Structure and action

Question 1

Structural theories tend to be?

Answer 1

Deterministic, seeing society as something objective, existing outside individuals and constraining them

Question 2

Action theories tend to be?

Answer 2

Voluntaristic, seeing society as the creation of its members through their subjective actions and meanings

Question 3

Giddens’ Structuration theory

Answer 3

• Acc to Giddens, there is a duality of structure, structure and action are two sides of the same coin: neither can exist without the other
• Language is a structure - made up of a set of rules that govern how we express meanings, it exists independetly of any individual and it constrains our behvaiour
• But it also depends on action, a language wouldn’t exist if no one used it

Question 4

Giddens’ Structuration theory
(Reproduction of structures through agency)

Answer 4

For Giddens structure has 2 elements:
* Rules - the norms, customs and laws
* Resources - both economic and power over others

Acc to Giddens our action generally tends to reproduce the existing structures. He finds 2 reasons for this:
1. Society’s rules contain a stock of knowledge about how to live our lives. Earning a living and so on largly involve applying this knowledge to everyday situation. Similarly we use resources in shopping, thus we tend to reproduce the exiting structure
2. We reproduce existing structures through our action because we have a deep rooted need for ontological security - a need to feel that the world is stable and really is as it appears to be

Question 5

Giddens’ Structuration theory
(Changes of structure through agency)

Answer 5

Action or agency can also change it. This can occur in two ways:
1. We ‘reflexively monitor’ our own action, constantly reflecting on our actions and their results, and we can deliberately choose a new course of action
2. Our actions may change the world, but not always as we intended. e.g the Calvinists adpoted the work ethic with the intention of gloryfing God, but the actual consequence was the creation of captialism

Question 6

Evaluation

Answer 6

Archer:
* Argues that he underestimates the capacity of structures to resist change e.g. slaves may wish to abolish slavery but lack the power to do so

Craib:
Structuration theory isn’t really a theory because it doesn’t explain what actualy happens in society. It just descirbes the kinds of things we will find when we study society