Structuration theory

Structuration theory is a social theory of how social systems are created and reproduced, built on analysis of both structure and agents without giving priority to either. It holds that neither micro-focused nor macro-focused analysis alone is sufficient. The theory was proposed by the sociologist Georges Gurvitch and was refined by Anthony Giddens, most significantly in his book The Constitution of Society, which brings together phenomenology, hermeneutics and the study of social practices. Giddens drew on objectivist and subjectivist social theory while rejecting the first's neglect of human elements and the second's neglect of social structure, and he stressed space and time as basic features of social life. Unlike structuralism, it treats the reproduction of social systems as an active process carried out by knowledgeable agents, not a mechanical outcome, and it differs from functionalism in how it treats structures and systems. Despite much criticism, it remains a pillar of contemporary sociological theory.