Social structure, human agency, and social policy

Musolf, Gil Richard

doi:10.1108/01443330310790570

Cited by 19 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Barnes et al ., 2002), this puzzle of how to balance the active agency of individuals with the experience of groups in the context of structural forces has haunted social policy analysis. An ongoing challenge is to make sense of the relationship between two disputed concepts: ‘structure’ and ‘agency’ (Harrison and Davis, 2001; Musolf, 2003), which cannot be separated from one another (Giddens, 1984). The traditionally social democratic stance of many writing in the field has been criticised for treating service users, such as benefit recipients, with a ‘subtle mixture of diminution and patronage’ (Fennell et al ., 1988: 6).…”

Section: Conceptualising Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare-to-work, Agency and Personal Responsibility

2012

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AbstractA strong international reform agenda has been established around the idea that benefit recipients must be ‘activated’ to find jobs. This approach, which has found support across the political spectrum in times of affluence and austerity, rests on previously contested assumptions about human motivation, choice, action and personal responsibility. This article considers the largely untested assumptions within UK welfare-to-work policies and marketised employment services, which are designed to control and modify behaviour through compulsion and incentives. It examines those assumptions in relation to conceptualisations of human agency drawn from social policy literature. A gap is identified between accounts of agency grounded in the lived experiences of social actors (policy-makers, front-line workers and service users) and hypothetical models of individual agency (e.g. ‘rational economic man’) which have been more influential in policy design. It is argued that scope exists for understandings of agency to encompass the motivations, intentions and actions ofallsocial actors involved in the policy process. This highlights the power dynamics of context creation, the universal potential for malevolence and the weight of moral significance. Conceptual and empirical insights point towards understanding the enactment of agency as relational, dynamic, differentiated, interconnected, interdependent, intersubjective and interactive.

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Section: Conceptualising Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare-to-work, Agency and Personal Responsibility

2012

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“…People collectively construct the structures of the world and that world is alterable through and by human agency. History abounds with examples of people opposing those with more power and resources and despite this managing to succeed and change the social structures that affect their lives (Musolf, 2003).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A range of theories and approaches can be described as representing a structural approach to understanding society. The term social structure signifies, particularly when used in relation to the idea of agency, some form of enduring material, but possibly ideational, relationship between individuals and communities (Musolf, 2003). In this respect structures refer to supraindividual phenomena that, most importantly for the purposes of this discussion, need to be considered when examining the operation of society as a whole and attempts at explaining the behaviour of individuals.…”

Section: Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structure and agency: a debate for community development?

Connor

2011

Community Development Journal

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An orthodox dichotomy has come to dominate and shape debates regarding agency and this has led to a number of difficulties in articulating a coherent theory of practice for community development. If by asserting agency, one adopts a methodological individualism, particularly as expressed by an increasingly predominant rational actor theory, behaviour is reduced to the pursuit of self interest by relatively atomised individuals, and the notion of community and society appears to dissolve. In contrast, if social structures are to provide the starting point for analysis and practice, there appears to be little justification for recognising the agency of individuals and communities, because it is the structures that provide the explanatory and causal forces in society, with individuals appearing to be little more than flotsam and jetsam on the tide. A resistance to this false dilemma, in part explains why there has been a desire and need to move on from such discussions and why many in community development have found a great deal to be attracted to in the situated and networked theories of agency that seek to dissolve the structureagency dichotomy. However, as desirable as this attempt to move on may be, it is argued that at the very least, a note of caution needs to be heeded before the theory and practice of community development draws exclusively on situated and pluralistic perspectives. Instead it is argued that any 'rediscovery' of agency, should not only seek to resolve the rather strained debate between structure and agency, but offer a form of praxis resistant to attempts to co-opt the work of community development. It is argued that such an 'alternative' can be found in the literature and practice of those who seek to sustain an analytical dualism where agents are seen as being both potentially constrained and enabled by the social relations they occupy.

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“…We moved back and forth constantly between the two data sets asking ourselves questions to interrogate the data by using a framework adapted from Strivastava and Hopwood’s work [ 14 ] (Table 2 ). We acknowledged that the structure can define the scope of an agent’s ability to act and agency may also have the ability to change the structure [ 15 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining the uptake of paediatric guidelines in a Kenyan tertiary hospital – mixed methods research

Irimu

Greene

Gathara

et al. 2014

BMC Health Serv Res

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BackgroundEvidence-based standards for management of the seriously sick child have existed for decades, yet their translation in clinical practice is a challenge. The context and organization of institutions are known determinants of successful translation, however, research using adequate methodologies to explain the dynamic nature of these determinants in the quality-of-care improvement process is rarely performed.MethodsWe conducted mixed methods research in a tertiary hospital in a low-income country to explore the uptake of locally adapted paediatric guidelines. The quantitative component was an uncontrolled before and after intervention study that included an exploration of the intervention dose-effect relationship. The qualitative component was an ethnographic research based on the theoretical perspective of participatory action research. Interpretive integration was employed to derive meta-inferences that provided a more complete picture of the overall study results that reflect the complexity and the multifaceted ontology of the phenomenon studied.ResultsThe improvement in health workers’ performance in relation to the intensity of the intervention was not linear and was characterized by improved and occasionally declining performance. Possible root causes of this performance variability included challenges in keeping knowledge and clinical skills updated, inadequate commitment of the staff to continued improvement, limited exposure to positive professional role models, poor teamwork, failure to maintain professional integrity and mal-adaptation to institutional pressures.ConclusionImplementation of best-practices is a complex process that is largely unpredictable, attributed to the complexity of contextual factors operating predominantly at professional and organizational levels. There is no simple solution to implementation of best-practices. Tackling root causes of inadequate knowledge translation in this tertiary care setting will require long-term planning, with emphasis on promotion of professional ethics and values and establishing an organizational framework that enhances positive aspects of professionalism. This study has significant implications for the quality of training in medical institutions and the development of hospital leadership.

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Social structure, human agency, and social policy

Abstract: Discusses the papers in this issue in calculated style, with regard to social structure, human agency and social policy. Itemizes the papers one‐by‐one and gives their strength of argument or policy or an important argument in their favour.

Cited by 19 publications

References 3 publications

Welfare-to-work, Agency and Personal Responsibility

Welfare-to-work, Agency and Personal Responsibility

Structure and agency: a debate for community development?

Explaining the uptake of paediatric guidelines in a Kenyan tertiary hospital – mixed methods research

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