Traditional action

From Geography

Traditional action

Traditional action is one of the four ideal types of human action that have been developed by the social scientist Max Weber (besides this type, his theory of man also comprises ‘goal-rational’ action (zweckrational), ‘value-rational’ conduct and ‘affective/emotional’ action). Weber sees these types of conduct to be ways in which people give meaning to their actions, to make sense out of their lives (Campbell, 1981).

The category of human action that Weber has labelled as ‘traditionalist’ comprises that kind of habitual conduct that is “arising out of established practices and respect for existing authority” (Campbell, 1981, p. 177), or action “that is justified as a repetition of the past”, (Social Issues Reference, n.d.); it is almost like a blind repetition. Although this kind of conduct can not really be considered intentional action, which is one of the core concepts within the work of Weber, he “allows intentionality to be implicit and so relatively sub-conscious, and in this regard traditionalist action is not dissimilar to affective action” (Campbell, 1981, p. 177-178). This very clearly implies that sometimes it can be difficult to make a distinction between affective-emotional action on the one hand, and traditional action on the other.

Geographic examples of traditionalist behaviour are manifold. One can, for instance, think about taking a certain route from home to work and vice-versa. It might be possible that someone, who has always ‘chosen’ a certain road will continue to do so, although it might, from a goal-rational perspective, not be the fastest/shortest way (or not anymore, because of the construction of a new, faster road). It is then on the basis of tradition, on the basis of a habit that someone ‘chooses’ a route; ‘because I’ve always done it this way’.

Another example may be to keep living in the place because you were born there, and ‘it is also the place where my family has always lived’, even though moving to an other place might be more rational from a goal-rational perspective, for instance, in terms of job opportunities. This last example in particular also makes clear that it is sometimes difficult to make the distinction between traditional and affective action, as someone might also keep living somewhere because of a feeling of connection to a place, maybe even a ‘feeling of belonging’ there, which, you might say, overlaps with the aspect of traditional forms of conduct.

It can be noted that traditionalist types of action have lost and are still loosing much ground in modern society. People don’t take things for granted and don’t act in a certain way because ‘it’s always been like that’. Instead, people make their own, goal-rational judgement about what the best course of action would be. Already Weber recognized this development, by writing about a “transition from a traditional to rational society” (Campbell, 1981, p. 185).

References

Campbell, T. (1981) Seven Theories of Human Society. Clarendon Press, Oxford. Chapter 8: Max Weber: An Action Theory.

Social Issues Reference (n.d.). Max Weber Biography. Accessed 7 october 2010, on http://social.jrank.org/pages/3153/Max-Weber.html