Duality Of Structure Research Articles

Structuration Theory and Self-Organization

Social systems theory is dominated by a reductionistic individualism and a dualistic functionalism. Especially the latter does not, adequately integrate the human being. In order to avoid dualism, mechanistic determinism, and reductionism, a dialectical concept of social systems that is based on the notion of self-organization seems necessary. In order to establish a dialectical theory of social self-organization it is appropriate to integrate aspects of Anthony Giddens' structuration theory. Giddens acknowledges the importance of knowledgeable human actors in society and argues that structures are the medium and outcome of actions (theorem of the duality of structure). Structures both enable and constrain social actions. This idea corresponds to saying that social systems are re-creative, i.e., self-organizing social systems. Re-creativity is based on the creative activities of human beings. Social structures exist in and through the productive practices and relationships of human actors. The term evolution can be employed in a nonfunctionalist way that acknowledges the importance of knowledgeable human actors in social systems by conceiving the historical development of society based on a dialectic of chance and necessity and theprinciple of order through fluctuation in situations of instability and bifurcation. All self-organizing systems are information-generating systems. Giddens' concept of storage mechanisms that allow time–space distanciation of social relationships helps to describe the relationship of information and self-organization in social systems.

Social identity and the duality of structure in late Roman-period Britain

The central theme of this article is the relationship between material practices, social identity categories and the duality of structure. The latter concept, linking structure and agency in Giddens’ structuration theory, is here understood as dependent upon the negotiation of categories, such as ethnicity/community, social status, religion and gender, through practices like dwelling, eating and appearing. Such practices can be interpreted from the material patterns that emerge from multi-dimensional and multi-scalar analyses of archaeological data. These ideas are worked through in a case study of Britain in the fourth and early fifth centuries AD, wherein some of the relationships between practices and institutionalized identities (such as those associated with the military) can be discerned. An emphasis on the negotiation of identities in practice also places the theme of temporality at centre-stage, offering a new perspective on the balance between reproduction and transformation in the ongoing constitution of social life.

Ambiguity

Ambiguity

Accountants, from Tradition to Transition: The Impact of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

This paper aims at examining how the adoption of a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system challenges the definition of the expertise and roles of accountants within organisations. By drawing on structuration theory, as we rely on the notion of duality of structure for insights into the processes by which new accountants' practices and positions emerge, we indicate that the three levels (action, modalities of structuration, structure) and the three dimensions of structuration (signification, legitimation, domination) are a fundamental analytical device to understand such transformation. Within the outlined framework, we propose to conceptualise the potential change in accountants' expertise as a structuration process and ERP systems as modalities of structuration providing new interpretive schemes, norms and co-ordination and control facilities. Finally, since we are convinced that detailed interpretive case studies of ERP implementations are needed to understand their complex impact on accountants' positions and practices, we provide one such study as the basis for the development of some general conclusions deriving from our research.

Chapter 9. Placing the Physical and the Incorporeal Dead: Stonehenge and Changing Concepts of Ancestral Space in Neolithic Britain

The abodes of the dead or the ancestors are not always those places where mortal remains are laid to rest. This chapter investigates how we might identify prehistoric monuments, ostensibly not funerary in character, as being places of the ancestors. It examines the case of Stonehenge within the context and landscapes of Neolithic Wessex to explore the symbolic significance of the wooden and stone materials out of which the great monuments of the Neolithic in England were constructed. This concern with “materiality” is extended to the ceramics of that period, showing that similar structuring principles were in use not only in the contexts of use for certain ceramic styles but also in the tempering agents added to their clays. This is an attempt at a contextual archaeology in which the duality of structure and agency is central to understanding the prehistoric past.

Tradition, tension, and transformation: a structuration analysis of a game warden service in transition

Independence and competence define the traditional characteristics of a game warden. External pressure to transform the game warden service into a more culturally and ethnically diverse state law enforcement agency, however, creates tensions surrounding these characteristics in the organization's structurationally defined agency and reflexivity of law enforcement; duality of structure in office memos and citation counts; social integration and institutional reproduction of law enforcement training, use of decoys, and search and seizure procedures; and time-space distanciation of working a 40-hour week or having complete responsibility for a territory. The present study examined how these tensions interact with the traditional assumptions of independence and competence to transform the meaning of these characteristics, and of the game warden service itself.

Patient, Therapist, and Supervisor in a Psychiatric Institution: Inner Freedom and Inner Structure

The authors discuss issues concerning the psychotherapeutic process in a psychiatric institution. They develop the concept of the institution as an internalized object in addition to its being an objective object. As such, it has an effect on the inner freedom and the internal structure of the patient, the therapist, and the supervisor. It is claimed that it is crucial for the development of an identity as a psychotherapist that the supervisor be aware of the institution as an inner and real object. The authors raise questions about what kind of "space" is possible in a psychiatric institution and what influence that may have on the therapeutic process. The impact on the therapist's professional identity is discussed. They point to the process of becoming a therapist via supervision and examine some relevant dilemmas. The authors conclude by discussing the duality of inner freedom and internal structure, and their specific manifestations within an institution.

Acting and organizing

We illustrate the mechanisms by which speech acts structure organizational interactions. First, a comparison is established between what Greimas (1987) calls “narrative schemata” and what I propose to call “organizational schemata.” It is shown that both syntagmatic structures are organized into different phases that strictly correspond to specific speech acts (directives, commissives, accreditives, informatives, expressives). By illustrating how speech acts seem to be syntagmatically and hierarchically organized according to narrative forms, a first link between action and structure is proposed. Based on this result, a critical reinterpretation of some of Giddens’ ideas is presented, especially concerning the notion of duality of structure in its syntagmatic and paradigmatic dimensions.

Empirical applications of structuration theory

This study reviews and classifies fifty‐three potential empirical applications of structuration theory in geography and the social sciences. These were retrieved using a computerized keyword search of articles and books published in the English language between 1982 and 2000. The five dimensions for classifying these studies were (1) a representable type of social behaviour, (2) a methodological bracketing, (3) using specific data, (4) a treatment of time‐space, and (5) an interpretation of a duality of structure. Thirteen studies were classified as the most productive applications of structuration theory because they either tested or illustrated a duality of structure. On the one hand, the substantive areas of these were more diverse than originally envisioned. On the other hand, they were interpretations of the ongoing relatively formal social interactions between individuals in modern communities, families and organizations, and this confirms the theory's more circumscribed ontological scope as implied by the critics.

Duality and modular class of a Nambu-Poisson structure

In this paper we introduce cohomology and homology theories for Nambu-Poisson manifolds. Also we study the relation between the existence of a duality for these theories and the vanishing of a particular Nambu-Poisson cohomology class, the modular class. The case of a regular Nambu-Poisson structure and some singular examples are discussed.

Learning as Acquisition and Learning as Interaction

System Dynamics (SD) is an experimental, quantitative approach for designing structures of social systems and policies that are compatible with a social system’s growth and stability objectives. The experimental model approach for the design of large scale systems is the key for learning about human organizations. Before elaborating on the types of learning environments that can be designed on the basis of SD models, this article presents a social systems theory, distinguishing classical and autopoietic systems theory. Two generic models are presented, which reflect both theoretical points of view and constitute different types of learning environments. The author summarizes epistemological views on learning and growth of knowledge in the context of learning as acquisition and learning as interaction. Subsequently, by building on the actor approach of social systems, learners are embedded in learning environments. They should learn to deal with the duality of structure of social systems, that is, learn to produce and self-reproduce structures as a context for action. Finally, these views are linked to three simulation modes and to participative design of learning environments.

Negative constrained DNA supercoiling in archaeal nucleosomes.

Archaeal histones have significant sequence and structural similarity to their eukaryal counterparts. However, whereas DNA is wrapped in negatively constrained supercoils in eukaryal nucleosomes, it has been reported that DNA is positively supercoiled by archaeal nucleosomes. This was inferred from experiments performed at low temperature and low salt concentrations, conditions markedly different from those expected for many archaea in vivo. Here, we report that the archaeal histones HMf and HTz wrap DNA in negatively constrained supercoils in buffers containing potassium glutamate (K-Glu) above 300 mM, either at 37 degrees C or at 70 degrees C. This suggests that high salt concentrations allow an alternate archaeal nucleosome topology: a left-handed tetramer rather than the right-handed tetramer seen in low salt conditions. In contrast, the archaeal histone MkaH produces DNA negative supercoiling at all salt concentrations, suggesting that this duality of structure is not possible for this atypical protein, which is formed by the association of two histone folds in a single polypeptide. These results extend the already remarkable similarity between archaeal and eukaryal nucleosomes, as it has been recently shown that DNA can be wrapped into either positive or negative supercoils around the H3/H4 tetramer. Negative supercoiling could correspond to the predominant physiological mode of DNA supercoiling in archaeal nucleosomes.

Dislocation core effects on plasticity

The structure and/or the state of dislocation core often play a significant role in the glide process of the dislocation and hence control the plasticity of the crystal. We show various examples in this paper. (1) The yield stress of single crystals controlled by the Peierls mechanism for screw dislocation does not obey the Schmid law. (2) A narrow dissociation of the core can produce a plateau in the τy- T relation. (3) Duality of the core structure can produce «yield stress anomaly». (4) Multiphonon emission at the core of dislocation in semiconducting crystals by non-radiative recombination of electron-hole pairs enhances drastically the dislocation mobility.

Organizing and Evaluating Interfirm Networks: A Structurationist Perspective on Network Processes and Effectiveness

Interfirm networks in general and strategic networks in particular are considered as an organizational form with distinct structural properties. Due to a lack of adequate theory, the working of network processes as well as the resulting network effectiveness is not very well understood. Structuration theory, developed by Anthony Giddens as a social theory, offers the potential not only to analyze network processes without neglecting structures but also to understand why many rather than few designs seem to be effective. As conceived here, this potential results, above all, from two interrelated theorems of structuration theory: the duality of structure and the recursiveness of social praxis. It will be concluded that these theorems offer valuable insights into organizing networks, especially into how structures of signification, domination, and legitimation shape network processes and how they are reproduced under the auspices of network effectiveness.

Reflexivity, Social Justice and Educational Research

This paper identifies the role of reflexivity as a central concern to educational researchers. We argue that reflexivity as a concept needs to be recognised at three key levels. Reflexivity can be considered in terms of learning in general, in relation to our research designs and finally with respect to the production of educational knowledge. Each of these levels is analysed and related to our understanding of social justice research in education. Through an exposition of Giddens’ notion of the ‘duality of structure’ we put forward one way of researching in the area of social justice and education which takes into account the reflexive nature of educational research.

The Cognitive Structure of a Moral Crusade: Conservative Protestantism and Opposition to Pornography

Research on social movements has once again come to focus on the cultural foundations of collective action. However, previous works have failed to identify the cognitive structures that compose cultural worldviews believed to motivate collective action. The authors integrate D. A. Snow et al.'s notions of cognitive frameworks with W. H. Sewell's conception of the duality of structure to piece together a flexible approach for the identification of cognitive structures. Drawing on information from insider documents from Conservative Protestant communities, the authors employ this approach to elaborate the structure of Conservative Protestant antagonism to pornography. Using data from the 1988 General Social Survey, they demonstrate how Conservative Protestants' distinctive religious commitments direct their dispositions toward sexually explicit materials. In brief, they show that Conservative Protestant opposition to pornography is rooted in commitments to Biblical inerrancy and solidified by high rates of religious participation. Inerrancy serves as a cognitive resource informing two separate paths to pornography opposition : moral absolutism and beliefs in the threat of social contamination

Analyzing and Managing Policy Processes in Complex Networks

In the last 10 years, policy networks have become a popular concept to analyze policy making in muli-actor settings. This article argues that although stimulating and interesting, the research that has been done in this field can be improved in three ways. The first way to improve the usefulness of the concept network is to pay more attention to the dynamics of policy making. In this article, the concept game is used to conceptualize this dynamic character of policy processes. Second, the concept network stresses the context of policy making, buta coherent theoretical framework on how this coextisformed and changed is lacking. This article attempts to make some steps toward such a theoretical framework.Central in this framework is the idea of the duality of structure proposed by Giddens and the notion of rules. Finally, the literature on networks could gain relevance by directing more systematic attention on how complex policy processes in these networks can be managed Building on earlier work, especially in interorganization theory some management strategies are discussed.

Ornamentalism: Geography and the Labor of Language in Structuration Theory

In an effort to respond to the so-called ‘postmodern challenge’ in a way that continues to allow for an understanding of social interaction in time and space, geographers have increasingly turned to the theory of structuration put forward by Anthony Giddens. This theory paints a picture of the human agent as being constrained by sociohistorical circumstances and yet being fundamentally autonomous. The success of Giddens attempt to transcend the traditional dualism of individual and society seems to have been taken for granted by now. In this paper it is shown that a careful, ‘deconstructive’ scrutiny of key concepts as they appear in Giddens's major texts reveals insurmountable problems inherent in language. Specifically, the categories ‘duality of structure’, ‘practical consciousness’, and ‘mutual knowledge’ are each in their turn required to perform two contradictory tasks: The simultaneous blending and separation of determinism and autonomy. The gist of Giddens's attempts to circumvent this task is outlined through a seemingly thorough consideration of the effects of language, and the continued popularity of structuration theory is speculated on in light of its ultimate failure.

The social structure of suicide

A parsimonious structural model of the four forms of suicide — egoism, altruism, anomie, and fatalism — defined in Durkheim'sSuicide is developed. The model explicitly defines the structural position of each form of suicide by focusing on duality of social structure, while retaining an analytic distinction between social integration and normative regulation. A payoff from this approach is that fatalism and anomie are interpreted in the same framework as altruism and egoism. The result is a consistent account of the four forms of suicide that is faithful to Durkheim's intentions to account for the aggregate suicide rate without recourse to the motivations of actors.

The Empirical Correlates of Action and Structure: The Transition from School to Work

The paper attempts to link theoretical ideas concerning the relation of agency and structure with empirical research on the transition from school to work. In particular, some of the propositions of structuration theory are assessed in terms of their applicability to empirical research which investigates the impact of individual and structural variables on movement into the labour market, and the way the variables combine to determine entry into labour market segments. The data suggests that structural and individual factors are influential at all levels of the occupational hierarchy, but that the strength of influence varies at different points in the hierarchy. This supports the axiom of structuration theory which asserts that structure and activity are deeply implicated in each other in the process of social reproduction. However, the data further suggests the `duality of structure' principle has to be considerably modified in order to apprehend phenomena such as labour market processes. In this respect we believe that structure and action variables have to be viewed as loci of powers rooted in partly independent ontological domains but which interpenetrate each other in specific empirical areas at particular points in time and space.