Interactionism / Social Action Theories

Question 1

What are social action theories?

Answer 1

These are micro theories that refer to sociological theory focusing more on small groups and investigations rather than large-scale trends or societal structures. People are believed to be social actors who have agency (control over themselves, make their own decisions and are not pushed along by forces outside their control)

Question 2

What is interactionism?

Answer 2

Also known as symbolic interactionism, it is a broad micro approach and action theory, not a macro structural approach. Society is a product of human interactions and the meanings that individuals place on those interactions. Human behavior and society is examined on a smaller level, acknowledging agency, create their own meanings and are not swept away by external forces. This contrasts with the explanations of human behavior provided by structuralist theories which place behavior in the context of large social structures and fundamental conflicts / division in society.

Question 3

Key interactionists

Answer 3

• George Mead
• Max Weber
  Weber recognized the small-scale interactions and social structures that influenced human behavior.

Question 4

What makes them different to structural macro approaches?

Answer 4

They do not present a single, overarching social structure that can explain society, with a lot of the theories stemming from social action theories holding more merit as social psychology.

Question 5

What theory did Howard Becker come up with?

Answer 5

Labelling Theory - the idea that when a label is applied to someone, it can influence their self-concept and might become their master status (identity). In that way, how we view and react to individuals can shape future behavior. This developed into the idea of a self-fulfilling prophecy; those who reject their label have a self-refuting prophecy.

Question 6

What do all these concepts have in common?

Answer 6

The decision not to link them entirely to social structure; Becker et al often noted how people with low incomes were often negatively labelled, but did not link this fact with the fundamental structure of society in the same way as a Marxist would. The concepts also avoid any sense of inevitability; labelling can cause a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it can also cause a self-refuting one. No outcome is argued to be certain by interactionists.

Question 7

What is the difference between interpretivist and positivist research approaches?

Answer 7

Positivist - large-scale reasearch that is structured, tend to be favored by structuralist approaches
Interpretvist - small-scale, non-structured, tend to be favored by interactionist approaches

Question 8

Branches of social action theory

Answer 8

• Weberianism
• Symbolic interactionism; looking glass self -> labelling theory -> impression management -> dramaturgical approach
• Phenomenology -> ethnomethodology

Question 9

The basics of social action theory

Answer 9

• Social structures are a social construction - things exist because we have given them meaning
• People have free will and choice (voluntarism)
• Micro approach, small scale, focus on individual or small groups (answers why when structural approaches answer what)
• Behaviour is driven by the beliefs, meanings and feelings we have
• The use of interpretivist methods (verstehen)
• Interactionism is a collection of social action theories that examine how individuals make sense of the world around them, interpreting the behaviours of others in order understand what they are thinking and how they should behave
• Based on an individuals understand the different social contexts they find themselves in - this happens through signs and symbols helping us understand how to behaviour, with any given situation having multiple different ways of being interpreted, known as symbolic interactionism (social constructions - made by others to help others understand social norms)
• Signs and symbols are limited to specific cultures, and people use their experiences to interpret them

Question 10

Symbolic interactionism - George Hebert Mead

Answer 10

• Symbolic interactionism - humans are not instinctive creatures but react based on their knowledge of signs and symbols
• Process of interpreting what the signs mean based on experience, and these signs differ in social contexts
• Labelling theory - individuals react to how they are perceived, where people are categorised based on superficial characteristics, and if it is reinforced they may internalise these labels and they act upon them in the self-fulfilling prophecy
• This reinforces the belief of the observers, and the label becomes a master status (label applied, label internalised, SFP, master status)
• Symbolic interactionism emerged in the 20th century with the work of George Hebert Mead - ‘The development of an individual is a social process’ (as was the meaning people assign to things)
• Meaning is assigned through experiences and interactions, such as associating trees with shade, and we do so to decide how to act by assigning meaning, and we look for social cues to fit into new social situations

Question 11

Herbert Blumer

Answer 11

Herbert Blumer coined the term of symbolic interactionism
- 3 tenants of symbolic interactionism:
1) We act based on the meaning we give something
2) We give meaning to things based on social interactions, as different things mean different things to other people
3) The meaning we give something can change due to everyday life

Question 12

Usefulness of symbolic interactionism

Answer 12

• It doesn’t ask the same questions as structural approaches, and is often seen as supplementary (need a macro study first then a micro study, as you cannot just do small scale research) but is still necessary, but it also gives a different insight into society and gives individuals the same importance as society as a whole, and helps us understand how interaction shapes changing structures by studying society on a small-scale

Question 13

Blumer and Mead - the 4 basics of symbolic interactionism; The Symbol

Answer 13

• The world around us consists of millions of objects and people, and life would be impossible if everything was treated as unique; instead, we group things together into categories which we then classify
• Usually each group is given a name (symbol), such as ‘trees’, ‘women’, ‘gay men’ or ‘terrorists’ and that symbol will evoke some feelings in us that are not necessarily neutral; the world is composed of many symbols all of which have some meaning and suggest a possible response or course of action that we may feel is appropriate but may not be shared by everyone

Question 14

Blumer and Mead - the 4 basics of symbolic interactionism; The Self

Answer 14

• An individual has to know who they are in a world of symbols and meaning; you cannot decide how you should behave until you know what is appropriate to do in each circumstance, which involves having to see ourselves through the lives of others (Cooley called this the ‘looking-glass self’ where the responses of others towards us act like a mirror telling us what sort of person we are)
• Labelling theorists developed this idea into the self-fulfilling prophecy, where individuals being labelled a certain way they see themselves as that label (internalise) and grow to become that person
• Mead distinguished the two aspects of the self into the ‘I’ and the ‘Me’ - the ‘me’ is how you see yourself in a particular role and the ‘I’ is your opinion of yourself as a whole, or your self-concept

Question 15

Blumer and Mead - the 4 basics of symbolic interactionism; Game-playing and role-taking

Answer 15

• Blumer suggests that we developed the notion of the self in childhood, in particular game-playing, which is the idea that when we engage in games with others, we learn various social roles and learn how these interact with the roles of others
• Mead emphasised the importance of role-taking, in which we imagine ourselves as the other person and try to understand the behaviour we witness from their point of view, and this helps us to understand the actions of others and helps us to decide how we should respond, bringing us to the 4th element of interactionism, interaction

Question 16

Blumer and Mead - the 4 basics of symbolic interactionism; The Interaction

Answer 16

• This is the most important element of symbolic interactionism, which is when the symbol and the self come together into an interaction, with each person in society learning through games to take the viewpoint of others into account when they set out on a course of action
• Only by having an idea of what the other person is thinking about the situation is it possible to interact with them - this is complex as it involves reading the meaning of the situation correctly from the viewpoint of the other (How do they view me? What sort of person are they? What do they expect me to do?) and then responding in terms of how you see your own personality (Who am I? How do I want to behave?)
• There is a great scope of confusion, error and misunderstanding here, so all people in an interaction must actively engage in constructing the situation, reading the rules and symbols correctly

Question 17

The dramaturgical approach and the looking glass self

Answer 17

• These two approaches investigate how an individual’s choice of behaviour affect their interaction with other people, and how what they think of them also affects how they act
• The other social action approach is labelling theory developed by Howard Becker

Question 18

The looking glass self - Cooley

Answer 18

• Cooley developed this concept to describe the process of negotiated interaction
• It is the idea that our image of ourselves that is reflected back to us like a mirror in the views of others
• As we consider the image of ourselves reflected in the directions of other people to us, we may modify and change our view of ourselves and our behaviour
• Cooley describes it as being what you think others think you are
• Our self-concept and social role are not therefore simply handed down by the social structure, but socially constructed and subject to constant change through the process of interaction
• Formed through socialisation
• We are not actually being influenced by what others think of us, but rather by what we imagine other’s opinions to be, and so self identity is developed on either correct or incorrect perceptions
• Cooley suggested the idea of the looking glass self, an interactionist concept that states that the individuals own identity or sense of self is created by their interactions with other people.
• Our idea of self comes from how we understand others see us.
• This perspective informs a lot of interactionist and interpretivist thought in sociology.

Steps of the looking glass self:
- How do I appear to others?
- What do other think of me?
- Revise how we think about ourselves?

Question 19

How is the looking glass self applied to today’s society?

Answer 19

• An individual may see themselves as outgoing, friendly and sociable, but if others see them as introverted, unfriendly and stand-offish, they might adopt a new self-identity in accordance to how others see them or modify their behaviour and try to change people’s views of them
• For example, people have learnt through interaction with others to attach to smiling the symbolic meaning of warmth and friendliness by the other person, and so when interacting with a smiling person the other person is encouraged to smile particularly if it is seen as a gesture of warmth and friendship - if someone doesn’t smile back, they can be viewed as cold, rude or unfriendly and if the latter does not realise this by understanding the former’s interpretation of their lack of a smile, the interaction becomes fraught
• Language is a main way that humans negotiate meanings, and words are symbols carrying meaning

Question 20

Evaluation of the looking glass self approach

Answer 20

• Sees society and social order made possible by and based on shared meanings which are developed through the power of interaction; this is good for creating a less determinist aspect of sociology
• Applicable to a modern society in which we pick and choose our identities
• Helps us understand behaviour and responses in a range of settings e.g. educational responses
• Some people do not act in the way they think others expect of them; they are not impacted by others impression of themselves

Question 21

The dramaturgical approach - Goffman

Answer 21

Based on the idea that society is like a stage and we are acting as performers, performing different social roles in different social contexts; without these interactions, people lose a sense of self
→ like actors, we are constantly managing the impressions we give off to others- trying to convince others of the identities they with to asset.
- it’s broken down into a front stage and a backstage; the front stage is essentially a performance that you put on in a social setting. And the back stage is a place where you can just be yourself when the act is over. So the tool that we use to make ourselves presentable on the front stage
⇒ impression management
→ this is often achieved through the use of symbols of various kinds (e.g. clothing style).
-He says everyone engages in manipulation and being manipulated when people are asserting their impressions.
- Impression management- the processes by which people control how they are perceived by others.
- Developed by Erving Goffman, this approach argues that we play roles in society like actors on a stage. We all have a particular role to play in society, we are conscious of the role we play and we sometimes even follow a script. Goffman used waiters in a restaurant as an example, who follow the actions and dialogue of others who played the same role.
- social interaction is a social construction and a social process exacerbated by ‘props’ such as dress, language and other identity symbols that offer clues to others about who we are. We make conscious decisions about how we want our self image to be projected on the front stage; this can mean either masking who we really are or alternatively, being very open about who we want people to think we are.

Question 22

Modern applications

Answer 22

• Since this theory asserts that people typically use impression management to show that they uphold societal or cultural norms and expectations- it can be used to explain gang mentalities. ⇒ for example, if an individual was with a group of people who shared quite anti-social norms and values they might be manipulated to adopt that mentality as well a way to be accepted by them.
• The idea of impression management is quite prominent in everyday life in even subtle ways→ e.g. a server in a restaurant is likely to perform one way in front of customers but might be much more casual in the kitchen or when they are outside of work.

Question 23

Evaluating the dramaturgical approach

Answer 23

+ This theory shows us that humans aren’t one dimensional and have a diverse identity that is subject to change in different settings→ e.g. the way you behave in a classroom isn’t the same as how you would behave with your friends.
- people have agency and dont always abide by how other people expect them to act→ there have been/ are criminal cases where a person is surrounded by norm/law abiding people yet still deviate and commit crimes.

Question 24

Evaluation of social action theories - strengths

Answer 24

1) Shows that people create and negotiate meaning - they are not puppets of the social system
2) To fully explain action, it is important to understand the motivation and means that people attach to their behaviour
3) Gives insight into how meanings are socially constructed through interaction - eg: through SFP in education
4) Social action methods have high levels of validity due to their qualitative nature

Question 25

Evaluation of social action theories - weaknesses

Answer 25

1) Largely ignores the importances of social structures such as social class, power, gender, ethnicity etc. 2) People don’t have the same level of free choice
3) Doesn’t explain where people get their meanings from and what they hope to achieve from their actions
4) Ignores the distribution of power - not everyone can get their meaning to “stick” or be significant
5) Postmodernists state that this is just another metanarrative

Question 26

Why do interpretivists prefer the following:

Answer 26

Small scale research - Allows them to get a better insight into the lives of individuals by focusing on less people but researching them in greater depth

Qualitative data -
Prefer qualitative data as if allows the researcher to see the meaning and motivations people attach to events

Subjective - Look to give smaller groups a voice and understand their behaviours

Side with the underdog -
Awareness that society is unequal and that social structures do influence others

Question 27

Why do interpretivists prefer the following; part 2

Answer 27

Look for greater validity -
Want to get an in-depth understanding of why something has happened rather than look for scientific reliability

Niche groups -
Smaller groups in society represent the changing nature of contemporary society – there is no one size fits all approach, rather individual’s interpretations of society

Less control over participants - Not looking for cause and effect relationships, but rather a narrative of individuals and why they have acted in a specific manner

Question 28

Social action theory - phenomenology; typifications

Answer 28

• Alfred Schutz - the categories and concepts we see are not unique to ourselves, as we share them with other members of society
• These are named by Schutz as typifications, which enable us to organise our experiences into a shared world of meaning
• The meaning of any given experience depends on its social context, and so the argument is that meaning is not given by the action itself, but the context of the action and so meanings are often unclear or unstable, especially if the action is classified in a different way by different people
• Typifications help to stabilise and clarify meanings by ensuring that we are all ‘speaking the same language’ - all agreeing on the meaning of things, making it possible to communicate and cooperate with one another and achieve our goals
• Without shared typifications, social order would become impossible - Schutz viewed members of society as having a shared ‘life world’, which is a stock of shared typifications of common sense and knowledge that we use to make sense of our experiences
• This includes shared assumptions about the way things are, what situations mean, what other people’s motivations are etc, which Schutz called the ‘recipe knowledge’ that we can follow without thinking too much and still get the desired response from interactions
• This commonsense knowledge is not just knowledge about the world, but instead it is the world, as the social world is a shared, inter-subjective world that can only exist when we share the same meanings

Question 29

Social action theories - phenomenology; the Natural Attitude

Answer 29

• However, society appears to us as an objective thing, existing outside of us; Schutz gives the example of posting a letter to a bookshop to order a book, in which one assumes that some unknown and unseen individual will perform a series of operations in a sequence that will result in him receiving the book
• The fact that we receive this metaphorical book suggests that we adopt a ‘natural attitude’ that leads us to assume that the social world is solid and natural, but Schultz argues that it simply shows that those involved share the same meanings and allows us to cooperate and achieve goals
• However, Berger and Luckmann (1971) argue that while Schutz is right to focus on shared commonsense knowledge, they reject the view that society is an intersubjective reality, and although society is socially constructed as Schutz believes, once it has been constructed it takes on a life of its own and becomes an external reality that reflects back on us
• E.g. religious ideas may start off in consciousness, but they become embedded in powerful structures such as churches, which then constrains us by influencing laws about sexuality etc

Question 30

Social Action Theories - Ethnomethodology

Answer 30

• Associated with the work of Garfinkel in 1984 and 1967, it refers to the description of the methods or interpretive procedures which people use to make sense of an construct order in their everyday social world
• Differs from most other theories, including interactionism as it rejects the view that society has any kind of social structure, social order or patterned interaction that exists outside of an individual’s consciousness
• Social order is an illusion, and only appears to exist because members of society create it in their own minds and impose a sense of order using their own common-sense procedures and culturally embedded rules and assumptions; society only retains some semblance of stability and order because people share these assumptions
• Social reality is simply a social construction; e.g. Atkinson’s 1987 study of suicide that suggested classifying a sudden death as a suicide was simply a social construction of meaning to a lifeless body and remains so until someone deconstructs it or labels it differently, and so suicide does not actually exist to find the cause of, which would be impossible as the people concerned are dead and so the reasons they died cannot be investigated
• All that can be found is why some unexpected deaths get classified as suicides whilst others don’t and this involves looking at the methods or procedures coroners use to make sense of and impose their classifications of suicide
• Garfinkel was interested in discovering how individuals make sense of the social world, and impose some sense of order in their daily lives, and he sought to expose people’s taken for granted assumptions and the rules they imposed on the world by experimental techniques known as ‘breaching experiments’
• These aimed to examine people’s reactions to the breaching or disruption of their taken-for-granted everyday assumptions embodied in commonly accepted social rules or norms - for example, one of his experiments involved asking students to behave as visitors or lodgers in their own homes and recorded the parent’s reaction to the sudden change of the relationship they had taken for granted with their children
• Reactions of concern, bewilderment, anger and confusion revealed not only how people create social order through assumptions and meanings shared with others but also how fragile the social order they create around these shared assumptions really is

Question 31

Weberianism

Answer 31

• Instrumentally Rational Action
• Value Rational Action
• Affective Action
• Traditional Action