Actions and Structures: Research Methods and Social Theory

Social scientists have always recognized a divergence between approaches which emphasize the constraining power of social structure and those which interpret society through the cumulative effects of the actions of individuals. In recent years there has been renewed interest in the latter through the micro-sociology of everyday life. Social scientists are now taking stock of the implications of such research for the analysis of structure. In Actions and Structure a distinguished team of social theorists assesses the value of research on individual′s actions in everyday life for the analysis of social order. Individual chapters evaluate new research approaches from discourse and conversational analysis, mathematical, interactionist and phenomenological sociologies and network analysis. Throughout they assess how these approaches contribute to current debates around theories of organization, structure, and power. Particular attention is paid to Giddens concept of structuration and its critics from morphogenetic, cultural and systems perspectives. As a substantial contribution to current debates in sociology, this book will appeal to social scientists involved in social theory, sociological research and sociological methodology.