Theory: Social Action Theories
- Created by: Anjalee
- Created on: 10-06-13 13:51
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- Social Action Theory
- Weber
- Level of Cause and Level of Meaning. Calvinism brought about the rise of capitalism by promoting a work ethic.
- Instrumentally rational action (calculate), Value-rational action (desirable), Traditional action (routine) and Affectual action (emotion)
- Criticisms
- Shutz: too individualistic, can fit in more than one category, can't truly understand others' meanings.
- Symbolic Interactionism
- Labelling theory: Defining a situation as real has real consequences, Cooley: the looking glass self, Career: the initial label can lead to a master status.
- Criticisms
- Deterministic, assumes label has full power, Descriptive concepts, Ignores wider structural factors, not all action is meaningful.
- Mead: behaviour isn't shaped by instinct, by taking another's role we can interpret meanings. Blumer: actions are based on meanings, there is room for choice
- Labelling theory: Defining a situation as real has real consequences, Cooley: the looking glass self, Career: the initial label can lead to a master status.
- Goffman:
- Actively construct ourselves Presentation of self, Impression management We have freedom in how we play our roles, actors present themselves to their best advantage
- P
- Husserl: Only makes sense because we impose meaning Schutz: Typifications enable us to organise our experiences. Commonsense knowledge makes sense of experience. Husserl: The world is a product of our mind. Berger and Luckman: Constructed reality becomes an external reality.
- E.M
- Members actively construct social order. Garfinkel: Indexicality, meanings are unclear, it depends on context. Commonsense knowledge constructs a sense of meaning. Garfinkel: 'breaching experiments.' Coroners use commonsense theory when classing deaths as suicides.
- Criticisms
- Producing explanations is fiction, Ignores wider structural factors
- Members actively construct social order. Garfinkel: Indexicality, meanings are unclear, it depends on context. Commonsense knowledge constructs a sense of meaning. Garfinkel: 'breaching experiments.' Coroners use commonsense theory when classing deaths as suicides.
- Structure and Action
- Giddens: neither structure nor action can exist without the other. We produce the structures which make action possible. Language: Structure-language rules, Action- using it. Action can also change structure- new meaning and rules. We need to feel the world is as it appears to be, encouraging actions to maintain existing structures
- Choosing new actions increases change. Our actions may have unintended consequences such as Calvinism
- Criticisms
- Archer: underestimates that structures resist change. Craib: what actually happens in society?
- Criticisms
- Archer: underestimates that structures resist change. Craib: what actually happens in society?
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