Instrumental Action - Critical Assessments

Critical Assessments

Some theorists believe that Habermas's idea of action typologies is too hard to apply in a world with so many different cultures and ideologies. In addition the recognition that neither universal norms nor instrumental action are self-sufficient and yet rely upon non-reducible substantive ethics and social practices (Scott, p. 572). Talcott Parsons argues that the "subjective meanings, expectations and motives of individuals, through which social action occurs, in being the orientations of relating individuals, constitutes the structure within which social action is located" (Barbalet, p. 402). Theorists such as Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills both agree that Weber's methodology is ill-equipped to explain social structure. Mills stated that Weber's reflections could not justify his theory and operates through structural action rather than an action explanation (Barbalet p. 403).