Agency - Definition and Overview

Look up Agency in Wiktionary, the free dictionary

In philosophy, law, and other fields, agency is the status of an agent.

• In philosophy, agency is the capacity to choose actions, normally held to apply only to humans. See human agency.

• In sociology, agency is the ability of an actor (usually a person, but can also be a business) to organize future situations and resource distribution. This process of organization is constrained by the actions and intent of other actors (aggregately referred to as structure). See structure and agency.

• In law as in philosophy, an agent is a person who acts for another person. See agency (law) for an account of the law of agency. Agency characterizes many business relationships.

• Agency in many contexts means a government agency.

The name Agency may refer to—

• one of three U.S. cities located in Iowa, Missouri, and Montana.
• one of two townships located in Kansas and South Dakota.