Individualisation, Choice and Structure: A Discussion of Current Trends in Sociological Analysis

Abstract

In this paper we seek to explore a tendency in current sociological thought to highlight notions of choice and autonomy in writings about contemporary Western societies. We wish to draw attention to some of the consequences of leaving out discussions of the structural aspects of societies and people's lives, for individuals as well as for the development and application of sociological theory and its ability to understand the connection between history and individual biography. Our discussion is based on qualitative research that we have conducted in recent years, and draws on focus groups with young people in Norway and Britain. From this critique we seek to demonstrate how concepts that take account of context and structure as well individual subjectivities can create a better 'fit' with complex and diverse realties.

What can we say about today's British religious young person? Findings from the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme

“…Successive generations in the West since the Second World War have been framed in a certain way: the Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y/the Millennials, as birth cohorts growing up in a particular era and consequently sharing distinctive characteristics (Howe and Strauss 2000;Possamai 2009;Savage 2006). An oscillating balance between structure and agency can be found in analyses of youth, from representations of victims buffeted by structural change to social entrepreneurs forging their own identities (Brannen and Nilsen 2005). Beckford (2010, xxiii) notes that in the 1970s and 1980s interest in young people and religion was low 'among social scientists, particularly in Europe, when priority tended to be given to concerns with youth unemployment, youth subcultures, new social movements and cultural resistance to aspects of capitalism'.…”

Imagining the Future in the Neoliberal Era

“…For example, Brannen and Nilsen's (2005) comparative study of young Europeans found that youth views of the future were not, in fact, converging towards individualization. Far from choosing individualized pathways about their future, some ethnic minority groups (such as British Asians), for instance, were following the aspirations of their first generation parents and making culturally informed career choices (e.g., to study law or medicine as in Franceschelli, 2017).…”

“…Individualization reduces the weight that social class, gender or family of origin have on the life course, so that individuals can now make subjective choices about their lives. This means that young lives are no longer shaped by the traditional markers of adulthood, which have characterized the 'standard biography'; instead, young people must now develop their own 'choice biography', which is highly unpredictable (Brannen andNielsen, 2002, 2007). Thus, individualization has removed some old constraints, but it has also created new ones (Beck, 2007).…”

European Higher Education Policy and the Formation of Entrepreneurial Students as Future European Citizens

“…In our research, we observed that individual stories of mobility within Europe mirrored political and media rhetoric of agentic and enterprising actors which highlight individual responsibility and activity and downplay the availability of resources to do so (Papatsiba, 2005). Hence 'individualisation' and entrepreneurship entail an ideological layer which celebrates the victory of individual agency whilst often leaving unquestioned social constraints and structural limitations (Brannen & Nielson, 2005). While this can bear the promise of a lower social determinism, and hence higher social justice, it nevertheless takes for granted the universal possibility of 'choice', and turns individual enterprise into a normative orientation, a disposition, a given, a good or a goal to aspire for.…”