Sociological Theory: An Introduction to Interpretivism

Max Weber (who was writing at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries), argued that far from being the products of a social system, human beings were creative ‘agents’ who shaped the society around them. His theory became known as ‘Social Action Theory’ and his followers ‘Social Action Theorists’ or ‘Weberians’. In the 20th Century his views influenced the emergence of a number of other ‘Interpretive’ sociological perspectives.