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.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000