Voluntaristic Theory Of Action Research Articles

Social Work Contribution to Desistance Among At-Risk Youth.

Desistance as a process to forgo delinquent habits is an important target for intervention into youth at risk of delinquency. The intervention through social work services, nevertheless, has not clearly demonstrated its effectiveness. For such a demonstration, the present study examines the contribution of social work services with reference to the voluntaristic theory of action. The theory suggests that promoting the youth's voluntarism underlying desistance, encompassing appreciation, facilitation, observation, and identification concerning desistance is essential. The suggestion leads to the hypothesis that social work services promote the youth's desistance through the promotion of voluntarism for desistance. This hypothesis gets support from this study of 586 at-risk youths in Hong Kong, with data collected from both the youths and their responsible social workers. The support implies the value of social work services for sustaining the youth's desistance.

Socio-Cultural Context of Consistent Use of Condoms among Female Undergraduate Students in Nigeria: Insights from University of Lagos

This paper examines the sexual behaviour and socio-cultural context of consistent use of condoms (male and female condoms) among female undergraduate students of the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Cross-sectional survey and key informant interview research methods were adopted to elicit information from the respondents. In all, a total of 200 female students were sampled in the survey, while 10 key informant interviews were conducted among the students to compliment the survey data. The theoretical orientation of the paper is the voluntaristic theory of action by Talcott Pearsons. The findings of the study show that 75.0% of the sampled female undergraduate students are sexually active. All the respondents have knowledge of the existence of male condom, while femmidom (female condom), the contraceptive method designed for women use to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies, HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), is unpopular among the study population. Specifically, 63.5% and 5.5% of the sample have ever used male and female condoms respectively. Furthermore, there is erratic usage of male condom during sexual intercourse among the sampled respondents since only 41.0% of them reported consistent use of male condom during every sexual encounter. There are significant relationships between current age, marital status, level of study and consistent use of male condom among the female undergraduate students at P Key words : Socio-cultural context, Female undergraduate students, Sexual practices, Condoms use, STIs/HIV/AIDS.

“Agency” as a Red Herring in Social Theory

The central argument of this article is that there is no fact of the matter, no evidence, however tentative or questionable, that will serve adequately to identify actions “chosen” or “determined” for the purposes of sociological theory. This argument will be developed with reference to the two theorists of the greatest importance in advocating the sociological value of the concept of agency: Talcott Parsons, with his “voluntaristic theory of action,” set the scene for the whole agency and structure debate in modern sociology, and Anthony Giddens, in his theory of structuration, provides the most comprehensive recent account. Both theorists put forward grounds and justifications for their use of the concepts of “choice” and “agency,” but it will be argued here that in the last analysis, none of them has any sociological merit.

The Jamesian Theory of Action

By emphasizing the emotional basis of action and the orientation of action to the future, the theory of action in William James challenges and provides an alternative to accounts of action which emphasize cognition and norms. This paper provides a statement of the Jamesian theory of action, which has been neglected in sociology. The Jamesian critique of the approach to social action in symbolic interactionism and in Parsons's voluntaristic theory of action is also indicated in the paper. Other aspects of the Jamesian theory of action of interest to sociological concern treated in the paper are the non-constructionist account of emotion developed by James, and his reconceptualization of rationality as continuous with rather than opposed to emotion.

From Pure Methodological Individualism to Poor Sociological Utilitarianism: A Critique of an Avoidable Alliance

This article presents a critical discussion of the shortcomings of the new political econ- omy from the point of view of Parsonian voluntaristic action theory. The discussion proceeds in six steps. First, it will be shown that the principle of preference optimization is only one of four analytically distinguishable principles of individual action. The second step deals with the ques- tion of whether the central premise of the economic approach as formulated in rational choice the- ory is empirically testable or logically true, and whether there is not causal but logical determin- ism on the level of individual action, whereas there is a kind of quasi-causal determinism on the level of structural relationships. Thirdly, the case will be argued for a comprehensive theory of action embracing both individualistic and structuralistic hypotheses. Fourthly, the equation of methodological individualism and utilitarian thinking will be questioned. Fifthly, the limits of economic theory in explaining social order and disorder will be demonstrated. Sixthly, the workings of an explanation of social order and disorder with a comprehensive voluntaristic theory of action will be outlined. The result is the preservation of methodological individualism without a commitment to sociological utilitarianism.

Re-examination of Recent Socialization Theories

This article presents a case for the usefulness of the concept of autonomous socialization when analyzing personality formation. The author re-examines recent theries of socialization and finds that most have an “over-socialized conception” of socialization. Sociologists, especially, place an overwhelming emphasis on socio-cultural variables as the principle determinants of socialization.It is fruitful to make a distinction between “sociality” which is conditional over the normal socialization process by the functional requisites of the social system and “self-socializing competence” which is acquired through social interaction and spontaneous actions.So called subjecthood (shutaisei in Japanese) is a product of the latter process sociability which is the ability to act spontaneously and carry on interaction with other people, is the basic interpersonal competence required for autonomous socialization. Autonomous and individualized orientations are depend upon adequate competence in sociability.Many other concepts such as self-presentation, altercasting and projective role-taking that have been develeped by symbolic interactionists and phenomenological sociologists also need to be included in the conceptual schemes used to consider self-other interacting process and intra-self systems. In short this article argues that the sociology of personality formation should achieve a reconciliation with the voluntaristic theory of action.

Social Practice, Social Action, Social Magic

The Greek word praxis means 'action', and praxis (practice) and action are central concepts in two important theories, Marxism and the sociological theory of action. In an analysis of the concept of action in Parsons, Weber, and Homans, and of the practice concept in Marx' works the two concepts and theories are compared. The conclusion is that the theory of action is the opposite of the theory of practice. In a critique of Gouldner et al. the author finds that neither in the development of the "voluntaristic theory of action" nor in that of dialectical materialism did any distinction of active vs passive images of man play any vital role. Finally. a hypothesis is submitted about the magical function of some recent normative sociology