tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post3502246909459943062..comments2024-03-23T04:01:39.348-04:00Comments on Understanding Society: New ideas about structure and agencyDan Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15953897221283103880noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-56905680026089055122022-09-15T12:22:24.261-04:002022-09-15T12:22:24.261-04:00Here are some additional posts on methodological l...Here are some additional posts on methodological localism:<br /><br />https://understandingsociety.blogspot.com/2013/01/methodological-localism-and-actor.html<br /><br />https://understandingsociety.blogspot.com/2008/11/what-is-methodological-localism.html<br /><br />https://understandingsociety.blogspot.com/2009/11/methodological-localism.html<br />Dan Littlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15953897221283103880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-3659623849087954082022-09-15T12:13:41.263-04:002022-09-15T12:13:41.263-04:00Excuse me, could you tell me more? I can't fin...Excuse me, could you tell me more? I can't find a detailed description anywhereAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-43664423284233186992011-04-19T09:58:02.764-04:002011-04-19T09:58:02.764-04:00What's white on the top and black on the botto...What's white on the top and black on the bottom?<br /><br />SocietySmokeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09027811985440375865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-28632372294818080682011-04-15T15:29:53.310-04:002011-04-15T15:29:53.310-04:00WHY are people STILL debating/discussing this old ...WHY are people STILL debating/discussing this old "question"???? It was best answered years ago by "The Coral Reef Theory" when the materialization of social life was metaphorically described as a coral reef wherein the SHAPE of the reef CREATED THROUGH PREVIOUS polyp ACTIVITY (i.e. the history/historicity of past polyp activity through which the present shape of the reef came to be ) is the grounded basis and necessary context for CURRENT POLYP ACTIVITY : NEITHER "structure" nor "action" can occur without the other and BOTH happen simultaneously, or, as the artist so famously said at least 50 years ago, "Form is the shape of content"!barbararitchiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06507367618934553221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-86100359541383466742011-03-26T23:16:49.371-04:002011-03-26T23:16:49.371-04:00sounds like what anthropologists do when they desc...sounds like what anthropologists do when they describe the cultural practices and socio-economic mechanisms involved in the process of "difference-making".Dylanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09256388913594034925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-10916740925686388802011-03-20T15:53:32.294-04:002011-03-20T15:53:32.294-04:00Sounds a lot like the ideas of Norbert Elias, who ...Sounds a lot like the ideas of Norbert Elias, who wrote these down in World War II.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-41861959643430014012011-03-20T12:02:23.107-04:002011-03-20T12:02:23.107-04:00I can't quote chapter and verse at the moment,...I can't quote chapter and verse at the moment, but my recollection is that this is one of the questions that Dewey got substantially right. As a sort of post-Hegelian, he was driven his entire life to dissolve apparent dichotomies, including this one. At the same time, his political program called for extending traditional liberalism to account for what might be called structural factors. I wonder whether he is cited by these new authors as a precursor.<br /><br />As a practical matter, I think it is OK to <i>begin</i> with either structure or agency in an analysis, keeping in mind that this is just an entry point.<br /><br />Incidentally, one of the points in economics in which the structure/agency dichotomy is most problematic is the theory of the firm. Is the firm a structural object? Is it a concatenation of actions undertaken by its constituent agents? Or both?Peter Dormanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00093399591393648071noreply@blogger.com