social actor

social actor

any person who undertakes social ACTION. The term is used for the most part without any assumption that social actors always consciously 'stage-manage’ their actions. However, as the use of concepts such as ROLE in sociology indicates, social action does often involve actors playing a ‘part’, although usually not without the possibility of actors interpreting and reshaping this. That much social action can profitably be understood by viewing it in specifically ‘dramaturgical’ terms is a view taken by some sociologists (see DRAMATURGY, GOFFMAN). Other sociologists (see ETHNOMETHODOLOGY) decline to use the term 'social actor’because of its dramaturgical connotations, preferring to use the term ‘member’ instead.