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Agency (philosophy)

About: Agency (philosophy) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 10461 publications have been published within this topic receiving 350831 citations. The topic is also known as: Thought & Human agency.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present strategies that can lead to greater justice in planning to cope with the impacts of devastating events, but they do not offer approaches short of revolution to assist present-day planning.
Abstract: The term resilience has become the popular formulation for plans that deal with preparedness for disaster. It implies adaptation rather than returning to a pre-crisis state. Its use has been extended from environmental events to social and economic crises. Its fault is that it obfuscates underlying conflict and the distribution of benefits resulting from policy choices. Development of resilience policies is cloaked in complicated models showing complexity and indeterminacy. Marxist analysis provides insights that cut through the failure of these models to assign agency, but it does not offer approaches short of revolution to assist present-day planning. The conclusion of the essay presents strategies that can lead to greater justice in planning to cope with the impacts of devastating events.

102 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this paper, a detailed case study of ERP customization failure in an Egyptian state-owned company (AML) by drawing on new institutional sociology and its extensions is presented.
Abstract: Purpose: This paper examines a detailed case study of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) customization failure in an Egyptian state-owned company (AML) by drawing on new institutional sociology and its extensions. It explains how ERP customization failure is shaped by the interplay between institutionalized accounting practices, conflicting institutions, power relations and market forces.Methodology/Approach: The research methodology is based on using an intensive case study informed by new institutional sociology, especially the interplay between conflicting institutions, power relations and market forces. Data were collected from multiple sources, including interviews, observations, discussions and documentary analysis.Findings: The findings revealed that the inability of the ERP system to meet the core accounting requirements of the control authorities (the Central Agency for Accountability) was the explicit reason cited for the ERP failure. The externally imposed requirements of the Uniform Accounting System and planning budgets were used to resist both other institutional pressures (from the Holding Company for Engineering Industries) and market and competitive pressures.Research limitations: There are some limitations associated with the use of the case study method, including the inability to generalize from the findings of a single case study, some selectivity in the individuals interviewed, and the subjective interpretation by the researchers of the empirical data.Practical implications: The paper identifies that the interplay between institutional pressures, institutionalized accounting practices, intra-organizational power relations, and market forces contributed to the failure to embed ERP in a major company. Understanding such relationships can help other organizations to become more aware of the factors affecting successful implementation of new ERP systems and provide a better basis for planning the introduction of new technologies. Originality/value of paper: This paper draws on recent research and thinking in sociology, especially the development and application of new institutional sociology. In addition, the paper is concerned with ERP implementation and use and management accounting in a transitional economy, Egypt, and hence contributes to debate about exporting Western accounting practices and other technologies to countries with different cultures and different stages of economic and political development.

102 citations

Book
01 Nov 2011
TL;DR: In this article, the scope of the discipline and the nature of human nature are discussed in the context of divided criminology and determinism versus agency: is crime the result of forces beyond the individual's control or free choice?
Abstract: Preface 1 A Divided Criminology 2 The Scope of the Discipline: What Is Crime? 3 Determinism versus Agency: Is Crime the Result of Forces beyond the Individual's Control or Free Choice? 4 The Nature of Human Nature: Are People Self-Interested, Socially Concerned, or Blank Slates? 5 The Nature of Society: Is Society Characterized by Consensus or Conflict? 6 The Nature of Reality: Is There an Objective Reality That Can Be Accurately Measured? 7 A Unified Criminology Notes Bibliography Name Index Subject Index About the Author

102 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the dialogical engagements underpinning the determination of client eligibility at one such NGO in Greece, and argue that this indeterminacy gives testament to an often overlooked form of agency: how aid candidates and service providers alike reshape and even refuse dominant images of deservingness, victimhood, and vulnerability from within systems of aid distribution.
Abstract: On the porous EU border of Greece, where both fiscal and migration management are said to be in a state of crisis, NGOs figure crucially in the provision of legal and social aid to asylum applicants. I explore the dialogical engagements underpinning the determination of client eligibility at one such NGO in Athens. As workers and aid candidates coproduce “pictures” of lives eligible for protection, profound uncertainties and indeterminacies emerge. I argue that this indeterminacy gives testament to an often overlooked form of agency: how aid candidates and service providers alike reshape and even refuse dominant images of deservingness, victimhood, and vulnerability from within systems of aid distribution.

102 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the actor-network theory and its usefulness for music historiography is discussed, with a focus on three concerns of music-historical interest: influence, genre, and context.
Abstract: This article offers clarifications and critiques of actor-network theory and its usefulness for music historiography. Reviewing the work of ANT theorists Bruno Latour, Annemarie Mol, and other social theorists (such as Georgina Born and Anna Tsing), the author explains that ANT is a methodology, not a theory. As a general introduction, the author outlines ANT's methodological presuppositions about human and non-human agency, action, ontology, and performance. He then examines how these methodological principles affect three concerns of music-historical interest: influence, genre, and context. In conclusion, he addresses problems related to temporality, critique, and reflexivity. He draws on music-historical examples after 1960: John Cage, the Jazz Composer's Guild, Henry Cow, Iggy Pop, and the Velvet Underground.

102 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20247
20235,872
202212,259
2021566
2020532
2019559