ABSTRACT
This chapter examines two foundational theoretical assumptions of socioculturalism: a process ontology of the social world; and the inseparability of individual and social levels of analysis. To explore these two foundational assumptions, the chapter focuses on the contemporary sociological debate between Anthony Giddens and Margaret Archer. Both have theorized the relation between the individual and the group in ways that are quite similar to various socioculturalists, but both of them view their theories to be opposed and incompatible. The relationship between the individual and the group has always been the most fundamental issue in sociological theory. Structuration prevents one from acknowledging that individuals have properties, and requires one to deny the possibility of individual psychology. The chapter argues that the best way to resolve the theoretical tensions surrounding inseparability and process ontology is to reject strong inseparability and accept analytic dualism.
