Agency and Structure

What does it mean to be a person? All sociological accounts of situations and events make assumptions about the nature of the individual within society. In many cases these assumptions are unstated; in some cases the assumptions are more explicitly stated. Sociologists have for many years considered the link between the individual and the wider society, or agency and structure. This link is always problematic. It is commonly assumed that we are biological beings with physiological needs, but we are not determined by our biology, and we assume that our physical body is the carrier or physical home of the self, agent or subjectivity, but the subjectivity does not in itself constitute the sum total of our unique selves. It is also commonly assumed that we have a subjectivity that we experience as a personal and private space but our thoughts and feelings in that subjective, private and personal space have to be translated into words, the communal resource of shared language, for us to make sense of them. We are unique individuals and no person who has walked on the Earth has ever been the same as you, yet we share common cultures, ideas and beliefs, and our actions are guided by common practices. All societies have processes of subjectification or socialization that integrate individuals into a common culture. Most of us, most of the time, have a clear idea of ‘the way we do things round here’; we can make reasoned guesses and assumptions about people’s motives and intentions that underpin actions because we have the ability to put ourselves in the position of the other and look at the world from their perspective. You do not need a social science course to engage in this reflexive activity because as children we played games in which we performed roles, we talked to friends and family about their actions and the actions of others. We have read books, watched films and so forth, both factual and fictitious, that give us an insight into motives, intentions and the moral content of actions we observe. We have an understanding of what is right, we have an understanding of a moral code, and we recognize prejudice and discrimination when we see it. We cannot exempt ourselves from personal responsibility for our actions by claiming that we were carrying out orders. Where does the unique individual begin and end? In addition, where does the influence and intrusion into our subjectivity of the wider society begin and end?