Social constraints
From Geography
Anthony Giddens is a socialist who argues that structure and agency goes hand in hand. The duality of structure. In other words Giddens is saying that we act both free with a certain level of consciousness and through structure. Our actions and structures go hand in hand with each other. They are dependent to each other and can’t be separated. Actions create structures and structures can only exist if we act according the structure.
Giddens is also addressing that we have constraints in our actions. We have physical constraints and social constraints who both influence our acting and make specific activities even prohibited or impossible.
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Definition
To be abstract Social constraints are things you can't do because of society. Better said society, be it the government or your social group, judges your actions and may even correct you if you do something. In a way it limits your actions, this can be called perceived behaviorel control. This social constraint shows some similarities with the authority constraints by Hägerstrand (1970).
Example
An example of a social constraint can be the political system of a country. For instance a dictatorship. This system constraint agency. People have no choice when it comes to voting and can’t, for example, leave the country to travel.
References
- Lippuner, R. & Werlen, B. (2009) Structuration Theory. In: International Encyclopedia for Human Geography. Elsevier.
- Dale Southerton in Sociology (2006) 40: 435 Analysing the Temporal Organization of Daily Life: Social Constraints,Practices and their Allocation
Contributors
- Page published by Jesper Remmen--JesperRemmen 23:24, 21 October 2012 (CEST)
Edited by Jordi de Leeuw (4042468) 23-10-2012
