What exactly is "agency"?

Question

I am trying to determine the meaning of the concept "agency" in relation to sociological behavior. Is it the capacity for a human "agent" to act? Can you recommend any theorists? I looked up structure & agency on wikipedia, somewhat helps, any further advice?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Yup, it's about a person's capacity to act in the world (a person=an agent)...and the agent has agency. Kinda confusing, I know.

Philosopher Thomas Hill has written about rational agents, in particular, related to terrorism. Kant wrote about this a lot too...this is a really big sort of database: http://ethics.sandiego.edu/theories/Kant...

You can watch videos of lectures...

I would look up Kant's Categorical Imperative, too.