Define Agency In Sociology

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  define agency in sociology: Exercising Agency Mark Mullaly, 2016-04-22 Exercising Agency is a book about decision making. In particular, it looks in detail at how a very important type of organizational decision gets made: whether or not to initiate a project. Making strategic decisions of this kind can never be a wholly rational and scientific process. And Exercising Agency lifts the lid on many of the important behavioural factors that inform project decisions: power and politics, personality, the ’rules’ of an organization. Mark Mullaly draws on his research to provide practical guidance for decision makers; project shapers, approving executives and those responsible for how initiation decisions are made. By explaining the influence, value and risks associated with the elements that inform the way we make strategic decisions he will help you identify how individuals and organizations can best support the process to ensure project initiation decisions are effective and most closely underpin the priorities of the organization. If you are involved in framing or making decisions about the future of your organization; the projects that you do or don’t decide to initiate, then read this book. It won’t make the decisions any easier but it will help you improve the quality of the decisions you make and over time, the effectiveness of your organizational decision making.
  define agency in sociology: Distributed Agency N. J. Enfield, Paul Kockelman, 2017 This book presents the latest thinking on the distributed nature of agency: its nature, its causes, its consequences. The book opens up fundamental questions about human agency, and offer answers that are state-of-the-art and interdisciplinary, yet accessible--
  define agency in sociology: The Sense of Agency Patrick Haggard, Baruch Eitam, 2015-08-27 Agency has two meanings in psychology and neuroscience. It can refer to one's capacity to affect the world and act in line with one's goals and desires--this is the objective aspect of agency. But agency can also refer to the subjective experience of controlling one's actions, or how it feels to achieve one's goals or affect the world. This subjective aspect is known as the sense of agency, and it is an important part of what makes us human. Interest in the sense of agency has exploded since the early 2000s, largely because scientists have learned that it can be studied objectively through analyses of human judgment, behavior, and the brain. This book brings together some of the world's leading researchers to give structure to this nascent but rapidly growing field. The contributors address questions such as: What role does agency play in the sense of self? Is agency based on predicting outcomes of actions? And what are the links between agency and motivation? Recent work on the sense of agency has been markedly interdisciplinary. The chapters collected here combine ideas and methods from fields as diverse as engineering, psychology, neurology, neuroscience, and philosophy of mind, making the book a valuable resource for any student or researcher interested in action, volition, and exploring how mind and brain are organized.
  define agency in sociology: Teacher Agency Mark Priestley, Gert Biesta, Sarah Robinson, 2015-10-22 Recent worldwide education policy has reinvented teachers as agents of change and professional developers of the school curriculum. Academic literature has analyzed changes in how teacher professionalism is conceived in policy and in practice but Teacher Agency provides a fresh perspective on this issue, drawing upon an ecological theory of agency. Using this model for understanding agency, Mark Priestley, Gert Biesta and Sarah Robinson explore empirical findings from the 'Teacher Agency and Curriculum Change' project, funded by the UK-based Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Drawing together this research with the authors' international experiences and perspectives, Teacher Agency addresses theoretical and practical issues of international significance. The authors illustrate how teacher agency should be understood not only in terms of individual capacity of teachers, but also in respect of the cultures and structures of schooling.
  define agency in sociology: Encyclopedia of Social Theory Austin Harrington, Barbara L. Marshall, Hans-Peter Müller, 2006 The Encyclopedia of Social Theory cuts across all relevant disciplines, theories, approaches, and schools to present the latest information and research.
  define agency in sociology: Agency at Work Michael Goller, Susanna Paloniemi, 2017-09-06 The present book collects, integrates, and discusses the range of perspectives and discourses on agency at work. In addition, the book compiles the empirical research that has been generated by various perspectives. The chapters deal with the relationship between (a) agency at work, and (b) professional learning and development. They encompass a wide variety of working life domains and/or contexts, and are based on a broad range of epistemological and theoretical standpoints. This volume is not only thought to bring together current research, but also to foster the contemporary discourse on workplace agency a few steps further. Although the book strongly focuses on research originating in the field of workplace learning, its contents may be of interest to researchers from other scientific domains, such as socio-cognitive and development psychology, organisational behaviour, leadership, economics, life-course research, and philosophy.
  define agency in sociology: Encyclopedia of Case Study Research: L - Z Albert J. Mills, Gabrielle Durepos, Elden Wiebe, 2010
  define agency in sociology: Structure, Agency and the Internal Conversation Margaret Scotford Archer, 2003-08-28 Explores the relationship between structure and agency through human reflexivity and the internal conversation.
  define agency in sociology: Theory Beyond Structure and Agency Jean-Sébastien Guy, 2020-09-20 This book offers a solution for the problem of structure and agency in sociological theory by developing a new pair of fundamental concepts: metric and nonmetric. Nonmetric forms, arising in a crowd made out of innumerable individuals, correspond to social groups that divide the many individuals in the crowd into insiders and outsiders. Metric forms correspond to congested zones like traffic jams on a highway: individuals are constantly entering and leaving these zones so that they continue to exist, even though the individuals passing through them change. Building from these concepts, we can understand “agency” as a requirement for group identity and group membership, thus associating it with nonmetric forms, and “structure” as a building-up effect following the accumulation of metric forms. This reveals the contradiction between structure and agency to be a case of forced perspective, leaving us victim to an optical illusion.
  define agency in sociology: Material Agency Carl Knappett, Lambros Malafouris, 2008-12-15 Thus far an ‘agent’ in the social sciences has always meant someone whose actions bring about change. In this volume, the editors challenge this position and examine the possibility that agency is not a solely human property. Instead, this collection of archaeologists, anthropologists, sociologists and other social scientists explores the symbiotic relationships between humans and material entities (a key opening a door, a speed bump raising a car) as they engage with one another.
  define agency in sociology: Sociology Today Arnaud Sales, 2012-08-16 We are living in a turbulent world marked by fast, continuous social changes that affect the lives of individuals, families, communities, organizations, businesses, nation-states, and international networks. This fundamentally commits contemporary sociology to being a science of change. This collection effectively mirrors this diversity and variety of transformations underway in today′s societies and transnational spaces. Written by a group of internationally renowned sociologists, it offers a cutting edge understanding of what is happening in our life worlds, work lives and frames of social existence. Bringing up issues such as political turbulence, cultural and artistic dynamics, family changes, gender roles, migration flows and social movements, it is a timely contribution that discusses transformation and globalization and their consequences in both theoretical and substansive terms. Illuminating and comprehensive, this book will be of immense use for sociology students on all levels, as well as lecturers, researchers and others who are interested in social life and the consequences of human action. Arnaud Sales is Emeritus Proessor of Sociology at the University of Montreal, Canada.
  define agency in sociology: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Erving Goffman, 2021-09-29 A notable contribution to our understanding of ourselves. This book explores the realm of human behavior in social situations and the way that we appear to others. Dr. Goffman uses the metaphor of theatrical performance as a framework. Each person in everyday social intercourse presents himself and his activity to others, attempts to guide and cotnrol the impressions they form of him, and employs certain techniques in order to sustain his performance, just as an actor presents a character to an audience. The discussions of these social techniques offered here are based upon detailed research and observation of social customs in many regions.
  define agency in sociology: Culture, Mind, and Brain Laurence J. Kirmayer, Carol M. Worthman, Shinobu Kitayama, Robert Lemelson, Constance A. Cummings, 2020-09-24 Recent neuroscience research makes it clear that human biology is cultural biology - we develop and live our lives in socially constructed worlds that vary widely in their structure values, and institutions. This integrative volume brings together interdisciplinary perspectives from the human, social, and biological sciences to explore culture, mind, and brain interactions and their impact on personal and societal issues. Contributors provide a fresh look at emerging concepts, models, and applications of the co-constitution of culture, mind, and brain. Chapters survey the latest theoretical and methodological insights alongside the challenges in this area, and describe how these new ideas are being applied in the sciences, humanities, arts, mental health, and everyday life. Readers will gain new appreciation of the ways in which our unique biology and cultural diversity shape behavior and experience, and our ongoing adaptation to a constantly changing world.
  define agency in sociology: Encyclopedia of Communication Theory Stephen W. Littlejohn, Karen A. Foss, 2009-08-18 The Encyclopedia of Communication Theory provides students and researchers with a comprehensive two-volume overview of contemporary communication theory. Reference librarians report that students frequently approach them seeking a source that will provide them with a quick overview of a particular theory or theorist - just enough to help them grasp the general concept or theory and its relation to the discipline as a whole. Communication scholars and teachers also occasionally need a quick reference for theories. Edited by the co-authors of the best-selling textbook on communication theory and drawing on the expertise of an advisory board of 10 international scholars and nearly 200 contributors from 10 countries, this work finally provides such a resource. More than 300 entries address topics related not only to paradigms, traditions, and schools, but also metatheory, methodology, inquiry, and applications and contexts. Entries cover several orientations, including psycho-cognitive; social-interactional; cybernetic and systems; cultural; critical; feminist; philosophical; rhetorical; semiotic, linguistic, and discursive; and non-Western. Concepts relate to interpersonal communication, groups and organizations, and media and mass communication. In sum, this encyclopedia offers the student of communication a sense of the history, development, and current status of the discipline, with an emphasis on the theories that comprise it.
  define agency in sociology: Human Agency at Work Dr. Michael Goller, 2017-05-05 Michael Goller gives a structured overview of the current discourses of human agency in relation to professional learning and development. Based on this discussion, the author develops a theoretical framework including human agency as an individual feature (i. e., a disposition) as well as a set of self-initiated and goal-directed behaviours that are assumed to affect employees’ learning and development (e. g., crafting of new work experiences). He then further specifies this theoretical framework and investigates it empirically in the domain of geriatric care nursing. Based on the findings of the three empirical studies conducted, the author discusses the relevance of human agency for the development of professional expertise of geriatric care nurses. The work received the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Workplace Learning SIG 2017 Dissertation of the Year Award.
  define agency in sociology: The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theory Lisa Disch, Mary Hawkesworth, 2018-02-01 The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theory provides a rich overview of the analytical frameworks and theoretical concepts that feminist theorists have developed to analyze the known world. Featuring leading feminist theorists from diverse regions of the globe, this collection delves into forty-nine subject areas, demonstrating the complexity of feminist challenges to established knowledge, while also engaging areas of contestation within feminist theory. Demonstrating the interdisciplinary nature of feminist theory, the chapters offer innovative analyses of topics central to social and political science, cultural studies and humanities, discourses associated with medicine and science, and issues in contemporary critical theory that have been transformed through feminist theorization. The handbook identifies limitations of key epistemic assumptions that inform traditional scholarship and shows how theorizing from women's and men's lives has profound effects on the conceptualization of central categories, whether the field of analysis is aesthetics, biology, cultural studies, development, economics, film studies, health, history, literature, politics, religion, science studies, sexualities, violence, or war.
  define agency in sociology: Structure, Culture and Agency Tom Brock, Mark Carrigan, Graham Scambler, 2016-11-10 Professor Margaret Archer is a leading critical realist and major contemporary social theorist. This edited collection seeks to celebrate the scope and accomplishments of her work, distilling her theoretical and empirical contributions into four sections which capture the essence and trajectory of her research over almost four decades. Long fascinated with the problem of structure and agency, Archer’s work has constituted a decade-long engagement with this perennial issue of social thought. However, in spite of the deep interconnections that unify her body of work, it is rarely treated as a coherent whole. This is doubtless in part due to the unforgiving rigour of her arguments and prose, but also a byproduct of sociology’s ongoing compartmentalisation. This edited collection seeks to address this relative neglect by collating a selection of papers, spanning Archer’s career, which collectively elucidate both the development of her thought and the value that can be found in it as a systematic whole. This book illustrates the empirical origins of her social ontology in her early work on the sociology of education, as well as foregrounding the diverse range of influences that have conditioned her intellectual trajectory: the systems theory of Walter Buckley, the neo-Weberian analysis of Lockwood, the critical realist philosophy of Roy Bhaskar and, more recently, her engagement with American pragmatism and the Italian school of relational sociology. What emerges is a series of important contributions to our understanding of the relationship between structure, culture and agency. Acting to introduce and guide readers through these contributions, this book carries the potential to inform exciting and innovative sociological research.
  define agency in sociology: Art's Agency and Art History Robin Osborne, Jeremy Tanner, 2008-04-15 Art's Agency and Art History re-articulates the relationship of the anthropology of art to key methodological and theoretical approaches in art history, sociology, and linguistics. Explores important concepts and perspectives in the anthropology of art Includes nine groundbreaking case studies by an internationally renowned group of art historians and art theorists Covers a wide range of periods, including Bronze-Age China, Classical Greece, Rome, and Mayan, as well as the modern Western world Features an introductory essay by leading experts, which helps clarify issues in the field Includes numerous illustrations
  define agency in sociology: Dynamics in Action Alicia Juarrero, 2002-01-25 What is the difference between a wink and a blink? The answer is important not only to philosophers of mind, for significant moral and legal consequences rest on the distinction between voluntary and involuntary behavior. However, action theory—the branch of philosophy that has traditionally articulated the boundaries between action and non-action, and between voluntary and involuntary behavior—has been unable to account for the difference. Alicia Juarrero argues that a mistaken, 350-year-old model of cause and explanation—one that takes all causes to be of the push-pull, efficient cause sort, and all explanation to be prooflike—underlies contemporary theories of action. Juarrero then proposes a new framework for conceptualizing causes based on complex adaptive systems. Thinking of causes as dynamical constraints makes bottom-up and top-down causal relations, including those involving intentional causes, suddenly tractable. A different logic for explaining actions—as historical narrative, not inference—follows if one adopts this novel approach to long-standing questions of action and responsibility.
  define agency in sociology: The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 11 Volume Set George Ritzer, 2007-01-23 Named a Best Reference Work for 2009 by Library Journal The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology is published in both print and online. Arranged across eleven volumes in A-Z format, it is the definitive reference source for students, researchers, and academics in the field. This ground-breaking project brings together specially commissioned entries written and edited by an international team of the world's best scholars and teachers. It provides: “This is an example of a reference book turned into an e-product intelligently and in a way that transcends the print.” – Library Journal An essential reference for expert and newcomer alike, with entries ranging from short definitions of key terms to extended explorations of major topics Provides clear, concise, expert definitions and explanations of the key concepts Presents materials that have historically defined the discipline, but also more recent developments, significantly updating the store of sociological knowledge Introduces sociological theories and research that have developed outside of the United States and Western Europe Offers sophisticated cross-referencing and search facilities Features a timeline, lexicon by subject area, bibliography, and index 11 Volumes www.sociologyencyclopedia.com Updating
  define agency in sociology: The Semiotic Self Norbert Wiley, 1994 Ultimately, in finding a way to decenter the self without eliminating it, Wiley supplies a much-needed closure to classical pragmatism and gives new direction to neo-pragmatism.
  define agency in sociology: The Roots of Dependency Richard White, 1988-01-01 Richard White's study of the collapse into 'dependency' of three Native American subsistence economies represents the best kind of interdisciplinary effort. Here ideas and approaches from several fields--mainly anthropology, history, and ecology--are fruitfully combined in one inquiring mind closely focused on a related set of large, salient problems. . . . A very sophisticated study, a 'best read' in Indian history.--American Historical Review The book is original, enlightening, and rewarding. It points the way to a holistic manner in which tribal histories and studies of Indian-white relations should be written in the future. It can be recommended to anyone interested in Indian affairs, particularly in the question of the present-day dependency plight of the tribes.--Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., Western Historical Quarterly The Roots of Dependency is a model study. With a provocative thesis tightly argued, it is extensively researched and well written. The nonreductionist, interdisciplinary approach provides insight heretofore beyond the range of traditional methodologies. . . . To the historiography of the American Indian this book is an important addition.--W. David Baird, American Indian Quarterly Richard White is a professor of history at the University of Washington. He is the winner of the Albert J. Beveridge Award of the American Historical Asso-ciation, the James A. Rawley Prize presented by the Organization of Ameri-can Historians and the Francis Parkman Prize from the Society of American Historians. His books include The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815, It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own: A History of the American West and The Organic Machine: The Remaking of the Columbia River
  define agency in sociology: Dictionary of the Social Sciences Craig Calhoun, 2002-05-02 Featuring over 1,800 concise definitions of key terms, the Dictionary of the Social Sciences is the most comprehensive, authoritative single-volume work of its kind. With coverage on the vocabularies of anthropology, sociology, political science, economics, human geography, cultural studies, and Marxism, the Dictionary is an integrated, easy-to-use, A-to-Z reference tool. Designed for students and non-specialists, it examines classic and contemporary scholarship including basic terms, concepts, theories, schools of thought, methodologies, issues, and controversies. As a true dictionary, it also contains concise, jargon-free definitions that explain the rich, sometimes complex language of these increasingly visible fields.
  define agency in sociology: Institutional Work Thomas B. Lawrence, Roy Suddaby, Bernard Leca, 2009-07-16 This book contains a series of essays and empirical case studies exploring the nature of institutional work.
  define agency in sociology: The Sociological Imagination , 2022
  define agency in sociology: The Unmasking Style in Social Theory Peter Baehr, 2019-05-01 This book examines the nature of unmasking in social theory, in revolutionary movements and in popular culture. Unmasking is not the same as scientific refutation or principled disagreement. When people unmask, they claim to rip off a disguise, revealing the true beneath the feigned. The author distinguishes two basic types of unmasking. The first, aimed at persons or groups, exposes hypocrisy and enmity, and is a staple of revolutionary movements. The second, aimed at ideas, exposes illusions and ideologies, and is characteristic of radical social theory since the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. The Unmasking Style in Social Theory charts the intellectual origins of unmasking, its shifting priorities, and its specific techniques in social theory. It also explores sociology’s relationship to the concept of unmasking through an analysis of writers who embrace, adapt or reshape its meaning. Such sociologists include Vilfredo Pareto, Karl Mannheim, Raymond Aron, Peter Berger, Pierre Bourdieu, Luc Boltanski and Christian Smith. Finally, taking conspiracy theories, accusations of social phobia and new concepts such as micro-aggression as examples of unmasking techniques, the author shows how unmasking contributes to the polarization and bitterness of much public discussion. Demonstrating how unmasking is baked into modern culture, yet arguing that alternatives to it are still possible, this book is, in sum, a compelling study of unmasking and its impact upon modern political life and social theory.
  define agency in sociology: EBOOK: A Sociology of Mental Health and Illness Anne Rogers, David Pilgrim, 2014-05-16 How do we understand mental health problems in their social context? A former BMA Medical Book of the Year award winner, this book provides a sociological analysis of major areas of mental health and illness. The book considers contemporary and historical aspects of sociology, social psychiatry, policy and therapeutic law to help students develop an in-depth and critical approach to this complex subject.New developments for the fifth edition include: Brand new chapter on prisons, criminal justice and mental health Expanded coverage of stigma, class and social networks Updated material on the Mental Capacity Act, Mental Health Act and the Deprivation of Liberty A classic in its field, this well established textbook offers a rich and well-crafted overview of mental health and illness unrivalled by competitors and is essential reading for students and professionals studying a range of medical sociology and health-related courses. It is also highly suitable for trainee mental health workers in the fields of social work, nursing, clinical psychology and psychiatry. Rogers and Pilgrim go from strength to strength! This fifth edition of their classic text is not only a sociology but also a psychology, a philosophy, a history and a polity. It combines rigorous scholarship with radical argument to produce incisive perspectives on the major contemporary questions concerning mental health and illness. The authors admirably balance judicious presentation of the range of available understandings with clear articulation of their own positions on key issues. This book is essential reading for everyone involved in mental health work. Christopher Dowrick, Professor of Primary Medical Care, University of Liverpool, UK Pilgrim and Rogers have for the last twenty years given us the key text in the sociology of mental health and illness. Each edition has captured the multi-layered and ever changing landscape of theory and practice around psychiatry and mental health, providing an essential tool for teachers and researchers, and much loved by students for the dexterity in combining scope and accessibility. This latest volume, with its focus on community mental health, user movements criminal justice and the need for inter-agency working, alongside the more classical sociological critiques around social theories and social inequalities, demonstrates more than ever that sociological perspectives are crucial in the understanding and explanation of mental and emotional healthcare and practice, hence its audience extends across the related disciplines to everyone who is involved in this highly controversial and socially relevant arena. Gillian Bendelow, School of Law Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex, UK From the classic bedrock studies to contemporary sociological perspectives on the current controversy over which scientific organizations will define diagnosis, Rogers and Pilgrim provide a comprehensive, readable and elegant overview of how social factors shape the onset and response to mental health and mental illness. Their sociological vision embraces historical, professional and socio-cultural context and processes as they shape the lives of those in the community and those who provide care; the organizations mandated to deliver services and those that have ended up becoming unsuitable substitutes; and the successful and unsuccessful efforts to improve the lives through science, challenge and law. Bernice Pescosolido, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Indiana University, USA
  define agency in sociology: The Sociology of the Individual Athanasia Chalari, 2016-11-08 What it socialization? What is interaction? What do we mean by identity? How can we explain the notion of self? What do we mean by intra-action? The Sociology of the Individual is an innovative and though-provoking sociological exploration of how the ideas of the individual and society relate. Expertly combining conceptual depth with clarity of style, Athanasia Chalari: explains the key sociological and psychological theories related to the investigation of the social and the personal analyses the ways that both sociology and psychology can contribute to a more complete understanding and theorising of everyday life uses a mix of international cases and everyday examples to encourage critical reflection. The Sociology of the Individual is an essential read for upper level undergraduates or postgraduates looking for a deeper and more sophisticated understanding of the connection between the social world and the inner life of the individual. Perfect for modules exploring the sociology of the self, self and society, and self and identity.
  define agency in sociology: Psychological Agency Roger Frie, 2008 A multidisciplinary exploration of agency as a central psychological phenomenon based on the affective, embodied, and relational processing of human experience. Agency is a central psychological phenomenon that must be accounted for in any explanatory framework for human action. According to the diverse group of scholars, researchers, and clinicians who have contributed chapters to this book, psychological agency is not a fixed entity that conforms to traditional definitions of free will but an affective, embodied, and relational processing of human experience. Agency is dependent on the biological, social, and cultural contexts that inform and shape who we are. Yet agency also involves the creation of meaning and the capacity for imagining new and different ways of being and acting and cannot be entirely reduced to biology or culture. This generative potential of agency is central to the process of psychotherapy and to psychological change and development. The chapters explore psychological agency in theoretical, clinical and developmental, and social and cultural contexts. Psychological agency is presented as situated within a web of intersecting biophysical and cultural contexts in an ongoing interactive and developmental process. Persons are seen as not only shaped by, but also capable of fashioning and refashioning their contexts in new and meaningful ways. The contributors have all trained in psychology or psychiatry, and many have backgrounds in philosophy; wherever possible they combinetheoretical discussion with clinical case illustration. Contributors: John Fiscalini, Roger Frie, Jill Gentile, Adelbert H. Jenkins, Elliot L. Jurist, Jack Martin, Arnold Modell, Linda Pollock, Pascal Sauvayre, Jeff Sugarman
  define agency in sociology: Social Work: Themes, Issues and Critical Debates Robert Adams, Lena Dominelli, Malcolm Payne, 2017-09-16 Social Work: Themes, Issues and Critical Debates, one of the most respected and widely used textbooks in social work, has now been completely revised and updated. With its accessible and clearly structured framework, the book offers expert discussion of the core topics in social work by top writers, teachers and practitioners in the field. It provides an essential grounding in the debates that shape the profession, as well as a clear insight into the issues at the heart of practice. What makes this highly regarded and bestselling book stand out from other texts? - Its range, authority and theoretical integrity - Its clear and effective structure, which reflects major shifts in teaching and makes it easy to use across modules - The importance it lays on practice-based learning and on developing core practice skills such as communication, assessment and intervention - Its value as a springboard to further reading (including extensive guidance on further print and electronic sources) - Its compact size – perfect for readers who are travelling between campus and practice settings. This is one of three interrelated books edited by the internationally renowned and widely published team, Robert Adams, Lena Dominelli and Malcolm Payne. The companion books are Critical Practice in Social Work (second edition) and Practising Social Work in a Complex World. Each book can be used alone or in combination with the other two as a uniquely flexible and comprehensive programme of study.
  define agency in sociology: Bloodlands Timothy Snyder, 2012-10-02 From the author of the international bestseller On Tyranny, the definitive history of Hitler’s and Stalin’s politics of mass killing, explaining why Ukraine has been at the center of Western history for the last century. Americans call the Second World War “the Good War.” But before it even began, America’s ally Stalin had killed millions of his own citizens—and kept killing them during and after the war. Before Hitler was defeated, he had murdered six million Jews and nearly as many other Europeans. At war’s end, German and Soviet killing sites fell behind the Iron Curtain, leaving the history of mass killing in darkness. Assiduously researched, deeply humane, and utterly definitive, Bloodlands is a new kind of European history, presenting the mass murders committed by the Nazi and Stalinist regimes as two aspects of a single story. With a new afterword addressing the relevance of these events to the contemporary decline of democracy, Bloodlands is required reading for anyone seeking to understand the central tragedy of modern history and its meaning today.
  define agency in sociology: Class and Conformity Melvin Kohn, 1989-09-15 First published in 1969 and augmented by the author with a new essay in 1977, Class and Conformity remains a model of sociological craftsmanship. Kohn's work marshals evidence from three studies to show a decided connection between social class and values. He emphasizes that occupation fosters either self-direction or conformity in people, depending upon the amount of freedom from supervision, the complexity of the task, and the variety of the work that the job entails. The extent of parents' self-direction on the job further determines the value placed on self-direction for the children; this, Kohn finds, is the most critical and pervasive factor distingushing children raised in different socioeconomic classes.--Back cover.
  define agency in sociology: Introduction to Sociology 2e Nathan J. Keirns, Heather Griffiths, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Sally Vyain, Tommy Sadler, Jeff D. Bry, Faye Jones, 2015-03-17 This text is intended for a one-semester introductory course.--Page 1.
  define agency in sociology: An Introduction to Sociology Anthony Giddens, Mitchell Duneier, 2000-04-01
  define agency in sociology: Across the Great Barrier Patricia C. Wrede, 2011 In an alternate frontier America, Eff must travel beyond the Great Barrier and come to terms with her magic abilities--and those of her twin brother--to stop the newest threat encroaching on the settlers.
  define agency in sociology: What is Gender? Mary Holmes, 2007-06-18 Is gender something done to us by society, or something we do? What is the relationship between gender and other inequalities? What is Gender? explores these complex and important questions, helping readers to critically analyse how women′s and men′s lives are shaped by the society in which they live. The book offers a comprehensive account of trends in sociological thinking, from a material and economic focus on gender inequalities to the debates about meaning initiated by the linguistic or cultural turn. The book begins by questioning simplistic biological conceptions of gender and goes on to evaluate different theoretical frameworks for explaining gender, as well as political approaches to gender issues. The cultural turn is also examined in relation to thinking about how gender is related to other forms of inequality such as class and ′race′. The book is up-to-date and broad in its scope, drawing on a range of disciplines, such as: sociology, psychoanalysis, masculinity studies, literary criticism, feminist political theory, feminist philosophy and feminist theory.
  define agency in sociology: Youth Sociology Alan France, Julia Coffey, Steven Roberts, Catherine Waite, 2020-04-09 Falling somewhere between childhood and adulthood, 'Youth' is a key period of transition. It can be difficult to define and make sense of this period in one's life. However it is categorised, young people face a number of challenges and issues growing up in today's world. From the pressures created by social media to the increasing precarity of employment, the major social, cultural and economic developments of our time are each impacting this period of the lifecourse in myriad ways. Youth Sociology helps readers to understand how such changes factor into the experience of being young today, and illuminates the realities of the world in which young people live. Embedding perspectives and insights from a wide range of disciplines beyond sociology, this authoritative new textbook will be incredibly useful for all students of youth.
  define agency in sociology: Mind and the World-order Clarence Irving Lewis, 1956-01-01 Theory of conceptual pragmatism takes into account both modern philosophical thought and modern mathematics. Stimulating discussions of metaphysics, a priori, philosophic method, much more.
  define agency in sociology: The Creativity of Action Hans Joas, 1996 Hans Joas is one of the foremost social theorists in Germany today. Based on Joas’s celebrated study of George Herbert Mead, this work reevaluates the contribution of American pragmatism and European philosophical anthropology to theories of action in the social sciences. Joas also establishes direct ties between Mead’s work and approaches drawn from German traditions of philosophical anthropology. Joas argues for adding a third model of action to the two predominant models of rational and normative action—one that emphasizes the creative character of human action. This model encompasses the other two, allowing for a more comprehensive theory of action. Joas elaborates some implications of his model for theories of social movements and social change and for the status of action theory in sociology in the face of competition from theories advanced by Luhmann and Habermas. The problem of action is of crucial importance in both sociology and philosophy, and this book—already widely debated in Germany—will add fresh impetus to the lively discussions current in the English-speaking world.
  define agency in sociology: A Dictionary of Sociology John Scott, 2014 Coverage is extensive, and includes terms from the related fields of psychology, economics, anthropology, philosophy and political science. -- Provided by publisher.
DEFINE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of DEFINE is to determine or identify the essential qualities or meaning of. How to use define in a sentence.

DEFINE Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
Define definition: to state or set forth the meaning of (a word, phrase, etc.).. See examples of DEFINE used in a sentence.

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DEFINE definition: 1. to say what the meaning of something, especially a word, is: 2. to explain and describe the…. Learn more.

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If you define something, you show, describe, or state clearly what it is and what its limits are, or what it is like. We were unable to define what exactly was wrong with him. [ VERB wh ]

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define - show the form or outline of; "The tree was clearly defined by the light"; "The camera could define the smallest object"

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Define definition: state the meaning of a word or phrase. Check meanings, examples, usage tips, pronunciation, domains, related words.

define - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
May 13, 2025 · define (third-person singular simple present defines, present participle defining, simple past and past participle defined) To determine with precision; to mark out with …

Define: Definition, Meaning, and Examples - usdictionary.com
Dec 24, 2024 · The word "define" means to explain or clarify the meaning of something or to establish boundaries and parameters. It is a versatile word used in many contexts, from …

Define Definition & Meaning - YourDictionary
Define Sentence Examples The child's eagerness and interest carry her over many obstacles that would be our undoing if we stopped to define and explain everything. It will not be welfare (or, …

DEFINITION Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of DEFINITION is a statement of the meaning of a word or word group or a sign or symbol. How to use definition in a sentence.

DEFINE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of DEFINE is to determine or identify the essential qualities or meaning of. How to use define in a sentence.

DEFINE Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
Define definition: to state or set forth the meaning of (a word, phrase, etc.).. See examples of DEFINE used in a sentence.

DEFINE | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
DEFINE definition: 1. to say what the meaning of something, especially a word, is: 2. to explain and describe the…. Learn more.

DEFINE definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
If you define something, you show, describe, or state clearly what it is and what its limits are, or what it is like. We were unable to define what exactly was wrong with him. [ VERB wh ]

Define - definition of define by The Free Dictionary
define - show the form or outline of; "The tree was clearly defined by the light"; "The camera could define the smallest object"

DEFINE - Definition & Meaning - Reverso English Dictionary
Define definition: state the meaning of a word or phrase. Check meanings, examples, usage tips, pronunciation, domains, related words.

define - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
May 13, 2025 · define (third-person singular simple present defines, present participle defining, simple past and past participle defined) To determine with precision; to mark out with …

Define: Definition, Meaning, and Examples - usdictionary.com
Dec 24, 2024 · The word "define" means to explain or clarify the meaning of something or to establish boundaries and parameters. It is a versatile word used in many contexts, from everyday …

Define Definition & Meaning - YourDictionary
Define Sentence Examples The child's eagerness and interest carry her over many obstacles that would be our undoing if we stopped to define and explain everything. It will not be welfare (or, at …

DEFINITION Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of DEFINITION is a statement of the meaning of a word or word group or a sign or symbol. How to use definition in a sentence.