Modernity and Postmodernity 1. Order versus Fluidity 2. Clear Distinctions versus Negotiable Meaning 3. Predictability versus Uncertainty 4. Rational Progress versus Playfulness 5. Control versus Uncertainty 6. Future-orientation versus Present-orientation 7. Production versus Consumption 8. Experts versus Gurus etc. etc Is there a Third Way?

The Sociological Tradition(s) Sociology is the study of: 1. persisting patterns or structures external to individuals re Marx, Durkheim, Foucault, Bourdieu etc etc power and constraint OR 2. The purposeful actions of human beings re Weber, Simmel, ethnomethodology etc etc meaning and decision-making Is there a Third Way

Lord Anthony Giddens (1938-) 1. A globally recognised British social theorist 2. Considerable political and cultural influence 3. Typically associated with attempts to reconcile apparently opposed ways of thinking in both Sociology and practical politics 4. Still alive 5. The Third Way?

Structuration Theory - Topics 1. Action and Structure 2. Key Term - Agency 3. Key Term – Structure 4. Key Term – Structuration (agency+structure) 5. Consciousness & Society 6. Time & Space

Structuration Theory -goal To overcome the opposition between the two traditions. This requires: 1. Action is not equated with individual human activity: re. Weber 2. Structure is not identified with external constraint: re. Durkheim Men make their own history but not in circumstances of their own choosing: Marx

Key terms – not action but agency AGENT = any social unit that is capable of making a difference. Source: Giddens i.e. agent only human individuals AGENCY the continuous flow of conduct. Source: Dallmayr i.e. agency events just in the here-and-now

Key terms - structure STRUCTURE(S): rules and resources, or sets of transformation relations, organized as properties of social systems SYSTEM(S): reproduced relations between actors or collectivities, organised as regular social practices Source: Giddens, A The constitution of society p.25 Structure is the objectification of past actions of past agents (re Berger & Luckman) Source: Dallmayr

Key terms -Structuration Agency and Structure (are therefore) mutually dependant...Structure is the medium through which (agency) is produced Source: Giddens Central Problems in Social Theory, page Duality of Structures means that social structures are both constituted by human agency and yet at the same time are the very medium of this constitution Source: Giddens New Rules of Sociological Method, page 121 Structuration (is a) connecting of human action with structural explanation in social analysis Source: Giddens Central Problems in Social Theory page 49

Edmund Burke ( ) What is the relationship of an MP to their constituents? x Delegate one who follows the instruction of others Representative one who uses their judgement on behalf of others to whom he/she is accountable. Representative one who uses their judgement on behalf of others to whom he/she is accountable. Structuration Theory As agents we use our practical understanding (phenomenology) and the resources of the social structure (Bourdieu et al) to construct social reality

Instance – International Migration Goss, J. Conceptualising international labor migration International Migration Review Filipinos migrate overseas to seek work 2. They are obligated to assist their kin; remittances 3. They recommend their kin to employers 4. Therefore, kinship structure takes on a new economic significance through the agency of migrants 5. AND the agency of migrants is constrained by the rules and relations (structure) of kinship i.e. migration (agency) and kinship (structure) depend upon and affect each other

Instance: Managerial Innovation Coopey et al Managers Innovations… 1. Changing the situation (agency) 2. in context of constraints, rules and resources (structure) 3. through selecting among available courses of action (structuration) 4. and in changing the situation managers change their perception of themselves (reflexivity)

Consciousness and Society 1. Practical Consciousness; taken-for-granted raelity 2. Discursive Consciousness; legitimation 3. Unconscious; unacknowledged motivations make possible Reflexivity the knowledgeability of agents (informed citizens/klever burgher) but there is also Sequestration the institutionalised hiding away/separation of different spheres of personal life Therefore, intentional agency has unintended consequences

Time & Space 1. Agency is constituted (constructed) through time and space 2. Schutz on predecessors, contemporaries and successors 3. The problem of infinite regress in structuration theory

Modernity and Postmodernity 1. Order versus Fluidity 2. Clear Distinctions versus Negotiable Meaning 3. Predictability versus Uncertainty 4. Rational Progress versus Playfulness 5. Control versus Uncertainty 6. Future-orientation versus Present-orientation 7. Production versus Consumption 8. Experts versus Gurus etc. etc Is there a Third Way?

High Modernity Continues the processes of modernity eg rationalisation, urbanisation, technological advance etc (modern culture) But, because of its own reflexivity, (self- examination of its practices) high modernity increases uncertainty through accelerating change (postmodern culture) High Modernity as Jagernnath (Reith lecture)

Modernity & Time High Modernity = a changed relationship to time because modernity is institutionally reflexive Cause: De-traditionalisation The loss of the legitimating authority of tradition. This is part of the process of modernisation. A respectful, deferential attitude towards the collective past is replaced by a sense of loss, nostalgia and, re consumer images, heritage. Source: adapted from Giddens, A. Consequences of modernity Re also Bellah Habits of the heart

Modernity and Space High Modernity = a changed relationship to space which both expands and contracts Cause: Disembedding the "lifting out" of social relations from local contexts and their rearticulation across indefinite tracts of time- space Source: Giddens 'Modernity & Self-Identity' p.18

The Problem of Order as the Problem of Trust in High Modernity Ontological Security A sense of continuity and order in events, including those not directly within the perceptual environment of the individual Source Giddens, A Modernity and Self-identity p.243 (emphasis added) Trust trust in others ….is at the origin of the experience of a stable external world and a coherent sense of self- identity. It is 'faith' in the reliability and integrity of others that is at stake here…trust, interpersonal relations and a conviction of the 'reality' of things go hand in hand in the social settings of adult life Trust trust in others ….is at the origin of the experience of a stable external world and a coherent sense of self- identity. It is 'faith' in the reliability and integrity of others that is at stake here…trust, interpersonal relations and a conviction of the 'reality' of things go hand in hand in the social settings of adult life Source: Giddens 'Modernity & Self-Identity' p.51-52

Trust & Expertise expert systems bracket time and space through deploying modes of technical knowledge which have validity independent of the practitioners and clients who use them Source: Giddens 'Modernity & Self-Identity' p.18 That is, we no longer trust persons but systems of which we know little

High Modernity as Risk Society In the charged reflexive settings of high modernity, living on 'automatic pilot' becomes more and more difficult to do Source: Modernity & self-identity p.125 living in the "risk society" means living with a calculative attitude to the open possibilities of action, positive and negative, with which, as individuals and globally, we are confronted in a continuous way Source: Giddens 'Modernity & Self-Identity' p.28

Risk and Hazard Giddens (possibly) confuses these terms Risk = likelihood of particular outcomes Hazard = damage of particular outcomes Arguably: Traditional societies = high risk, low hazard High Modernity = low risk, high hazard

Risk Society A society organised (structure) around the management of man-made (agency) risks We attempt to control (structure) risk through both personal and institutional risk assessment (agency) but this itself is inherently risky (i.e. less than reliable) The Risk Society produces and distributes both goods (things, commodities) and bads (risks resulting from, in part, the production of goods) (Beck)

Giddens & Beck Giddens typical focus is on the risks of intimacy and the fragility of contemporary self-identity Becks typical focus is on the risks of large scale processes e.g. environmental degradation, nuclear disaster Re-opening the agency/structure divide?