Anthony Giddens's theory of structuration and its methodologicalfoundations

Anthony Giddens, a prominent social theoretician of contemporary sociology, has done extensive theoretical efforts in the last three decades. Central to his debates is the theory of structuration, which was first introduced in his book Constitution of society (1984). The theory, aimed at giving an end to dominance of hermeneutic theories on the one hand and structuralism and functionalism on the other hand, blends in a complicated manner elements from these and other previous approaches. To emphasize the procedural character of social life, Giddens uses the term structuration, borrowing it from the French. Furthermore, by using this concept, he avoids structuralist's conception of the structure as an external and constraining entity. In this paper the writer first introduces the theory of structuration and then discuses its methodological foundations.