Social Action theories

Question 1

Which type of sociological approach does the labelling theory take?

Answer 1

Interactionist/ micro-theory / interpretivist

Question 2

What are the two approaches to studying society?

Answer 2

The structural approach and the social action approach

Question 3

What is the structural approach?

Answer 3

How society is organised is the most important influence

Question 4

What is the social action approach?

Answer 4

Individuals actions and perceptions are the most important influences

Question 5

What examples are there of the structural approach/

Answer 5

Functionalism, marxism and feminism

Question 6

What example if there of social action approach?

Answer 6

Interactionism

Question 7

What are examples of symbolic interactionism?

Answer 7

looking glass self, labelling theory, impression management and dramaturgical approach

Question 8

What the term for when people have free will and free choice?

Answer 8

Voluntarism

Question 9

Who started the work on symbolic interactionism in the 20th century?

Answer 9

George herbert Mead

Question 10

George mead said the development of an individual was a…

Answer 10

Social process

Question 11

Why do people assign meaning to things?

Answer 11

In order to decide how they act

Question 12

Who coined the term symbolic interactionism?

Answer 12

Herbert Blumer

Question 13

Identify the three tenants…

Answer 13

1. Action depends on meaning
2. Different meanings for different people
3. meaning can cause change

Question 14

Karl marx (marxist) key concepts

Answer 14

bourgeoisie, proletariat, exploitation, alienation, false consciencesness and revolution

Question 15

Gramsci (humanistic marxist) key concepts

Answer 15

hegemony, dual consciousness and organic intellectuals

Question 16

Althusser’s (structuralist Marxism) key concepts

Answer 16

the repressive state apparatus.

Question 17

Marxism applied to education

Answer 17

the ideological state apparatus, reproduction of class inequality, legitimation of class inequality, correspondence principle

Question 18

Liberal Feminism

Answer 18

does not seek revolutionary changes: they want changes to take place within the existing structure; the creation of equal opportunities is the main aim of liberal feminists – e.g. the Sex Discrimination Act and the Equal Pay Act

Question 19

Marxist Feminism

Answer 19

capitalism rather than patriarchy is the principal source of women’s oppression, and capitalists as the main beneficiaries, through the housewife role for example; overthrowing capitalism remains the main objective.

Question 20

Radical Feminism

Answer 20

Society is patriarchal, dominated and ruled by men – men are the ruling class, and women the subject class. Rape, violence and pornography some of the key tools through which men control women; separatism can be part of the solution.

Question 21

Difference Feminism

Answer 21

women are not a homogenous group, they experience disadvantage in different ways.

Question 22

Postmodern Feminism

Answer 22

critiqued preceding Feminist theory as being part of the masculinist Enlightenment Project; concerned with language (discourses) and the relationship between power and knowledge rather than ‘politics and opportunities‘.

Question 23

Max Weber: Verstehen, and Social Change

Answer 23

observation alone is not enough to understand human action, we need empathetic understanding. Gaining Verstehen is the main point of Sociology, e.g. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism).

Question 24

Symbolic Interactionism

Answer 24

people’s self-concepts based on their understanding of how others perceive them (the looking glass self); need to understand meanings to understanding actions; social roles are not specific or fixed; they can be interpreted in various different ways.

Question 25

Goffman’s Dramaturgical Theory

Answer 25

People are actors on a ‘social stage’ who actively create an impression of themselves

Question 26

Durkheim’s functionalism

Answer 26

social facts and anomie

Question 27

Parson’s systems theory

Answer 27

the organic analogy and social evolution
Merton’s internal critique of functionalism – latent and manifest functions

Question 28

Functionalism applied to education

Answer 28

meritocracy, social solidarity, school as a bridge between home and society (particularistic and universalistic values)

Question 29

What were the four ideal categories that Weber classified human actions into?

Answer 29

Instrumentally rational action
Traditional action
Affective action
Value-rational action

Question 30

Who came up with the dramaurgical effect?

Answer 30

Goffman

Question 31

Looking glass self

Answer 31

• Charles Cooley’s study of the ‘looking-glass self’ believes that this is how individuals form their own view of themselves; essentially internalising the labels that their social audience places upon them.
• He calls this the ‘self-concept’.
• By doing this, the individual starts to view themselves in a different way and therefore becomes the label that they have had imposed upon them.