What Is Agency?
1998/01/01 by Mustafa Emirbayer, Ann Mische · 5,852 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Agency (philosophy) #Component (thermodynamics) #Computer science #Critical Realism in Sociology #Empirical research #Epistemology #Point (geometry) #Process (computing) #Projective test #Psychology #Social Policy and Reform Studies #Social and Cultural Dynamics #Social psychology #Social science #Sociology #Structure and agency
paper · doi:10.1086/231294
published in American Journal of Sociology 103(4), 962-1023 (University of Chicago Press)
openalex publication_date 1998/01/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract
This article aims (1) to analytically disaggregate agency into its several component elements (though these are interrelated empirically), (2) to demonstrate the ways in which these agentic dimensions interpenetrate with forms of structure, and (3) to point out the implications of such a conception of agency for empirical research. The authors conceptualize agency as a temporally embedded process of social engagement, informed by the past (in its “iterational” or habitual aspect) but also oriented toward the future (as a “projective” capacity to imagine alternative possibilities) and toward the present (as a “practical‐evaluative” capacity to contextualize past habits and future projects within the contingencies of the moment).
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