3. Interactionism

Question 1

Social action theories

Answer 1

-Social action theories are a general term used to include a number of other sociological theories that fall under this umbrella such as, ‘symbolic interactionism’ ‘phenomenology’ and ‘ethnomethodology’
-Reject deterministic view of structural theories such as functionalism and Marxism, that a persons behaviour is merely shaped by social structures of society. Believe individuals have free will and choice concerning behaviour. Behaviour governed by ‘meaning’ they give to certain situations

Question 2

Max Weber (Social action theorist)

Answer 2

-Weber believed to have a deeper understanding of human behaviour you need to consider both the structural and action approaches. In this sense, Weber’s analysis of society explains how the two levels interplay with and influence each other.

Question 3

Structural level

Answer 3

-How social structures in society, such as economic factors, can determine a persons class, ultimately influences their behaviour.
-Weber also saw Religion having an affect of behaviour

Question 4

Individual level

Answer 4

-At the individual level, the subjective ‘meaning’ an individual gives to a situation and the individuals subsequent behaviour and actions must all be understood. ‘Meaning’ also includes constraints and limitations on action, as a result of the social structure.

Question 5

Example

Answer 5

-The institutions of society, such as education, pass on ideologies which people consent to, such as the ideology you have to have a degree to get a good job.
-You, therefore, take out a student loan to pay for your degree. You then spend many years in alienating work to pay off the loan.
-This control is effective if people are not forced into it, but believe they have made a conscious choice.

Question 6

Type of action

Answer 6

According to Weber, people’s actions are very often guided by the meaning they give to particular situations. Weber classifies 4 types of actions, based on their meaning for the ‘actor’:

Question 7

Instrumentally rational action

Answer 7

-Where the actor assesses the most rational means of achieving a given goal. For example, to win a marathon, it would be instrumental and rational to undergo a strict regime of training and dieting prior to the event

Question 8

Value rational action

Answer 8

-Towards a goal the actor regards as desirable for its own sake, often for some ethical, aesthetic, or religious reason, regardless of how difficult it is to achieve success. For example, a life of celibacy would mean salvation to heaven

Question 9

Traditional action

Answer 9

-Behaviour not assessed by either a goal or means but which is, instead, performed as a traditional, customary, routine or habitual action. For example, purchasing and decorating a Christmas tree.

Question 10

Affectual action

Answer 10

-Behaviour expressing emotion, e.g. a person, upon hearing the news of a close friend or relative being killed in a car accident, might burst into tears out of grief

Question 11

Symbolic interactionism

Answer 11

-Mead was the founding father of symbolic interactionism
-According to Mead, symbolic interactionism focuses on how we create the social world through our interactions.
-Symbolic interactionism tends to focus on the language and symbols that help us give meaning to the experiences in our life

Question 12

George Herbert Mead

Answer 12

-Symbols and role taking

Question 13

Symbols

Answer 13

According to symbolic interactionism, society is composed of symbols people use to establish meaning, develop views about the world, and communicate with one another. For example, hand gestures and facial expressions. Some symbols have different meaning to others. To make sense of the meaning of symbols are communicated through language

Question 14

Role taking

Answer 14

-We interpret other peoples meaning by role taking. The process by which we mentally assume the role of another person or group to understand the world from their point of view. According to Mead, role taking often develops through the early social interaction stages of childhood (e.g. being a mom, dad, teacher) and later in life by watching others.

Question 15

Looking-glass self. Cooley (1922).

Answer 15

Describe how we develop our self concept- the view we have of ourselves. This self concept is formed by taking on the role of others, imagining what others think of us.
-By taking the role of others we see ourselves as they see us and according to this perception we become what they see us as.
-Example, easier to see oursleves as clever if this image is continually being confirmed by others

Question 16

Goffman’s dramaturgical model

Answer 16

-Labelling theory describes how the self is shaped through interaction
-Sees individual as passive victim of other peoples labels
-By contrast, Goffman describes how we actively construct our ‘self’ by manipulating other peoples impressions of us
-Desceibed as dramaturgical as he uses analogies of drama as a framework e.g. ‘actors’, acting out ‘scripts’
-Our aim is to carry off a convincing performance of the role we have adapted

Question 17

Impression management

Answer 17

-Goffman believes we seek to present a particular image of ourselves to our audiences, to do this we must control the impression our performance gives
-This involved constantly studying our audience to see how they are responding
-We have many techniques for impression management, we may use language, tone of voice, gestures and facial expressions, as well as props such as clothing
-By using these techniques skilfully we can pass for the person we want our audiences to believe we are

Question 18

Role distancing

Answer 18

-Goffman argues there is a role distance between our real self and the role we play out.
-Often roles are loosely defined by society, which allows a lot of freedom in how we perform these roles, e.g. some bosses are easy going while other may be strict

Question 19

Evaluation of symbolic interactionism

Answer 19

Strengths
-Interactionism largely avoids the determinism of structural theories such as functionalism. It recognises that people create society through their choices and meanings.
Weaknesses
-Focuses on face to face interactions and ignores wide wider social structures such as class inequality and fils to explain origin of labels
-Not all action is meaningful, like Weber’s category of traditional action, much is performed unconsciously or routinely and may have little meaning for actors

Question 20

Phenomenology (Alfred Schutz)

Answer 20

-A phenomenon is a word used to describe things as they appear to our senses
-Only makes sense when attached meaning to it
-Example, eating plates only has meaning because we attached one to it, otherwise it would just be seen as a flat round object
-Schultz applied this to the real world

Question 21

Basic assumptions of phenomenology according to Schultz

Answer 21

-Phenomenologists deny objective reality, things have no meaning but through experience we attach one to them
-Humans have shared meanings and to understand each other we create what he calls typifications (organise mental knowledge and experience into categories such as ball, armchair, church)
-Typifications make social order possible; as they build over time, they allow us to share a ‘common sense knowledge’. This allows society to cooperate and achieve goals
-Different cultures also have their own typifications

Question 22

Ethnomethodology (Harold Garfinkel)

Answer 22

-Grew out the work of Alfred Schutz and differs from other sociological theories, including theories of interactionism. They differ:
•Reject society has any structure or social order
•Not concerned with with the outcome of interpretations such as the ‘self’ and ‘labels’
•Critical of phenomenological approach because they question the use of ‘common sense’ which they believ helps us make sense of the world.

Question 23

Assumptions of ethnomethodology

Answer 23

-Social interaction is variable (changing) and anything can happen with it
-Social order is an illusion; in our minds we unconsciously make social life appear to be ordered
-Interested in process of how people communicate with each other and construct their social world.

Question 24

Indexicality

Answer 24

-Meanings are always potentially unclear
-No clear meaning for any spoken word gesture or action as meaning can only be understood in context it plays a part in
-For example, ‘your cold’ could mean two things without context
-It can therefore be a threat to social order

Question 25

Reflexivity

Answer 25

-Refers to process where we use our common sense knowledge to construct and attach a sense of meaning to the words or actions occurring
-We do this by engaging in interpretive process of constructing a context, so preventing indexicality from occurring. Language is very important for this.

Question 26

Experiment in indexicality

Answer 26

-Garfinkel carried out a lab experiment using 10 undergraduates
-Students told they were talking to a student counsellor and could ask them a series of questions
-Counsellor was to provide random ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer via a intercom
-Students interviews after and asked their opinion on advice given
-Students were able to interpret answers in a meaningful way
-

Question 27

Structuation theory (Anthony Giddens)

Answer 27

-Giddens seeks to combine the two approaches into a single unified theory of structure and action.
-Argues there is a duality of structure
-Structure and agency are two sides of the same coin, can’t exist without other
-Our actions produce, reproduce and change structures over time and space, while these structures are what make our actions possible in first place

Question 28

Reproduction structures through agency

Answer 28

-Rules: regulatory principles (norms, customs and laws) that influence our actions, e.g. how one proposes marriage

-Resources: Allocative and authoritative resources. Allocative refers to economic resources while authoritative refers to the distribution of power.

Question 29

Changing structures through human agency

Answer 29

Giddens allows possibility that change can happen because:
-We engage in ‘reflexive monitoring’ of our actions and their consequences, and we can deliberately choose a new course of action. In a late modern society where tradition no longer dictates action, this is even more likely
-Our actions may have unintended consequences, produces changes that were not part of our goal

Question 30

Evaluation

Answer 30

Strengths
-Freedom of choice
-Real life application: labelling in schools
Weaknesses
-Weber overestimates capacity of individuals to change social structures in society
-Deal with trivial matters
-Ignores influence of social structures
-Ignores distribution of power