agency

The term agency is usually juxtaposed to structure and is often no more than a synonym for action, emphasizing implicitly the undetermined nature of human action, as opposed to the alleged determinism of structural theories. If it has a wider meaning, it is to draw attention to the psychological and social psychological make-up of the actor, and to imply the capacity for willed (voluntary) action.

Sociological theories are often characterized according to the relative emphasis they place on agency or structure-and in terms, therefore, of an agency versus structure debate. Some recent theorists have intervened in the debate in a conscious attempt to transcend this dualism . The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu is a good example. Bourdieu is best known in the English-speaking world for his concepts of cultural capital and habitus , although his numerous books and articles also contain a full-blown theory of social order . The latter centres on the reproduction of contemporary culture -which favours the interests of those in power-via the differential distribution of knowledge through educational institutions. Especially in his later work, Bourdieu calls for a constructivist (see social constructionism ) approach to sociology, transcending both essentialism and all ideas of the taken for granted in everyday life . His insistence that the objective and subjective aspects of social life are inescapably bound together leads him to challenge the dualism of macro versus micro and structure versus agency, in texts such as Outline of a Theory of Practice (1977), Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture (1977), Distinction (1984), Homo Academicus (1988), In Other Words(1990), The Logic of Practice (1990), and The Craft of Sociology (1991). It is not clear that these diverse texts form a systematic sociological project, far less solve the dualism of structure versus agency, but an argument to that effect has been constructed by (among others), ‘Rethinking Classical Theory: The Sociological Vision of Pierre Bourdieu’, Theory and Society (1985).

Similarly, the American sociologist Jeffrey Alexander argues for a multidimensional sociology, bringing together the metaphysical and empirical, individual volition and collective domination, and normative and instrumental action, notably in his four-volumeTheoretical Logic in Sociology (1984). He also argues that Talcott Parsons came closer to achieving this synthesis than did any other sociological theorist. See also action theory ; structuration.