Locating the 17th Book of Giddens@@@The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration.
TL;DR: Giddens as mentioned in this paper has been in the forefront of developments in social theory for the past decade and outlines the distinctive position he has evolved during that period and offers a full statement of a major new perspective in social thought, a synthesis and elaboration of ideas touched on in previous works but described here for the first time in an integrated and comprehensive form.
Abstract: Anthony Giddens has been in the forefront of developments in social theory for the past decade. In "The Constitution of Society" he outlines the distinctive position he has evolved during that period and offers a full statement of a major new perspective in social thought, a synthesis and elaboration of ideas touched on in previous works but described here for the first time in an integrated and comprehensive form. A particular feature is Giddens' concern to connect abstract problems of theory to an interpretation of the nature of empirical method in the social sciences. In presenting his own ideas, Giddens mounts a critical attack on some of the more orthodox sociological views. "The Constitution of Society" is an invaluable reference book for all those concerned with the basic issues in contemporary social theory.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a theoretical model that hypothesizes how specific areas of digital and social exclusion influence each other and argued that they relate mostly for similar (economic, cultural, social, personal) fields of resources.
Abstract: The notion of digital exclusion has become important in communications research but remains undertheorized. This article proposes a theoretical model that hypothesizes how specific areas of digital and social exclusion influence each other. In this corresponding fields model, it is argued that they relate mostly for similar (economic, cultural, social, personal) fields of resources. The model further proposes that the influence of offline exclusion fields on digital exclusion fields is mediated by access, skills, and attitudinal or motivational aspects. On the other hand, the relevance, quality, ownership, and sustainability of engagement with different digital resources is said to mediate the influence of engagement on offline exclusion. Research supporting this model and possible operationalizations in empirical research and interventions are presented.
348 citations
Book•
23 Oct 2006TL;DR: The agent-structure problem is a much discussed issue in the field of international relations as discussed by the authors, and a comprehensive analysis of this problem is presented in 2006 by Colin Wight, who deconstructs the accounts of structure and agency embedded within differing IR theories.
Abstract: The agent-structure problem is a much discussed issue in the field of international relations. In his comprehensive 2006 analysis of this problem, Colin Wight deconstructs the accounts of structure and agency embedded within differing IR theories and, on the basis of this analysis, explores the implications of ontology - the metaphysical study of existence and reality. Wight argues that there are many gaps in IR theory that can only be understood by focusing on the ontological differences that construct the theoretical landscape. By integrating the treatment of the agent-structure problem in IR theory with that in social theory, Wight makes a positive contribution to the problem as an issue of concern to the wider human sciences. At the most fundamental level politics is concerned with competing visions of how the world is and how it should be, thus politics is ontology.
347 citations
TL;DR: This paper traced five important dynamisms in the phenomenology and constructive power of tourism and travel and highlighted the place and value of ''messy texts', ''engaged interestedness', ''locality/local knowledges'' and ''confirmability'' of qualitative inquiry.
345 citations
TL;DR: SST is adapted for the study of technology programmes, integrating elements from material interactionism and ANT, arguing that the position-practice network can be a socio-technical one in which technologies in conjunction with humans can be studied as 'actants'.
344 citations
Cites background from "Locating the 17th Book of Giddens@@..."
...deterministic of their actions) and subjectivist ones (which assume that no social reality exists except the one that individuals construct in their interpretations and perceptions) (Giddens, 1984)....
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...…assume that a hard social reality exists independently of individual actors and is to a large extent deterministic of their actions) and subjectivist ones (which assume that no social reality exists except the one that individuals construct in their interpretations and perceptions) (Giddens, 1984)....
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...Giddens (1984) argued that social structures and human agency are recursively linked and co-evolve....
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TL;DR: It is suggested that social theories of practice provide an alternative paradigm to both approaches to psychological understandings and individualistic theories of human behaviour and behaviour change, informing significantly new ways of conceptualising and responding to some of the most pressing contemporary challenges in public health.
Abstract: Psychological understandings and individualistic theories of human behaviour and behaviour change have dominated both academic research and interventions at the ‘coalface’ of public health. Meanwhile, efforts to understand persistent inequalities in health point to structural factors, but fail to show exactly how these translate into the daily lives (and hence health) of different sectors of the population. In this paper, we suggest that social theories of practice provide an alternative paradigm to both approaches, informing significantly new ways of conceptualising and responding to some of the most pressing contemporary challenges in public health. We introduce and discuss the relevance of such an approach with reference to tobacco smoking, focusing on the life course of smoking as a practice, rather than on the characteristics of individual smokers or on broad social determinants of health. This move forces us to consider the material and symbolic elements of which smoking is comprised, and to follow ...
343 citations
Cites background from "Locating the 17th Book of Giddens@@..."
...Whilst practices persist across space and time (Giddens, 1984, p. 2), they are never entirely static: they emerge, endure, change and disappear....
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