Agency in sociology refers to the capacity of individuals to act independently and make choices that shape their lives and the social structures around them.
Agency emphasizes the idea that individuals are not merely passive recipients of societal influences or structural forces but are active participants who can exercise their will, make decisions, and initiate actions.
Key Points About Agency:
- Individual vs. Collective Agency: Individuals can act independently (individual agency), but they can also collectively influence change (collective agency).
- Structure vs. Agency: a core debate in sociology.Structure refers to the social forces that shape individuals (like social class, gender, race), while agency is the individual’s power to act within these structures.
Examples of Agency:
- Family – Collective Agency: how couples collectively make decisions that affect the family unit. This includes how they communicate, compromise, and come to mutual agreements.
- Crime and deviance – Individual Agency: how young individuals make the decision to join gangs. This might include examining their motivations, such as seeking protection, a sense of belonging, or economic opportunities. It would also look at how they navigate their daily lives within the gang structure.
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