Agency isn't some magical axiomatic property where if you exercise it you're the sole contributing factor to your actions. Exercising agency, like making any other choice, is a decision whose inputs include your circumstances, history, etc.
Consider someone who quit smoking cigarettes in the 1950s. That was a time when cigarette smoking was common and not widely considered unhealthy. That person exercised agency. Now consider someone who quit in the 2020s, when cigarette smoking is widely warned against. That person exercised agency, too. More people quit smoking in the 2020s than the 1950s, by any measure. Does that mean people had less agency in the 1950s? No, it means the inputs to their decision-making on how to exercise their agency were different.
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GP didn't say that, though.
Agency isn't some magical axiomatic property where if you exercise it you're the sole contributing factor to your actions. Exercising agency, like making any other choice, is a decision whose inputs include your circumstances, history, etc.
Consider someone who quit smoking cigarettes in the 1950s. That was a time when cigarette smoking was common and not widely considered unhealthy. That person exercised agency. Now consider someone who quit in the 2020s, when cigarette smoking is widely warned against. That person exercised agency, too. More people quit smoking in the 2020s than the 1950s, by any measure. Does that mean people had less agency in the 1950s? No, it means the inputs to their decision-making on how to exercise their agency were different.