A critical look at Anthony Giddens's theory of structuration

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the main propositions of Anthony Giddens´s theory of structuration, to think about the proposed synthesis between structure and action to overcome the dualism individual-society/subjectivism-objectivism. It is considered that this study allows to discuss some of the key topics of contemporary social theory — which had its apogee between the late 1960s and mid 1980s — of which this author is one of its principal exponents. The multiple sources from which this theory feeds unleashed various discussions about whether this theory could be a synthesis of the classical conceptions, or whether it was only a formulation of theoretical concepts clipped together. Taking this question as a starting point, it is suggested the thesis that despite the radical nature of the critique of structuralism, Giddens concentrates more on a redefinition of the concept of structure than in a reworking of a sociological theory of the actor and the social action.