Topic
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.
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TL;DR: In this paper, structural theory is used to reconcile six approaches to opportunity research that emphasize either the recognition or formation of entrepreneurial opportunity, and it is argued that recognition and formation are recursively implicated because it dissolves the dichotomy between structure and agency.
175 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 looks at ANT from the perspective of the social realism of Margaret Archer, and explores the value of incorporating concepts from ANT into a social realist approach, but argues that the latter offers a more productive way of approaching information systems.
Abstract: Actor-network theory (ANT) has achieved a measure of popularity in the analysis of information systems. This paper looks at ANT from the perspective of the social realism of Margaret Archer. It argues that the main issue with ANT from a realist perspective is its adoption of a `flat' ontology, particularly with regard to human beings. It explores the value of incorporating concepts from ANT into a social realist approach, but argues that the latter offers a more productive way of approaching information systems.
174 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors apply a relational approach to the study of power, policymaking, and related debates associated with tourism development, focusing on dialectical relations between actors and structures, seeking to break down the unhelpful dualism between agency and structure.
174 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the deployment of empirical research methods needs to be underpinned by a meta-theory embracing epistemological and ontological elements, which does not commit one to the view that absolute knowledge of the social world is possible.
Abstract: In the light of recent writings of Richard Pring, and in relation to the application of empirical research methods in education, this paper offers a corrective to a neo-realist viewpoint and develops a critical realist perspective The argument is made that the deployment of empirical research methods needs to be underpinned by a meta-theory embracing epistemological and ontological elements; that this meta-theory does not commit one to the view that absolute knowledge of the social world is possible; and that critical realism is the most appropriate meta-theory to underpin the use of empirical research methods Further to this, unhelpful dualisms between quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and between structure and agency, are discussed in relation to neo-realist and critical realist perspectives
171 citations