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Sociology Theory - SCLY4 > Action Theories > Flashcards

Action Theories Flashcards

0
Q

According to Max Weber, an explanation must have two things. What are they?

A

Level of cause (objective structural factors) and a level of meaning (the subjective meanings that individuals attach to their actions)

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1
Q

Who saw structural and action approaches as necessary to describe social behaviour?

A

Max Weber

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2
Q

Weber classifies actions into 4 types. What are they?

A

Instrumentally rational action, value-rational action, traditional action and affectual action

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3
Q

Give two criticisms of Max Weber

A

Alfred Schutz argued that it is too individualistic and cannot explain the shared nature of meaning. Weber advocated the use of verstehen but we cannot always put ourselves in another persons shoes

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4
Q

Who was a famous symbolic interactionist that believed in the idea of symbols versus instincts and taking the role of the other?

A

G.H Mead

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5
Q

Mead drew a comparison between humans and animals. What did he say?

A

Unlike animals, our behaviour is not fixed

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6
Q

According to Mead, how do we respond to a stimulus?

A

By giving meanings to the things that have meaning to us

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7
Q

According to Mead, how do we interpret other people’s meanings?

A

Taking the role of the other

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8
Q

Herbert Blumer identified 3 key principles. What are they?

A

Our actions are based on meanings, These arise from interaction, The meanings we give to situations are the result of our interpretive procedures

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9
Q

Why does Blumer argue that our behaviour is partly predictable?

A

Because we internalise the expectations of others

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10
Q

In labelling theory, what did W.I Thomas believe about the definition of the situation?

A

He argued that if people define a situational real, then it will have real consequences and if we believe something to be true then it will affect how we act

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11
Q

Who came up with the concept of the looking glass self?

A

Charles Cooley

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12
Q

What can we develop from the looking glass self?

A

Our self concept

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13
Q

In interactions, what occurs as we are defined by others?

A

A self-fulfilling prophecy

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14
Q

What are labelling theories views on careers?

A

Labelling theorists believe that we can move through stages through different labels given to us

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15
Q

What theorist is associated with the dramaturgical model?

A

Goffman

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16
Q

According to Goffman, how do we construct ourselves?

A

By manipulating other people’s impressions of us

17
Q

What does the dramaturgical model assume?

A

We are all actors, acting out scripts, using props and resting backstage

18
Q

What does Goffman believe that there is a role distance between?

A

Our real self and our roles

19
Q

What is involved in impression management?

A

We seek to present a particular image of ourselves to our audiences

20
Q

What is a strength of symbolic interactionism?

A

It avoids the determinism of structural theories as people can create society through their own choices and meanings

21
Q

What are some of the limitations of symbolic interactionism?

A

It ignores wider social structures to explain labels, It cannot explain consistent patterns in behaviour and Weber showed that not all action can be meaningful

22
Q

What is phenomonology?

A

The study of subjective experience

23
Q

What do phenomonologists argue?

A

As a human being, our only reality consists of meanings

24
Q

What is Husserl’s philosophy regarding phenomonology?

A

The world can only make sense because we impose meanings and order on it by constructing mental categories

25
Q

According to Husserl, where can we only obtain knowledge from?

A

Through our mental acts of categorising and giving meaning to our experiences

26
Q

What are the 2 terms coined by Schutz?

A

Typifications and the natural attitude

27
Q

What are typifications?

A

Shared categories that enable us to organise experiences which creates shared assumptions about the way things are

28
Q

Without shared typifications, what would be made impossible?

A

Social order

29
Q

What is the natural attitude?

A

Society appears to us as a real thing

30
Q

What example does Schutz use to demonstrate the natural attitude?

A

He uses the example of a book where when we post it, we assume that individuals will perform operations to send this book

31
Q

What is ethnomethodology interested in?

A

The methods or rules that we use to produce meanings

32
Q

What does garfinkel believe about social order?

A

He argues that social order is created from the bottom up, in contrast with functionalists, and it is seen as an accomplishment as it is constructed in everyday life using common sense knowledge

33
Q

What is indexicality?

A

Meanings being potentially unclear

34
Q

What is a strength of ethnomethodology?

A

It draws attention to how we actively construct order and meaning, rather than being puppets

35
Q

What are some of the limitations of ethnomethodology?

A

Craib argued that much of its research was trivial and it ignores how wider structures of power and inequality affect the meanings that individuals construct

36
Q

What theorist is associated with structuration theory?

A

Giddens

37
Q

What is structuration theory?

A

Through our actions, we produce and reproduce structures over time and space, while these structures are what make our actions possible in the first place

38
Q

What 2 elements does structure have?

A

Rules and resources

39
Q

How does Schutz criticise Webers view of action?

A

He argues that it is too individualistic and cannot explain the shared nature of meanings

40
Q

How can Giddens be criticised?

A

Archer argues that he underestimates the capacity of structures to resist change

Sociology Theory - SCLY4 (8 decks)

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