CC209 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Social Actions, Marvin Harris, Nonkilling
Document Summary
It involved groups of people forming associations, defining social realities, and taking actions based on the meanings given to those realities. The social process is influenced by individual psychological interpretations of group members. Many social scientists study group behaviour by looking at the meaning of actions: the subjective interpretation people give to events or physical objects. Meanings are developed by individuals and groups and different meanings can be attributed to the same event or physical object because the definitions are always influenced by interpretation. Meaning framework: definitional boundaries for a particular social meaning. Individuals and groups create boundaries around their experiences and perceptions and they define issues within them. Meaning frameworks are the social boundaries surrounding those definitions: theories about terrorism in the meaning framework focus on the interpretation individuals and groups give to the actions of others. Samuel huntington makes the same argument about cultural perceptions.
