Social struggles are not only collective processes; the experiences, perceptions, values and actions of individuals are an integral part of these processes. Therefore, understanding individual experience is a necessary component of understanding the social structure. However, the individual is not a subject independent of the social structure; on the contrary, it is shaped through social conditions. This chapter examines the position of individual experience within the social structure within a scientific framework.
The Relationship between Structure and Subject: Sociology's Fundamental Tension
One of the most fundamental debates in sociology is whether the individual determines society or society determines the individual. This debate is known as the “Structure-Subject Tension”. StructureSocial institutions, economic relations, cultural norms, political order. Subject The will, experience, decisions, actions of the individual.
The academic approach says this.
The individual is shaped by the social structure
But the individual also has the capacity to transform the structure. This bidirectional relationship shows that individual experience is not detached from the social context.
The Shaping of Individual Experience by Class Position
The life course of the individual is largely determined by class position. Class position is not only an economic category, but also a cultural, political and emotional positioning. How class position affects the individual.
Which values to converge towards
What injustices you will see
Which forms of struggle to be sensitive to
Which communities to connect with
It determines what risks they are willing to take. Individual experience must therefore be read through the class structure.
Cultural Habitus. The Worlds Internalized by the Individual Pierre Bourdieu's concept of “Habitus” refers to the internalized tendencies that determine the behavior of the individual. Habitus.
Family
Social environment
Cultural practices
Education
It is an “inner world” inherited from life experiences. This inner world determines how the individual approaches the struggle.
Political Socialization. The Individual's Acquaintance with Struggle. The individual is not born with political values and sensitivities to struggle; he or she learns them.
Political socialization is fed by the following sources:
Family
School
Communities
Media
Circle of friends
Social events.
This process explains why an individual turns to struggle in a particular period.
Life Events and Breaking Moments: Turning Points in Individual History. In every individual's life, there are turning points that lead them down a particular path. These breaking moments.
An experience of injustice
One loss
An encounter
A social event
A period of repression
It can be a moment of solidarity. These moments deepen the individual's relationship with social struggle.
Individual Agency. Capacity to Act within the Structure. The individual, although shaped by the social structure, is not entirely passive. The individual has agency, that is, the capacity to make his or her own decisions and take action.
Agency.
Personal values
Ethical principles
Experiences
Emotional reactions
It feeds on social bonds.
Individual experience can therefore play an active role in social struggle.
The Contribution of Individual Experience to Collective Struggle
Social struggle is strengthened when the individual brings his or her experience into a collective context. Individual experience contributes to collective struggle in the following ways.
Testimony
Information
Emotional energy
Ethical stance
Solidarity
Ability to organize.
These contributions make it possible to understand the place of the individual in the social structure.
The individual is neither completely determined nor completely free.
The main conclusion of this section is
1. The individual is shaped by the social structure
2. But the individual also has the capacity to transform the structure.
This two-way relationship is critical to understanding the place of individual experience in social struggle.