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ACTION THEORY 797
any individual the norms and
from instrumental interests. H
the level of the individual w
about the relation between
instance, the economic syste
think of a situation in which t
shaped and determined by
conditions of society. But even
each individual is shaped b
purposive (instrumental) ration
culturally defined ultimate no
that the individual's action is n
mental interests and selfish des
lief in some moral categories c
means and ends perceived by
necessarily, the autonomy of t
nomic structure of the society
ism demonstrates the autonomy
the level of an individual choice
however, is the autonomy of c
terial system of society. Neo
serious defense of a multidime
Contrary to both functionalis
of the variants of the structura
question of the autonomy of c
instrumental structures. One
tions of this structuralist prob
in the recent works of Ma
Lévi-Strauss's structural anth
tural linguistics,52 Sahlins emp
from the realm of practical
Reason, Sahlins criticizes both
M) One example of this alternative is Mar
Vintage, 1977).
51 Claude Lévi-Strauss, Structural Anthro
;>~ Ferdinande Saussure, Course in Genera
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