THEORIES- SOCIAL ACTION THEORIES Flashcards
What are Social Action theories focused on?
Social Action theories are micro theories that focus on the actions and interactions of individuals, explaining human behavior in terms of free will and choice.
How do Social Action theories differ from macro, structural theories?
Unlike macro theories, Social Action theories claim that human actions are not determined by society but are shaped by individuals’ agency— their ability to create and shape society through actions, meanings, and choices.
What does Weber’s Social Action Theory combine?
Weber argued that both structural factors and the subjective meanings individuals attach to their actions must be considered for a full understanding of human behavior.
What are the four types of action according to Weber?
Instrumentally rational action: Actions decided through the most efficient means of achieving a goal (e.g., a capitalist reducing wages to maximize profits).
Value rational action: Actions toward a goal regarded as desirable for its own sake (e.g., worshiping God to get to heaven).
Traditional action: Habitual actions done because they’ve always been done.
Affectual action: Actions that express emotion (e.g., crying out of grief).
What is the concept of Verstehen in Weber’s theory?
Verstehen is the process of empathic understanding, where a sociologist seeks to understand the meanings behind people’s actions from their perspective.
What are the strengths of Weber’s Social Action Theory?
It highlights the importance of combining structural factors with the understanding of the meanings attached to actions for a fuller explanation of behavior.
What are the weaknesses of Weber’s Social Action Theory?
Weber’s view is too individualistic and doesn’t explain shared meanings.
His typology of meanings is difficult to apply.
The concept of Verstehen is idealistic and not achievable as we can never fully know another’s subjective meaning.
What is Symbolic Interactionism?
Symbolic Interactionism is the theory that humans create the social world through actions and interactions, with meanings conveyed through symbols such as language.
How do Mead and Blumer contribute to Symbolic Interactionism?
Mead argued that our behavior is influenced by the meanings we give to things and that we interpret situations before responding to them.
Blumer coined the term Symbolic Interactionism and developed three principles:
Actions are based on meanings we give to situations.
Meanings arise from interactions with others.
Meanings come from the interpretive process.
What is the concept of role-taking in Symbolic Interactionism?
Role-taking is when individuals put themselves in another person’s shoes to interpret their perspective and understand their meanings in social interactions.
What does the Looking Glass Self concept explain?
Developed by Cooley, it explains how individuals develop their self-concept by seeing themselves as others see them through interactions.
How does labelling theory work in Symbolic Interactionism?
According to Thomas, if we define a situation as real, it will have real consequences. Becker and Lemert suggest that labelling someone (e.g., as a drug user) can lead to that label becoming their master status, influencing their future actions.
What is Goffman’s dramaturgical model?
Goffman proposed that social interactions are like performances, where individuals use props, control their image through impression management, and behave differently in public (front stage) vs. private settings (backstage).
What are the strengths and weaknesses of Symbolic Interactionism?
Strengths: Acknowledges free will, making it less deterministic than macro theories.
Weaknesses: It overlooks wider social structures like class inequality or patriarchy, and labelling theory can be deterministic.
What is Phenomenology in Social Action theory?
Phenomenology, according to Husserl, argues that the world makes sense because we impose meaning on it through mental categories. Schutz added that these categories are shared among members of a society, providing a framework for understanding the world.
What are Typifications in Phenomenology?
Typifications are shared categories of meaning or commonsense knowledge that help us understand and navigate social situations, such as knowing that a raised hand in class means someone wants to speak.
How does Ethnomethodology explain social order?
Garfinkel argued that meanings are always unclear and depend on social context. Social order is maintained through reflexivity, where people use commonsense knowledge to create a sense of meaning in social interactions.
What are breaching experiments in Ethnomethodology?
Breaching experiments, conducted by Garfinkel, involve deliberately breaking social norms to observe how individuals react to the disruption of expected behavior.
What is Structuration according to Giddens?
Structuration is the idea that social structures are both produced by actions and make actions possible. Giddens argued that we reproduce social structures by following rules, but can also change them by monitoring our behavior and making new choices.
What is the difference between top-down and bottom-up approaches?
Top-down approach: Conflict and consensus theorists study large groups and apply findings to individuals.
Bottom-up approach: Social Action theorists study individuals and then theorize about larger societal forces.
What is ethnography?
Ethnography is a research method where the sociologist immerses themselves in the social world they are studying, often through participant observation.
What is verstehen?
Verstehen is the process of understanding the meanings behind people’s actions through empathic insight.
What does agent mean in Social Action theory?
An agent refers to an individual who has the capacity to act and make choices, exercising free will.
What is master status?
A master status is a label that becomes the most dominant identity of an individual, often shaping how they are viewed by others.
