Study on the Changing Process of the Relationship Between Structure and Agency in the Anthropological Theory

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.200801.080How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Anthropology, Structure, Agency

Abstract

The study of the relationship between structure and agency has always been a hot topic in the theoretical research of anthropology. Each school tries to discuss it from its own theoretical point of view, which has been controversial for hundred years. From Durkheim’s social holism or social determinism to Levi Strauss’s structuralism, they tried to demonstrate the priority of structure. Malinowski, who emphasizes personal needs, and Barth, who emphasizes individual actions, they stand on the point of individual initiative. The two kinds of arguments did not combine before Geertz and Bourdieu, who introduce the relationship of structure and activity into the two-way mutual construction. This article attempts to sort out the relevant theories of anthropology schools and major anthropologists on the study of structure and activity, and then to explore the changing process of the relationship between them.

Copyright

© 2020, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Xiaofang Li
AU  - Musan Luo
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/08/01
TI  - Study on the Changing Process of the Relationship Between Structure and Agency in the Anthropological Theory
BT  - Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on Social Science, Economics and Education Research (SSEER 2020)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 332
EP  - 335
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200801.080
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.200801.080
ID  - Li2020
ER  -