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Fundamentally, sociology examines the relationship between individual agency and social structure. An individual’s attitudes, behaviors and conditions are both shaped by the wider societal context while also contributing to shaping aspects of that society. Some key ways this complex, multidimensional relationship plays out include:
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Through socialization - Society equips individuals with understandings, identities and purpose while individuals reproduce, reinforce or transform social values and systems.
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By following or deviating from social norms - An individual's conformity and compliance versus dissent enables social control and cohesion versus gradual norm shifts reflecting changing mentalities.
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Via social interaction - An individual's roles and status impacts social capital and networks while groups and institutions provide stimuli shaping individuals.
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Through social determinants - Societal conditions structure availability of rights, resources, opportunities etc. that define individuals' holistic development while people's capabilities empower societies.
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In balancing personal goals and public roles - Personal aspirations motivate civic duties while shared goals enable collective existence reflecting back individually.
The relationship has been theorized in sociological models like Cooley's 'looking glass self' examining interlinked growth of self and society. Giddens describes it as a 'duality' with human agency and social structure as interdependent rather than oppositional entities combining to enable both captivity and liberation. Overall, sociology examines this multi-layered linkage shaping lives and social order simultaneously.