ABSTRACT

This strand of sociological thinking takes into account both the meaningful activity of the individual and the larger-scale questions of historical change and economic and political conflicts. As we saw in Chapter 2, interactionists showed an early interest in the societal ‘moral order’ and the overall division of labour. Their interests subsequently proved to be largely confined to the

group, organisational or occupational levels. They tend not to relate meanings at the micro level to historical and cultural patterns at the macro level. A concern with such a relationship is basic to the work of Weber.