Alfred Schütz
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Alfred Schutz (; born Alfred Schütz, ; 1899–1959) was an Austrian
philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
and social phenomenologist whose work bridged
sociological Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociology was coined in ...
and phenomenological traditions. Schutz is gradually being recognized as one of the 20th century's leading philosophers of social science.Walsh, George. 1997. "Introduction." In ''The Phenomenology of the Social World'', by Alfred Schütz. Illinois. He related
Edmund Husserl Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (; 8 April 1859 – 27 April 1938) was an Austrian-German philosopher and mathematician who established the school of Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology. In his early work, he elaborated critiques of histori ...
's work to the social sciences, using it to develop the philosophical foundations of
Max Weber Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...
's sociology, in his major work ''Phenomenology of the Social World''. However, much of his influence arose from the publication of his ''Collected Papers'' in the 1960s.


Biography

Schutz was born on 13 April 1899 in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, Austria, as the only child in an upper-middle-class Jewish family. Following his graduation from high school, he was drafted into the Austrian Army where he quickly rose to the American equivalent rank of second lieutenant. His army regiment was dispatched to fight in a series of heavy battles on the Italian front (WWI).


Education and later life

In 1918, Schutz enrolled at the
University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
, where he earned his law degree. He also enrolled at the Viennese Academy of International Trade from 1919 to 1920, specialising in international law. During his time at the University of Vienna, attending lectures given by
Max Weber Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...
, Schutz came to the conclusion that Weber had left the problem of ''meaning'' unexplicated. As noted by Helmut Wagner (1983), Schutz's fascination with this problem was a result of his experience in combat, combined with returning to starving and economically decimated Vienna. Schutz married Ilse Heim in 1926. Partly because there were few academic posts available, he developed a well-established and prominent career in international banking, He became the chief financial officer for Reitler and Company, the Vienna banking firm. His academic work was done in his spare time. He was once described by
Edmund Husserl Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (; 8 April 1859 – 27 April 1938) was an Austrian-German philosopher and mathematician who established the school of Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology. In his early work, he elaborated critiques of histori ...
as "a banker by day and a philosopher by night." In 1933, the threat of
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
's rise in Germany caused Schutz and other Viennese intellectuals to flee Austria and seek asylum in allied countries. Schutz and his family relocated to Paris in 1938 in political exile. He continued to work for Reitler and Company as an international lawyer. He moved to the United States in 1939, where he became a part-time faculty member of The New School. There, he taught sociology and philosophy, as well as serving as chair of the Philosophy department. Schutz received a substantial amount of assistance from his wife, Ilse, who transcribed his working notes and letters from his taped dictations. Schutz died on 20 May 1959 in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
at the age of 60. Four volumes of Collected Papers were published posthumously, along with the draft of a second book he had been working on prior to his death.


Intellectual career

Schutz was strongly influenced by Ludwig von Mises,
Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; ; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopher who was influential in the traditions of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the S ...
,
William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th c ...
, and
Edmund Husserl Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (; 8 April 1859 – 27 April 1938) was an Austrian-German philosopher and mathematician who established the school of Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology. In his early work, he elaborated critiques of histori ...
, as well as
Max Weber Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...
. Drawing on
phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (Peirce), a branch of philosophy according to Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 ...
, Schutz's principal aim was to create a philosophical foundation for the
social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...
. While Schutz's work paralleled
George Herbert Mead George Herbert Mead (February 27, 1863 – April 26, 1931) was an American philosopher, Sociology, sociologist, and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago. He was one of the key figures in the development of pragmatis ...
’s analysis of the meanings within social interactions, Schutz was highly critical of Mead’s behavioristic approach. Although Schutz was never a student of Husserl, he and colleague Felix Kaufmann intensively studied Husserl's work in order to seek a basis for Weber's interpretive sociology and for Austrian economic theory. In 1932, Schutz’s efforts resulted in his first published book, ''Der sinnhafte Aufbau der sozialen Welt'' ('The Meaningful Structure of the Social World') which was published in English as ''The Phenomenology of the Social World''. Schutz argues that social science must be grounded in analysis of what Husserl referred to as 'the natural attitude', the assumptions that structure everyday perceptions and actions in the social world. Schutz retains Weber's conception of social science as properly committed to the principle of value neutrality, but also to value relevance, and that its investigations must rely on “
ideal type Ideal type (), also known as pure type, is a typological term most closely associated with the sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920). For Weber, the conduct of social science depends upon the construction of abstract, hypothetical concepts. The "id ...
s”. He viewed the technique of bracketing, drawn from Husserlian phenomenology, as a way beyond the limitations of ideal-type analysis. This publication brought him to the attention of Husserl, whom he visited frequently and corresponded with until Husserl's death in 1938. Even so, when Husserl asked Schutz to be his assistant, he was unable to accept the offer at Freiburg University for personal reasons. Schutz's main area of concern was the ways in which people grasp the consciousness of others while living within their own streams of consciousness. He spoke much about intersubjectivity, in a broader sense, using it in reference to the
social world Social reality refers to a socially constructed perspective of the world, consisting of the accepted social wikt:tenet, tenets of a community involving laws and social representations. It is distinct from biological reality or individual cognitive ...
, specifically the social nature of knowledge. A great deal of his work deals with the " lifeworld," in which people create social reality under the constraints of preexisting social and cultural factors and structures. He was very focused on the "dialectical relationship between the way people construct social reality and the obdurate social and cultural reality that they inherit from those who preceded them in the social world." Schutz is also known for his belief that humans attempt to typify everything; i.e., to categorize people and things to better understand them within the context of society. He believed that the various typifications we use inform how we understand and interact with people and objects in the social world. Schutz's theories and conceptions are illuminated through an intense and insightful correspondence with Harvard scholar
Talcott Parsons Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902 – May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist of the classical tradition, best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism. Parsons is considered one of the most influential figures in soci ...
. The thrust of the discussion centered on the meaning of the concept " social action." Whether the Schutz-Parsons correspondence can be characterized as “dialogue” rather than “debate” has been analyzed by Rehorick (1980). Further insights into the fundamental differences between Schutz and Parsons is provided by a critical examination of original correspondence that brought in a third scholarly voice—that of Eric Voegelin. This discussion shows that conceptual and theoretical differences between Schutz and Parsons stem from different “ways of knowing,” implying fundamentally different orientations toward social scientific thought.


Legacy

Schutz's writings have had a lasting impact on the social sciences, both on phenomenological approaches to sociology and in ethnomethodology (through the writings of Harold Garfinkel). Heavily influenced by Schutz's work as his student, Thomas Luckmann ultimately finished Schutz's work on the structures of the lifeworld by filling out his unfinished notes after Schutz died. As noted by Farganis (2011), Peter L. Berger, also a student of Schutz's, was arguably the best-known living sociologist influenced by Schutz, especially through his creation of the social construction theory, which explains how the processes of externalization,
objectification In social philosophy, objectification is the act of treating a person as an object or a thing. Sexual objectification, the act of treating a person as a mere object of sexual desire, is a subset of objectification, as is self-objectification, th ...
, and internalization contribute to the social construction of reality. Berger and Luckmann went on to use Schutz's work to further understand human culture and reality, through the development of a new form of the
sociology of knowledge The sociology of knowledge is the study of the relationship between human thought, the social context within which it arises, and the effects that prevailing ideas have on societies. It is not a specialized area of sociology. Instead, it deals w ...
.


Phenomenology

Phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (Peirce), a branch of philosophy according to Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 ...
is the study of things as they appear (i.e., ''
phenomena A phenomenon ( phenomena), sometimes spelled phaenomenon, is an observable Event (philosophy), event. The term came into its modern Philosophy, philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be ...
''). It is also often said to be descriptive rather than explanatory: a central task of phenomenology is to provide a "clear, undistorted description of the ways things appear." Phenomenology originated with
Edmund Husserl Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (; 8 April 1859 – 27 April 1938) was an Austrian-German philosopher and mathematician who established the school of Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology. In his early work, he elaborated critiques of histori ...
, who Schutz studied and even met. There are many assumptions behind phenomenology that help explain its creation. First, it rejects the concept of objective research: phenomenologists would rather group presumptions through a process called '' phenomenological epoche''. Second, phenomenology believes that analyzing the daily human behavior will provide one with a comprehensive understanding of nature. The third assumption is that persons, not individuals, should be explored and questioned. Sociologically speaking, this is in part because persons can be better understood by the unique ways they reflect and symbolize the society they live in. Fourth, phenomenologists prefer to gather ''capta'', or ''conscious experience'', rather than traditional data. Finally, phenomenology is considered to be oriented on discovery, and therefore phenomenologists gather research using methods that are far less restricting than in other sciences.


Social phenomenology

Social phenomenology is concerned with how people use ordinary, everyday interactions to produce a feeling of reality and intersubjectivity. Most of Schutz's work concerned the methods used for the construction of reality through everyday experiences. The social construction of reality and ethnomethodology are disciplinary extensions beyond the social phenomenology of Alfred Schutz. As noted by Farganis (2011), phenomenological sociology is characterized as particularly subjective in nature because its emphasis of understanding reality through the perspective of the acting subject rather than through the lens of the scientific observer. Rather than attempting to uncover and document the social structures which influence our social world Schutz and other sociological phenomenologists seek not only to identify the content of our consciousness related to our conception of the social reality of everyday life but also, how this reality comes to assume the form it is. In essence, Schutz and social phenomenologists are principally concerned with the happenings of everyday life, or what Schutz refers to as the '' lifeworld'', “an intersubjective world in which people both create social reality and are constrained by the preexisting social and cultural structures created by their predecessors." Within this world, relationships between the social and natural world are what come into doubt. There is this existence of meaning that comes into play, yet most people simply accept the world how it is and never second guess the concept or problem of meaning. Schutz delves even more into specific relationships such as the difference between intimate face-to-face relationships and distant and impersonal relationships.


The four divisions of the lifeworld

Schutz's division of Husserl's ''lebenswelt'' (the mundane ' lifeworld') into four distinct sub-worlds is perhaps his most influential theoretical contribution. The theory of the lifeworld is that social experience creates a world that is separated between: # the social reality that has been directly experienced; and # social reality that is on the horizon of direct experience. The former consists of the '' umwelt'' ('environment'), the environment defined through the perception and action of agents. The latter refers to an environment of consociates, or fellow-men; of the man who "shares with me a community of space and a community of time."Schütz, ''Phenomenology'' In contrast, those who Schutz did not deem his fellow-men, he put them in three classes: # the world of contemporaries ('' mitwelt''); # the world of predecessors (''vorwelt''); and # the world of successors (''folgewelt''). The last two represent the past and the future, whereas one's contemporaries share a community of time, if not space, and are different from the predecessors and successors because it is possible for them to become fellow-men or consociates. Schutz was interested in documenting the transition from direct to indirect experience and the series of experiences in between. He also wanted to map the progressive anonymisation of the contemporaries (''mitwelt)'', which was a measurement of increasing anonymity of "my absent friend, his brother whom he has described to me, the professor whose books I have read, the postal clerk, the Canadian Parliament, abstract entities like Canada herself, the rules of English grammar, or the basic principles of jurisprudence." Schutz argued that the more one goes into the contemporary world, the more anonymous the contemporary inhabitants become, with the most anonymous being artifacts of any kind that hold meaning, context, and suggest there are unknown people. In his later writings, Schutz explored how everyday social experiences that pertain to these dimensions are most often intertwined in varying degrees of anonymity. For instance:Schütz, ''Social Reality'' p. 352
in a face-to-face relationship with a friend I discuss a magazine article dealing with the attitude of the President and Congress toward China, I am in a relationship not only with the perhaps anonymous contemporary writer of the article but also with the contemporary individual or collective actors on the social scene designated by the terms, 'President', 'Congress', 'China'


Selected bibliography

1932: ''Der sinnhafte Aufbau der sozialen Welt: eine Einleitung in die verstehende Soziologie''. Wien: J. Springer. 1941: "William James' Concept of the Stream of Consciousness Phenomenologically Interpreted." '' Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 1:442–51. 1942: "Scheler's Theory of Intersubjectivity & the General Thesis of the Alter Ego." ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 2: 323–47. 1944: "The Stranger." '' American Journal of Sociology'' 49(6):499–507. 1945: "On Multiple Realities." ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 5:533–576. 1948: "Sartre's Theory of Alter Ego." ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 9:181–199. 1951: "Choosing Among Projects of Action." ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 12:161–84. 1953: "Edmund Husserl's Ideas, Volume II." ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 13: 394–413. 1953: "Die Phänomenologie und die fundamente der Wissenschaften. (Ideas III by Edmund Husserl: A Review.)" ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 13:506–14. 1953: "Common-sense and Scientific Interpretation of Human Action." ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 14:1–38. 1954: "Concept and Theory Formation in the Social Sciences." ''
Journal of Philosophy ''The Journal of Philosophy'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal on philosophy, founded in 1904 at Columbia University. Its stated purpose is "To publish philosophical articles of current interest and encourage the interchange of ideas, es ...
''. 51:257–72. 1957: "Max Scheler's Epistemology and Ethics: I." '' Review of Metaphysics'' 11:304–14. 1958: "Max Scheler's Epistemology and Ethics: II." ''Review of Metaphysics''. 11:486–501. 1959: "Type and Eidos in Husserl's Late Philosophy." ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 20:147–65. 1962–66: ''Collected Papers I: The Problem of Social Reality'', edited by M. A. Natanson and H. L. van Breda. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. * ''Collected Papers II''.'' Studies in Social Theory'', edited by A. Brodersen. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. * ''Collected Papers III. Studies in Phenomenological Philosophy'', edited by I. Schutz and A. Gurwitsch. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 1967: ''The Phenomenology of the Social World''. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. 1970: ''Reflections on the Problem of Relevance'', edited by R. Zaner. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 1970: ''On Phenomenology and Social Relations: Selected Writings'', edited by Helmut R. Wagner. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1971: ''Das Problem der Relevanz''. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. 1972: Gesammelte Aufsätze: ''Band I.'' ''Das Problem der Sozialen Wirklichkeit'' Translated by B. Luckmann and R.H. Grathoff. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 1972: ''Gesammelte Aufsätze: Band II''. ''Studien zur Soziologischen Theorie'', translated by A. von Baeyer and edited by A. Brodersen. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 1972: ''Gesammelte Aufsätze: Band III''. ''Studien zur Phänomenologischen Philosophie'', translated by A. von Baeyer and edited by I. Schutz. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 1973: ''The Structures of the Life-World'' 'Strukturen der Lebenswelt'' with Thomas Luckmann, translated by R. M. Zaner and H. T. Engelhardt, Jr. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. 1976: "Fragments on the Phenomenology of Music." ''Music Man'' 2:5–72. 1977: ''Zur Theorie sozialen Handelns: Briefwechsel Alfred Schutz,'' ''Talcott Parsons'', edited by W. M. Sprondel. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. * 1978: ''The Theory of Social Action: The Correspondence of Alfred Schutz and Talcott Parsons'', edited by R. Grathoff. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1982: ''Life forms and meaning structure'' 'Lebensformen und Sinnstruktur'' translated by H. R. Wagner. London: Routledge & K. Paul. 1985: ''Alfred Schutz, Aron Gurwitsch: Briefwechsel, 1939-1959'', edited by Ludwig Landgrebe. München: W. Fink. * 1989: ''Philosophers in Exile: the Correspondence of Alfred Schutz and Aron Gurwitsch, 1939-1959'', translated by J. C. Evans and edited by R. Grathoff. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. 1996: ''Collected Papers IV'', edited by H. Wagner, G. Psathas, and F. Kersten. Dordrecht:
Kluwer Academic Publishers Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 in ...
. 2010: Zur Methodologie der Sozialwissenschaften. Werkausgabe Alfred Schütz, 4: Hrsg.: Jochen Dreher, Thomas Eberle, Gerald Sebald. UVK-Verlag: Konstanz, ISBN 9783896697455. 2011: Relevanz und Handeln 2.Gesellschaftliches Wissen und politisches Handeln. Werkausgabe Alfred Schütz, 6; Hrsg.: Andreas Göttlich, Gerald Sebald, Jan Weyand. UVK-Verlag: Konstanz, ISBN 9783896697424. 2013: Schriften zur Literatur. Werkausgabe Alfred Schütz; 8; Hrsg.: Michael D. Barber and Jochen Dreher. UVK-Verlag: Konstanz, München; ISBN 9783896697400.


References


Further reading

* Michael Barber, ''Alfred Schutz'' In
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
* Barber, M. (2004). ''The Participating Citizen: A Biography of Alfred Schutz''. New York, State University of New York Press. *Embree, Lester. (2000). “Schutz, Alfred (1899-1959), Philosopher and Social Scientist.” ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''. *Jochen Dreher: ''Alfred Schutz'' In: George Ritzer, Jeff Stepnisky (Hrsg.): ''The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Major Social Theorists, Vol. I'' Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford 2011, , S. 489–510. * Wagner, H. R. (1983). ''Alfred Schutz: An Intellectual Biography''. Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press. * Grathoff, R. Evans, C. (1989). ''Philosophers in Exile: The Correspondence of Alfred Schutz and Aron Gurwitsch, 1939-1959'' Indianapolis, Indiana University Press. *Nasu, Hisashi & Waksler, Frances C. (2012). (Eds.). Interaction in Everyday Life: Phenomenology and Ethnomethodological Essays in Honor of George Psathas. Lanham, Maryland, Lexington Books. *Rehorick, David & Bentz, Valerie M. (2017). (Eds.). Expressions of Phenomenological Research: Consciousness and Lifeworld Studies. Santa Barbara CA, Fielding University Press.


External links

* *
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') is a freely available online philosophy resource published and maintained by Stanford University, encompassing both an online encyclopedia of philosophy and peer-reviewed original publication ...
,
Alfred Schutz
" by Michael Barber * Alfred Schutz Papers. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
The Alfred Schutz Archive.Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy.Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Phenomenology

Social Science Archive Konstanz (Alfred Schutz Memorial Archive)

Sozialwissenschaftliches Archiv Konstanz – Alfred-Schütz-Gedächtnis–Archiv

The International Alfred Schutz Circle for Phenomenology and Interpretive Social ScienceThe New SchoolGuide to the Papers of the Alfred Schutz Family
at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
Alfred Schutz YouTube VideoSociety for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences (SPHS)Human Studies: A Journal of Philosophy and the Social Sciences (Springer)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schutz, Alfred 1899 births 1959 deaths Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Austrian Jews 20th-century Austrian philosophers Austrian sociologists American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Philosophers from New York (state) American sociologists Jewish philosophers Jewish sociologists 20th-century American philosophers 20th-century Austrian writers 20th-century American writers Phenomenologists Philosophers of social science The New School faculty Social constructionism Writers from Vienna University of Vienna alumni Member of the Mont Pelerin Society Max Weber scholars