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Chapter 9 - Peter L. Berger’s The Social Construction of Reality
- Edited by Jonathan B. Imber, Wellesley College, Massachusetts
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- Book:
- The Anthem Companion to Peter Berger
- Published by:
- Anthem Press
- Published online:
- 17 October 2023
- Print publication:
- 10 January 2023, pp 99-114
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- Chapter
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Summary
Peter L. Berger’s and Thomas Luckmann’s major, most renowned, and significant book is definitely The Social Construction of Reality. A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge, published in 1966 (Berger/Luckmann 1989 [1966]). This publication is considered as classical writing of the sociological discipline. The International Sociological Association (ISA) lists it as the fifth most influential sociological book written in the twentieth century (ISA 1998), directly after Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism (Weber 1958). The ground-breaking success of The Social Construction of Reality had to do with the specific zeitgeist of the 1960s combined with a re-definition of a sociology of knowledge and uniting presumably very contrary theoretical social scientific paradigms of Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, and George Herbert Mead (Eberle 1992). The “revolutionary spirit” of the current times was combined with a decisive new orientation in the social sciences, specifically with respect to sociology of knowledge. If we follow Berger’s argumentation, the book was written in the eve of the cultural revolution in the Western world, in the late 1960s, when the social sciences and other disciplines were characterized by various forms of neo-Marxism. The two authors did use Marx’ writings, but they were not Marxists (Endress 2019: 57). Berger describes the late 1960s as “an enormous rock concert” (Vera 2016a: 23). But the effect of the book came later, because according to Berger, in the cacophony of cultural upheaval the sober tone of the book could not be appreciated: “It is not possible to play chamber music at a rock festival” (Berger 2011: 92; Steets 2016a).
Both scholars, Berger and Luckmann, were students of the Graduate Faculty at the New School for Social Research in New York City, where one of their teachers, Alfred Schutz, had a major impact on their work. Especially, when the idea for the Social Construction project came up, as Peter L. Berger explains in his autobiography (Berger 2011), it was Schutz who gave the initial idea for it. Berger and Luckmann participated in Schutz’s seminar on the sociology of knowledge, in which Schutz mainly dealt with the work and critique of other social scientists, leaving his own perspective apart.
Chapter Two - Alfred Schutz’s Theory of Sign and Symbol
- Edited by Michael Barber
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- Book:
- The Anthem Companion to Alfred Schutz
- Published by:
- Anthem Press
- Published online:
- 22 November 2022
- Print publication:
- 16 August 2022, pp 29-52
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Summary
Introduction
Alfred Schutz's theory of sign and symbol presents a very original and innovative semiotic conception on the interface of phenomenology and sociology; yet, receptions of this theoretical outline are rather exceptional and rare. His theory of sign and symbol is an integrative and crucial part of his theory of the life-world. According to this theory, signs and symbols are seen as mechanisms which serve the individual to overcome the transcendences posed by time, space, the world of the Other and multiple realities. Assuming a phenomenological standpoint, Schutz considers signs and symbols as appresentational modes that represent experiences originating in different zones of the life-world. When we communicate, we operate with signs and symbols within the world of everyday life, which is why they are decisive for establishing intersubjectivity. From a sociological perspective, Schutz's conception of the symbol demonstrates how social entities, such as nations, states, religious groups and so on are, on the one hand, experienced by the individual, but, on the other hand, serve to establish the collectivities as meaningful entities in an intersubjective context. This theory of sign and symbol also has a major impact on semiotic theory in general.
Signs and symbols, if we follow Schutz's argumentation, are the semiotic elements of the life-world that in their function keep the life-world together. The combination of a phenomenological with a sociological standpoint with respect to sign and symbol allows one to explain not only their experience and interpretation but at the same time serves to explain their social function within communication and the establishing of social collectivities. His friend and colleague Maurice Natanson describes Schutz's major essay “Symbol, Reality and Society” (Schutz 1962 [1955]) as “without any doubt an important contribution to the theory of signs and communication.” This outline presents Schutz's theory of sign and symbol as part of his theory of the life-world to be able to describe the relationship between individual and society with reference to a theory of action and communication. We specifically follow Schutz's reflections on signs and symbols from his Notebooks (Schutz 1989) for his planned work on The Structures of the Life-World as well as his decisive publication Symbol, Reality, and Society (Schutz 1962 [1955]).