Phenomenology of the Social World

by Alfred Schütz, George Walsh (Translation), Fredrick Lehnert (Translation)

In this book, his major work, Alfred Schutz attempts to provide a sound philosophical basis for the sociological theories of Max Weber. Using a Husserlian phenomenology, Schutz provides a complete and original analysis of human action and its "intended meaning."

Genres: Philosophy, Sociology, Nonfiction, Theory, Anthropology, Psychology, Academic

255 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1967

About the author

Alfred Schütz (13 April 1899 – 20 May 1959) was an Austrian social scientist, whose work bridged sociological and phenomenological traditions to form a social phenomenology. Notably, Schütz is "gradually achieving recognition as one of the foremost philosophers of social science of the [twentieth] century". Schütz "attempted to relate the thought of Edmund Husserl to the social world and the social sciences. His Phenomenology of the Social World supplied philosophical foundations for Max Weber's existing sociology and for economics", with which he was familiar

Reviews

[Titus Hjelm · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for a book I'm writing on Peter Berger, because he consistently refers to Schutz as one of his major influences. If there's one thing I got out of this book for my own, it is that the influence must have more to do with introducing Berger to Weber than with Schutz's own approach. The first and last chapter are interesting developments of Weber's methodological principles but, for a sociologist at least, the middle gets murky really fast. Schutz is--here at least--much more a philosopher than a sociologist, despite the Weberian premise of the work. Also, it is not clear how all the quite heavy reading pays off in the end. Maybe I'm just too stupid or lazy, but this was not for me.

[Aldon Rau]

This book was fascinating. I was unable to bear to part with it before I was finished with it, and in fact was forced to steal it from my mother on multiple occasions in order to complete my work on it. I nearly tore the covers off. Two slobbery thumbs up!

[Felix Hayman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schutz bridges two schools of social thought - that of the 1950's "objectivism" and the reflexivity of the 1960's in both philosophy and, particularly, sociology. His work is flawed by the fact that phenomenology does not necessarily look upon the social fact as being of any importance.However,Schutz does question the assumption of social action contained in Max Weber's work and is important in the sheer weight of argument that we can only know by actually knowing our selves before an action becomes a social fact. It is very confusing but, in the scheme of phenomenological sociology of the 1960's and 70's it remains the most pivotal piece of social critique available to us today.To me, it is an important stepping stone to my later work and therefore invaluable

[Scot · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd to think that Schutz was a brilliant man who just couldn't write. I think, however, that he was a brilliant man who I couldn't understand.

[YeWeiyvTu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is there anyone talking about the translation? Yes, the translation is fluent, but not so faithful to the German text. It is really a pity.