Unit-act

From Geography

Unit-act

The unit-act, action undertaken by an actor, is the central element to the social system. In literature the role of the unit-act in the social system is compared to that of a particle in physics. A unit-act is defined as "a piece of behaviour which we can describe in terms of an actor selecting a means or method of obtaining some chosen "end" or purpose" (Campbell, 1981, p. 189).

The centrality of the unit-act means that a society consists of units that are both "teleological" and "subjective". That means that an actor is always "in pursuit" of an end and that that particular end is thought of, envisaged, by himself. The subjective character of the end means that it is different for every actor and therefore every actor has a different "end" of his action in mind.

References

Campbell, T. (1981) Seven theories of Human Society. Clarendon Press, Oxford

Contributors

Page created by TeunVanDeVen 15:09, 11 October 2012 (CEST)