Social action and interactionist theories and postmodernism, including symbolic interactionism, phenomenology, ethnomethodology, Weber's social action theory and the structure-action debate.

What this dot point is asking

AQA wants you to explain social action and interactionist theories (and postmodernism), how they differ from structural theories, and the structure-action debate about whether society shapes individuals or individuals create society. The examiner rewards precise use of the named interactionist concepts and an awareness that Weber and Giddens try to bridge the divide.

Weber: combining structure and action

Weber argued a full explanation needs both the level of structure (the "level of cause", the social conditions shaping action) and the level of action (the "level of meaning", grasped through verstehen). He distinguished four ideal types of social action: instrumentally rational (efficient means to a goal), value-rational (action for its own sake, in line with a value, such as prayer), traditional (habitual, customary) and affectual (driven by emotion). Critics (Schutz) argue Weber's account of meaning is too individualistic and ignores the shared nature of meanings.

Symbolic interactionism

• Cooley: the "looking-glass self", our self-image is a reflection of how we believe others see us, built up through interaction.
• Goffman: the dramaturgical model, social life is like theatre, with people managing impressions through "front-stage" performances and "back-stage" preparation (impression management).
• Labelling theory (Becker, Lemert) is an applied interactionism, central to the crime and education topics.

Phenomenology and ethnomethodology

• Phenomenology (Schutz): the social world has no inherent meaning; it exists only as a shared set of categories and meanings. We make sense of experience through shared "typifications" (Husserl and Schutz), without which communication and order would be impossible.
• Ethnomethodology (Garfinkel): social order is not a fixed external structure but is actively accomplished moment to moment by people using "commonsense knowledge". "Breaching experiments" (deliberately breaking unspoken rules) reveal the hidden methods people use to construct and maintain a sense of order.

Postmodernism

Postmodernism rejects the structural "grand narratives" (meta-narratives) of functionalism and Marxism.

• Lyotard: there are no longer any reliable meta-narratives; knowledge is fragmented, relative and a matter of competing "language games".
• Baudrillard: society is media-saturated, dominated by signs and "hyperreality", where the image or simulation replaces the reality it once represented.
• Identity is increasingly chosen through consumption and lifestyle rather than fixed by class, so the old structural categories lose their grip.

The structure-action debate and evaluation

The structure-action (agency) debate asks whether society shapes individuals (structural theories) or individuals create society (action theories). Giddens' structuration theory argues the two are a "duality": social structures both constrain action and are continually reproduced (and sometimes changed) by that action, so neither comes first. Action theories are criticised for neglecting structure and power (where do meanings and labels come from, and who has the power to impose them), and postmodernism for being self-contradictory (its claim that there are no meta-narratives is itself a meta-narrative) and for downplaying continuing inequality.