Topic 4: Social Action Theory Flashcards
Who are the 3 theories we can use to write about symbolic interactionism?
- Mead
- Labelling theory
- Goffman’s dramaturgical model
What does mead say?
- we respond to the world by giving meanings to the things that are significant to us
- we get our sense of self from our family
- we manage other people’s meanings by taking on the role of others and putting ourselves in their place
- we aren’t animals and we interpret a stimulus’ meanings before responding to it
Cooley is a labelling theorist, what does he say?
- we develop a self concept based on our ability to take on the role of other, and see ourselves as they see us
Becker is a labelling theorist, what does he say?
- individuals take on a status based on a given label and this becomes their master status and shapes their interactions with others
What is Goffman’s dramaturgical model?
- we actively construct our ‘self’ by manipulating other peoples impression of us
- we are all actors who present ourselves in a favourable impression to an audience
- back stage (at home) we can step out of our roles and be ourselves
how can action theory be criticised?
- it is a loose collection of theories
- ignores wider social structures and fails to explain the origins of labels
- action theory can be criticised with any structural theory
- labelling theory is deterministic and assumes individuals are passive and accept their labels
Cicourel is a phenomenologist, what does he discuss?
- negotiation of justice - mc parents can use expensive lawyers to negotiate their way out of the cjs
- police have typifications - they have an idea of who is criminal and arrest based on this
What is Schutz phenomenological sociology?
- we make sense of the world through shared typifications, and they allow us to communicate and cooperate
- typifications enable us to organise our experiences into a shared world of meaning
Garfinkel is a ethnomethodologist, what does he say?
- social order is an accomplishment
- look at how we make sense of the world
- interest in the methods we use to produce the meaning
- everything is based on decisions
what are interactionists interest in?
interactionists are interested in the effects of meanings
What are ethnomethodologists interested in about suicide?
- they’re interested in how coroners make their decisions, for example, to label a death a suicide
- ethnomethodologists say coroners have a common sense idea of what a suicide is
briefly describe action theories?
- voluntaristic
- small scale
- look at choice and free will
which sociologist unifies both action and structural?
neo-marxism
eg willis
what is gidden’s structuration theory?
- there is a duality of structure
- action and structural can’t exist without each other
- we produce and reproduce structures over time and space
Is action theory interpretivist or positivist?
interpretivist
like validity and verstehen
Which research methods does action theory favour?
- participant observation
- documents
- unstructured interviews
- group interviews
