Pitfalls of agency as a tool for sociologists: some thoughts from an interactional point of view

Abstract

The point of the paper is to discuss whether the term ‘agency’ is useful for the study of interaction practices or whether instead, it denotes a set of features that relate to an individualistic perspective from the point of view of a theory or social action, and a voluntaristic perspective from the point of view of a theory of language in action. The paper argues that studying interaction does not require an individualistic and voluntaristic notion of social action. In this regard, Goffman, Garfinkel, and conversational analysis offer an alternative approach to the study of interaction practices in natural settings. This reasoning stems from data collected during research conducted on medical emergency call centers in Italy.