ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the theoretical discussions of Anthony Giddens and Pierre Bourdieu and the concepts that are central to each of their writings on structuration and praxeology. Giddens's structuration theory has been described as a meta-theory whose principal goal is the connection of human action with structural explanations. Giddens's understanding of social structure is noticeably more fluid and diffuse than any other consideration of it in social inquiry. The notion of structuration emerges from Giddens's arguments about the fluidity of structure and the active agency of individuals. Bourdieu's complex reformulation of the concept of capital is among his foremost contributions to social inquiry. In articulating a theory of culture as practice, Bourdieu focuses substantially on the "symbolic violence" pervading contemporary complex and differentiated societies. Few traditions call for as much rigor in reflexivity, theoretical coherence, and careful attention to data as Bourdieu's praxeology.
