Agency, action, and projects: A response to Risto Heiskala

ABSTRACT

Risto Heiskala’s response to ‘Agency, Power, and Modernity: A Manifesto for Social Theory’ provides provocative and probing questions, revealing points that require further clarification. In response, we clarify the core of the manifesto as being three-fold, with the rector-actor-other model being but one dimension. First, the manifesto is concerned with distinguishing agency from action, and we critique the tendency to slide towards an understanding of ‘agency’ that is essentially ‘heroic’. Secondly, we clarify that projects, not actions and intentions, are the true site of agency relations, and of the contestation for power and authority; thus, not all transformative actions are the point of analysis for agency relations. Finally, we emphasise that in explaining agency through the rector-actor-other model, we aim not only to identify the rectors, actors, and others but also to understand human action and agency through an analysis of the symbolic representations of social power that enable them.

KEYWORDS:

• Agency
• action
• projects
• social power
• modernity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.