Social rule system theory: universal interaction grammars

Abstract

Rule system theory has been used in conceptualizing interaction grammars as rule regimes. Such grammars are complexes of rules applying to social action and interaction of individuals, groups, and organizations. They consist of a finite and universal set of rule categories (10) that are identified in the paper and concern five key factors in social life: group agency conditions, social structure, interaction, material conditions, and time and space. A rule regime, while an abstraction, is carried, applied, adapted and transformed by concrete human agents, who interact, exchange, struggle, and exercise power in their social contexts, in large part based on the rule regimes which they maintain, adapt, or transform