1. Social Action and Interpretivist Theories in Sociology
LO: To understand the difference between structural and action theories
Functionalism, Marxism and Feminism are MACRO, top down approaches (large scale). They see society as a deterministic entity - shaping and controlling us.
Social action theories are MICRO approaches - they are ‘bottom up’ and focus on individual actions and interaction.
BLUMER
WEBER
MEAD
Watch the video to find out more…..
What can you add to your notes?

2. SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY MACRO-SOCIOLOGY MICRO-SOCIOLOGY STRUCTURALISM
Study of Society as a Whole
Study of Individuals within Society
1. Relationship between Individual and Society
Auguste Comte
1. Relationship between Individual and Society
STRUCTURALISM
Society Shapes Individuals
Max Weber
Karl Marx
SOCIAL ACTION
(Max Weber, )
Individuals create Society as they act and interact in socially meaningful ways
2. Nature of Sociology
Louis Althusser
Antonio Gramsci
POSITIVISM
(Auguste Comte, )
Sociology is the study of “Social Facts” and of the ways in which Society influences the behaviour of individuals
Alfred Schutz
2. Nature of Sociology
PHENOMENOLOGY
(Alfred Schutz , J.W.B. Douglas 1960’s/70’s, Atkinson)
Social reality is constructed in the minds of social actors. Sociology is the study of the ways in which individuals interpret and create their social world.
3. Perspectives
Emile Durkheim
Talcott Parsons
CONFLICT/CONSENSUS
3. Perspectives
FUNCTIONALISM (Durkheim, , Parsons, )
MARXISM (Karl Marx, )
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
(G.H. Mead, E. Goffman )
Harold Garfinkel
Erving Goffman
Structural Marxism
(Althusser, )
N.B. Not all Sociological theories appear on this map, for example Feminism(s), Post-Modernism and Structuration do not easily fit here.
ETHNOMETHODOLOGY
(H. Garfinkel)
Humanist Marxism
(Gramsci, )

3. Evaluate the usefulness of interactionist approaches to the study of society
(30 marks)
OR it could be ‘social action theories’……

4. What are the action theories?
Social action theory
Symbolic interactionism
Labelling theory
Phenomenology
Ethnomethodology
Interpretivist
All aspects of the world are just socially constructed meanings e.g. seeing humans as male or female…..
Basic assumptions: Approaches should explore the day to day life of individuals, approaches should attempt to understand the meanings that humans place on their world. The world is socially constructed, as so we should study it as such.

5. Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Structural and action approaches are necessary for a full understanding of human behaviour….
To understand human behaviour we must first know the level of the cause (structural - objective measurements) and the level of meaning (subjective meanings).
Strength of this theory - unlike the structural and action theories, it acknowledges the objectives and subjective values places upon our actions (does not oversimplify).
However, his ideas on types of actions have been critiqued for being difficult to measure….
Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Structural cause - the Protestant Reformation caused a new belief system to be created - Calvinism.
Subjective meaning - work took on a religious meaning for the Calvinists, which motivated the to work

6. Types of Social Action:
Instrumental - means to attain a particular goal are rationally chosen
example: person pursues college degree to hopefully obtain a job that grants financial security
Value rational - striving for a goal which may not be rational, but is pursued by rational means
example: person follows teachings of a prophet, or lives a certain way in hopes of receiving "eternal salvation"
Affectual - action via emotional means
example: person attends a particular college because their significant other is enrolled there
Traditional - actions are guided by customary habits
example: grief and crying

7. Symbolic Interactionism
The full name for interactionism
1. The symbol - the unique objects and people around us, classified into groups (the symbol) e.g. ‘trees’, ‘women’, ‘gay men’, ‘terrorists’.
People are not puppets - we actively work at relationships and respond to symbols…
There are 4 core ideas…..
These symbols evoke feelings and meanings that are shared and/or individual. They represent something else, other than group.
Cooley - calls this ‘looking glass self’ (others are the mirror to ourselves).
Labelling theorists developed this into the self fulfilling prophecy - if we have a label e.g. deviant, we begin to see ourselves as such, and live up to it.
2. The Self -in order to respond to the meanings of these symbols, we must first know who we are in this world of symbols and meanings. Crucially, we must understand who we are in the eyes of others…..

8. Symbolic Interactionism
The full name for interactionism
3. Game playing and role taking - Social interactions begin in childhood where we pretend to be someone else. In doing to, we learn various social roles….
How do we interpret other people’s meanings? Easy - we interact with them!
This is known as game-playing. We also take on the roles of others e.g. ‘I’ll be mummy and you be daddy!”
By imaging ourselves as someone else, it helps us to understand the world through their eyes, their ‘meanings’.
There are 4 core ideas…..
4. Interaction - When the symbol and the self come together - each person in society must learn to take the viewpoint of others and read others’ meanings of symbols. In order to function in society, we must all engage in such interactions.

9. NOTE: Links to free will…..
Meanings arise from interactions and interactions can be negotiated or changed - we actively create and respond to symbols… We have free will - opposed to the functionalist idea that we are ‘puppets’ and determined… However - others critique this theory and suggest that it IS deterministic - we are determined by our labels…..

10. Application of symbolic interactionism…
Definition of a situation…..if we believe it to be true, it will affect how we act
Labelling theory…….
The ‘looking glass self’ - we develop a concept of who we are through these labels - we see ourselves mirrored in the way they respond to us.
“She treats me like a troublemaker, so I must be troublemaker….”
We then embark on our label ‘career’ - a series of statuses…troublemakers, to detentions, to exclusions…
Trouble maker….

11. Charles Cooley – Looking glass self
Take the role of another, we come to see ourselves as others see us. This can lead to a self fulfilling prophecy.
Cxe9HbfJcM
Complete the diagram for a criminal or school student
Looking glass self
Self concept
The role of the other
Self fulfilling prophecy

13. Erving Goffman and the Dramaturgical Approach
Dramaturgy - human social behaviour is seen as scripted, with humans as role-taking actors.
Role-taking is a key mechanism of interaction > reflexive awareness of self and others
Role-making a key mechanism of interaction in unaccustomed situations
Improvisational quality of roles, with human social behaviour seen as poorly scripted and with humans as role-making improvisers.
“Just as the actor tries to convince the audience he is Hamlet.”
How do you act differently at home, in schools, with friends?
All the world’s a stage……

14. Evaluation of Symbolic Interactionism
AO3: Where do the symbolic meanings originate? What has created the context in which the symbols, the self and the interactions all exist?
Becker (1963) offers a solution - a labelling theorist who suggested that POWER and powerful groups are able to brand certain activities or individuals with labels, and have done throughout history.
Hall et al - the mugging crisis….
The approach uses qualitative methods of data collection - unstructured interviews and participant observations which rely on the subjective interpretations of the researcher.
Reliability cannot be established as the cases are unique, sample sizes are small…..

15. Social Action and Interpretivist Theories in Sociology
Interpretivists methodology -
Read the information on your sheets (positivist vs interpretivists)
Evaluate the methodology used by Interpretivists and social action theorists.

16. What would the positivists say….
Data is not valid - sociologists need to subjectively interpret meaning, which may be inaccurate and NOT value free
Methods are subjective, impressionistic and unscientific.
What would the interpretivists say….
Verstehen - seeing things from other people’s perspective
Qualitative data is more valid/authentic
Unstructured interviews - can follow up on new insights…..more valid

17. Symbolic Interactionism Summary
Too individualistic
More than one action
Can never be them
2 levels of sociological explanation
4 types of social action
Max Weber
George Mead
Herbert Blumer
Ignores wider social structures
Where do norms come from?
We respond to symbols – not instinctive
Taking the role of the other
Meanings we give to situations
We negotiate meaning through interaction
We use interpretive procedures – the other
Not all is meaningful
Describes but doesn’t explain

18. Phenomenology - The interpretation of meanings
1. Phenomenologists tend to oppose structural theories - there are no ‘hard facts’ about the world.
2. Phenomenologists tend to oppose naturalism (also called objectivism and positivism)
3. Phenomenologists tend to justify cognition - all info about the world is in the human mind.
4. Phenomena are things as they appear to the senses, they are the things that have characteristics in common…
Yes these things physically exist, but only because we have placed a meaning upon them!
Husserl

19. Phenomenology
Schutz – We share meaning and categories with those around us. Categories are typifications.
Some meanings are constrained to their social context.
E.G. Context - raising your hand in class is fine, but raising it in an auction is probably not!!!
Without shared typifications social order would be impossible. Typifications stabilise society, they ensure that we are all ‘speaking from the same page’. We follow these typifications like ’recipe knowledge’ - it is commonsense.

20. Examples of Schutz’ theory and concepts (p229)
Read the example used by Schutz of posting a letter to a bookshop to order a book (pages ).
Now apply the same idea to two other examples. Write out a description of: 
A train journey
Buying a pair of trainers
Include the following terms in your description:
typifications common-sense knowledge
shared meanings taken-for-granted
assumptions

21. Ethnomethodology
Investigating the everyday involves exploring the methods that individuals use to make sense of their social world and accomplish their daily actions.
Interested in how social order is achieved.
Interested in the methods, rituals and rules individuals use to produce meanings - different to interactionists, who focus on the effects of these meanings
Garfinkel was a student of Parsons (Functionalism) and did not agree with his views – He suggested there was no such thing as ‘society’ and that social order is achieved by individuals making effective interpretations

22. Ethnomethodology
Roughly translated as “the study of methods used by people to give meaning to their world”.
There is no real social order - it is fiction. The world seems orders because we make it ordered.
Humans use the ‘documentary method’ - we select certain aspects of the world, define them in a particular way and then see this as evidence of an underlying pattern.
Atkinson’s study of the coroners - deaths were defined as suicide based on the coroners ‘common sense’ theory of suicide - this was then seen as evidence of the pattern of suicide…..but remember, not all deaths should be defined as suicide…..

23. How do we make sense of the world?
Ethnomethodology
How do we make sense of the world?
People are seen as rational actors, but employ practical reasoning rather than formal logic to make sense of and function in society. The theory argues that human society is entirely dependent on these methods of achieving and displaying understanding.
Indexicality – nothing has fixed meaning, everything depends on context. Without shared fixed meaning social order is at threat.
Reflexivity – We cannot take any meaning for granted or fixed. We use our common-sense to construct meaning and order and to prevent indexicality from occurring.
Read how Garfinkel disrupted social order on page 248.
Read how Garfinkel applies reflexivity to suicide

24. Indexicality – nothing has fixed meaning, everything depends on context. Without shared fixed meaning social order is at threat.
Imagine that you are sitting in a café with your friends and you see someone across the road acting ‘strange’.
Your friend turns to you and says ‘that person over there is insane!”
Same scenario - only this time you are at a summer placement in an mental hospital and the person saying this to you is a psychiatrist…..

25. Disrupting social order
Students acted as lodgers in their own home, acting polite and unlike their normal selves.
They challenged reflexivity as the parents felt undermined and confused.
Taken for granted assumptions can be challenged and social order is an accomplishment - actively pursued.

26. Evaluation of ethnomethodology
Where do the norms come from in the first place? Functionalists would argue that norms are social facts not shared fiction
It makes sense to see humans actively using our free will and not as puppets as macro theories suggest
EM suggests individuals identify patterns and create meaning for themselves.
Therefore EMs must also do this – why should we believe their view of reality? – Its their view not ours!
Marxists would argue that ‘common sense knowledge’ is ruling class ideology

27. Duality structure - structures make social action possible
Structuration theory
So far we have considered Structural and Action theories as separate and most often opposite theories.
We have suggested Structural theories are deterministic, seeing society as objective, constraining individuals.
We have also suggested that Action theories are voluntaristic, seeing society as the creation of its members.
Giddens accepts the value of both views and attempts to combine the two into one unified theory – Structuration theory.
Duality structure - structures make social action possible

28. GIDDENS MICRO MACRO LANGUAGE SHOPPING Choice of language
Choice of tone
Choice of format
Use of slang
Born into it
Rules about its use
No freedom of creativity
How is this both micro & macro?
Choice of what to buy Choice of where to shop
Choice to not buy
Currency restrictions
VAT & prices
Who shops where
Legal protection
How is this both micro & macro?

29. Action theories – Synopticity Can you think of an example for each topic area?
Work Poverty Welfare
Education
Global Development
Crime
Instumental action (Weber)
Dealing drugs to make money for clothes
Symbolic interaction (Mead)
The looking glass self (Cooley)
Pupil-subcultures, teacher labels
Stereotypes…..
Role Making (Goffman)
Typifications (Schutz)
Lining up outside a room
Structuration
(Giddens)
Law making/breaking