Agentività

Agentività is a term used in Italian social sciences to refer to the capacity of actors to act intentionally and influence social, political, and material outcomes. It encompasses the ability to make choices, mobilize resources, interpret situations, and pursue goals, within the constraints and opportunities presented by social structures, norms, and power relations. The concept treats agency as something actors do, rather than a fixed attribute; it is relational and emergent.

In scholarly usage, agentività applies to both individuals and collectives (families, organizations, communities, social movements). It is central to debates about structure and agency, free will and constraint, and the degree to which social structures shape behavior versus how actors reproduce or transform those structures. Different theoretical traditions offer different emphases. Structuration theory (Giddens) treats agency as enabled and constrained by structures that agents recursively reproduce. Bourdieu's practice and habitus highlight agency within fields and dispositions. In science and technology studies, actor-network theory expands agency to include non-human actants like technologies.

Critiques focus on the limits of agency: even highly intentional actors operate within material, institutional, and cultural constraints; power relations and unequal resources condition opportunities for action. Nevertheless, agentività is used across disciplines to analyze empowerment, decision-making, resistance, and change, from everyday life to policy design, organizational dynamics, and development processes. The term often appears in discussions of gender, disability, and post-colonial contexts, where expanding the understood range of capable agents matters for interpretation and intervention.