Action frame of reference
The action frame of reference is an instrument for analyzing action, which was developed by the American sociologist Talcott Parsons in his work "The Structure of Social Action" and which was consequently further developed in later works and finally worked out into a systems theory . The starting point for the development of this analytical frame of reference is Parsons' idea that every science has an analytical conceptual framework with which it explores its particular subject. Parson's aim was to create such a uniform conceptual framework for sociology as well.
The shape of the frame, as it is in The Structure of Social Action , emerged from the examination of four classics of sociology: Marshall, Pareto, Weber and Durkheim. Dealing with idealism , positivism and utilitarianism , above all the solution of the utilitarian dilemma , which raises the question "How is social order possible?" decisively determine the shape of the "action frame". According to Parsons, the utilitarian dilemma cannot be solved under utilitarian premises. It requires the inclusion of norms and values, embedded in a voluntaristic model of action, in order to solve the dilemma.
elements
The action frame of reference lists the individual elements into which an action can be broken down:
Actors (1) act on one
Goal / purpose (2) or anticipated state and are thereby included in a
Situation (3), which is made up of objects which, from the perspective of the actor, appear either as conditions or as means.
Standards (4) and
Values (5) are to be understood as goals per se, which cannot themselves become the object of the evaluative orientations of an actor, since here again norms and values are implied in the decision about them.