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7 The production and reproduction of social order

Is structuration a solution?

Abstract

This chapter argues that the whole idea of a structure-and-agency 'problem' mythologises the fracture lines that do run through relatively recent sociological thought. The structure-and-agency 'problem' is contrived by a powerful structure 'lobby' in sociology that takes its own baseline suppositions as self-evident. The chapter shows that symbolic interactionists and ethnomethodologists may legitimately resist the idea that 'structuration' in any way improves on their conceptions. It reviews the issues of the organisation of action, the distinctiveness of Giddens' concept of structure, the role of unintended consequences, and of 'knowledgeability'. Dissatisfaction with theorising's remoteness from the world of action is hardly unique to symbolic interactionists and ethnomethodologists, but it is shared by them. 'Reproducing existing structures' is treated as much the same as reproducing the existing order of institutions, and it is assumed that attention to action alone cannot comprehend how the existing social order is maintained and transformed.

Abstract

This chapter argues that the whole idea of a structure-and-agency 'problem' mythologises the fracture lines that do run through relatively recent sociological thought. The structure-and-agency 'problem' is contrived by a powerful structure 'lobby' in sociology that takes its own baseline suppositions as self-evident. The chapter shows that symbolic interactionists and ethnomethodologists may legitimately resist the idea that 'structuration' in any way improves on their conceptions. It reviews the issues of the organisation of action, the distinctiveness of Giddens' concept of structure, the role of unintended consequences, and of 'knowledgeability'. Dissatisfaction with theorising's remoteness from the world of action is hardly unique to symbolic interactionists and ethnomethodologists, but it is shared by them. 'Reproducing existing structures' is treated as much the same as reproducing the existing order of institutions, and it is assumed that attention to action alone cannot comprehend how the existing social order is maintained and transformed.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Notes on contributors vii
  4. Part I General issues
  5. 1 Introduction 3
  6. 2 The structure problem in the context of structure and agency controversies 17
  7. 3 On the retreat from collective concepts in sociology 34
  8. 4 Structure and agency as the products of dynamic social processes 52
  9. Part II Recent social theorists
  10. 5 The two Habermases 71
  11. 6 Pierre Bourdieu 86
  12. 7 The production and reproduction of social order 100
  13. 8 On the reception of Foucault 117
  14. PART III After the debate
  15. 9 Beyond social structure 133
  16. 10 Two kinds of social theory 152
  17. Bibliography 166
  18. Index 180
Human agents and social structures
This chapter is in the book Human agents and social structures
https://doi.org/10.7765/9780719095191.00012

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Notes on contributors vii
  4. Part I General issues
  5. 1 Introduction 3
  6. 2 The structure problem in the context of structure and agency controversies 17
  7. 3 On the retreat from collective concepts in sociology 34
  8. 4 Structure and agency as the products of dynamic social processes 52
  9. Part II Recent social theorists
  10. 5 The two Habermases 71
  11. 6 Pierre Bourdieu 86
  12. 7 The production and reproduction of social order 100
  13. 8 On the reception of Foucault 117
  14. PART III After the debate
  15. 9 Beyond social structure 133
  16. 10 Two kinds of social theory 152
  17. Bibliography 166
  18. Index 180
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