Alfred Schutz

Born: 13 April, 1899, Vienna, Austria Hungary.

Died: 20 May 1959, New York, US.

Major Influences: Edmund Husserl,

                              Max Weber,

                               Emile Durkheim,

                               Edmund Simmel

Major Influenced:   P. L. Berger,

                                T. Luckman,

                                 Harold Garfinkel. 

Although Edmund Husserl is the founder of Phenomenology, Alfred is considered as the father, due to his contribution in giving the proper structure to phenomenological sociology.

His major works are:

The Social Construction of Reality (1966)

Phenomenology of the Social World (1932)

Concepts given by Schutz:

Life World (Originally, the concept of the “Life Word” was given by E. Husserl.)

Meaning,

Inter-subjectivity.

The Social Construction of Reality (1966)

The Social Construction of Reality was started by Alfred Schutz, and finished by P. Berger & T. Luckman. Though his work, Alfred wanted to explain that, reality is constructed by man and that he (men) does believe in.

He used and coined the following terms in his work:

Typification: It is a process of constructing social standards or expected behavior based on social assumptions. There are two types Typifications: first order typification, and second order typification. The former one naturally made up by typical model of things and people who are bringing up with the sense of assumptions based own their common sense and stock of knowledge in their hands. The latter one is a rational model of social world, and according to Alfred Schutz, it’s a responsibility of sociologists to construct the second order of typification.

Stocks of Knowledge: The stock of knowledge is based on the individual’s experiences that he got through his understanding of society, which further leads to develop common sense and assumptions.

Recipes: The term ‘recipes’ is coined by Alfred Schutz. It refers to the process that man creates and remembers actions in a way to complete them.

Phenomenology of the Social World (1932)

Alfred’s main aim behind this work was to raise the questions on the scientific potential of the social sciences. According to him, the scientific study of social world must focus on: Inter-subjectivity, meaning, and life-world.

Inter-subjectivity: Being a part of a society, men experience a shared world, which further develops emotions, thoughts, and understanding. When it comes to inter-subjective, consciousness is usually too subjective. So, the social world must be studied the meaning of subjective actions and behavior. 

Meaning: Everything has meaning, whether it’s an object, social interaction, experience or anything. This meaning creates intentional acts, which tends to be subjective.

Life-world: How naturally an individual applies meaning to everything in the life world, those become elements of the life-world. Through the unconscious process of interactions, which causes men to take the elements of the life-world for granted, or until further notice.