A narrative syntax for meaningful human agency - rereading Greimas in times of algorithmic systems

Abstract

As algorithmic systems are part of even the simplest actions in our daily lives, the critical issues of meaningful human agency and autonomy in relation to these systems have been increasing. This article aims to introduce a novel way of conceptualizing meaningful human agency and simultaneously address a gap identified in the current predominant sociotechnical solutions. To do so, it reaches out to A.J. Greimas’ actants theory and theory of modalities and further builds on the author’s own empirical findings. Re-reading Greimas’ theories, it argues that current ‘fixes’ for enabling and facilitating meaningful human agency have overlooked a crucial aspect – the willingness of the individuals to act agentially, even when opportunities and mechanisms to do so may be present. By transposing Greimas’ syntactic trajectory for action (the want- or have-to, know-, able-, do sequence) into algorithmic domains, it proposes and elaborates a prescriptive schema for transforming human agency from an as-if into meaningful human agency. This reconceptualization can be further developed and used as an analytical lens and conceptual tool for investigating existing relationships of power, knowledge, and agency within specific human-algorithm configurations. Further work should entail the translation of this conceptualization and framework into (design) practice.