Ways How Individuals And Communities Demonstrate Agency In Their Lives - Essay Example

Ways How Individuals And Communities Demonstrate Agency In Their Lives Introduction The role of agency in the society and individuals has been a matter of study for cultural psychologists in the recent years. Agency can be described as the deliberate fundamental intrusion in the world, subject to the possibility of a spontaneous monitoring of that intrusion. Based on the definition it can be argued that people are not submissive recipients of a reified unit that is their community. It is true though that; individuals make and remake culture, which is an integral part of the community. Manifestation of Agency in individuals and the community Individuals demonstrate agency in their lives through various ways. Agency facilitates the way the individual’s negotiates their lifestyle particularly through interpersonal dialogues. Some may however not use interpersonal dialogues but settle on constructing their lives “spaces” individually, and avoiding linguistic interactions and interpersonal dialogues entirely. Nevertheless, it is vital to note that individual’s demonstration of agency later on forms the building blocks of a community. This is because individuals are community agents since they express their thoughts on cultural matters to other people. Through agency, people are able to carry out face-to-face conversations with people from other communities. This has an impact on either side of the communities since culture is a negotiated meaning (Gutman 5). Being a negotiated meaning, a cultural forum in which the culture is negotiated and re-negotiated is what makes and remakes the culture and the community. This therefore supports the earlier argument that through agency, individuals are not passive recipients of community outcomes. Through agency, individuals are able to engage in cultural construction (Gutman 6). Another demonstration of agency is seen in babies. According to studies, babies construct their own personal goals. Children create their own personal worlds for achieving their goals; this is what makes the difference between children and subsequently, adults. If they were to adapt to the conditions that they found in the community i.e. culture and ideologies, then all children in the community could be the same. This could also mean that the adults from the children could also be the same. Children therefore exploit the meaning they derive from the pre- existing culture to build their own understanding of the world that later on helps them or destroys them as adults. Based on this argument, it is evident that agency plays a vital role in shaping up the future of individuals. For instance, if an individual is given to express his/her opinion of an event, the person will be treated by the other based on the opinion. There is also a probability that the individual may influence others in the process. The opinion may have been constructed from the way the individual views the society from his/her own small world. Agency also influences personal behavior among individuals. The various changes in personal behavior evolve with time and it determines the way people respond to different circumstances. The changes in individual behavior lead to changes in the culture of a society. Some individuals view them as suggestions meaning they can be ignored, circumvented or disregarded (Gutman, 6). Through agency, cultural influences have no power over individuals unless they allow them to have power over them. Gutman (7) concluded that the depiction he had of Mexican men was wrong. This is because what he saw was different from what he had the society expected of Mexican men i.e. the men were hard drinkers and philandering macho men. This therefore shows that the men had evolved and developed their own views and goals different from the overall depiction of community as seen by outsiders. The limiting factor in the argument above is the lack of empirical data to measure the extent of ignoring or circumventing the cultural influences in the above case. Furthermore, the study of the child versus society influences had its downs. Therefore, they conducted a study of a child playing with a toy and they did not establish exactly what the child was thinking. This has led to the study of the importance of agency in a community. The community demonstrates agency in various ways. For instance, personal ideas and acts cannot override worldly developed ideas and facts. Therefore, it means that cultural influences inherent in a particular community are not easy to disregard from an individual point of view. Social institutions, structures, behaviors and dynamics are significant entities that mentor people’s psychology (Gutman 7). The community has structures in place to regulate behavior. This is imposing benefits and punishments based on certain behaviors. Ignoring the same can be considered as impunity or lack of morality. The fear of the same helps to regulate good behavior and morality in the society. Another strong factor in the community agency is that social realities are not reducible to semiotic meanings. According to Gutman, community cultures are not reducible to interpersonal decisions. Representative meanings are inspired and constrained by socially organized activities (8). They are therefore collective and represent the culture of certain people. Such collective meanings override solo inventive idiosyncratic representations (Gutman 3) Agency requires social relations to be realized and objectified. It cannot be fully realized in isolation therefore requires a community. Gutman further observed that there were clear distinctions between what the society expected from men and women regarding what is good and bad. It is therefore difficult for one to come up with an idea in isolation to change certain beliefs. Furthermore, it is difficult for a specific individual to determine the conduct of a whole community against a certain belief such as circumcision. It will require another group of people, probably a civil rights group to change the norm in a society. Another vital demonstration is that of social intentionality. Social intentionality is crucial if social life is to be achieved. Social life on the other is an integral part in the life of any individual; big or small. Through agency, social patterns are adapted and promulgated adequately in the community. If a community neglects an individual, the individual will not be able to develop psychological functions correctly due to lack of social simulation and support. Conclusion We can conclude that agency plays a vital role in shaping the community and the lives of individuals. This was illustrated by the habitus. The habitus is a set of expectations, assumptions and dispositions that arise from the reactions from social experience with certain social conditions. The habitus therefore dictates that people’s behavior and actions are not constructed independently but rather they are dependent on certain established habitus. This shows evidently how the concept of agency is demonstrated in the community. Works Cited Gutman, Matthew. The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2007. Print. Read More