Anthony Giddens has been in the forefront of developments in social theory for the past decade. In The Constitution of Society he outlines the distinctive position he has evolved during that period and offers a full statement of a major new perspective in social thought, a synthesis and elaboration of ideas touched on in previous works but described here for the first time in an integrated and comprehensive form. A particular feature is Giddensa s concern to connect abstract problems of theory to an interpretation of the nature of empirical method in the social sciences. In presenting his own ideas, Giddens mounts a critical attack on some of the more orthodox sociological views. The Constitution of Society is an invaluable reference book for all those concerned with the basic issues in contemporary social theory.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
a It is likely that this book will be regarded as the most important piece of grand sociological theory in English of the past decade.a Mark Poster, University of California a This book will take its place alongside such major statements of sociological theory as those of Parsons and Habermas. Anyone interested in the state of the social sciences today, the character of social theory or the relevance of philosophy to social theory will now find it essential to grapple with Giddensa s bold and incisive book.a Richard Bernstein, Haverford College, USA a Anthony Giddensa s new book is the fullest presentation yet of his theoretical views ... it has the lean, sparse, utterly serious, craftsmanlike qualities we have learned to expect from its author and which make it a real pleasure to read.a Donnis Wrong, Times Higher Education Supplement
Review
'It is likely that this book will be regarded as the most important piece of grand sociological theory in English of the past decade.' Mark Poster, University of California
'This book will take its place alongside such major statements of sociological theory as those of Parsons and Habermas. Anyone interested in the state of the social sciences today, the character of social theory or the relevance of philosophy to social theory will now find it essential to grapple with Giddens's bold and incisive book.' Richard Bernstein, Haverford College, USA
'Anthony Giddens's new book is the fullest presentation yet of his theoretical views ... it has the lean, sparse, utterly serious, craftsmanlike qualities we have learned to expect from its author and which make it a real pleasure to read.' Donnis Wrong, Times Higher Education Supplement
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The closure of the debate of 20th century,
This review is from: The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration (Paperback)
In this book Giddens gives us The answers, not only to why societys are like they are - the structural parts as well as the cultural - but allso the reason why we, the actors, let them be like they are. By doing this Giddens puts a final end to the micro-macro disussion of whether society constitutes actors or actors constitutes society, where he through his concept of "duality of structure" implodes the debate by not only defining the action of social reproduction as the constitution of society, but allso explaining the psychological reasons, the need for "ontological security", behind. While avoiding the temptation to reduce either actors to be a function of society or to reduce society to be an aggregate of individuals, makes it possible to discuss the links between as well as within the two analytical parts. Unfortunately his theory still lacks one essential aspect - the social dynamic. As a consequence the reader interested in social change will be mighty dissapointed. In the prospect of explainging social order Giddens develops a theory that lacks any other explanation to social change than the orthodox dogmas of unexpected consequences. My suggestion is that Giddens would do well to adapt the time perspective used by Piotr Sztompka, Margaret Archer and other critical realists. In doing so he would undisputably undermine any concurrence to the title as the one who closed the mest vigouros debate of social sciences in the 20th century.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant piece of grand theory,
By Humanimal (Clovis, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration (Paperback)
Dr. Giddens' work is grand on many accounts: it attempts to synthesize the insights of "macro" and "micro" sociology, and in doing so claims to explain the full range of human action using the disciplines of developmental psychology, philosophy, sociology, and human geography. "The Constitution of Society" (CoS) is simply fantastic in comparison with an earlier Giddens piece like "Central Problems in Social Theory" (CPST). While CoS does not give equal space to the myriad of social concepts it discusses, I found the book well organized and quite thorough on several important points.
I will not provide a restatement of Giddens' "structuration" theory in this review, although doing so might be of use to many amazon.com readers. Instead I'd like to discuss Giddens' primary motivation for developing structuration theory: an attempt to clarify the relationship between both material and social situations and human action. Giddens is an action theorist who, particularly like Marx and Weber, has tried to explain this quintessential sociological relationship. Like CPST, CoS is organized around select elements of Marx's sociology. While this may be more readily apparent in the case of the former monograph, one need only read page xxi of CoS's introduction to get the picture: "This book, indeed, might be accurately described as an extended reflection upon a celebrated and oft-quoted phrase to be found in Marx. Marx comments that 'Men [let us immediately say human beings] make history, but not in circumstances of their own choosing.' Well, so they do. But what a diversity of complex problems of social analysis this apparently innocuous pronouncement turns out to disclose!" Neither Marx, Durkheim, nor Weber posited a one-way relationship between environment and acting subject, but none of their theories described the relationship with enough clarity to satisfy Giddens. Reading CPST after CoS, one can see how the earlier work presents what would later become many of Giddens' mature views as the most important contributions of the classical authors. In my opinion, structuration theory is so successful at explaining the environment/subject relationship because of its use of developmental psychology. Openly borrowing from Erik Erikson, Giddens considers the need to minimize anxiety as the primary motivation of human action. He argues that we engage in the type of regular social behavior observed by Garfinkel and Goffman because doing so lessens the anxiety that we first develop as infants. As if wedding the work of "interactionist" and "structuralist" sociologists were not impressive enough, Giddens enhances microsociology by providing a psychological basis for its observations. Furthermore, this combination facilitates the incorporation of arguments and observations from human geography. The spatial notions of presence and absense that form the basis of individual anxiety also define societies at large. Thus the "problem of order" in structuration theory is how it's possible that actors who are not co-present can coordinate their actions and reproduce anxiety-minimizing social norms across space and time. As Giddens' critics have stated at length, the empirical utility of structuration theory is debatable. Even so, I consider "The Constitution of Society" an underutilized resource for guiding sociological investigation, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to all those interested in social theory.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ontology in Sociology,
By Suckwoo Lee (Seoul, Seoul South Korea) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration (Paperback)
I think Giddens' structuration theory is the most promising theory since collapse of Parsons' framework.I read this book at undergraduate for the first time. while I studied Husserl and Heidegger at the same time. this help me understand Giddens with ease. I recommend to read Heidegger's Sein und Zeit to see the motive under Giddens' theory. this is not hidden fact. Giddens himself noted it several times. without philosopical background knowledge, it's impossible to access him properly. u will see my point if u read the first page of his 'Central Problem of Social Theory'. I agree to Turner's point that Giddens' theoretical framework is vague at best sencitising for actual research. concepts are clearly defined but how those concepts are related to each other is not that clear. reader himself should fill the gaps. one should make up for this difficulty with grasping Giddens' deep motive under framework. to do so, u should know well the tradition of Sociology and modern philosophy.
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