Social Theory and Human Reality

Professor Jay Gubrium, University of Missouri

This book gets to the heart of what the social sciences really know about the elusive and contradictory object of research: human reality.

Drawing on a wide range of international examples and scenarios, Social Theory and Human Reality examines key sociological concepts that we use to understand human behaviour such as: norms, rules and meanings; language and discourse; ritual; and personality and identity construction.

Alasuutari clearly and convincingly demonstrates:

- The constant interplay between routines and reflexivity that grounds social order

- how the body and our bodily experiences mediate our social reality

- that language plays a multi-faceted role as it describes, reflects and constructs human reality

Building on the work started by Berger and Luckmann in The Social Construction of Reality, this book is a lucid and contemporary analysis of the premises shared across the social sciences, and of the kaleidoscope of ′human reality′.

This important book will be welcomed by students and scholars alike in the fields of Cultural Studies, Sociology and Anthropology.