Essay Example on Sociology: Studying Social Structures, Interactions, & Developments

Introduction

Sociology is an area of study that has been developed which deals with the social institutions, the science of society, as well as social relationships. Specifically, sociology deals with studying the structures, interaction, development and collective behavior that is present within an organized group of human beings. This concept means that the main focus is on the social life of human beings. The social aspect of human beings is made possible by various factors. One of these factors is communication. Humans have to communicate with each other so that they can interact with one another effective as part of their social life. The field of sociology has been enhanced by the various concepts that have been developed. One of the notable findings in this field of study is the theory of communicative action that was developed by Jurgen Habermas. This theory of communicative action asserts the idea that social order entirely depends on the ability of the actors to identify intersubjective validity associated with various claims that social cooperation depends. With that in mind, this paper will focus on the three main components of the theory of communicative action, how the theory of communicative action will benefit the society and the definition of the lifeworld as well as how it has been compromised.

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Components of Communicative Action

Communicative Rationality

The theory of communicative action developed by Jurgen Habermas is made up of various concepts. According to Segre (2016), one of the main concepts of the theory of communicative action is communicative rationality. Communicative rationality refers to the use of knowledge in language as well as an action rather than as a property of knowledge. Moreover, communicative rationality may be used as a mode of dealing with various validity claims in general and not as a property of these claims.

An example of communicative rationality in the field of psychology could be the consensus that is present on a certain sociological theory. Different people in the field of psychology will have different opinions on various opinions. Some people will agree while others reject it.

Communicative Action

The second component of the theory of communicative action is communicative action. Communicative action refers to the cooperative actions of individuals that is based on argumentation and mutual deliberation (Segre, 2016). An example of communicative action is evident in the sense that citizens are capable of maintaining as well as reproduce institutions that prevent them from going against their interest and this is achieved through communication that is made possible in various ways.

Moral Awareness

The third component of the communicative action is moral awareness. Moral awareness is the ability of a person to detect as well as appreciate various ethical issue associated with a decision that a person should undertake. Moral awareness is one of the important aspects that should be adopted by people in their social environment (Segre, 2016). An example of moral awareness is seen in the event whereby a person wonder whether to save a person perform from taking part in a moral issue or not.

The benefit of the Communicative Action to the Society

The development of the theory of communicative action by Jurgen Habermas proclaims various that would be of great importance to society in many ways.

Increase Understanding

The first importance of the theory of communicative action to the society is that it will ensure understanding (Ritzer & Yagatich, 2012). Understanding one another is one of the key aspects that can help a community to move in the right direction (Ritzer & Yagatich, 2012). Communicative action will help the members of the community to be able to communicate and interact with each other well.

As the people within the community continue to interact, they learn various issues about one another. In the process, the people in the society will understand and appreciate one another (Ritzer & Yagatich, 2012). Therefore, when there is proper interaction among the members of the society, there will be understanding which will lead to harmony.

Helps in Citizen Participation

The second benefit of the theory of communicative action to the society is that it helps in citizen participation. In society, Citizen Participation is heavily required especially when carrying out development products (Ritzer & Yagatich, 2012). The participation of citizens is essential in the sense that it ensures everybody has a part in building the society.

Therefore, through the theory of communicative action, the citizens will be brought together, and they will be able to take part in and help the community in moving forward (Ritzer & Yagatich, 2012). Taking part in such activities as a community is important because it ensures that social integration is enhanced for people to live together in peace.

Reducing People's Action into Labor

The third benefit that the theory of communicative action will have on society is that it helps in reducing people's action into labor. Through the theory of communicative action, the members of the society will be put into action. In this case, the individuals will be forced to engage in labor that will help the community in certain ways.

Development of Common Goals

Also, the theory of communicative action helps the community in the sense that it allows for the development of common goals. A society is driven by various aspects, and one of them is goals (Calhoun, Gerteis, Moody, Pfaff, & Virk, 2012). The importance of goals in society helps the people have a vision of the direction they are heading. Therefore, the vision will help the society to be able to improve from its current status.

The life World

In his quest to determine the concepts that are associated with the theory of communicative action, Jurgen Habermas went ahead to define other concepts such as the Life World in his social theory (Calhoun et al., 2012). Therefore, the main definition of life world according to Jurgen Habermas is the background environment of the practices, competencies, attitudes and practices that are represented in the cognitive horizon of a person (Calhoun et al., 2012).

Moreover, the lifeworld can be used to explain that the state of affair whereby the world is experienced, the world is lived. There are several ways whereby the lifeworld has been changed. One of the ways that the life-world has changed over the years is the presence of technology.

The advancement in technology has come along with differences (Khapova & Arthur, 2011). The presence of technology has greatly changed how people experience various issues. In this case, the lifeworld has been damaged by the presence of technology because people cannot have real experience but rather what has been influenced by technology.

Conclusion

Concluding, it is evident the theory of communicative action is one of the areas that has been developed in the field of sociology. The main focus of the theory of communicative action is on the human interaction aimed at developed a cohesive society. The main person behind the development of the theory of communicative action, Jurgen Herbanas, critically explained various components that are related to it. The main component that this paper identified which is associated with the communicative theory include moral awareness, communicative rationality and communicative action. The paper went a step further and discussed some of the ways that the theory of communicative action would benefit the community. Some of the ways that the theory of communicative action would benefit the community include ensuring understanding among the members of the community, helps the citizen to participate in various community activities, helping people get into labor and paving a room for the creation of common goals within the community. Therefore, it would be important for the theory of communicative action to be adopted within society so that it can benefit in the ways that have been mentioned. Lastly, the paper looks at the lifeworld as per the definition of Jurgen Herbanas where it was found to be the background activities that is seen in the cognitive of a person and it has been altered with the advent of technology.

References

Calhoun, C., Gerteis, J., Moody, J., Pfaff, S., & Virk, I. (Eds.). (2012). Contemporarysociological theory. John Wiley & Sons.

Khapova, S. N., & Arthur, M. B. (2011). Interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary careerstudies. Human Relations, 64(1), 3-17.https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018726710384294

Ritzer, G., & Yagatich, W. (2012). Contemporary sociological theory. The Wiley-BlackwellCompanion to Sociology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 98-118.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781444347388#page=114

Segre, S. (2016). Contemporary sociological thinkers and theories. Routledge.