Showing papers on "Agency (philosophy) published in 1999"
Book•
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an overview of the history of the field of molecular biology, including the origins of the two-tier structure of a two-tiered laboratory.
Abstract: A Note on Transcription 1. Introduction 1.1. The Disunity of the Sciences 1.2. The Cultures of Knowledge Societies 1.3. Culture and Practice 1.4. The Structure of the Book 1.5. Physics Theory, and a First Look at the Field 1.6. Issues of Methodology, and More about the Field 2. What is a Laboratory? 2.1. Laboratories as Reconfigurations of Natural and Social Orders 2.2. From Laboratory to Experiment 2.3. Some Features of the Laboratory Reconsidered 3. Particle Physics and Negative Knowledge 3.1. The Analogy of the Closed Universe 3.2. A World of Signs and Secondary Appearances 3.3. The"Meaninglessness" of Measurement 3.4. The Structure of the Care of the Self 3.5. Negative Knowledge and the Liminal Approach 3.6. Moving in a Closed Universe: Unfolding, Framing, and Convoluting 4. Molecular Biology and Blind Variation 4.1. An Object-Oriented Epistemics 4.2. The Small-Science Style of Molecular Biology and the Genome Project 4.3. The Laboratory as a Two-Tier Structure 4.4."Blind" Variation and Natural Selection 4.5. The Experiential Register 4.6. Blind Variation Reconsidered 5. From Machines to Organisms: Detectors as Behavioral and Social Beings 5.1. Primitive Classifications 5.2. Detector Agency and Physiology 5.3. Detectors as Moral and Social Individuals 5.4. Live Organism or Machine? 5.5. Are There Enemies? 5.6. Physicists as Symbionts 5.7. Taxonomies of Trust 5.8. Primitive Classifications Reconsidered 6. From Organisms to Machines: Laboratories as Factories of Transgenics 6.1. A Science of Life without Nature? 6.2. Organisms as Production Sites 6.3. Cellular Machines 6.4. Industrial Production versus Natural (Re)production 6.5. Biological Machines Reconsidered 7. HEP Experiments as Post-Traditional Communitarian Structures 7.1.. Large Collaborations: A Brief History 7.2. The Erasure of the Individual as an Epistemic Subject 7.3. Management by Content 7.4. The Intersection of Management by Content and Communitarianism 7.5. Communitarian Time: Genealogical, Scheduled 8. The Multiple Ordering Frameworks of HEP Collaborations 8.1. The Birth Drama of an Experiment 8.2. Delaying the Choice, or Contests of Unfolding 8.3. Confidence Pathways and Gossip Circles 8.4. Other Ordering Frameworks 8.5. Reconfiguration Reconsidered 9. The Dual Organization of Molecular Biology Laboratories 9.1. Laboratories Structured as Individuated Units 9.2. Becoming a Laboratory Leader 9.3. The Two Levels of the Laboratory 9.4. The"Impossibility" of Cooperation in Molecular Biology 10. Toward an Understanding of Knowledge Societies: A Dialogue Notes References Index
2,860 citations
TL;DR: The capacity to exercise control over the nature and quality of one's life is the essence of humanness as mentioned in this paper, which is characterized by the temporal extension of agency through intentionality and forethought, self-regulation by self-reactive influence, and self-reflectiveness about one's capabilities, quality of functioning, and the meaning and purpose of life pursuits.
Abstract: ▪ Abstract The capacity to exercise control over the nature and quality of one's life is the essence of humanness. Human agency is characterized by a number of core features that operate through phenomenal and functional consciousness. These include the temporal extension of agency through intentionality and forethought, self-regulation by self-reactive influence, and self-reflectiveness about one's capabilities, quality of functioning, and the meaning and purpose of one's life pursuits. Personal agency operates within a broad network of sociostructural influences. In these agentic transactions, people are producers as well as products of social systems. Social cognitive theory distinguishes among three modes of agency: direct personal agency, proxy agency that relies on others to act on one's behest to secure desired outcomes, and collective agency exercised through socially coordinative and interdependent effort. Growing transnational embeddedness and interdependence are placing a premium on collective ...
1,880 citations
1,693 citations
TL;DR: The authors recommend social movement analysis that rejects invariant modeling, is wary of conceptual stretching, and recognizes the diverse ways that culture and agency, including emotions and strategizing, shape collective action.
Abstract: The study of social movements has recently been energized by an explosion of work that emphasizes “political opportunities”—a concept meant to come to grips with the complex environments that movements face. In the excitement over this new metaphor, there has been a tendency to stretch it to cover a wide variety of empirical phenomena and causal mechanisms. A strong structural bias is also apparent in the way that political opportunities are understood and in the selection of cases for study. Even those factors adduced to correct some of the problems of the political opportunity approach—such as “mobilizing structures” and “cultural framing”—are subject to the same structural distortions. We recommend social movement analysis that rejects invariant modeling, is wary of conceptual stretching, and recognizes the diverse ways that culture and agency, including emotions and strategizing, shape collective action.
768 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the postmodernity and moral and cultural crisis in the post-modern world, and propose a set of ideas for public space and agency in the Post-Modern World.
Abstract: Introduction. 1. In Search of Public Space. 2. In Search of Agency. Excursus 1: Ideology in the Postmodern World. Excursus. Excursus 2: Tradition and Autonomy in the Postmodern World. Excursus. Excursus 3: Postmodernity and Moral and Cultural Crisis. 3. In Search of Vision. Notes. Index.
553 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a description of the way actions are represented, how these representations are built, and how their content can be accessed by the agent and by other agents is given.
Abstract: In this review, a description is offered of the way actions are represented, how these representations are built, and how their content can be accessed by the agent and by other agents. Such a description will appear critical for understanding how an action is attributed to its proper origin, or, in other words, how a subject can make a conscious judgement about who the agent of that action is (an agency judgement). This question is central to the problem of self-consciousness: Action is one of the main channels used for communication between individuals, so that determining the agent of an action contributes to differentiating the self from others.
344 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the insights and limitations within geography of Judith Butler's concept of "performativity" are explored, and a close and critical reading of Butler's theory is performed.
Abstract: This article explores the insights and limitations within geography of Judith Butler's concept of 'performativity'. As a processual, non-foundational approach to identity, many feminist and post-structuralist geographers have incorporated performativity into their work on the intersections between gender, sexuality, ethnicity, space and place. Yet few have explicitly undertaken a close and critical reading of Butler's theory. The author argues that performativity ontologically assumes an abstracted subject (i.e. abstracted as a subject position in a given discourse) and thus provides no space for theorizing conscious reflexivity, negotiation or agency in the doing of identity. Butler posits a subject abstracted from personal, lived experience as well as from its historical and geographical embeddedness. Uncritically transcribing this abstracted subject into geography limits how we can conceptualize the linkages between emerging identities, social change and spatially-embedded, intentional human practice. ...
307 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show how agency theory can be subsumed within a general stakeholder model of the firm and argue that stakeholder theory is the logical conclusion of agency theory.
Abstract: The conflict between agency and stakeholder theories of the firm has long been entrenched in organizational and management literature. At the core of this debate are two competing views of the firm in which assumptions and process contrast each other so sharply that agency and stakeholder views of the firm are often described as polar opposites. The purpose of this paper is to show how agency theory can be subsumed within a general stakeholder model of the firm. By analytically deconstructing the assumptions of agency theory, it is argued that agency theory: (1) must include a recognition of stakeholders; (2) requires a moral minimum to be upheld, which places four moral principles above the interests of any stakeholders, including shareholders; (3) consists of contradictory assumptions about human nature and which give rise to the equally valid assumptions of trust, honesty and loyalty to be infused into the agency relationship. In this way, stakeholder theory is argued to be the logical conclusion of agency theory. Empirical hypotheses are presented as a means to substantiate this claim.
305 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a social-cognitive theory of substance abuse is presented, where self-efficacy beliefs promote desired changes through cognitive, motivational, affective, and choice processes.
Abstract: This article presents a social-cognitive theory of substance abuse. The exercise of self-regulatory agency plays a central role in this approach. Perceived self-efficacy is the foundation of human agency. Unless people believe they can produce desired effects by their actions, they have little incentive to act. Self-efficacy beliefs promote desired changes through cognitive, motivational, affective, and choice processes. Perceived self-efficacy exerts its effects on every phase of personal change—the initiation of efforts to overcome substance abuse, achievement of desired changes, recovery from relapses, and long-term maintenance of a drug-free life. Assessments of perceived efficacy identify areas of vulnerability and provide guides for treatment. Substance abuse is a social problem, not just a personal one. Reducing substance abuse also requires policy initiatives and social remedies achieved through the exercise of collective efficacy.
267 citations
31 Jan 1999
TL;DR: Fetal Subjects, Feminist Positions as mentioned in this paper provides a forum for dialogue about fetuses without conceding to a moral or political agenda that would sanctify them at women's expense.
Abstract: Since Roe v. Wade, there has been increasing public interest in fetuses, in part as a result of effective antiabortion propaganda and in part as a result of developments in medicine and technology. While feminists have begun to take note of the proliferation of fetal images in various media, such as medical journals, magazines, and motion pictures, few have openly addressed the problems that the emergence of the fetal subject poses for feminism.Fetal Subjects, Feminist Positions foregrounds feminism's effort to focus on the importance of women's reproductive agency, and at the same time acknowledges the increasing significance of fetal subjects in public discourse and private experience. Essays address the public fascination with the fetal subject and its implications for abortion discourse and feminist commitment to reproductive rights in the United States. Contributors include scholars from fields as diverse as anthropology, communications, political science, sociology, and philosophy.This timely volume provides scholars and reproductive rights activists a forum for dialogue about fetuses without conceding to a moral or political agenda that would sanctify them at women's expense.
255 citations
Book•
24 Nov 1999
TL;DR: In this paper, a brief digression on Attribution on Individualism in Social Theory Transcending Individualism is discussed, along with a discussion of agency, responsibility and new human biotechnologies.
Abstract: PART ONE: MATERIALS AND ARGUMENTS Everyday Discourse `Choice' and `Agency' in Social Theory A Brief Digression on Attribution On Individualism in Social Theory Transcending Individualism PART TWO: SPECULATIONS AND EVALUATIONS `Agency' and `Responsibility' in Sociological Theory Agency, Responsibility and New Human Biotechnologies Rational Agents in Differentiated Societies On the Fine Line between State and Status
Abstract: As rational choice theory has moved from economics into political science and sociology, it has been dramatically transformed. The intellectual diffusion of agency theory illustrates this process. Agency theory is a general model of social relations involving the delegation of authority, and generally resulting in problems of control, which has been applied to a broad range of substantive contexts. This paper analyzes applications of agency theory to state policy implementation in economics, political science, and sociology. After documenting variations in the theory across disciplinary contexts, the strengths and weaknesses of these different varieties of agency theory are assessed. Sociological versions of agency theory, incorporating both broader microfoundations and richer models of social structure, are in many respects the most promising. This type of agency theory illustrates the potential of an emerging sociological version of rational choice theory.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the role of individual agency in managing the interaction between business organizations and their environments and suggest how organizational change can be engineered through the management of cognitive change among individual managers.
Abstract: The book ‘Managerial and Organizational Cognition: Theory, Methods and Research,’ edited by Colin Eden and J. C. Spender, examines the nature of organizational knowledge, focusing specifically on the ‘level-of-analysis’ problem—that is, what we mean by the concepts of organizational cognition and organizational learning, given that only individuals have brains and think. The book draws on an eclectic set of ideas to examine the role of individual agency in managing the interaction between business organizations and their environments. The edited volume also addresses questions of both levels of analysis and individual agency by suggesting how organizational change can be engineered through the management of cognitive change among individual managers.
TL;DR: The authors examines five agents who modified ideologies and created states from chiefdoms, and concludes that process and agency are complementary, rather than antithetical, perspectives; thus the latter is unlikely to make the former obsolete.
Abstract: Most pristine states formed in the context of competing chiefdoms, when one of the latter succeeded in incorporating its rivals into a larger polity. Some of the processes evident during state formation include chiefly cycling, biased transmission, territorial expansion, and the gaining of competitive advantage. In some archaeological circles, however, it has become fashionable to reject ecological, demographic, and technological processes, and seek agent-based or ideological explanations for state formation. This essay, delivered as the tenth McDonald Lecture, examines five agents who modified ideologies and created states from chiefdoms. It concludes that process and agency are complementary, rather than antithetical, perspectives; thus the latter is unlikely to make the former obsolete.
TL;DR: In this paper, a description of the way actions are represented, how these representations are built, and how their content can be accessed by the agent and by other agents is given.
Abstract: In this review, a description is offered of the way actions are represented, how these representations are built, and how their content can be accessed by the agent and by other agents. Such a description will appear critical for understanding how an action is attributed to its proper origin, or, in other words, how a subject can make a conscious judgement about who the agent of that action is (an agency judgement). This question is central to the problem of self-consciousness: Action is one of the main channels used for communication between individuals, so that determining the agent of an action contributes to differentiating the self from others.
TL;DR: Bevir and Mark as mentioned in this paper explored the normative implications of a composed reading of Foucault through his work on governmentality and an ethic of care for the self, and supported an ethical preference for power that recognises the other as an agent rather than violence.
Abstract: Author(s): Bevir, Mark | Abstract: Foucault argues the subject is a function of regimes of power/knowledge. The claim seems to be valid as the composed one that all agency is influenced by its social context: the subject is not autonomous. The claim is not valid as the excitable one that all actions and beliefs are fixed by their social context: the subject is an agent who can make choices and act creatively against a given social background. This essay then sets outs to explore the normative implications of a composed reading of Foucault through his work on governmentality and an ethic of care for the self. To begin, a composed reading is shown to be sufficient to sustain the critical force of genealogy. Then it is shown to support an ethical preference for power that recognises the other as an agent rather than violence. Finally it is shown to support an ethical preference for technologies of the self that resist the normalizing effects of modern power.
TL;DR: In this article, a meta-framework is proposed to conceptualize the nature of endogenous development in the contemporary, contexts of globalization and Europeanization, which is built around three main components.
Abstract: Although interest in endogenous (integrated, participative, bottom-up) rural development by policy makers, practitioners and academics continues to grow, the term suffers from an incomplete conceptualization. This prescriptive essay proposes a meta-framework in which to conceptualize the nature of endogenous development in the contemporary, contexts of globalization and Europeanization. The framework is built around three main components. Territorial repertoires and development paths encapsulate the nature of ownership and choice in the exploitation of resources. This derives from a more sophisticated understanding of territorial agency. A repertoire functions dynamically as a mediator between the local territory and the extralocal level and so the component rights focuses attention onto this flexible interface, through the support potentially available from extralocal regulation anti through a raising of consciousness within the local territory. Rights, by energizing a cultural and political dynamics, allow for a discourse on alternative paths of development to be pursued, which is itself operationalized through any or all of the three modes of democracy
TL;DR: There is a striking resonance between the increasing attention paid to individual behaviour within normative debates about welfare and the concern of some sociologists with the moral and ethical dilemmas that confront the individual in contemporary society as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The focus of this article is upon the recent revival of interest in human agency within both sociological and social policy debates. There is a striking resonance between the increasing attention paid to individual behaviour within normative debates about welfare and the concern of some sociologists with the moral and ethical dilemmas that confront the individual in contemporary society. These two sets of arguments are not compatible. Indeed the analyses they present are contradictory. Moralists such as Etzioni, Field and Mead share a belief in the need to restructure welfare in ways that encourage and reward responsible behaviour. In contrast, sociologists such as Bauman, Beck and Giddens suggest that such endeavours could prove to be both futile and dangerous.Attempts to address issues of agency face formidable obstacles and arouse genuine fears that they will serve to endorse a punitive and atavistic individualism. It is these fears, however, which have constrained and confined the debate about welfare in the post-war years. The revival of agency creates opportunities for a social science which is more sensitive to the activities of poor people whilst reflecting more fully the difference and diversity which characterises contemporary British society.
Book•
19 May 1999
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present and defend the author's influential philosophical framework for the understanding of responsibility, and clarify its relation to, the law of torts and criminal law.
Abstract: These highly original essays develop themes implicit in Herbert Hart and the author's Causation in the Law (2nd ed. 1985). Why should we be held responsible for the harm we cause? Honore proposes a theory of responsibility,'outcome responsibility', according to which, to be responsible, it is sufficient to have intervened in the world. To act and to be responsible is to assume certain risks, so that responsibility can be a matter of luck rather than fault or merit. Whether responsibility carries with it moral blame or legal liability is an important but secondary question. With the help of this theory he explains the moral basis of strict liability and of tort law in general; shows when there is a moral difference between positive acts and omissions; and indicates the extent to which the circumstances that cause a wrongdoer to do wrong should affect his responsibility. In 2001, writing in the Neue Juristische Wochenschrift Professor Reinhard Zimmermann selected Responsibility and Fault as one the foreign law books of the year, stressing that the argument that responsibility can be independent of fault would be especially interesting to German lawyers. From reviews of the hardback edition: "the essays present and defend the author's influential philosophical framework for the understanding of responsibility, and clarify its relation to, .. the law of torts and criminal law. The style throughout is elegant and often witty, and complex arguments...are developed with enviable lucidity." -Roderick Bagshaw (Law Quarterly Review) "Honore is never less than interesting and provocative. This splendid collection of essays can be strongly recommended to anyone interested in legal philosophy or in the moral dimensions of agency and responsibility." - R.A. Duff ( Philosophical Quarterly) "a marvellous collection of essays" William Lucy (Professional Negligence) "...it is a joy to read" -Dennis Klimchuk (Mind)
TL;DR: The debate concerning corporate moral agency is normally conducted through philosophical arguments in articles which argue from only one point of view as discussed by the authors, and the arguments in favour have more weight than arguments against.
Abstract: The debate concerning corporate moral agency is normally conducted through philosophical arguments in articles which argue from only one point of view. This paper summarises both the arguments for and against corporate moral agency and concludes from this that the arguments in favour have more weight. The paper also addresses the way in which the law in the U.K. and the U.S.A. currently views this issue and shows how it is supportive of the concept of corporate moral agency. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the debate for business ethics in general, and stakeholder theory and virtue ethics in particular.
TL;DR: This article used post-modern theories to explore the assumptions of interpretive research and to make explicit the grounds on which interpretive knowledge claims are made, and argued that authenticity and individual "agency" ought to be subject to greater levels of doubt than is currently the case.
Abstract: The philosophical assumptions that underpin interpretive research are seldom critically scrutinized in education literature. Yet interpretive research is a powerful shaper of knowledge about the world of lived experience, or as Van Manen puts it, "the lifeworld, which is both the source and the object of this framework" (1990, p. 53). This paper uses postmodern theories to explore the assumptions of interpretive research and to make explicit the grounds on which interpretive knowledge claims are made. Concerned with social interactions, interpretive research assumes that all human actions are meaningful.The interpretive production of meaning, however, warrants scrutiny as it rests heavily on the authenticity of the individual's subjective experience. Here, it is argued that authenticity and individual "agency" ought to be subject to greater levels of doubt than is currently the case.
Book•
01 Mar 1999
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce the themes of conflict, communication and change in an individual, group, and organisational approach and introduce analytical frames to illustrate a multi-perspective frame.
Abstract: CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR Origins of subjects - roots in behavioural and management theory individual, group, organisational approach introduction of themes - conflict, communication and change models and analytical frames introduced. CHAPTER 2 THE INDIVIDUAL Individual in the workplace personality perception values and attitudes learning decision making conflict communications change 2 mini-cases: BT - the communications expert learning/decision making. CHAPTER 3 MOTIVATION AT WORK Expectancy model other theoretical models pay as motivator demotivation job design the psychological contract 2 mini-cases: pay-scales intrinsic motivation. CHAPTER 4 GROUPS AND TEAMWORK Group formation maintenance in steady state and change contexts dynamics of inter-group conflict and communications mini-cases: Tory cabinet 1996-7/Labour cabinet 1997-8 entering an unfamiliar group (SOLAR). CHAPTER 5 BEHAVIOURAL ISSUES IN ORGANISATIONAL THEORY Classical and scientific theory human relations integrative (systems, contingency) contemporary mini-cases: illustrating a multi-perspective frame. CHAPTER 6 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE AND FLEXIBILITY Structures environment strategy culture politics centralisation/decentralisation flexible firm globalisation mini-cases: Melbourne Water structural change at Nene. CHAPTER 7 POWER AND POLITICS Sources of power power/control politics in organisations powerlessness marginalised groups mini-cases: power sources political machinations. CHAPTER 8 ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE Structural approach interpretative approach cognitive approach cultural metaphor mini-cases: a Civil Service agency company merger. CHAPTER 9 LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT Schools of thought - trait, style, contingency, functional, situation attempts to 're-frame' leadership vision mini-cases: dynamic NHS Trust chief executive pluralism in leadership. CHAPTER 10 THE GLOBAL CONTEXT OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR Cross cultural differences convergence and divergence role of national cultures broader cultural implications for learning, motivation, teamwork, leadership global structures mini-cases: cross cultural differences global structures. CHAPTER 11 CHANGE, DEVELOPMENT AND CONCLUSIONS Draws the material of previous chapters together and emphasise the themes of communication, conflict and change mini-case: introduction of a new computer system 3 to 4 long cases from public, private, manufacturing, service, UK and international organisations with accompanying questions.
Book•
02 Dec 1999
TL;DR: In this article, an anthropological perspective is brought to bear on understanding the diverse modernities we face in the contemporary world, and a critical review of interpretations of development and modernity is provided by rigorous case studies from regions as diverse as Guatemala, Sri Lanka, West Africa and contemporary Europe.
Abstract: While the diffusion of modernity and the spread of development schemes may bring prosperity, optimism and opportunity for some, for others it has brought poverty, a deterioration in quality of life and has given rise to violence. This collection brings an anthropological perspective to bear on understanding the diverse modernities we face in the contemporary world. It provides a critical review of interpretations of development and modernity, supported by rigorous case studies from regions as diverse as Guatemala, Sri Lanka, West Africa and contemporary Europe. Together, the chapters in this volume demonstrate the crucial importance of looking to ethnography for guidance in shaping development policies. Ethnography can show how people's own agency transforms, recasts and complicates the modernities they experience. The contributors argue that explanations of change framed in terms of the dominantdiscourses and institutions of modernity are inadequate, and that we give closer attention to discourses, images, beliefs and practices that run counter to these yet play a part in shaping them and giving them meaning. Anthropology, Development and Modernities deals with the realities of people's everyday lives and dilemmas. It is essential reading for students and scholars in anthropology, sociology and development studies. It should also be read by all those actively involved in development work.
TL;DR: The authors argue for a stratified social onto, arguing for the interplay of structure and agency in a hierarchical social network, which is the quintessential focus of sociological endeavours.
Abstract: Theorising the interplay of structure and agency is the quintessential focus of sociological endeavour. This paper aims to be part of that continuing endeavour, arguing for a stratified social onto...
TL;DR: In this paper, a revision of democratic theory from the perspective of its inadequacies to account for the new -and not so new -, democracies located outside the Northwestern quadrant of the world is presented.
Abstract: The present article is a revision of democratic theory from the perspective of its inadequacies to account for the new - and not so new -, democracies located outside the Northwestern quadrant of the world. It begins by examining various definitions of democracy, especially those that claiming to be Schumpeterian, are deemed to be minimalist, or processualist; and proposes a realistic and restricted, but not minimalist definition of a democratic regime. The connections of this topic with several others are then explored, including political, social, and welfare rights; the state, mainly in its legal dimension; and some features of the overall social context. The main grounding factor that results from these explorations is the conception of agency, as it is expressed in the legal system of existing democracies, although widely variable across cases.
Book•
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: Homer's Traditional Art represents a disentangling of the interwoven strands of orality, textuality, and verbal art as mentioned in this paper, and it shows how we can learn to appreciate how Homer's art succeeds not in spite of the oral tradition in which it was composed but rather through its unique agency.
Abstract: Homer's Traditional Art represents a disentangling of the interwoven strands of orality, textuality, and verbal art. It shows how we can learn to appreciate how Homer's art succeeds not in spite of the oral tradition in which it was composed but rather through its unique agency.
TL;DR: The authors introduce Bourdieu's key theoretical concepts habitus, practice, field, and different forms of capital, such as cultural, economic, social, and symbolic, to understand the practical logic of everyday life, understand relations of power, and to develop a reflexive sociology.
Abstract: At the heart of Pierre Bourdieu's sociological studies is an integrated theoretical framework of relevance to sociologists of food and nutrition. One of Bourdieu's primary concerns is to overcome dichotomies in social theory, such as micro/macro, material/symbolic, empirical/theoretical, objective/subjective, public/private, structure/agency. His other sociological concerns are to understand the practical logic of everyday life, to understand relations of power, and to develop a reflexive sociology. The primary objective of this paper is to introduce Bourdieu's key theoretical concepts habitus, practice, field, and different forms of capital, such as cultural, economic, social, and symbolic. While gender, class, ethnicity, culture, education, and the historical time period all shape an individual's habitus, practice_what one does in everyday life_is dynamic and fluid, like a jazz musician's improvisation on a theme. Practice is the result of the relationship between an individual's habitus, different form...
TL;DR: The utility for the structure/agency debate of identifying a sector of embodied interactions concerned with the maintenance of social selves is highlighted, and how this somatic sector of social life might be developed analytically is suggested.
Abstract: Theoretical conceptualizations of the structure/agency relationship have been. central to the development of the discipline, yet tend to exhibit two major limitations. First, they share a relatively disembodied view of the agent which overemphasizes cognition and marginalizes the significance of the emotional dimensions of interaction for human action and social structure. Second, most have difficulty maintaining the causal significance of both the 'people' and the 'parts' of the social system and are, therefore, unable to examine adequately their interplay. This paper suggests these problems are related, and examines the contribution recent formulations of the 'interaction order' can make toward overcoming the difficulties characteristic of this key sociological debate. The 'interaction order' identifies the embodied dimensions of interaction as consequential for, yet irreducible to, structures and agents, enables us to investigate the 'loose coupling' of interaction to individuals and social systems, but is underdeveloped in important respects, This paper addresses these limitations. It also highlights the utility for the structure/agency debate of identifying a sector of embodied interactions concerned with the maintenance of social selves, and suggests how this somatic sector of social life might be developed analytically.
TL;DR: In this paper, a fully elaborated view of feminist standpoint theories provides a basis for a feminist ethics that both respects diversity and values care, such that a "revisioned" ethic of care is possible.
Abstract: Many communication ethicists have made the postmodern turn toward recognizing and incorporating diversity and difference in morals and reasoning. Although the core theoretical tenets of postmodern theory offer communication ethicists exciting ground, adopting any postmodern theory, whether extreme or moderate, ultimately challenges core prerequisites of communication ethics: The assumptions that there is some common ground from which diverse subjects can draw upon when communicating and reasoning with one another, and the view that subjects have agency and, as a consequence, accountability. In this essay, I suggest that a fully elaborated view of feminist standpoint theories provides a basis for a feminist ethics that both respects diversity and values care, such that a “revisioned” ethic of care is possible—a postmodern caring—that offers some possibility for diverse people, who have interpretive capabilities and intentionality, to deliberate together across their differences, make choices, and be held a...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that a "humanly constructive" critical theory of environmental education called "a critical ecological ontology for educational inquiry" provides a necessary complement to the "socially critical" perspective.
Abstract: SUMMARY This article argues that a ‘humanly‐constructive’ critical theory of environmental education called ‘a critical ecological ontology for educational inquiry’ provides a necessary complement to the ‘socially‐critical’ perspective. This humanly‐constructive curriculum theory focuses on our individual and collective ‘being‐in‐the‐world’. It invites learners, teachers and researchers to study how their ‘lived experience’ of socio‐environmentally problematic circumstances is shaped and stretched globally by various economic and technological imperatives. In so doing, ‘a critical ecological ontology’ highlights the personal politic required for a socio‐ecological praxis. Of particular relevance to the socio‐ecological politic ‘for being’ are interpretations of postmodern agency that emerge from three practical applications of ‘a critical ecological ontology’. This dialogue of theory and practice is necessary in the critical curriculum project of environmental education