Agency - Social construction and relational action

Journal/Book: Theor Psychol. 1999; 9: 2455 Teller Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320, USA. Sage Publications Inc. 113-115.

Abstract: Fisher's reading of social constructionist and relational theory is unfortunate. In the first instance, he fails to see that constructionism makes no attempt to establish a foundational ontology in which either agency or its absence is declared real or true. The relational alternative to the traditional account of agency as internal origination is not offered as a truth posit but a contribution to societal practice. On this view, agency is not 'empirically' available, as Fisher contends, but is a constitutive achievement of relationships. In this light, Fisher's concern with the function of the traditional conception of agency in maintaining the moral order is salutary.

Note: Editorial Gergen KJ, Swarthmore Coll, Dept Psychol, Swarthmore,PA 19081 USA

Keyword(s): agency; relational theory; social construction

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