1. A2 Sociology
Theory and Methods: Structure and Social Action
Concept/ Sociologist Definition/summary How can I remember
Structure
Social Structure Pre-existing social arrangements that
shape behaviour.
Reification Where a society is seen as a thing that
exists and acts independently of individual
action.
Ideology A system of ideas or ways of thinking.
Diachronic The part of language people actually write
and say.
Synchronic The structure of language – the rules
governing language.
Oppositions Opposites such as good and evil.
Sociological Dualisms.
Semiotics The study of signs.
Durkheim
Marx
Ferdinand de Saussure
Claude Levi-Strauss
Social Action
Traditional Action Action carried out because of custom or
habit (buying gifts at Christmas).
Affective action Action influenced by an emotional state
(such as crying at a funeral).
Rational value-orientated Action that is leads by an overriding idea or
action vale. If a person is committed to a religion
then it is rational to pray.
Rational goal-orientated People calculate the likely results of
action behaviour in relation to a goal. E.g. A
student may put more effort into one
teachers essay because they are the
teacher that writes their report.
Disempowers Depriving a person of power. `
Generalisability Can it be applied to all, or is it generalised
to all?
Typification A shared concept

2. A2 Sociology
Theory and Methods: Structure and Social Action
Documentary model The method used by members of society to
make sense of the world around them.
Reflexivity A term used by Garfinkel, explaining events
in terms of underlying patterns and using
these explanations to justify the existence
of those patterns.
Giddens used it in a different way, to
explain the ability humans had to monitor
and reflect their own actions and choose
new actions.
Indexicality The meaning of an action is derived from
the context in which it takes place.
Meaning What meaning can be created in society
regarding signs and individual action.
Transferability
Verstehen Signifies the "understanding" and
"interpretation" of meaning in human
activities.
Weber
Ritzer (2004)
Self and the Sociology
of everyday life
Self A reflective process of who we are.
Role The parts that people play or social
positions they hold, such as teacher. Roles
have particular expectations. You can have
an onstage role (such as a lawyer) and a
backstage role (such as family man).
However, further analysis could argue that
family man is still an onstage role and that
there never really is a backstage role.
Role taking Where people place themselves in the
position of others and take on their roles
to engage in interaction.
Labelling theory Labelling someone and the self fulfilling
prophecy can occur.
Dramaturgical analogy Theatre is an analogy of everyday life
(Goffman).
Ethnomethodology More micro than Interactionism. Looks at
what methods people use for creating social
order. It asks what makes interaction and

3. A2 Sociology
Theory and Methods: Structure and Social Action
shared meaning possible?
Mead
Goffman
Becker
Garfinkel (1967)
Structure agency, or
both?
Agency Ability to act independently of structure.
Structuration theory A theory that suggests that society is
produced and reproduced through the
activities of people.
Subjective Biased, based on personal opinion.
Life world The everyday world of action where people
try to arrive at a common agreement.
Duality of structure Action and structure are a two way process
looking at the same thing. Structures are
produced by action and to choose new
courses of action.
Giddens
Habermas