The Structures of the Life World Vol. 1

by Alfred Schütz, Thomas Luckmann, Alfred Schütz

The Structures of the Life-World is the final focus of twenty-seven years of Alfred Schutz's labor, encompassing the fruits of his work between 1932 and his death in 1959. This book represents Schutz's seminal attempt to achieve a comprehensive grasp of the nature of social reality. Here he integrates his theory of relevance with his analysis of social structures. Thomas Luckmann, a former student of Schutz's, completed the manuscript for publication after Schutz's untimely death.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, Philosophy

335 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

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

[Jan D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, easy to read, structured though slightly dry style. Helpful for confused social scientists to get an intro to the meeting point of phenomenology and sociology—or the interested layperson into “why does everyday life make sense to me (or at least my fellow people)?”. Given how much Ethnomethodology is based on Schutz’ ideas it is surprising that Schutz’ work is not know that well (or was not know to me?)