You will have seen posts on social
media surrounding productivity during this pandemic. Some will be encouraging
you to be productive and others will be telling you not to listen to the
encouragers. It was when I first heard somebody talk about motivation during
Covid-19 on YouTube, that I was inspired to explore this idea. They said
something along the lines of:
“you need to do something because
you want to do it at the time but also you need to think about your future and
how what you do now will meet your goals”
At the moment, I am re-reading
Mouzelis’ (2008) Modern and Postmodern Social Theorising: Bridging the Divide. In
the first chapter, the author discusses social theories and how they criticise
each other. So, when I heard the above quote I started thinking about how micro
and macro social theories can relate to this idea of motivation.
Macro
sociology
Macro social theory studies the
collective phenomena within society: class struggles, impacts of institutions
such as the Church, media and the family. The classic theories of Functionalism
and Marxism are examples of this macro sociology. To these, the social world
exists as structures and institutions which shape our lives and how we act.
“…but also you need to think about
your future and how what you do now will meet your goals”
The second aspect of the quotation
above states that motivation should come from thinking about your future and
how it will help meet your goals. This could be interpreted as referring to
institutions of work and even the family and what they require in order to
successfully participate within these. For instance, completing CPD now in
order to yield the required experience for a job promotion and be able to
afford a big family house.
Macro social theory has been
criticised for its emphasis on structure informing the roles of individuals.
Macro social theory, on its own, does not account for free will and portrays
individuals as passive products of these overarching structures.
Micro
sociology
Micro social theories developed in
the 1960s and 1970s and include symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology.
These social theories see individuals (labelled as actors) as the producers of
social life, rather than passive products of structure. To these, the social world exists because
actors are constantly reproducing and transcending practices.
“you need to do something because
you want to do it…”
The first part of motivation,
contained within this quote, is that you should want to do something because of
the mere act of doing. This directly relates to micro sociology as the act
itself is the motivation and is contained outside of any previous engagement
with the ‘something’ that is being done. The focus is upon the practice in the
present.
Micro social theory, of course,
has also been critiqued. Whilst, it does account for what micro social theory
lacks, it overstates agents. Micro social theorists refuse to combine their
‘social’ focus on action with ‘system’ perspectives which take structure and
institutions into consideration. By doing this, micro social theory produces
trivial and obvious conclusions on action.
Indeed, if we took only the first
part of this quote into consideration, of course motivation involves wanting to
do something. What would be the point in life if we did not enjoy doing the act
we are doing? However, once we factor in societal experiences of poverty,
racism, sexism and requirements of specific institutions: our motivations may
not always be driven by ‘what we enjoy at the present’; otherwise, we would not
get anything done, some acts, whilst enjoyable, can be at some points, tiring
and even boring (my experience of referencing whilst at university: I enjoyed
university but I had to reference in order to get my degree!)
Overall, the quote perfectly sums
up the need for both social theories. How these theories are aligned is another
subject, one which I look forward to re-reading about in the coming chapters of
Mouzelis’ (2008) Modern and Postmodern Social Theorising: Bridging the Divide.
