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Individual, agency, and collective: Do you understand the charm of these three forms of action?
In the social sciences, agency refers to the ability of an individual to possess the capacities and resources to realize his or her potential. Social structure refers to factors that influence behavior, such as social class, religion, gender, ethnicity, ability, and customs, which limit the freedom of agents and their decisions. The interaction between social structure and agency is a topic of ongoing debate, especially how to define the freedom of action of individuals in social systems.
Whether a person's behavior is constrained by the social system often causes conflicts between different parties, such as disagreements between parents and children.
History of Action Agents
The concept of agency has been around since the Enlightenment, when people debated whether human freedom should be expressed through instrumental rationality or through moral and normative action. John Locke argued that freedom was based on self-interest, rejecting traditional notions of constraints and social contracts, and instead viewing agency as the ability of humans to shape the circumstances in which they live. In contrast, Rousseau viewed this framework of freedom as a manifestation of moral will.
These definitions of agency remained unchallenged over time until the nineteenth century, when philosophers began to argue that the choices humans make are controlled by forces. For example, Karl Marx believed that in modern society people were controlled by bourgeois ideology; Nietzsche argued that humans make choices based on selfish desires, which he called the "will to power." In addition, Paul Ricoeur also included Freud in this discussion framework, pointing out the influence of unconscious factors.
Definition and Process of Action Agent
According to the American Journal of Sociology, action agency is a time-embedded process that encompasses three distinct components: repetitiveness, foresight, and practice evaluation. These three elements of the theory are used to study different aspects of agency and thus draw conclusions about this larger concept.
Repetitiveness refers to the selective reactivation of past patterns of thought and action, which enables actors to act in routine ways in typical situations and helps them maintain their identities, interactions, and institutions. The foresight aspect covers actors' imaginations of possible future paths of action, which are linked to their hopes, fears, and desires. Finally, practical evaluation is the ability of individuals to make practical and normative judgments among a range of possible action options in a given situation.
Hussen's Classification
Martin Hewson divides action agency into three types: individual agency, agent agency, and collective agency. Individual agency occurs when an individual acts on his or her own behalf, whereas proxy agency occurs when an individual acts on behalf of another (e.g., a representative of an employer). Collective agency occurs when groups act together, such as in social movements.
Three characteristics of human action—intentionality, power, and rationality—promote the emergence of agency.
In the conversation
David R. Gibson defines agency as behavior that advances the agent's own goals under local constraints that might inhibit such behavior. Who is speaking in a conversation, role variations between participants, and topic and relevance constraints all affect the likelihood of expressing action agency.
Emotional Impact
Social psychologist Daniel Wegner has described the "illusion of control," which can cause people to misunderstand events that they did not cause. Such false judgments of behavior are particularly evident in stressful situations or when the outcome of an event meets the individual's expectations.
Considerations for Children
Children’s agency is often underappreciated because society generally assumes that they lack the ability to make independent decisions. This view ignores the potential they demonstrate for autonomy in specific contexts.
Human actions are undoubtedly influenced by multiple factors, whether it is social structure or individual consciousness. The subtle relationship between them reflects the extent to which we can control our own behavior?
