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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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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an exploratory study with low income young people was conducted to explore the discourses on which they drew their understandings about health and whether family structure mediated individual agency.
Abstract: This paper reports on an exploratory study with low income young people that sought to explore the discourses on which they drew their understandings about health and whether family structure mediated individual agency. Based on an interpretive perspective, the voices of three participants were selected from an inner city secondary school. Drawn from a larger study, participants were interviewed in pairs and asked to elaborate on their understanding and experience of health, fitness and physical activity. The analytical framework was influenced by the work of Bourdieu, recognising the importance of structure and agency. This study suggests that young people were implicated in the reproduction of a healthism discourse, while family was recognised as a social “field” that shaped their dispositions toward health-related practices. However their ability to enact health dispositions and maintain a healthy lifestyle was constrained by their family structure and the structural social conditions of their lives.

8 citations

Reference EntryDOI
Rob Stones1
15 Feb 2007

8 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Agency and structure postulate a dialectic relationship: agents’ actions shape and are shaped by social structure in a spiral and dynamic manner as discussed by the authors, and agents act according to the social structure.
Abstract: Agency and structure postulate a dialectic relationship: agents’ actions shape and are shaped by social structure in a spiral and dynamic manner. Empirical studies in pre-collegiate science educati...

8 citations

01 Nov 2008
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the cultural identity of a group of tertiary students of Italian ancestry in Australia through an analysis of their past personal narratives, and four cultural identity orientations were proposed resulting from the analysis of the narratives: Secure Bicultural, Ideational Monocultural, Insecure Bicultural and Secure (Assimilated) monocultural.
Abstract: The paper examines the cultural identity of a group of tertiary students of Italian ancestry in Australia through an analysis of their past personal narratives. It is argued that such narratives are privileged sites for the investigation of cultural identity defined as a form of conscious, reflexive and evaluative self-understanding pertaining to that facet of the self which knowingly commits itself to the shared values and practices of a particular cultural group (Gone, Miller & Rappaport 1999). In their personal narratives, the participants comment on their past and present experiences with respect to their Italian culture maintenance efforts and their attitudes toward Italian cultural values. The study follows in the humanistic sociological tradition, which seeks to understand the relationship between structure and agency through an analysis of both the activation of cultural values and their evaluation by active and reflective social agents. Four cultural identity orientations are proposed resulting from the analysis of the narratives: Secure Bicultural, Ideational Monocultural, Insecure Bicultural and Secure (Assimilated) Monocultural. The cultural evaluations expressed through the narratives point to the unstable and dynamic nature of identity construction and negotiation, which varies over time and place. It is evident that certain themes such as family values, cultural practices, social categorisation, stereotyping of physical characteristics and intergroup rivalry cut across the narratives of all four identity orientations. The differences in self-identification between the sub-groups appear to be the result of the process of subjective interpretation through which individual participants rationalise their life choices. Past personal narratives, more than other forms of data gathering, provide a rich insight into the reflexive and evaluative self-understanding of cultural identity.

8 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue for the necessity of developing an integrative, interdisciplinary, meta-theoretical framework through a radical reconstruction of old metaphors like agency and structure in the light of the recent global changes.
Abstract: Over the past three decades, there has been a rising concern about the ability of social theories to address the idea-construction (ideational) processes in social and political movements. This article argues that in spite of the recent growing emphasis on the cognitive dimension of collective action, many theoretical attempts and the studies influenced by them evidence significant shortcomings in explaining the (trans)formation of ideas and ideologies in social movements. These shortcomings stem from a failure at the metatheoretical level, that is, their failure to hold an integrative and interdisciplinary approach to comprehending the relation between changing social structures, dynamic patterns of experience and the social consciousness of actors. In proposing a solution, the article starts with defining the ideational landscape of social movements by introducing the concept of 'activist knowledge'. Then, it will argue for the necessity of developing an integrative, interdisciplinary, meta-theoretical framework through a radical reconstruction of old metaphors like agency and structure in the light of the recent global changes.

8 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
202335
202288
202148
202039
201954
201859