Structure and agency

About: Structure and agency is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1265 publications have been published within this topic receiving 63660 citations.

Paradoxes of participation : questioning participatory approaches to development

Abstract: This article suggests that the concepts underlying participatory approaches to development should be subject to greater critical analysis. Drawing on research on water resource management in sub-Saharan Africa, and on social theory concerning the recursive relationship between agency and structure, it illustrates the need for a more complex understanding of issues of efficiency and empowerment in participatory appro- aches. Particularly, two key concepts are examined: ideas about the nature and role of institutions: and models of individual action. The article concludes by identifying the questions such an analysis raises about the relationships between community, social capital and the state. Copyright ',€) 1999 John Wiley & Sons. Lid.

‘They Employ Cleaners to Do that’: habitus in the primary classroom

Abstract: Pierre Bourdieu suggests that his concept of habitus should be seen as a method; a way of thinking about the social world which invites an understanding of everyday practices as constitutive of social differences. The appeal of habitus lies in its ability to uncover social inequalities in a way that keeps agency and structure simultaneously in focus. However, there are also problems in operationalising habitus, chiefly because of the indeterminacy of the concept. In order to overcome these difficulties I have outlined four key components of habitus and attempted to delineate the aspects of habitus as method that seem most relevant to primary classrooms. Finally, drawing on ethnographic data gathered over 15 months of participant observation in two primary classrooms, the article seeks to explore through the lens of habitus how differences of gender, ‘race’ and class are produced by children in primary classrooms. Although I make no claims for my own empirical work it does suggest that habitus as ...

Pierre Bourdieu and International Relations: Power of Practices, Practices of Power

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.

Forms of capital, mixed embeddedness and Somali enterprise

Abstract: What form is small business activity taking among new migrants in the UK? This question is addressed by examining the case of Somalis in the English city of Leicester.We apply a novel synthesis of the Nee and Sanders' (2001) `forms of capital' model with the `mixed embeddedness' approach (Rath, 2000) to enterprises established by newly arrived immigrant communities, combining agency and structure perspectives. Data are drawn from business-owners (and workers) themselves, rather than community representatives. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were held with 25 business owners and 25 employees/`helpers', supplemented by 3 focus group encounters with different segments of the Somali business population.The findings indicate that a reliance solely on social capital explanations is not sufficient. An adequate understanding of business dynamics requires an appreciation of how Somalis mobilize different forms of capital within a given political, social and economic context.

The sociology of Bourdieu and the construction of the 'object' in translation and interpreting studies

Abstract: This article introduces Bourdieu's sociological perspective and its relevance to translation and interpreting studies. It discusses Bourdieu's key concepts – habitus, field, capital and illusio – and their contribution to theorizations of the interaction between structure and agency in sociological and philosophical debates. Considerable attention is paid to the relationship between Bourdieu's reflexive sociology and the emergent interest in the ethnographic tradition within translation and interpreting studies, particularly the influence of the interpretive approach of Geertz and the subsequent work of Clifford and Marcus within the culturalist paradigm. The question of methodology is addressed in relation to Bourdieu's reflexive sociology and the construction of the 'object' of sociological research. The article further explores how Bourdieu's concepts may be made to work empirically within translation and interpreting research and how much this depends on embracing Bourdieu's ontological and epistemological stance. Bourdieu's work is briefly explored in relation to other sociological theories that have begun to emerge as relevant to translation studies, in particular the work of Latour and Luhmann, and additional future directions for research within the sociology of translation and interpreting are suggested.