ACTORS VIEW

Group 3

KEY FEATURES
Assumed reality- Social Construction
Finite provinces of meaning and shared objectified
reality (Fig 1)
Dialectical relationship (Fig 2)
Thesis-antithesis-Synthesis
Social Science studies concepts- Actors conceptions
of their experiences

Finite provinces of meaning

Objectified Reality

g 1. Objectified Reality in Actors View

Fig 2. Finite Provinces of Meaning in

Dialectic Relations

Uncertainty Principle in Social

Sciences
Become and becoming with
indefinite demarcation.
Authentic totalities
Unique subjects

Reality : a social
construction

Theory that assumes that understanding,

significance and meaning are created not
within the individual, but in coordination with
other human beings.
Human beings rationalize their experiences
by creating a model of the social world and
how it works.
Language is the essential system to help us
establish that reality.
What we believe is real is shaped by our

Four processes of social

reality
Subjectification
The process by which we create our
experiences

Humans are a subjective reality.

Attributed to how actors develop themselves

as subjects on the social stage

Individual actors interpretation are

attributed to his/her subjectification
process
- depends on finite province of
meaning
- egological sphere

Four processes of social

reality
Externalization- assumptions that we take part in
creating our surrounding reality
Society is a human result

We create culture (values, beliefs) through social

interaction. These products become external to
those who have produced them.
We externalize continuously by communicating
with other human beings may transform the
original content of thought and formulate a new
refined thought

Four processes of social

reality
Objectificationthe process of acceptance of externalization by
society after several reinterpretations and
changes in the original subjective thoughts

Institutionalization
common typification of some habitual act. We
typify not only actors but also their actions.

Legitimization
social control in order to explain and justify
institutions

Four processes of social

reality
Internalization- individual becomes
member of a society
Primary socialization- takes place in
childhood. The understanding of reality is
founded.
Secondary socialization- encompasses the
internalization of specific institutional
areas- role specific knowledge ,
professional language etc.

Relation of actors view to paradigm

Central assumption in actors view is that
reality is socially constructed
Language is a medium through which a
consensus is arrived at on this reality
There are three aspects of paradigmconception of reality, conception of science
and an ethical aesthetical part
Conception of science is based on various
metatheories of psychology, sociology ,
politics and history

Prerequisites of actors view:

Metatheories
Metatheories refer to the various
background theories held by creator
of knowledge
It is the metatheories held by the
creator of knowledge rather than the
actor which is important
Creating knowledge in actors view is
aimed at understanding others by
understanding oneself

Metatheories
These meta theories help creators of knowledge to
interpret actors first hand impressions
Metapsychological theory offers principles for
understanding subjectification process of individuals
Metasociological theory offers understanding of how
externalised meanings become objectified
Metapolitical theory helps understand the power
relations between members of a group or between
groups
Metahistorical theories offers understanding of the
historical processes

Understanding and
interpretation
Language is a medium through which a
consensus is arrived at on this reality ;
divergence from objectified reality to a
subjective interpretation and then to a
common understanding
Language is used to describe, interpret
and externalise the descriptions so that
creators and others can visualise the
egological sphere of actors and their finite
province of meaning

Steps in understanding and

providing results
Phenomena must be interpreted according to the
meaning, significance and purpose they have for
actors
Diagnosis involves three stages of pre-understanding,
understanding and post-understanding
Engagement and dissociation are employed in all stages

Phenomena becomes phenomena for creators

Externalise interpreted phenomenon to actors by
way of scientific language
Descriptive and ideal-typified language must reflect
richness of variety in social reality, its relative and
unique characteristics

Theoretical & Action Oriented

Starting Pointing
Inspired by Social Phenomenology
tradition
Linguistic innovations
Construction of data
Creature of knowledge central
figure
Subjects & objects exist in a
meaning context

Theoretical & Action Oriented

Starting Pointing
Social reality human beings &
freedom
No relevance to accuracy of
measurement techniques
Free human beings as carriers of
interpretations.
Business is about transforming
resources.
Network idea

Theoretical & Action Oriented

Starting Pointing
Written word creative act of
communication
Knowledge creation through
language
Musical analogy of meaning
construction
Complementary ideas

Theoretical & Action Oriented

Starting Pointing
Actors view recommends the objective
of creating knowledge that alternates
between theory and practice, rather
than the time periods of creating
knowledge that are to sequentially
partitioned into practical and
theoretical stages.