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.

Contemporary Thinking on Transdisciplinary Knowledge : What Those Who Know, Know

Abstract: The emergence of transdisciplinarity has been a response to the often-failed closed-system, discipline-based approaches to solving complex social problems (various reports and definitions may be found in projects reported by the OECD, UNESCO and EU). These failures are often contingent upon disaggregated notions of epistemology and the compounding failures of ontological incongruities that are evident in these discipline-based approaches. Such approaches are not necessarily confined to large, seemingly insurmountable social problems, but apply equally well to issues in educational institutions as workplaces. Transdisciplinary knowledge is in the liberation of new and imaginative understanding of the structured reality of open social systems. It gives rise to generative mechanisms, which are central to relationships of agency and structure.

‘My dad studied here too’: social inequalities and educational (dis)advantage in a Croatian higher education setting

Abstract: Higher education participation literature sends the message that there is social inequality in access to higher education and progress within it, i.e. that factors such as social class shape the chances of entering higher education, the choice of disciplinary orientation and course persistence. However, while there is general agreement in the field of sociology of education that social differences in educational pathways do not result solely from individual abilities, the sociological theorising of how such social differences are shaped is less consensual. This study contributes to the sociological debate by exploring how higher education choices are shaped for students from different social backgrounds in a Croatian higher education setting and how these students experience their first year of study and progress through it. The study’s data has resulted from a critical, multiple case study, mixed methods research design and includes: questionnaire data with responses from 642 first year undergraduate students at six case study faculties within the University of Zagreb ; interview data collected from 28 students at the same six faculties whose first year educational experiences and progress were more closely examined ; and statistical data including information for all Croatian students. The methodological relevance of the study derives from it being the first mixed methods study in Croatian higher education participation research and in providing the first qualitative data on the social aspects of student pathways in the Croatian higher education context. In addition, the study also contributes to overcoming the identified quantitativequalitative divide in international higher education participation research. Theoretically, the study has been inspired by Bourdieu’s approach to structure and agency as interrelated, his critical conceptual ‘toolbox’ for understanding practice and his methodological pluralism. With regard to this conceptual ‘toolbox’, the study has engaged with Bourdieu’s different types of capital, habitus and field in order to propose a relatively holistic approach to understanding social differences in higher education participation. His conceptual focus on the interrelatedness between habitus and field has provided this study with a sociologically relational account of student pathways rather than a focus on either their social, personal or institutional aspects. The study’s exploration and extension of Bourdieu’s concepts (e.g. capitals as acquired not just inherited, gradations of capital possession and gendered aspects of habitus) is a contribution to contemporary international debates on the usefulness and applicability of his framework for ‘noticing’ the ways in which social inequalities are educationally created and reinforced. The study has identified an interrelated web of influences as shaping student choices and experiences: inherited or acquired capitals (cultural, social, economic and emotional), gender, and fields of the past (secondary education field), present (HE field) and future (labour market). The analysis indicates that institutional practices educationally reinforce social (dis)advantage through their (mis)recognition of resources which are unevenly distributed among students, thus positioning those with inherited capitals at an educational advantage. In this study, ‘inheritors’ were identified as second generation students, who had attended a secondary grammar school, with the necessary financial resources, supportive parents and appropriate living and studying conditions. In the case of students with low initial capitals, examples of transformative educational practices were related primarily to the fields they interacted with, which acted as sources of capital influencing their practices. However, it was more often the case that fields reinforced existing capitals rather than provided new ones. A practical implication of identifying multiple influences shaping student choices and experiences is that a holistic approach is required to address such influences ; just focusing on economic capital or cultural capital reveals only part of the inequalities puzzle. It is suggested that for the ‘weakest to survive’ an amalgam of different practices needs to be put into place in order to trump their disadvantaged position. To this extent, the study lists examples of such inclusive practices as identified in the research. These practices also contribute to a more complex verbalizing of the Bologna process’ ‘social dimension’ in the Croatian HE context.

Vulnerability and resilience during disasters: Structural constraints and survivors’ agency in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake:

Abstract: The tendency of previous research on vulnerability and resilience is to measure these two factors as quantifiable variables that vary between social strata and social groups. Past findings often emphasize structural factors, such as inequality and power relations. My fieldwork on survivors of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake complements this paradigm in two steps. First, I display the ‘inter-’ and ‘intra-categorical’ variations of five social categories, each with its own advantages, limits, goals, and difficulties. The resilience of the survivors varies qualitatively and cannot be reduced to a unidimensional scale. Second, I develop a framework of resilience based on the degrees of structure and agency. I identify five modes of resilience: well-integrated, renouncing, activist, defeated, and treading water. This framework can be used to assess the resource distribution of a community, locate people in need and people who can contribute and design proper interventions.

Transformation Capacity of the Innovative Entrepreneur: On the interplay between social structure and agency

Abstract: Structural change features prominently in public policy and scientific debates. While a large body of work is concerned with barriers to structural change, this paper focusses on the interplay between structure and agency by focussing on the transformation capacity of innovative entrepreneurs. Transformation capacity is defined as the ability to combine knowledge and resources across different social structures and stimulate institutional change. The paper discusses why and to what extent transformation capacity rests on three key mechanisms: multiple positions, positional mobility, and networks across social structures. The paper elaborates on potential unintended consequences and pre-conditions for transformation capacity.

Understanding child prostitution in Malawi : a participatory approach

Abstract: Despite being a topic of concern globally, child prostitution is understood neither comprehensively nor critically. In particular, there have been few attempts to develop any depth of understanding of child prostitution in sub-Saharan Africa. Current understandings are largely based on adult perspectives while children and young people’s own experiences of involvement have been marginalized. The study draws on theoretical approaches of children’s rights, radical and liberal feminism, structure and agency, and the Capability Approach, to examine decisions made by children within particular economic, social and cultural structures. Using a participatory approach, 19 participants used a range of visual methods to create stories of their journeys into prostitution and their day-to-day lives within the institution of prostitution. In this way, they demonstrated their own understandings of their own involvement. The study reveals the connections between: i) structural factors: patriarchal society, economic poverty, and cultural norms that govern marriage and limit access to education, ii) threats to livelihoods including HIV/AIDS, orphanhood, and climatic shocks that all contribute to constrain the life choices particularly of girls’ and young women. While it is clear that all but one of the participants exercised agency in deciding to engage in prostitution as a means of survival, they showed how involvement in prostitution further constrained their freedom to live lives that they valued. Describing experiences they endured as ‘being less than human’, they extended understanding of child prostitution by drawing attention to the complex nature of the phenomenon. The thesis ends by recommending a multi-dimensional policy approach to address child prostitution, making suggestions for further research including a deeper understanding of the demand side of prostitution, and recommends the use of the Capability Approach to illuminate questions of human development, human rights and social justice among other marginalized populations in developing countries.