SOCIOLOGY PROJECT 1St

TRIMESTER

NATIONAL LAW INSTITUTE

UNIVERSITY
BHOPAL

SOCIAL ACTION

SUBMITTED BY: -

SUBMITTED TO:DEEPAK KANERIYA

MOHANTY
ROLL NO. 2012 B.A.LL.B 76

DR. TAPAN R.

Table of Contents

1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3

2. METHODOLOGY& AIM &OBJECTIVE4

3. INTRODUCTION5-6

4. WHAT ARE SOCIAL ACTIONS7

5. TYPE OF SOCIAL ACTION..8

6. CONCLUSION.9
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY ..10

ACKNOWLEDGEMNT

would

like

to

thank

my

Sociology

teacher

mr.Tapan

R.

Mohanty,

(Associate Professor of Sociology) for allowing me to pick up such an interesting topic. I

would also like to thank my seniors as well as my friends for providing valuable inputs
during the course of this project.

METHODOLOGY:- Studying and preparing a detailed project on the social

action In sociological perspective.

AIMS &OBJECTIVE:The aim to making this project is to understand the concept of social action in sociology which is
given and propounded by max waber. social action can draw the true picture of community
bonding, and to understand this concept I prepare this project.

INTRODUCTION:Sociology in the sense of which ambiguous words is used as a science concerning itself with the
interpretive understanding of social action and thereby with a casual explanation of its course and
consequences. We shall speak of action in so far as the acting individual attaches a subjective
meaning to his behavior be it overt or covert omission or acquiescence. Action is social in so far
as its subjective measuring takes account of the behavior of others and is thereby oriented in its
course.

Social action is that part of Sociology that shows collective human action independent of
its content. By studying social action we can understand the human approach to done any
work with some common intention of some common goal .without reference to any
specific time or place. We can understand the concept of social action with the help of a
very familiar example which we see in our day to day life.
EXAMPLE:

The eleven players on a soccer team who coordinate their movements on the field
until they succeed in getting the ball into the opposite goal, or who prevent, also
among all of them, the ball from entering their own goal.

The bureaucrats in one of the offices of a Revenue Service, handle the same
paperwork on a daily basis, either they send it through a normal channel, or they
decide that some particular form needs to be sent to management in order to be
dealt with appropriately. The ritual marriage between crossed cousins that an
African tribe celebrates every two generations, etc

The action theory is not concerned about the things that human beings do, rather it looks
at the way in which they do them
Our Species isn't the only one that survives through collective action. Much lower on the
evolutionary scale of living creatures some types of insects are also deserving the term of
social. Actually they are far more social than we will ever be. For more than 50 million
years, there have been bee colonies.
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It is also clear that the way in which we create our society, our manner of combining
individual actions, is not the same method practiced by insect species. Bees have their
way of being social, each variety of ants has its way .

SOCIAL ACTIONS:The concept was primarily developed in the non-positivist theory of Max Weber to
observe how human behaviors relate to cause and effect in the social realm. For Weber,
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sociology is the study of society and behavior and must therefore look at the heart of
interaction. The theory of social action, more than structural functionalist positions,
accepts and assumes that humans vary their actions according to social contexts and how
it will affect other people; when a potential reaction is not desirable, the action is
modified accordingly. Action can mean either a basic action (one that has a meaning) or
an advanced social action, which not only has a meaning but is directed at other actors
and causes action (or, perhaps, inaction)
Weber believed that sociology was a study of social action.
Max Weber believed that it was social actions that should be the focus of study in
sociology. To Weber, a social action was an action carried out by an individual to which
an individual attached a meaning.
The social action theory was founded by Max Weber. There are two main types of
sociological theories.

The first is the structural or macro theory

And other is social action, interpretive or micro perspectives.

Weber was mastermind behind social action theory.

As the micro name suggests, social action perspectives examine smaller groups within
society they are also concerned with the subjective states of individuals.

Therefore, an action that a person does not think about cannot be a social action. Eg. An
accidental collision of bicycles is not a social action as they are not a result of any
conscious thought process. On the other hand, a wood cutter cutting wood has a motive,
an intention behind that action. It is therefore a social action.
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In social action theory, Weber believes that bureaucratic organizations are the dominant
institutions in society. Weber believes that bureaucracies (institutions) consist of
individuals carrying out rational social actions designed to achieve the goals of
bureaucracies.
Weber views the whole development of modern societies in terms of a move towards
rational social action. Thus, modern societies are undergoing the process of
rationalization.
Weber argues that all human action is directed by meanings. He identified various types
of action that are distinguished by the meanings on which they are based:

Traditional action -this is based on established custom; people act in a certain way
because of built-in habits: they have always done things that way. Rational action
involves a clear awareness of a goal.

Rational action- rational action may be value-oriented (they may act from
emotional or affective motivations; or, finally, they may engage in traditional
action. Purposeful rationality, in which both goal and means are rationally chosen,
is exemplified by the engineer who builds a bridge by the most efficient technique
of relating means to ends.

Evaluative actions- In terms of rational orientation to an absolute value; involving

a conscious belief in the absolute value of some ethical, aesthetic, religious or
other form of behavior entirely for its own sake and independently of any
prospects of external success.

Emotional actions- In terms of effectual orientation especially emotional

determined by the specific affects and state of feeling of the actors.
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CONCLUSION:From the above theory of waber definitions and type of social action and their definitions we can
clearly understand the meaning of social actions. now we can define social action as collective
efforts made by group of people to achieve a common goal, these actions is known as social
action.
Social actions are always important because, their relation to human being as well as society is
unquestionably very important.
in a healthy community, social action promotes the values of social justice and human rights.
individual and systemic advocacy are the tools and the means for social action that is activism.
Activists, as individuals and as part of organized movements, have always led social change.

There are sympathetic politicians, bureaucrats and decision makers, but they work in a milieu that
has shifted towards privatization, maximum profit, costs versus care, and they are heavily
influenced by polls. We are in a new federal regime that is receiving the message that we like
what they are doing and we have to change that.
Social action and ultimately social change is all about mobilizing our social movements, our faith
communities, our labour organizations, bringing all kinds of people together, united in the
common cause, which are the values of social justice and human rights.

The social action is to examine how and why particular individuals and groups are
defined as deviant where deviance can be defined as behavior that does not follow the
norms of a particular social group. Such a definition may impact their future actions
within society. Social action has been viewed by professional social workers as a means
for improving mass conditions, enhancing social welfare, solving mass problems,
influencing basic social conditions and policies out of which arise the problems of social
adjustment and maladjustment; and changing the environment

BIBLIOGRAPHY:1. http://www.sociologyguide.com
2. http://www.wikipedia.org
3. http://www.Historylearning.co.uk

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