Informal interactions in society: experience of conceptual interpretation

The aim of the article is to propose a conceptual and methodological approach to understanding informal interactions as the ontological foundation of society and a resource for its development. The authors reveal their core essential qualities— recursiveness, temporality, flexibility, variability, and value-ladenness— demonstrating how these drive changes in political, economic, and social practices. The flexibility and adaptability of informal norms ensure the preservation and intergenerational transmission of a spectrum of positive behavioral responses, values, and meanings tied to specific life situations. The recursive “loop” of informality sustains the continuity of social bonds over time. Informal interactions not only complement the institutional environment but, under certain conditions, replace it, shaping new configurations of social reality. They enrich the social landscape, safeguard society against persistent risks, and create behavioral alternatives. It is informality that embodies the “particular” distinguishing one historically formed society from another. However, the proliferation of informal practices beyond a certain “measure” signals the inadequacy or ineffectiveness of a society’s institutional structure and may hinder its development.