Week 6 Actors Agency and Social Structure

Question 1

What does karl marx say on human agency?

Answer 1

He believed it was constrained by social strucutre and historical circumstancs

Question 2

What are the examples of Agency and how it is constrained that we talked about in class

Answer 2

We talked about the men in ukraine and how the choices they had aer to fight in the war or be labelled as cowards if they try to flee, so that is a constraining factor, when on the other hand, women would not be labelled as such.

another example is professor hooks brother, he had the choice of going to jail, serving in the military or running away to canada in the 60s

Question 3

What is weber and methodological individualism

Answer 3

Weber believes that in order to understand social structure you need to understand an individuals motives and actions in order to gain a deeper understanding of the social structures that emerge from these interactions.

Question 4

What is weber concerned with?

Answer 4

he is oconcerened with action rather than with behaviour in general, focuses on how people act in relation to one another.

Question 5

What is weber concerned with?

Answer 5

he is oconcerened with action rather than with behaviour in general, focuses on how people act in relation to one another.

Question 6

What are non rational actions?

Answer 6

traditional following customs or meeting everyday expectations, like saying hi to a student walking by, or like cooking turkey as tradition for thanksgiving.
folliwing customs and meeting expextations with those who engage in traditions with us.
as well as acting on impulse or expression of a persons feelings.

Question 7

What is rational action

Answer 7

the kind of action directed towards attaining a specific objective- like sticking to a class you hate in order to pass to get ur degree.

Question 8

what is value rational actions

Answer 8

the expression of a value religious or political because that is the right thing to do regardless of the consequences

Question 9

What did parsons believe about social actions

Answer 9

that motivation and values determine our actions
actions is constrained by social systems but it is also the idea that actors make conscious deicions to attain goal, values and motives determine the tye of action individuals engage in.
WE ARE NOT ZOMBIES WE MAKE CONSCIOUS DECISIONS.

Question 10

What are the three types of action from parsons

Answer 10

Instrumental
expressive
moral

Question 11

what is instrumental action according to parsons

Answer 11

action that allows people to achieve a goal efficiently

Question 12

what is expressive action according to parsons

Answer 12

the things people do to attain emotional satisfaction

Question 13

what is moral action according to parsons

Answer 13

behaviour that is concerned with standards of right and wrong

Question 14

What did Habermans believe about action

Answer 14

he believed an individuals behaviour can consist of more than one type of action simultaneously
there are different kinds of action and what distinguishes them has nothing to do with the act itself but rather with how agents are oriented to the act.

Question 15

What are Habermans 5 categories of action

Answer 15

Instrumental
strategic
normatively regulated
dramaturgical
and communicative

Question 16

What is instrumental action according to habermans

Answer 16

engaging in activity in hopes of certain outcomse

Question 17

what is strategic action

Answer 17

a little more devious, doing one behaviour or action strategically hoping to get an outcome

Question 18

What is normatively regulated action according to habermans

Answer 18

actions guided by norms and values

Question 19

what is dramaturgical action

Answer 19

takiong action when were aware of our audience, like wearing six inch heels to stand out, or doing actions to blend in or outrage an audience

Question 20

what is communicative action

Answer 20

sometimes we engage in actions to communicate, maybe the dinner is a way to communicate love for their partner

Question 21

What does enmeshed mean when it comes to agency and structure

Answer 21

that scholars consider structure and agency to be part of the same thing

Question 22

what is analytical dualism

Answer 22

scholars treating structure and agency as separate yet related feature of social life

Question 23

Reality is what according to berger and luckman

Answer 23

socially constructed through three dialetical processes in which subjective meaning becomes objective facitiies

Question 24

What dialetical?

Answer 24

means things that dont make sense unless theyre in relation with one another, like how the sun is a star but in relation to earth it is the sun and earth wouldnt exist without the sun

Question 25

What are the three processes according to berger and luckman

Answer 25

Externalizations
Objectivation
and internalization

Question 26

What is the process externalizations

Answer 26

when individuals create their own social worlds through their own actions

Question 27

what is objectivation

Answer 27

the views abotu social reality that individuals share in this process, individuals come to understand that everyday life is ordered and pre arranged.

Question 28

what is internalization

Answer 28

social order is legitimized and reinforced

Question 29

What are the limitations to Berger and Luckmans Approach?

Answer 29

the resposnibility for perceptions of limited choices lies in the hands of the individual
it neglects to consider power relations as fundamental elements in social life and in an explanation of inequality

Question 30

what is giddens structuration theory

Answer 30

structure is composed of rules and resources that are organized as properties of social systems
social systems are systems of social interaction that reproduce relations between actors or collectivities and have actual structural properties.

Question 31

How does giddens view social action and social structure

Answer 31

The subtle difference between the view that strucutre limits action and that structure produced actions lied in giddens dialetical assumption that one mutually creates the other

Question 32

What does bordieu define habitus as

Answer 32

relatively stable sets of attitudes and beleifs that social actors hold and that reflect their social circumstances such as their class, background, gender, ethnicity, race and so on.

Question 33

How habitus embodied in individuals

Answer 33

as links between social structural circumstances and actions while they simultaneously serve to distinguish among groups of people.
like how must of in university are from a different clas than those who didnt

Question 34

What is morphogenisis

Answer 34

processes that elaborate or change a systems given form state or structure (how it changes)

Question 35

what is morphostasis

Answer 35

processes in complex systems- environmental changes which tend to preserve or maintain a systems given form organization or state/ how it remains same/static.

Question 36

what does sewell say about human agency

Answer 36

agents intersect with social structtures thereby potentially changing them,
agency as the human capacity to be intentional, creatice, and ambitious, but that people develop different levels of this capacity depeding on the structural circunstabces they are faced with
the various meaningss that may be attached to one structure if another by different actors depending on the arrays of schemas and resources at their disposal signify the possibikity of social change

Question 37

what is social change according to sewell

Answer 37

certain unpredictability of resource of accumulation taht allows for the transfomration of social structures
unintended consequences of social action

Question 38

What are mcmullings assumptions

Answer 38

te social structure of western nations is comprised of interlocking sets of social relations that privilege certain groups of people over otehrs
individuals though constrained to varying degrees by social structure attempt to exert control over their lives they act with agency
social life is negotiated through interaction
society is more accurately characterized as based on conflicting interests than on consensus.