This is an introduction on Alfred Schutz's phenomenology of the Social World.

1. Schutz’s Phenomenology
of the Social World
Tabea Hirzel

2. Theoretical Overview
 Theory of Action
 World of Experiences
 Social World
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3. I. Action
 Action is (PTSW p. 215)
 Lived experience
 Guided by a plan & arising
from a subject’s
spontaneous activity
 Distinguished from all
other lived experiences by
a peculiar Act of attention
 Is a meaning-context
Action
Behavior
Experiences
Categorical hierarchy of experiences
«… a course of action is a polythetically
constructed series of Acts (Akte) upon which,
after their completion [perfect tense] one can
direct one’s attention in one «single-rayed»
or concentrated shaft of attention within
which tey are seen as a deed or act [or unity]
(Handlung) and that therefore action is itself a
complex of meaning or meaning-context»
(PTSW, p. 216)
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4. I.1.Experiences
Mere
experiences
(imperfect)
undifferenciated
ongoing
meaningless
hyelic data
Behaviour
(perfect
tense)
discrete
completed
meaningfull
facts
Differenciating variable: Duration
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5. I.2. Behavior
Conduct
Unconsious
undirected
Action
consious
Intentionally
directed
(planned)
Differenciating variable: Direction
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6. I.3. Action
Vision
retention
future past
Memory
reproduction
perferc/ pluperfect
Differenciating variable:
Orientation in time
Differenciating variable:
Causal relation
Continous synthesis
monothetic
Discontinous synthesis
polythetic
Mere behaviour
neutral
Action
return to unity
positionally
(willful)
Differenciating variable:
Willfullness
«… a course of action is a polythetically
constructed series of Acts (Akte) upon which,
after their completion [perfect tense] one can
direct one’s attention in one «single-rayed»
or concentrated shaft of attention within
which tey are seen as a deed or act [or unity]
(Handlung) and that therefore action is itself a
complex of meaning or meaning-context»
(PTSW, p. 216)
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7. II. World of Experiences
 Prepredicative meaning
 Intended meaning
 Meaning context
 Schemes of meaning-contexts
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8. II.1. Prepredicative meaning
 «Meaning» of a lived
experience can be reduced
to a turning of the
attention to an already
elapsed experience, in the
course of which the latters
is lifted out of the stream
of consciousness and
identified as an experience
constituted in such anc
such a way and in no
other. Meaning in this
initial sense is
prepredicative and
pertains to prephenomenal
experience (PTSW, p. 215)
Unity
Intention
Attention
Structure of meaning
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9. II.2. Intended meaning
 Specific meaning which the actor «attaches» to his experience when
he acts (PTSW, p. 216)
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10. II.3. Meaning-contexts
Subjective
meaning
Can be
understood
Based on self-
explanation
Unique,
Certaine (in
principle)
 Crisis:
«… the interests of the subject and
his particular vantage point […]
defines the borderline borderline
between that which he takes for
granted and that which is
problematic for him» (PTSW, p.
216).
Objective
meaning
Has universal
validity
Based on sign
systems
Genuine
because-motive
Ideal typicall
probabilistic
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11. II.4. World of experiences
 World of experience:
«… we analyzed the constitution of
the world of experience
(Erfahrungswelt) as a total
structure made up of different
arrangements of […] meaning-
contexts» (PTSW, p. 216).
Schemes of
experience
(Schemata
der
Erfahrung)
Lower strata
(Unterstufen)
Stock of knowledge at hand
Structure of meaning-context
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12. III. Social World
 Other-orientation
 You/Thou-orientation (We-relation)
 They-orientation (Ideal type)
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13. III.1. Other-orientation
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14. III.2. You/Thou-orientation
 We-relationship (genuine face-to-face)
 Mutual and overlapping, simultanous experience
 Thusness (Sosein)
 Levels: actualization & concretization, proximity of experience, anonymity:
must be direct
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15. III.3. They-orientation
 They-relationship (contemporaries, predecessor, successors)
 Shared environment
 Whatness (Wie-sein)
 Ideal type: characterological or habitual
 Levels: actualization & concretization, proximity of experience, anonymity:
must be indirect
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16. Resume:
Orientation You Thou Contemporary Predecessor Successor
Level
Actualization
(1:actual-
3:presupposed-
5:imagined)
1-3 2-3 3 3-5 5
Concretization
(1:concrete-
3:vague-
5:abstract)
1 2 3 3 5
Proximity
(1:shared
environment-
3:foreign-
5:unacessible)
1 1-2 1-2 3 5
Anonymity
(1:personal-
3:functional-
5:fictional)
1 1 3 1-5 5
Example: You in direct
conversation
with me
The distant you
writing me a
letter
A bus driver A historical
figure
My descendents
in 200 years

17. y
x
z
We can now imagine Schutz’s social
world as a multidimensional space
from the unitiy of the meaning-
context of our self-understanding
and the understanding of the You
oscilating around the most actual,
concrete and personal point , whith
an overlapping and shared
environment , within this space.
S1 P25 P24 P23 P22 P21
P20 P19 P18 P17 P16
P15 P14 P13 P12 P11
C2
C1
P10 P9 P8 P7 P6
P5 P4 P3 P2
P1
T4
T3
T2
T1
Y3 Y2 Y1
The Social World
Vector Level / Value 1 3 5
x1 Actualization actual presuposed imagined
x2 Concretization concrete vague abstract
y
Proximity shared env. foreign env. unaccessible env.
z Anonymity personal functional fictional
y
z
For higher simplicity the four
dimensions described by Schutz are
reduced to three. Possibly, even
higher dimensioned spaces will make
the social worl up in reality.
«… the problem of freedom, when
rightly understood, is a time
problem» (PTSW, p. 220)
The point of highest degree of
freedom and certainity in spacetime
is Y1, in the Now and Here. The point
of highest scientific concretness is
one of the P points.

18. Bibliography
 PTSW: Schutz, Alfred. (1932, 1972). The Phenomenology of The
Social World. Northwestern University Press. USA.
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