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SAGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL SOCIOLOGY Editorial Board, 1980-85 Fernando Cardoso (President of the ISA), CEBRAP, Brazil Margaret Archer (Chairperson, ISA Publications Committee and Editorial Board), University of Warwick, UK Celine Saint-Pierre (Chairperson, SSIS Editorial Board), a Universite du Quebec Montreal, Canada Akinsola Akiwowo, University of Ife, Nigeria Syed Hussein Alatas, University of Singapore, Singapore Erik Allardt, University of Helsinki, Finland Samir Amin, CODESRIA, Senegal Michel Bassand, Universite de Lausanne, Switzerland James Beckford (Editor of Current Sociology! La Sociologie Contemporaine), Durham University, UK Manuel Castells, University of California, Berkeley, USA Michael Cernea, World Bank, USA Suma Chitnis, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India Orlando Fals Borda, Bogotd, Colombia Lim Teck Ghee, University Sains Malaysia, Malaysia Anthony Giddens, King's College, Cambridge, UK MarieR. Haug, Case Western Reserve University, USA Artur Meier, Academy of Educational Sciences, German Democratic Republic Gennadiy Osipov, Institute for Sociological Research, USSR Alejandro Partes, The Johns Hopkins University, USA Peta Sheriff, McMaster University, Canada Joji Watanuki, Sophia University, Japan Anton C. Zijderveld, Tilburg University, The Netherlands Micro-Sociological Theory Perspectives on Sociological Theory Volume 2 Edited by H.J. Helle and S.N. Eisenstadt ~ SAGE Studies in International Sociology 34 ~ sponsored by the International Sociological Association/ISA Copyright© 1985 by the International Sociological Association!ISA All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publishers. For information address SAGE Publications Ltd 28 Banner Street London EC1 Y 8QE SAGE Publications Inc 275 South Beverly Drive Beverly Hills, California 90212 SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd C-236 Defence Colony New Delhi 110 024 British Library Cataloguing In Publication Data Perspectives on sociological theory,-(Sage studies in international sociology; v. 33-34) 1. Sociology I. Eisenstadt, S.N. II. Helle, H.J. 301'.01 HM24 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 85-050094 ISBN <4039--9714-{) (V.2) ISBN <4039--9715-9 (V.2) Pbk Reprinted 1986 Printed by J.W. Arrowsmith Ltd., Bristol, UK. Contents • Table of Contents of Micro-Sociological Theory vi General introduction to perspectives on sociological theory S.N. Eisenstadt and H.J. Helle vii Introduction to micro-sociological theory H.J. Helle 1 1 The classical foundations of micro-sociological paradigms H.~&& 9 2 Unanswered questions in the convergence between structuralist and interactionist role theories n &~H.Th~ 3 Role theories and socialization research Hans Joas 37 4 The foundations of symbolic interactionism reconsidered G. David Johnson and J. Steven Picou 54 5 Goffman's frame analysis and modern micro-sociological paradigms J ef Verhoeven 71 6 Out of ethnomethodology Arthur W. Frank 101 7 Talk and identity: some convergences in micro-sociology Paul Atkinson 117 8 Micro-sociological theories of emotion Steven L. Gordon 133 9 Theoretical and metatheoretical themes in expectation states theory 1 Joseph Berger, David G. Wagner and Morris Zelditch, Jr 148 Notes on contributors 169 Table of Contents of Macro-Sociological Theory Table of contents of Micro-Sociological Theory General introduction to perspectives on sociological theory S. N. Eisenstadt and H.J. Helle Introduction to macro-sociological theory S.N. Eisenstadt 1 Macro-societal analysis-background, development and indications S. N. Eisenstadt 2 The 'individualist dilemma' in phenomenology and interactionism Jeffery C. Alexander 3 Structuration versus morphogenesis MargaretS. Archer 4 Values and power in macro-sociological processes and formations Fran~ois Bourricaud 5 Political powers and class structure Torcuato S. Di Tel/a 6 On the significance of de-differentiation Edward A. Tiryakian 7 The rise of social scientific Marxism and the problems of class analysis Goran Therborn 8 Typology in the methodological approach to the study of social change Ken'ichi Tominaga Notes on contributors General introduction to perspectives on sociological theory S.N. Eisenstadt and H.J. Helle The essays on macro- and micro-sociological analysis collected in these two volumes - most of which were presented at the symposia on Macro- and Micro-Sociological Analysis at the Tenth World Congress of Sociology in Mexico, in August 1983-present from different vantage points some of the major dimensions of theoreti cal controversy in sociology in general. These controversies - and the papers presented here - have several major, closely interconnected thrusts which cut across macro- and micro-sociological analysis alike. First, they indicate an important shift from concerns that were dominant in the 1950s and early 1960s, especially under the influence of the structural functional school and the way in which it was accepted in the sociological community. This shift implied that no institutional order or any structure of social interactions in general, is any longer taken as given, nor explained by its needs and configurations as shaped, above all, by the extent of its differentiation; nor its functioning analysed according to the contribution of its different parts. Instead there developed a strong emphasis on the process of construction of such order. Institutional orders and situations of interaction are more and more seen as being constructed by the activities of different actors - groups and individuals -in different social areas and situations. Hence there also took place a shift to the analysis of the processes and mechanisms through which the different aspects of social order of macro- and micro-situations alike are being constructed by such activities. Second, and closely connected with this shift to the analysis of the construction of patterns of social institutions and of institutional order, there has taken place another shift- namely the emphasis on the autonomy of the major social actors. Individual social actors are seen as being of crucial importance in the very process of the construction of social roles, structures and orders and it is stressed that they cannot be subsumed under these roles or structures. Indeed, potentially they are also creators of roles, of their meanings, of the definitions of situations. Hence, a major problem viii Micro-sociological theory here is to identify the different levels and types of such structures or counter-structures. Third, also of special importance in this context has been the strong emphasjs on the dimension of power and of the symbolic construction of reality in the shaping of situations of interaction and institutional orders. The studies presented in these two volumes bring out these major theoretical themes in a great variety of ways and from different points of view - but they do indicate that these problems are common to all areas of sociological endeavour - above all to macro-and micro-sociological analysis alike. Margaret Archer, Ralph Turner, Jef Verhoeven and others spell out in their chapters that macro- and micro-theory show promising signs of convergence after too many decades of senseless separa tion. It will be the task of historians of sociology to retrace the curious steps the field has taken in theory formation during the century from about 1850 to 1950. Here we can but sketch how a one-sided selection from the pioneering work of Comte, Spencer, Marx, Durkheim, Simmel and Weber caused unnecessary narrow ness in the continuity of sociological theory, and how partisanship resulted in separating the field into camps whose members looked at each other with, at least, suspicion. One of the fissions that in retrospect seem particularly strange is the separation of macro-and micro-theory. The classical sociologists, all of whom were born and received their academic training during the nineteenth century, have been very sensitive to problems of epistemology. Given the sound philosophical background - which Marx and Simmel of course had as trained philosophers, and which Comte, Spencer, Durkheim and Weber acquired before they started writing sociology- none of them could ignore the problem that what reveals itself to superficial sensual perception is certainly not all there is to know in the context of social reality. Faced with the dilemma that, in many respects, what could be known reliably was not very relevant, and what seemed of great importance was impossible to find out with· sufficient precision, the great pioneers of our field did therefore not react with naivete, but instead were prepared to make conscious decisions. No matter which direction their decisions would take, the classical sociologists remained conscious of the dilemma that Plato had already captured in his parable of the cave, but their successors tended to misrepresent as a clean solution to an epistemological problem what from Comte to Weber was taken to be just the lesser of two evils. And this was probably the beginning of methodological General introduction ix cleavages of the kind that this volume is designed to overcome. Various brands of Marxism have thrived, but Marx is quoted as not wanting to be counted among the Marxists. Comte coined the concept of the positive stage in the evolution of human knowledge. He, as well as Spencer, was a follower of Francis Bacon in the desire to collect data on nature in order to gain control of nature, but with their incredibly rich studies in history and comparative culture, neither of them would fit the strict rules of modern behaviouristic positivism. Durkheim wanted to draw a sharp line between sociology and psychology; to him the whole had a reality of its own that could not be explained in terms of individual parts that formed it. In his books of 1893 to 1897 he does lay the foundation for modern functional ism, but in 1912, in his great study on religion, he shows that the origin of the sacred cannot be nature as wind and lightning, nor as the sun, the moon or the planets, that it cannot be the dreams and hallucinations of individual sorcerers. Instead, Durkheim claims nothing less than that the sacred is generated and maintained in the interaction of the human cult. And Max Weber could be used selectively by almost anyone in support of his version of theory as long as Weber's indebtedness to Simmel was ignored, and as long as Simmel was reduced to being the founder of formal sociology. Fortunately, the field of sociological theory has moved beyond these misrepresentations, and as partisan, selective and one-sided readings of the classics become obsolete, many of the schisms grow to be part of the less pleasant aspects of the history of the discipline. The cleavage between different methodological schools, and cer tainly the confrontation between micro-and macro-theory belong to the past, and the following pages are designed to help us recognize that in our future projects as students of sociology. Introduction tQ micro-sociological theory H.J. Helle It is the objective of this volume on micro-sociology to contribute to the stock-taking and comparison of the most significant modern approaches to micro-theory and social psychology, and to demon strate the numerous trends towards convergence with macro theoretical paradigms. Since the 1960s sociology in general has passed through a phase of new beginnings and experimentation with novel approaches. The time has now come to take another look from a more distanced viewpoint in order to bring about a comparative appraisal with the intention of deciding what seems useful enough to be retained and developed further, and what ought to be abandoned. However, it is not the objective of these following chapters to take any such decision for the reader. Georg Simmel's classical formulations of the principle of inter relatedness (Wechselwirkung), of the 1-you relationship as the foundation for 'verstehen', and of his basic epistemological premises spelled out in his book, The Problems of the Philosophy of History (1892), are taken as a point of departure. Simmel is presented as an author in whose work macro- and micro-sociological paradigms are indissolubly interwoven, who contributed significantly to the establishment of the Chicago school, mediated by the teaching of Albion Small, Robert Park, Everett Hughes and others, and whose methodological premises coincide largely with those of Wilhelm Dilthey, Wilhelm Wundt, William James, Max Weber and George H. Mead. Simmel can also legitimately be seen as a precursor of role theory (compare his essay 'Zur Philosophie des Schauspielers'/ Towards a Philosophy of the Actor, 1908). The modern state of the art in role theory is discussed by Ralph H. Turner. He demonstrates that several of the most fundamental interactionist assumptions remain in sharp contrast to structuralist assumptions: that the fundamental character of role behaviour is the effort to construct and execute a meaningful and rewarding complement of behaviour in a system of social relationships; that roles are gestalts rather than collections of discrete behaviours; that the allocation of. persons to roles is a matter of continuing negotiation in even the most rigid organizational context; that these and other questions remain unanswered, but that there has been a