Social Action theories

Unit 2 - Social Action theories:

The differences between structural theories (unit 1) and social action theories (unit 2)

• Society and social structures are separate from the individual and 'above' them determining their behaviour (top-down)
• Emphasis on determinism and external forces shaping choice/identity and determining behaviour
• Focus on sociological research placed on the overall structure of society - general trends and patterns are important in understanding society
• People's behaviour is driven by social structures
• The main methodological approach is quantitative data - positivism.

Action theories:

• Society and social structures are seen as creations of the individual
• Emphasis on voluntarism and free will - shape their own ideas/identities
• The focus of sociological research is on individuals or small groups
• People's behaviour is driven by their beliefs and emotions that are given to situations
• The main methodological approach uses qualitative data - interpretivism
• Marxism and functionalism explain society as people being influenced by the structures in society – to the extent of us being 'puppets'.
• Action theories are different because they argue that to understand society, we need to understand people. This raises lots of questions – should sociology be a science, should we let our beliefs and values influence our research, etc?

What are social action theorists' preferred methodologies?

• They take an Interpretivist approach: often prefer to look for the meanings and motivations behind people's behaviour = they prefer qualitative research methods
• Social action theorists adopt a methodological approach favoured by Max Weber. Weber suggested that to understand the meanings and motivations of an individual's behaviour, a researcher needs to achieve verstehen or insight into their social conditions.
• This has led to much ground-breaking research, such as Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a Day and James Patrick's Glasgow Gang Observed.
• This offers sociologists an opportunity to understand the meanings and motivations of social behaviours at first-hand as opposed to the positivist methods preferred by structural theorists which rely upon generalisations and broad trends drawn from quantitative data. -
• However, interactionists have often been criticised for being too subjective in their approach, something Weber himself suggested was not desirable in research.
• Furthermore, the use of qualitative methods such as covert observations can lead to ethical issues and generally are not seen as reliable or scientific which limits their use for public policy.

Two different types of action theories:

1. Symbolic interactionism
2. Ethnomethodology
3. Symbolic interactionism

Mead - Symbols v instincts:

• His work forms the basis for that of many later interactionists

• He believes we can see the world via symbols (things we have attached meanings to)

• Symbols vs instincts = Unlike animals, our behaviour is not shaped by fixed, pre-programmed instincts

• Instead, we respond to the world by creating and inhabiting meanings – by attaching symbols -

• Mead observed that animals respond in an automatic, determined way. If a dog barks at another dog, it'll most likely bark back

• However, humans have an interpretative phase – before we respond to someone else's action, we have to interpret its meaning. Only then can we respond. E.g. clenching of a fist is a symbol that has various possible meanings. Is the person genuinely angry or are they joking?

• The interpretative phase looks something like this: Stimulus e.g. clenching of fist - an interpretative phase -a calculated response e.g. they're joking

Taking the role of the other:

But how do we manage to interpret other people's meanings?

We interpret other people's meanings by taking the role of the other – putting ourselves in the place of the other person and seeing ourselves as they see us

A02 links – our ability to take the role of the other develops through social interactions

1. Firstly we do this as young children: take on the role of the significant other (e.g. parents, copying their actions). We learn to see ourselves as they see us (primary socialisation)

2. Later, we come to see ourselves from the point of view of the wider community – the generalised other (secondary socialisation)

• For Mead, to function as members of society, we need the ability to see ourselves as others see us
• This can be done through shared symbols, especially language
• Through this, we can become conscious of the ways of acting that others require of us

A03 Evaluation:

Strengths:

• It shows that human beings create and negotiate meanings, and make sense of the world through interactions with others
• It recognizes, unlike structuralism, to fully explain people's actions and the creation of social order, it is necessary to understand the motivations and meanings people attach to their behaviour, and how they share these with others through everyday interaction

Weaknesses:

• It doesn't pay attention to the structures of society, such as power, social class, gender and ethnic inequalities which constrain individual behaviour. People do not have free choices – poverty, racism, and patriarchy are real and not socially constructed.
• Functionalists would argue that there is no negotiation of actions. Instead, Parsons would argue socialisation and social control ensure that people conform to society's norms and act in predictable and fixed ways, maintaining a value consensus.

Blumer:

• Mead was the founder of symbolic interactionism, although it was Blumer who built upon Mead's work and first used the term.
• Symbolic interactionism sees society as built up by interactions between people which take place on the basis of meanings held by individuals.
• Blumer suggests interactionism has 3 basic features - what are they?

1. People act in terms of symbols, which are things like objects, words, expressions or gestures, that stand for something else and to which individuals have attached meanings, and they act towards people and things in accordance with these meanings

2. These meanings arise from the interaction process. They are not fixed at the outset of the interaction but are negotiable and changeable to some extent

3. The meanings we give to situations are the result of the interpretative procedures we use – especially taking the role of the other

Blumer criticises structural approaches:

• Blumer's view of human conduct contrasts strongly with structural theories such as functionalists
• Functionalists see the individual as a puppet, passively responding to the system's needs.
• Done through socialisation and social control – conforming to society and acting in fixed and predictable ways
• However, Blumer argues that although our actions are partly predictable because we internalise the expectations of others, it is not completely fixed
• There is always some room for negotiation and choice in how we perform our roles

Symbols applied to Blumer's idea

• Putting your hand up
• A red light

A03 - Evaluation:

Strengths:

• It shows that human beings create and negotiate meanings, and make sense of the world through interactions with others
• It recognizes, unlike structuralism, to fully explain people's actions and the creation of social order, it is necessary to understand the motivations and meanings people attach to their behaviour, and how they share these with others through everyday interaction

Weaknesses:

• It doesn't pay attention to the structures of society, such as power, social class, gender and ethnic inequalities which constrain individual behaviour. People do not have free choices – poverty, racism, patriarchy are real and not socially constructed
• Functionalists would argue that there is no negotiation of actions. Instead, Parsons would argue socialisation and social control ensure that people conform to society's norms and act in predictable and fixed ways, maintaining a value consensus.

Cooley's - The Looking Glass self:

• The idea that our image of ourselves is reflected back to us (like a mirror) in the views of others
• As we consider the image of ourselves reflected in the reactions of other people to us, we may modify and change our view of ourselves and our behaviour
• Our self-concept and social roles are NOT simply handed down by the social structure (like traditional theorists think) – instead, they are socially constructed and subject to change through the interaction process
• Language is one of the main ways humans negotiate meanings, and language – words – are symbols carrying meaning
• Can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy – we become what others see us as…
• Symbolic interactionism therefore sees society and social order made possible by and based on shared meanings which are developed and learned through the process of interaction.
• Cooley emphasised the individual's autonomous role in deciding which judgements they pay attention to in identity formation, as well as in controlling and evaluating the responses of others.

The task of sociology is to understand:

• How the meanings individuals give to situations are constructed in face-to-face interaction
• How individuals and situations come to be defined or classified and labelled in particular ways.
• The consequences for individual behaviour of such definitions, as people will behave according to the way they and others see situations
• One example of how actions can be interpreted is the reporting, some public figures like Megan Markle may be criticised in some tabloids and her actions may be interpreted as vain.

A02 - Synoptic links:

Education

• Teachers have a preconceived idea of the 'ideal pupil' (Becker)
• Students who fail to meet this 'ideal' are labelled negatively and are treated as if they are failures
• This leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy (Rosenthal and Jacobson)
• Rosenthal and Jacobson "pygmalion in the classroom" - field experiment in primary schools in the USA. Pupils were given an IQ test at the beginning and end of the process. Teachers were given the results showing students who were identified as spurters, when in fact the results were random. At the end of the process, they found that the students identified as spurters had developed much better. Their findings supported the idea of a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby if teachers labelled pupils as high-flyers or unusually gifted their attainment came to reflect that label.

Crime

• Becker – amplification spiral. Negative label - self-concept - label reinforced - master status - deviant career.
• Lemert – primary and secondary deviance
• Cicourel – negotiation of justice

A03 Evaluation: Strengths:

• It provides real insights into how the social construction of meanings through interaction has consequences for individuals – e.g. how the processes of streaming and labelling in education can generate a self-fulfilling prophecy of success or failure, and how the labelling of deviance can lead to deviant careers

Weaknesses:

• Interactionism is generally regarded as a voluntaristic view that emphasises free will and choice in how we act. But labelling is deterministic – it sees our actions as identities shaped by the way others label them.
• not everyone negatively labelling will go on to fail, or have a deviant career. E.g. Margaret Fuller's research into black girls and their achievement demonstrated this
• Too much of a focus on face-to-face interactions and ignores wider social structures such as class inequality. Cannot explain consistent patterns in people's behaviour (like Functionalists and Marxists can)
• Meanings are not spontaneously created in interaction situations –instead, they are systematically generated by the social structure.
• They suggest that people label or define individuals and situations in particular ways which will affect the way those labelled behave It's important to understand/study the effect of these labels…

Goffman dramaturgical model:

• Whereas labelling sees how individuals label each other, Goffman disagrees. He suggests that people actively construct their 'self' by manipulating other people's impressions of us
• Goffman applied the idea that we have autonomy and the ability to be voluntaristic and shape our own 'self' by manipulating other people's impressions of us
• This is where the word 'dramaturgical' comes from' – he uses analogies with drama as a framework for analysing social interaction
• We are all 'actors', acting out 'scripts', using 'props' and resting backstage between 'performances'
• Aim is to convince the audience of the role we are trying to adopt
• 2 key dramaturgical concepts – the presentation of self and impression management
• We have to control our appearance – adapting to how the audience responds
• Can be done through language, tone of voice, gestures and facial expressions. Props and settings – makeup, clothing
• He criticizes functionalists who argue that roles are tightly 'scripted' by society and they see us fully internalising our scripts through socialisation. Functionalists believe that society determines our identity and how we perform roles.
• He rejects the functionalist theory on roles – he argues there is a 'gap' or 'role distance' between our real self and our roles

A02 - Synoptic link and application

• Impression management is important for a person's self-concept
• Goffman's study of total institutions in 1968 – places such as prisons and some mental hospitals where people are confined + usually under strict supervision 24 hours a day
• Isolated from the wider society, a person may lose their picture of self as a parent, friend and workmate
• Their impression of self, formerly embedded in their name, appearance, clothes etc may be lost by a name change or number, a shaved head + an inmate uniform
• Their sense of self might also be weakened or lost by the strict rules and regulations applied by those in authority

A03 Evaluation:

Strengths:

• It shows that human beings create and negotiate meanings, and make sense of the world through interactions with others

• It recognizes, unlike structuralism, to fully explain people's actions and the creation of social order, it is necessary to understand the motivations and meanings people attach to their behaviour, and how they share these with others through everyday interaction Weaknesses:

• Loads of our actions are unrehearsed! This idea is unrealistic as humans do not follow script and they can be affected by social structures such as poverty/patriarchy /capitalism and even labels attached to them.

• Ignore the origin of meanings – something that Feminists + Marxists attempt to explain (e.g. class conflict/gender conflict).

• Meanings are not spontaneously created in interaction situations – instead, they are systematically generated by the social structure.

Ethnomethodology - argues that society is only a construct:

• Garfinkel - unlike functionalism sees society as something that is created from the 'bottom-up' - it's not an objective structure, but something we all construct ourselves through our behaviour.
• Ethnomethodology studies the methods we use to create meanings. For ethnomethodologists meanings are always potentially unclear because they are dependent on their context - they call this indexicality.
• To stop this lack of clarity from causing chaos, we all engage in reflexivity - using our common sense to determine the meanings of behaviour and communication, so we can maintain social order.
• Garfinkel's experiment - got his students to either act as lodgers in their own homes (overly polite) or to haggle over the price of groceries at the checkout of a supermarket.
• The experiment aimed to disrupt people's sense of order and challenge their reflexivity by undermining assumptions about the situation.
• Garfinkel concluded that the orderliness of everyday situations is not fixed but an accomplishment of those who took part, social order is "participant produced"

A03 - Evaluation: Functionalists would argue that norms and values are not fiction but social facts

Integrated Approaches:

• Many sociologists have argued that social structures do constrain us, but that we also have the possibility of choice - this is a middle way

• In reality, there are constraints upon our behaviour from social structures like the family, work (income it produces or doesn't produce) the law and the education system.

• However, individuals can, within limits, make choices within those structures and thereby change them. Weber: Weber's sociology doesn't neatly fit into either structuralist or action approaches. He was regarded as one of the first social action theorists as he emphasised the importance of understanding the subjective meanings people held.

• He called this concept verstehen (German for understanding)

• He argues that researchers should try to put themselves in the shoes of those they are studying to attempt to see the world through their eyes and therefore discover the meanings behind their actions.

• Weber criticised structuralist approaches (Functionalism and Marxism) for being too deterministic - especially Marxism for being economically deterministic.

• But he also criticises social action theories for arguing people have complete free will.

• He argued that social structures can influence people's ideas, identities and behaviour e.g. people's class can limit the choices available to them.

• Examples of the importance of social structures in influencing our behaviour: he argues that religion was a driving force in developing Western society. Particularly, Protestantism was a drive to work hard and it was compatible with capitalist industrialisation. A03 Evaluation:

• Application: it is difficult to apply these ideas as meaning can be misinterpreted or reinterpreted by different individuals.

• Verstehen: it is never possible to truly put yourself into the shoes of another person, therefore we cannot really know or understand their motives.

• Alfred Schutz = Weber's view of action is too individualistic and doesn't explain the shared nature of meanings

Giddens's theory of structuration:

• Giddens's theory of structuration is an attempt to combine both structure and action - which he regards as two parts of the same process.
• He argues they both depend on one another - structures only exist because of people's actions and people can only act because the structures enable meaningful action to take place.
• Giddens referred to this link between structure and action as the duality of structure.
• Structuration and the duality of structure refer to the two-way process by which people are constrained or shaped by society and institutions, but these structures can only exist as long as people continue to take action to either support them or change them.
• This change occurs through reflexivity - whereby people are constantly reflecting on the things they do and how they do them as they live their daily lives.