ЧЕЛОВЕК В МИРЕ ИНСТИТУТОВ: О ЛОГИКЕ И МЕХАНИЗМАХ СОЦИАЛЬНОГО КОНСТРУИРОВАНИЯ РЕАЛЬНОСТИ

INDIVIDUAL IN A WORLD OF INSTITUTES: LOGIC AND MECHANISMS OF SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY

This chapter views the conceptual opposition “subject (action, agency) - structure (institutes)” as one of the key problems of social scientific knowledge. The very method of describing this opposition illustrates different competing strategies of sociological theorizing (methodological individualism and holism, social nominalism and realism, subjectivism and objectivism).Supporters of methodological individualism argue that, empirically, there is nothing but individuals and their actions and words in the sphere of social interactions. On the other hand, social realists usually state that these actions and words are produced by agents (actors) in certain contexts and situations which they hold little power over. This is why the “ways and rules of action” are enforced onto the participants from outside - this is what forms what we call social structures, institutions and/or culture.Is it possible to find a way out of this argument that would be acceptable for both arguing sides? Different branches of classical and modern social theory offer different ways of conceptualizing and “marking” the problem of proportion of individual activity and social contexts in which it takes place. The author in the chapter aims to highlight approaches to this research problem. Special attention is allocated to the attempts to propose a synthetic solution for the “agency - structure” problem which were included in a number of sociological theories. The possibility of combination of “constructivist” and “structuralist” argumentation is illustrated using the example of theoretical interpretation of the birth of institutional structures from the inner logic of social interactions and their autonomisation.