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.

Interpretivism and interactionism

Abstract: This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the core topics, theories and debates in modern social theory. Fourteen chapters have been written by leading specialists in the field, providing up-to-date guidance on the full sweep of the modern sociological imagination, from the legacies of the classical figures of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel and Parsons to the work of cutting-edge contemporary theorists. Separate chapters discuss functionalism and its critics, interpretive and interactionist theory, historical social theory, western Marxism, psychoanalytic social theory, structuralism and post-structuralism, structure and agency theory, feminist social theory, postmodernism and its critics, and theories about globalization. All chapters are supplied with questions for discussion, study boxes, guidance on further reading and useful website addresses. It is ideal for students of sociology and cultural studies pursuing foundational courses in the history and theory of social analysis, and is also accessible for the general reader.

Structure and Agency: Africana Immigrants in China

Abstract: This article addresses some of the challenges faced by Africana immigrants in China from the perspective of structure and agency. Following a review of the core concepts in the literature is discussion of the structural changes currently evident in China and how these impact on the sense of agency of domestic migrants and foreign immigrants. This is followed by an overview of the literature of Chinese perceptions of race. That structural framework sets the stage for a discussion of the features of the contemporary Africana population in China followed by an explanation of the methodology used and profiles of the subjects. In the results section issues of home, reflexivity, structure and agency, relations with the Chinese, enclaves, race and religion and intimacy are discussed. The tentative conclusion is that for Africana immigrants agency is often enhanced by the deployment of their intellectual skills that are in demand in China but is constrained with regards to the exercise of religion and the pursuit of intimacy. Many Africana immigrants therefore experience an enhanced sense of subject well-being in the areas of cognition and material resource acquisition, impact positively on some aspects of Chinese structure, even while being constrained by other features of that structure.

Can pikachu save fannie mae? Value, finance and imagination in the new Pokéconomy.

Abstract: I argue that Pokemon offers a demonstrative and constitutive moment of the financializaion of contemporary cultural life in ways that signal an intensification of finance, risk, debt and cognitive labour as global imperatives. I suggest that children's play with Pokemon cards can help us revisit tenacious debates within Cultural Studies over structure and agency by focusing on the social production of value (in this case, the way children produce common forms of value for their card collections) and how this is connected to economic value in an age of speculative capital. In particular, I argue that Pokemon emblematizes emerging trends in the way the financialized economy develops and depends on commodified social practices that offer resources for the development of financialized subjectivities and engineered forms of agency.

Poverty and Inequality:Exploring the Role of Tourismin Brazil's Northeast

Abstract: With poverty and inequality continuing to persist around the world, eradicating both has become one of the greatest challenges for humanity. Yet, tourism has been considered as a panacea for achieving development, overcoming poverty and reducing inequality. Nonetheless, it remains unclear as to whether tourism contributes to reducing poverty and inequality or, in fact, increases both. This study explores the relationship between tourism, poverty and inequality from a political economy perspective. A multidimensional view on poverty is adopted and inequality is considered in the distribution of impacts, which is underpinned by Sen's capability approach. The political economy context of this study is analysed by using Frank's dependency theory and by drawing on Giddens' understanding of power in his structuration theory. The study is conducted in a coastal tourist destination in the Northeast of Brazil and applies a mixed-methodological approach that combines quantitative value chain analysis (VCA) and qualitative photo-elicitation and interviews. The results show that tourism has a significant impact on reducing income-poverty through providing job opportunities as micro-entrepreneurs and in un-/ and semi-skilled positions to locals from a non-white background. In contrast, tourism business owners and those in higher managerial positions are people from a white background who have moved to the Northeast. This disparity found mirrors classic development patterns in developing countries and seems to be characteristic of the coastline in Brazil's Northeast. An analysis of the value of tourism-related income through consumption patterns emphasises the importance of tourism for local people to sustain their well-being, whilst business owners and managers do not seem to depend on tourism since they are able to draw on other financial sources. Individual opportunities and wider societal benefits provided by tourism are highly valued by locals, particularly, the opportunity of having access to and contact with the rest of the world through engagement with international tourists. In contrast, tourism business owners and managers place value on living in a natural environment and having a relaxed lifestyle. Despite the value of tourism for both groups, challenges and costs of tourism development are also identified. A key constraint is found to exist in racial disparities, in that the white-skinned elite is perceived to prevent non-white locals from generating income and sustaining their livelihoods. Wider structural constraints for tourism development lie in the dependency of the destination on the municipality and a neighbouring city; nonetheless, despite existing structural constraints, agency becomes evident, suggesting that people exert some degree of power over tourism development and their livelihoods. This study provides deeper understanding of multidimensional poverty, and particularly, in connection to inequality. Furthermore, it adds to existing knowledge on power relations within and between different spatial scales and power as interplay between structure and agency.

The discourse of culture and identity in national and transnational contexts

Abstract: Book synopsis: This collection examines and uses discourse to promote a better understanding of culture and identity, with the primary goal of advancing an understanding of how discourse can be used to examine social and linguistic issues. Many of the contributions explore how the formation of culture and identity is shaped by national and transnational issues, such as migration, immigration, technology, and language policy. The collection contributes to a better understanding of the process of intercultural communication research, as each author takes a different theoretical or methodological approach to examining discourse. Although different aspects of discourse are analyzed in this collection, each contribution examines issues and concepts that are central to understanding and carrying out intercultural communication research (e.g., structure and agency, static and dynamic cultural constructs, sociolinguistic scales, power and discourse, othering and alienness, native and non-native). This book was originally published as a special issue of Language and Intercultural Communication.