Assess the contribution of social action theory to our understanding of how society operates
For years, social action theorists have sought out to understand how society operates. Unlike structuralists for example Marxists, action theorists are a micro level approach where they find the study of the individual and their interactions within society more important to our understanding. Action theorists are more voluntaristic, they believe that individuals possess agency where they have the ability to be free agents in themselves and in shaping society.
Max Weber is well known within sociology as one of the founding fathers. He believes that over-generalisation should be avoided as much as possible and we should understand human action, hence ‘social action theory’. Weber contributed four ideal types that should be used to study particular situations; traditional action, affective action, rational value-oriented action and rational goal-oriented action. Weber’s approach of these four different ideal types led him to methodological individualism, this is a focal point on how people interact in social situations and how these interactions are not determined by a social structure but by the individuals response to the situation that develops society and is what keeps society operating.
However, Weber’s approach to society has been criticised on a couple of grounds. Phenomenologist, Schutz argued against Weber for him being too individualistic in his views of societal interaction. This is because Schutz argues that it cannot explain the shared natures of meanings that society has and therefore the deeper meanings that people label particular actions too cannot be uncovered. For example, within the education system when a child raises their hand in class they mean to answer a question, however Schutz states that Weber fails to develop how the child’s peers come to have a collective meaning to the hand-raising. Weber has also been criticised for using verstehen because this implies that we can put yourself in another individual's place, when in actual fact we
Max Weber is well known within sociology as one of the founding fathers. He believes that over-generalisation should be avoided as much as possible and we should understand human action, hence ‘social action theory’. Weber contributed four ideal types that should be used to study particular situations; traditional action, affective action, rational value-oriented action and rational goal-oriented action. Weber’s approach of these four different ideal types led him to methodological individualism, this is a focal point on how people interact in social situations and how these interactions are not determined by a social structure but by the individuals response to the situation that develops society and is what keeps society operating.
However, Weber’s approach to society has been criticised on a couple of grounds. Phenomenologist, Schutz argued against Weber for him being too individualistic in his views of societal interaction. This is because Schutz argues that it cannot explain the shared natures of meanings that society has and therefore the deeper meanings that people label particular actions too cannot be uncovered. For example, within the education system when a child raises their hand in class they mean to answer a question, however Schutz states that Weber fails to develop how the child’s peers come to have a collective meaning to the hand-raising. Weber has also been criticised for using verstehen because this implies that we can put yourself in another individual's place, when in actual fact we