Agency in Sociology:

the different uses of agency concept in Weber, Giddens and Latour

Abstract

This article seeks to analyze the notion of agency in sociology from Weber, Giddens and Latour, allowing us to observe which elements are interchangeable and their specificities in each author. The notion of agency has been used in a broad way, often losing its real meaning from the authors that are used. The article is divided into three parts: the first introductory part presents the notion of agency in Weber to demonstrate the issue of subjectivity from a sociological point of view; the second approaches the issue in Giddens, demonstrating a greater complexity, where the notion of competent actor gains notoriety; in the third and last part the notion of agency in Latour is approached, observed as a construction of sociotechnical networks from the non-human. The results point to a heterogeneity in the notions of agency in sociology, being much more sophisticated in Giddens to understand the action of humans, while the association of non-humans in Latour allows to observe other relationships in broader networks.