230066 SE Selected Paradigms: Alfred Schütz - Methodological Thought and Modern Society (2015S)

Social action could be generalized without taking subjective meaning into consideration, if it could be understood without reference to the constitutional process of consciousness. Alfred Schütz made an important step in working out Webers conceptual scheme of ideal types and of the subjective meaning of social action. He was able to show how the meaningful structure of the social world was constituted by using concepts of modern phenomenology. In the seminar we will reconstruct the line from Weber to Schütz and discuss his contribution to a non-positivistic foundation of the social sciences. We will read selected texts in phenomenology and phenomenological action theory and discuss their relevance for empirical research and sociological theory.