Review Article : The Theory of Structuration: Prospects and Problems*

Anthony Giddens's theory of structuration appears to have been the outcome of a series of critical confrontations with other prevailing themes in social theory This review essay outlines Giddens's criticism of accounts of advanced society, class theory and historical materialism and his concomitant critique of functionalism and evolutionarism. The more abstract themes of struc turation and agency are also discussed. A criticism is offered of the theory and methodology of structuration and of Giddens's account of agency, the grounds for this criticism being that these positions fail to link social and political theory more closely.