Conceptualisations of agency that incorporate notions of individuals all independently following or resisting rules cast actors as either passive or resistant, and yet (either way) both free and responsible. This article argues that Barry Barnes’ fundamentally social model of agency deserves greater attention for the possibility it offers of moving beyond neoliberal narratives and their individualistic foundations. It advances theoretical understandings of agency by suggesting that, within the framework offered by Barnes’ model, unequal burdens are created by local constructions of the responsibilised individual. Rather than being equally and a priori empowered with agency, individuals are revealed to be unequally impeded in fulfilling current local status expectations of a responsibilised ‘agent’. This article explores the implications of Barnes’ conceptualisation by indicating areas where giving attention to everyday discourses of choice and responsibility opens space to explore how the interplay of status expectations operates to enable or disable social membership.

机构的概念化将个人的观念全部独立地遵循或抵制规则，从而使参与者成为消极的或抗拒的，而且（无论如何）都是自由和负责任的。本文认为，巴里·巴恩斯（Barry Barnes）的代理人基本社会模式应引起更多关注，因为它提供了超越新自由主义叙述及其个人主义基础的可能性。它通过提出在巴恩斯模型所提供的框架内，由责任人的本地结构造成不平等的负担，从而提高了对代理的理论理解。人们发现，个人没有被平等地，事先赋予代理人权力，而无法平等地满足负责任的“代理人”的当前当地状况期望。