Agency may refer to:

Organizations

Institution An institution is a humanly devised structure of rules and norms that shape and constrain social behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and ...

, governmental or others **

Advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generall ...

or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients **

Employment agency An employment agency is an organization which matches employers to employees. In developed countries, there are multiple private businesses which act as employment agencies and a publicly funded employment agency. Public employment agencies One ...

, a business that serves as a representative, acting on behalf of another **

Government agency A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...

, a department of a local or national government responsible for the oversight and administration of a specific function ***

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

, nicknamed "The Agency" ** International agency, an inter-governmental body **

News agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency ma ...

Talent agency A talent agency is a company that represents actors, authors, musicians, model (person), models, professional athlete, athletes, writers, dancers, and other professionals in various industries. Talent agencies specialize, either by creating dep ...

Highways Agency National Highways (NH), formerly Highways England and before that the Highways Agency, is a government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving motorways and major A roads in England. It also sets highways standards u ...

(now National Highways), manages motorways and some major roads in England

Social science

* Agency, the abstract principle that autonomous beings, agents, are capable of acting by themselves; see

Autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be ...

Agency (law) The law of agency is an area of commercial law dealing with a set of contractual, quasi-contractual and non-contractual fiduciary relationships that involve a person, called the agent, who is authorized to act on behalf of another (called the p ...

, a person acting on behalf of another person * Agency (moral), capacity for making moral judgments *

Agency (philosophy) Agency is the capacity of an actor to act in a given environment. It is independent of the moral dimension, which is called moral agency. In sociology, an agent is an individual engaging with the social structure. Notably, though, the primacy ...

, the capacity of an autonomous agent to act, relating to action theory in philosophy *

Agency (psychology) In psychology, agency signifies the concept of a person's ability to initiate and control their actions, and the feeling they have of being in charge of their actions. The topic of agency can be divided into two topical domains. The first half of t ...

, the ability to act independently *

Agency (sociology) In social science, agency is the capacity of individuals to have the power and resources to fulfill their potential. Social structure consists of those factors of influence (such as social class, religion, gender, ethnicity, ability, customs, etc ...

, the ability of social actors to make independent choices, relating to action theory in sociology * Agency and structure, ability of an individual to organize future situations and resource distribution

Places

Agency (administrative division) Agencies are a type of administrative division Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which ...

* Agency, Iowa, US * Agency, Missouri, US * Agency, Montana, US *

Agency Township (disambiguation) Agency Township may refer to: * Agency Township, Wapello County, Iowa * Agency Township, Osage County, Kansas * Agency Township, Buchanan County, Missouri * Agency Township, Roberts County, South Dakota {{geodis ...

, name of townships in four US states

Arts, entertainment and media

* ''Agency'' (novel), a science fiction novel by William Gibson * ''The Agency'' (comics) * '' The Agency: Covert Ops'', a spy-themed massively multiplayer online shooter video game

Film and television

* ''Agency'' (film), 1980 Canadian film starring Lee Majors * ''The Agency'' (2001 TV series), an American action-drama * ''The Agency'' (2007 TV series), an American reality series * ''

Morgana Robinson's The Agency ''Morgana Robinson's The Agency'' is a British mockumentary about fictional talent agency Mann Management, with impressions by Morgana Robinson. In a seven-part show, Robinson plays the roster of talent agent Vincent Mann. It was broadcast on BB ...

'', a 2016 British TV mockumentary * The Agency, a fictional government organization in the 2000 TV series ''

The Invisible Man ''The Invisible Man'' is an 1897 science fiction novel by British writer H. G. Wells. Originally serialised in '' Pearson's Weekly'' in 1897, it was published as a novel the same year. The Invisible Man to whom the title refers is Griffin, a s ...

'' * ''Agency'' (South Korean TV series), a 2023 television series * ''The Agency'' (2024 TV series), an American espionage thriller

Other uses