fyi


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Dear colleagues,

Below and attached is a call for participation for a Summer Clinic on Sociological Agency we are organising in London from 9 July to 8 August 2013. Please distribute widely.

Many thanks,

Julien Morton (LSBU) & Dieuwertje Dyi Huijg (University of Manchester)


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Call for Participation


SUMMER CLINIC ON SOCIOLOGICAL AGENCY

9 JULY – 8 AUGUST 2013

LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY


In 2012-2013 we participated in an interdisciplinary reading group on the concept of agency at the University of Manchester. Out of this we felt the need to conduct a fuller survey of core positions on agency in sociological theory and beyond. We hope that this will be of interest both to those who are developing their understanding of this concept, and to those seeking further reflection.

We will begin this process by looking at some key contemporary sociological theories in a five week London ‘Summer Clinic’ which will run as an intense peer-facilitated reading group. The clinic is intended to cover a lot of ground in a fairly short period. After an introductory week on some essential themes, each week will consist of two sessions devoted to a specific theorist (for a detailed overview, see below). Although this is an intensive schedule you can either drop in to a single week or participate more fully. We welcome PhD candidates, early career researchers, as well as advanced theorists.

We intend the ‘clinic’ to be part of a larger project to look at agency from a wide range of perspectives. After the Summer we will organise a monthly reading group (at LSBU) to further our understanding of how this concept is operating more widely. We might look at phenomenological, pragmatist, post-structuralist, feminist, social movement theoretical, race critical and post-colonial approaches – or other perspectives suggested by participants.

In case of sufficient interest, we hope to organise a symposium in Spring 2014 in order to explore emerging perspectives and the latest developments in the field.

Lastly, we have set up a mailing list for this project. Please send us an e-mail ([log in to unmask]) if you would like to subscribe and be kept updated.


We would like to invite you to participate in the summer clinic. Feel free to attend the whole clinic or any specific week of interest. Below you will find the details of the clinic:

Period: 8 July - 9 August 2013
Time: 2-5pm, Tuesdays & Thursdays
Location: Room TBC, Keyworth Building, London South Bank University
Address: Keyworth Street, London, SE1 6NG [station: Elephant and Castle]

Organisers: Julien Morton (London South Bank University); Dieuwertje Dyi Huijg (University of Manchester)
Contact details: [log in to unmask]

Please get in touch if you are interested or have queries so we can provide you with more details.



SCHEDULE SUMMER CLINIC ON SOCIOLOGICAL AGENCY

Week 1: 9 & 11 July 2013
Week 2: 16 & 18 July 2013
Week 3: 23 & 25 July 2013
Week 4: 30 July & 1 Aug 2013
Week 5: 6 & 8 Aug 2013


WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGICAL QUESTIONS OF STRUCTURE AND AGENCY

WEEK 1, DAY 1
9 July 2013: 2-5pm
* Individualism and Holism: Archer, Margaret. (1995), "Individualism versus Collectivism: querying the terms of the debate", Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
* The Agent: Callinicos, Alex. (2004,2nd Ed), "Subjects and Agents", Making History: Agency, Structure, and Change in Social Theory, Leiden, only §1.1, §1.2, §1.3, §1.5
* Agency/Structure: Mouzelis, Nicos. (1993), "The Poverty of Sociological Theory" Sociology, 27(4): 675-695
* Social Action and Weber: Campbell, Colin. (1998), The Myth of Social Action. Cambridge University Press
     Ch.1: “Introduction”
     Ch.2: “Action reported missing in action theory”
     Ch.3: “Action and social action”

WEEK 1, DAY 2
11 July 2013: 2-5pm
* Callinicos, Alex. (2004, 2nd Ed), Making history: agency, structure, and change in social theory, Leiden: Brill
     Ch.2: "Structure and Action", only §2.1, §2.2, §2.5
     Ch.3: "Reasons and Interests", only §3.4, §3.5
     Ch.4: "Ideology and Power", only §4.1 (§4.2, §4.3)


WEEK 2: PIERRE BOURDIEU

WEEK 2, DAY 1
16 July 2013: 2-5pm
* Bourdieu, Pierre. (1992), "Critique of Theoretical Reason", The Logic Of Practice, Cambridge: Polity Press, pp.25-141

WEEK 2, DAY 2
18 July 2013: 2-5pm
* Bourdieu, Pierre. (2005), “Disposition of the Agents and the Structure of the Field of Reproduction", The Social Structures of the Economy, pp.19-88
* Bourdieu, Pierre. (1998), "Is a Disinterested Act Possible?", Practical Reason: On the Theory of Action, Cambridge: Polity Press, pp.75-91
* King, Anthony. (2000), "Thinking Bourdieu Against Bourdieu", Sociological Theory, 18, 3, pp.417-433
* Bohman, James  (1997), "Reflexivity, agency and constraint: The paradoxes of Bourdieu's sociology of knowledge". Social Epistemology, 11, 2, pp.171-186


WEEK 3: ANTHONY GIDDENS

WEEK 3, DAY 1
23 July 2013: 2-5pm
* Giddens, Anthony. (1986), Constitution of Society, Cambridge: Polity Press
     Ch.1: "Elements of the Theory of Structuration"
     Ch.4: "Structure, System and Social Reproduction"
     Ch.6: "Structuration Theory, Empirical Research and Social Critique"

WEEK 3, DAY 2
25 July 2013: 2-5pm
* King, Anthony. (2000), "The Accidental Derogation of the Lay Actor", Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 30, 3, pp.362-383
* Sewell, William (1992), "Duality, Agency, and Transformation", American Journal of Sociology, 98, 1, pp.1-29


WEEK 4: MARGARET ARCHER & CRITICAL REALISM

WEEK 4, DAY 1
30 July 2013: 2-5pm
* Archer, Margaret. (2000), Being Human: The Problem of Agency, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
     Ch.4: "The primacy of practice"
     Ch.6: "Humanity and reality: emotions as commentaries on human concerns"
     Ch.8: "Agents: active and passive"
     Ch.9: "Actors and commitment"

WEEK 4, DAY 2
1 Aug 2013: 2-5pm
* Archer, Margaret. (2003), Structure, Agency and the Internal Conversation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
     Introduction: "Introduction: how does structure influence agency?"
     Ch.3: "Reclaiming the internal conversation"
     Ch.4: "The process of mediation between structure and agency"
* Lewis, Paul. (2002), "Agency, Structure and Causality in Political Science" Politics, 22,1, pp.17-23
* Elder-Vass, Dave. (2007), "Reconciling Archer and Bourdieu in an Emergentist Theory of Action", Sociological Theory, 25, 4, pp.325-346


WEEK 5: BRUNO LATOUR & ACTOR NETWORK THEORY

WEEK 5, DAY 1
6 Aug 2103: 2-5pm
* Latour, Bruno. (2007), Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: OUP
     "Introduction"
     §1.1: "Introduction to Part 1"
     §1.2: "First Source of Uncertainty: No Group, Only Group Formation"
     §1.3: "First Source of Uncertainty: Action is Overtaken"
     §1.4: "First Source of Uncertainty: Objects too Have Agency"
     "Conclusion: From Society to Collective"

WEEK 5, DAY 2
8 Aug 2013: 2-5pm
* Law, John and John Hassard. (1999), Actor Network Theory and After. Oxford: Blackwell.
     "After ANT" by John Law
     "On Recalling ANT" by Bruno Latour
     "From Blindness to blindness" by Kevin Hetherington
     "Ontological politics" by Annemarie Mol
     "Actor-network theory – the market test" by Michael Callon
* Elder-Vass, Dave. (2008), "Searching for realism, structure and agency in Actor Network Theory", The British Journal of Sociology, 59, 3, pp. 455-473

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