Agency Flashcards
1
Q
Definition
A
- The capability or power to be the source and originator of acts
- Often confused with free will or resistance
- Agents are the ones who act
2
Q
Weber
A
- Intentionality
- Acts distinguished from mere (animal) behaviour
- Entails a number of features of human rationality: consciousness, reflection, intention, purpose and meaning
3
Q
Durkheim
A
Structure
- Structures guide and constrain human actions
- Provide conditions and norms which we can act within
4
Q
Structure vs Agency
A
- Socialization against autonomy in determining whether an individual acts as a free agent or in a manner dictated by social structure
- Are acts predetermined and constrained by structure?
5
Q
Bourdieu
A
- Habitus represents the way group culture and personal history shape the body and the mind and as a result shape social action in the present
- Structures produce the habitus, a system of durable, transposable dispositions
- Practices reproduce and sustain these structures - body as a mnemonic device, used to held remember and cement something
6
Q
Gell
A
Splits agency into
- Primary (intentional) agency (people)
- Secondary (distributed) agency (things)
