What do you understand Max Weber's contention that sociology should be the study of social action to mean?

Society in Max Weber's eyes consists of actions of the individuals. Weber believed that actions of individuals are what form society and the basis of sociology. Humans are aware of their surroundings and naturaly create different situations.

The actions of individuals are “Behaviour with a subjective meaning” meaning the action is done with intention and meaning. Social action according to Weber is done consciously, aware of the presence of others, and directed to a specific goal. In order to understand and differentiate the individuals social action, Weber created four major theories:

Traditional social action: Actions influenced by tradition or ingrained habits. Traditional action is often done without thinking and comes naturally, for instance tying once shoelaces.

Affectual social action: Driven by a persons emotions. Affectual action is divided into emotional tension and uncontrolled reaction where uncontrollable reaction is unmanageable and emotional tension is more controllable and not as obvious to...

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