Social Action Theories

What are social action theories?

• Theories that focus on the meaning and interpretations that individuals assign to actions

• Assumes that individuals have free will to act and will differ in their interpretations of events

• Micro-sociology -seeing that society is constructed by the acts of individuals, rather than a top-down, structural approach

Examples of social action theories:

• Social action theory

• Symbolic Interactionism

• Labelling Theory

• Phenomenology

• Ethnomethodology

Weber- Social Action Theory:

• Weber focused on the motivations of social actions

• Affective action:

  • Based upon emotional factors, such as an individual’s state of mind

• Traditional action:

  • Actions based upon the customs and habits of an individual

• Rational actions:

  • Instrumental- Efficiency of action

  • Value- The importance of the purpose of the action

Schultz- Phenomenology:

• Individuals exist in a shared society that is based upon the typification of objects, activities and ideas that we experience in our lifeworld

• We developed common-sense knowledge in order to communicate with others and exist within a shared society

• Our meanings are socially constructed based on common sense and sociology should look to understand how we arrive at these assumptions

Garfinkel- Ethnomethodology:

• Study of people’s actions

• Garfinkel’s ideas were focused on the documentary method and disrupting the social world through breaching experiments such as the lodger experiment

• Indexicality- Meanings are drawn from the context in which they are placed- we understand it is a specific situation

Social action across specification:

• Weber:

  • Protestant Work Ethic

  • Disenchantment and secularisation

  • Bureaucracy and the ‘iron cage’

• Labelling Theory:

  • Crime and education

• Ethnomethodology and Phenomenology

  • Research Methodology

The usefulness of social action theories:

• Explain the diverse range of actions and behaviours that are displayed in society

• Application to contemporary society allows us to understand why people reject the ideas of institutions such as education, politics and family

• Allows for the different perspectives of individuals to be heard, rather than assuming that everybody is the same- particularly relevant to contemporary society with greater diversity and choices

Evaluations of social action theories:

• Failure to explain how society works due to its focus on individual meanings

• Influence of society upon individual actions- peers, family, and institutions can all influence behaviour

• Focus on small-scale interactions means it ignores larger social issues such as the structural causes of inequality in society

• Subjective interpretations often ignore the objective nature of scientific research