Publisher's Synopsis
This book sets out to theoretically delineate the relationship between agency, structure and power. The author offers an original appraisal and critique both of the work of power theorists, such as Lukes and Clegg and of structuration theory as represented in the work of Giddens. Out of this critique a new theoretical perspective is developed where structures are theoretically distinguished from individual agency and the recreation of rules. Central to this perspective are the concepts of restructuration, destructuration and non-restructuration. This theorization of structure is then integrated into a conceptualization of power as a conflictural or consensual ability 'to do'. It is a perspective where power is theoretically linked to and yet is analytically distinct from, the reproduction of structure and structured resources. Through this ôrestructuringö framework a delicate balance is maintained which enables the author to theorise the relationship agency, power and structure in a commensurable manner.
