verstehen- empathy, understanding social groups by 'walking in their shoes'
Weber uses verstehen to refer to the attempts of sociologists to understand human action. Should look at the level of cause and level of meaning.
symbolic interactionism- people's self concepts are based on their understanding of how others perceive them.
Cooley describes this as 'looking glass self'
Mead argues that symbolic interactionism means that human interactions are symbolic and the understanding of interpreting them is what allows society's members to function.
Goffman'sdramaturgical model:
Goffman suggests that our lives are like a theoretical performance where we are social actors and are constantly changing characters.
Impression management- our social self is an act and is a false representation of ourselves.
Becker'slabelling theory which focuses on the labels attached to people an the impact is has on people demonstrates society is constructed through interactions.
People with more power can impose labels.
evaluation of weber:
Schutz says that his views of action are too individualistic an doesn't explain shared meanings.
it is impossible to put yourself into someone else's shoes and verstehen cannot be truly achieved.