I am currently reading Professor Derek Layder’s social theory textbook – ‘Understanding Social Theory‘ and find his approach refreshing (strongly methodological, with a focus on debates and influences of different theorists). I am particularly interested in the later chapters that tackle the issue of linking macro/micro and structure/agency. His critique of Elias for neglecting the dynamics of the situation as an important link, (he argues Elias blurs this difference with his focus on chains of interdependence i.e. figuration as “a structure of mutually oriented and dependent people” ) is something very insightful. I’ll post about this topic next, as Margaret Archer’s concept of the internal conversation is very relevant (the internal conversation being reflexivity itself – thus analytically distinct from the alien unplanned process. If we are left with chains of mutual interdepence, we forget that these chains do not ultimately explain how the individual herself is a process or even trace socio-genesis, something Elias strongly affirms with his repudiation of the idea of a closed personality).
