Social skill and the theory of fields

The problem of the relationship between actors and the social structures in which they are embedded is central to sociological theory. This paper sugg ests that the "new institutionalist "focus on fields, domains, or games pro vides an alternative view of how to think about this problem by focusing on the construction of loca( orders. This paper criticizes the conception of actors in both rational choice and sociological versions of these theories. A more sociological view of action, what is called "social skill," is deve loped. The idea of social skill originates in symbolic interactionism and i s defined as the ability to induct cooperation in others. This idea is elab orated to suggest how actors are important to the construction and reproduc tion of local orders. I show how, its elements already inform existing work . Finally I show how the idea can sensitize scholars to the role of actors in empirical work.