analysing the behaviour of captain de koster using structure and agency debate
INTRODUCTION
Structure and agency debate provides an understanding of the actions and attitudes of an individual.This essay will be critically analyzing and discussing the attitude and actions of Captain Louis De Koster and how structure-agency debate can help us understand them. It will further go on to unpack the influence that structural or agency factors has on De Koster in the police department.
Structure is the network of recurring patterns in which people behave in routine situations (Van huyssteen, E. 2003).Moreover; it consists of social factors and institutions that influence the individual’s capacity to act such as family, schooling, religion, economy and sets of norms and values. (Van huyssteen, E. 2003).Agency is the ability of an individual, to act and make choices about what happens in their live as well as to make sense of the environment they are in(Van huyssteen, E. 2003). The structure-agency debate argues and questions if the decisions made by individuals are really what they want or if it’s influenced by society and its institutions. According to Giddens,the debate can be contrasted with the “nature versus nurture” debate, which questions whether a person’s physiology (“nature”) or socialisation (“nurture”) predominates in the formation of an identity, because structure-agency debate may be understood as an issue of socialisation against autonomy in determining whether an individual acts as a free agent or in a manner dictated by social structure.
In this extract, we are able to understand the negativity towards police work caused by structure. Captain Louis is always complaining and criticizing the police service because it is more of a norm in his working environment. “...the process had also taught me that complaining was part of the organizational culture of the detective service.” (Altbeker, A. 2005:169). De Koster revealed his negative actions resulting from structure and its aspects such as race, gender politics and restructuring of
Structure and agency debate provides an understanding of the actions and attitudes of an individual.This essay will be critically analyzing and discussing the attitude and actions of Captain Louis De Koster and how structure-agency debate can help us understand them. It will further go on to unpack the influence that structural or agency factors has on De Koster in the police department.
Structure is the network of recurring patterns in which people behave in routine situations (Van huyssteen, E. 2003).Moreover; it consists of social factors and institutions that influence the individual’s capacity to act such as family, schooling, religion, economy and sets of norms and values. (Van huyssteen, E. 2003).Agency is the ability of an individual, to act and make choices about what happens in their live as well as to make sense of the environment they are in(Van huyssteen, E. 2003). The structure-agency debate argues and questions if the decisions made by individuals are really what they want or if it’s influenced by society and its institutions. According to Giddens,the debate can be contrasted with the “nature versus nurture” debate, which questions whether a person’s physiology (“nature”) or socialisation (“nurture”) predominates in the formation of an identity, because structure-agency debate may be understood as an issue of socialisation against autonomy in determining whether an individual acts as a free agent or in a manner dictated by social structure.
In this extract, we are able to understand the negativity towards police work caused by structure. Captain Louis is always complaining and criticizing the police service because it is more of a norm in his working environment. “...the process had also taught me that complaining was part of the organizational culture of the detective service.” (Altbeker, A. 2005:169). De Koster revealed his negative actions resulting from structure and its aspects such as race, gender politics and restructuring of