Showing papers on "Agency (philosophy) published in 1982"

Morphogenesis versus structuration: on combining structure and action. 1982.

Abstract: The fundamental problem of linking human agency and social structure stalks through the history of sociological theory. Basically it concerns how to develop an adequate theoretical account which deals simultaneously with men constituting society and the social formation of human agents. For any theorist, except the holist, social structure is ultimately a human product, but for any theorist, except advocates of psychologism, this product in turn shapes individuals and influences their interaction. However successive theoretical developments have tilted either towards structure or towards action, a slippage which has gathered in momentum over time. Initially this meant that one element became dominant and the other subordinate: human agency had become pale and ghostly in mid-century functionalism, whilst structure betook an evanescent fragility in the re-flowering of phenomenology. Eventually certain schools of thought repressed the second element almost completely. On the one hand structuralist Marxism and normative functionalism virtually snuffed-out agency-the acting subject became increasingly lifeless whilst the structural or cultural components enjoyed a life of their own, self-propelling or self-maintaining. On the other hand interpretative sociology busily banished the structural to the realm of objectification and facticity-human agency became sovereign whilst social structure was reduced to supine plasticity because of its constructed nature. Although proponents of these divergent views were extremely vociferous, they were also extensively criticized and precisely on the grounds that both structure and action were indispensable in sociological explanation.2 Moreover serious efforts to re-address the problem and to re-unite structure and action had already begun from inside 'the two Sociologies',3 when they were characterized in this manichean way. These attempts emerged after the early sixties from 'general' functionalists,4 'humanistic' marxists5 and from interactionists confronting the existence of strongly patterned conduct.6 Furthermore they were joined in the same decade by a bold attempt

Advances in Social Theory and Methodology : Toward an Integration of Micro- and Macro-Sociologies

Abstract: Introduction. The Micro-Sociological Challenge of Macro-Sociology: Towards a Reconstruction of Social Theory and Methodology K. Knorr-Cetina. Part 1. The Micro-Foundations of Social Knowledge 1. Notes on the Integration of Micro- and Macro-levels of Analysis A.V. Cicourel 2. Micro-translation as a Theory-Building Strategy R. Collins 3. Intermediate Steps between Micro- and Macro-Integration: the Case of Screening for Inherited Disorders T. Duster Part 2. Action and Structure: The Cognitive Organization of Symbolic Practice 4. Philosophical Aspects of the Micro-Macro Problem R. Harre 5. Agency, Institution and Time-Space Analysis A. Giddens 6. Social Ritual and Relative Truth in Natural Language G. Fauconnier Part 3. Toward a Reconstruction of Systems Perspectives 7. Transformational Theory and the Internal Environment of Action Systems V. Lidz 8. Communication about Law in Interaction Systems N. Luhmann Part 4. The Production of Societal Macro-Structures: Aspects of a Political Economy of Practice 9. Toward a Reconstruction of Historical Materialism J. Habermas 10. Unscrewing the Big Leviathan: How Actors Macro-Structure Reality and How Sociologists Help Them to Do So M. Callon and B. Latour 11. Men and Machines P. Bourdieu

State and Class Under Peripheral Capitalism

Abstract: Given the central role that is accorded to the state and public policy in “modernization” theory, it is rather striking to see how little thought is given to an examination of the nature of the state itself, its location within the matrix of a class-divided society, and its relationship with contending social forces. The state is, rather, thought of as an entity that stands outside and above society, an autonomous agency that is invested (potentially) with an independent source of rationality (enriched by “technical assistance” from metropolitan countries), and the capability to initiate and pursue programs of development for the benefit of the whole of society. There is an implicit disjunction between the state and society, slurring over questions about the social foundations of political power and the making of public policy. The problematic of the state is then narrowed down to that of the efficacy of its public institutions and organs to achieve objectives and programs of “modernization,” focusing especially on the respective roles of “ruling elites,” political parties, the bureaucracy, and the military.

Moral Hazard, Agency Costs, and Asset Prices in a Competitive Equilibrium

Abstract: The behavior of economic agents in the presence of uncertainty about exogenous events and imperfect information about the endogenously influenced actions of other agents with whom they contract has been receiving growing attention. In particular, the economic theory of agency explicitly recognizes that when agents enter into synergistic relationships, each agent will act in a manner consistent with the maximization of its personal welfare, thus giving rise to a phenomenon called moral hazard. Harris and Raviv [8], Holmstrom [10], and Shavell [21] have analyzed the nature of Pareto-optimal contractual mechanisms designed to ameliorate moral hazard and achieve efficient risk sharing. Jensen and Meckling [12], Grossman and Hart [6], and Thakor and Gorman [22] have explored the impact of moral hazard on the capital structure decisions of firms. Arrow [1] explained the absence of complete contingent claims markets on the basis of moral hazard, and Harris and Raviv [7] have examined the impact of moral hazard on the structure of health insurance contracts.

Freud, psychoanalysis, and sociology: some observations on the sociological analysis of the individual.

Abstract: This paper is an advocacy for the employment of psychoanalytical concepts within sociological theorizing about the individual. Through an exposition of Freud's views on the development of intra-psychic structure and a critique of Parsons' reduction of psychoanalysis to a branch of learning theory, I attempt to show that the sociological approach to the individual is implicitly behavioural and imprisoned in a series of assumptions which, among other things, treats subjectivity as epiphenomenal and identity as an unmediated reflection of some external reality. In contrast, psychoanalysis presents to us a picture of the individual as flawed and ambivalent in his relation to society, formed by but at odds with the demands of culture. In particular, the psychoanalytic concept of identification reveals that the acquisition of identity is a hird-won achievement marked by the renunciation of lost and forbidden objects. I argue, following Freud and Lacan, that the ego, far from being an agency of reason, somehow directly 'plugged into' reality, constitutes itself in the fantasied image of another and that the quality of this identification crucially affects the way the world is experienced and believed by the individual. This argument is elaborated through a discussion of Peter Berger's remarks on the social causes of identity crisis which, when set against the work of object-relations theorists on those suffering from disturbances of identity such as, for example, schizoid personalities, are shown to be both superficial and misleading. I conclude the paper by arguing that while psychoanalysis can enhance our understanding of the way in which the individual is formed by and through culture it also cautions us against making simple generalizations about the impact of culture upon the person, showing that the individual never submits himself unequivocally to its demands and interdicts.

Literature in the Reading Textbook: A Comparative Study from a Sociological Perspective

Abstract: This study seeks to develop and apply a method of analysis to permit the identification and comparison of prominent symbols of so- cial relationships used in children's reading materials The investigator compares the reading materials offered to fourth, fifth and sixth grade children in Madhya Pradesh, India, and Ontario, Canada Chil- dren's stories were analysed using the Social Relationships in Chil- dren's Stories instrument Social interactions were contrasted across five elements: agent, act, scene, agency, and purpose The method of analysis used in this study implies that the function of literature in children's lives extends well beyond its usefulness for skill develop- ment, actively providing young readers with a repertoire of symbolic social behaviors and attitudes This study consists of a sociological analysis of the literary materials used for developing children's reading in grades four, five, and six in Madhya Pradesh, India, and Ontario, Canada The purposes of the study were to develop and apply a method of analysis that would permit the identifica- tion and comparison of prominent symbols of social relationships used in children's reading materials It is important to examine literary materials from this perspective be- cause literary texts invite the reader to participate in a system of social relationships portrayed by means of symbols By selecting and represent- ing certain images and ideas out of the social repertoire of symbols, the writer prepares the audience to act out these forms in their own lives (Burke, 1945; Duncan, 1969) Values, norms, and attitudes are born in the symbolic phases of action: "The symbolic representation of some ob- ject or event invites us to feel such emotions as would be associated with the actual object or event" (Burke, 1945; p 236) While reading a literary work, such as a story, children participate in the "sociodrama" (Duncan, 1968) symbolically portrayed in it, and thus make a dramatic rehearsal of the roles played in real life Mass reading of literary texts creates common spheres of individual participation, and thus generates a system of symbolically represented behaviours The task of The author expresses gratitude to Dr Bryant Fillion for his comments on an earlier draft of this paper and for his advisorship during the study

Tasks for the Applied Sociologist in a Court of Law

Abstract: Social problems have preoccupied American sociologists, and of all social problems the one that has aroused the keenest sociological interest is crime. Much of the information we now have on crime, criminals, and the operation of the criminal justice system has come from the work of sociologists. Due not only to their careful attention to the formation and development of theoretical perspectives but also to their grounding in empirical research methodology, the role for social scientists in the analysis of crime and punishment would be a natural one. Applied sociology is defined by Angell (1967:725) as sociology that “is not an end in itself, but (that) becomes a means to some other end.” He provides a neat breakdown into three principal subroles that may be assumed by the applied sociologist: consultant, practitioner, researcher. The sociologist-as-consultant is an outside expert, often in gathering and explaining data for his client, an agency or institution. The sociologist-as-practitioner is a person ...