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Anthony Giddens's Theory of Structuration
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Dickie-Clark, H. F. |
| Copyright Year | 1984 |
| Abstract | The seven books written by Giddens in the years 1971 to 1979 are a remarkable appraisal and reworking of the major currents of existing social theory . The critical part of his workbegins with the founders of social science in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and goes on to what he has called "the orthodox consensus" of the period from the end of the Second World War until about the late 1960's . The constructive part ofhis work can be divided into two . One is his reconciliation or blending of elements ofpositivism, structuralism, hermeneutics and Marxism in his theory of structuration and the other is the application of this methodology in his theory of industrial society . The latter, although begun with his book on class structure (Giddens 1973) and continued in chapters 4, 5 and 6 in Central Problems in Social Theory (Giddens 1979), took a large step forward in 1981 with the publication of volume one ofAContemporary Critique of Historical Materialism . A second volume is to follow and so Giddens's theory of industrial society must be regarded as incomplete . For this reason comment on and criticism of it is premature and can only be tentative . In this paper I have chosen to deal, for the most part, with his epistemological undertaking or the "clarification of logical issues" (Giddens 1976:8) ; the outcome of which is his distinctive theory of structuration and will draw most heavily on the three books published in 1976, 1977 and 1979 . However, because some of the papers in Central Problems in Social Theory as well as volume one of A Contemporary Critique ofHistoricalMaterialism are avowedly based on the theory of structuration, I shall include a short treatment of the links between the two parts of Giddens's work at the end of the sections of the paper on the theory of structuration . As introduction, it may be helpful to try to place his work against the backcloth of other more established social theories and of some of the recent developments in them . In a very broad sense, Giddens's writings canbe seen as a fresh attempt "to bridge the gap" between the positions in the long-standing debate over whether social practices are best explained by some kind of natural science of society or by some version of the interpretative process of understanding . All serious social theory has been concerned with this bridging operation, but two circumstances give special significance to Giddens's attempt to do so . One is that it is taking place atatime when naturalistic social theory has been considerably undermined, not only by the failure to deliver adequate explanations, but also by the attack on its underlying epistemology which has been mounted by contemporary philosophy of science and language . So Giddens has been able to use new means for the old task . The other circumstance which makes his work unusually significant is its relationship to recent social theory in both its "academic" and Marxist forms . In |
| Starting Page | 92 |
| Ending Page | 111 |
| Page Count | 20 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Volume Number | 8 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.ctheory.net/library/volumes/Vol%2008%20No%201%20-%202/VOL08_NOS1-2_3.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/ctheory/article/download/13985/4759 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
