Sewell, W. H., Jr. (1992). A theory of structure: Duality, agency, and transformation. American Journal of Sociology, 98(1), 1–29. doi:10.1086/229967.
Read in full on 2026-10-22 (NOTE-1078). No THEORY was filed: the framework is conceptual and its one empirical conjecture is illustrated only.
Why this is here
Cited from A30 on as an account of how structures are reproduced and transformed through activity, which the perspective view must build on. Bears on CLAIM-417.
From the reading, 2026-10-22. The exchange’s use is accurate. The reading also bears on CLAIM-416: the polysemy of resources makes what a success shows contestable, and the reading that prevails redistributes power (the cavalry charge, p. 19). And on CLAIM-423 and CASE-133: the United States kept one constitution through “at least five sharply distinct party systems”, and Sewell conjectures that political structures last by depth, not power or speed (p. 24). Its critique of habitus is the one Wacquant (LIT-1377) dismisses; the record cites both, and they disagree. See NOTE-1078.