1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910798742703321

Autore

Martin Peter J

Titolo

Human agents and social structures

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oxford : , : Manchester University Press, , 2016

Baltimore, Md. : , : Project MUSE, , 2020

©2016

ISBN

0-7190-9519-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (192 pages)

Altri autori (Persone)

DennisAlex

Disciplina

301

Soggetti

Social structure

Agent (Philosophy)

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

6. Pierre Bourdieu: from the model of reality to the reality of the model: Richard Jenkins7. The production and reproduction of social order: is structuration a solution?: Wes Sharrock; 8. On the reception of Foucault: Allison Cavanagh and Alex Dennis; PART THREE: After the debate; 9. Beyond social structure: Richard Jenkins; 10. Two kinds of social theory: the myth and reality of social existence: Anthony King; Bibliography; Index.

HUMAN AGENTS and SOCIAL STRUCTURES; Half Title Page; Title Page; Copyright; Contents; Notes on contributors; PART ONE: General issues; 1. Introduction: the opposition of structure and agency: Peter J. Martin and Alex Dennis; 2. The structure problem in the context of structure and agency controversies: Wes Sharrock and Graham Button; 3. On the retreat from collective concepts in sociology: Peter J. Martin; 4. Structure and agency as the products of dynamic social processes: Marx and modern social theory: Alex Dennis; PART TWO: Recent social theorists; 5. The two Habermases: Anthony King.

Sommario/riassunto

The structure/agency debate has been among the central issues in recent discussions of social theory. It has been widely assumed that the key theoretical task is to find a link between social structures and acting human beings - to reconcile the macro with the micro, society and the individual. The contributors to this book reject this solution to



the problem. For them, both the concept of 'society' as an entity and the freely-acting 'individual' are theoretical fiction. Rather, the immediate task of the social sciences is to take the social world seriously, to understand the ways in which tha.