Psychology and the Question of Agency

Looks at the limits of free will in human action. Disciplinary psychology has failed to achieve a coherent conception of human agency.Instead, it oscillates between two differing conceptions of agency that are equally untenable: a scientistic, reductive approach to choice and action, and an instrumental approach that celebrates a romantic notion of free will.This book examines theoretical, philosophical psychology and argues for a historically and socioculturally situated human capacity for choosing and acting in ways not entirely determined by culture and/or biology.The authors present a detailed developmental theory of how agentic capability emerges from the pre-reflective activity of humans in a real physical and social world.Implications of the theory are considered for psychological research and practice, and for the broader socio-political impact of disciplinary psychology in Western liberal democracies.