STRUCTURE AGENCY AND URBAN CHANGE Course Review Section

STRUCTURE, AGENCY AND URBAN CHANGE Course Review Section 5 Dr. Faisal Al-Qahtani 1

Structure n a term used generically to describe any patterning or system that shapes human action: o Biological structures n o Cultural structures n o (markets, firms) Political structures n o (languages, discourses, stereotypes) Economic structures n o (including genetic structures of the body and the external environment) (states, bureaucracies, quangos) Material structures n (urban layouts, telecommunication infrastructures). Dr. Faisal Al-Qahtani 2

Structures: Different Forms n Fixed, enduring institutions: o o n public and private, formal and informal Broader patterns of social stratification: o e. g. , class, occupation, gender, and ethnicity or ‘race’. Dr. Faisal Al-Qahtani 3

Structure vs. Agency o The spatial levels at which structures exist and exert their effects: n global, regional, national, and local. n Many institutions shift between these different levels: o Institutions, thus, can be both structures and agencies: e. g. , n Cardiff has a structured distribution of : o o work, wealth and power which shapes its inhabitants’ agency, Cardiff itself is an agent n in the global marketplace for investment. Dr. Faisal Al-Qahtani 4

Structure & Agency o Structures shape agency in a number of ways: n n Conscious (laws) and unconscious (traditions) constraint. different mechanisms of constraint: o o Structures n provide the resources necessary for agency: o o stereotypes, roles, discourses, direct coercion, and authority. such as power, wealth, and meanings. Structures create opportunities for agency as well. Dr. Faisal Al-Qahtani 5

Structure & Agency o o Agency can be both individual and collective. Consequences of agency can be both n n o direct and intended indirect and unintended. Agents constantly interact with one another n these interactions can be o o o competitive conflictual co-operative. Dr. Faisal Al-Qahtani 6

Unintended Consequences Of Agency o The reproduction of structures, be they economic, cultural, etc. n e. g. , language speakers as agents draw on the linguistic structures (of vocabulary and grammar) to create sentences and speech. n language speakers are also capable of innovation and deviation: o n If repeated sufficiently these kinds of innovation and deviation change the structures of language. Innovation, deviation and challenges by human agents o the core of processes of structural change. Dr. Faisal Al-Qahtani 7