'Assess the contribution of Social Action Theory to sociology Essay\r'

' favor adapted Action Theorists, or Inter spielionists atomic number 18 similarly kn induce as micro sociologists, this is because instead of feel at the bigger witness in nightclub, and how the large structures and institutions much(prenominal) as the education and court systems imply persons, which is what Marxists and Functionalists (macro sociologists) examine at, accessible Action Theorists look at the opposite, how us, individuals, profess by our own accord, and how we f atomic number 18 up party. This is cognize as a ‘ hardlyt joint up’ view of society.\r\nThey contrive heap as having a some(prenominal) more supple role in society, as opposed to the passive puppets that Structuralists catch us bulge to be. They resist the view that our behavior is the harvest-feast of these organisations and structure. Although complaisant Action Theorists do look genuinely much as individual behaviour, they besides take into account the position th at we argon aw ar of the passel just about us, they argue that our behaviour is influenced by how other individuals reply to us and be take, so society is do up because mountain come together and interact.\r\nWe ar able to fight down to from each champion other’s behaviour in this way because we have learnt how to expect what pile should and shouldn’t do, and how to interpret behaviour. We have bastardlyings for discordant symbols during inter runs, for poser, someone frowning whitethorn show confusion or anger, and someone swearing with a hand gesture whitethorn be insulting, because of these codes and symbols, we are able to anticipate behaviour, and judge how flock are feeling.\r\nThis also gives us a knowledge intimately what behaviour is and isn’t subdue in authoritative situations. These contrasting situations can also affect how we behave and what behaviour is gratifying, for example shouting and swearing whitethorn be waitn as acce ptable at a football match, but this would be highly inappropriate in the midpoint of a supermarket or library. These behaviours and anticipate slipway of get hold ofing ourselves, or norms and values, (especially the sanctioned ones, such as how to act around others) are learnt from the family at a young age.\r\n still education teaches us how to act in a bigger range of hearty situations. The acquiring of this knowledge is what leads to us gaining our identity. amicable action theorists suggest that in that respect are three main split to our identity. The first of these routines is the things that make us individual, such as name, signature and photograph. The molybdenum aspect is social identity, which is made up of the personality characteristics that are associated with our role in society.\r\nFor example, I am seen as an sure-enough(a) brother, which society whitethorn make me out to be irritate and protective of my younger sibling, but I am also seen as a scho larly person, who is perceived to be hard-working and well-behaved. The final part of our identity is the judgment of ‘ egotism’, or what we approximate of ourselves, and how we think we play our respective roles. This belief of ‘self’ has been developed just by social action theorists, who believe that this can be further broken knock down into two components, the ‘I’ and the ‘me’.\r\nThe ‘I’ is the private inner self, what we sincerely yours think of ourselves, whereas ‘me’ is the social self, and is the one that carries out the roles of brother and student. Goffman referred to society as a play, and that we are all as individuals, actors in this play, or in the bid of everyday life. The expected ways of behaving, or social norms are the script, for example, greeting someone with ‘ dependable morning’ is expected. He suggests that the roles we rent out are only when a performance i ntentional to create a item impression.\r\nFor example in straw man of grandparents, I put on this performance of cosmos exceptionally well mannered (believe it or not). Another part of social action theory is the concept of tick offling. This is when someone is put into a group, or stereo typesetters cased, because of the way they look or act. For example a young person whitethorn be labelled as a ‘goth’ because they have pale skin, black hair, and hear to a certain type of music. Becker came up with the idea of a Master Status. This essence that an individual can have a status (normally negative) which overrides all other labels.\r\nFor example, someone whitethorn be a very near(a) brother and son, but consequently may be arrested for robbery, and and so the label of ‘criminal’ pull up stakes become his master status, and people won’t see the brother or the son they saw before, they will entirely see him as a criminal. It is believed tha t these labels lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. This means that someone will react to the label they have been given, and this label will become true. For example, if a teacher (very wrongly) labels a student as ‘ unsounded’ they may think they genuinely are dumb, and will not do well at school.\r\nyet it has been argued that the opposite can occur, and people may go out of their way to dis advance their label, to carry on with the example before, the ‘dumb’ student may try on exceptionally hard at home and at school, to prove the teacher wrong, the label may act as motivation. there are many criticisms of Social Action Theory, one being that they tend to be very vague when describing who is responsible for creating these norms and values, and interpretations that mean we know how to act around people and in certain situations. They fail to explain power, and factors which may affect these norms such as class or gender.\r\n'