This article deals with one of the theoretical dilemmas of contemporary sociology： the dualism of the individualistic and holistic approaches. One of the most famous attempts to overcome this dualism is the structura...This article deals with one of the theoretical dilemmas of contemporary sociology： the dualism of the individualistic and holistic approaches. One of the most famous attempts to overcome this dualism is the structuration theory of Anthony Giddens, and alongside this is found the conception of social realism of Roy Bhaskar and Margaret Archer. Their efforts to link individualistic and holistic approaches are based on a varifocal attempt to explain the theoretical issues from both individualistic and holistic perspectives. The author of this article believes that there is an alternative solution to this problem, where both perspectives are ＂blended＂ in a theoretical explanation demonstrating that the concepts which we use in sociological theory--actor, action and structure--are inherently of dualistic nature, i.e., they are ＂duplex＂.展开更多
文摘This article deals with one of the theoretical dilemmas of contemporary sociology： the dualism of the individualistic and holistic approaches. One of the most famous attempts to overcome this dualism is the structuration theory of Anthony Giddens, and alongside this is found the conception of social realism of Roy Bhaskar and Margaret Archer. Their efforts to link individualistic and holistic approaches are based on a varifocal attempt to explain the theoretical issues from both individualistic and holistic perspectives. The author of this article believes that there is an alternative solution to this problem, where both perspectives are ＂blended＂ in a theoretical explanation demonstrating that the concepts which we use in sociological theory--actor, action and structure--are inherently of dualistic nature, i.e., they are ＂duplex＂.
