Social Action ans Interpretivist theories Flashcards
Social Action theory views
-Bottom-up, Micro Approach. No grand theories
-Analyses the way ppl interact. Sketch out the rules of social interaction.
-A social constructionist theory rather than social fact
What is the importance of meaning?
-Meanings produced through language, communication and interaction.
-It forms the basis for understanding the social world. Humans actively create meaning- this is how they see the world.
Weber (meanings & motives)
-sociology should look at human behaviour in terms of M&M
-Full understanding comes from looking at:
1. Structural factors that shape behaviour (The level of cause)
2.Meaning individuals attach to their actions (The level of meaning)
Verstehen meaning
‘to understand’
-Introduced to sociology by Weber means: to see the world how others see it
What are the 4 types of Social action
1.Traditional SA: routine or habitual actions. Actions carried out because of custom habit eg buying gifts at christmas
2. Affective SA: Actions influenced by emotional state.eg crying at funerals
3. Value Rational SA: Actions towards a goal that the actor regards as desirable for its own sake eg praying to go heaven
4. Instrumental Rational SA: the actor calculates the most effective way to achieve a goal. eg effort into one teachers essay cuts they write reports
Evaluation of Weber
❌SATs too individualistic, can’t explain shared nature of meanings
❌Weber’s typology of action is difficult to apply. Some actions apply to multiple types of action
❌Verstehen can’t be applied-never truly understand individuals actions
❌Weber’s a methodological individualist-ignores s structure
Mead (symbolic interactionism)
-Sets out to explain how individuals create society through routine action, emphasises the way societies actively shaped by individuals & the meanings they attach to ‘everyday things’
-Ppl actively work at relationships & create/respond to symbols & ideas, we interpret others meanings by taking their role eg seeing us as they do
-This develops through interaction, eg kids playing parents
What are the 4 core ideas of symbolic interactionism
1.The symbol: we group objects into categories (symbols) we then classify.
2.The self(looking glass): distinguished ‘I’-opinion on urself, ‘me’-how you see yourself in a particular role eg worker, consumer
3.Game playing & role taking:helps understand actions & how to respond
4.The interaction:most important element of SI, point that self & symbol interact
Explain the 4 core ideas
- symbols may immediately evoke feelings, due to meanings, which elicits possible responses. Choice of response may not be shared.
- To respond & act on a symbols meaning, have to understand who we are in a world of S&Ms. (looking glass self)- this was developed into SFP
3.Blumer: develop notion of ‘self’ in childhood- playing games, by learning various social roles & how to interact w others roles. Mead highlighted importance of role-taking: try to understand beh we see from their view - everyone must learn to take others viewpoints into account (games) whenever they respond, only then can they interact (Very complex) and then responding in terms of how you see your own personality
-Great scope for confusion, error, misunderstanding so ALL must actively engage in constructing the situation, reading the rules &symbols correctly.
Evaluation of Mead
-Although his theories over 70yrs old, humans relate the M of S to what they do eg red light-most stop. So he’s correct to an extend
-However, he states that as individuals we shape society, but for the majority to abide by S, rules and regulations there must be some collective conscious, norms and values. Must be some structural factors.
Goffman (The dramaturgical approach)
-Influenced by SI
-Key concepts: presentation of self, impression management & roles
Explain Goffmans key concepts
-Presentation of self: explores how people perceive themselves, then attempt to present an image of ourself to others (the audience)
-Impression management: Ppl find strategies to deal with others, are constantly altering & manipulating these (eg tone, voice, gestures)
-Roles: Interaction is a loosely scripted play, ppl are actors who interpret their roles. There’s a role difference (gap) between our real self & our roles- loosely scripted by society, we have freedom in how me play them. Can conceal our true self.
Evaluation of Symbolic Interactionism
-Rich insight, but limited scope: can only studies small scale interactions
-Failure to explore wider societal factors that create context- structural factors.
-Fails to explore power differences (Becker: labelling theory introduces the notion of power)
-Methodological issues: too subjective, lacks reliability due to difficulty replicating unstructured interviews & p observations.
-Small & unrepresentative samples. But may be more Valid.
Husserl (phenomenology)
-It’s not possible to explain human behaviour, concerned with the interpretation of meanings.
-All info abt social world is a product of the human mind, no hard facts. Instead we must understand Ms ppl give to world by categorising it.
-Categorise it into PHENOMENA- held to have characteristics in common. Emphasis is on the subjective nature of categorisation (typifications)
-A real world exists, but it’s human choice. purpose is to understand phenomena & the essential characteristics that categorises stuff.
Garfinkel (Ethnomethodology)
-Came from phenomenology
-Method of studying how social order is created, interested in how we PRODUCE meanings in the first place.
-Societies a social construction, social orders an illusion created in ones mind using common-sense procedures & culturally embedded assumptions (Eg Atkinson: suicides a social construction of M)
-As such, prefer qualitative research, rich in validity that offers vertsehen rather than focusing on reliability & trying to generalise to whole society
