From a livelihood perspective on development, we naturally regard two factors that influence strategies of actors to ensure
subsistence and survival:
- The actor's endogenous potential and means (or assets) on the one hand; and
- Exogenous influencing structures and processes, on the other.
While the previous lesson "Actor-Orientation: The Individual Level" concentrated on the action and its meaning for individual
actors - i.e. their endogenous potential and means - this lesson deals with another component that reaches beyond the individual
level: it considers exogenous influential structures and processes, while linking the meaning of action to value systems and norms in a societal context.
In other words, the meanings and aims of individual action are influenced by social values and norms. They thus provide a
framework for orientation and rules for evaluating the meaningfulness of action.
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