Research Methods 6 - Social Action Theories Flashcards
Belief of social action theories?
Micro level with ‘bottom up’ (individuals and their actions) focus
See individuals as having free will and agency and shape society
Mixed view on whether society as a structure is influential or just a construct
Max Weber social action theory?
Full sociological understanding works on level of cause (structural factors that effect behaviour) and level of meaning (meanings individuals attach to their actions)
E.g. Protestant work ethic. Level of cause - reformation introduced new belief, level of meaning - Calvinism stated an individual could serve God by working hard that started capitalism
Weber’s types of action?
Instrumentally rational - most efficient way to achieve a goal
Value-rational - trying to achieve a goal, no way to know whether or not its the most effective
Traditional action - habits and routines, done because it always has been
Affectual - expresses emotion, important in political campaigns and religious movements where charismatic leaders draw it out
Support for Weber?
Valuable corrective to structural factors emphasis
Understanding actors subjective meanings is important
Criticisms of Weber?
Schutz (1972) Webers view is too individualistic and can’t explain shared value of meaning
Types of action is difficult to apply e.g. Trobriand Islanders exchange ‘kula’ with others on other islands, which could be seen as instrumentally rational action or traditional action
Weber’s belief to understand peoples subjective meaning is impossible as we aren’t that person, so never truly get it
Symbolic interactionism beliefs?
Sees interactions as based on meanings we give to situations
G.H. Mead showed we aren’t fixed in our responses unlike other species, and so different gestures can have different meanings per person
Mead believed that therefore we had to ‘take the role of the other’ and see ourselves through their viewpoint
Shared symbols like language mean we become conscious of the ways other people need us to act
Blumer’s theory?
Actions based on meanings we give to people and events (not automatic response)
Meanings arise from interactions and aren’t fixed
Meanings we give are result from interpretive procedures we use
Actions are partly predictable because we internalise others expectations but there is always room for choice - people are not puppets
Example of interactionist theory?
Labelling theory
Definition of situation = giving label to scenario e.g. if a teacher defines the situation as a consequence of poor behaviour
The looking glass self = self fulfilling prophecy, internalising others views of us
Career giving people status is an extension of that theory
However labelling theory has been accused of determinism
Goffman (1960s) dramaturgical theory?
Key concepts are ‘presentations of self’ and ‘impression management’
Explains how we actively construct our self by monitoring others impressions of us and adjusting to fit, with the ‘backstage’ being where we ‘drop the act’
Society has only loosely scripted our roles and their is freedom in how we play them
Role distance exists, with the role and self not necessarily being the same, and sometimes people can calculate the performance to be accepted
Criticisms of Goffman (1960s)?
Loose collection of descriptive concepts, not explanatory
Ignores social structures such as class inequality and fails to look at labels
Can’t explain consistent patterns in behaviour between people
Not all action is meaningful (routines and unconscious action)
Limitations to the analogy e.g. Goffman states everyone is an actor or audience but interactions are often improvised and unrehearsed
Ethnomethodologists say interactionism is correct in focusing on actors meanings but fails to explain how actors create them
Garfinkel (1967) Ethnomethodology theory?
Believes order is created from the bottom up, not through shared norms, which is constructed everyday
EM studies how people do this
Indexicality used as a concept to explain meanings aren’t fixed and everything depended on context
Despite potential fore miscommunication we behave as if meanings are fixed and clear in every day life because of reflexivity - using commonplace knowledge to construct a sense of meaning in everyday interactions
Examples of EM theory?
Garfinkel and his students acted as lodgers in their own families (impersonal and polite), and parents became anxious, bewildered and angry
They also haggled at the supermarkets checkout
Garfinkel said the outcome shows how routines of everyday life is an accomplishment by everyone who takes part in them, not inevitable
Garfinkel also argues suicide is a coroners construction as when they receive the body, they look for patterns to fit their normal idea of it (e.g. mentally ill, unemployed, etc.)
Criticisms of EM?
Craib, EM only finds rules everybody knows about e.g. finding out in phone conversations only one person speaks at a time
EM denies existence of wide structural society but by analysing how general rules are applied to context it assumes a structure of norms does exist
Ignores power and inequality, Marxists argue ‘common sense knowledge’ is ruling class ideology
If all patterns are ‘fictions’ so is the status of its own concepts
