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Is human freedom and choice exaggerated in recent social theory? Should agency be the central in sociology? In this, penetrating and assured book, one of the leading commentators in the field asks where social theory is going. Barnes argues that social theory has taken the wrong turn in over-stating individual freedom. The result is that social contexts in which all individual actions are situated, is dangerously under-theorized. Barnes calls for a form of social theory that recognizes that sociability is the essential characteristic of human life. It is our capacity to communicate with each other, and plan for each other?s welfare, that makes us truly human. Once this is allowed, notions of ?agency?, ?freedom?, and ?choice? lose their connotation with free-floating individualism. Instead the embedded character of agency is starkly revealed. This is a model of well-informed and balanced analysis. It will be of interest to students of sociology, philosophy and social theory.
`Barne's work is remarkable in its attempt to transcend previously
held dualisms like causal versus voluntaristic explanations, and to
advance a model of social action that can contribute to a possible
resolution of the problematic relation between 'structure' and
'agency'' - Debasis Giri, Contributions to Indian Sociology In this
penetrating and assured book, one of the leading commentators in
the field argues that social theory is moving in the wrong
direction in its reflections on human freedom and autonomy. It has
borrowed notions of 'agency' and 'choice' from everyday discourse,
but increasingly it puts a misconceived individualistic gloss upon
them. Against this, Barnes unequivocally identifies human beings as
social agents in a profound sense, and emphasises the vital
importance of their sociability. Notions of 'agency', 'freedom' and
'choice' have to be understood by reference to their role in
communicative interaction; they are key components of the discourse
through which human beings identify each other, and have effects
upon each other, as social agents. These are central themes in all
the social sciences. And Understanding Agency addresses them in a
more focused way than any other book. It is a refreshingly
different look at social theory that will be widely debated.
Barnes' account is a model of well-informed and wide-ranging
analysis.
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