The development of individual identity has long been examined by scientists of all disciplines to determine the biological and cultural aspects of life that influence the creation of identity. The debate about structure and agency within the social sciences has arisen from views that consider postmodernist social changes throughout history; and aims to determine the influential meaning held by structural institutions within a culture, compared to that gained from social interactions and personal action. Social structures within society range from broader global structures; to the macrostructures or institutional organizations that govern some aspects of our way of life, such as political, economic and educational systems; to the smaller microstructures of face-to-face interactions and accepted behavioral patterns within a society, such as social etiquette and norms (Furze et al 2012, p.5,6). Human identities are undeniably shaped by the social structures that govern the culture to which they belong. This essay aims to discuss the influences of structure and agency respectively, as well as the frameworks of alteration predetermined by social scientists during different historical periods, in an attempt to evaluate the levels of influence that social structures and social interaction possess on establish an identity in a context. cultural world. In the first half of the 20th century, the period considered the era of modernity; individuals, for the most part, respected authority and naturally conformed to the core values ​​of their society (Furze et al. 2012, p. 66). This characteristic of Western societies encouraged academics in the field of sociology such as Karl Marx, to establish the initial framework...... middle of paper ......eu, P 1989, 'Space and symbolic power', Sociological theory, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 14-25, accessed 28 June 2014, .Chouinard, V 1997, 'Structure and agency: contested concepts in human geography', The Canadian Geographer, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 363-377.Furze, B, Savy, P, Brym, RJ & Lie, J 2012, Sociology in today's world, 2nd edition, Cengage Learning, South Melbourne.Hovarth, P 1998, 'Agency and social adaptation', Review of Science applied behaviours, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 137-154.King, A 2009, 'Moving beyond structure and action: Talcott Parsons, Ludwig Wittgenstein and the theory of social action', Journal of Classic Psychology, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 260-288.Plummer, K 2010, Sociology the basics, Routledge, Oxon.Ritzer, G (ed) 2012, The wiley-blackwell companion to sociology, John Wiley & Sons, West Sussex.