Instrumental Actions: what they are, examples and criticism

The Instrumental actions Are any of the daily actions performed by a person, where the important thing is to achieve an"external"result.

They are executed considering their consequences and the various means to achieve the end. From a sociological point of view, instrumental actions enable the social interaction of the individual by making him a rational actor within his environment.

These are rational actions that are adopted after considering costs, means and consequences. Economic transactions often fall into this category.

Instrumental actions can be communicative, designed to influence opinion or express an idea; And concrete, designed to have a tangible impact on a goal. They are said to be success-oriented because they seek to: increase productivity, minimize costs and maximize profits.

Generally, an instrumental action requires that the following elements be present: workforce, technical means, knowledge and skills. They start from an instrumental reasoning that answers the question of"how do you do that? ".

They also refer to acts that want to influence the political and social environment at a given time. They can be strategic because they are based on reasoning about the most effective means to achieve a goal. They are also called"instrumentally rational"actions.

Theoretical basis of the instrumental actions

In order to better understand this point it is necessary to review the sociological Max Weber , According to which there are four main types of social action: proposed rational or instrumental action, rational value action, affective action and traditional action.

In the first, the ends of the action, are taken as means for the fulfillment of other ends. It is instrumental. In the second case, it is an action determined by the belief of its ethical, moral, aesthetic The religious.

The affective action is due to an emotional reaction of someone who is facing certain circumstances. Traditional action, on the other hand, refers to social acts or rituals that are transmitted from generation to generation and are executed by custom without any very deep reasoning about their ends.

For Weber, in instrumental actions, one can distinguish different degrees of rationality and their relevance depending on whether or not it is oriented towards the achievement of objectives; The engineer who is building a bridge or the general who wants to win a victory, are clear about their objective and combine means with a view to achieving it.

Ultimately, Max Weber's central approach is that this type of reasoning characterizes the interactions that occur most commonly in society. Interactions without more consideration than the most effective means to achieve the goal itself.

Instrumental actions are opposed by the communicative actions proposed by Jünger Habermas , That allow a communicative understanding between the actors in interaction. According to Habermas, they are intended to achieve common definitions of the situation, within such definitions, to pursue individual goals.

In the case of an organization or company, instrumental reason would imply that increased performance would become the sole objective. A different goal involves assuming communicative actions or, at least, not purely instrumental.

Examples of instrumental actions

Although from the discovery of fire and the development of tools for the hunting of prehistoric man, there are many examples of instrumental actions, it is with the industrial revolution that is massified and institutionalized the technique and begins a process of economic, social and technological transformation.

With this phenomenon opened the door to the possibility of obtaining greater benefits using techniques and tools that saved time and effort.

Today, professions or technical occupations are rarely seen in which rational action is seldom expected. In contrast, instrumental actions seem to be the norm.

In this vein, examples of instrumental actions can be very dissimilar:

• Build a bridge.
• Develop a drug.
• Participate in an activity of political, environmental or other activism. In this case, there are differences in that the objective can be of self-expression or properly instrumental.
• Write a book.
• Build a house.
• Make a cooking recipe.
• Give a political speech.
• Manage a company.
• Take a photo.
• Practice surgery.
• Prune some trees.
• Elaborate a textile piece.
• Make a bank transaction
• Buy or sell something.
• Handle a means of transport.
• Design a political campaign.
• Develop a managerial strategy.

The list can follow, but it seems sufficient to reveal the diversity of levels and fields in which an instrumental action can be given as well as to warn in its mentioned characteristics: they are usually mediated by techniques and tools, they are usually an end that leads to another , Require certain specific abilities of the one who executes it and respond to how something is done.

Criticism of instrumental reasoning

There are critical positions according to which instrumental rationality has science Which grows with the objective of raising capital in a society of passive consumers.

In fact Habermas accused a selfish tendency in this type of actions in which the individual, he said, only pursued its end and considered the best means to achieve it.

According to this position, with the globalization of capital, a universal model related to consumption and culture also emerges. For example, today are considered basic needs, things that were not in other times of history.

However, there are those who argue this type of reasoning for their impact on the evolution of civilizations.

References

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