Agency as a Structuring Principle

The project unfolds and explores the values and ideas surrounding humans’ capacity and lack of capacity to act in what are considered rational and good ways. It tells the story of agency and the special place that the concept holds in our collective imagination as a compass for human activity, life and society.
The main claim of this theoretical work is that ideas surrounding the capacity for individuals to act are central to the moral and cultural apparatus that underpins all policy-making and governance in contemporary society – and increasingly so. It is not action but the idea of agency that is being negotiated whenever we envision change in ourselves or collectives of people.