structure vs agency Flashcards
what is agency (or intentionalism)?
capacity of individual humans to act independently and make their own free choices
what is structure?
refers to those factors that seem to limit or influence, the opportunities that individuals have
how can the structure/agency debate be seen in regards to the fall of the Berlin wall?
structural: economic stagnation,
forces of international policies
agency:
actions of civil rights groups,
actions of GDR citizens themselves,
(In)actions of GDR leadership
what do political scientists hope to get from the agency/structure debate?
not looking for a solution, just to be aware of the forces involved
what is structuralism?
Societies can be analysed as a system , in order to explain individual actions
what does Althusser have to say about social reality?
a (very) complex interaction of economic political and ideological forces, which all have relative autonomy from each other, however individuals are slaves to these structures which they don’t even realise
what is rational choice theory?
humans are rational beings, who make calculations about the best course of action and choose the best for themselves
what is public choice theory?
Politicians and bureaucrats will seek to maximise their own interests
what is Giddens’ structuration theory?
arguing that agency and structuralism aren’t separate entities, mutually dependent and internally related, structure exists through agency and agents also have rules that they have no choice but to abide by, two sides of the same coin
why did Giddens’ come up with the structuration theory?
to bridge the divide between structuralists and intentionalists
what are the 5 broad theories of the structure vs agency debate?
- Structuralism/materialism
- Intentionalism/idealism
- A dialectic position
- An additive position
- Post-structuralist position
what is a dialectic position to structure vs agency?
opposing views working together to find the truth
what is an additive position to structure vs agency?
associated with positivist and empiricist position, both structural and intentional factors influence voting decisions
what is the postmodernist position to structure vs agency?
structures don’t exist without agent’s discourse, distinction between structure and agency is not ontological
what did Bell and Hindmoor say about context?
see the broader economic, political and institutional context of the time as constraining the government
what did Archer focus on when describing agency?
reflexivity, ‘agents deliberate upon a precise course of action in view of their concerns and in light of the circumstances they confront’
what does Bell also point out affects an individuals agency?
focuses on the capacities individuals must use the resources at their disposal, to utilise their agency
what was Archer’s approach?
Morphogenetic approach
what does the Morphogenetic approach entail?
three stage cycle: T1, structural conditioning, T2, social interaction and T3, structural elaboration. At T4, the structural changes are either changed or, much less likely, not changed, disagrees that there is any ontological separation between agency and structure
what was Hay’s approach?
the strategic relational approach
what does the strategic relational approach entail?
both don’t have an existence without each other, not two sides of a coin but two metals in the alloy from which the coin was made, structure has no independent causal power, core of the approach ‘is the interaction between strategic actors and the strategic context within which they find themselves’
what are the features of the new institutionalism approach? (6)
- Actors are strategic
- Ideas matter for providing a guide to the action
- Interests are social constructs, not rooted in material interests
- The functionality/disfunctionality of institutions/structures is an open question in both empirical and historical terms
- Focus on ideational, as well as institutional path dependence
- Aim is to identify the extent to which – through processes of normalisation and institutional-embedding – established ideas become codified, serving as cognitive filters through which actors come to interpret environmental signals’ (Hay)
why does social change happen, according to new institutionalists?
ideas shape the context within which people act, and the context is strategically selective, favouring some strategies over others (shared by both thick and thin constructivists)
how can this be applied to globalisation?
Best understood as a political consequence rather than an economic cause – by acting as if it exists, they are making it exist - ideational not material process
