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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 article, structural and individual factors are influential at all levels of the occupational hierarchy, but the strength of influence varies at different points in the hierarchy, supporting the axiom of structuration theory which asserts that structure and activity are deeply implicated in each other in the process of social reproduction.
Abstract: The paper attempts to link theoretical ideas concerning the relation of agency and structure with empirical research on the transition from school to work. In particular, some of the propositions of structuration theory are assessed in terms of their applicability to empirical research which investigates the impact of individual and structural variables on movement into the labour market, and the way the variables combine to determine entry into labour market segments. The data suggests that structural and individual factors are influential at all levels of the occupational hierarchy, but that the strength of influence varies at different points in the hierarchy. This supports the axiom of structuration theory which asserts that structure and activity are deeply implicated in each other in the process of social reproduction. However, the data further suggests the `duality of structure' principle has to be considerably modified in order to apprehend phenomena such as labour market processes. In this respec...

28 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors locate the learning challenges faced by low-wage workers and their employers and explore what Human Resource Development Practitioners can do to mitigate the g rowth o f l ow-wage w ork a nd i ts i ndividual a nding s ocial consequences.
Abstract: The growing preponderance of low-wage work in America challenges the dual mission of Human Resource Development Practitioners to foster individual and organizational learning and performance. In the prevailing discourse of the learning society, individual success and mobility are available to all who assume personal responsibility and agency in the labor market. A competing discourse posits that the emerging structure of work disadvantages a growing number of workers, leading to labor market segregation and significant economic disparity. The author argues that both agency and structure interact in low-wage labor markets to create and limit opportunity for workers. The aim of this article is to locate the learning challenges faced by low-wage workers and their employers and to explore what Human Resource Development Practitioners can do to mitigate the g rowth o f l ow-wage w ork a nd i ts i ndividual a nd s ocial consequences.

28 citations

Dissertation
01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze how simple determinants of choice such as time, location, and cost shaped behaviour before moving on to the more complex and fuzzy concepts of social position, the role of domesticity, and taste.
Abstract: The historiography of leisure has focused on class conflict, commercialization, and the arts. In the latter two areas historians have attempted to make statements about consumers, but as historians of consumption have demonstrated, examining the consumer from the perspective of producers is insufficient. This thesis demonstrates what the developing methodologies used to examine practice and consumption reveal about leisure and recreation. Exploration of forty-five diaries kept in London between 1757 and 1820 makes it possible to consider different aspects of choice with reference to recreation. This dissertation analyses how simple determinants of choice such as time, location, and cost shaped behaviour before moving on to the more complex and fuzzy concepts of social position, the role of domesticity, and taste. Choice is central to understanding what amusement was in Georgian society, therefore it is necessary to consider both people’s scope for choice, and the forces shaping those choices. Following an introductory section, chapters two to four examine choice by looking at simple factors. London was by far England’s largest city, but the distribution of establishments and patterns of mobility affected different segments of society in complex ways. In addition, leisure routines and the ability to spend money on recreation differed between socioeconomic groups who had different amounts of time and money to use. Affinities within social groups appear, but diaries also illuminate the importance of individual variations. Chapter four signals a shift in the analysis by looking at determinants of choice like feeling obliged, wanting to please friends or family, or the impact of social networks on reactions to activities. Chapters five to eight examine interpersonal relationships and the function of recreation in eighteenth-century society and raise questions about how we combine agency and structure in our models of society. This account challenges claims that group identities were the only identities available to Georgians and that individual variations were downplayed before the nineteenth century. Rather, individuals existed in networks that had to be negotiated and maintained.

28 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a social enactment approach explores how social actors are both constrained by and can alter social structure and explores the scope for change, the ways in which new understanding can empower women.
Abstract: Explanations for the obstacles to progress toward equality for women fall into two broad categories: (1) constraints on women are enforced by male power; (2) women are limited by their own outlook. This male power/female psychology polarity is a version of the debate over structure and agency. Reference to women's condition can illuminate this debate, which has largely been conducted in terms of ‘objective’ evidence. Evidence on subjective experience of constraint and action is provided by literature; creative writers have revealingly explored the interplay between structure and agency. A social enactment approach explores how social actors are both constrained by and can alter social structure. The enactment approach asks how constraints binding women are reinforced by structures reproduced through women's compliance and explores the scope for change, the ways in which new understanding can empower women.

28 citations

01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the historical origins of relational network analysis and its positioning in broader intellectual networks, and explore the relational orientation of social network analysis in culture, history, politics, economics, and social psychology.
Abstract: One of the debates surrounding social network analysis has been whether it consists of a method or a theory. Is network analysis merely a cluster of techniques for analyzing the structure of social relationships, or does it constitute a broader conceptual framework, theoretical orientation, or even philosophy of life? In an article two decades ago synthesizing emerging work on social networks, Barry Wellman argued that network analysis goes beyond methodology to inform a new theoretical paradigm: “structural analysis does not derive its power from the partial application of this concept or that measure. It is a comprehensive paradigmatic way of taking social structure seriously by studying directly how patterns of ties allocate resources in a social system” (Wellman 1988, p. 20). This paradigm, he goes on to argue, takes relations – rather than individuals, groups, attributes, or categories – as the fundamental unit of social analysis. This argument was taken up a few years later by Mustafa Emirbayer and Jeff Goodwin, who described the new “anti-categorical imperative” introduced by network analysis and explored its relationship to research on cultural and historical change (Emirbayer and Goodwin 1994). While disagreement remains among network analysts regarding this issue, a broader “relational perspective” within sociology has been simmering for the past three decades, often involving scholars who themselves do not use formal network methodology, or who use it only marginally in their research. Inspired by such eminent figures as Harrison White and Charles Tilly, this perspective has taken some of the broader theoretical insights of network analysis and extended them to the realms of culture, history, politics, economics, and social psychology. Fundamental to this theoretical orientation (if it can be called that) is not merely the insistence that what sociologists call “structure” is intrinsically relational, but also, perhaps more deeply, that relational thinking is a way to overcome stale antinomies between structure and agency through a focus on the dynamics of social interactions in different kinds of social settings. In this chapter, I will explore the historical origins of this perspective and its positioning in broader intellectual networks. While a relational orientation has germinated in a number of

27 citations


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