Topic 8 (Action Theories) Outline and explain two concepts that symbolic interactionists use to understand social life (10)In-depth essay guaranteed to get you top marks!
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Evaluate the contribution of action approaches in our understanding of social behaviour (20
marks)
One of the key debates in sociology is seen in the clear divide between those sociologists
who take a structural approach (macro, top-down)- whereby institutions are of society are
seen as determining social behaviour in which we are ‘passive puppets’ and those who take
the view that social behaviour is not determined by society, rather we are free agents
(bottom-up, micro-level).
Para 1
One major branch of action theory is symbolic interactionism which focuses on the meanings
we attach to the world. One particular interactionist idea of the looking glass self. This
concept, developed by Cooley, suggests that an individual’s own identity or sense of self is
created by their interactions with other people.
All of us have the idea at the back of our heads of the ‘generalised other’-which is
fundamentally what society expects of us following the underlying norms and values
associated with different roles in society.
Within crime and deviance Lemert talks about the concept of secondary deviance where
being publicly labelled as a criminal can involve being stigmatised, shamed, humiliated and
shunned and eventually they adopt the criminal label whereby it becomes their ‘master
status’ and this criminal identity overrides all the others.
This is similar to within Education where interactionist ideas of teacher labelling can lead to
boys feeling negatively labelled thus resulting in gender divide in achievement where boys
perform worse.
Whilst this could be accused of determinism- implication that individual human beings have
no free will and cannot be held morally responsible for their actions symbolic interactionist
would point out our social roles can be reinterpreted in many different ways. Nelson Mandela
was once regarded as a terrorist and now a highly influential activist similarly someone’s son
may be a criminal master but to his parents, relatives and siblings this person’s actions can
be understood in many ways. It comes down to using verstehen to fully comprehend actions.
Para 2
Weber argues that not all action is meaningful. In Weber’s view much action is performed
unconsciously or routinely so it may have little to no meaning for actors. Similarly, it cannot
explain consistent patterns we observe in people’s behaviour.
Para 3
A second concept of action theories and symbolic interactionism to understand behaviour
and actions is Goffman’s dramaturgical theory. This is closely linked to the idea of labelling
as mentioned above. The dramaturgical theory argues that people play roles in society, like
actors on a stage. When we play a particular role in society, we are conscious of the part we
are playing and sometimes is like following a script.
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