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Sciences > Sociology Theories about how society influences behavior: 8 of 11

In Sociology, the traditional orthodoxy has been to polarise this debate by saying that our behaviour is either determined by structures, or that our consciousness means that we have agency, or self-determination. So we are either puppets of social forces like education: mass media and religion, or we are largely autonomous social actors. Whilst both these explanations still have credence for many, Anthony Giddens (formerly Professor at Cambridge University and Director of the LSE) has broken with this orthodoxy by saying that both structure and action are part of the same process. Behavio...
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