and anxiety;
• • an increase in aggressive and hostile clashes within interpersonal relations;
• • an intensification of deviant or criminal behavior.

Situations of social tension may occur at

the macro, meso, and micro levels. The macro level is the scale of society; in the case of Russia, for example, this means either the entire country or some part of it (a federal subject). The meso level is the community of a relatively small administrative unit, a small territory — a city, an urban-type settlement, or a village. The micro level is an extremely small community, such as a small work collective, a family, or an informal group.

A situation of social tension consists of environmental factors that act comparatively weakly on a person, yet are capable of producing psychological trauma.

Situations of social tension may include:

• prolonged psychological strain that has caused fatigue or atrophy of a person's system of adaptation;

• • increased responsibility accompanied by a gradually developing sense of inner anxiety;
• • situations with a predominantly low mood, causing the person a feeling of acute dissatisfaction with themselves;
• • situations in which basic life needs (for food, clothing, housing, etc.), as well as higher-order needs, are systematically unmet;
• • an acute aggressive and hostile orientation of interpersonal interaction and relationships.

The general socioeconomic sources of social tension include:

• • unemployment;
• • rising prices;
• • high taxes;
• • a rising cost of living;
• • rising crime;
• • the impossibility of obtaining a quality education, qualified medical care, and social security.

The intrapersonal sources of social tension include:

• • negative character accentuations;
• • incompetent communication.

Situations of social tension may differ in the duration of their psychological impact on a person:

• • a fleeting situation — characterized by sudden onset and a relatively brief impact. The subject is required to perceive and grasp the circumstances promptly and to make decisions under conditions that are changing rapidly;
• • a situation of uncertainty — the subject is placed in circumstances requiring a choice between decisions, each of which carries a certain risk. The subject's indecisiveness in choosing, and prolonged failure to make a decision, drags the situation out for an indefinite period;
• • a prolonged situation of social tension — exerts an exhausting, draining effect on the individual, weakens the motivation to resist, and gives rise to a sense of hopelessness.

The stages of social tension as a process differ from one another in their spatiotemporal parameters and forms of expression.

At the first stage of social tension, a still-hidden buildup of discontent occurs, one with no obvious external signs. It is characterized by an unorganized, primarily verbal form of expressing dissatisfaction, and by growing unease over the multiplying disruptions of the customary course of things, without any particularly clear awareness of the causes and scale of the changes taking place in social life.

The second stage is the intensification of tension. Its distinguishing features are a clear awareness, among the majority of the population, of the abnormality of the existing situation and of the presence of social tension in society. At this stage, pockets of sharply intensified tension may arise in individual regions and localities, and conflicts may flare up.

The third stage of social tension is usually characterized by its diminishing and by the gradual disappearance of the features typical of this state of social life. It should be noted, however, that conflicts that arose at the previous stage may still continue (though without provoking widespread public resonance).

Thus, social tension arises when conflicts have not yet manifested themselves in their most naked form, when there is no clearly recognized confrontation along the lines of "us versus them," and it disappears only once the crisis has been resolved or the conflict exhausted. As follows from the above, manifesting itself at the socio-psychological and behavioral levels, social tension is closely linked to the dynamics of public opinion and public mood.