Social action theories

Question 1

What are social action theories?

Answer 1

• social action theories are micro theories that tend to focus on individuals within small groups
• they are also often referred to as interpretivist theories, because they are concerned with how individuals interpret the social world around them to make it meaningful

Question 2

What is interactionism

Answer 2

Interactionism in sociology focuses on the way that we act, or make conscious choices regarding our behavior that proceed from how we interpret situations.

Question 3

What did Becker (1963) say about labelling theory?

Answer 3

• the self is our unique identity based on how we see ourselves
• a label can become a master status overriding other aspects of a persons self
• thus labelling someone as a criminal may mean that everyone treats them as a criminal even though they may have some positive attributes

Question 4

What Is the evaluation of social action theories?

Answer 4

+does not see people as puppets controlled by social structures but as people making decisions based on free will
-it’s micro social so fails to give us the big picture of society and how structure impacts individuals choices, consciously or unconsciously
+ very rich in detail, focusing on the lives on small groups of people

Question 5

how did Willis overcome the fact that that social action theories are micro social?

Answer 5

• in response to this some sociologists have combined the insights of structural and social action approaches
• foe example Willis looks at the viewpoint of working class boys about to leave school
• however later in his book he examined this small group of boys in he context of the wider education system, arguing that they are part of a larger pattern or structure whereby the working class pupils are systematically failed y the system
• he draws on both interactionist and Marxist approaches

Question 6

how did Oakley (1974)overcome the fact that social action theories are micro social?

Answer 6

• many feminists also combine structural and social action approaches
• for example, in her study of housework Oakley examined how forces in the wider society encouraged the idea that the normal role for married women was as a housewife, making it difficult for women who wanted carers
• however she also carried out detailed research on a small sample of women who were housewives to explore their experience of the role