Structuration Theory by Giddens - Coursework Example

Download file to see previous pages Born in London to a lower-middle-class family, Anthony Giddens is best known for his theory of structuration which has explored the connection between the individual and their social systems. He is the most prominent contributor to the field of sociology and has published almost thirty-four books in almost twenty-eight languages. He has also developed the third-way political philosophy which seeks to redefine social democracy for the globalized era.
Anthony Giddens was born on the day of January 18th, 1938. He completed his Bachelor degree in sociology and psychology in 1959 at the University of Hull. He attained his master degree at the London School of Economics in Economics degree and his Ph.D. at Cambridge University. Structuration refers to the claim that action and structure are not opposed but mutually dependent on Parsons. The purpose of sociology is to show how structured settings both maintain and is maintained by particular sets of actions. However, it is important to note that Giddens rarely refers to an action, preferring instead the term agency meaning, the continuous flow of conduct. The emphasis on the flow of conducts indicates that agency is not to be equated with the activities of particular individuals but with the developing totality of activities over both time and space. What we call 'structure' is the "objectification", the institutionalization, of the past agency; again social reality is located in history.
Giddens seems to be drawing significantly on the work of Schutz (phenomenology), who argued that social action is, actually, interaction at one and the same time with Predecessors, Contemporaries, and Successors. We 'inherit' a socially organized world from Predecessors which, together with our Contemporaries, we reproduce and modify and then hand on to our Successors as their received world "Men make their own history but not in situations of their own choosing" - Marx. Therefore, social reality is a process; it is neither a fixed institutional structure nor a set of discrete actions but the ongoing interaction between these elements. Thus we are the agents of society; we act on its behalf, freely but within its constraints. We are not the puppets of the social structure nor are social reality whatever we wish it to be.  ...Download file to see next pagesRead More