Competition is, in general, a contest or rivalry between two or more organisms, animals,

individuals, economic groups or social groups, etc., for territory, a niche, for resources, goods,
for mates, for prestige, recognition, for awards, for group or social status, or for leadership and
profit. It arises whenever at least two parties strive for a goal which cannot be shared, where
one's gain is the other's loss (a zero-sum game).
Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment.
For example, animals compete over water supplies, food, mates, and other biological resources.
Humans usually compete for food and mates, though when these needs are met deep rivalries
often arise over the pursuit of wealth, power, prestige, and fame.
Competition is often considered to be the opposite of cooperation, however in the real world,
mixtures of cooperation and competition are the norm. Optimal strategies to achieve goals are
studied in the branch of mathematics known as games theory.
Competition is also a major tenet of market economies and business It is often associated with
business competition as most companies are in competition with at least one other firm over the
same group of customers. Also competition inside a company is usually stimulated with the
larger purpose of meeting and reaching higher quality of services or improved products that the
company may produce or develop.
Competition can have both beneficial and detrimental effects. Many evolutionary biologists
view inter-species and intra-species competition as the driving force of adaptation, and ultimately
of evolution. However, some biologists disagree, citing competition as a driving force only on a
small scale, and citing the larger scale drivers of evolution to be abiotic factors (termed 'Room to
Roam').[3] Richard Dawkins, prefers to think of evolution in terms of competition between single
genes, which have the welfare of the organism 'in mind' only insofar as that welfare furthers their
own selfish drives for replication (termed the 'selfish gene').
Some social Darwinists claim that competition also serves as a mechanism for determining the
best-suited group; politically, economically and ecologically. Positively, competition may serve
as a form of recreation or a challenge provided that it is non-hostile. On the negative side,
competition can cause injury and loss to the organisms involved, and drains valuable resources
and energy. In the human species competition can be expensive on many levels, not only in lives
lost to war, physical injuries, and damaged psychological well beings, but also in the health
effects from everyday civilian life caused by work stress, long work hours, abusive working
relationships, and poor working conditions, that detract from the enjoyment of life, even as such
competition results in financial gain for the owners.
Competition is an elementary, universal and impersonal form of social interaction. It is
elementary in the sense that it is basic to all other forms of interaction. Each individual is

involved in countless ways of which he is generally unaware in a vast web of competitive

relationships.
This lack of awareness on the part of the competing units gives competition its impersonal
character. Of the various concrete expressions, the most obvious is struggle for existence. Every
form of life is in constant struggle for life with the impersonal forces of nature that exist
everywhere in the natural world.

Definitions:

Competition is the struggle for possession of rewards which are in limited supplymoney,
goods, status, power, loveanything (Horton and Hunt, 1964). It is a process of seeking to
obtain a reward by surpassing all rivals.
In the words of Biesanz and Biesanz (1964), competition is the striving of two or more persons
or groups for the same goal which is limited so that all cannot share it. According to Sutherland,
Woodward and Maxwell (1961), competition is an impersonal, unconscious, continuous
struggle between individuals or groups for satisfaction which, because of their limited supply, all
may not have.
Characteristics:

(1) Competition is a culturally Patterned Process:

It is present to some degree in all societies but it differs greatly from society to society. The
fiercely competitive Kwakiutl society (a tribe of North America) and the relatively noncompetitive Zuni (a pubelo Indian group of New Mexico) society offer an example of a striking
contrast. American society though competitive, yet this competition is sharply limited.
(2) Competition is Impersonal:
Impersonal means, the competition is usually not directed against any individual or group in
particular. Competition may be personal when the competitors know one another but generally
its nature is impersonal.
(3) Competition is Unconscious:

Competition takes place on the unconscious level. Competitors at many times are not aware
about other competitors and even if they are aware, they do not pay any heed to the activities of
their competitors. Candidates, appearing for IAS or any other competitive examination, do not
know one another and their whole attention is focused on their studies (reward or goal) rather
than on competitors.
(4) Competition is Universal:
Competition, though an important characteristic feature of modem society, is found in all
societiesprimitive, traditional, modem or in pre-historic eras and in every age.
(5) Competition is Continuous:
It is a never ending process. It goes on consciously or unconsciously all the time. It is unstable
and frequently yields either to co-operation or to conflict.
(6) Competition is restrained:
It implies that there are rules of the game to which all competitors must follow. When the
competitors break the rules or when it turns into cut-throat competition (unrestricted), the
situation transforms into conflict.
(7) Competition Is For Scarce Goods (Rewards):
If the object of competition is in abundance (unlimited) quantity or sufficient in supply, there
would be no competition. There is no competition for sunshine and air, which are unlimited.

------------------Types------------

There are mainly two types of competition:

(1) Personal Competition:
When two competitors contest for election to office, it is called personal competition. In this
competition, competitors know each other.
(2) Impersonal Competition:

When contestants are not aware of one anothers identity as we find in university or civil service
examinations, it is called impersonal competition.
Importance:

Competition is indispensable in social life. It is sociologically significant for the positive and
negative effects it produces in social life.
It performs many useful functions in society. Some of the main functions are:
(1) It serves the function of allocating scarce rewards among the competitors.
(2) It has the additional function of stimulating both individual and group activity in a manner to
increase the total productivity of the competitors. It furnishes motivation to excel or to obtain
recognition or to achieve reward.
(3) It assigns place to each individual in the hierarchical social system. It determines who is to
perform what function.
(4) It tends to enhance ones ego and helps in satisfying it.
(5) It is conducive to progress and welfare of the society. It spurs individuals and groups to exert
their best efforts to fulfill their goals.
(6) It increases efficiency.
Competition has negative functions also. For example:
(1) It shapes the attitudes of competitors when persons or groups compete; they normally
develop unfriendly and unfavourable attitudes towards one another.
(2) It may turn into conflict if it is too acute and sharp (cut-throat competition). Unfair
competition has the most disintegrating effects on the individual and the society both.
(3) It may create emotional disturbances. According to H.T. Mazumdar (1966), it may lead to
neurosis through frustration.
(4) Unlimited competition may lead to monopoly. People try to protect themselves through their
association.
Early sociological thinkers such as Herbert Spencer saw competition as a necessary mechanism
for achieving social progressa view that was very much in line with the emergent modern
capitalist system and its beliefs in competition as an engine that promotes low prices and high

efficiency. It is the main driving force of modern capitalistic societies. It is widely prevalent in
every sphere of modern life and in its every activity.
In its approach to urban life, the Chicago School of Sociology (Park and Burgess) stressed the
role of competition in urban growth patterns as various ethnic, classes, racial, and other groups
compete for space. Max Weber saw competition as a peaceful form of conflict. Karl Marx also
saw its relationship to conflict but in a less peaceful light. Marx argued that competition among
capitalists, among workers, and between capitalists and workers were major sources of contradiction and struggle.
Competition: Characteristics, Value and Function!
Competition is the most fundamental form of social struggle. According to Sutherland,
Woodward and Maxwell Competition is an impersonal, unconscious, continuous struggle
between individuals or groups for satisfaction which, because of their limited supply, all may not
have. In the words of Biesanz competition is the striving of two or more persons for the same
goal which is limited so that all cannot share it.
According to Bogardus, Competition is a contest to obtain something which does not exist in a
quantity sufficient to meet the demand. Majumdar defines competition as the impersonalized
struggle among resembling creatures for goods and service which are scare or limited in
quantity.
According to Anderson and Parker, Competition is that form of social action in which we strive
against each other for the possession of or use of so limited material or non-material good. It is
one aspect of struggle which is universal not only in human society but also in the plant and
animal worlds.
It is a force which compels people to act against one another. It is a natural result of the universal
struggle for existence. It occurs whenever there is an insufficient supply of anything that human
beings desireinsufficient in the sense that all cannot have as much of it as they wish. In any
society, for example, there are normally more people who want jobs than there are jobs available:
hence there is competition for available places.
Among those who are already employed, there is likewise competition for better jobs. Since
scarcity is in a sense an inevitable condition of social life, consequently, competition of some
sort or the other is found in all the societies. There is no competition for sunshine and air which
are unlimited.

There is thus competition not only for bread but for luxuries, power, social position, mates, fame
and all other things not available for ones asking. It is an effort to outdo the competitor in
achieving some mutually desired goal.
Its aim is not to banish or destroy the opponent. It is not coercion. The competitors observe rules
of competition which eliminate force and fraud. When these rules are broken, it becomes
conflict. Competition is never entirely unrestricted.
Characteristics of Competition:

The following characteristics determine the nature of competition:

(i) Competition is impersonal struggle:

Park and Burgess have defined competition as interaction without social contact. It is, in other
words, an inter-individual struggle that is impersonal. It is usually not directed against any
individual or group in particular; the competitors are not in contact and do not know one another.
Competition is for the most part not personalised. When the individuals compete with each other,
not on personal level but as members of groups, such as business, social or cultural
organisations, tribes, nations, political parties etc. the competition is called impersonal.
(ii) Competition is an unconscious activity:

Competition takes place on the unconscious level. Students, for example, do not conceive of
their classmates as competitors even though it is true that there are only a certain number of
honours available and if certain members of the class get them, the honours are automatically
denied to others.
Students may, no doubt, be conscious of the competition and much concerned about marks. It
remains competition just so long as their attention is focussed on the reward or goals for which
they are striving than on the competitor. When there is a shift in interest from the objects of
competition to the competitors themselves, it is called rivalry or personal competition.
(iii) Competition is universal:

Competition is found in every society and in every age. It is found in every group. As the things
people wish to secure are limited in supply, there is competition all-round to secure them.
To quote from the monograph prepared by May and Doob On a social level, individuals
compete with one another when: (i) they are striving to achieve the same goal that is scarce; (ii)
they are prevented by the roles of the situation from achieving this goal in equal amounts; (iii)
they perform better when the goal can be achieved in unequal terms; and (iv) they have relatively
few psychologically affiliative contacts with one another.

Some thinkers are of the opinion that competition is an innate tendency. According to them, it is
found among all the species. But as a matter of fact, competition is not an inborn tendency rather
it is a social phenomenon.
It takes place only when the desired thing is in short supply. It differs in degree from society to
society. Its degree is determined by social values and social structure. It is a culturally patterned
process. No society allows it to operate in an unrestricted manner.
Competition can be seen at five levels: economic, cultural, social, political and racial.
Value of Competition:

Competition, like co-operation, is indispensable in social life. It arises from the fact that
individuals are capable of independent locomotion and have the capacity for gaining an
individual experience as a result of independent action. Some sociologists are of the view that it
is even more basic process than co-operation.
Hobbes had remarked that the struggle is the basic law of life and that earliest man lived in a
continual state of warfare. Hume, Hegel, Rousseau and Bagehot also corroborated the views of
Hobbes. Later on, the theory of the survival of the fittest which developed as a result of
Darwins theory of evolution also stressed the importance of competition in society.
It was consequently asserted that if nature is dominated by conflict this must also be true of
human nature and human society. But as Kropotkin has pointed out, it is not the competition
alone but co-operation also which plays a major role in survival.
Competition performs many useful functions in society. It is extremely dynamic. According to H.
T. Mazumdar, it performs five positive functions. First, it helps determine the status and location
of individual members in a system of hierarchy, Second, it tends to stimulate economy, efficiency
and invectiveness, third, it tends to enhance ones ego- fourth, it prevents undue concentration of
power in an individual or group of individuals, and fifth, it creates respect for the rules of the
game.
To briefly summarise its functions:
(i) Assignment of individuals to proper places Firstly:

it assigns individuals to a place in the social system. Human community is fundamentally an

arrangement under which individuals must perform functions which, while enabling them to
exist, also make it possible for the community as a whole to conduct its affairs. Competition
determines who is to perform what function.

The division of labour and the entire complex economic organisation in modern life are thus the
products of competition. In the words of E. A. Ross, competition performs the broad function of
assigning to each individual his place in his social world. Competition is a progressive force
which fulfills and does not necessarily destroy. The stimulus of competition has played a
considerable role in the technological and organisational innovation.
(ii) Source of motivation Secondly:

Competition furnishes motivation in the desire to excel or to obtain recognition or to win an

award. It stimulates achievement by lifting the levels of aspiration, the individuals work harder if
competing than if working on their own with no thought of rivalry.
In the words of Eldredge, Competition between individuals and groups is largely towards the
objective of preserving or improving their respective statuses rather than survival. Researchers
have shown that wherever competition is culturally encouraged, it usually increases productivity.
(iii) Conducive to progress:

Thirdly, fair competition is conducive to economic as well as social progress and even to general
welfare because it spurs individuals and groups to exert their best efforts. Its obvious connection
with what is called progress has led some thinkers to regard it as the essential feature of modem
Civilization.
Ogburn and Nimkoff observe that competition provides the individuals better opportunities to
satisfy their desires for new experiences and recognition. It is the opposite of ascribed status. It
believes in achieved status. Those who denounce it ask for fixity of status and thus pull back the
forces of progress.
It may not, however, be presumed that competition is a pre-requisite to social progress.
Mazumdar has mentioned its three negative functions. First, it may lead to neurosis through
frustration; second, it may lead to monopoly, and third it may lead to conflicts. Competition can
be vicious both for individuals and groups.
It may create emotional disturbances. It may develop unfriendly and unfavourable attitudes
among the persons or groups towards one another. Unfair competition has the most disintegrating
effects. If uncontrolled it becomes a conflict involving unethical and sometimes violent practices.
In economic sphere competition results in waste and lack of consideration for the real needs of
the people.
It can lead to starvation in the midst of plenty, to fear and insecurity; to instability and panic. It
treats others purely as means and in itself is devoid of sentiment. Unlimited competition leads to

monopoly. In the economic field, businessmen seek to protect themselves against competition
e.g., by erecting tariff barriers against foreign competition, by agreeing upon prices.
Labor unites for protecting their wages and excluding foreign labour and for a number of other
purposes. Bureaucrats protect themselves through their association. Races protect their interests
by excluding others from entering within their fold. Competition and co-operation differ sharply
in social attitudes they foster in the individual.
However, no society is exclusively competitive or exclusively co-operative.
The social system is a balance between competitive and cooperative forces. But competition
should always be healthy and fair. Only then can it be advantageous both for the individual
progress and welfare of the group. It may also be noted that the organizational trend today is
towards forms of control and organization that reduce rather than encourage intergroup
competition.