... the science whose object is to interpret the meaning of social action and thereby give a causal explanation of the way in which the action proceeds and the effects which it produces. By 'action' in this definition is meant the human behaviour when and to the extent that the agent or agents see it as subjectively meaningful ... the meaning to which we refer may be either (a) the meaning actually intended either by an individual agent on a particular historical occasion or by a number of agents on an approximate average in a given set of cases, or (b) the meaning attributed to the agent or agents, as types, in a pure type constructed in the abstract. In neither case is the 'meaning' to be thought of as somehow objectively 'correct' or 'true' by some metaphysical criterion. This is the difference between the empirical sciences of action, such as sociology and history, and any kind of priori discipline, such as jurisprudence, logic, ethics, or aesthetics whose aim is to extract from their subject-matter 'correct' or 'valid' meaning." – Max Weber in The Nature of Social Action, 1922.
Social structure is an epiphenomenon, a result and consequence of the actions and activities of interacting individuals.
Structure and Agency
The primacy of structure or agency- Agency refers to the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices." Structure, by contrast, refers to the recurrent patterned arrangements which seem to influence or limit the choices and
opportunities that individuals possess.
Cultural studies aims to examine cultural practices in terms of their relation to power.
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