Evaluate the view that the social action theories are better suited than structural theories for understanding
society. (20 marks)
Intro Unlike structural theories, action theories are micro-level approaches that see society as constructed by
members’ interactions and meanings. Weber’s social action theory believes social behaviour should be
understood through the level of cause and the level of meaning. Symbolic interactionism sees us as
creating meanings through interactions in which we take the role of the other.
P1 POINT:
Weber believed to have a deeper understanding of human behaviour you need to consider both the
structural and action approaches. In this sense, Weber’s analysis of society explains how the two levels
interplay with and influence each other.
KNOWLEDGE & APPLICATION:
To gain a full understanding of human behaviour, the sociological explanation involves two levels:
1) The level of cause.
2) The level of meaning.
Weber identified four types of action associated with human behaviour:
- Instrumentally rational action : The actor finds the most efficient means of achieving a goal.
- Value rational action : The action towards a goal that is desirable for one’s own sake.
- Traditional action : Customs, habitual actions, which are often automatic.
- Affectual action : An action which expresses emotion.
EVALUATION:
- Structuralist criticism: Over-estimating the capacity of individuals to change social structures
in society and under-estimating the constraints on individual choices of action.
- Marxist criticism: Marxists today would point to the widening inequality that exists as proof
that social action theories focus on small scale matters whilst ignoring some of the most
crucial issues such as power, poverty and inequality which can only be understood by looking
at the social structures of society.
LINK: Weber's social action theory suggests that social action theories are better suited for
understanding society because they focus on the meanings and intentions behind individual actions,
allowing for a deeper understanding of human behaviour, whereas structural theories may overlook the
agency and subjective experiences that shape social life.
P2 POINT:
Symbolic interactionism focuses on how we create the social world through our interactions. Symbolic
interactionism tends to focus on the language and symbols that help us give meaning to the
experiences in our life.
KNOWLEDGE & APPLICATION:
- The looking-glass self
The looking glass self - self-concept comes from the ability to take the role of the other. This allows us
to see ourselves as others see us. This leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy: we become as others see us.
Our label becomes part of our self-concept. (Cooley)
Mead - We create our world through actions and interactions
Based on meanings we give to situations.
- Our behaviour is not fixed, we give meanings to the things which are important to us by
attaching symbols to the world.
- When something happens, we embark on an interpretive phase before responding to it, in
order to select an appropriate response (for instance, if someone makes a hand gesture at you,
you interpret whether this was out of anger or as a joke).
- We work out meanings by taking the role of the other - to function in society, we must see
ourselves as others do which helps us share symbols and language to act as others require us
to.
Goffman’s dramaturgical model
● Actively constructing ourselves through manipulating other people's impressions of us
● Uses the analogy of drama to analyse social interaction: we are actors who use scripts and
props with the aim of giving a convincing performance
● We seek to control the presentation of self - give people a particular impression of us. To do
this we must control our impression management
, ● Our roles are interchangeable - there are backstage roles where we can be ourselves, and front
stage roles where we act out roles.
EVALUATION:
- Structural Functionalists criticism: Parsons criticised because they fail to recognise structural
constraints on human behaviour. Eg how family, culture, and education can shape and
constrain human behaviour (organic analogy) and these all influence how we see ourselves in
relation to others.
- It has shown functionalist and Marxist theories of society are too deterministic; they
over-emphasise the wider social influence society has over the individual.
LINK:
The symbolic interactionist perspective supports the idea that social action theories are better suited for
understanding society, as they focus on the meanings, symbols, and interactions that individuals create
in everyday life, offering a more nuanced understanding of social behaviour than the broad,
deterministic focus of structural theories.
P3 POINT:
Labelling theory is part of symbolic interactionist theory but concentrates on how organisations such
as the police, schools and hospitals socially construct labels (often of a deviant and negative kind) and
the impact this has on the individual. Labelling theorists are also interested in why some people
become labelled as deviant and others do not.
KNOWLEDGE & APPLICATION:
- Selective labelling
Becker identifies power as the main reason why some people are assigned a negative label.
Becker argues powerless groups are more likely to be labelled than powerful groups. This is because
the more powerful and dominant groups in society, such as the courts and the police, can create
deviant labels and apply them to certain groups of people, e.g. the working-class, the weak and the
powerless.
- Self-fulfilling prophecy
Once labelled, this often affects the perception an individual has of him or herself - they start to
perceive themselves in terms of the label given (e.g. a criminal) and behave accordingly. The process
of labelling leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy - the label applied to the individual becomes true and the
initial suspicion is confirmed as to the type of person they are.
The consequences of labelling can have a negative impact, especially in education and in dealing with
crime. The process of labelling and the creation of a self-fulfilling prophecy mean social control by
agencies, far from preventing crime, can cause or amplify (increase) any deviant behaviour.
EVALUATION:
- They can be applied to real life and provide insight into how the construction of meaning
through interaction has consequences for the individual. For example, how the process of
labelling in education can generate a self-fulfilling prophecy of success and failure, and how
the labelling of someone as deviant can lead to deviant behaviour.
- Feminist criticism: Underestimates or ignores the distribution of power in society. Not
everyone has the same chance of getting their definition or classification of others to stick.
Feminists such as Firestone would also argue they do not recognise the role that patriarchy
plays in shaping inequality.
LINK:
Labelling theory supports the view that social action theories are better suited for understanding
society, as it emphasises how individuals' behaviours and identities are shaped by societal labels and
interactions, highlighting the role of agency and social processes in defining deviance, rather than
relying on deterministic structural explanations.
Conc Social action theories focus on individual agency, offering deeper insight into personal motivations
l and interactions. Structural theories emphasise societal forces shaping behaviour but may overlook
individual agency. A balanced approach, integrating both perspectives, provides a more
comprehensive understanding of society, acknowledging both structure and individual actions.
society. (20 marks)
Intro Unlike structural theories, action theories are micro-level approaches that see society as constructed by
members’ interactions and meanings. Weber’s social action theory believes social behaviour should be
understood through the level of cause and the level of meaning. Symbolic interactionism sees us as
creating meanings through interactions in which we take the role of the other.
P1 POINT:
Weber believed to have a deeper understanding of human behaviour you need to consider both the
structural and action approaches. In this sense, Weber’s analysis of society explains how the two levels
interplay with and influence each other.
KNOWLEDGE & APPLICATION:
To gain a full understanding of human behaviour, the sociological explanation involves two levels:
1) The level of cause.
2) The level of meaning.
Weber identified four types of action associated with human behaviour:
- Instrumentally rational action : The actor finds the most efficient means of achieving a goal.
- Value rational action : The action towards a goal that is desirable for one’s own sake.
- Traditional action : Customs, habitual actions, which are often automatic.
- Affectual action : An action which expresses emotion.
EVALUATION:
- Structuralist criticism: Over-estimating the capacity of individuals to change social structures
in society and under-estimating the constraints on individual choices of action.
- Marxist criticism: Marxists today would point to the widening inequality that exists as proof
that social action theories focus on small scale matters whilst ignoring some of the most
crucial issues such as power, poverty and inequality which can only be understood by looking
at the social structures of society.
LINK: Weber's social action theory suggests that social action theories are better suited for
understanding society because they focus on the meanings and intentions behind individual actions,
allowing for a deeper understanding of human behaviour, whereas structural theories may overlook the
agency and subjective experiences that shape social life.
P2 POINT:
Symbolic interactionism focuses on how we create the social world through our interactions. Symbolic
interactionism tends to focus on the language and symbols that help us give meaning to the
experiences in our life.
KNOWLEDGE & APPLICATION:
- The looking-glass self
The looking glass self - self-concept comes from the ability to take the role of the other. This allows us
to see ourselves as others see us. This leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy: we become as others see us.
Our label becomes part of our self-concept. (Cooley)
Mead - We create our world through actions and interactions
Based on meanings we give to situations.
- Our behaviour is not fixed, we give meanings to the things which are important to us by
attaching symbols to the world.
- When something happens, we embark on an interpretive phase before responding to it, in
order to select an appropriate response (for instance, if someone makes a hand gesture at you,
you interpret whether this was out of anger or as a joke).
- We work out meanings by taking the role of the other - to function in society, we must see
ourselves as others do which helps us share symbols and language to act as others require us
to.
Goffman’s dramaturgical model
● Actively constructing ourselves through manipulating other people's impressions of us
● Uses the analogy of drama to analyse social interaction: we are actors who use scripts and
props with the aim of giving a convincing performance
● We seek to control the presentation of self - give people a particular impression of us. To do
this we must control our impression management
, ● Our roles are interchangeable - there are backstage roles where we can be ourselves, and front
stage roles where we act out roles.
EVALUATION:
- Structural Functionalists criticism: Parsons criticised because they fail to recognise structural
constraints on human behaviour. Eg how family, culture, and education can shape and
constrain human behaviour (organic analogy) and these all influence how we see ourselves in
relation to others.
- It has shown functionalist and Marxist theories of society are too deterministic; they
over-emphasise the wider social influence society has over the individual.
LINK:
The symbolic interactionist perspective supports the idea that social action theories are better suited for
understanding society, as they focus on the meanings, symbols, and interactions that individuals create
in everyday life, offering a more nuanced understanding of social behaviour than the broad,
deterministic focus of structural theories.
P3 POINT:
Labelling theory is part of symbolic interactionist theory but concentrates on how organisations such
as the police, schools and hospitals socially construct labels (often of a deviant and negative kind) and
the impact this has on the individual. Labelling theorists are also interested in why some people
become labelled as deviant and others do not.
KNOWLEDGE & APPLICATION:
- Selective labelling
Becker identifies power as the main reason why some people are assigned a negative label.
Becker argues powerless groups are more likely to be labelled than powerful groups. This is because
the more powerful and dominant groups in society, such as the courts and the police, can create
deviant labels and apply them to certain groups of people, e.g. the working-class, the weak and the
powerless.
- Self-fulfilling prophecy
Once labelled, this often affects the perception an individual has of him or herself - they start to
perceive themselves in terms of the label given (e.g. a criminal) and behave accordingly. The process
of labelling leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy - the label applied to the individual becomes true and the
initial suspicion is confirmed as to the type of person they are.
The consequences of labelling can have a negative impact, especially in education and in dealing with
crime. The process of labelling and the creation of a self-fulfilling prophecy mean social control by
agencies, far from preventing crime, can cause or amplify (increase) any deviant behaviour.
EVALUATION:
- They can be applied to real life and provide insight into how the construction of meaning
through interaction has consequences for the individual. For example, how the process of
labelling in education can generate a self-fulfilling prophecy of success and failure, and how
the labelling of someone as deviant can lead to deviant behaviour.
- Feminist criticism: Underestimates or ignores the distribution of power in society. Not
everyone has the same chance of getting their definition or classification of others to stick.
Feminists such as Firestone would also argue they do not recognise the role that patriarchy
plays in shaping inequality.
LINK:
Labelling theory supports the view that social action theories are better suited for understanding
society, as it emphasises how individuals' behaviours and identities are shaped by societal labels and
interactions, highlighting the role of agency and social processes in defining deviance, rather than
relying on deterministic structural explanations.
Conc Social action theories focus on individual agency, offering deeper insight into personal motivations
l and interactions. Structural theories emphasise societal forces shaping behaviour but may overlook
individual agency. A balanced approach, integrating both perspectives, provides a more
comprehensive understanding of society, acknowledging both structure and individual actions.
