phenomenological sociology

phenomenological sociology

sociological approaches deriving especially from the work of Alfred SCHUTZ (see also SOCIAL PHENOMENOLOGY, PHENOMENOLOGY). The clearest contemporary expression of phenomenological sociology is BERGER and Luckmann's The Social Construction of Reality (1967). This influential text on the SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE argues that all knowledge is socially constructed and oriented towards particular practical problems. ‘Facts’ can there fore never be neutral but are always reflective of why they are required. This stress on common-sense knowledge has influenced CONVERSATION ANALYSIS, ETHNOMETHODOLOGY, modern HERMENEUTICS and varieties of detailed ethnographic PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION, though the common strand is less a common method than an aversion to POSITIVISM, characterized by the use of QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH TECHNIQUES.