Re: Systems and individuals

Dear Pat and all,

You have proposed an exciting topic, I think.
The problem you have raised is often termed the structure vs. agency
problem. There is a fundamental dichotomy between system and agency, which
is primarily discussed as a dichotomy between the local and the global.
This is the age-old problem of part and whole, which I call first-order
micro-macro problem. (The second-order MMP is the one between the static
and the dynamic. I have subsumed the MMPs in sociology in four groups, see
my site http://vuhonglam.virtualave.net/MMP.html. This site is linked to 
my papers on Archer vs. Giddens and the MMP in Foucault, I'd really
appreciate your comments and criticisms).

The problem was discussed in this list some months ago in threads such
as Weber, Continuity or so (I do not recall exactly), which I listened
to with great interest (thanks to Dasbach, Barense et al.) It involved
even such hot topics as chaos theory, complexity, non-linearity. In my
view, this belongs to the central problem of theory-building in the social
sciences. So I do not expect any conclusive resolution. But it is quite
exciting to discuss that.

(I am building a website entitled "The micro-macro problem in the social
sciences." Anyone who know about sites on this topic please inform me so
that I can creat links to those sites. Thanks a lot)

Cheers,
Hong Lam Vu

"Life is my journey, our game, and God's song. Go, play, and hear!"