Anthony Giddens

# Key points in biography

Anthony Giddens was born in London in 1938. He studied sociology as an undergraduate and later as a postgraduate and became a lecturer at the university of Leicester. He formed the publishing enterprise *Polity Press* in 1985 and became director of the LSE in 1997. Due to the intellectual foundation he had given to *third way* politics, he was closely associated with prime minister Tony Blair and in honors for his political service was made Lord Giddens of Southbay in 2007.

# Contributions to Sociology

Giddens' work is best understood when looked at being composed of four partially overlapping periods of interest.

1. 1970-75: Giddens focused on the classical European sociological tradition and established the notion of Marx, Durkheim and Weber as its founding fathers. He especially emphasized the fact that all three were focusing on the fundamental rupture that had taken place in the social world with the advent of capitalism and tried to synthesize different forms of liberalism or radical forms of thinking.
2. 1975-89: This period was marked by the intent to overcome some of the most fundamental dualisms in social theory, especially the dichotomy between agency and structure. In the course of these contemplations he developed the theory of **structuration** which led him to the attempt to write a new account of human history under the premises of this theory.
3. 1990-93: A further development of the theory so far established and the attempt to apply this to modernity or especially the phase which Giddens referred to as 'late modernity' characterize this phase-
4. 1993- present: Giddens increasingly turned away from mere theoretical considerations to political-theoretical questions. This becomes especially apparent through his advocacy of the third way and his support for Tony Blair.

## Structuration

Contrary to prior conceptions of structure in social theory, which were generally conceived of as firm, causal patterns of social relationships, Giddens identifies structure first of all essentially with language. He points tot he coexistence of fixed, pre-established patterns determining language and with it the range of expression available to an agent, on the other hand, the agent as the one who uses language and wields and adapts it creatively to his own purposes. This new definition of structure in the realm of language led to two very different outcomes when regarding the 'agent-structure debate'. On the one hand, contrary to theories such as functionalism or various forms of Marxism, structure in the form of language is not only constraining but it is also enabling. Furthermore, structure as language is the medium of interaction as well as its outcome. It inevitably draw on the pre-existing structures but by that reproduces them and affirms their existence. Every act of social production can therefore also be regarded as an act of reproduction. Giddens regards agents and structures as two inextricably linked elements that come together in social practices.

Giddens also focuses on the agent, drawing on Freud's three elements of a person, he established the triangle of discursive consciousness, practical consciousness and unconsciousness. When taking actions, an agent can go through different cognitive processes that loosely correspond to the tripartite division of the agent's consciousness: Reflexive monitoring, rationalization and deep motivations for actions. While agents are in principle free to choose their actions, they always act guided by the wish to avoid ontological insecurity and any disruption of the basic security system established during childhood. Every time an actor's action leads to unintended consequences, these consequences are then tacitly incorporated into the structure shaping future behavior of the actor.

Concerning agent power, Giddens maintains that a total loss of agent power, which entails an inability "to do otherwise" is very rare, rather agent power moves through a dialectical process between the extremes of dependence and autonomy.

## Modernity

In looking at the history of society, Giddens distinguishes three basic types of societies defined by their level of social and system integration and their time-space distanciation. From these distinguishing characteristics he deduces four institutional clusters that are defining to modern society: capitalism, industrialism, the nation state and concentrated military power. He defines three underlying dynamics of modernity: distanciation, disembedding and reflexivity. Separation of time and space allows for a radical reconfiguring of social relations as they are lifted out of fixed locales and social contexts, hence, disembedded. The two main ways through which disembedding takes place are symbolic tokens (such as money) and expert systems (such as the banking sector). Central to both disembedded mechanisms is *trust*. Without trust the sense of ontological security in the modern world would be lost immediately. Trust is placed in the knowledge, expertise but also personal viability of tokens as well as experts. Reflexivity has come to dominate the individual in modernity. Subjected to always increasing pressure at work and at home, the individual is encouraged to regard itself as a project of self-reflexivity. This reflexivity also influences social relations, which are increasingly led as *pure relationships* as opposed to relationships within the context and boundaries of traditional conceptions of relationships. Such pure relationships are the ultimate havens of trust as they can only be established on the basis of mutual disclosure.

## The Third Way

The *Third Way* then refers to Giddens' revision of socialism, social democracy and conservatism in the new light of modernity, which has according to Giddens rendered these concepts inoperable. It entails first and foremost a focus on civil society and on the collaboration between state and civil society to promote individual engagement with politics. The third way can be seen as somewhat of a radical middle, between and overcoming the left-right binary. Giddens argued for a widening of democracy in establishing a truly deliberative democracy, based on dialogue and participation and a move from the paternalistic state to the welfare state. He also argues for life-politics that should aim to overcome class dichotomies and a new economic focus, that does not look at production but rather at the self-actualization of individuals in the workplace.

Giddens has frequently been criticized for idealizing the role the individual agent can have as a subject to the structures surrounding him. He has also been accused of a political idealism neglecting the huge international wealth disparities and the inherent structural problems built into the capitalist system.

# References

1. ↑  Scott, John, 2007, *Fifty Key Sociologists: The Contemporary Theorists*, pp. 101-102
2. ↑  Scott, John, 2007, *Fifty Key Sociologists: The Contemporary Theorists*, pp. 102-108