Modernity and Social Theory SO3523

1
Modernity and Social Theory SO3523

• Phenomenology, Social Constructionism Modernity

2
Modernity and Social Theory SO3523

• Phenomenology Social Constructionism
• Major Figures
• Edmund Husserl
• Maurice Merleau-Ponty
• Alfred Schutz
• Peter Berger Thomas Luckman
• Cognitivist Revolution

3
Modernity and Social Theory SO3523

• Reality only exists in the ongoing stream of
  sensory experience to which we allocate to
  discrete categories.
• Stream of Consciousness
• Intentionality
• Bracketing
• The Natural Attitude

Edmund Husserl 1859 - 1938
4
Modernity and Social Theory SO3523

• Challenged the privileging of the mind with
  respect to conscious experience
• Embodied Consciousness
• Body/Subject

• Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908 -1961)

5
Modernity and Social Theory SO3523

• Phenomenal Sociology

Alfred Schutz (1899 1959)
6
Modernity and Social Theory SO3523

• First Order Categories (Common Sense) The
  recurrent elements in the stream of consciousness
• Typifications Ideal Typical Concepts
• Recipes Formulas Taken for granted procedures
  for accomplishing everyday tasks.

7
Modernity and Social Theory SO3523

• Schutzs interaction order
• Consociates Share the same time and space
• Contemporaries Share the same time
• Predecessors and Successors Ideal Types
  with whom we engage through letters and reports
• Lebenswelt The Lifeworld
• Second Order Categories Sociologys task is to
  develop second order concepts that allow to
  explore and understand the first order concepts
  that people in society employ, including their
  origins and effects.

8
Modernity and Social Theory SO3523

• The Social Construction of Reality
• Berger Luckmann (1966)
• Human Nature, Plasticity Homo Socius
• Realissimum and zones of closeness and remoteness
• The Natural Attitude and Shared Common Sense
  Knowledge (objectifications)
• Social interaction

9
Modernity and Social Theory SO3523

• Institutionalization
• Externalization Action
• Objectification Viewing the products of action
  as being objectively real (reification?)
• Internalization Subjective assimilation of the
  taken for granted reality

10
Modernity and Social Theory SO3523

• Objective Reality The institutionalized
  typifications that are shared by social actors
  over time
• Subjective Reality The internalised social
  reality
• Primary Socialization Becoming a member of
  Society version of Paramount reality filtered
  through parents and others.
• Secondary Socialization Induction into new
  sectors of the objective social world.

11
Modernity and Social Theory SO3523
The Thomas Theorem if men define situations as
real, they are real in their consequences
(Thomas Thomas 1928572).
WI Thomas (1863-1947)
12
Modernity and Social Theory SO3523

• The Homeless Mind Berger, Berger Kellner
  (1973)
• Technology
• Bureaucracy
• Modern Consciousness
• Modernization Resistance

13
Modernity and Social Theory SO3523

• Technological Consciousness
• Componentiality (reality experienced as atomistic
  units)
• Interdependence (units form interdependent
  sequences)
• Implicit Abstraction (everything can be
  understood with reference to abstract frameworks
  - even humans)
• Segregation (of institutions, home work etc.)
• Emotional Management (emotion permitted within
  some spheres and excluded from others)
• Anonymous Social Relations Human Engineering
  (individuals defined as functionaries)

14
Modernity and Social Theory SO3523

• Bureaucracy Consciousness
• Competence Coverage (very detailed and
  restricted areas of expertise but everything
  can be dealt with somewhere in the
  all-encompassing bureaucracy)
• Orderliness (overarching cognitive style of
  bureaucrat everything can be organized and
  order imposed)
• Assumption of Predictability
• Impression Management (stylised modes of
  interaction)

15
Modernity and Social Theory SO3523

• Modern Consciousness The Pluralization of
  Lifeworlds
• Individuation Reflexivity (peculiarly separated
  from others due to the multiplicity of life
  plan options and experiences)
• Homelessness (an absence of firm roots and
  belonging)
• Modernity Its Discontents (secularization,
  meaninglessness, contradiction, discrepancy,
  abstraction, alienation)
• Collisions of Consciousness (cultural clashes)
• Counter-Culture (nature, feeling, simplification,
  realissimum, total life experiences,
  authenticity, spontaneity)
• Limitations of Resistance