Instrumental Action - Theorists

Theorists

Since the 1960s, Jürgen Habermas has made notable contributions to many aspects of sociology and philosophy. He is probably best known for his first major work, Theory of Communicative Action (1982). In Habermas' action typology, he draws a distinction between two types of action: communicative action, where actions are based on the recognition of validity claims; and instrumental action. Habermas argues that instrumental action is always parasitic on communicative action. Therefore instrumental action alone can not form a stable system of social action . Habermas' entire work aims to defend and continue the enlightenment project against the challenge of Max Weber's instrumental action .

Max Weber (1921) presented the idea of instrumental action as the "highest form of rational conduct"(Scott p. 570). The orientation of instrumental action is an ideal type in more than just a methodological sense (Scott). Weber's concept of instrumental action is known as "zweckrational". Zweckrational is just one of Weber's four ideal types of social action, which also includes wertrational (rational action in relation to a value), affective or emotional action, and traditional action. Weber believed that human behavior was increasingly becoming guided more by zweckrational action and less by tradition, values and emotions .

Karl Marx used instrumental action in connection to the philosophy of labor. Marx reduced the process of reflection to the level of instrumental action. By doing this Marx reduces the self-positing of the absolute ego down to more physical productive activity (Habermas, 1968). Marx also connects instrumental action to his concept of Versachlichung. This is because of the idea that "communicative social relations can and are being replaced by objectified and externalized relations between things" (Scott p. 571).