Human agency refers to the capacity of an individual to act in a given environment). It is the ability to shape ones life and express individual power through thoughts and actions. Agency can be classified as either unconscious, involuntary behavior or purposeful, goal-directed activity). In goal-directed action, an agent has immediate awareness of their physical activity and the goals that the activity is aimed at realizing). Human agency entails the claim that humans make decisions and enact them on the world).
The philosophy of action provides a standard theory of agency, which explains agency in terms of the agents desires, beliefs, and intentions. However, arguments for the claim that the standard theory does not account for important aspects of agency are usually driven by a focus on distinctively human agency. Human agency is subtly distinct from the concept of free will, which is the philosophical doctrine that our choices are not the product of causal chains, but are significantly free or undetermined).
Human agency can be differentiated into individual agency, which is reflected in individual choices and the ability to shape ones life, and collective agency, which is a collective, historical dynamic, rather than a function arising out of individual behavior). People exercise their influence through three forms of agency: individual, proxy, and collective. In individual agency, people bring their influence to bear on what they can control. In proxy agency, they influence others who have the resources, knowledge, and means to act on their behalf to secure the outcomes they desire. In the exercise of collective agency, people pool their knowledge, skills, and resources and act in concert to shape their future.
