Showing papers on "Structure and agency published in 2013"
••
11 Sep 2013
TL;DR: This chapter discusses Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences: The Post-disciplinary Implications of the Complexity Frame of Reference, which aims to explain the post-disciplinary implications of the complex.
Abstract: Acknowledgements. Introduction. Part I: Framing the Issues 1. Understanding the Complex 2. Restricted Complexity and General Complexity: An Outline of the Arguments 3. Complexity Theory and the Philosophy of Social Science Part II: Complexity Theory Meets Social Theory. Introduction to Part II. 4. Evolutionary Social Theory 5. Structure and Agency 6. Time and Place Part III: Complexity Theory: Methodology and Methods 7. Complexity and Methodology: Exploring Trajectories through Narratives 8. Hunting Causes in a Complex World 9. Researching the Complex Social Part IV: Complexity in Action 10. Complexity in Disciplines and Fields 11. Opening the Social Sciences: The Post-disciplinary Implications of the Complexity Frame of Reference. Conclusion: Complexity and the Social Sciences: The Way Forward
423 citations
••
TL;DR: In this article, a theoretical framework is developed to elaborate the interdependencies between actions, contexts and institutional logics, which is subject to relational analysis in order to explain the structural conditioning that shapes particular socio-historical contexts, the potential 'action options' contained within these contexts and the processes through which actors draw upon these.
Abstract: This paper builds on recent contributions to understanding conditions of institutional complexity by developing a theoretical framework to elaborate the interdependencies between actions, contexts and institutional logics. Our aim is to refine existing explanations of how actors inhabit complex institutional settings. Drawing on a critical realist ontology, we treat agency and structure as analytically distinct phenomena to advance our understanding of conditioned action. This is subject to relational analysis in order to explain the structural conditioning that shapes particular socio-historical contexts, the potential ‘action options’ contained within these contexts and the processes through which actors draw upon these. This reading of institutional reproduction and transformation allows us to reassess the ‘paradox of embedded agency’ by advancing understanding of the historically grounded and multilevel nature of structures and agency in institutional processes. Our approach offers conceptual refinements, a new sensitizing framework and methodological insights to guide studies of the ways actors inhabit complex institutional settings.
174 citations
••
TL;DR: This paper explored the career strategies of 68 white women and BME legal professionals to understand more about their experiences in the profession and found that five of the six career strategies tend to reproduce rather than transform opportunity structures in the legal profession.
Abstract: The legal profession in England and Wales is becoming more diverse. However, while white women and black and minority ethnic (BME) individuals now enter the profession in larger numbers, inequalities remain. This article explores the career strategies of 68 white women and BME legal professionals to understand more about their experiences in the profession. Archer’s work on structure and agency informs the analysis, as does Emirbayer and Mische’s (1998) ‘temporally embedded’ conceptualization of agency as having past, current and future elements. We identify six career strategies, which relate to different career points. They are assimilation, compromise, playing the game, reforming the system, location/relocation and withdrawal. We find that five of the six strategies tend to reproduce rather than transform opportunity structures in the legal profession. The overall picture is one of structural reproduction (rather than transformation) of traditional organizational structure and practice. The theoretical frame and empirical data analysis presented in this article accounts for the rarity of structural reform and goes some way towards explaining why, even in contexts populated by highly skilled, knowledgeable agents and where organizations appear committed to equal opportunities, old opportunity structures and inequalities often endure.
114 citations
••
TL;DR: In this article, an integrated framework, which aims to consolidate existing knowledge about agency and provide additional insights into its role in desistance, is proposed and evaluated by evaluating the contributions of agency-centred theories of desistance.
Abstract: There is a significant conceptual divide between criminological theories that treat offenders as rational agents who freely choose their actions and those that portray offenders as individuals whose behaviour is determined by external forces. Recently, research into desistance from crime has produced a more complex and nuanced account of crime causation which acknowledges the interplay between agency and structure. Yet, while the concept of agency is frequently invoked in contemporary discourse, the variety of definitions and measures employed by researchers makes it difficult to establish a clear and consistent picture of its role. This article attempts to address this deficit by evaluating the contributions of agency-centred theories of desistance. An integrated framework, which aims to consolidate existing knowledge about agency and provide additional insights into its role in desistance, is then proposed.
104 citations
••
TL;DR: Drawing on examples of the social transformation achieved by community action in Australia and Brazil, this article focuses on this middle ground and its role in effective HIV prevention.
Abstract: When HIV prevention targets risk and vulnerability, it focuses on individual agency and social structures, ignoring the centrality of community in effective HIV prevention. The neoliberal concept of risk assumes individuals are rational agents who act on information provided to them regarding HIV transmission. This individualistic framework does not recognize the communities in which people act and connect. The concept of vulnerability on the other hand acknowledges the social world, but mainly as social barriers that make it difficult for individuals to act. Neither approach to HIV prevention offers understanding of community practices or collective agency, both central to success in HIV prevention to date. Drawing on examples of the social transformation achieved by community action in Australia and Brazil, this article focuses on this middle ground and its role in effective HIV prevention.
96 citations
••
20 Mar 2013
TL;DR: In a widely cited article as discussed by the authors about trends in theory in anthropology, published in 1984, Sherry Ortner observed that a new key symbol of theoretical orientation is emerging, which may be labelled as "practice" (or "action" or "praxis"), and described its emergence from the intersection of theoretical schools in anthropology formed by inter-disciplinary Marxism and political economy in the 1970s.
Abstract: The close of the 20th century witnessed a renewal of interest in theories of prac
tice, an interest sufficient to make possible the rhetorical announcement of the
birth of The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory (Schatzki et al. 2001). The
move has had some considerable significance, even if Omar Lizardo (2009: 714)
may have overstated the case when proclaiming that ‘It can be said without
much danger of exaggeration that practices now play as central a role in socio
logical thinking as values and normative patterns did during the functionalist
period.’
Some foundations had been laid three decades earlier. In a widely cited article
about trends in theory in anthropology, published in 1984, Sherry Ortner (1984:
127) observed that ‘a new key symbol of theoretical orientation is emerging,
which may be labelled “practice”’ (or ‘action’ or ‘praxis’). She described its
emergence from the intersection of theoretical schools in anthropology formed
in the 1960s, and inter-disciplinary Marxism and political economy in the 1970s.
The principal authors credited with the development were two sociologists,
Pierre Bourdieu and Anthony Giddens, the anthropologist, Marshall Sahlins and
the social theorist, Michel Foucault. A primary common objective was to
account for action in a manner that was complementary to the study of systems
and structures (Ortner 1984: 147-8). In European sociology, the legacy of struc
turalism figured strongly in the intellectual context in which the problem of con
ceptualizing the relation between structure and agency was given proirity. The
concept of Praxis played a central role, and was conceived as a bridging device
between equally flawed holist and individualist explanations. Nevertheless,
holism was more comprehensively attacked than was individualism; discomfit
ure with a previously rampant structuralism always threatened that agency might
be allowed to dissolve into personal autonomy, a temptation to which many suc
cumbed. In the process, despite the positions adumbrated in works like Outline
of a Theory of Practice (Bourdieu 1972) and The Constitution of Society
(Giddens 1984) being seminal for social theory and inspiring empirical studies,
the orientation towards the analysis of practice per se palled. It was left to a
second generation of advocates to re-centre the concept of practices.
95 citations
•
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: The poststructuralist project as discussed by the authors has been used to deconstruct structure, agency, and affect in the context of political subjectivity, identity, interest, and political subjectsivity.
Abstract: 1. The Poststructuralist Project 2. Problematizing Poststructuralism 3. Ontological Bearings 4. Deconstructing Structure and Agency 5. Structure, Agency and Affect 6. Rethinking Power and Domination 7. Identity, Interests and Political Subjectivity
90 citations
••
TL;DR: In this article, the authors revisited the story of lifestyle in order to reinstate its importance to aging studies and the conclusion considers the example of falling for older people to illustrate how such a crucial issue is also an opportunity to think about lifestyle in critical and reflexive terms.
Abstract: Sociologists Georg Simmel and Max Weber conceived the idea of lifestyle to identify the social connections between individualism and consumerism that emerged with modernity. Pierre Bourdieu, Anthony Giddens and others have given lifestyle critical relevance in their work by including questions of agency and structure in post-traditional society. However, the idea of lifestyle has also become central to gerontological studies and the caring professions around aging and their models of “active” and “successful” aging. At the same time, such models have neglected the theoretical and critical value of lifestyle as a concept for understanding age inequalities and the social determinants of health in later life. This article revisits the story of lifestyle in order to reinstate its importance to aging studies. The conclusion considers the example of falling for older people to illustrate how such a crucial issue is also an opportunity to think about lifestyle in critical and reflexive terms.
81 citations
••
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that while some realists are in principle committed to a dialectical relationship between structure and agency, there is some dissonance between this commitment and the concepts of agency that they develop.
Abstract: While the human agent must have the capacity for reflexivity, intentionality and consciousness, the same agent must also be affected by the social world in which she lives: herein lies the essence of the structure and agency dialectic. This paper argues that while some realists are in principle committed to a dialectical relationship between structure and agency, there is some dissonance between this commitment and the concepts of agency that they develop. I highlight the exclusion of the unconscious and habit from realist notions of agency and argue that this oversight serves to unbalance the dialectic between structure and agency thereby leading to the over-empowerment of agency. The concepts of agency developed by Margaret Archer, Anthony Giddens and Pierre Bourdieu are discussed in this paper. Archer's concept of agency is argued to focus exclusively on reflexivity whilst neglecting to include the unconscious and habit. Giddens is shown to develop a much improved concept of agency, which includes the unconscious, however, his rejection of the independent causal powers of structure and agency problematises his commitment to the dialectic. A much improved approach to theorising agency, developed within a critical realist framework, is offered drawing on Bourdieu's concept of habitus. The paper concludes with a discussion of gender, and considers how the unconscious and habit can help to better understand the myriad ways in which gender functions in society.
74 citations
••
TL;DR: The authors argue that a theory of cultural production that adequately integrates race and ethnicity needs to combine analysis of micro and macro factors, structure and agency, and change and continuity, and outline the development of research on cultural production, differentiating various approaches according to the degree of attention that they afford to questions of power, inequality and social justice.
Abstract: This article seeks to develop an approach to cultural production which takes racism seriously. We suggest that there has been a lack of attention to race and ethnicity in the booming research field of cultural production studies, and that the few good studies of race, ethnicity, and cultural production have been somewhat marginalized. Following a section that outlines our understandings of “race” and ethnicity, we outline the development of research on cultural production, differentiating various approaches according to the degree of attention that they afford to questions of power, inequality, and social justice. We then survey the main themes that have emerged from cultural production studies regarding race and ethnicity, and outline some of the problems associated with such research. We argue that a theory of cultural production that adequately integrates race and ethnicity needs to combine analysis of micro and macro factors, structure and agency, and change and continuity.
74 citations
••
TL;DR: The theoretical tension between structure and agency, a tension often mentioned but seldom explored in depth, was explored in this paper, where the authors examined how identity, structure, and agency might be defined by key thinkers in the social sciences.
Abstract: Against a backdrop of rapid global transformations, the ever-increasing migration of people across nation-state borders and a wide array of language practices, applied linguists, and language and intercultural communication researchers in particular, often include identity as a key construct in their work. Most adopt a broadly poststructuralist approach, drawing on the work of social theorists working in a wide range of areas such as cultural studies, gender studies and critical theory. However, the complexity of these sources poses challenges for these researchers and the aim of this paper is to discuss one such challenge: the theoretical tension between structure and agency, a tension often mentioned but seldom explored in depth. First, I examine how identity, structure and agency might be defined. Second, I then embark on a selective discussion of how structure and agency have been framed by key thinkers in the social sciences, ranging from Karl Marx to Ulrich Beck, Anthony Giddens and Pierre ...
••
TL;DR: Actor Network Theory (ANT) as mentioned in this paper is an influential current within the sociology of science and technology; a relational and anti-essentialist form of materialism; an insistence that notions of agency not be confined to human subjects but embrace objects, devices, and other non-human entities.
Abstract: Like any multiplicity, “actor-network theory” is many things: an influential current within the sociology of science and technology; a relational and anti-essentialist form of materialism; an insistence that notions of agency not be confined to human subjects but embrace objects, devices, and other non-human entities; and much else besides.
Actor-network theory was initially developed as a way of making sense of the social life of the laboratory and the complex paths that scientific knowledge takes from untidy practice to incontestable “fact.” Its founders, including Michel Callon, Bruno Latour and their collaborators, have since sought to apply these initial insights to a wide range of other arenas of social and political life. In the process, actor-network theory (ANT) has given us a wealth of concepts.
The idea of the actor network itself embodies a productive tension, putting structure and agency into an intimate relationship in which the network is made up of actors who are, in turn, the effects of the network.
In their attention to the concrete and contested ways in which knowledge is produced and circulated, ANT scholars have also pointed to the centrality of what Callon and Latour have called inscriptions , the various pieces of paper, devices, graphs, and computer programs through which actors seek to translate the messiness of the world—the laboratory, the battlefield or the market—into usable, mobile knowledge.
The ultimate goal …
••
TL;DR: In this article, a new institutionalism perspective is explored from a new perspective that considers the co-evolution of structures and practices that shape tourism policies and activities and uses a strategic-relational approach to understand structure and agency relationships.
•
31 Jul 2013
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a case study of UCT Chemical Engineering in South Africa, focusing on the concept of critical realism as a philosophical function in higher education, and a social realist approach to research on student learning.
Abstract: Part I: Setting the Scene 1. Contemporary Chellanges in Higher Education 2. Researching Student Learning: Accounting for structure and agency Part II: A Theoretical Framework 3. Critical realism as philosophical function 4. Realist Social Theiry: Archer's morphogentic approach 5. A Socialist Realist Perspective on Knowledge and Curriculum 6. Conceptualising Student Agency Part III: Developing a Case Study in Engineering Education 7. Geographical Context for the Study: Locating UCT Chemical Engineering 8. Disciplinary Context for the Study: Locating engineering education 9. Choosing Engineering 10. Studying Engineering- defining your project 11. Studying Engineering - engaging with others 12. Studying Engineering - the knowledge project 13. Conclusions for the Case Study Part IV: Drawing the Strands Together 14. A Social Realist Approach to Research on Student Learning
•
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors adopt a predominantly qualitative approach to explore learning in computational culture, studying how the Scratch programming environment and online community are employed to support learning both in and out of school.
Abstract: We live in a computational culture—a culture in which we are surrounded by computational systems and interfaces, from social networks to banking infrastructure, to entertainment platforms, to transportation systems. This culture introduces new expectations and new opportunities for learning, creating new demands for what to learn and offering new possibilities for how to learn.
In this dissertation, I adopt a predominantly qualitative approach to exploring learning in computational culture, studying how the Scratch programming environment and online community are employed to support learning both in and out of school. To this end, I conducted interviews with 30 kids working with Scratch at home and 30 teachers working with Scratch in K-12 classrooms to develop descriptions of computational creation in these two settings.
Using a theoretical framework of agency and structure, I analyze how the at-home and school-classroom contexts enable—or constrain—young people's agency in computational creation. Despite common assumptions that at-home learning is necessarily low-structure/ high-agency and that at-school learning is necessarily high-structure/low-agency, I argue that structure and agency need not be in opposition. Designers of learning environments should explore intermediate possibilities, finding ways to employ structure in the service of learner agency. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, libraries.mit.edu/docs - docs@mit.edu)
••
TL;DR: It is contended that poststructuralist approaches to social theory are useful for sociolinguists, especially variationists, in that they resist the false dichotomy between agency and structure and provide a comprehensive way of thinking about identity that ignores neither practice nor subjectivity.
Abstract: Poststructuralist theory has been broadly influential throughout the humanities and social sciences for two decades, yet sociolinguistic engagement with poststructuralism has been limited to select subfields. In this paper, I consider the possibilities for richer cross-disciplinary work involving sociolinguistics and poststructuralist social theory. I begin by describing the place of social theory within sociolinguistics, paying attention both to the possibilities of interdisciplinarity and the resistance to it. I then introduce the basic tenets of poststructuralism, focusing primarily on its two main constructs, ‘performativity’ and ‘discourse,’ and briefly discuss the discontentment with structuralism that resulted in ‘the linguistic turn’. I outline the sites in the literature where sociolinguists have already made use of poststructuralist approaches, and conclude by suggesting new possibilities for cross-disciplinary collaboration. Though the paper focuses primarily on variationist sociolinguistics in the U.S. academy, I also make reference to other fields that work with non-static, anti-essentialist approaches to sociality, such as critical discourse analysis. I contend that poststructuralist approaches to social theory are useful for sociolinguists, especially variationists, in that they resist the false dichotomy between agency and structure and provide a comprehensive way of thinking about identity that ignores neither practice nor subjectivity.
••
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the role of structure and agency in the change in management accounting controls in a large Greek company, and found that changes in management control practices in FA were a function of different interacting structural conditions as mediated through human agency.
••
TL;DR: The authors examined the structure-agent question using the framework of posthuman international relations, which draws on recent thinking in complexity and argues for an approach to the study of global politics that is post-Newtonian and non-anthropocentric.
Abstract: While some theorists in International Relations have engaged with thinking about complexity, we would argue that few have thought it through to its logical conclusion – the interconnectedness of systems, and the implications for agency and structure. This article examines the structure–agency question using the framework of ‘posthuman international relations’, which draws on recent thinking in complexity and argues for an approach to the study of global politics that is post-Newtonian and non-anthropocentric. Key elements of a complexity-based approach are examined, and it is argued that these provide a novel way of considering issues of agency and structure. They also raise issues for the analysis of agency and the link between actions and outcomes. Complex systems can present problems of analysis related to unpredictability, causality and non-linearity. Having laid out a framework for thinking about action and context in international politics, the article turns to questions of agency and practice within complex systems. Perhaps the most significant claim here is that it is possible to conceive of agency beyond the human. Drawing upon Margaret Archer’s discussions of primary and corporate agency, a threefold approach to thinking about structure and agency is developed, which allows us to think about agency beyond the human. Finally, an explanation is given as to why a complex approach to thinking about international relations ultimately implies a posthuman perspective.
••
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated employers' perceptions of ethnic minority women in the Scottish labour market and highlighted the influence of individual (micro), organizational (meso) and contextual (macro) factors on minority women's participation in the labour market.
Abstract: This paper contributes to an under-researched area through investigating employers' perceptions of ethnic minority women in the Scottish labour market. Adopting a social constructionist approach which acknowledges agency and structure and incorporates insights relating to organizational and social group culture, the study highlights the influence of individual (micro), organizational (meso) and contextual (macro) factors on ethnic minority women's participation in the labour market. The paper is based on qualitative research involving Scottish employers in the public and private sectors to examine perceptions and practices related to the employment of ethnic minority women. Institutional commitment to equality issues is questioned, although individual instances of engagement with key equality issues were sometimes evident. Proactive recruitment strategies and career support for ethnic minority women and men were not in evidence, and there was low awareness of the unique position of ethnic minority women in employment and society. We argue that these findings call for a multi-level approach to advancing human resources management policy, practice and research within a wider socio-political environment in which the responsibilities and duties of public sector organizations are clarified and more support is provided for organizational promotion of equal opportunities.
••
TL;DR: Main themes that emerged from the qualitative exploration of the psychological distress of job loss included stress, changes to perceived control, loss of self-esteem, shame and loss of status, experiencing a grieving process, and financial strain.
Abstract: Job loss is a discrete life event, with multiple adverse consequences for physical and mental health and implications for agency. Our research explores the consequences of job loss for retrenched workers’ mental health by examining the interplay between their agency and the structures shaping their job loss experiences. We conducted two waves of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a sample of 33 of the more than 1000 workers who lost their jobs at Mitsubishi Motors in South Australia during 2004 and 2005 as a result of industry restructuring. Interviews capturing the mental health consequences of job loss were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was employed to determine the health consequences of the job loss and the impact of structural factors. Main themes that emerged from the qualitative exploration of the psychological distress of job loss included stress, changes to perceived control, loss of self-esteem, shame and loss of status, experiencing a grieving process, and financial strain. Drawing on two models of agency we identified the different ways workers employed their agency, and how their agency was enabled, but mainly constrained, when dealing with job loss consequences. Respondents’ accounts support the literature on the moderating effects of economic resources such as redundancy packages. The results suggest the need for policies to put more focus on social, emotional and financial investment to mediate the structural constraints of job loss. Our study also suggests that human agency must be understood within an individual’s whole of life circumstances, including structural and material constraints, and the personal or interior factors that shape these circumstances.
••
TL;DR: The authors argued that androcentric and patriarchal thinking is so entrenched in major social institutions that gender and racial discrimination seem to be inscribed in our blood, and argued that confronting the influence of external systems on our thinking and engaging in an ideological critique are the first steps to understand and undoing oppression and privilege and in working toward radical change.
Abstract: Drawing on my experiences and the work of emancipatory theorists, I argue that androcentric and patriarchal thinking is so entrenched in major social institutions that gender and racial discrimination seem to be inscribed in our blood. Confronting the influence of external systems on our thinking and engaging in an ideological critique are the first steps to understanding and undoing oppression and privilege and in working toward radical change. This article deals with the complex relationship between agency and structure. Although an alternative consciousness and praxis are central to dealing with gender and racial discrimination and inequality, so is dealing with their structural determinants.
••
TL;DR: This paper explored the political signification of the termentrepreneur in UK parliamentary debates over the past forty years and identified patterns of reification, agency and structure in the portrayed entrepreneurial constructs.
Abstract: This article explores the political signification of the termentrepreneurin UK parliamentary debates over the past forty years. Following a review of the literature, a need is identified to understand the construction of the entrepreneur in political discourse. Concern here is not with the prosaic cataloguing of policies or definitions, but with exploring shifts in the discursive constructs of the entrepreneur that underlie political practice. To explore these constructions a large longitudinal dataset is systematically condensed, while maintaining sensitivity to the nuances of meaning. A corpus-based linguistics approach is undertaken. This combines the computational analysis of significant collocates, that is important words (concepts) that surround the termentrepreneur, with the richness of qualitative analysis. Patterns of reification, agency and structure are identified in the portrayed entrepreneurial constructs. The philosophical and practical implications of these patterns are discussed and proposals are made for using corpus techniques in international comparative analyses.
••
TL;DR: The use of auto/ethnography in leisure studies has been limited to a few key articles as discussed by the authors, but it has been explored in a wide range of leisure studies, including women's roller derby.
Abstract: IntroductionIn this article I bring writing, as method, to the fore of feminist leisure research. In doing so I examine the concept of resistance in the contemporary version of womens roller derby. I argue that this form of auto/ethnography can be taken up as a as a way of demonstrating "what the ideas of reading, writing, and text might contribute to social and cultural analysis" (Game, 1991, p. 3). Belonging and friendship are key themes in feminist leisure research (Gibson, Berdychevsky, & Bell, 2012; Glover & Parry, 2008), yet the experiences of the researcher and those who have "not belonged" have been marginal in these studies (for notable exceptions see Axelsen, 2009; Olive & Thorpe, 2011). And so my task has been to bring these experiences, and their related affects, into feminist leisure research as a way of revealing what is not often voiced in the field and as an example of writing women's bodies through relations of affect. This type of work is limited in the field of leisure studies broadly. Yet there are opportunities to question the relations of power that are so often taken for granted, both within the institutional setting of the university and within the leisure spaces occupied by women. Taking an auto/ethnographic approach to research makes explicit the multiplicities of identity that need to be negotiated in this marginal space. I am a researcher, a feminist, a participant. I am also a student and a writer. Through the use of personal narrative, my writing opposes singularity and the positivist assumption of a singular truth (Rinehart, 2005, p. 500) and in doing so moves away from debates about agency and structure to think differently about academic writing, resistance and empowerment in leisure research.To the question "What is auto/ethnography?" Ellis responds, "research, writing, story, and method that connect the autobiographical and personal to the cultural, social, and political" (2004, p. xix). Auto/ethnography and roller derby go well together. Both are risky, at times painful, at times immensely satisfying, and both allow the participant to know more about themselves, those around them, and the broader society they live in. Both roller derby and auto/ ethnography are "in progress." Roller derby is a "new," albeit revived version of an older sport, and there are several ways the sport is being played with different rules, governing bodies and philosophies. Auto/ethnography too can be understood and practiced in multiple ways. There is "no canned method" (Rinehart, 2005, p. 501) for writing auto/ethnographic research. This type of writing can be used as a mediation of affect to explore notions of "resistance" and "belonging" that are so often tied up with "alternative" sports and leisure practices (Rinehart & Sydnor, 2003). At the same time, I demonstrate the power relations at play for those of us, like myself, at the margins of academic research, and the potential of this marginal position to enable different and multiple notions of "researcher" and "feminist" identities. Masculine experiences (in leisure, the academy, and society more broadly) have been represented as the universal norm, marginalising women's experiences and identities (Irigaray, 1993, 2007). Scholars of feminist leisure studies have implicitly and explicitly sought to change this, bringing women's experiences to the fore and it is to these debates that I add my contribution.The use of auto/ethnography in leisure studies has been limited to a few key articles. In the UK journal Leisure Studies, I uncovered nine articles with "auto ethnography" listed as one of their key words. And in Henderson and Gibson's (2013) recent integrative review they found 9% of articles with a feminist leisure focus used auto/ethnography or ethnography. I do not aim to map out occurrences of the use of auto/ethnography in the wider literature (see Anderson & Austin, 2011 for an overview of auto-ethnography in leisure studies more broadly), but simply wish to point out the lack of research within the key leisure studies journals internationally. …
••
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the ownership of policy reforms is the outcome of an interaction between individual agency and structural conditions, and describe the interplay between national policy makers, international organizations and dominant development discourses in the shaping of water policy reforms in both countries over the past 15 years.
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: The authors applied a cluster analysis to structural variables of media systems and to audience practices in terms of media use in order to find out how similar or different are media structures and practices in different European countries, in relation to Hallin and Mancini's (2004) theoretical model of media system.
Abstract: All the most important theoretical models developed for comparing media systems stress the importance of the structural aspect in defining the main dimensions that shape the media field. In this text we focus on audience behaviour in media systems as an aspect of agency, understood in sociological terms as part of the structuration process, and we expand the boundaries of media systems theory by including phenomena related to media use. We apply a cluster analysis to structural variables of media systems and to audience practices in terms of media use in order to find out how similar or different are media structures and practices in different European countries, in relation to Hallin and Mancini’s (2004) theoretical model of media systems. The study finds that European audience practices show a clear North/South, rather than the expected East/West, differentiation. The expectation that all post-socialist European countries belong to the same model is also not supported in relation to structural media variables; some post-socialist countries are more similar to countries in the other two models of media systems in their structural aspects. The study interestingly re-groups European countries into three distinctive structural models which differ somewhat from the original Hallin and Mancini (2004) classification.
•
TL;DR: The work of Pierre Bourdieu offers a pro-ductive way to practice research in international relations as mentioned in this paper, which avoids some of the traps commonly found in political science in general and theorizations of international relations in particular: essentialization and ahistoricism; a false dualism between constructivism and empirical research; and an absolute opposition between the collective and the individual.
Abstract: This article demonstrates how the work of Pierre Bourdieu offers a productive way to practice research in international relations. It especially explores the alternatives opened by Bourdieu in terms of a logic of practice and practical sense that refuses an opposition between general theory and empirical research. Bourdieu’s preference for a relational approach, which destabilizes the different versions of the opposition between structure and agency, avoids some of the traps commonly found in political science in general and theorizations of international relations in particular: essentialization and ahistoricism; a false dualism between constructivism and empirical research; and an absolute opposition between the collective and the individual. The “thinking tools”of field and habitus, which are both collective and individualized, are examined in order to see how they resist such traps. The article also engages with the question of whether the international itself challenges some of Bourdieu’s assumptions, especially when some authors identify a global field of power while others deny that such a field of power could be different from a system of different national fields of power. In this context, the analysis of transversal fields of power must be untied from state centrism in order to discuss the social transformations of power relations in ways that do not oppose a global?international level to a series of national and subnational levels.
••
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a roadmap-based investigation of structure and agency patterns in the emergence of a Brazilian high-tech ASO focused on developing products from carbon nanotubes to industrial applications.
•
01 Mar 2013
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide an analysis of the experiences of female business owners in the development and management of micro and small handicraft businesses in Jordan, which is an Arab Islamic country.
Abstract: The aim of this research was to provide an analysis of the experiences of female business owners in the development and management of micro and small handicraft businesses in Jordan, which is an Arab Islamic country. The study adopted a critical realism and critical theory/feminism stance with the focus being on the inter-action between structure and agency. The Structuration Theory was the main theory underpinning interpretation of the findings for this thesis; it is concerned with structure and agency and the duality between the two. Structure refers to the environment within which the women live and work: the socio-cultural-religious environment and the external business-related environment. Agency refers to the nature and extent of the freedom demonstrated by women business owners when choosing their course of action within these environments. The study used a sequential, mixed method research approach, which was chosen as the most effective and appropriate approach to explore these phenomena. The primary data was collected through a drop and collect quantitative self-completion questionnaire in the first phase, followed by face-to-face in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews in the second phase. The samples consisted of 264 women, who completed the questionnaire during the quantitative phase of the research, and 12 women, who were interviewed in-depth in the qualitative phase of the research. The quantitative data analysis was conducted using SPSS, whilst the qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis. Most of the published research on the experiences of, and influences on, female owners of micro and small businesses is based on Western countries (He 2011). This research adds to that knowledge by focusing on female business owners of handicraft businesses in the patriarchal, collective, Islamic society of Jordan. The quantitative research provides a profile of the women business owners, along with details of their businesses and their experiences during the start-up and operational stages. The qualitative research identifies the power of the socio-cultural-religious and business environment factors on the behaviour and attitudes of the women business owners. Together, these research findings reveal the influence of the socio-cultural-religious factors and business environment factors on the behaviour and attitudes of female owners of micro and small handicraft businesses, as well as the ability of these women to choose their own courses of action. The findings of the quantitative and qualitative research were synthesised into a conceptual framework.
••
TL;DR: The authors argue that the application of the balance concept can be expanded if one allows a move beyond the structure-argument for a bi-polar, equal weighting conceptualization of "work" versus "family" and beyond a process argument focusing on psycho-behavioral components.
Abstract: Synopsis This paper leverages Structuration Theory within the greater framework of Institutional Theory to broaden the balance discourse cross-culturally. We argue that the application of the balance concept can be expanded if one allows a move beyond the structure-argument for a bi-polar, equal weighting conceptualization of “work” versus “family”, and beyond a process argument focusing on psycho-behavioral components. Instead balance can acknowledge the differences between structure and agency and the interaction between them (i.e., agentic process ). Agentic process suggests that women actively seek to address as well as modify a multitude of institutionally mandated and idiosyncratic structures (i.e., roles and responsibilities) through day-to-day behaviors. Ultimately, balance is a matter of the ease of navigation between and across these different types of structure. With a set of qualitative data drawn from three societies within the Arab Middle East, we find preliminary support for an enriched conceptualization of balance readily applicable cross-culturally.