POS Social meaning theory Flashcards
Is the social meaning theory a meta theoretical perspective?
Yes it is
What is social meaning theory a combination of?
Combination of holism and understanding
What is the aim of social meaning theory?
it opts to understand how groups of people assign meaning to items and objects
Holism and social meaning theory
- social systems should be analyzed as a whole and not as a collection of individual parts
- one of the main concepts of holism is the behavior of certain groups of our population for example organizations etc. We cannot reduce the actions of those groups to the individual members.
Understanding and social meaning theory
- about the understanding and appreciation of a unique situation.
- Knowledge is produced by interpersonal interactions and the interpretation of social relationships.
Four problems when analyzing norms
- the socially given norms and values for individuals are different in new situations, compared to known situations
- meaning is never fully subjective.
- meaning stems from interpretations
- social meaning theory does not correspond with hermeneutics
intersubjective
- they are partially built buy humans and their social interaction
- social norms are intersubjective. Social norm becomes a norm when other people share the same idea
Why does social meaning not correspond with hermeneutics?
- hermeneutics is based on the question how individuals interpret a series of norms
- social meaning tries to understand the origin and development of these norms
Development of norms
- Externalization
- Objectivation
- Internalization
- Embedding
- Interpreting
- Externalization
- groups make decisions internally but the consequences are external
- Objectivation
- making externalized actions objective (independent from the object)
- Internalization
- the external object will be internalized
- embedding
- reciprocal expectations start to occur.
- people in society start to assign value to the norms
- Interpreting
- when the norm becomes part of society
- people will base social interaction on the norm
How do we learn norms?
primary socialization
secondary socialization
primary socialization
- main norms that you will learn at a very young age (they become part of your intuition and cannot be changed).
- general knowledge
secondary socialization
- norms that you learn when you e.g. switch jobs and end up in a different social environment
- shift of norms can occur
- specific knowledge
myth formation
- norms and roles start to develop in practice
- decoupling: norms become objectified (lose their connection with their practical function)
- norm that has value, but no link to practice is a myth
- these norms become rationalized - Rationalized myth: norms can exist without the connection to a function in practice
intentional explanation
- explain behavior by looking at the intentions of people
- not best way of explaining because it is endogenous (comes from within yourself)
causal explanation
- effect always has the same cause
- exogenous
- multiple causality(more than one cause)
- bi-directional causality (A causes B and B causes A)
Functional explanation
X can be explained by Y with the use of a formula
- X is a condition for the formula
Hermeneutics understanding
- exogenous
- norms are set by society and it is about interpreting these
Social meaning
- endogenous
natural facts
- exist independent of human existence
institutional facts
- exist because humans exist and we accept them as real
Why do institutions exist? consequentialist
consequences of accepting institutions for individuals are beneficial
Why do institutions exist? normative
institutions exemplify what the appropriate thing is to do
Why do institutions exist? cognitive
- institutions simply show how the world works and beliefs are taken for granted
