Schutzian Research, Volume 17 / 2025

Michael D.  BARBER, Introduction [OPEN ACCESS]

Hubert KNOBLAUCH, Schutz’s Transcendence of Social Collectivity and the Collective Forms of Communicative Action
Abstract: This paper analyses Schutz’s notion of social collectivities as a transcendent ‘province of meaning’, comparing it to the version proposed by Schutz and Luckmann. Rather than reducing collectivities to mere ‘meanings’, his analysis of dyadic encounters within ‘we-relations’ as basic forms of social collectives exhibits parallels with Durkheim’s empirical analyses and concepts of collectivity and effervescence. By deepening these analyses using videographic data on the ‘elementary form’ of applause and clapping by large audiences at religious mass events, it can be seen that collectivity results from the simultaneous co-production of an objectified form of communicative action. However, identifying this form requires accounting for the subjective experiences of individual actors, thus still necessitating Schutz mundane phenomenology as a method.

Sophie LOIDOLT, The Public Realm: An Absent Topic in Schütz’s Phenomenology?
Abstract: Alfred Schütz is considered one of the most influential figures of phenomenological sociology. For that very reason, it is puzzling that Schütz is not one of the key authors when it comes to conceptualizing the public realm in a specifically phenomenological manner. In The Structures of the Lifeworld and other writings, we find meticulous analyses of how the lifeworld unfolds in layers of meaning that constitute our social, everyday world, but descriptions of how a public realm or public space is constituted or of what it means to be in public or act as a public are missing. This paper investigates this surprising lack. It does so against the backdrop of a larger project on the phenomenology of the public realm. By highlighting different aspects of Schütz’s work, I will discuss three different possible answers to the question whether there is such a thing as a Schützian phenomenology of the public realm: Answer 1: There is no such thing, because Schütz equates the term “public” with “social” and “intersubjective.” Answer 2: There is, but only implicitly. One has to re-examine the concepts of social types and their scales of anonymity and use them to develop a phenomenological description of the public realm and publicness. Answer 3: There is, even explicitly, but in a rather restrained form in the theory of the well-informed citizen.

Antonio DI CHIRO, Reality between Fringe and Frame: Some Considerations on the Theory of Multiple Realities of William James and Alfred Schutz
Abstract: In this paper, I propose a critical analysis of William James and Alfred Schutz’s theory of multiple realities. I try to demonstrate that among the various issues concerning this theory, the most important ones concern the question of reality within another reality and the gradual transition between different realities. The basic idea is that just as reality has lost its character of uniqueness, similarly the subject is faced with the shattering of its identity. This will allow me to criticize the idea of ​​static nature of the theory of multiple realities as separate entities and as closed universes to demonstrate that the different realities are connected thanks to the subject who lives and works simultaneously in multiple dimensions.

Malene Einsig BRODERSEN, Out of Synch: A Schutzian Study of Space, Time, and Intersubjectivity in Seventh Grade Online Teaching [OPEN ACCESS]
Abstract: Rich intersubjective experiences are rooted in real-time, physical interactions where bodies and non-verbal cues play a crucial role in fostering shared understanding. In digital settings, such as online teaching, participants are separated in space and interact through virtual representations: images, initials, or live video. This study focuses on a Danish seventh-grade class during the 2021 pandemic lockdown to explore how the digital representation of bodies and spaces in video-based teaching shapes students’ and teachers’ experiences of intersubjectivity and temporal flow. The findings reveal that fragmented bodily gestures and a lack of eye contact hinder the development of we-relations. As a result, students become more engaged with their physical surroundings and fall into individual temporal rhythms, rather than aligning with the shared digital context.

Donovan BARBA-REYNOSO, A Schützian Approach to the Development of the Stock of Knowledge and Identity of High School Teachers: A Phenomenological Study in Guadalajara, Mexico
Abstract: This article explores how high school teachers construct their stock of knowledge and its impact on their professional identity. Through in-depth interviews with teachers from both public and private institutions in Guadalajara, Mexico, the study employs Alfred Schütz’s phenomenological sociology to analyze the integration of disciplinary and educational knowledge. Findings indicate that teachers live through tensions between their original professions and their educational responsibilities, shaping their identities through social interactions and experiential learning. The study further reveals that institutional support and continuous professional development play a pivotal role in facilitating this integration. By highlighting the dynamic nature of teacher identity formation, this research highlights the need for interdisciplinary training programs that bridge subject-matter expertise and pedagogical skills. Future studies should explore adaptive learning models and mentorship programs that enhance the transition for professionals entering the teaching field.

Michael HANKE, Multiple Realities and Politics: The Way of the Cosmion from Voegelin to Schutz
Abstract: This article reconstructs the way of the concept of the cosmion—literally: a small, representational version of the cosmos—in Schutz, that was proposed by Eric Voegelin as a finite province of meaning after he had read Schutz’s essay On Multiple Realities. Having made this proposal in a letter to Schutz in 1945, Voegelin used the concept in his book The New Science of Politics, from 1952, which is the source to which Schutz refers when he introduces the concept into his own framework, which occurs in Symbol, Reality and Society (1962). Here, politics is listed as a proper finite province of meaning, and here he also refers to politics not only as a multiple reality and a sub-universe but also as cosmion. Political communication, symbolic in character, is conceived as a wide field of concrete investigations open for the social scientist, important not only from the theoretical but also from the practical point of view, including a clarification of the intrinsic structure of symbols, which equals an extensive research program, unfortunately not executed by Schutz, yet sketched as a future task.

Krzysztof T. KONECKI, Easter Breakfast – A Wealth of Flavors, A Wealth of Relationships: A Case Study
Abstract: This article explores sensory experiences, mainly taste, and their interaction with other senses (such as smell) during Easter meals, focusing on Easter breakfast as the central meal in Poland’s Easter celebrations. It presents a case study that investigates the experiences and social consensus regarding tastes during Easter meals, based on insights from a group of sociology students at a Polish university. The study is inspired by phenomenology of Alfred Schütz and his concepts of polythetic and intersubjective experience, and employs methods of contemplative sociology, including self-observations, self-descriptions, and contemplative notes. Key themes related to the sensory experience of Easter breakfast are reconstructed and analyzed. The main thesis of the paper is: sensory experiences contain social and personal memory. The interchangeability of perspectives on taste perception allows for an objective verification of individual experiences, granting them the status of typicality. This typicality is reinforced through ritual practices. A shared perspective is established through social interactions; however, cultural taste typifications often fail to fully encapsulate the sensory experience. Consequently, narratives—somatic accounts—become essential for capturing the unique, immediate qualities of a specific taste experience. These narratives not only describe tastes but also facilitate their discovery. This process unfolds within a particular mood, contributing to the festive joy.

Valerie BENTZ, James MARLATT, and W.P. MICHL, Deathworlds as a Paramount Reality: Transformative Phenomenology as a Diagnostic Antidote
Abstract: Schutz’s “paramount reality”—the world of everyday life—fully acknowledged the pervasive presence of death. A social phenomenology revealing Deathworlds as paramount is called for in today’s world. “Objectivist,” personally distanced research approaches, whether quantitative or qualitative, mask forces that foster deathworldly germination, continuation, and expansion. Decades of research based on Transformative Phenomenology (TP), an applied social phenomenology, have brought this to light across levels and types of experience. We discuss the TP process, followed by a detailed example—the Deathworld of intimate partner abuse. Her Schutzian excavation of deep contradictions in the taken-for-granted natural attitude was crucial to W. P. Michl’s revitalized world.

Ekkehard COENEN, At the Cinema with Alfred Schutz. On Provinces of Meaning and Their Medial Aspect
Abstract: Despite the absence of any explicit commentary on cinema in his writings, the advent of Schutz’s oeuvre coincides with the golden age of cinematic art, a period during which cinema became the dominant medium of entertainment. This text elucidates how cinema serves as a conduit for organized everyday transcendence, wherein particular domains of meaning are brought to light. Analyzing the social norms and intersubjective relationships that emerge during a film screening demonstrates how viewers are positioned in relation to the filmmakers’ cinematic intentionality and align their inner time flows. Schutz’s perspective is extended by current considerations in media and film theory. It is argued that cinema pos-sesses a material, mediating-functional, and milieu-like dimension that influences the perception and emo-tional experience of the audience. The text concludes by stating that cinema not only creates its own reality but also enables collective physical experiences shaped by the simultaneous perception of image and sound and social relations during the screening.