Patterns of Joint Actions

Sociological researcher and theorist Kenneth Garverick starts his work, Patterns of Joint Actions, with three basic suppositions. The first is that human beings are inherently social. Every action is guided by previous social encounters. Sociology remains an important field of research because we all know firsthand how powerful social interactions can be when guiding our development and decisions.

The second supposition is that, while social interactions can be elaborate and complex, there are a few basic building blocks for each one. Because of this common tie, fundamental truths can be discovered about all social interaction.

The last premise is that social interactions are made up of smaller "joint actions." This is the smallest unit of measurement for each interaction. There are universal characteristics for these joint actions.

Using these three premises, Patterns of Joint Actions presents Garverick's theories about social behavior. He shows the connection between joint actions and the notion of the self and demonstrates how joint actions can lead to patterns.

Garverick goes on to place joint-action research within the literature of sociology, expanding his scope to reveal how these fundamental units can be used to study and explain larger cultural and collective behavioral concepts.