The Use of the Concept of `Strategy' in Recent Sociological Literature

Abstract

One notable feature of recent sociological writing is the growing frequency with which actions are interpreted as forming part of a strategy. All sorts of social actors, from lowly individuals, through households, family businesses, social movements and classes, to mighty multi-national corporations and nation-states, have been represented as employing strategies, and sociologists' usage of the concept of `strategy' is now sufficiently common to warrant its investigation, especially since important and difficult issues are raised when it is adopted. Academic fashion may play a part in explaining the current prominence within the sociological vocabulary of the concept of `strategy', but greater significance should be attached to underlying trends in sociological theorising, even if these are not appreciated in every case where `strategy' is found being employed. Analysis of actions and their outcomes in terms of strategies carries with it the promise of avoiding some of the pitfalls of the classic agency/structure dichotomy, as well as shedding a different light on questions of rationality. Against this, it must be recognised that the extent to which social actions can be illuminated by focussing on strategies is variable; some actions are more open to investigation in terms of strategies than others.