The problem of human agency in psychology: An investigation on Rom Harré's thoughts

Human agency has been one of the pioneering topics in philosophy, social theory, and social sciences. The present study aims to investigate how the problem of human agency has been handled in psychology by focusing on Rom Harré's thoughts. He has examined the problem of human agency not only in psychology but also in philosophy and especially in social theory in a very broad spectrum. By means of this broad perspective, the problem of agency has become one of the most important components of Harré's new paradigm conception for psychology. In this regard, linking together with his new paradigm conception, this study investigates Harré's theoretical resources regarding the problem of agency and theoretical and methodological transformations in his thoughts on the agency. In the end, this study argues that Harré's social constructionist and discursive perspective has not provided a holistic perspective on human agency, as he has proposed. Moreover, it is seen that his new paradigm conception differs from the mainstream psychology paradigm in regard to the epistemological level, not from the ontological level. Keywords: Rom Harré, agency, social constructionism, critical realism, linguistic turn, discursive psychology, paradigm shift