Topic 8 - Action Theories

Question 1

What are action theories?

Answer 1

Micro-level approaches that see society as constructed by members’ interactions & meanings

Question 2

Weber’s Social Action Theory [4]

Answer 2

Said we can generalise people’s motives for actions that contribute to shaping society:

Traditional Social Action: Actions controlled by traditions
Instrumental Rational Social Action: Actions to carry out to achieve a certain goal

Weber looked at motives behind structural change: e.g. how people interpreted Calvinism to work hard.

Question 3

How can we generalise why people do the things they do according to Weber?

Answer 3

Traditional Social Action: Actions controlled by traditions, “the way it has always been done”

Instrumental-Rational Social Action: Actions that are carried out to achieve a certain goal

Question 4

Criticism of Weber’s Social Action Theory [2]

Answer 4

• Weber’s Social Action Theory focuses too much on society shaping the individual
• Symbolic interactionism argues that individuals have more freedom to shape identities than Weber suggests

Question 5

Symbolic Interactionism (Mead) [3]

Answer 5

• Suggests indivi’s aren’t controlled by society - they interpret behaviour of others & make sense of the world around them.
• Individuals act as agents of free will to interpret society
• Symbols in society can be interpreted subjectively, e.g. American flag can be a symbol of ‘freedom’ or word ‘wife’ can be interpreted as meaning happiness or oppression

Question 6

Criticisms of Mead

Answer 6

Fails to understand the wider social factors that influence symbols & social roles.

Question 7

Symbolic Interactionism - Labelling Theory [3]

Answer 7

• Education/criminal justice system socially constructs labels -> selective labelling
• Powerless groups more likely to be labelled than powerful ones (Becker)
• Self-fulfilling prophecy - individual can start to percieve themselves by that label

Question 8

Criticisms of Labelling Theory

Answer 8

Too deterministic: labelling doesn’t always lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 9

Symbolic Interactionism - Dramaturgical Theory [3]

Answer 9

• Goffman: We are like actors on a stage, presenting a play of ourselves
• When we’re born we’re thurst onto the stage of everyday life: front stage & back stage
• Back stage is where we don’t have to act

Question 10

Criticisms of Dramaturgical Theory

Answer 10

The structure of society influences individual behaviour, not the interaction between individuals