The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge (Penguin Social Sciences)

✍ Scribed by Peter L. Berger, Thomas Luckmann

• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 249
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

A general and systematic account of the role of knowledge in society aimed to stimulate both critical discussion and empirical investigations. This book is concerned with the sociology of 'everything that passes for knowledge in society'. It focuses particularly on that 'common-sense knowledge' which constitutes the reality of everyday life for the ordinary member of society. The authors are concerned to present an analysis of knowledge in everyday life in the context of a theory of society as a dialectical process between objective and subjective reality. Their development of a theory of institutions, legitimations and socializations has implications beyond the discipline of sociology, and their 'humanistic' approach has considerable relevance for other social scientists, historians, philosophers and anthropologists.

✦ Table of Contents

Copywright......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
Preface......Page 7
INTRODUCTION......Page 11
The Problem of the Sociology of Knowledge......Page 13
PART ONE. THE FOUNDATIONS OF KNOWLEDGE IN EVERYDAY LIFE......Page 31
1. The Reality of Everyday Life......Page 33
2. Social Interaction in Everyday Life......Page 43
3. Language and Knowledge in Everyday Life......Page 49
Part Two. SOCIETY AS OBJECTIVE REALITY......Page 63
Organism and Activity......Page 65
Origins of Institutionalization......Page 70
Sedimentation and Tradition......Page 85
Roles......Page 89
Scope and Modes of Institutionalization......Page 97
Origins of Symbolic Universes......Page 110
Conceptual Machineries of Universe-Maintenance......Page 122
Social Organization for Universe-Maintenance......Page 134
Part THREE. SOCIETY AS SUBJECTIVE REALITY......Page 147
Primary Socialization......Page 149
Secondary Socialization......Page 157
Internalintion and Transformation of Subjective Reality......Page 166
2. Internalintion and Social Structure......Page 183
3. Theories about Identity......Page 194
4. Organism and Identity......Page 201
CONCLUSION......Page 205
The Sociology of Knowledge and Sociological Theory......Page 207
NOTES......Page 213
INDEXES......Page 235
Subject Index......Page 237
Name Index for Introduction and Notes......Page 247