Essay on Contemporary Sociological Theory: Alfred Schultz’s Phenomenology and Intersubjectivity

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Contemporary sociological theory

Alfred Schultz’s Phenomenology

The contemporary sociological theory covers the theoretical orientations that have been influential in shaping up society since the mid-twentieth century. Schutz is gradually being recognized as one of the twentieth century’s leading philosophers of social science. He related Edmund Husserl’s work to the social sciences and influenced Max Weber’s legacy of philosophical foundations for sociology and economics through Schutz’s major work, Phenomenology of the Social World.

The term phenomenon is used to describe things as they appear to our senses. Some philosopher argues that we can never have a definite knowledge of what the world outside our minds is really ‘in itself’- we only know what our senses tell us and we cannot determine whether or not our senses see, smell, etc… true picture. Phenomenology is the study of things as they appear (phenomena). It is also often said to be descriptive rather than explanatory. The central task of phenomenology is to provide a clear, undistorted/ alternative description of the way things appear.

Schutz’s work begins with a critique to social action theory of Weber. Social action occurs when actors are consciously aware of each other and attribute meanings to their common situation. For Weber, a science of society must seek to understand social reality at the level of meaning.

Assumptions

it rejects the concept of objective research.
phenomenology believes that analyzing daily human behavior will provide one with a comprehensive understanding of nature.
individuals, should be explored and questioned. Sociologically speaking, this is in part because people can be better understood by the unique ways they reflect and symbolize the society he or she lives in.
phenomenologists prefer to gather conscious experience, rather than traditional data.
Finally, phenomenology is considered to be oriented on the discovery, and therefore phenomenologists gather research using methods that are far

less restricting than in other sciences

Husserl argues that the world only makes senses because we impose meaning or order on it by constructing mental categories from our senses. For example; we identify a four-legged piece of furniture for eating off as a table, and we know where it should be placed in a household. It Focuses on how people actively produce and sustain the meaning of situations. It focuses on everyday life, that is, on mundane and commonplace activities of people throughout society and the way people’s actions constitute situations. (Endress, 2006).

The central task of phenomenology is to explain the reciprocal interactions that take place during human action, situational structuring, and reality construction. That is, phenomenologists, seek to make sense of the relationships between action, situation, and reality that take place in society. The Phenomenology does not view any aspect as causal but rather views all dimensions as fundamental to all others. It aims to reveal what role human awareness plays in the production of social action, social situations, and social worlds. In essence, phenomenology is the belief that society is a human construction. (Endress, 2006).

Intersubjectivity: seeks to answer questions such as: How do we know others’ minds? Other selves? How is reciprocity of perspectives possible? And how is mutual understanding and communication possible? An inter-subjective world is not a private world, but it is common to all. We derive intersubjectivity as we speak and listen to each other. We share the same time and space with each other. Intersubjectivity leads to experiences and consciousness of the social world. (Husserl, 1989).

Typification and Recipes: people develop and use Typifications (first-order constructs in the social world). Typifications take many forms. For example, men, Tables, chairs, etc. Any time we are using language we are typifying. Schutz calls language as “the typifying medium par excellence”. Typifications exist in a larger society and people acquire them through the process of socialization throughout their lives. (Husserl, 1989).

Schutz uses the terms recipes and typifications synonymously, however, Recipes tend to deal with situations, while typifications refer more to people. People use recipes to handle routine situations they encounter every day. Thus when someone greets us with the recipe “ How are you” we respond with the recipe “ Fine, and You”( that recipe and typification is stored in Cook Book Knowledge) But Schutz and Luckmann say that if there is no recipe available to handle a new situation or if a recipe does not allow to handle than we have created new recipes. In other words, when is the stock of knowledge currently available is inadequate, we must add to the Stock of knowledge by creating new recipes or typifications. (Psathas, 2004).

Institutionalization: people develop habituated patterns of acting and interacting in recurrent situations. Habituated actions set the development of institutionalization. This occurs when people stock knowledge of typification of what others are doing in a given situation. For example, children perceive the institutional world as an objective reality; that is, it was there before they were born and it will be there until we die. The role is another important component in the process of institutionalization. Legitimations explain the institutional order by ascribing cognitive validity to its objectivated meaning. Then it leads to the formation of social reality. (Endress, 2006).

Criticism

Typification / Recipe: we live in different Life and social world. We have different consciousness/experiences. In the process of typifying and making Recipes we are undermining our own consciousness and experience.
Peter Berger & Thomas Luckmannargues Schutz gives more focus on commonsense knowledge, although the reality is socially constructed. Once constructed it becomes an external reality. For example, Religion may start off in our consciousness but once embodied in a structure like Church. Then changes Laws and expectations around us, which influences our thought of what is Right and Wrong. So, there is a question of Intersubjectivity.
To Cuff & Payne (1979) in their view, said although Schutz can be seen to have laid the groundwork for a “Phenomenology of social life”, he did little himself to operationalize it by producing research to demonstrate how his ideas can be applied to the empirical study of the social world.

The social phenomenology of Alfred Schutz served as an important tool for the study of the construction of social reality. Social reality still serves as a framework for explaining the inherent characteristics of rural and urban societies in the country. Schutz believed that if there is no recipe available to handle a new situation or if the recipe does not allow to handle then people have created new recipes. In other words, when is the stock of knowledge currently available is inadequate, people must add to the Stock of knowledge by creating new recipes or typifications.

Reference

Endress, M. (2006). Explorations of the life-world.
Husserl, E. (1989). Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy. Kluwer Academic.
Psathas, G. (2004). Alfred Schutz’s influence on American Sociologists and Sociology.

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