Phenomenology
Table of Contents
Phenomenological perspectives in sociology assert that the focus of social sciences is inherently different from that of natural sciences. Consequently, the methods and assumptions used in natural sciences are unsuitable for studying human beings.
Social phenomenology is an approach within the field of sociology that aims to reveal what role human awareness plays in the production of social action, social situations and social worlds.
- An example of social phenomenology is how people create shared meanings in everyday interactions. For instance, when two friends greet each other with a handshake, they’re not just exchanging gestures but acknowledging mutual respect and friendship. This shared understanding shapes how they interact and influences their ongoing social relationship.
Social phenomenology emphasizes the internal processes of the human mind and how people categorize and interpret the world around them. It explores how individuals construct their reality, form judgments, and assign meaning to experiences, showing that social actions are shaped by these subjective interpretations rather than by external, objective facts alone.
It is Not Concerned with Causal Explanation of Human Behaviour in the Same Way As Other Perspectives.
- For instance, it studies how personal meanings shape one’s response to societal norms rather than why norms exist.
Phenomenology is the study of phenomena, appearances of thing or things as they appear in our experience.
- An example is studying how people experience a sunrise. Instead of focusing on the scientific cause, phenomenology explores the feelings, thoughts, and meanings people attach to witnessing the sunrise—such as a sense of calm, beauty, or a fresh start to the day—capturing how the experience appears in their consciousness.
Phenomenologists argue that humans engage with the external world exclusively through their senses—touch, smell, hearing, sight, and taste. These sensory experiences shape our understanding and perception of reality, as we interpret the world based on how it appears to us through these sensory inputs.
Alfred Schutz tried to explain how phenomenology can be applied in social world in The Phenomenology of the Social World.
Humans developed what he called as typifications. These typifications are not unique to each person but are shared by members of a society.
- An example of typifications is the concept of “teacher.” In society, people generally share an understanding that a teacher is someone who educates, holds authority in the classroom, and follows a structured curriculum. This shared typification shapes how students, parents, and society as a whole interact with teachers, regardless of individual differences.
Phenomenologists believe that it is impossible to produce factual data and that it is impossible to check causal explanations.
- For example, when studying emotions like love, it’s impossible to objectively measure or provide a cause for why one person feels love for another. Instead, phenomenologists focus on how individuals personally experience and interpret love, understanding it as a unique and fluid experience shaped by perception rather than measurable data or fixed causes.
The most that sociologists can do is to understand meanings that individuals attach to certain phenomena.
- An example of this concept is the decision-making process of a police officer when deciding whether to arrest a suspect. The officer’s actions are influenced by the meaning they attach to the situation, shaped by their personal experiences, training, and social context. The officer might interpret a suspect’s behavior as suspicious or threatening, or they might assess it as harmless, ultimately determining whether an arrest is warranted based on their subjective understanding of what constitutes a crime in that moment.
Phenomenology is used in two basic ways in Sociology
- To theorize about substantive sociological problems: Phenomenology is used to explore how individuals experience social issues. For example, in studying poverty, phenomenologists focus on how people living in poverty perceive their circumstances, their feelings of exclusion, and how they make sense of their social world, rather than just examining economic data.
- To enhance the adequacy of sociological research methods: Phenomenology can improve sociological research by emphasizing the importance of understanding participants’ subjective experiences. For example, in conducting interviews, researchers would focus on the meanings individuals assign to their actions and situations, instead of solely relying on objective data or external explanations. This deepens insight into human behavior.
Rejection of Positivism by Phenomenologists
The naturalistic paradigm, which countered the positivist approach, argued that reality is not fixed but shaped by individual and subjective experiences. Phenomenology closely aligned with this paradigm, emphasizing that knowledge is gained through interactions between researchers and participants, making it subjective, inductive, and dynamic.
Phenomenology plays a role in continuously challenging and modifying the ‘discoveries’ of positivism. Edmund Husserl argued that objectivity is never value-free or detached; it is always influenced by social, cultural, and worldly contexts. This view contrasts with positivism, which holds objectivity as the sole reality, free from values. Husserl also proposed a mind-body continuum, rejecting both the extremes of pure objectivism and pure subjectivism.
Phenomenologists contend that the social and natural sciences deal with fundamentally different subjects. Thus, the methods and assumptions used in the natural sciences are unsuitable for studying human beings. While natural sciences can observe matter externally to understand its behavior, human beings, with their consciousness—thoughts, feelings, meanings, and intentions—cannot be studied in the same way. To understand human behavior, one must interpret the internal logic that guides actions rather than imposing an external, objective framework.
Many sociologists argue that the positivist approach tends to depict humans as passive responders to external forces, rather than active creators of their own society. In this view, individuals are portrayed as reacting to economic systems and social pressures, rather than shaping their own reality.
Peter Berger compares society to a puppet theatre, where individuals are like “little puppets,” controlled by invisible strings and merely acting out roles assigned to them. In contrast, phenomenology emphasizes that humans do not just respond to society; they actively engage with it. Through their interactions, people create meanings, construct their own realities, and thus direct their own actions.
Phenomenologists challenge the ontological assumptions that positivists uphold, claiming that there is a deeper, subjective reality that cannot be captured through mere observation. They reject causal explanations in favor of understanding the meanings that individuals assign to their experiences.
Alfred Schutz, from the perspective of applied phenomenology, defines sociology as the study of “lived history” — the everyday experiences within human institutions that provide context to chronological history. Schutz argues that human beings perceive and act within a framework of values, and it is within this framework that social structures and events acquire meaning.
Phenomenology faced a decline in popularity due to its highly subjective nature, which made it challenging to develop universally applicable concepts or objective theories. Some contemporary sociologists criticize it for being overly reliant on individual perceptions, arguing that it lacks the rigor needed to produce concrete, empirical findings. They view it as speculative and akin to common sense, rather than offering a systematic framework for understanding social behavior.
Important Keywords
Positivism, Non-positivists, Social Phenomenology, Everyday Interactions, Causal Explanation, Personal Meanings, Phenomenology, Quantitative and Qualitative Methods, Alfred Schutz, Typifications, Sociological Problems, Sociological Research Methods, Edmund Husserl, Peter Berger.
