Structuration Theory and the New Media – Insights and Problems

Structuration theory is sufficiently open-ended and flexible, and yet without ambitions of explaining ‘everything’ in a grand manner. Its applicability lies in its ontological openness toward ways of approaching various subject matters. Structuration theory implies an upgrading of social action, which leads to a more dynamic image of social processes than in much other sociology. New media is embedded both in everyday practices, and technological systems, for example like the Internet and other electronic computer-networks of multinational firms. The argument of virtuality is a matter of methodological convenience in order to overcome the notion of agency versus external, super-human structures. Duality and dualism are indispensable in the understanding of how agency is related to large-scale technological change. Both virtual/symbolic and actual/material aspects should be included in the understanding of structuration. Structures are principles of the reproduction of practices – they exist only as knowledge, put into practice through agency.