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.

Structure and agency in international relations: state-building and the evolution of the international political system

Abstract: Conflicts are intrinsic to social systems and constitute an irreducible part of their development. This article analyzes the conflict between states and its effects on the evolutionary dynamics of the international political system. We discuss the ontology of each object of analysis and the causal mechanisms that connect their respective evolving trajectories. Then, the analytical model is evaluated regarding to the processes of formation of the Qin Empire in China and the construction of Nation-States in Europe. The working hypothesis is that the interactions among the strategies chosen by the agents to cope with the structural constrains and competition conditions they encounter cause changes in the international political systems, as well as on the actors themselves.

Reproducing the social structure: a Marxist critique of Anthony Giddens’s Structuration Methodology

Abstract: Marxist criticism of Anthony Giddens's sociology tends to fall into one of two camps. On one side, numerous authors have criticised Giddens's methodological writings for their failure to properly elucidate the relationship between agency and structure. Giddens's refusal to accept a role for structural causation has been the primary concern in these methodological appraisals as the upshot is a conception of social relations without any efficacy. On the other side have been the numerous critiques of Giddens's purported renewal of social democracy. Here the criticism tends to focus on Giddens's shift to the political right, but it is rarely noticed that there is also a methodological critique waiting to be developed. Giddens's early work is nothing if not a celebration of the agent with structure demoted to little more than an epiphenomenon. The later writings are, in contrast, almost entirely built around the structural omnipotence of neo-liberal capitalism, and this paper sets out to elucidate the incongruence between these two positions. Copyright , Oxford University Press.

Theories and Models Relevant to Cheating-Behaviour

Abstract: Reviewers of previous-research, for the study of academic-dishonesty, cite lack of a theoretical-framework as a serious-flaw that limits the generalizations to be reasonably-made. The concept and term of theory are essential in any-discipline, that perceives itself as scholarly or scientific, hence theory is essential in educational-research as a research-domain. Interest in theory-method relations, comes from previous-works on structure and agency in teaching-learning-interactions in higher-education. In addition, there have been criticisms of the extent of theory use and the type of theory applied in higher-education-research. This study is therefore, focused on illustrative-review of theories and models relevant to cheating-behaviour, which resulted in an array of 19 theories, 10 models and 3 supportive-approaches. This contribution seeks inspiring an interest in the academic-fraternity into using solid-theoretical-foundation for their-study on cheating-behaviour, thus promoting of educational-research of high-scientific-value. It also anticipates enhancing the knowledge-base for professional-education and its policy-making and administration, among other-areas. Keywords: theory, model, cheating, behaviour, education, reseach.

Subject trouble Judith Butler and dialectics

Abstract: In this essay I explore the role of dialectics for how social theory can take account of the problem of structure and agency, or, determination and freedom, in a critical and emancipatory way. I di...