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Narrating Human Actions

The Subjective Experience of Agency, Structure, Communion, and Serendipity

The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

Tammar B. Zilber

The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

Rivka Tuval-Mashiach

Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

In this article, the authors offer a model for the exploration of the ways social actors narrate the forces that have driven their lives. They position this exploration in light of the notions of agency, structure, communion, and serendipity, as formulated in various social-science theories of human action, viewed as part of the cultural repertoire of discourses available to narrators. The authors suggest a model for understanding the interrelationships between agency, structure, communion, and serendipity—as worked out in the subjective experience of life-story narrators—and exemplify the model through the analysis of one woman's life story.

Key Words: agency • structure • communion • serendipity • life story • narrative analysis • unconventional families

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