Agency
Agency means the capacity to form intentions, choose actions and influence one's own state or the surrounding environment. The concept makes it possible to discuss the difference between wanting to do something and having real means to act.
Agency is connected with self-sovereignty and adaptability, but it has its own subject: the passage from intention to effect.
Intention, action, result
Having a goal does not guarantee achieving it. Action is shaped by knowledge, skills, health, resources, social position, access to tools and circumstances. Sometimes a person can choose a direction yet has almost no means of acting. Sometimes many actions are available, but the goals are unclear.
Agency can be investigated through four questions:
- What does the subject want, or consider necessary, to change?
- Which actions are available right now?
- What conditions limit the choice and its execution?
- How do actions change future possibilities?
These questions do not form a mandatory algorithm. They help to find the specific obstacle.
Agency and environment
Possibilities are unevenly distributed. Two people with the same motivation may have completely different conditions for action. That is why judging the capacity to act solely by inner qualities is incorrect.
Changing the environment is sometimes more effective than changing habits. Access to education, the support of others, safe conditions, technical means and the right to take part in decisions can significantly widen agency.
Individual and joint action
People can act together. Joint work makes it possible to combine experience and resources that no single person has. At the same time, collective goals need clear agreements: who makes decisions, how responsibility is distributed, how a participant can express disagreement and leave the project.
The ∆ community can help widen agency through sharing knowledge, discussing alternatives, building tools and supporting initiatives. Taking part in such actions remains voluntary.
Limits of the concept
Agency is not the only measure of dignity or success. Reduced capacity to act does not make a person less valuable. Not every action is useful, and high activity does not necessarily mean freedom.
Developing agency involves attention to consequences, to the interests of others and to the cost of the chosen actions.
An example
A participant wants to learn a new field. The desire is there, but time and a clear path are lacking. Possible changes include revising the schedule, finding a mentor or accessible materials, learning together with others, or dropping the original deadline. What should be assessed is the real conditions, not only the strength of motivation.
Related topics: self-sovereignty, adaptability, possibility.