14.1. Conceptual basis of interactionist approach
Interactionism is one of the most actual and essential medico-sociological attempts to examine the actions of individuals related to health and the work in its favor. It is noteworthy that the conceptual basis of interactionism had been developed in contrast to that of scientific positivism. The interactionist approach focuses mostly on individuals as the 'acting people' ('social actors'), who represent themselves in the social roles and negotiations and who independently cope with the related problems. This approach is aimed to determine how people percept and interpret various social situations.
In the 1970-80s, the interactionist approach turned to be very fruitful in sociology of medicine and produced an impressive number of the research works. While its theoretical value had been generally accepted and employed in many studies, this approach is increasingly criticized and even revised in response to the appearance of some contemporary theoretical views. By these reasons, it is important to elaborate the clear view on the potencies and imperfections of the interactionist approach as a scientific method.
Even in the works of Max Weber, interpretation of human actions was considered a sociological problem; moreover, he also emphasized the study of social structures and interactions between the 'active social individuals' and the variable time-dependent social structures. Under the interactionist approach, ambiguity in human actions and the changes in social structure should be limited within certain boundaries. Usually, this approach is referred to as the theory of social action. However, M. Weber was rather skeptical to the view that sociology can reveal the 'social laws' similar to those in physics. Charles Mills (1970) argues that the essence of interactionism as a sociological approach is the attempt to interpret the complex interactions between the social structures and the human actions: 'the sociological imagination makes it possible to comprehend history and biography as well as their relationship in the society'.