ABSTRACT
Each action is the action of an actor, and it takes place in a situation consisting of objects. The objects may be other actors or physical or cultural objects. Each actor has a system of relations-toobjects; this is called his “system of orientations.” The objects may be goal objects, resources, means, conditions, obstacles, or symbols. They may become cathected (wanted or not wanted), and they may have different signifi cances attached to them (that is, they may mean different things to different people). Objects, by the signifi cances and cathexes attached to them, become organized into the actor’s system of orientations.
