Anthony giddens

Muhammad Saud Kharal�PhD in Social Science, �Department of Sociology Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya Indonesia

1. Anthony Giddens 1 Muhammad Saud Kharal PhD in Social Science, Department of Sociology Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya Indonesia

2. Biography Birth: Anthony Giddens was born January 18, 1938. He is still living . Early Life and Education: Anthony Giddens was born in London and grew up in a lower middle-class family. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in sociology and psychology at the University of Hull in 1959, his Master’s degree at the London School of Economics, and his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge. Career: Giddens taught   social psychology  at the University of Leicester beginning in 1961. It was here that be began to work on his own theories. He then moved to King’s College Cambridge where he became Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Social and  Political Science. In 1985 he co-founded Polity Press, an international publisher of social science and humanities books. From 1998 to 2003 he was the Director of the London School of Economics and remains a Professor there today. 2

3. Best Known For: His theory of structuration , which explores the connection between individuals and  social system. His holistic view of modern societies. Being a prominent contributor to the field of sociology with 34 published books in at least 29 languages. Development of the Third Way, a political philosophy which seeks to redefine social democracy for a post-Cold War and globalized era. 3

4. Other Achievements: Anthony Giddens was also a member of the Advisory Council of the Institute for Public Policy Research and an advisor to British Prime Minister Toney Blair. In 2004, Giddens was awarded a peerage as Baron Giddens and he currently sits in the House of Lords. He also holds 15 honorary degrees from various universities 4

5. Work: Giddens ’ work covers a wide range of topics. He is known for his interdisciplinary approach, involving sociology, anthropology, archeology, psychology, philosophy, history, linguistics, economics, social work, and political science. He has brought many ideas and concepts to  the field of sociology. Of particular importance are his concepts of reflexivity, globalization, structuration theory, and the Third Way . Reflexivity is the idea that both individuals and society are defined not just by themselves, but also in relation to each other. Therefore they must both continually redefine themselves in reaction to others and to new information . Globalization, as described by Giddens , is a process that is more than just economics. It is “the intensification of world-wide social relationships which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by distant events and, in turn, distant events are shaped by local happenings.” Giddens argues that globalization is the natural consequence of modernity and will lead to the reconstruction of modern institutions. 5

6. Work: Giddens ’ theory of structuration argues that in order to understand society, one cannot look only at the actions of individuals or the social forces that maintain the society. Instead, it is both that shape our social reality. He contends that although people are not entirely free to choose their own actions, and their knowledge is limited, they nonetheless are the agency that reproduces the  social structure  and lead to social change. Finally, the Third Way is Giddens ’ political philosophy that aims to redefine social democracy for a post-Cold War and globalization era. He argues that the political concepts of “left” and “right” are now breaking down as a result of many factors, but mainly because of the absence of a clear alternative to capitalism. In The Third Way, Giddens provides a framework within which the “third way” is justified and also a broad set of policy proposals aimed at the “progressive centre-left” in British politics. 6

7. The reflexive project of the self: Making a narrative If the self is 'made', rather than inherited or just passively static, what form is it in? What is the thing that we make? Giddens says that in the post-traditional order, self-identity becomes a reflexive project - an endeavour that we continuously work and reflect on. We create, maintain and revise a set of biographical narratives - the story of who we are, and how we came to be where we are now . Self-identity, then, is not a set of traits or observable characteristics. It is a person's own reflexive understanding of their biography. Self-identity has continuity - that is, it cannot easily be completely changed at will - but that continuity is only a product of the person's reflexive beliefs about their own biography. A stable self-identity is based on an account of a person's life, actions and influences which makes sense to themselves, and which can be explained to other people without much difficulty. It 'explains' the past, and is oriented towards an anticipated future . 'A person's identity is not to be found in behaviour , nor - important though this is - in the reactions of others, but in the capacity to keep a particular narrative going. The individual's biography, if she is to maintain regular interaction with others in the day-to-day world, cannot be wholly fictive. It must continually integrate events which occur in the external world, and sort them into the ongoing 'story' about the self 7

8. Lifestyle Choose your future In the post-traditional era, since social roles are no longer handed to us by society, we have to choose a 'lifestyle' - although the options are not, of course, unlimited. 'Lifestyle choices' may sound like a luxury of the more affluent classes, but Giddens asserts that everyone in modern society has to select a lifestyle, although different groups will have different possibilities (and wealth would certainly seem to increase the range of options). 'Lifestyle' is not only about fancy jobs and conspicuous consumption, though; the term applies to wider choices, behaviours , and (to greater or lesser degrees) attitudes and beliefs . Lifestyles could be said to be like ready-made templates for a narrative of self. But the choice of one lifestyle does not predict any particular type of life story. So a lifestyle is more like a genre: whilst movie directors can choose to make a romance, or a western, or a horror story, we - as 'directors' of our own life narratives - can choose a metropolitan or a rural lifestyle, a lifestyle focused on success in work, or one centred on clubbing, sport, romance, or sexual conquests. 8

9. Modernity and self-identity Modernity and the self In modern societies - by which we mean not 'societies today' but 'societies where modernity is well developed' - self-identity becomes an inescapable issue. Even those who would say that they have never given any thought to questions or anxieties about their own identity will inevitably have been compelled to make significant choices throughout their lives, from everyday questions about clothing, appearance and leisure to high-impact decisions about relationships, beliefs and occupations. Whilst earlier societies with a social order based firmly in tradition would provide individuals with (more or less) clearly defined roles, in post-traditional societies we have to work out our roles for ourselves. As Giddens puts it: 'What to do? How to act? Who to be? These are focal questions for everyone living in circumstances of late modernity - and ones which, on some level or another, all of us answer, either discursively or through day-to-day social behaviour . Media and the self The mass media is also likely to influence individuals' perceptions of their relationships. Whether in serious drama, or celebrity gossip, the need for 'good stories' would always support an emphasis on change in relationships. Since almost nobody on TV remains happily married for a lifetime - whether we're talking about fictional characters or real-life public figures - we inevitably receive a message that monogamous heterosexual stability is, at best, a rare 'ideal', which few can expect to achieve. We are encouraged to reflect on our relationships in magazines and self-help books (explicitly), and in movies, comedy and drama (implicitly). The news and factual media inform us about the findings of lifestyle research, and actual social changes in family life. This knowledge is then ' reappropriated ' by ordinary people, often lending support to non-traditional models of living. Information and ideas from the media do not merely  reflect  the social world, then, but contribute to its shape, and are central to modern reflexivity. 9

10. Modernity, post-modernity and the post-traditional Those modernity issues We are not in a post-modern era, Giddens says. It is a period of late modernity. He does not necessarily disagree with the characterisations of recent social life which other theorists have labelled as postmodern - scepticism towards metanarratives , heightened superficiality, consumerism, and so on. Giddens doesn't dispute these changes, but he says that we haven't really gone beyond modernity. It's just developed. So it's inappropriate to call it post-modernity. It's just modernity with bells on. Late modernity. Giddens is undoubtedly right that postmodernity isn't a completely new era. But most major theorists of postmodernity Nevertheless, the focus on modernity is useful because the most important contrast for Giddens is between pre-modern (traditional) culture and modern (post-traditional) culture. The phenomena that some have dubbed 'postmodern' are, in Giddens's terms, usually just the more extreme instances of a fully developed modernity . Post-traditional It is important for understanding Giddens to note his interest in the increasingly  post- traditional nature of society. When tradition dominates, individual actions do not have to be analysed and thought about so much, because choices are already prescribed by the traditions and customs. (Of course, this does not mean that the traditions can never be thought about, or challenged). In post-traditional times, however, we don't really worry about the precedents set by previous generations, and options are at least as open as the law and public opinion will allow. All questions of how to behave in society then become matters which we have to consider and make decisions about. Society becomes much more  reflexive  and aware of its own precariously constructed state. Giddens is fascinated by the growing amounts of reflexivity in all aspects of society, from formal government at one end of the scale to intimate sexual relationships at the other. 10

11. Left or right ... or what? Cool classical Giddens is excellent, because he combines an old-school, 'classical' sociological style with a very contemporary awareness of changes in society, and he is happy to mix new theories with more established sociological perspectives. He was born in 1938, but doesn't fit into a category of older, conservative men. He hasn't tried to marginalise the impact of feminism in his understanding of society, and considers change in gender relations to be important . On the side of the angels Giddens would not deny that Marx was very important in the development of 'social science', and his instincts seem to be the nice-to-other-people ones which can be found at the theoretical heart of 'the left'. But he is frustrated at the left/right divide in social analysis, and these days is identified as one of the architects of the 'third way', which Tony Blair and Gerhard Schroeder are supposedly interested in - although Giddens's idea of it seems to be more original and complex than Blair's mix of left and right traditions 11

12. Structuration : Giddens's theory of structuration notes that social life is more than random individual acts, but is not merely determined by social forces. To put it another way, it's not merely a mass of 'micro'-level activity - but on the other hand, you can't study it by only looking for 'macro'-level explanations. Instead, Giddens suggests, human agency and social structure are in a relationship with each other, and it is the repetition of the acts of individual agents which reproduces the structure. This means that there is a social structure - traditions, institutions, moral codes, and established ways of doing things; but it also means that these can be changed when people start to ignore them, replace them, or reproduce them differently . In the book Conversations with Anthony G. we find Giddens untroubled by his critics' efforts to find problems in the detail of how this might actually work. His 'oh, you're making it very complicated, but it's perfectly simple' attitude might frustrate some, but you can't really argue with it, because the whole idea of structuration is perfectly straightforward and, like many Giddens arguments, eminently sensible. 12

13. Major Publications: The Class Structure of the Advanced Societies (1973) New Rules of the Sociological Method (1976) Studies in Social and Political Theory (1977) Central Problems in Social Theory (1979) The Constitution of Society (1984) The Third Way (1998) 13