They also focus on how human action is meaningful and can be interpreted by an observer. Therefore they take an opposite approach to structural theories and believe individuals have the ability to create society through choice, meaning and action. Symbolic interactionism is concerned with explaining social actions in terms of the meanings that people give to them. Interactions are based on meanings we give to situations. We express these meanings through symbols, especially language.
In this lens it is taught to focus on the processes, and the systems needed for an ethical organization. The difference between the first two lens discussed is that the Right and Responsibility Lens, and the Results lens focused on the individual, the Relationship lens focuses on the community. However in the relationship lens it has a few more concerns, such as how to protect the basic liberties of all people. These liberties are broken down into rights such as; The right to notice, The right to voice, not to veto, The right to have contracts honored. The Relationship Lens helped influence my decision by giving us a process by which basic liberties can be protected.
According to Coon (1997) the position results in a social role whereas certain behavior is expected with these given position. An important part of a group is its norms. The norms act as conduct guidelines for members. During interaction group members have a direct impact on one another’s behavior. Social influence includes a variation in ideas, beliefs, attitudes, or behavior as a result of interacting (Fiske, 2010).
As societal patterns change and influence everyone and everything around them, they may not affect many as badly as they affect others. We therefore need the ability to see things through other people’s perspectives, to understand their point of view and how society affects it. This is done by using ones “Sociological Imagination” otherwise known as your sociological perspective. It enables us to see life through the eyes of others and understand where they are coming from. C. Wright Mills wrote that the task of sociology is to understand the relationship between an individual and the society they live in.
Assess the usefulness of interactionist approaches to society. (33 marks) Interactionists are bottom up theories that believe society should be understood and researched on a micro scale. They argue our actions and ideas in society are not determined by society, but through us having the ability to act as free agents creating and shaping society through meanings and actions individuals give to things. Through interactions we give meanings to different situations. The first sociologists who views society in this way was Max Weber.
People are socialized into roles and behaviours which fulfill the needs of society. Functionalists believe that behaviour in society is structural. They believe that rules and regulations help
An account is given of the application of the theory and how the various structures within society functions for the good and benefit of the whole as well as a reflection on the relevance of the theory in modern society. 1. Definition of structural functionalism Structural functionalism can be defined as, "…an idea of society being likened to a holistic, integrated system, but with a much stronger emphasis on the self perpetuation of the system which implies that the social institutions, which collectively form a social structure, function to maintain the harmony of the social whole."
These big ideas can be categorized under social thinking, social influence, or social relations. The idea that we construct our social reality falls under social thinking, it describes the natural human urge to explain behavior, by attempting to attribute it to a cause, in order to make it seem orderly, predictable, and controllable (Myers, 2010). According to social psychology our social intuitions are powerful and sometimes perilous, suggesting that the human ability to understand something immediately, molds or influences behavior because it also shapes fears, attitudes, impressions, and relationships (Myers, 2010). It is also believed that social influences shape behavior as does behavior shape social influences. Myers (2010) provides an example as to how behavior is shaped by social influences making humans social creatures, “We speak and think in words we learned from others (Social psychology, p. 7).
Thus, it can be said that there is an element of predictability in social life. Fulfilment of expectations of persons in roles is possible when there is some consistency in their interactions, Social order implies persistence. Meanings of social order are logically and empirically related, therefore, a society is an organisation of the human relationships which constitute social structure. The ordering of human lives in terms a matrix of social expectations comprises all of the distinctively human qualities of social behaviour. Social order is based on learning i.e.
Studying Human Society: The Sociological Approach 1. Describe one similarity and two differences between structural and action theories. (187 Words) When comparing Structural theories, such as Marxism, Functionalism and Feminism(s), and Social Action theories such as Interactionist theory, we see there is a similarity in their foundation desire to understand and interpret the roles and behaviour of people in society. However, when considering contrasts within these theories we see marked differences; for example, structural theories are deterministic, believing people to be the products of the society they live in, their status the result of social prescriptivism. Whereas, action theorists expressly believe we have free-will and are capable of choosing our own path; that society should be and is defined by the opinions and actions of those individuals who form it.