Action theories

Question 1

Explain Weber’s views on the level of cause and level of meaning

Answer 1

Structural cause= structural factors that shape behaviour
Subjective meaning= individuals attach these meanings

Question 2

Weber’s four types of actions

Answer 2

• instrumental rational= work out most efficient way to achieve goals
• value rational= towards a goal desirable for own sake
• traditional action= habitual actions without thought
• affectual action= actions that express emotion

Question 3

Weber verstehen

Answer 3

to understand, must be able to empathise, put themselves in others shoes

Question 4

Explain social interactionism

Answer 4

• how people interact in social settings
• communication, language and symbols

Question 5

Explain phenomenology

Answer 5

• world only makes sense because we impose meaning, product of the mind (Husseri)

Question 6

What are typifications?

Answer 6

• shared categories, organise experiences. stabilise meanings (agreement)

Question 7

Explain ethnomethodology

Answer 7

Social interactions produce social order (Garfinkel)

Question 8

Explain Giddens view of structuration

Answer 8

Structure and action, 2 sides of the same coin, cant exist without each other.
- through our actions we reproduce structures

Question 9

Symbolic interactionism, Blumer

Answer 9

actions based on meanings we give, based on experience (are fluid)

• label situations, looking glass self: become what others see us as
• dramaturgical model: Goffman, front & back stage (impression management) adjust to audiences

Question 10

Evaluate social action theory

Answer 10

• never possible to put yourself truly into peoples shoes (verstehen)
• descriptive rather than explanatory, loose descriptive concepts