TY - UNPB
T1 - How do mechanisms’ ‘tendency’ within critical realism influence our understanding of structure-agency relations?
AU - Moghadam-Saman, Saeed
N1 - Subseries of the CHEPS working paper series as part of the UT & ECIU RUNIN Ph.D. training network. Paul Benneworth is the series editor
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 722295
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The paper aims to contribute to the literature on the relation between human agency and social structure, where the issue of primacy of either of them over the other, is closely affected by our understanding of the ‘causation’ mechanism. By taking critical realism’s very specific position regarding the ontology of causation, which centers around the concept of ‘tendency’, stemming from a distinction made between the real and the actual causal power, a new approach in theorizing about the agency-structure relations is sought in the paper. After a concise overview of the major scholarly positions regarding the agency-structure relations, the prominent approaches taken by key figures in the critical realism tradition concerning the same issue are presented. It is argued that, similar to the dialectical approaches, the agency-structure relations in the critical realism accounts are perceived to be mutually constituted. Nevertheless, it is shown that in the explanatory accounts on critical realism, there exist different levels of emphasis on the role of agents vis-à-vis the structures from which originate the causal mechanisms. Finally, and given the recognition of multiplicity of structures co-determining the actualization of causal powers underlying social phenomena (events) within the critical realist accounts, the paper concludes with suggesting a new concept, namely ‘emergent-tendencies’, for better understanding of agency-structure relations.
AB - The paper aims to contribute to the literature on the relation between human agency and social structure, where the issue of primacy of either of them over the other, is closely affected by our understanding of the ‘causation’ mechanism. By taking critical realism’s very specific position regarding the ontology of causation, which centers around the concept of ‘tendency’, stemming from a distinction made between the real and the actual causal power, a new approach in theorizing about the agency-structure relations is sought in the paper. After a concise overview of the major scholarly positions regarding the agency-structure relations, the prominent approaches taken by key figures in the critical realism tradition concerning the same issue are presented. It is argued that, similar to the dialectical approaches, the agency-structure relations in the critical realism accounts are perceived to be mutually constituted. Nevertheless, it is shown that in the explanatory accounts on critical realism, there exist different levels of emphasis on the role of agents vis-à-vis the structures from which originate the causal mechanisms. Finally, and given the recognition of multiplicity of structures co-determining the actualization of causal powers underlying social phenomena (events) within the critical realist accounts, the paper concludes with suggesting a new concept, namely ‘emergent-tendencies’, for better understanding of agency-structure relations.
U2 - 10.3990/4.2535-5686.2019.05
DO - 10.3990/4.2535-5686.2019.05
M3 - Working paper
T3 - RUNIN Working Paper Series
BT - How do mechanisms’ ‘tendency’ within critical realism influence our understanding of structure-agency relations?
PB - Center for Higher Education Policy Studies
CY - Enschede
ER -