旨在调和种种主体主义（解释社会学）和客体主义（结构主义、功能主义）的吉登斯结构化理论如果没有反思性概念的引入，则会流于一种化约到以身体、语言作为中介的实践互动为基础的“新客体主义”。而反思性概念——解释例行化的日常活动中的回应性特征——则解决了这一问题，使得结构化理论兼具“结构的去因果主体性”以及“个人的社会化”，最终在结构上类同于米德式社会哲学。

Giddensian structuration theory, which aims to reconcile subjectivism (interpretive sociology) and objectivism (structuralism and functionalism), would be reduced to a kind of "neo-objectivism" based on the mediated practical interaction of the body and language without the introduction of the concept of reflexivity. The concept of reflexivity——which explains the responsive character of routinized everyday activities——solves this problem, making structuration theory possess both "low autonomy of structures" and "socialization of the individual." Eventually, it is structurally similar to Meadian social philosophy.