Social Action Flashcards
How does Weber argue Verstehen should be used?
So sociologists can try and understand the meaning behind peoples behaviour
What does Weber believe sociologists have to do?
Explain the objective structural factors that shape behaviour
Understand the subjective meanings that individuals attach to their actions
What does Symbolic Interactionalism focus on, look at and argue?
Focuses on small scale interactions rather than on the social structure
Looks at the way in which we create meaning through social interactions
Argues that human behaviour is not just a response to an internal social structure
What does Mead say about Social Interactionalism?
People define and interpret the world through the meanings they attach to it - subjective reality
What does Bulmer’s Symbolic Interactionalism explain?
The importance of the exchange of meanings in small scale interactions
Where does Bulmer argue individuals meanings develop from?, therefore, What does Bulmer argue?
Interactions with each other - not forced on us by ouside structures (as structuralists would claim)
That although actions are partially predictable because we internalise the expectations of others, there is always so from for negotiation
What is Goffman’s Dramaturgical Analogy?
Life is like a stage and we are all actors on it, roles aren’t fixed - we interpret them
What is Impression Management?
Were aware of the roles and use self presentation - use language, tone of voice, make up, clothes etc. to manage how others see us
What is Role Distance? and What does Goffman argue about these roles?
Gap between our real selves and the roles we play
They are flexible, we may sometimes use roles we don’t believe in
When does labelling occur according to Becker?
When a stigma is attached to an individual
What does Cooley argue about the Labelling Theory?
Uses the idea of the looking class self to describe how we develop a self concept - arises from our interactions with others and our ability to take on their role and so we come to see ourselves as they see us We see ourselves in the way they respond to use - creates a self-fulfilling prophecy
