ABSTRACT
One of the central questions in the social sciences that geographers are becoming more and more attentive to is, 'What is the status of the individual actor within society?' In order to answer this question author attempts to situate it within the long-standing debate concerning the relationship between structures and human action. Structuralists in support of their position often point to the fact that there are regularities in the behavior of groups of people which enable one's to talk about a group having a stable structure in spite of its fluctuating membership. A person's ability to intervene in the social process depends upon his position in the society. Politicians, for example, while subject to many structural influences are apt to contribute to the structuration process to a greater extent than is a factory worker. Political officials such as the president of the country in seeking political legitimation need not devise de novo a form of legitimacy.
