Business Management
What do sociologists mean by structure? Is our sociological life entirely determined by structural laws and forces?
Key Readings
Walsh, D. (1998) ‘Structure/Agency’ in Jenks, C. (ed.) Core Sociological Dichotomies (available on blackboard)
Vallas, S. P. (2006). Empowerment Redux: Structure, Agency, and the Remaking of Managerial Authority1. American Journal of Sociology, 111(6), 1677-1717.
Whittington, R. (1992). Putting Giddens into action: social systems and managerial agency. Journal of management studies, 29(6), 693-712.
Giddens, A. (1986) Sociology: A Brief but Critical Introduction. Basingstoke: Macmillan Education.
Berger, J. (1963) An Invitation to Sociology. New York: Anchor (Doubleday Books).
Bauman, Z and Tim May (2001) Thinking Sociologically. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Tomlinson, J., Muzio, D., Sommerlad, H., Webley, L., & Duff, L. (2013). Structure, agency and career strategies of white women and black and minority ethnic individuals in the legal profession. Human Relations, 66(2), 245-269.
Heugens, P. P., & Lander, M. W. (2009). Structure! Agency!(and other quarrels): A meta-analysis of institutional theories of organization. Academy of Management Journal, 52(1), 61-85.
Further Readings
Gorton, M. (2000). Overcoming the structure–agency divide in small business research. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 6(5), 276-292.
Englund, H., Gerdin, J., & Burns, J. (2011). 25 years of Giddens in accounting research: achievements, limitations and the future. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 36(8), 494-513.
Jones, M. R., & Karsten, H. (2008). Giddens’s structuration theory and information systems research. Mis Quarterly, 32(1), 127-157.
Gleeson, D., & Knights, D. (2006). Challenging dualism: Public professionalism in ‘troubled’times. Sociology, 40(2), 277-295.
Bruce, S. (2000) Sociology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford Paperbacks
Giddens, A. (2010) ‘The Scope of Sociology’ in Sociology: Introductory Readings eds. A Giddens and P Sutton.
Macionis, J and Plummer, K. (2011) Sociology: A Global Introduction. London: Prentice Hall
Wright-Mills, C (1961) The Sociological Imagination. New York: Grove Press.