ABSTRACT
The critical auto/biography method raises fundamental issues about the relationship between micro-systems and macro-systems, and between structure and action in sociology. This chapter discusses interaction across the range of social systems, from the most intimate level of individual relationships to the broadest level of international relations, and the various ways in which this dimension of the social world impinges on the possibilities for social assessment. After situating the main theoretical issues within the debate about (social) structure and agency (individual action and intention), it looks at the use of systemic approaches to social assessment, and compare them with black and white feminist and other arguments concerning the nature and interconnection of the personal and the political. The chapter also examines the relationship between social systems at different levels, their location in time and space, social difference, reflexivity, and power in the processes of social assessment.
