Human agency

From Geography

Agency is described by Lippuner and Werlen as a "conceptualization of human activity emphasizing the capacity of an individual actor to control its own actions instead of being subjected to external forces and conditions" (Lippuner & Werlen, 2009, p.39). Human agency refers to the possibility for individuals to act out of free will. The ability of people to act,usually regarded as emerging from consciously held intentions, and as resulting in observable effects in the human world (Gregory, D. et al., 2009). In contemporary Human Geography there have been many debates about whether individuals have freedom to act or whether their actions are constrained, or even determined, by structural forces (Gregory, D. et al., 2009). At the turn of the twentieth century, geographers saw individuals' actions as being a result of higher logic or forces. In the 1950s en 1960s there was the introduction of spatial science that allowed a decision making agent (Gregory, D. et al., 2009). This introduces the shift of behaviourism to behaviouralism, the 'opening of the black box'. During that shift it became known or at least thought that people do not only respond on stimuli in a universalistic way, but can also act differently, based on specific characteristics. In this way it assumes some human creativity, the ability to renew and therefore also the ability to reflect. Agency also refers to the discussion between determinism and indeterminism, in which determinist thinking does not leave space open for human agency. This concept is also about the responsibility of acts, which seen from this perspective lay with the human individual undertaking the action, even if this is behalf someone else. The amount of agency present in certain situations depends also on the way it "is restricted by social constraints" (Lippuner & Werlen, 2009, p.46). Thinkers influenced by the post-structuralism suggest that the perception of human agency so promoted in humanistic geography is a product of dominant discourse(Gregory, D. et al., 2009).

Although agency is often seen as the opposite of structure, Werlen managed to create a compromis between the two. Acknowledging the existence of both, Werlen stated that both can be influenced by each other. Through human agency structures can be influenced and structures on its own turn influence human agency. So, while speaking also of structures, Werlen cannot be seen as follower of the structuration theory, because "Werlen rejects determinist or essentialist thinking" (Lippuner, 2010, p.462). This leaves room open for the idea of controlled change of society and together with that idealism.

References:

Lippuner, R. (2010). Benno Werlen as Key Thinker on Space and Place. Jena University

Lipunner, R., Werlen, B. (2009). Structuration Theory. Elsevier Ltd.

Gregory, D., Johnston, R., Pratt, G., Watts, M., & Whatmore, S (2009). The Dictionary of Human Geography. Oxford: Blackwell.

Published by Lorenzo Goudsmits (0827991) & Lisanne Dols (0822701)

Edited by Frank Simons

--FabianBusch 11:55, 24 October 2011 (CEST)