Editing Post-processual archaeology (section)

=== Human agency ===
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| footer = Sociologists [[Karl Marx]] and [[Anthony Giddens]] were influential figures in the development of post-processual ideas about human agency.
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Post-processualists have also adopted beliefs regarding human [[Agency (philosophy)|agency]], arguing that in other theoretical approaches to archaeology such as [[culture-historical archaeology|cultural-historical]] and processual, "the individual is lost", and humans are therefore portrayed as "passive dupes who blindly follow social rules."{{sfn|Johnson|1999|p=104}} Post-processualists instead argue that humans are free agents who in many cases act in their own interests rather than simply following societal rules, and by accepting these ideas, post-processualists argue that society is conflict-driven.{{sfn|Johnson|1999|p=105}} Influenced by the sociologist [[Anthony Giddens, Baron Giddens|Anthony Giddens]] (born 1938) and his [[structuration]] theory, many post-processualists accepted that most human beings, while knowing and understanding the rules of their society, choose to manipulate them rather than following them obediently. In turn, by bending the societal rules, these rules eventually change.{{sfn|Johnson|1999|p=104}}

Other post-processualists have instead taken the view of sociologist [[Karl Marx]] (1818–1883) that [[class conflict]] was the force for this social change.{{sfn|Trigger|2007|p=469}} In this manner they share similarities with [[Marxist archaeology|Marxist archaeologists]]. A minority of post-processualists, such as [[Julian Thomas]] have however argued that human agency is not a useful aspect for looking at past societies, thereby accepting a [[cultural determinism|culturally determinist]] position.{{sfn|Thomas|2000|pp=149–150}}