The Sociology Book

50

PAY TO THE MOST

COMMONPLACE ACTIVITIES

T H E A T T E N T I O N A C C O R D E D

EXTRAORDINARY EVENTS

HAROLD GARFINKEL (1917–2011)

I

n the 1930s, the US sociologist

Talcott Parsons embarked

upon a project of bringing

together the various strands of

sociology in a single, unified theory.

His 1937 book The Structure of

Social Action combined ideas from

Max Weber, Émile Durkheim, and

others, and attempted to present

a universal methodology for

sociology. In the years after World

War II, Parsons’ ideas gained him

a significant number of supporters.

Among his admirers was Harold

Garfinkel, who studied under

Parsons at Harvard. While many

of the followers were attracted by

the idea of a “grand theory” of

sociology, Garfinkel picked up on

Parsons’ idea of examining the

roots of social order, rather than

social change, and in particular his

methods of researching the subject.

The workings of society

Parsons had suggested a

“bottom up” rather than “top

down” approach to analyzing

the foundations of social order.

This meant that to understand how

social order is achieved in society,

we should look at micro interactions

and exchanges rather than at social

structures and institutions.

The structure of society is not

determined “top down” by a

limited set of general rules.

Instead, the rules are built

“bottom up,” from our small

exchanges and interactions.

These rules can be seen in our

spontaneous behavior in

everyday life, rather than

in social structures and

institutions.

Pay to the most

commonplace

activities the

attention accorded

extraordinary events.

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Ethnomethodology

KEY DATES

1895 Émile Durkheim

advocates a strict scientific

methodology for the social

sciences in The Rules of

Sociological Method.

1921–22 Max Weber’s

methodological individualism

is explained in Economy

and Society, published

posthumously.

1937 Talcott Parsons attempts

to form a single, unified social

theory in The Structure of

Social Action.

1967 Harold Garfinkel

publishes Studies in

Ethnomethodology.

1976 Anthony Giddens

incorporates ideas of

Garfinkel’s ethnomethodology

into mainstream sociology

in his book New Rules of

Sociological Method.